Chapter 317: Qiangwu Grass

Chapter 317: Chapter 317: Qiangwu Grass

After Xiaqing moved the rock, which weighed over two hundred pounds, Yang Jin used the faint evening light to carefully inspect the inside of the cave.

The cave was much smaller than Yang Jin had expected, only about half a meter deep and just over thirty centimeters high. The spring water slowly seeped from the stone wall at the very back, then trickled down through a crevice into the ground. The faint sound of running water was completely drowned out by the flow of the river at the bottom of the slope, making it impossible to hear.

Once the cave was blocked, it was impossible to find the spring unless you moved the rock to check. But with so many rocks on the mountain, who would move them one by one to look? No wonder the various teams had failed to find this spring despite combing the area several times.

Yang Jin pointed to a hollow beside the spring, large enough to fit a water bucket, and asked, "Did you dig this hole?"

Xiaqing nodded. "Back then, I didn’t know that altering the mountain’s structure could damage the spring. I just dug a hole to make it easier to collect water."

"A hole this small won’t damage the mountain’s structure. It won’t have any effect on the spring."

After they agreed on a spot inside the cave to plant the grass and cleared the area, Yang Jin opened the lid of the planter box. Xiaqing glanced inside and froze.

’Where’s the herb?’

Seeing such a vivid expression on her face from this close was a rare sight. Yang Jin smiled. "Look closely."

Xiaqing’s eyes widened as she looked again. There, on the black, moist soil inside the planter box, were two small, colorless, transparent plants, each as tall as a finger, with clustered leaves. She was even more astonished.

’After Blue Star evolved, things got so damn crazy.’

’This was the first time she had seen a plant that had evolved in such an insane way. A colorless, transparent grass, and it even grew next to a Pollution-free Spring Water source. Any springs already discovered by humans would surely be protected, so Yang Jin must have had to find one that hadn’t been discovered yet. A spring like that would have to be deep within the Evolution Forest, in an area difficult for humans to reach. No wonder Yang Jin was gone for a month and came back injured.’

Yang Jin explained, "This is called Qiangwu Grass. It’s a plant species that was only discovered after Blue Star’s great biological evolution. As its name suggests, this grass is very effective at treating physical damage caused by the Harmful Element. This grass is extremely rare and has no public price. Even if we sold it for one million points per plant, people would be fighting to buy it."

If Brother Luo hadn’t been so severely poisoned, and if this grass wasn’t the only thing that could completely cure him, Yang Jin would never have undertaken the life-threatening journey to White Seven Base.

Yang Jin took a small bag of soil from his backpack. "This is the native soil I dug up from where the Qiangwu Grass was growing. Pour it into the hole first, and then we’ll plant the grass."

"Let me do it." Xiaqing finally tore her gaze away from the two magical little plants and took the bag of soil. Although Yang Jin was acting normally, his hand was bandaged, making him unfit for strenuous work.

As an experienced farmer, Xiaqing could tell at a glance that the small bag of soil wouldn’t be enough to fill the hole they had just dug. She first put some of the excavated gravel back in to raise the bottom before pouring the soil, which contained small pebbles, into the hole and smoothing it out. Then she asked, "Captain Yang, are you planting the Qiangwu Grass, or should I?"

"You should do it. You’re more experienced than I am." Yang Jin took out a flashlight, switched it on, and aimed it at the Qiangwu Grass. He reminded Xiaqing, "Be careful. Don’t touch its leaves directly with your hands, or they might get damaged."

"Okay." Xiaqing carefully used a transplanting shovel to plant the two stalks of Qiangwu Grass in the soil.

Fearing she might accidentally bump into the Qiangwu Grass—which was nearly impossible to see if you weren’t looking closely—while collecting water, Xiaqing stuck two small wooden sticks in the ground beside the plants. This was a grass that could cure Qiang Synthesized Poison and was worth one million points per stalk; you couldn’t be too careful.

The hole they dug was ten centimeters from the water, very similar to the plant’s original habitat. However, the temperature at White Seven Base was more than ten degrees colder than here. Xiaqing worried that the two small plants wouldn’t be able to withstand the heat and would just melt away.

"Captain Yang, does Qiangwu Grass attract pests? Does it need to be fertilized?"

Yang Jin wasn’t sure either. "Qiangwu Grass is extremely rare. Currently, only Red One and Base White One have a few artificially cultivated specimens. We’ll have to ask around for more information on how to cultivate them."

Xiaqing asked, "Was it Brother San who told you that White Seven Base had this grass?"

"No, I got the information through other channels. It took some effort because I didn’t have precise coordinates." Yang Jin instructed, "The fact that you have Qiangwu Grass here is known only by you, me, Brother Luo, and Xie Yu. Besides yourself, it’s best not to let anyone near the spring. Wei Chengdong won’t be coming to get water anymore, either. I’ll take a bucket of water back with me now. Brother Luo won’t need much spring water for his detoxification this time. We can talk about the rest next time we meet."

After seeing Yang Jin off, Xiaqing quickly picked some vegetables and headed home. She went to the chicken coop first to feel for eggs. To her great surprise, there was one extra egg today.

She came out beaming with the eggs and, as expected, saw two wolves and a sheep lying in the sheep pen. In a cage nearby, a wild rabbit was huddled into a ball, trembling uncontrollably.

"Queen, Leader, Second, I’m back." Xiaqing greeted each of them, then carried the rabbit cage inside and gave the rabbit some freshly picked sweet potato leaves. If she hadn’t taken it indoors, she was afraid the poor thing would be scared to death.

After putting the eggs in the refrigerator, Xiaqing began to prepare the rabbit the Head Wolf had brought. Although this rabbit wasn’t as big as the one Shi Du had brought, it was undeniably a Green Light one.

Xiaqing first skinned the rabbit and set the pelt aside to deal with later when she had time. Thanks to the Wolf Group, she had collected many animal skins over the past few months, which she could use to make cushions for the winter.

After cleaning out the rabbit’s entrails and putting them in a small basin, Xiaqing carried it to the front of the sheep pen. "Queen, you can eat now."

Entrails were a favorite food of wolves. Since the Sick Wolf couldn’t eat raw meat at the moment, the Head Wolf didn’t stand on ceremony and began to eat. Xiaqing went back inside to prepare the rest of the rabbit. She boiled half of it with pumpkin for the Sick Wolf and braised the other half with chili peppers and potatoes for herself.

The potatoes that had been in her underground storage room for three months were still fresh. However, the few small potatoes in the cellar under the Deserted Village, which wasn’t equipped with a temperature and humidity control system, had already gone soft and started to rot.

This also proved that without an Yi Stone and a proper climate control system, even the best-built cellar couldn’t be used for long-term food storage.

After her meal, Xiaqing sat under the eaves and chatted with the Head Wolf. "Where have you been lately, Queen? It’s been so long since you’ve shown your face."

The last time Xiaqing had seen the Head Wolf was before the migratory bird season, back when she had gone to Mountain No. 50 to gather Green Light Pine Nuts. The Head Wolf had been on another peak, watching two Evolution Bears fight.

The Head Wolf, lying at the entrance of the sheep pen, naturally didn’t answer Xiaqing’s question. It just stared at the half-finished swallow’s nest under the eaves. The Sick Wolf and the Sheep Leader lay on either side of the Head Wolf, looking as docile and dependent as two little birds.

"A few swallows that flew in during the migratory season built that nest. They couldn’t find a suitable flock to continue their migration, so they stayed behind," Xiaqing explained, then continued her one-sided chat with the Head Wolf. "Broken Waist left wearing a Protective Suit. Did you see it, Queen? After all these days, has it taken the suit off yet?"

’Broken Waist Wolf must still be wearing the Protective Suit. It’s extremely vain about its appearance, and the suit perfectly covers the patch of fur that was scraped off its back.’

Xiaqing recounted the entire story to the Head Wolf, explaining why Broken Waist Wolf had left the territory and everything that had happened afterward. After she finished, Xiaqing went back into the house and brought out the last set of Level 4 canine field protective clothing she had gotten in a trade with Tang Huai, showing it to the Head Wolf.

’She had helped the Wolf Group so much; it was only fair she got something tangible in return from the Head Wolf.’