Chapter 378: Brain Domain Evolution, the Iron Rooster Arrives

Chapter 378: Chapter 378: Brain Domain Evolution, the Iron Rooster Arrives

Although the two Pythons provided plenty of skin, its hardness and uses varied by body part. Key areas of the Protective Equipment also required two or three layers of Python Skin. So, after making five sets of gear, the remaining skin was only enough for Xiaqing to make five pairs of gloves, two shoulder guards, and two pairs of wrist guards.

Xiaqing stored every piece away carefully, determined to put each one to good use.

’Once this Protective Equipment wears out, I’ll just go to the lake North of Mountain No. 60 and haul back two Pythons myself.’

Xiaqing was supremely confident that in five years, she would be just as powerful as Yan Long—the one Yang Jin had recorded single-handedly fighting five Giant Pythons.

Feeling quite pleased with herself, Xiaqing returned to the High Slope terraces. She draped the double-layered rainproof cloth over the iron frame above the spinach patch, secured the corners, and carefully reached in with her long-handled shears to snip a spinach leaf.

This time, something was different.

The snipped spinach plant trembled slightly, and then the spinach seeds at its tip shot out in all directions. Xiaqing didn’t have time to retract the shears; she quickly pinched the opening in the rainproof cloth shut with her hand.

The exploding spinach seeds pierced the other spinach plants, setting off a chain reaction. The rainproof cloth bulged from the blasts, resembling an evolved mushroom experiencing an internal explosion.

This time, Xiaqing managed to see the exact moment the spinach seeds exploded: the snipped spinach plant trembled from the external stimulus, the green outer husk encasing the seeds contracted sharply, and the yellowish-green seeds within were launched out.

Xiaqing wasn’t the least bit surprised that the green husk had evolved such power. This was the evolved Blue Star, after all, and this was evolved spinach.

The spinach seeds were ripe. Xiaqing smiled and sent a message to Hu Zifeng.

She already had a sales agreement with Yang Jin for this patch of spinach. The plants had to be sold to the Green Dragon Team immediately after harvest, and a portion of the spinach seeds would be used to repay a debt.

To her surprise, the person who came to the Third Territory to pick up the goods wasn’t Hu Zifeng. It was the Green Dragon Team’s Brain Domain Evolver, the notorious Iron Rooster, the captain who was a master of using his good looks to get his way—Yang Jin!

Seeing his smile, more beautiful than the ever-changing colors of cotton, the hair on Xiaqing’s arms stood on end. She forced herself to clear her mind and focus all her attention on dealing with this guy.

’If I don’t give this my all, he’ll rip me off in a heartbeat.’

The North Gate’s security system didn’t have Yang Jin’s biometrics registered, so Xiaqing stood stiffly and formally by the entrance, scanning her own face to open the gate and let him in. "I wasn’t expecting you to come in person, so I haven’t finished preparing the goods for trade."

Yang Jin pretended not to see how nervous she was and avoided looking directly at her face so as not to make her even more tense. He stuck to a topic he knew would interest her. "No problem, I came specifically to learn. The spinach seeds from our last trade have already sprouted. I heard they explode when they mature. How did you set up protection? May I go in and take a look?"

"Of course... you can."

Xiaqing led Yang Jin to the High Slope terraces and had him help her remove the rainproof cloth covering the spinach.

The inner rainproof cloth was embedded with numerous seeds. Xiaqing didn’t have time to deal with them just then, so she bundled the cloth together. Turning around, she saw Yang Jin examining the spinach plants, which were riddled with holes from the seed explosions. She quickly explained, "Green Light Spinach plants always look like this at harvest. The ones I sold to Brother San were the same."

’Is she worried I’ll see the poor condition of the spinach and use it as an excuse to haggle?’

Yang Jin smiled. "It’s fine if they’re a little damaged, as long as they can still be juiced and processed. To prevent the Yi Element in the juice from evaporating, shall we start harvesting and bagging them quickly?"

"Okay." Since Yang Jin didn’t ask for a lower price, Xiaqing immediately began harvesting the spinach plants.

Yang Jin mimicked her actions, cutting the spinach plants, rolling up the ground cover, and pulling out the spinach roots. As a Speed Evolver, he quickly surpassed her pace.

When they finished harvesting one terrace, Yang Jin had already collected one more bag of spinach than Xiaqing. As he straightened up, his eyes met her admiring gaze.

’This is the first time the person I cherish most has looked at me with admiration and envy... and it’s not for my superior combat prowess, but for being incredibly fast at farm work.’

Yang Jin’s heart felt as if a small hand had gripped it tightly. An indescribable, tingling warmth spread uncontrollably through his limbs and up to his head. He straightened up, cleared his throat, and asked as calmly as he could, "Should we weigh it now?"

The total weight of the spinach—roots, stems, and leaves—from the terrace came to 614 pounds. At the agreed-upon price, that was worth 368,400 points, enough for Xiaqing to build an iron mesh fence and a half.

She felt extremely pleased, but she maintained a calm expression. "Should we have Captain Hu come pick them up, or should I deliver the spinach to you?"

Besides the three leaders of the Green Dragon Team, only Hu Zifeng knew about Xiaqing’s spinach deal, so they couldn’t call on other Strength Evolvers. But it was only a little over 600 pounds of goods; Hu Zifeng and Yang Jin could certainly handle that.

Yang Jin contacted Hu Zifeng, then said to Xiaqing, "I’ll have him come get it. Shall we start collecting the spinach seeds?"

Xiaqing, who owed the Green Dragon Team over six thousand spinach seeds, nodded. She spread out the bundled ground cover, and the two of them sat on opposite sides and began picking out the seeds.

This farm chore required a winnowing basket to separate the rotten leaves and dirt from the spinach seeds, followed by hand-picking out any small stones.

After Yang Jin got the hang of it, he put his speed advantage on full display. He soon noticed Xiaqing’s gaze lingering on his hands, and the corners of his mouth turned up. "I saw you blocked off the exit to the Zone Three Valley of Mountain No. 49, by the isolation belt?"

’Yang Jin must have just gotten here. Hu Zifeng probably hasn’t had time to report what happened last night yet,’ Xiaqing figured. She explained, "The Wolf Group drove more than twenty wild boars into the valley last night. They traded resources with me in exchange for blocking the valley’s three exits to keep the boars from escaping."

Yang Jin looked up, his smile devastatingly handsome. "So the Wolf Group really is using that valley to raise wild boars. The Head Wolf and Broken Waist Wolf jumped into the Wild Boar Breeding Center’s enclosure, killed the penned boars, and then howled a warning to the humans who were stealing their prey. Yet, the human who discovered those boars and struck first ended up befriending the Wolf Group."

The scar by the corner of Yang Jin’s eye hadn’t faded, but his smile was still so handsome it made Xiaqing’s head swim. ’I wish I could just run out, catch a Little Wild Boar, and roast it for him right now.’

’But that’s impossible. No matter how handsome his smile is, it’s impossible!’

"We’re not exactly friends. We just discovered that we each have resources the other needs, so we established a trade relationship," Xiaqing said humbly, looking down to pick at the stones and change the subject. "I think the Wolf Group’s free-range method of raising boars is better than the Safe Zone’s, where they’re penned up in enclosures of just a few square meters."

Yang Jin absolutely loved the feeling of working alongside her while they talked. "For now, the breeding centers haven’t managed to select and cultivate a breed of Yi Evolution wild boar that’s suitable for free-ranging, which is why they can’t use that method."

If wild boars with a low resistance to the Harmful Element were allowed to roam free in the valley, they would eat plants with high concentrations of it. Their own internal Harmful Element levels would then rise, turning them into Red Light Animals, which are unsafe for direct human consumption.