Chapter 343: Pan-Fried Sweet Potato Slices

Chapter 343: Chapter 343: Pan-Fried Sweet Potato Slices

For the past ten years since the Natural Disasters began, it was a question the countless, oppressed masses had asked time and time again.

The Lord channel fell silent. No one could, or perhaps was willing to, answer the question.

Zhao Ze asked again, "That Lord was murdered. Did he have any family? If not, who gets the things on his territory and his remaining food and vegetables? Is it all confiscated?"

And then, another long silence.

Xiaqing cradled her sniper rifle, leaning against a large tree as she stared resolutely at the house and greenhouses on her territory. After a long moment, she picked up her phone to contact Luo Pei.

"Brother Luo, there are three wolves recuperating on my territory. For the time being, wolves should be entering Valley No. 1 in Zone Three of Mountain 49 from the north at around four o’clock every morning. Could you please ask the mountain guards to let them through?"

Luo Pei replied gently, "I’ve already given the order. Don’t leave your territory or Zone 3 for now. I’ll have people promptly clean up the scent trails left by the wolves passing through Zone 3 and the Northern Isolation Zone."

"Understood. Thank you, Brother Luo."

"Don’t thank me. A wolf’s temperament is similar to a dog’s, making them the Forest Beasts from the Evolution Forest most likely to form a cooperative relationship with humans. Just as you said before, preserving the Wolf Group’s strength and letting them hold the Bear Group and Snake Group in check will make our territories safer." Luo Pei then asked, "Who won last night’s battle?"

Xiaqing briefly recounted the previous night’s events. "The Wolf Group has occupied Mountain No. 60. The cold winter will limit the Bear and Snake Groups’ movements, so things should remain stable until next summer."

Luo Pei agreed. "That’s probably right. Three years ago, I led a team to Mountain No. 60 in search of an uncontaminated water source. That mountain has many caves, which are ideal for large wildlife to inhabit. Since the Wolf Group has taken it, they won’t give it up easily."

Hearing Luo Pei say that, Xiaqing thought she understood why the Broken Waist wolf wanted to trade for the wooden door. She lowered her voice. "Brother Luo, with all the commotion last night, do you think any teams will go check it out?"

’A wooden door standing in the middle of the Wolf Group’s territory... anyone would want to open it and take a look inside.’

Luo Pei’s answer was firm. "The military and other powerful teams will definitely send out reconnaissance drones or Reconnaissance Birds to check out the situation. But Mountain No. 60 has no scarce resources and it’s the Wolf Group’s territory, so no team will risk going there."

’But if they see a wooden door on the mountain, that changes things,’ Xiaqing thought, and began to wonder how she could convince the Broken Waist wolf to give it up.

At seven in the evening, while the sky was not yet completely dark, Tan Junjie posted an announcement on the Lord channel:

"Esteemed Lords, the invaders who were stealing food have all been captured. To ensure the safety of your territories, today’s reinforcements will not be withdrawn until all of your grain is in your storehouses."

Hearing that the invaders had been captured, a flurry of questions erupted, but Tan Junjie revealed no further details.

Xiaqing patrolled her territory one more time. After confirming everything was normal, she went to the greenhouse south of the reservoir to dig up some sweet potatoes. After much deliberation, she still couldn’t bring herself to harvest a Green Light sweet potato, so she decided to dig up a Yellow Light one instead.

In the spring, Xiaqing had traded with Tan Junjie for 16 Green Light Sweet Potato Seedlings and planted them in the field south of the reservoir. During two bouts of Harmful Rain, six of them underwent Qiang Evolution, while four others saw their Harmful Element content increase, turning them from Green Light to Yellow Light. Now, only six Green Light plants remained.

Before the second Harmful Rain, Xiaqing had taken cuttings from the sweet potato vines and planted 200 of them in the hillside terraces. Now, 140 remained—60 Green Light and 80 Yellow Light. Because they were planted in the summer, the sweet potatoes on the terraces were not as large as the ones in the field south of the reservoir.

Having worked hard for a full day and night, now that Xiaqing had decided to treat herself, she was naturally going to pick the biggest one.

She severed the vine of the Yellow Light sweet potato with the largest tubers, blew on her palms with a great sense of ceremony, and then gripped her shovel and began to dig.

After loosening the soil, Xiaqing gave the plant a gentle pull, then a light shake, and a whole cluster of sweet potatoes, large and small, emerged from the earth.

This one cluster weighed a good sixteen or seventeen pounds—more than double the yield of a single potato plant!

If all her sweet potatoes grew like this, she could harvest over two thousand pounds this year. A yield that only the Mad Pumpkins in her territory could rival.

Xiaqing happily loaded the sweet potatoes into her basket and carried them home, vines and all.

’I’ll eat the sweet potatoes, Sheep Leader will eat the tender leaves, and the chickens and rabbits can have the rest of the vines. Perfect.’

Back home, Xiaqing turned on the radio. Listening to the news broadcast, she washed three sweet potatoes, sliced them into one-centimeter-thick pieces, and laid them flat in a pan to cook slowly over low heat.

Xiaqing had learned this method from Eryong of Hu Zifeng’s team. Freshly dug sweet potatoes have a high water content, making them unsuitable for steaming or boiling. Dry-frying them slowly in a pan without oil removes the excess moisture and makes them much more delicious.

While the sweet potato slices sizzled in the large pan, Xiaqing made a meat broth in a small pot. When it was ready, she gave the thickest part to the Sick Wolf, then seasoned the rest for herself.

The sweet aroma of the potatoes wafted from the pan, luring Sheep Leader into the house.

Xiaqing took the cooked slices out of the pan, placed them on a plate, and asked her companion at the kitchen doorway, "Want some? I’ll let you try a small piece once it’s cooled down."

Of course, the first person to taste the sweet potato was Xiaqing herself. The long-missed sweet, tender flavor nearly brought tears of joy to her eyes. ’This is so good,’ she thought, ’even better than that tiny piece I was rationed on the last mission.’

Sheep Leader nibbled at the special feed in its bowl, its eyes glued to the steaming plate on Xiaqing’s table.

Xiaqing polished off six palm-sized pieces of sweet potato in one go, then leaned back in her chair with a satisfied sigh, listening quietly to the news broadcast from Hui San Base.

Just as she’d expected, the news painted a picture of a prosperous and thriving Hui San Base. There was no mention of invaders stealing food or murdering Lords and patrol officers.

Afterward, during the agricultural knowledge broadcast, an announcement was made that concerned the Lords:

Due to the busy autumn harvest, the Territory Management Department has decided to cancel this year’s centralized autumn agricultural trade fair. Instead, trading will be conducted on a decentralized basis. Lords may report any goods they wish to trade to the patrol caravans and conduct transactions through them. Naturally, the low-priced, limited-quantity seeds sold by the base as a benefit to the Lords will also be delivered by the patrol caravans.

After the agricultural broadcast ended, Xiaqing turned on her walkie-talkie and, sure enough, heard the other Lords discussing the announcement.

"The busy harvest is just an excuse. The real reason is safety—it’s too dangerous to leave our territories right now," Kuang Qingwei said first. "I was just debating whether or not to attend the trade fair this afternoon. Well, this saves me the trouble."

Qi Fu chimed in, "It’s not just dangerous to leave our territories; it’s also dangerous to have too much food stockpiled. I bet when Captain Zhong and his team come by, they’ll try to persuade us to hand over our grain."

Kuang Qingwei replied, "As long as the price is right, I plan to sell my grain and vegetables. Or, like I did with my potatoes, I’ll spend points to store them in the Safe Zone’s food warehouse. What do you think, Brother Qi?"