Chapter 292: Steamed Crab and Grilled Fish

Chapter 292: Chapter 292: Steamed Crab and Grilled Fish

Shi Du whispered to Da Jiang, "Isn’t that person from Territory No. 7 a High Level Olfactory Evolver?"

Da Jiang nodded. He didn’t reveal that she was the leader of the Yan Long Frogman Special Team, only saying, "Besides her olfactory evolution, she’s also an excellent swimmer."

Tang Huai, who had excellent hearing, immediately sidled over. "She has an aquatic evolution?"

Da Jiang shot Tang Huai a look. "Have you ever heard of that type of evolution?"

After Shi Zhong delivered another boatload of fish to the shore, someone finally couldn’t hold back their anxiety. The woman from Territory No. 7 had been underwater for ten minutes and still hadn’t surfaced. She hadn’t taken an oxygen tank down with her. After being down for so long, could she have suffocated or been killed by something in the water?

Xiaqing was worried too. She ran over and asked Da Ya in a low voice, "Brother Ya, should we send someone down to check on her?"

Who could they send? Who here was a better swimmer than Yan Long? Da Ya chuckled and shook his head. "It’s fine. She’s an incredible swimmer. We should just keep doing what we’re doing."

Another five minutes passed before Yan Long finally surfaced. Everyone let out a collective sigh of relief, then gasped in astonishment. What were those two millstone-sized things she was holding?!

Da Ya rushed over in pleasant surprise. "Evolved softshell turtles?!"

Yan Long nodded and handed them to Da Ya.

Da Ya immediately tested them, then shook his head in regret. "They’re both Red Lights."

Yan Long said nothing, simply turning and diving back into the water. Unlike others who would make a huge splash, when Yan Long dived, it was as if the water’s surface had opened a door just for her. She entered without a single ripple, a sight so uncanny it was unsettling.

Tang Huai muttered under his breath, "Was she a professional diver before the Natural Disaster?"

Nearby, Hu Zifeng, who was holding a gun, snorted coldly. He couldn’t be bothered to respond to the clueless oaf.

None of them had ever seen such massive evolved turtles, so the crowd gathered around for a closer look.

Staring at the mud on the turtles’ shells, Qi Fu had a moment of realization. "These things must have been hiding in the mud. That’s why they didn’t float up after being electrocuted. Look at the size of them, they must be well over two hundred pounds."

The workers from Territory No. 12 washed the large turtles clean and carried them to the platform scale Kuang Qingwei had brought over.

Hot damn. One was 195 pounds and the other 213. Even as Red Lights, they were worth a good number of points.

Tang Huai asked Xiaqing, "You want these two? If not, I’ll have my people haul them away."

Xiaqing shook her head. If they were hard-shelled tortoises, she might have considered taking the shells to sell, but she had no use for Red Light softshell turtles.

After nearly another hour of hard work, the group finally finished hauling in all the fish, shrimp, and crabs from the water’s surface and had them all sorted.

Kuang Qingwei, who was in charge of weighing, handed his notebook to Xiaqing, grinning from ear to ear.

Red Lights were the most numerous, at 4,565 pounds!

Yellow Lights were next, at 132 pounds. Adding the large Yellow Light fish Xiaqing caught earlier, the total came to 264 pounds.

Green Lights were the rarest, but there were still 54 pounds of them.

Da Ya got first pick of the Green Lights. For whatever was left, the rest of the group could take what they wanted, and the cost would be calculated at 80% of the Safe Zone’s public price: 40 points per pound for Yellow Light, and 120 points per pound for Green Light.

Although the price was incredibly generous, the other Lords all had rivers in their territories and had dug their own fish ponds. So, aside from the big customer, Territory No. 7, the rest only bought one or two fish each, and all of them were Yellow Lights.

Why not take any Green Lights?

Because Territory No. 7 had taken over thirty pounds of it, leaving Xiaqing with only two fish and two mitten crabs. How could the others have the nerve to ask for any?

After the people from Territory No. 12 hauled away all the Red Lights, everyone else left for their own territories, happily carrying a several-pound Yellow Light Fish that Xiaqing had gifted to each Lord. Only Hu Zifeng, Tang Huai, and Da Ya from Territory No. 7 remained by the water with Xiaqing.

Because Yan Long—who had already brought up four Red Light softshell turtles and two Red Light Evolved Leeches—was still in the water.

If the others hadn’t been so tired and sleepy, they would have also waited to see what else Yan Long might bring up.

Bored of just waiting around, Tang Huai suggested to Xiaqing, "Mitten crabs don’t keep for long. Why don’t you go get a pot and some seasonings? I’ll clean them up and steam them for you."

Xiaqing would have preferred to kick Tang Huai out before steaming them, but he had just transferred nearly a hundred thousand points to her. Besides, his family had owned a restaurant, and the fried cicadas he made were delicious. Xiaqing wanted to taste his cooking, so she got up and went back to get a pot, seasonings, filtered water, and dry firewood.

"Xiaqing, bring a clean pair of scissors and a bottle of baijiu!" Tang Huai shouted after her.

Da Ya added, "No need to get the baijiu, there’s some in the freezer."

Xiaqing raised a hand to show she’d heard. She wasn’t just going home to get supplies; she also needed to comfort her companion who was watching the house.

But when she got back home, Xiaqing felt that something was off.

After standing there for a moment, she realized what it was: her dining table was empty! Xiaqing narrowed her eyes at the Sheep Leader lying on the tatami mat and asked menacingly, "Leader, where’s my pine nut corn?"

The Sheep Leader lay on the tatami mat with its eyes narrowed, looking relaxed at first glance. But Xiaqing could tell the creature was nervous and guilt-ridden, because it had even stopped chewing its cud!

Xiaqing went to the kitchen to get the seasonings and found that the Sheep Leader had put her bowl and chopsticks in the washing basin on the floor. The Sheep Leader’s own food bowl was next to the water filter, half-filled with water.

’Great,’ she thought. ’So it is guilty. It even knows to do chores proactively.’

Xiaqing shot a glare at the creature, who was still putting on an act. She quickly packed the items into her back basket, and on her way out, she instructed, "I have to take care of something by the reservoir. You be good and watch the house, Leader. Don’t eat anything you’re not supposed to. If your stomach starts to hurt, come find me by the water."

The Sheep Leader remained motionless with its eyes narrowed. Only after Xiaqing left did it relax its muscles and resume chewing its cud.

When Xiaqing returned to the reservoir with the supplies, Tang Huai had already cleaned the mitten crabs, removing the grit and impurities, and was starting a fire.

Tang Huai mixed the seasonings and sprinkled them over the mitten crabs, then put them in the pot to steam. "These crabs are huge, and since they were already dead when we started, they’ll need to steam for a while. Xiaqing, how about you pull out a couple of fish? We can grill them."

Before Xiaqing could say anything, Da Ya dug out three fish from Territory No. 7’s pile in the freezer. "These are good for grilling. I’ll clean the fish, you get the barbecue seasoning ready."

"Done!" Tang Huai agreed readily. Then he turned to Xiaqing with a cheeky grin and asked, "You got any peppers, onions, or cilantro in your greenhouse?"

Xiaqing asked, "No cilantro. For the onions, do you want the green tops or the bulbs?"

Tang Huai, afraid Xiaqing would kick him out if he asked for the bulbs directly, said, "The green tops are fine."

Watching Xiaqing head to the vegetable greenhouse by the reservoir, Hu Zifeng once again confirmed his suspicion: the quality of the crops in the terraced fields was definitely better than those in the regular greenhouses. Every time he came to get vegetables for Brother Luo, Xiaqing always picked them from the terraces.

As for why the terraced fields were better than the regular greenhouses, Hu Zifeng didn’t understand, nor did he ask.

To be honest, Hu Zifeng was truly impressed with Xiaqing today. ’If I had spinach in my territory that could be made into Special Level Nutrient Liquid,’ he thought, ’I would never dare let so many people come in and walk back and forth right next to the greenhouse.’

"You can grill eggplant and green beans, too! Just wash them, slice them up, brush on some seasoning, and grill ’em. They taste amazing!" Seeing Xiaqing return with a bunch of vegetables to wash, Tang Huai chattered excitedly about his family restaurant’s secret barbecue spice blend while he mixed the seasoning for the fish.