Chapter 193: A Device to Control Temperature and Humidity

Chapter 193: Chapter 193: A Device to Control Temperature and Humidity

"Brother San isn’t smart, he’s just petty," Tang Huai muttered before pressing the button. "Brother San, I really didn’t mean it like that. Please don’t misunderstand. How could I make you pay for the Pangolin?"

Tang Huai’s apology was drowned out by the welcoming cheers, and no one paid him any mind.

With her sharp hearing, Xiaqing was delighted to notice that the background noise was the same when Luo Pei and Zhang San spoke.

’They’re together? Or rather, they came back together?’

Inside the armored vehicle driving on the main road that connected territories one through twenty-six, Luo Pei thanked Zhang San. "Thanks so much, Brother San."

Zhang San was sprawled listlessly on his seat, too exhausted to even spare Luo Pei a glance.

Luo Pei then thanked Yan Long, who was sitting in the front passenger seat. "Thanks to you, too."

After receiving a sharp, sidelong glance from Yan Long’s almond-shaped eyes, Luo Pei just grinned wider. "I get it. As soon as I get back, I’ll tell Old Tan to bring Qiqi over to thank you personally."

Yan Long and Tan Junjie’s wife were comrades who had enlisted in the same cohort, much like the connection between Luo Pei and Tan Junjie.

Yan Long found the sight of Luo Pei’s face, still showing traces of the poison, rather unpleasant. "How about we have a match on Mountain No. 49 the day after tomorrow?"

Sitting beside Zhang San, Ji Li’s eyes lit up when he heard the two experts were going to compete.

Luo Pei pleaded, "I haven’t recovered yet. I’m no match for you."

With a sickly look on his face, Zhang San asked, "You caught the Su Feng Team’s Pangolin?"

Zhang San’s pettiness was as great as his medical skill, so Luo Pei didn’t dare lie to him. He answered truthfully, "To be precise, the Su Feng Team’s Pangolin got scared and ran off. A beast in the forest killed it, and we just picked up the spoils."

Luo Pei intentionally omitted the details about how the "beast" had dragged the Pangolin into Xiaqing’s territory, and how Xiaqing had then passed it on to him.

"A Green Light?"

Luo Pei replied, "Both are Green Light. The meat from the smaller one isn’t contaminated and is perfectly preserved. Would you like to try some, Brother San?"

Zhang San shook his head and proposed a trade for the scale armor. "Curing your poison doesn’t require two whole Pangolins. You give me twenty scales from the larger Pangolin’s back, and I’ll prepare a medicine to help with your digestion when I get back."

The prescription for Luo Pei’s antidote had been written by Zhang San, so of course, he knew the exact dosage of every ingredient.

"Thank you, Brother San. I’ll have someone deliver them to the Northern Isolation Zone of Territory Land No. 7 in half an hour." As Luo Pei finished speaking, the armored vehicle came to a stop beneath the sign marking the southern edge of Territory Land No. 7.

The first thing Zhang San did upon returning to his territory was to summon the chef and ask, "What is there to eat?"

The chef of Territory Land No. 7 beamed. "While you were away, my Lord, we traded with Lord No.3 for one Green Light Pig, two Green Light Black Feathered Geese, three Green Light wild rabbits, one small Green Light sika deer, and a large portion of a Green Light Python. What’s ready to eat right now are the five-spice smoked sausages we’ve already prepared."

Not knowing when their Lord would return, they had cleaned all the Green Light prey from the trade with the Third Territory and properly preserved everything, aside from some pork that was used to make the smoked sausages.

Zhang San’s weary expression visibly brightened. "Braised pig ears, mouth-watering goose, and bitter melon and snake soup."

"Of course. What vegetables would you like?"

"I’ll go to the greenhouse and pick some."

Back in his territory, Zhang San’s mood finally began to lift. He changed his clothes and went into the greenhouse to check on the growth of his vegetables. He discovered that the spinach he had planted before leaving had grown to be palm-high and was ready to be eaten.

Zhang San called Xiaqing while picking spinach leaves.

Xiaqing, who had sent so much Green Light prey to Territory Land No. 7, never expected her idol to call her the moment he returned. She answered immediately. "Brother San, you’re finally back!"

Zhang San asked while picking spinach, "How’s your spinach growing?"

Walking toward her greenhouse, Xiaqing reported, "I followed the method in the cultivation Guide you gave me. I did my best to create the right conditions and planted three hundred spinach seeds. Two hundred of them sprouted, so the germination rate is higher than before. But they might have been stunted by the frost during the hailstorm, because the seedlings aren’t growing very fast. Should I pick some leaves now and send them over?"

Before, the Green Light Seeds Xiaqing soaked in spring water had a 60 percent germination rate. Using Zhang San’s cultivation techniques, she had raised it to 67 percent.

During this time, Xiaqing had been feeding the Sick Wolf a little spinach juice every day, but she hadn’t touched a single leaf from the hundred spinach plants she was growing for Zhang San. ’It’s a good thing I kept my promise. See? My idol asked about the spinach the moment he got back.’

Hearing that Xiaqing’s spinach was growing slowly, Zhang San picked a few more leaves from his own plants. "As long as they’re not diseased or crushed, it’s normal for their growth to be slow due to the weather. What do you want to trade for all the Green Light animals you’ve sent over?"

Xiaqing had been constantly sending meat to Territory Land No. 7 with a very clear goal in mind. "Brother San, I want more of that medicine you gave me last time—the one you mix with spinach juice. I also want two temperature and humidity control units. A coverage area of thirty square meters for each would be fine."

Zhang San understood. "You want to store food in your territory? Even with temperature and humidity control, without a Harmful Element filter, your food will only last three months at most."

Of course, Xiaqing wasn’t going to mention she had the Yi Stone. "I want to give it a try. I can’t bear to trade away all the grain I grew myself."

Zhang San turned and asked the person beside him a few questions before replying, "We don’t have any thirty-square-meter units, only forty. How many grams of the medicine do you want?"

Xiaqing asked politely, "Could I get one hundred grams?"

"You can. But for two units, one hundred grams of medicine, plus the surgery and medical fees for the wolf with the parasite a few days ago and the cost of medicine for the other two wolves... the Green Light food you’ve sent isn’t enough to cover it."

Zhang San, now in a cheerful mood, stated his terms. "You’ll need to send another seventy pounds of Green Light meat over."

She wanted to, but she wasn’t sure how many more days the wolves would continue bringing her food. "Brother San, how much longer will those two wolves be recovering at my place? If the prey they bring before they leave doesn’t amount to seventy pounds, can I pay the difference with points or other Green Light food?"

Zhang San handed the spinach to the person beside him and told Xiaqing, "Bring all three wolves over tomorrow morning. I’ll examine them and see how they’re recovering."

The Brain Domain Evolution Wolf with the back injury was long overdue for a follow-up, so Xiaqing immediately agreed. "Okay. You just got back, Brother San. You should eat something good and get some rest today."

Her idol was back and she had secured important supplies. Xiaqing’s mood improved, and naturally, so did her appetite. She picked two extra eggplants to go back and make another dish.

The next morning, at a little past four, the Head Wolf punctually delivered food to the Third Territory.

After the members of the Su Feng Team withdrew, the Head Wolf began delivering food to the Old Wolf recuperating in Xiaqing’s territory without any prompting from her.

Xiaqing hadn’t brought the two injured wolves back to her place, so they were still recovering in the abandoned cave. She continued to go over every other day to change the dressing for the wolf with the back injury. Of course, she now went after daybreak, so Xiaqing could finally get a full night’s sleep.

Hearing the noise, Xiaqing went downstairs and saw that the Head Wolf had brought two pheasants today, one male and one female. The Head Wolf and the Sick Wolf were standing in the yard, watching the Weasel pluck the pheasants’ feathers.