Under Xia Qing's watchful gaze, the evolved sheep walked to a small toon tree, raised its head, and snapped off a tender bud just sprouting from the top.
Xia Qing glanced at the toon tree with its bitten branch before staring wide-eyed at the sheep's incessantly chewing mouth, its expression undeniably irritating.
Could this sheep be...having evolved teeth?
After swallowing the toon bud, the little sheep looked up at Xia Qing again. Seeing that Xia Qing remained motionless, its eyes narrowed even more, it took a few steps back, pawed at its front hooves, and then... charged suddenly at the large toon tree.
Bang!
Xia Qing clung to the violently shaking tree trunk, her heart jolting.
No need to guess, this was a strength-evolved sheep! Why was it ramming the tree? Was it trying to shake herself off?
This was the first time she'd encountered an evolved sheep. Did these things eat meat after evolving?
Bang! The evolved sheep rammed the tree trunk again. Seeing Xia Qing still clinging to the trunk, it suddenly turned, its spiraling horns aimed at Xia Qing's basket placed under the tree.
Xia Qing was terrified and shouted, "No!"
Seeing the sheep stop moving, Xia Qing immediately called out again, "Big brother, we can talk this over, don't ram it."
The sheep didn't ram the tree, but it started pawing at the ground in preparation. Xia Qing immediately broke off two bunches of toon sprouts and threw them over, "Big brother, eat some toon sprouts, they're much tastier than ginger and garlic."
The evolved sheep withdrew its hooves, lowered its head, and picked up the two bunches of toon sprouts, eating them.
Seeing that the sheep loved toon sprouts, Xia Qing immediately broke off a few more bunches and threw them down, luring it away from his precious basket.
Xia Qing didn't know how much the sheep could eat, but this evolved sheep ate over a hundred bunches of toon sprouts before finally lying down contentedly, no longer ramming the tree or eyeing Xia Qing's basket.
Evolved animals are divided into two types: those that absorb more harmful elements than beneficial elements, becoming irritable and aggressive; and those that absorb more beneficial elements than harmful elements, maintaining their original habits. This sheep, having eaten its fill, stopped causing trouble; it must be a beneficial evolved animal.
Xia Qing felt relieved. After filling his backpack with toon sprouts, he jumped under the tree, picked his basket, and continued exploring. The evolved sheep lying under the toon tree glanced at Xia Qing, then continued resting with its eyes half-closed.
There were five households on this hillside. Xia Qing visited all five but found nothing new. He returned to the large toon tree, dug up a few sprouting saplings, and planned to transplant them to his territory.
"Baa."
The evolved sheep suddenly bleated as Xia Qing was about to leave.
Xia Qing turned around and saw the sheep staring at her backpack. Speechless, she said, "I still want to eat toon sprouts."
"Baa."
"Didn't you just eat?"
"Baa."
"I'm leaving. I'll break some for you next time we meet." Xia Qing said and walked away, but the sheep suddenly stood up, pawed at her, and pointed its spiral horns at her.
Damn it!
Xia Qing got angry too, put her basket and toon saplings aside, and got into a fighting stance. "Come on, let's see who's stronger!"
The evolved sheep charged at Xia Qing, raised its front hooves, and thrust its head forward, charging at her with its spiral horns.
Xia Qing raised her hand to block, shouting, "Get out of the way!"
Then, instead of pushing the sheep away, she was knocked away by the sheep.
Xia Qing did a backflip and jumped up, becoming obedient. "Want some toon sprouts?"
"Baa."
"Okay." Xia Qing dumped all the toon sprouts from her backpack onto the ground. "Eat up."
The sheep gave Xia Qing a disdainful look, then lay down on the ground, slowly chewing its cud, guarding the toon sprouts.
Not as strong as the sheep, Xia Qing climbed the tree again, picking half a basket of toon sprouts before climbing down.
Seeing the evolved sheep stand up and stare at her again, Xia Qing poured some spring water into a broken earthenware pot beside her and handed it to the evolved sheep. "Tired of eating? Have some water."
The evolved sheep lowered its head, sniffed the water, and began to drink.
Xia Qing seized the opportunity to grab the toon saplings and her basket, running down the hillside without looking back, crossing the buffer zone back to her own buffer forest. Looking back and seeing the sheep hadn't chased after her, she couldn't help but burst into laughter.
She hadn't felt this good in a very, very long time.
Although she wasn't as strong as the evolved sheep, Xia Qing had a weapon and was confident she could kill it. But this sheep was clever and strong, and Xia Qing didn't want to kill it; she wanted to keep it.
If she encountered it again that afternoon, she would use toon sprouts and spring water to lure it back to her territory.
Because it ran so fast, the soil around the roots of the toon saplings was washed away, and she wasn't sure if they could still be transplanted successfully. Xia Qing planted two toon saplings by the spring and five by the edge of her yard, watering them thoroughly with the spring water.
If that didn't work, she could just go to the Forest of Evolution to pick more toon whenever she wanted to eat it. After all, based on her observation, there were no signs of other large animals on that hillside besides the sheep.
After planting the toon trees, Xia Qing went back inside and first looked up planting techniques for ginger and garlic in a book. Then she broke the ginger into seven pieces according to the buds and separated the whole head of garlic into cloves, wrapping them as much as possible in their original soil before planting them in her newly cultivated vegetable garden in the west courtyard, watering them thoroughly with spring water.
After planting the vegetables, Xia Qing took the toon sprouts out of the salt water, scalded them with boiling water, chopped them, added salt and chili powder, mixed them well, and then sealed them in a sterilized glass jar.
These two jars of spicy toon sprouts were enough for her to eat for a month.
This morning's harvest was plentiful, and Xia Qing indulged herself a little, frying a large plate of toon sprouts with some oil. She ate her fill with her compressed rations and then sprawled out in a chair.
Life was so comfortable.
To stay this comfortable, she had to work hard. After cleaning the kitchen, Xia Qing locked the door, carried two water buckets, and headed straight for the back mountain. After placing the buckets under the spring and blocking it with stones, Xia Qing crossed the safety barrier, put on a protective mask, and entered the Evolution Forest.
To avoid the greedy sheep guarding the toon tree, Xia Qing explored the Evolution Forest north of Plot 4.
This time she was much more cautious. After crossing a hillside over 300 meters high, Xia Qing discovered a valley. The valley was densely forested, and she could vaguely make out terraced fields on the hillside, a pond in the valley, and dilapidated houses.
The valley with the pond and dense forest was several times more dangerous than the hillside. Just as Xia Qing was about to give up, she faintly heard the grunting of wild boar cubs by the pond.
Wild boar, meat!
Wild boar cubs, meat she could catch!
Gnawing on the meat, Xia Qing gritted her teeth, picked up her machete, and quietly descended the hill. The wild boar's movements grew louder, and a dark brown female wild boar appeared by the pond, weighing over 300 pounds, covered in a thick layer of mud.
A wild boar of this size couldn't be penetrated by hunting rifle bullets, let alone her machete. However, her target wasn't this large one; Xia Qing's gaze shifted to several wild boar cubs playing beside the large boar.