Chapter 151: Applying for the Mission

Chapter 151: Chapter 151: Applying for the Mission

There was no response from Territory Land No. 7.

Zhao Ze was very disappointed. "When is Brother San coming back? With him gone, I feel really uneasy."

After the crisis of Qi Fu getting infected by Evolutionary Bacteria, the several nearby Lords all had the same thought as Zhao Ze.

They hoped Zhang San would return soon so they could trade with him for life-saving medicine.

But to trade with him, they needed Green Light food that would interest him. He wouldn’t even look at Yellow Light items.

The timing was perfect. Xiaqing immediately pressed the button and asked Hu Zifeng, "Captain Hu, are there any missions to clear the Evolution Forest in the next few days? I’d like to apply to join."

Xiaqing was actually speaking up at this moment to find Shi Du and ask him about rain-proofing her greenhouse.

If she asked, Hu Zifeng would definitely say yes. If Hu Zifeng said yes, Shi Du would most likely apply to join. Once they met in person, it would be easy for Xiaqing to ask him whatever she wanted.

By choosing this moment, Xiaqing would only make the others think she wanted to venture into the Evolution Forest to get Green Light food and trade it with Zhang San for his Special Medicine.

Letting the other Lords think she often went on missions to earn points also gave Xiaqing a good explanation for how she had enough points to trade for supplies and hire people from No.1 Territory to guard Third Territory.

Before Hu Zifeng could speak, Tang Huai cut in and answered for him, "If you want to go, he’d make up a mission even if there wasn’t one, right, madman?"

Everyone was speechless.

After shouting, Tang Huai remembered this was his old man’s walkie-talkie. He cringed and quickly explained, "Dad, didn’t you say we needed to make it look like we’re not on good terms with the Green Dragon Team? That’s why I was antagonizing Hu Zifeng."

Tang Zhengpo nodded. "Well done."

"Yes, sir." Having dodged a bullet, Tang Huai lifted his chin and shot his younger brother a smug look.

Hu Zifeng, who was pretending to woo Xiaqing, pet his cat with one hand while pressing the button with the other. He spoke to Xiaqing in a very friendly tone, "The roads are slippery after the rain these last two days, so we won’t go to clear Mountain No. 49 until three days from now. But this mission has a high danger level. How about you wait until this one is over, and I’ll take a low-danger mission that you can join?"

’Hu Zifeng, you simp!’

Tang Huai muttered to his brother, "Xiaqing will definitely go. That woman never listens to anyone’s advice."

"I’ll join the mission three days from now. I’ll be responsible for my own safety. Thank you, Captain Hu," Xiaqing replied.

Shi Du from the Tenth Territory also pressed his button. "Captain Hu, can I apply to join? I’ll be responsible for my own safety, too. In an emergency, I won’t need protection from you or the other team members."

"You can," Hu Zifeng readily agreed.

Xiaqing and Shi Du venturing into the Evolution Forest at this time was definitely to get some good Green Light items to trade with Zhang San. The other Lords wanted to go too, but as ordinary people, they weren’t qualified.

Yuan Yan discussed it with her husband. "Once we have Protective Masks, I want to go check out the area around the adjacent Mountain No. 50. I’ve gotten stronger this past half-year. I might have even reached the level of a Level 2 Strength Evolution."

Before the Natural Disaster, Yuan Yan used to help her husband with transport, loading and unloading cargo, so she was quite strong. After the Natural Disaster, she had her Evolutionary Ability assessed at the Safe Zone’s identification center. Her strength had evolved 1.8 times, which wasn’t enough to reach Level 2 Strength Evolution, so she only received a yellow card for ordinary people.

Qi Fu’s situation was similar to his wife’s; he had a 1.9-times strength evolution.

Qi Fu knew why his wife wanted to go. His recent injury had completely drained their already meager family savings.

But he didn’t agree to his wife taking the risk. "Forget Level 2, you can’t go adventuring even if you were a Level 3 Strength Evolution. I barely made it out alive. Let’s just honestly farm on our territory. The food we grow is enough for us to eat."

But Yuan Yan still wanted to go. She had made up her mind on the way back to the territory, while being carried by Xiaqing. "Xiaqing is all alone, yet she can defend a territory bigger than ours, farm her fields well, and even go to the Evolution Forest to earn points. Everything she has today, she earned by risking her life. Even if my Strength Evolution Level isn’t as high as hers, I want to go out there and try."

Although his wife usually listened to him, once she made up her mind, not even a High Level Evolution Bull could pull her back.

Qi Fu stopped trying to dissuade her and started to negotiate. "We have to wait until my injury heals, and we have to trade with No.1 Territory and Territory Land No. 7 for a full set of gear for the Evolution Forest before we go, right? If we don’t have enough equipment, going in is just suicide. How about this? We’ll trade for it after we bring in the harvest in October, and then we’ll explore the Evolution Forest in the winter."

While the couple from Territory No. 5 was discussing their next steps, the Lord channel had already moved on to the topic of potatoes.

Zhao Ze said, "I only have eight potato plants. I’ll send the small ones back to the Safe Zone’s storage warehouse, and I’ll eat the rest myself. They’ll be gone in a few days."

"I’m planning the same thing," Kuang Qingwei replied. "I think the broadcast saying we can’t store potatoes on our territories is just a scare tactic to get us to sell them or store them in the Safe Zone. I’m going to save a few and see if they last until next year. Brother Qi, Brother Shi, Xiaqing, what about you all?"

Shi Zhong answered, "Same as you, that’s my plan too."

"Me too. I’ll pick small ones with lots of eyes to send back," Qi Fu replied. Xiaqing also voiced her agreement.

’Since there’s a preferential policy for Lords, of course I can’t let it go to waste.’

Xiaqing planned to pick out about ten pounds of small potatoes to send back to the Safe Zone for storage. She would keep the rest, first drying and sealing them as instructed on the farming knowledge broadcast. Once her food storage area was ready, she would unseal them and put them inside.

But the tricky part now was that, through the recent farming broadcasts, Xiaqing had discovered different foods required different temperatures and humidity levels for storage. They could be broadly divided into two categories:

Staple seed foods like mung beans, wheat, corn, and rice required a temperature of 59 to 68 degrees Fahrenheit and humidity below sixty-five percent. Root vegetables like potatoes and sweet potatoes needed a temperature between 36 and 46 degrees, and surprisingly, humidity between eighty and ninety percent.

In other words, the two types of food could not be stored in the same place.

Xiaqing put down her pen. While doing her strength training, she mulled over the food storage problem. After her workout, she listed all the issues she needed to figure out on a piece of paper, then went out to patrol her territory before returning home to sleep.

The next morning, Xiaqing was once again woken up early by her chickens and the wolves. After quickly processing the Green Light food the wolves had brought, she started digging a cellar.

Her house was situated ten to thirteen feet higher than her farmland, and the farmland was another three to ten feet above the river’s water level. Logically, a cellar dug ten to thirteen feet deep shouldn’t hit water.

Xiaqing planned to dig two cellars: one at her house for storing grain, and another in the Deserted Village where Luo Pei was recovering, for storing sweet potatoes and potatoes. The place where Luo Pei was staying had a two-level basement with a total depth of surely more than sixteen feet. Luo Pei had lived in that basement for several months without any issues, so Xiaqing planned to dig near there.

’What if the temperature and humidity still aren’t right after I dig it?’

If they weren’t right, she’d figure something else out. Xiaqing was never the stubborn type to persist with a single, failing plan. If the cave wasn’t reliable, she’d try a cellar. If the cellar wasn’t reliable, she’d try something else.

Before all that, she had to preserve the food she had. Without a second thought, Xiaqing broke a Yi Stone into three small pieces. Two pieces were placed inside Yi Stone Protection Shells, while the third was hung in the storage room. Then she moved the potatoes, mung beans, wheat, and other food into the storage room, shielding them from the effects of the Harmful Element for the time being.

After breaking the Yi Stone, Xiaqing ran some tests and discovered the stone was truly magical. Within a radius of about eight feet from the stone’s center, the proportion of Yi Element tripled, and the concentration of the Harmful Element dropped to a negligible level.

Staying inside this sphere, Xiaqing’s breathing felt smoother than it did outside. No wonder Tang Lu and Fire Phoenix carried Yi Stones even when it wasn’t Harmful Rain.

Xiaqing never believed in denying herself comfort. Since it felt good, she cut open one of the two remaining small Yi Stones and hung a piece around her neck and another around Sheep Leader’s. It was just that she had been too busy digging the cellar these past two days to polish pearls and make the Pearl Necklace for Sheep Leader.

For the next two days, after being woken up by the wolves each morning, Xiaqing would process the food she’d gotten for free, complete her daily territory chores, and then dig the cellar at home.

On the day of the mission, the Head Wolf brought another four Black Feathered Geese. As usual, they were freshly killed, and trailing behind them was the dejected-looking weasel in charge of plucking.

"Thank you so much, Your Majesty. You’ve worked so hard, Your Majesty."

Xiaqing had already given up on trying to communicate with the Head Wolf and get it to bring her live Green Light animals. After taking a goose back to the house to process, she sent a message to Ji Li.

Xiaqing was heading out to clear the Evolution Forest today and didn’t have time to process the food. Although her idol, Zhang San, hadn’t returned yet, Xiaqing still wanted to see if she could trade one of the geese with Territory Land No. 7 for medicine.

If Territory Land No. 7 didn’t respond, she would trade the Green Light Goose to Hu Zifeng. He would definitely accept it since he was now raising a cat.

Ji Li replied quickly, "I’ll send someone to the North Isolation Zone of No.3 Territory in ten minutes to pick it up. The code is ’two-five-eight, three-seven-six.’ We’ll discuss the trade goods with you after our Lord returns."

’It seems Ji Li isn’t in the territory either,’ Xiaqing thought.

Xiaqing immediately sealed up one of the unplucked Green Light Geese, stuffed it into her backpack, said a quick goodbye to the still-sleeping Sheep Leader, and went outside. She addressed the Head Wolf, who was busy staring at the plucking weasel, "Your Majesty, I’m going to patrol the territory. I’m leaving the house and Sheep Leader in your care."

The Head Wolf, lying on the ground, gave Xiaqing a lazy glance before turning its attention back to the weasel. All the other wolves, except for the injured Brain Domain Evolution Wolf, were also staring at the weasel and the prey.

The weasel, so scared it was trembling, quickened its plucking speed.