Chapter 228: 5 Sheets of Greenhouse Plastic Film

Chapter 228: Chapter 228: 5 Sheets of Greenhouse Plastic Film

VMM VMM VMM—

Amidst the Harmful Rain, Xiaqing was cutting the Injurious Grass with her mini-tiller. She discovered that the number of Evolutionary Worms hiding in the grass had noticeably increased over the past two days, and they had grown bolder.

An Evolutionary Snake over two meters long shot out from the Injurious Grass with incredible speed, striking at Xiaqing’s eyes. Seeing it had no exaggerated fangs, Xiaqing couldn’t be bothered to deal with it.

SMACK!

The Evolutionary Snake smashed against the glass window of the mini-tiller’s rain cover. As it slid down unwillingly, Xiaqing opened the window, reached out, grabbed the snake’s vital spot, and pulled it inside, stuffing it into a bag.

Harvest, +1.

CHITTER—

A mantis over twenty centimeters long charged forward, brandishing its oversized pincers. From the sound of its flapping wings, Xiaqing knew the creature’s exoskeleton had evolved to be exceptionally hard. The mini-tiller’s four-sided rain cover was made of the same material as a Protective Mask’s rain shield—it didn’t attract dust or water, and its durability was decent. The two-meter-long Evolutionary Snake couldn’t break it, but it couldn’t withstand the mantis’s blades.

Xiaqing gripped the steering wheel with her left hand and raised her gun with her right.

BANG!

The mantis’s head was blown off. Its body fell into the Injurious Grass and was mercilessly crushed by the mini-tiller’s tracks, becoming fertilizer for other creatures.

Evolved Insect eliminated, +1; Harvest, +0.

"What’s going on in the Third Territory? Did another dangerous, harmfully evolved plant appear? I’m hearing a mini-tiller and gunshots." The sound of the gunshot reached the Second Territory, and Tang Huai immediately sent an inquiry.

Xiaqing pressed the Lord’s intercom button and replied simply, "Everything’s normal."

Hearing her reply and the whirring of the grass cutter, Tang Huai started cursing in his territory again. ’Damn it, would it kill that woman to say two more words?!’

"Xiaqing." Zhang San’s weak, listless voice came through. "Do you need support?"

’My idol! The ultimate, top-tier idol to emerge after the great evolution on Blue Star!’

Die-hard fan Xiaqing immediately stopped cutting the grass, pressed the button, and answered seriously, "Brother San, I can still manage for now. I’ll contact you if an emergency comes up."

’Talk about preferential treatment! Blatant, shameless preferential treatment!’ Tang Huai continued to curse in the Second Territory.

Zhang San replied, "First, pick some spinach leaves as a deposit."

’Has my idol not been eating well again?’ Xiaqing immediately replied, "Okay, I’m heading toward the farmland on the mini-tiller now. I’ll go pick them right away."

Tang Huai...

’Damn it! I’m going to plant spinach too!’

Li Si’s calm voice sounded on the Lord channel. "Xiaqing, I’d like to trade for the Evolutionary White-haired Chicken Shit Vine and spinach in your territory. What supplies do you need?"

’I’ve been waiting for you.’

Xiaqing pressed the button and replied sincerely, "Fourth Sister, more than half of the White-haired Chicken Shit Vine in my territory was killed by the hail. I just traded some with Brother San yesterday. How about we wait until after the Harmful Rain passes and I’ve had some time to nurture it before trading? For the Green Light Spinach, do you want the whole plant, or just the leaves like Brother San?"

Li Si replied, "We can postpone the Chicken Shit Vine trade. As for the Green Light Spinach, I want ten plants, with roots and soil attached."

After she finished speaking, Li Si went offline. Little Liu, the assistant from No. 9 Territory, came on, his voice a standard business drone. "Miss Xia, the current exchange price for Green Light Spinach is sixty points per pound. I don’t know the total weight of your five plants, so what do you say to fifty points for the lot? Is that acceptable?"

’Acceptable? The nerve!’

Driving her tiller toward the vegetable greenhouse, Xiaqing’s voice was ice-cold. "No deal. I’ll keep them to trade leaves with Brother San."

"That’s right!" Hearing Xiaqing shut down No. 9 Territory, Tang Huai was delighted. "How can regular Green Light Spinach be the same price as the Green Light Spinach that Zhang San likes to eat? How can a plantable Green Light plant with roots be the same price as rootless vegetables?"

Tang Heng, who had returned from Territory No. 12, discussed it with his brother. "Xiaqing’s spinach must be special. Should we report this?"

Tang Huai nodded. "Of course we have to report it. First, let’s see what price she asks for. We should try to trade for a few plants, too."

The trade wasn’t going smoothly. Little Liu, the assistant from No. 9 Territory, went offline, and Li Si came back on. "Xiaqing, what supplies do you need?"

Xiaqing stated her price directly. "I want one sheet of thickened greenhouse plastic film, sixty meters long and seven meters wide, and four bags of Bone Ash Powder."

Li Si asked precisely, "What thickness do you mean by ’thickened,’ in ’si’?"

"Si" is also a unit of measurement; 100 si is equal to 1 millimeter.

Xiaqing had looked into it before. The greenhouse film used by the Safe Area Planting Center was 100 si thick. Because greenhouse film was a non-publicly traded commodity within the Safe Zone, Xiaqing didn’t know if this counted as "thickened." She asked modestly, "Fourth Sister, I plan to use it for growing vegetables. What thickness of film do you think is appropriate?" ℯℯ𝑙.

Whatever Li Si’s reasons for coming to this territory, whatever her relationship with Zhang San, and whatever her purpose in collecting the area’s native plants, she was a true professional when it came to agriculture. "100 si," she said. "Any thicker and it would affect light transmission, which is bad for plant growth. Trade at the Third Territory road sign in twenty minutes?"

Xiaqing was just as decisive. "Okay, I’ll go dig them up now."

The other Lords...

Tang Huai’s eyes darted around. He immediately called Xu Pin. "Zhang San and Li Si are both extremely interested in the spinach from the Third Territory. Yes, yes, they’re willing to trade for it at a high price... I’m not sure, they didn’t mention it... Okay, understood."

After hanging up, Tang Huai magnanimously pressed his intercom button. "Xiaqing, I’d also like to trade for ten plants of Green Light Spinach, with roots and soil. Name your price."

’The Su Feng Team is buying, so of course I have to rip them off a bit.’ Xiaqing stated her price: "Four sheets of greenhouse film, each sixty meters long and seven meters wide, 100 si thick."

He knew this woman was ruthless, but he hadn’t expected her to be *this* ruthless. Nevertheless, Tang Huai agreed readily. It wasn’t his points on the line, so he didn’t feel the sting one bit. "Deal. Once the roads are open, we’ll transport the greenhouse film over and I’ll contact you."

"Deal." Xiaqing’s reply was exceptionally swift. ’Looks like Tang Huai’s relationship with the Su Feng Team is becoming more and more distant,’ she thought happily.

Parking the mini-tiller in front of the small cabin, Xiaqing went inside to grab her tools, then went with Hu Zifeng to dig up the spinach.

In the Lord channel, Kuang Qingwei’s voice came through. "Xiaqing, are you setting up a greenhouse? You’re not going back to the Safe Zone for the winter?"

She had asked for so much greenhouse film; her intentions were obvious. Xiaqing replied, "That’s right. I don’t have a place to live in the Safe Zone anymore. I’m staying in my territory to watch over the winter wheat and grow some vegetables to earn points on the side."

’Five sheets of thickened film is hardly for "growing some vegetables on the side."’ While they were being tormented to hell and back by the Harmful Rain, Xiaqing was already planning to build a greenhouse to grow vegetables. Kuang Qingwei was genuinely impressed.

Shi Zhong responded, "We’re also staying in our territory for the winter. It’s reassuring to know we’ll have company. We should communicate more then."

"I’m the one who should be learning from you." When it came to farming, the couple Shi Zhong and Qi Fu were the experts. Xiaqing had never built a greenhouse before; she would have to learn from them.

"Alright." Though his whole body ached, Shi Zhong sounded more energetic than a healthy person as he encouraged everyone. "Everyone, just grit your teeth and hang on for this last half-day. After this, we can wait to harvest the grain."

Zhao Ze said dejectedly, "Less than half of my corn is left. After the third wave of red Harmful Rain, I’m afraid I won’t even have a quarter of it left."

’The seedlings are gone. How am I supposed to harvest any grain?’

Kuang Qingwei started lamenting his destroyed Green Light Mung Beans again. "Two thousand plants! If they hadn’t been destroyed, I could have harvested sixty pounds at the very least! Sixty pounds!"

Everyone who came out here to farm had their calculations. Out of the six pounds of Yellow Light Mung Beans received from the base, the probability of finding a Green Light bean was less than one in a thousand. Every Lord treasured them, not daring to eat a single Green Light bean they produced, planting them all instead.

Watching the Green Light seedlings grow little by little, what Lord wasn’t silently calculating how many pounds of beans they could harvest, how many points they could exchange them for, and how many scarce supplies they could buy?

The other Lords empathized with Kuang Qingwei’s heartache. Xiaqing parked her mini-tiller outside the vegetable greenhouse. After entering, she didn’t want to spare a second glance at the vegetable patch that had been cleared until it was patchy and bald. She picked a large handful of spinach leaves, placed them in a basket, and handed it to Hu Zifeng. "Captain Hu, please take this to the Northern Isolation Zone and give it to the people from Territory Land No. 7."

Xiaqing had planted three patches of spinach in total. She didn’t pick from the dense patch of Green Light Spinach on the High Slope terraces, but instead picked from the sparse patch inside the greenhouse—and on top of that, she picked several plants nearly bare. Hu Zifeng didn’t understand this move at all, but he didn’t ask any questions. He just took the basket and went to make the delivery.

After Hu Zifeng left, Xiaqing dug up ten spinach plants from the regular Green Light Spinach patch, drove her mini-tiller while cutting grass along the way, and delivered them to the territory’s road sign.