Chapter 202: Red Squirrel in a Cage

Chapter 202: Chapter 202: Red Squirrel in a Cage

Tan Junjie led his team to the signpost for the Third Territory and handed a cloth-covered cage to Xiaqing.

Squirrels are timid and shy around strangers. Lord No.8 was very thoughtful.

Xiaqing lifted the cloth. After confirming that the creature jumping up and down in the iron cage was indeed that little thief of a Red Squirrel, she handed the grain to Tan Junjie. "Thank you for your hard work, Captain Tan."

Tan Junjie nodded and led his team away. Su Ming lingered for a couple of steps and whispered to Xiaqing, "Sister Qing, this Red Squirrel is quite beautiful. Once you’ve trained it, you can have it find pine nuts for you."

Xiaqing smiled. "That’s exactly what I had in mind."

Hu Zi extended an invitation to Xiaqing. "There are two Green Light Pine Trees on Mountain No. 50 that have produced a lot of pine cones. How about we go harvest them together in the middle of next month? The pine nuts are ripening earlier this year than last. I went to check a couple of days ago, and they’re almost ready to be picked."

Yuan Rui, knowing why Hu Zi was inviting Xiaqing, chimed in, "Let’s go together. There’s safety in numbers."

There were four Green Light Pine Trees with pine cones in the Third Territory’s area, but Xiaqing couldn’t possibly turn down the chance to harvest more Green Light food. "Okay, let me know once you’ve set a date. I’m strong, so I can carry out as many as we pick."

"Great." Hu Zi was so happy he nearly jumped for joy at having successfully invited Xiaqing to pick pine cones with them.

Xiaqing returned home, turned on the light in the sheep pen, closed the door securely, and then lifted the cloth covering the cage.

The Red Squirrel inside, terrified, thrashed about, jumping up and down and ramming into the cage, making it wobble violently.

"Don’t be afraid. I’m not going to kill you," Xiaqing soothed gently. She shoved the cube-shaped cage into a corner, placed a heavy wooden plank on top of it, and then covered it with a straw mat.

This not only secured the cage but also created a relatively concealed space.

When Xiaqing lifted the cloth again, the Red Squirrel hiding inside had indeed stopped struggling. It leaned against the corner farthest from her, its fluffy tail fanned out, its beady black eyes wide and round. Its long whiskers trembled nonstop, and the fur on its snow-white belly rose and fell with its rapid breathing.

’It’s actually kind of cute like this.’ Xiaqing thought with a grin. She asked, "Aren’t you ridiculously fast? How did you get caught by the humans from No. 8 Territory?"

"Do you like shredded tobacco that much? How about I trade you ten pounds of it for the location of the chestnut tree?"

Based on the Red Squirrel’s reaction, Xiaqing determined that even if it hadn’t undergone brain domain evolution, it was still a fairly intelligent Evolutionary Animal. She took the remaining shredded tobacco from her storeroom and placed a large clump on top of the cage. Then, she secured a small jar in a corner inside the cage, poured in some Pollution-free Spring Water, and went to the greenhouse to pick a Yellow Light cucumber, which she stuffed into the cage so the little guy wouldn’t starve or die of thirst.

Then, Xiaqing turned off the light in the sheep pen and returned to her room to contact Luo Pei.

"Brother Luo, do you guys have any small or micro-sized devices that can be attached to an animal to monitor its location in real-time?"

Luo Pei didn’t ask what Xiaqing needed the tracker for, only what model she wanted. "What’s the tracking distance you need? And what size animal will it be on?"

’How large is the roaming range of a Speed Evolution squirrel?’ Xiaqing wondered for a moment, then replied, "Within twenty kilometers should be fine."

Luo Pei explained, "We haven’t built any ground-based satellite navigation reference stations or mobile signal base stations here. Combined with the complex terrain and the effects of Harmful Elements, radiation, and so on, a micro-locator’s maximum tracking distance is only five kilometers." 𝘧𝓇ℯℴ𝓂

"Five kilometers is fine too." Xiaqing asked, "Brother Luo, how many points for one?"

Luo Pei laughed. "You can discuss the price with Ah Jin. He actually needs to talk to you about something."

Not long after Xiaqing hung up and started her workout, she received a text from Yang Jin: "What time are you free tomorrow morning? Let’s talk in person."

’The big boss of the Green Dragon Team has this much free time?’ Xiaqing replied: "9:45 AM. See you at the cabin in the Third Territory."

Why such a specific time? Because Xiaqing felt that a precise time would make the other person think she was very busy and had squeezed this meeting into her schedule.

’The cabin again?’

Yang Jin was silent for a few seconds before replying with a single word: "Okay."

The next morning, after dealing with the wild rabbit the Head Wolf had delivered, Xiaqing went to check the sheep pen and was amused.

The little guy had used the shredded tobacco and straw mat to build a large, cozy nest and was hiding snugly inside. If not for the trembling blades of straw, Xiaqing would have suspected it had escaped.

She tiptoed forward to check and was relieved to see that although the Red Squirrel hadn’t eaten the cucumber, it had drunk a good amount of the spring water. "Just wait a little longer. As soon as I get the locator and put it on you, I’ll let you go."

At 9:45 AM, Lord No.3, Xiaqing, and the captain of the Green Dragon Team, Yang Jin, met punctually at the cabin by the farmlands of the Third Territory to negotiate their deal.

"Captain Yang, try some of the Green Light tomatoes I just picked," said Lord Xiaqing, presenting the bright red Green Light tomatoes and tea brewed with Pollution-free Spring Water to her distinguished guest.

"Thank you." Yang Jin glanced at the scar on the web of Xiaqing’s right hand, then picked up a slice of tomato. After tasting it, he asked, "Have you tested the other elemental contents of the vegetables in your territory?"

The Yi Element Detector can measure not only Yi Element levels but also trace elements.

Xiaqing replied, "I have. The Yellow Light tomatoes and cucumbers from my farmland have very little difference in their Qiang and Yi Elements and trace element content compared to those grown in No. 4, No. 5, and No. 6 Territories. As for the Green Light vegetables from the terraces, their radioactive element content is a bit lower compared to the Green Light vegetables from my farmland and other territories."

The lower the radioactive elements, the less harm to the body. Yang Jin speculated, "This might be related to the Pollution-free Spring Water under the terraces. Xie Yu looked up some information. Before the Natural Disaster, the villages and towns here invited an agricultural research team to test the soil quality. They discovered the soil here is rich in selenium. The villages hadn’t even had time to report the good news before the Natural Disaster began."

’Selenium-rich soil, which can grow selenium-rich produce.’ Xiaqing beamed. "So there really was a reason Brother San came all the way out here to farm."

’She really is smart, able to grasp the key point instantly. This is also the first time she’s smiled so happily in front of me.’ Yang Jin picked up another slice of tomato. This one was much sweeter than the last.

After finishing the tomato and drinking a cup of tea, Yang Jin finally took out a round, fingernail-sized disc and handed it to Xiaqing.

"Brother Luo told me your requirements. This Blue-Flash Smart Locator best fits your needs. Its maximum monitoring distance is four kilometers. You just need to install an app on your phone, and you can check the locator’s position at any time through the software."

’Four kilometers?’ Xiaqing frowned slightly.

Yang Jin smiled. "Is that Speed Evolution squirrel very fast?"

Yang Jin, with his wild-looking crew cut, had a smile that made Xiaqing feel both warm and flustered. She took a sip of tea before replying, "Extremely fast. I can’t even hit it with a gun now."

Yang Jin took out a bag of potion and pushed it in front of Xiaqing. "You’re tracking the squirrel to find nut-bearing foods in the Evolution Forest, right? A device with a longer tracking range wouldn’t be cost-effective for you. This locator, plus a bottle of Tracking Potion and a Level 4 and above Olfactory Evolver, combined with your Visual Evolution ability—you absolutely won’t lose it."

You definitely need a team to search for edible plants in the Evolution Forest.

In this region, Xiaqing knew of four Olfactory Evolvers: the team doctor from No.1 Territory, Chang Li, a Level 9 Olfactory Evolver; the "bodyguard" from Territory Land No. 7, Yan Long, also a Level 9 Olfactory Evolver; and Chen Zheng and Chen Cheng from Hu Zifeng’s team, both Level 5 Olfactory Evolvers.

’Thinking about it that way, it’s definitely feasible.’ Xiaqing thought. She asked, "Captain Yang, how many points for this?"