Although the possibility was extremely low, Xia Qing was indeed worried that the spring water flowed down from the mountain, and that there might be other springs on the mountain. If someone discovered and blocked the flow of water from the mountain springs, it could reduce or even dry up the water output of the springs within her territory.
Therefore, Xia Qing planned to wait until winter, when the Evolution Forest entered a low-risk period, to search for unpolluted springs on Mountain 49. If any existed, she would find a way to completely seal them off.
As for buying the mountain, she hadn't even considered it.
Densely vegetated mountains were resources before the great evolution of life on Blue Star, but after the great evolution, they became time bombs.
Igniting this time bomb only requires a few hours of red rain.
To prevent dangerous evolved creatures from the Evolution Forest from entering safe human-inhabited areas, the base implemented a policy of contracting out mountain forests long ago.
Whether it's a team or an individual, as long as they pay a certain number of points, they can contract a mountain or a certain area of Evolution Forest within the base. All resources produced within the contracted area belong to the contractor, but at the same time, the contractor is also responsible for clearing out dangerous evolved creatures from the forest.
If the dangerous evolved creatures are not cleared or thoroughly cleared, and subsequently spread from the contracted forests to other areas causing significant harm, the base will hold the contractors accountable.
In previous years, those who contracted forests either suffered massacres by the evolved creatures during rainstorms or lost everything due to the creatures escaping. In recent years, no one has dared to do such a foolish thing again. Therefore, the government has continuously improved upon existing policies and proposed the territory plan.
As far as Xia Qing knows, currently only the female leader of the Huiyi Base, Fire Phoenix, still owns the right to use a mountain and has deployed hundreds of people to guard it.
She buys mountains because they have unpolluted springs.
Therefore, Xia Qing's sudden move to buy the right to use Mountain 49 is tantamount to actively revealing the important resources on the mountain, drawing everyone's attention to her territory and Mountain 49.
Having the Azure Dragon Team buy the mountain and give it to her is even more unbelievable to Xia Qing than her buying the mountain herself.
Xia Qing spoke frankly, "Brother Luo, I'm a straightforward person, please don't mind. Will the base agree to sell the mountain to the Azure Dragon Team?"
The Tang family, led by Tang Zhengrong, the base's second-in-command, has always considered the Azure Dragon Team a thorn in their side. They will definitely try to stop anything the Azure Dragon Team wants to do.
Luo Pei explained in detail to Xia Qing, "The area north and east of Mountain 49, within 300 li, is densely vegetated evolved forest, teeming with dangerous evolved creatures. The arable land is extremely limited, so that forest is not within the territory's development area."
"Establishing a lord system, allowing the people to leave the safe zone to cultivate crops and expand production, is a project strongly promoted by the highest levels, which is why our base is putting so much effort into this work. But even with a large number of troops patrolling and stationed there, the territories near the evolved forest still suffered huge losses in the rainstorms, and the base is also worried about this." "The Azure Dragon Team has an obligation to guard the mountain since they bought it, preventing dangerous evolved animals from coming down and harming people or damaging farmland. Therefore, Tang Zhengrong won't genuinely object. Even if he suspects the Azure Dragon Team's motives for buying the mountain, he'll only assume they want to provide me, who has been poisoned and rendered incapacitated, with a safe place to retire. As for the military, their only concern is that the mountain purchase will threaten the troops stationed at the old regimental headquarters. You know the Azure Dragon Team's origins; gaining the military's trust isn't difficult for us."
That makes the purchase seem more plausible. Xia Qing continued, "It's good that the Azure Dragon Team is establishing a training base on Mountain 49. After you establish the training base, the security of my territory will improve significantly. Brother Luo, you can just let the Azure Dragon Team own the mountain after you buy it; there's no need to transfer it to me."
If the mountain belongs to Xia Qing, how will she guard it? Is she still the Sheep Boss?
Hiring a large number of people to guard the mountain with points? Who would she hire? The Azure Dragon Team?
The Azure Dragon Team bought the mountain, transferred it to her, and she then used points to hire them to guard it…
Isn't this like taking off your clothes to do *that*, killing two birds with one stone? This can't help but make Xia Qing suspicious of their motives.
Brother Luo might put himself in Xia Qing's shoes, but the stingy Yang Jin wouldn't, nor would Xie Yu, whose brain evolved to be so smart he's practically worthless.
They might be trying to use this deal to make her lose the entire spring.
Unlike Boss Yang, Xia Qing isn't blindly confident that she can outmaneuver the two leaders of the Azure Dragon Team and gain no advantage.
The mountain should remain with the Azure Dragon Team; let them guard it. Her relationship with the Azure Dragon Team is cooperative; they won't actively expose the spring's secret and can even help her absorb vitality, assuming the secret lies on Mountain Forty-Nine.
Xia Qing will just play it safe and remain in the dark.
The only loss for Xia Qing might be that she couldn't go to Mountain 49 to collect Green Lantern plants.
If she couldn't go to Mountain 49, she could go to other mountains! There were green mountains everywhere; why be so fixated on one?
She couldn't dig for Green Lantern bamboo shoots?
She still had food. Once the Azure Dragon Team dug up the bamboo shoots, she could just fill a bucket with spring water and exchange it.
Luo Pei understood Xia Qing's concerns, but still persuaded her to accept, "Important resources are best kept in your own hands. You can trust me now and cooperate with the Azure Dragon Team. But once Yang Jin, Xie Yu, and I are gone, no one can guarantee that the next, or the next after that, Azure Dragon Team leader will still be trustworthy."
In fact, the three leaders of the Azure Dragon Team didn't agree on this matter. Luo Pei and Xie Yu advocated that Mountain 49 belong to the team, but Yang Jin advocated giving it to Xia Qing.
Ultimately, Yang Jin persuaded Luo Pei and Xie Yu.
Xia Qing sighed upon hearing Luo Pei's words.
If the situation deteriorated to the point where the top combatants of Hui San Base and the three leaders of the Azure Dragon Team were all dead, Hui San Base would be finished. For a newbie like her to survive, she would probably have to abandon her territory and flee to another base.
Hearing Xia Qing's sigh, Luo Pei opened his still reddened eyes and stared at her earnestly, saying, "Xia Qing, you're only twenty-five this year. You have ten years to improve your three-element evolution abilities. If you want to, you'll definitely be better than the three of us in the future, and even stronger than the Fire Phoenix of the Blazing Fire Team. The Fire Phoenix can guard a spring, and so can you."
Yang Jin said that Xia Qing would become a powerful force that no one in Hui San, or even the entire Hui City Base, would dare to underestimate. The Azure Dragon Team would definitely benefit from giving her a favorable deal now.
Yang Jin said that allies and springs weren't mutually exclusive options. By giving the mountain to Xia Qing, they could have both the fish (alliance) and the bear's paw (exchanging springs).
At that time, Xie Yu asked Yang Jin why he was so certain that Xia Qing, who worked hard to make a living, would one day become a powerful force comparable to them.
Yang Jin gave them a reason they couldn't refute:
Because Xia Qing's will to survive was stronger than anyone he knew. A person single-mindedly focused on surviving through their own abilities will seize any opportunity to become stronger.
Her biggest secret exposed to his face, Xia Qing's eyes widened instantly. Her mind raced, wondering whether to escape immediately or silence Luo Pei first.
"Hehe." Her reaction amused Luo Pei, a level ten visually evolved human. "You little brat, you didn't think that after so many missions with me, I'd be so blind that I wouldn't even understand your abilities, did you?"