After patrolling the area, Tan Junjie told his team to return to camp first, while he carried a vegetable basket into plot number one. The Azure Dragon team members, hiding in the trees, jumped down and saluted, "Teacher Tan."
The Azure Dragon team was formed by students from Military Academy A. Tan Junjie had been an instructor at that academy before the natural disaster, and the core members of the Azure Dragon team were all students he had taught (trained).
"Some vegetables." Following the Azure Dragon team's rules, Tan Junjie handed the basket over for the team members to inspect carefully before going to find his old comrade-in-arms, Luo Pei.
Luo Pei had only been leading the team to plot number one for two days, but the yard was completely different from when the previous wave of lords had been there. All the clutter had been cleared away, and there wasn't even a blade of grass on the ground; it looked bright and spacious.
Luo Pei, who was sunbathing on a recliner with his eyes covered by gauze, heard footsteps and slowly sat up. "You've already finished patrolling?"
"There are only ten plots in total." Placing the basket next to Luo Pei, Tan Junjie sat on a chair that his team members had brought out.
Tan Junjie and Luo Pei were classmates and comrades-in-arms. After the great evolution of life on Earth, Tan Junjie developed level four speed abilities, while Luo Pei gained level ten vision abilities. As their strengths diverged, their paths changed, but the camaraderie they forged through ten years of fighting together remained unchanged.
Despite his injury, Luo Pei forced himself to endure, not revealing a trace of Tan Junjie's inner turmoil. "These are the evolved perilla and toon sprouts Xia Qing gave you from Territory Three. The evolved perilla has an elemental content of 1.3, and the toon sprouts are probably even lower."
Luo Pei fumbled to open the basket lid, and after smelling the toon sprouts, he exclaimed, "When clearing this area of evolved forest, there's absolutely no way you could have missed edible plants with such low content. Are these newly grown this year?"
Tan Junjie explained, "Not the area you cleared, but the one on the hillside further north of Territory Three. I traded that hillside with Xia Qing for a Green Lantern boar. Didn't Yang Jin mention it to you?"
Luo Pei lay back down. "He's a taciturn workaholic; he never utters a word of idle chatter."
It seemed Yang Jin hadn't mentioned Xia Qing to Luo Pei. Tan Junjie didn't say anything more. He took out a high-end testing device and tested the toon sprouts, then exclaimed with delight, "The toon sprouts only contain 0.25% toxic elements! Eat more of them; it'll be good for your health."
Luo Pei smiled, "Take these back for Qiqi. I'll trade with Xia Qing later. I remember that girl; she's quite good."
Tan Junjie's daughter, Tan Qi, was currently only showing a three-times evolution speed. She was young and had the potential for further evolution, so eating safe food would benefit her growth and development.
Tan Junjie put away the testing device. "I'll trade with Xia Qing for Qiqi's using supplies. She didn't trade toon sprouts with other lords, so don't mention it in the lord's private chat channel."
Luo Pei snorted, "Do you think I'm as gossipy as you? By the way, if you don't have what she wants, just tell me."
Tan Junjie definitely couldn't use military supplies to trade toon sprouts with Xia Qing for his daughter's sake. Although Luo Pei had left the safe zone, he remained a core member of the Azure Dragon team, making it easier for him to obtain supplies than for Tan Junjie.
Tan Junjie didn't mince words with Luo Pei. "Who else should I talk to? By the way, have the Tang family in your eastern plot number two made any moves these past few days?"
"They haven't, and they wouldn't dare. Even though I'm almost blind, I still have the strength to crush a few ants."
His old comrade's voice was calm, but Tan Junjie could still detect his anger. "Yang Jin and Xie Yu are definitely trying to find a way. You're definitely not blind. Study the Territory Law more often. The information on those seven people in plot number two says they're ordinary people, but there are definitely eavesdropping experts hiding there. Be careful, don't fall into their trap."
Luo Pei nodded. "You don't need to worry about me here."
Tan Junjie wanted to put him at ease, so he smiled and said, "You can associate with Xia Qing more. She raises a power-evolved sheep called Boss Sheep. It has a bad temper and a strong personality; it's quite interesting."
Tan Junjie was just as talkative as Su Ming in front of his old teammate.
Luo Pei chuckled, "Sheep Boss is a good name."
Luo Pei didn't disturb Xia Qing, continuing to quietly recuperate in her territory. Xia Qing was also busy in her territory.
Five days later, the temperature rose again, and the sprouts of the evolved potatoes finally became visible. Xia Qing cut the potatoes into pieces according to the sprouts, rolled them in wood ash to coat the cut surfaces, and let them dry for half a day before planting them.
Potatoes require the same soil as sweet potatoes, so Xia Qing planted the potatoes next to the sweet potatoes.
After planting the potatoes, the elm seeds in plot six were ready to eat. Xia Qing traded one pound of evolved perilla for three pounds of elm seeds, and the test confirmed they were indeed yellow-light food. She used the elm seeds, cornmeal, and wheat flour to make a pot of crooked elm seed buns. They tasted so good that she almost swallowed her tongue, and she even fought with Sheep Boss to protect them, accidentally damaging the newly built courtyard wall.
The cornbread was so delicious that Xia Qing stopped clearing weeds and tidying the yard, and instead coaxed the sulking Sheep Boss to find an elm tree.
There were still a few elm trees in the territory.
First, on the west slope, Xia Qing broke off a branch of an elm tree laden with elm seeds and offered it to the Sheep Boss. "Boss, want to try this?"
Seeing the Sheep Boss disdainfully turn its head away, Xia Qing knew without testing that the elm seeds on this tree were inedible.
Throw it away, next tree.
After searching for over an hour, Xia Qing moved from the west slope to the north slope, and then to the high slope of the new territory, breaking off more than a dozen elm branches.
All the elm trees in her territory were inedible, and the Sheep Boss's traps were becoming increasingly difficult to find.
Xia Qing wasn't too disappointed, because this was normal. If edible plants were so easy to find, so many people wouldn't die from food poisoning.
Xia Qing picked some toon sprouts for the eldest sheep, letting it eat under the tree, and went to check on the scallion seedlings in the abandoned garden on the high slope.
Since this was now her territory, Xia Qing didn't risk moving the scallion seedlings. Instead, she cleared the garden, fenced it off, and let them continue to grow in their original place.
Sure enough, many more tiny, needle-like shoots sprouted from her two patches of yellow scallion seedlings. Xia Qing happily squatted in the garden, weeding and counting the seedlings.
As she counted, Xia Qing felt something was wrong.
These scallion seedlings looked exactly like the chive seedlings Qi Fu had given her.
With her exceptionally advanced visual senses, Xia Qing carefully examined the "scallion seedlings" in both gardens. After picking and tasting some, Xia Qing finally confirmed that the two gardens on the high slope didn't only contain scallions, but rather a mixture of scallions and chives.
An unexpected delight, an unexpected delight! Xia Qing, with a scallion leaf dangling from her mouth, watered the seedlings with spring water while humming a little tune.
As she hummed, Xia Qing heard footsteps coming from the direction of the wild boar breeding center.