Chapter 153: Heaven-Defying Luck

Chapter 153: Chapter 153: Heaven-Defying Luck

Water caltrops could be used as a staple food, so after packing up their supplies, the team immediately rushed over to investigate.

Without confirming whether the plants were aggressive, no one dared to touch them directly.

"Recon the situation underwater," Hu Zifeng ordered.

The Auditory, Visual, and Olfactory Evolvers on the team immediately began their reconnaissance.

"There’s a foul, fishy smell. I suspect there’s a large animal or a massive gathering of animals underwater."

"There are dense sounds underwater. It’s probably not a large animal."

"The plants are blocking my view; I can’t see anything."

From this, they could preliminarily determine that small animals were gathered beneath the water caltrop plants. Hu Zifeng ordered, "Check your Protective Suits again. Confirm there’s no damage, no exposed skin, and that the Protective Mask filters are functional."

Xiaqing immediately began her inspection, confirming her Protective Suit was fine.

Hu Zifeng continued to give orders. "Chen Cheng, Chen Zheng, Jing Kuan, use the nets to scoop up the water caltrops. Xiaqing, Eryong, and Peng Jian will block the first wave of attacks. Liangzi and Da Jiang, you’re the second wave. Go!"

Upon hearing the command, Xiaqing stepped forward while Shi Du retreated behind Hu Zifeng. Chen Zheng’s group of three cast their nets to scoop up the water caltrop plants.

The moment the net hit the water, the calm surface erupted into chaos as countless water arrows shot out from the roots of the plants in every direction.

The group was all too familiar with this type of attack.

Hu Zifeng ordered, "They’re evolutionary snails! Pull back the net and let them pass."

Evolutionary snails weren’t venomous; their attack consisted of shooting water arrows that could injure an animal’s eyes. They reproduced quickly, and large numbers of birds and amphibians tended to gather wherever the snails congregated. No wonder there were so many birds here.

After shaking off the evolutionary snails, water snakes, and leeches, the aquatic plants were hauled ashore. Shi Du immediately picked up a plant with fan-shaped leaves and happily showed everyone the horn-shaped, pale reddish-purple fruit at its root. "They really are water caltrops! It’s a shame they’re not ripe yet."

Xiaqing suggested, "How about we pick out the edible ones to take back and cultivate them in our territory’s pond?"

"Good idea."

They still had time, so Hu Zifeng divided the team into groups. One group was responsible for cleaning the evolutionary snails and other creatures from the water caltrop plants and moving the plants ashore. Another group was in charge of testing the plants for their Harmful Element content, and a third team stood guard.

After more than an hour of work, they had identified thirty Green Light water caltrop plants and eighty-six Yellow Light ones. The harvest was incredibly gratifying.

They took the edible plants with them and threw the inedible ones back into the water to let them continue growing.

The Visual Evolver, Peng Jian, who had gone to scout the area, returned with a report. "There’s another patch of water caltrops in a swamp eight hundred meters to the west, roughly the same size as this one."

Shi Du was so happy he almost jumped for joy. "Captain Hu, can we come back again tomorrow?"

"We can." That area was also within their designated cleanup zone. Hu Zifeng could accept the mission when they got back, allowing them to earn points while also gathering edible plants. It was a win-win.

Their mission a success, the team packed up their bountiful harvest and began the journey back. The Strength Evolvers, Xiaqing and Shi Du, were responsible for carrying the haul while the others formed a protective detail.

The venomous snakes, Pythons, poisonous spiders, muskrats, and leeches they had hunted totaled over seven hundred pounds. Shi Du carried over three hundred pounds, and Xiaqing carried over four hundred. They were positioned in the middle of the group, protected by the other team members.

Shi Du exclaimed in amazement, "Sister Qing, you’ve got to be Level 5 by now, right?"

Xiaqing, a Level 6 Strength Evolver, replied in a low voice, "I haven’t been tested since leaving the Safe Zone, but I think it’s something like that."

Hu Zifeng, who was carrying a bag of geese, thought to himself, ’It’s not "something like that." The Level 5 Strength Evolver, Guan Tong, is a lot weaker than your Sister Qing.’

’Guan Tong is a Level 5 Strength Evolver. If Xiaqing is about the same as him, then she’s also Level 5. The next step up from Level 5 is Level 6. And Level 6 means she’d be a High Level Evolver. High Level Evolvers don’t just get better treatment; their bodily functions and lifespan also improve. Xiaqing is only twenty-five. She still has ten years to enhance her Evolutionary Ability.’

Shi Du was happy for Xiaqing. "Sister Qing, if you eat more Green Light food, you’ll definitely be able to trade up to a gold ID plate sooner or later."

Ordinary people wore yellow identity plates, General Evolvers wore green ones, and High Level Evolvers wore gold ones.

Xiaqing nodded. "You should eat more Green Light food and train hard, too. You’ll definitely improve."

Shi Du nodded emphatically and asked about the losses her territory had suffered during the recent Natural Disaster.

Xiaqing’s main reason for joining the mission today was to find out how the Tenth Territory had dealt with the hail. Since Shi Du brought it up, she seized the opportunity to ask, "The hailstorm came on so fast. Even with Captain Hu and his team helping, I still couldn’t cover all my greenhouses in time. My pumpkin seedlings were smashed. What about you?"

Shi Du replied, "My dad woke up early. He saw the weather looked bad, so he got my mom and me up to pull the rainproof cloths over everything. Our crops weren’t damaged by the hail."

Hearing Shi Du say "pull" instead of "cover" the rainproof cloth, Xiaqing asked, "You mean the rainproof cloths for your greenhouses are kept rigged up on top instead of being put away?"

Shi Du explained, "When it’s not raining, we just pull the rainproof cloth all the way to the ridge of the roof and cover it with a sunshade net."

’So there is a trick to it!’

Xiaqing proposed a trade. "Shi Du, when you get back, could you ask your dad if I can learn your technique for handling the rainproof cloth? If he agrees, could you film a video for me? I’ll trade you five pounds of wheat for it."

Shi Du made it sound simple, but with the insect nets also on the frames, there had to be a unique design that allowed them to deploy the rainproof cloth so quickly. Xiaqing desperately needed to learn this method.

"Sister Qing, what are you talking about? It’s not some patented technology; you don’t need to trade for it! I’ll film it for you when I get back." Shi Du thought that everything about Xiaqing was great, but she was just too formal and treated everyone like a stranger.

"Alright, I’ll be counting on you then," Xiaqing accepted, then asked about the damage No. 1 Territory sustained in the hailstorm.

Chen Cheng, walking beside her, replied, "We have a lot of people, but most of the land we’ve cleared hasn’t been planted yet, so we suffered almost no losses."

The group chatted as they walked, arriving at the exit of Mountain No. 49 over an hour later. It was time to divide the spoils from the mission and go their separate ways.

In front of Xiaqing and Shi Du, Hu Zifeng tested the fifteen goslings they had captured. To their surprise, eight were Green Light, four were Yellow Light, and three were Red Light.

"This is insane!" Chen Cheng was stunned.

Da Jiang couldn’t help but marvel, "We’ve been clearing the Evolution Forest for years, and this is the first time we’ve seen such a high rate of Green Light animals."

"Captain, forget clearing the swamp tomorrow. Let’s focus all our efforts on catching geese!" the team members chirped excitedly.

Hu Zifeng took off his Protective Mask, a smile like a doting father spreading across his face. He could already picture it: returning with a Green Light Goose, and his little kitten fawning all over him.

’Green Light animals that you can eat *and* breed... who could possibly refuse?’ Hu Zifeng asked Xiaqing and Shi Du, "How about we make thorough preparations and head out an hour earlier tomorrow?"

"Sounds good."

"Works for me."

Of course, Shi Du and Xiaqing agreed.

Next up was dividing the day’s spoils.

"Based on contributions for this mission, Xiaqing gets one full share, Shi Du gets half a share, and as captain, I get one and a half. Everyone, report your ammo expenditure for today."

Everyone started reporting their use of munitions.

Xiaqing reported, "Xiaqing. Sixty sniper Bullets fired, fifty-two Evolutionary Animals hit."

That was an incredibly high hit rate. Shi Du gave Xiaqing a thumbs-up.

He could tell her rifle was the same model as Luo Pei’s; she must have traded for it with the Green Dragon Team. ’I need to save up points to get a gun too,’ he thought. ’I’ll learn to shoot, get stronger, and catch up to her.’

After taking notes, Hu Zifeng began to distribute the edible flora and fauna. Xiaqing received three geese (one Green Light, one Yellow Light, one Red Light) and eleven water caltrop plants (three Green Light, eight Yellow Light). Shi Du received two geese (one Yellow Light, one Red Light) and five water caltrop plants (one Green Light, four Yellow Light). The remainder went to Hu Zifeng’s team. How they divided it amongst themselves was their own business and had nothing to do with Xiaqing or Shi Du.

Hu Zifeng closed his notebook. "We’ll go back and process the rest of the game from the swamp. We’ll calculate your points for you by tomorrow. Let’s meet back here tomorrow morning at eight."

Hu Zifeng’s team headed back to No. 1 Territory, while Xiaqing and Shi Du took their shares of the haul and returned to their own territories.

When they reached the sign for the Third Territory, Xiaqing handed Shi Du six of her edible water caltrop plants—one Green Light and five Yellow Light. "I’m just one person. I can’t eat all of these."

Shi Du understood that this was Xiaqing’s way of "trading" for the rainproof cloth technique. Seeing the "If you refuse, I’ll beat you into submission" look on her face, he meekly accepted them.

After Xiaqing entered the Third Territory and Shi Du headed east, Zhou Xun, who was keeping watch from within the Second Territory, whispered pleadingly to Tang Huai, "Boss, maybe we should go try our luck in the Evolution Forest, too?"

Hearing that Hu Zifeng’s group had managed to get eight Green Light Geese in a single trip, Tang Huai was naturally tempted. "We’ll go to Mountain No. 50 tomorrow and try our luck."