Chapter 138: Crafting the Yi Stone Protection Shell

Chapter 138: Chapter 138: Crafting the Yi Stone Protection Shell

The first step to making a Yi Stone Protection Shell was to cast a mold.

The craftsmanship required was beyond Xiaqing’s abilities, so she called Uncle Huo, who ran a blacksmith shop in the Safe Zone.

After getting an earful that left her ears ringing, Uncle Huo agreed to forge two spherical molds for her, one large and one small. The large one was about the size of an egg, and the small one was about the size of a walnut.

She could have made them even smaller, but that would have required more intricate craftsmanship, which meant Uncle Huo would charge a higher price. Xiaqing didn’t have enough points, and with few resources in her territory available for public trade, she simply couldn’t afford it.

Of course, Xiaqing didn’t say she was having the molds made to hold Yi Stones, only that they were for raising evolutionary crickets.

Evolutionary crickets had very sharp teeth, so wooden or woven bamboo cages couldn’t contain them at all.

Following the instructions Luo Pei had given her and using the molds forged by Uncle Huo, Xiaqing worked for two days and finally managed to make fifteen Yi Stone Protection Shells of each size.

Although the shells she made were much cruder than the one Luo Pei wore, Xiaqing was still overjoyed.

She placed three Yi Stones inside a large protection shell and shared her joy with Sheep Leader. "Look, Leader, this is great. During the next Harmful Rain, you can wear one of these and you won’t need a Protective Mask."

Lying on the tatami mat, Sheep Leader glanced at the black lump in Xiaqing’s hand and, without any change in expression, continued to chew its cud.

"You don’t know a good thing when you see it," Xiaqing muttered, inspecting her creations one by one. ’This one is good. The thickness is uniform. After I polish it, I’ll use it myself.’

’I really wish I had a companion to share this joy with,’ Xiaqing thought. ’Sheep Leader doesn’t appreciate it. Maybe I should go over to the sheep pen and show off to that very smart wolf?’

BZZZT—

Before she could head out, her phone buzzed. It was a message from Yang Jin, the leader of the Green Dragon Team. To her surprise, he wanted to arrange a meeting to discuss a trade.

’When did that guy get back?’ Xiaqing wondered. She sent a simple one-word reply: Okay.

Yang Jin replied quickly: Are you in the territory now? I can come over in half an hour?

...

’In such a hurry?’

’Alright then.’

Xiaqing replied: Okay. 4:10. See you at the small cabin next to the rain shelter, south of the Third Territory’s reservoir.

After receiving the message, Yang Jin stared at the location for a few seconds before replying with a single word: Okay.

Negotiating with an Iron Rooster was a mentally taxing affair. Xiaqing took out a pen and paper, listing the supplies she needed and the goods she could offer in exchange. After jotting down the rock-bottom price for each item, she gathered her things and headed to the meeting spot.

As the territory’s owner, she arrived five minutes early. She tidied up the small cabin, then placed the teapot she had brought, along with some fresh Earth-raspberry Fruits and Earth Bubble Fruits, on the small wooden table.

Just as she’d gotten the cabin to look something like a reception room, Xiaqing heard footsteps. Turning to look north, she saw Yang Jin approaching in a camouflage Protective Suit and a Protective Mask.

When Yang Jin entered the cabin and took off his Protective Mask, Xiaqing noticed that in the two-odd months since they had last met, he had gotten at least two shades tanner.

’It looked like he’d been to the mountains or the sea this time,’ she thought. ’Only the UV rays in the mountains or by the coast were that intense.’

Yang Jin surveyed the small cabin and smiled. "This cabin you built is sturdy and practical."

With his new tan, Yang Jin’s smile made his straight, white teeth seem particularly striking. It was a radiant, disarming smile.

Xiaqing replied modestly, "I just threw it together to make it easier to tend to the crops. It gets the job done. Please, have a seat, Captain Yang."

Yang Jin sat down. Looking at the fruit and teapot on the table, he replied in all seriousness, "It’s already very nice."

’Nice? Nice compared to what?’

Xiaqing racked her brain for a moment before she suddenly realized Yang Jin’s frame of reference: the dilapidated house in the Deserted Village where they’d made their first trade.

Compared to that dilapidated house, this place was indeed much better. ’But still,’ she wondered, ’why does his tone feel a little... off?’

Xiaqing poured Yang Jin a cup of hot tea and explained, "There’s a wolf recuperating in my courtyard, and I was afraid the Wolf Group might react too aggressively if you came over, so I asked you to meet me here. I heard your voice sounds a bit rough, so please have some tea to soothe your throat."

"Thank you."

Having just rushed back from the coast, Yang Jin’s voice was a little hoarse and his eyes were bloodshot. But during the Disaster Years, as long as one wasn’t seriously injured, poisoned, or infected with a deadly Evolutionary Bacteria, it was considered nothing to worry about.

Still, the fact that Xiaqing had noticed his discomfort made Yang Jin quite happy.

The last time he had come over, she had been afraid of startling her sheep and led him to a dilapidated house. This time, she was afraid of disturbing the recuperating wolf and led him to this small cabin.

’What will be the excuse to keep me out next time?’

Yang Jin was already looking forward to their next meeting. "I heard from Brother Luo that one of the two wolves has undergone brain domain evolution and injured its back?"

"Mhm, it’s the one from the second raid on the Wild Boar Breeding Center. It’s very close with the one from the first raid. Lord No. 7 performed the surgery himself. It should recover after resting for a while."

After speaking, Xiaqing gestured for Yang Jin to have some fruit. "Captain Yang, try some of the wild fruit from my territory. The purplish-red ones are Green Light Earth-raspberry Fruits, and the black ones are Yellow Light Earth Bubble Fruits."

Yang Jin picked up a few of the Earth Bubble Fruits and ate them. His expression made it clear he enjoyed them. "I used to eat these as a kid when I’d play in the mountains. We called them wild grapes where I’m from. If the Yellow Light ones taste this good, the Green Light ones must be even more delicious."

Xiaqing also believed the Green Light ones would taste better, but she added, "If they were Green Light, you wouldn’t be eating them today, Captain Yang. Green Light ones can be traded for chicks."

"Hiring Zhang San to operate on the Evolutionary Wolf must have cost a lot of points, right?" Yang Jin asked, his smile gentle as he noted how much better Xiaqing’s skin looked than before.

Yang Jin’s smile was infectious, capable of pulling a person straight back to the time before the Natural Disasters, to that incredibly nostalgic, peaceful era.

But Xiaqing felt none of that peace and quiet. All she could think was that this Iron Rooster was already trying to use his good looks to his advantage before they had even started negotiating.

’It doesn’t matter how handsome his smile is,’ she thought. ’I’m not falling for it!’

Xiaqing took a sip of tea to compose herself before answering, "Mhm, one hundred and fifty thousand."

Yang Jin, who clearly enjoyed the Earth Bubble Fruits, picked up another small cluster and ate them slowly. "Brother Luo said you didn’t tell Zhang San about the Yi Stone, so you paid with spinach seeds?"

Xiaqing nodded and stated her bottom line. "Yes. 100 points per spinach seed."

’No matter how handsome your smile is, I’m not going any lower than that.’

Yang Jin understood, and his smile became even more brilliant. "One hundred points per seed for Green Light Spinach Seeds with a Yi Element content of 0.06% is very reasonable. Can the Green Dragon Team make exchanges with you at that same price?"

’He’s sharp!’

Xiaqing nodded with a serious expression. "You can. However, I’ve already planted all the spinach seeds, so we’ll have to wait three months to trade. How many do you want, Captain Yang?"

Yang Jin’s reply was magnanimous. "I’ll take as many as you can supply."

Xiaqing nodded again and stated her terms. "I want gasoline, diesel, bullets, hand grenades, and a diesel generator."

These were all supplies that were impossible to trade for elsewhere, or if they were, the quality couldn’t match what the Green Dragon Team provided. That was why Xiaqing chose to trade with them.

The poisoning incident at the Ninth Territory and the influx of refugees from the south both left Xiaqing feeling uneasy. She wanted to acquire more weapons.

Yang Jin was just as direct. "Done. How much of each do you want?"

Xiaqing recited the numbers she had already planned out. "Four barrels of gasoline, four barrels of diesel, one generator, a thousand rounds for a submachine gun, five hundred rounds for a sniper rifle, and twenty hand grenades?"

Back in March, Xiaqing had traded spring water with Yang Jin for three guns and nine hundred bullets. At the time, she had thought nine hundred bullets was an astronomical number, but she hadn’t expected to burn through most of them after just over two months of shooting practice.

Xiaqing had once asked Luo Pei how many bullets she would need to fire to become proficient.

Luo Pei had said that before the Natural Disasters, it took three years and fifty to ninety thousand bullets for the military to train a sharpshooter with decent aptitude. However, Xiaqing was a Three Systems High Level Evolver, so her natural abilities were far superior to those of pre-Disaster humans. As long as she was willing to put in the hard work, she could probably become proficient within a year with ten thousand bullets.

Ten thousand bullets... If Xiaqing didn’t possess such high-value resources—Pollution-free Spring Water and Green Light Spinach with an 0.06% Yi Element content—she would have given up the moment she heard that number.