Under Xia Qing’s watchful gaze, the evolved sheep walked over to a small Chinese toon tree, raised its head, and with a sharp *crunch*, bit off and ate the freshly grown tender sprout at the top of the tree.
Xia Qing glanced at the small Chinese toon tree, which was now missing a section of its branch, before staring with wide eyes at the constantly chewing mouth of this sheep, which had a highly punchable expression on its face.
Could this sheep’s evolution be… dental evolution?
After swallowing the toon sprouts, the small-tailed sheep looked up at Xia Qing again. Seeing her remaining motionless, its eyes narrowed even further. It took a few steps back, scraped its front hooves on the ground, and then… charged violently at the Great Catalpa Tree.
*Bang!*
Xia Qing hugged the violently shaking tree trunk, her heart shuddering along with it.
No need to guess—this was a strength-evolved sheep! Why was it ramming the tree? Did it want to shake her down?
This was her first time encountering an evolved sheep. Did this thing eat meat after evolving?
*Bang!*
The evolved sheep rammed the trunk hard once more. Seeing that Xia Qing still hugged the trunk without moving, the fellow suddenly spun around, aiming its spiraled horns right at Xia Qing’s basket left at the foot of the tree.
Xia Qing’s heart leaped into her throat in fright, and she shouted, “Don’t!”
Seeing the sheep halt, Xia Qing immediately followed up, “Big brother, we can talk this out. Don’t smash it.”
The sheep didn’t ram it, but it began scraping its hooves, preparing for a charge. Xia Qing instantly snapped off two clusters of toon sprouts and threw them over. “Big brother, eat some toon sprouts. This stuff tastes way better than ginger and garlic.”
The evolved sheep stopped its hooves, lowered its head to take the two clusters of toon sprouts into its mouth, and ate them.
Seeing that the sheep loved eating toon sprouts, Xia Qing immediately snapped off a few more clusters and threw them down, luring it away from her precious basket.
Xia Qing didn’t know how massive the sheep’s appetite was, but this evolved sheep ate a full hundred clusters of toon sprouts before lying down on the ground in satisfaction, no longer ramming the tree or eyeing Xia Qing’s basket.
Evolved animals were divided into two categories: Qiang-evolved animals, which absorbed more Qiang element than Yi element, making them bad-tempered and highly aggressive; and Yi-evolved animals, which absorbed more Yi element than Qiang element, retaining their original habits. Since this sheep stopped causing trouble once it was full, it was likely a Yi-evolved animal.
Xia Qing felt a bit more relieved. After snapping off a full backpack’s worth of toon sprouts, she leaped down from the tree, picked up her basket, and continued her exploration. The evolved sheep lying under the Chinese toon tree swept a glance at Xia Qing before closing its eyes halfway to continue resting.
There were a total of five households on this hillside. After searching all five homes without any new harvests, Xia Qing returned to the Great Catalpa Tree. She dug up a few sprouted Chinese toon seedlings, planning to transplant them into her territory.
“Baa.”
Seeing that Xia Qing was about to leave, the evolved sheep suddenly let out a cry.
Xia Qing turned around. Seeing the sheep staring at her backpack, she was momentarily speechless. “You still want to eat toon sprouts?”
“Baa.”
“Didn’t you just eat your fill?”
“Baa.”
“I’m leaving. I’ll pick some for you next time we meet.” Xia Qing turned to leave as soon as she finished speaking, but to her surprise, the sheep actually stood up, scraped its hooves, and pointed its spiraled horns at her.
Fuck!
Xia Qing’s temper flared up as well. She set her basket and Chinese toon seedlings aside and fell into a stance. “Come on then! Let’s see which of us has more strength!”
The evolved sheep lunged right in front of Xia Qing, rearing its front hooves and jutting its head forward to ram her with its pair of spiraled horns.
Xia Qing raised her hands to block, shouting, “Get off!”
But instead of pushing the sheep away, she was the one sent flying by its ram.
Xia Qing leaped back up with a backward roll and immediately became cooperative. “Do you want toon sprouts?”
“Baa.”
“Alright.” Xia Qing dumped all the toon sprouts in her backpack onto the ground. “Eat up.”
The sheep cast a disdainful look at Xia Qing, then lay down on the ground guarding the toon sprouts, slowly chewing its cud.
Acknowledgeing that she lacked the strength to beat it, Xia Qing climbed back up the tree and picked half a basket of toon sprouts before climbing down.
Seeing the evolved sheep standing up to stare at her again, Xia Qing poured some spring water into a broken clay pot nearby and pushed it in front of the sheep. “Tired of eating? Have some water.”
The evolved sheep lowered its head, sniffed it, and began to drink.
Xia Qing seized the opportunity to snatch up her Chinese toon seedlings and basket, then bolted down the hillside without looking back, crossing the isolation belt and returning to her buffer forest. Looking back to see that the sheep hadn’t pursued her, she couldn’t help but burst into hearty laughter.
It had been a very, very long time since she had felt so exhilarated.
Although she couldn’t match the evolved sheep’s raw strength, she had weapons and was reasonably confident she could kill it. However, the sheep was clever and incredibly strong; Xia Qing didn’t want to kill it—she wanted to raise it.
If she ran into it again in the afternoon, she would just use toon sprouts and spring water to lure it back to her territory.
Because she had run too fast, the soil clinging to the roots of the Chinese toon seedlings had been shaken off, and she wasn’t sure if they would survive the transplanting. Xia Qing planted two of the seedlings by the spring water and the other five near her courtyard, thoroughly watering them with spring water.
If this didn’t work, she could always go back to the Evolution Forest to pick toon sprouts whenever she craved them. After all, from her observations of that hillside, there were no traces of other large animals besides that sheep.
After planting the toon trees, Xia Qing returned inside to look up planting techniques for ginger and garlic. She then broke the ginger into seven pieces along its buds and separated the garlic bulb into individual cloves. Wrapping them in as much of their original soil as possible, she planted them in the western yard vegetable garden she had cleared, watering them abundantly with spring water.
With the vegetables planted, Xia Qing scooped out the toon sprouts that had been soaking in saltwater, blanched them with boiling water, chopped them up, and mixed them evenly with salt and chili powder before sealing them inside glass jars sterilized with hot water.
These two jars of toon chili would be enough to last her a month.
With such a bountiful harvest this morning, Xia Qing indulged in a rare luxury. She poured a bit of oil, stir-fried a large plate of toon sprouts, ate her fill alongside some compressed rations, and then sprawled out on a chair.
This life was truly too comfortable.
To keep living this comfortably, she had to work hard. After cleaning up the kitchen, Xia Qing locked the door and headed straight for the back hill carrying two drinking water buckets. Placing the buckets under the spring eye and blocking it with stones to direct the flow, she crossed the isolation belt once more, put on her protective mask, and slipped into the Evolution Forest.
To avoid that greedy sheep guarding the Chinese toon tree, Xia Qing chose to explore the Evolution Forest north of Territory No. 4.
This time she was even more cautious. After cresting a hillside over three hundred meters high, Xia Qing discovered a valley. The valley was covered in dense forest, and she could faintly make out terraced fields on the slopes, a pond in the valley, and dilapidated houses.
A valley with a pond and dense forest was many times more dangerous than an open hillside. Just as Xia Qing was deciding to turn back, she faintly caught the sound of small wild boars grunting near the pond.
Wild boar, meat!
Small wild boars—meat that she could actually catch!
Craving meat, Xia Qing gritted her teeth, gripped her machete, and crept down the mountain with light steps. The sounds of the wild boars grew louder and louder. Soon, a brownish-black female wild boar appeared by the pond. Judging by her size, she weighed at least three hundred jin, her body caked in a thick layer of mud.
A wild boar of this size couldn’t even be pierced by shotgun slugs, let alone the machete in her hand. However, her target wasn’t this large one. Xia Qing shifted her gaze to the several small wild boars playing beside the mother.
Banxia Novel, so much joy.