Chapter 383: Sea of Death

Chapter 383: Chapter 383: Sea of Death

The Sea of Death in Lan City was one of humanity’s forbidden zones on the evolved Blue Star. She hadn’t expected to find a spring there, let alone spinach growing beside it.

In that case, Yang Jin’s plan was indeed less risky than Xiaqing’s.

’Choosing this plan means I’ll earn a lot fewer points, but safety is more important than points.’

’I won’t have to plant spinach over a large area next year, which will save me several Yi Stones. And I won’t have to wrack my brains trying to find Handsome Wolf Brother with the broken waist to trade.’

Xiaqing nodded. "Your plan is better than mine."

Yang Jin jostled the winnowing basket again. "Let’s finish collecting all the spinach seeds first and get an exact count."

The two of them chatted idly while collecting the spinach seeds. Half an hour later, they had finished gathering and counting them all. They were able to finish so quickly because Yang Jin’s hands moved incredibly fast, making Xiaqing burn with envy all over again.

"27,682 seeds in total." After learning the total, Yang Jin started doing the math. "We need to cultivate Cordyceps Fungus, so you need to keep 2,250..."

The Special Level Nutrient Liquid produced by High Yi Element Spinach could quickly restore stamina. It also had some restorative effect on physical injuries, but it couldn’t heal damage caused by the Harmful Element.

Cordyceps Fungus, cultivated using Pollution-free Spring Water and High Yi Element Spinach, was the primary ingredient for medicine that treated Harmful Element damage.

Even after High Yi Element Spinach cultivation became widespread, the pollution-free water required to grow Cordyceps Fungus would remain a scarce resource. This meant Cordyceps Fungus could not be cultivated in large quantities. Consequently, its price wouldn’t drop, and growing it would remain profitable.

"Captain Yang."

Xiaqing interrupted him. "The spinach seeds for the Cordyceps Fungus don’t need to come from this batch. I planted another patch of spinach in my fields and harvested 8,420 second-generation seeds. I gave 2,000 to Brother San, so I still have 6,420 left."

A glint flashed in Yang Jin’s eyes. "Your caution is spot on. You previously gave Brother San 400 first-generation seeds, and now you’re giving him 2,000 second-generation ones. The quality of the second-generation seeds is slightly worse than the first, so he’ll assume the first-generation seeds were a cultivable, evolved variety that came from last year’s Green Light Spinach. He won’t suspect that your territory has a spring or a Yi Stone."

Xiaqing wasn’t so sure. "I think Brother San has already guessed that I have a Yi Stone or a spring. The eggs my chickens lay are better than the ones from Territory Land No. 7. But he hasn’t asked anything about it, he just told me not to trade the native plants or eggs from my territory with anyone else."

"He doesn’t know you have a spring in your territory," Yang Jin said with conviction. "But he probably knows you have a Yi Stone, because you built a food storage room in your territory."

"In late January this year, Zhang San sent his research assistant to this collection of territories. After extensive sampling and soil analysis, they selected Territory Land No. 7. Brother Luo later asked him why he chose it, and he said the area of soil rich in Yi and selenium was much larger there than in the other territories. He definitely hadn’t discovered the spring at that time. Otherwise, he never would have given up the Third Territory."

Xiaqing hadn’t heard this before and listened intently.

"Brother Luo asked him about the selenium and Yi Element content in other areas, and he said a few areas were high, but not very large." Yang Jin speculated, "The soil with high Yi Element content in your territory must be these terraces. But because the area is small and on a hillside, Brother San didn’t choose it."

"So, when it comes to your high-quality chickens, Brother San would just assume it’s because you’re growing vegetables on this patch of quality soil and feeding the leaves to them. All the Gao Yi Element Soil in Territory Land No. 7 is used for growing research plants or medicinal herbs. They couldn’t bear to use it for chicken feed."

Hearing Yang Jin’s explanation, Xiaqing felt a mix of worry and relief. "It’s a good thing Brother San’s people didn’t find the spring when they were taking samples."

Yang Jin was more cautious. "Maybe it just happened to be the spring’s dry season?"

"That’s very possible."

The territory had been cleared by late January, and Xiaqing had returned to the Safe Zone, so she had no way of knowing if the spring was in its dry season then.

Just in case, she decided to stockpile more spring water in December. Once she had a plan for this potential crisis, her thoughts turned to her idol’s affairs. "Captain Yang, for a big shot at Brother San’s level, how much spring water does he get per month?"

Pollution-free Spring Water was mainly used for pharmaceutical research, breeding programs, and medical aid. Because the spring water was so scarce, the amount allocated to researchers at the base was extremely limited. This was why organizations like Fire Phoenix could use spring water to recruit pharmaceutical and botanical experts.

Yang Jin didn’t know about anyone else’s allotment, but he knew Zhang San’s. "It’s 250 liters right now. After Brother Luo was poisoned, Brother San had just gotten his share for the month and gave 200 liters straight to me."

’250 liters has to be the largest allocation among all the researchers at our base.’ Her idol must have a ton of research projects that require Pollution-free Spring Water. Giving 200 liters to Yang Jin was incredibly generous.

"The spring water Zhang San uses for research isn’t supplied by Hui San Base." Seeing the look of vicarious pride on Xiaqing’s face, Yang Jin added a reminder, "250 liters should be enough for Brother San’s needs. Don’t tell him about your spring. He has a lot of spies around him."

Xiaqing nodded. "I understand."

Ji Li, Yan Long, and the others in Territory Land No. 7 were tasked with both protecting the big shot, Zhang San, and monitoring his activities. They weren’t entirely under his command, which was why Zhang San had kept his trade with Xiaqing for the injury-healing medicine a secret from them.

Yang Jin went back to his calculations. "We harvested a total of 27,682 seeds from these terraces. Because the spinach seeds have hard shells, we can’t test for any ’accidental’ varieties, so we’ll count them all as first-generation. How many do you plan on keeping?"

Xiaqing answered, "600."

She still had 600 seeds from the first harvest, and with another 600 from this second one, she’d have more than enough.

Yang Jin continued, "Before you knew the quality of these seeds, you had already agreed to trade 6,721 of them to me. According to the rules of our trade, this number cannot be changed. Do you have any objections?"

"None." Those were the rules of the trade, and Xiaqing had no objections.

"Alright." Yang Jin looked up, smiled at Xiaqing, and stuffed a bag of seeds into a pocket of his Protective Suit before continuing. "The supplies you just received from me cost a total of 1.46 million points. Since you were planning to partner with me on the spinach breeding project, we temporarily valued the seeds at 100 points apiece, so you paid me with 14,600 seeds."

"Since we didn’t go through with the breeding partnership, we can void the 100-point-per-seed valuation for the trade." After saying this, Yang Jin took the seeds that were sitting on the bag of spinach stalks and returned them to the main pile. "You owe me 1.46 million."

"Thank you." Xiaqing expressed her gratitude. ’The Iron Rooster really does stick to the rules of a deal.’

Yang Jin smiled again and confirmed with Xiaqing, "So, I’ll take 20,361 of these first-generation seeds to negotiate a deal with the Base Commander?"

After Xiaqing nodded, Yang Jin handed her a bag with her 600 seeds, then stuffed the rest into his pockets. "The final sale price for these should be around 300 points apiece."

Xiaqing added a reminder, "I can accept a lower price, too. It would be best if you can get the Base Commander to increase the patrol forces in our territory. Even if they can’t increase the number of personnel, maybe they can add more Evolvers to the patrol or upgrade the investigation team’s equipment."