Chapter 67: Brain-Evolved Animals Alliance

Chapter 67: Chapter 67: Brain-Evolved Animals Alliance

Xiaqing excitedly shared her experience growing strawberries with Luo Pei. "At first, I planted the strawberries in the terraced fields, but the scent after they flowered attracted too many bugs. So, I transplanted them into pots and moved them into the house. I keep them inside, and when the sun is out, I move them into the yard to get some sun."

"If you don’t keep them in the house, such fragrant fruit would definitely be eaten by Evolutionary Worms." Luo Pei warned Xiaqing, "Keep your doors and windows sealed. Be careful that Poisonous Insects aren’t drawn by the strawberry scent and get inside."

Xiaqing nodded, "I’m always careful. Just yesterday, I traded with the Lord of Land No. 7 for a barrel of Deodorant. It works really well, which has reduced that danger a lot."

Anything from Zhang San of Land No. 7 was bound to be good stuff. Luo Pei smiled gently. "That’s good, then."

The two chatted for a few more moments before Luo Pei returned to the main topic. "After the Great Evolution, brain-evolved animals at the top of the food chain—like elephants, wolves, lions, tigers, apes, and monkeys—not only no longer hunt herbivorous brain-evolved animals, but they might even form alliances with them in exchange for greater benefits. You and Ah Jin are both certain that wolf is an extremely intelligent Brain Domain Evolver. In that case, the only possible reason for it to be friendly with your Evolutionary Sheep is that your sheep is also a Brain Domain Evolver."

Brain-evolved animals take on leadership roles among their own kind. If different species of brain-evolved animals form alliances, it would be a union of powerhouses—a disaster for humanity. ’Just how far will these Natural Disasters push humanity into despair and collapse?’

The happiness from the strawberries completely vanished. Xiaqing’s expression grew grim. "Brother Luo, that’s terrifying."

Luo Pei nodded. "That’s why this hasn’t been made public. Xiaqing, what’s your relationship with your sheep like?"

Xiaqing knew why Luo Pei was asking. Although she had only been with Sheep Leader for a little over two months, she trusted it completely. "We share a territory and the edible plants within it. We already see each other as companions. Of course, if the wolf comes looking for it and it sides with the wolf against me, then it will no longer be my companion."

Yang Jin, who had been looking down and eating cucumber slices, spoke up. "You let the Evolutionary Sheep take food outside the territory to wait for the wolf because you want to test their relationship?"

"Yes." In front of the two powerful figures, Xiaqing didn’t hide her plan. "If my sheep is just food being raised by that wolf, this is a good chance to lure it out and eliminate the threat. If my sheep and that wolf are companions, maybe I can get a little something out of it, too."

Luo Pei was surprised. "You want to form an alliance with a wolf? Evolutionary Wolves are extremely intelligent, and their fighting strength is immense. Humans have been trying to tame wolves or form partnerships with them for years, but right now, we can’t even peacefully coexist with them. What you’re doing is a bit risky."

Xiaqing shook her head. "That’s the best-case, and also most unlikely, scenario. I was thinking that if I could establish a connection with the Wolf Group through Sheep Leader, I might open up another channel for trading resources. That Head Wolf is extremely smart, and it lives in the Evolution Forest. It must have a lot of good stuff."

After Xiaqing left, Luo Pei couldn’t help but sigh. "To think she actually wants to trade resources with a wolf... No wonder you like her. It’s been ten years since the Natural Disasters began, and there are fewer and fewer people who still have that spark in their eyes."

These days, apart from the children of great families under protection, most of humanity lived in a state of numbness, despair, indulgence, and madness. But in Xiaqing, who had no one to rely on, Luo Pei saw no trace of pessimism or indulgence. She was low-key, clear-headed, independent, and principled, full of hope for the future.

Seeing Xiaqing made Luo Pei feel that humanity still had a future.

Yang Jin kept munching on his cucumber without responding. He liked Xiaqing. It was something that went without saying, and something he couldn’t say.

Because Xiaqing had no intention of getting a boyfriend; she just wanted to live her life on her own terms. Before, she was single-mindedly focused on learning various skills for independent living. Now that she had mastered those skills and left the Safe Zone, she was single-mindedly focused on farming to improve her life.

She had been alone all these years, and it was foreseeable that she would remain so for a long time to come.

Strictly speaking, she wasn’t alone anymore. She had a companion—a silly sheep.

’In her eyes, I’m probably just a trading partner who’s easy on the eyes, and that’s it.’

In Xiaqing’s eyes, he couldn’t even compare to a silly sheep. How could the ever-proud Yang Jin bring himself to say it out loud?

Seeing Yang Jin remain silent, Luo Pei grinned. "Don’t tell me you don’t like her. If the Third Territory didn’t belong to Xiaqing, you would have taken it long ago."

Yang Jin finished the cucumbers in Luo Pei’s fruit bowl as well, then leaned back in his chair and asked, "Brother Luo, how much of your strength have you recovered?"

’He’s not answering or denying it. Looks like he really does like Xiaqing. When did that start?’ Luo Pei knew that when this guy didn’t want to talk, you couldn’t pry it out of him even if you knocked his teeth out. He stopped wasting his effort and answered directly, "About seventy percent. In a month, I should be back to ninety percent. What’s your plan?"

"When you’re back to ninety percent, I’ll go track that wolf." Yang Jin’s mind was working like an abacus. "The Head Wolf most likely knows there’s an uncontaminated water source in the Third Territory, but it hasn’t taken firm control of the territory. That leaves only one possibility: there’s another uncontaminated water source within its core territory."

Luo Pei’s eyes lit up as well. "Bring more supplies that the wolf might be interested in. Xiaqing has a good point. If you can trade resources with the wolves, you shouldn’t fight them."

’Trade? I wish.’ Yang Jin lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and said slowly, "If we weren’t evenly matched, one of us would have died yesterday."

Luo Pei was feeling much better and was in the mood for a joke. "A male wolf?"

Among Evolutionary Wolves, males are more territorial than females and will attack immediately upon discovering an intruder in their core territory.

Yang Jin was speechless for a few seconds. "Female."

Luo Pei laughed, then got down to business. "The Safe Zone will definitely make trouble for us because of the Evolutionary Wolf and the wild boar. Can Xie Yu handle them alone?"

How could the Iron Rooster Yang Jin leave such a loophole in a deal? "No need to handle anything. I signed a document. Starting from the third month after I bought the mountain, I’ll send people to guard it. If any dangerous Evolutionary Biology comes down the mountain before then, it has nothing to do with us."

Luo Pei was impressed. "It’s a real shame a brain as smart as yours didn’t evolve. Otherwise, you’d have taken over the entire Blue Star."

Xiaqing went home and had three hot scallion pancakes for lunch. After a short nap, she put on her wide-brimmed straw hat, shouldered her water bicycle, and headed to the fields with Sheep Leader.

After more than a month of being fed with fodder and Evolved Insects, the largest of the fish fry in the pond had grown to three centimeters long, big enough to be caught and fried.

As long as she fed them well, the fry would definitely grow to be palm-sized by the end of July. The dried fish were all ready; could her cat be far behind? The more Xiaqing thought about it, the happier she became. After lavishing praise on Sheep Leader, who was pedaling furiously on the water wheel, she went to inspect her farmland.

Xiaqing first went to the planting area on the low slope north of the reservoir. She carefully pinched off a spinach leaf and, after confirming the spinach seeds weren’t mature yet, continued uphill. The beans, eggplants, tomatoes, and peppers had all flowered and were bearing fruit. In a little over half a month, her dinner table would be much more abundant.

As Xiaqing passed by each vegetable seedling and the cucumber and bean trellises, she would shake the plants or the bamboo frames to manually pollinate them. Actually, if it was windy, there would be no need for manual shaking, but for her own peace of mind, Xiaqing still shook every vegetable plant inside the insect-proof netting.

Passing the cucumber vines, Xiaqing plucked an open male flower and pressed it against a female flower to pollinate it. Then, she casually plucked the excess male flowers and stuck them on her straw hat. By the time she walked out from under the insect-proof netting of the planting area below the spring, her hat was adorned with more than a dozen fresh cucumber blossoms.

She put her hat back on and continued walking uphill.

Any insects attracted by the fragrance of the cucumber flowers were promptly killed by Xiaqing and stuffed into her small basket. As she passed the spring, Xiaqing washed the spinach leaf and popped it into her mouth, continuing on her way up.

Zhang San was a picky eater, and his favorite food was spinach leaves. Although Xiaqing didn’t find spinach leaves particularly delicious, she wouldn’t waste a single piece of a Green Light vegetable.