325: Grain, Yunzhou

"No! Forget two or three years, there isn't even two or three days! That's thirty to forty thousand people, not thirty or forty!" General Jiang's face was red with anger.

Wang Lingling blinked. She knew that the Qiongzhou Official Safe Zone would definitely seek her help to fight the sea beasts, so why not make a big demand now?

"How about this, no need for two or three years. I'll cut it down for General Jiang and just ask for two or three months' worth of food. How's that for sincerity?"

General Jiang's chest heaved. What did she mean by sincerity? Demanding two or three months' worth of rations for thirty to forty thousand people? Even if they scraped the Qiongzhou Official Safe Zone's granary clean, they couldn't get that much food all at once. Most of the people in their own Safe Zone weren't even eating enough, and now they were begging and pleading every month to get a little more food from the Tianfu Safe Zone. Where would they get so much food for her?

However, General Jiang knew that if he couldn't satisfy her now, it would be difficult to ask her for help against the sea beasts later. Since this person wanted to take over Xuanhu Pharmaceutical Group, whether she stayed in the Safe Zone or not, she couldn't avoid the sea beast issue.

After all, several Survivor Bases of Xuanhu Pharmaceutical Group, including that large ten-thousand-person base, were also located along the Qiong River.

General Jiang gritted his teeth: "We don't have that much food. At most, we can give you thirty thousand catties of sweet potatoes, no more."

Wang Lingling immediately shook her head: "Thirty thousand catties? If one person eats two catties a day, that's only enough for a thousand people for fifteen days. How is that any different from having nothing? Zhenhai Pass currently only has General Jiang, a Level Five Expert, right? I won't play games with you, General. You name a price for me to guard Zhenhai Pass for a month, but only for food! And it must be white flour or rice!"

General Jiang fell silent instantly. To be honest, he was greatly tempted. He was almost certain that this person was a Level Five Expert of Huang Lefeng's caliber, an S-rank Level Five Talent User! Even if she wasn't S-rank, she definitely possessed that level of strength!

He sensed the aura of a strange treasure. Unlike him, who had only eaten a hundred or so leaves, what she had consumed was a genuine strange treasure!

Only those whose life essence had undergone a transformation could sense her terrifying presence. Therefore, having her guard Zhenhai Pass for a month could basically get them through this crisis and buy the Qiongzhou Official Safe Zone at least another year and a half of development time.

But how should this price be set?

And it could only be white flour or rice. Nowadays, food was the hard currency between major bases and Safe Zones, and white flour and rice were the hardest currency among hard currencies. In fact, as long as the quantity was sufficient, there was nothing that couldn't be exchanged!

"This, I need to discuss with the Chief." "Chief" was the term used for leaders of official Safe Zones or bases; non-official leaders were called "bosses."

"Alright, tell me later. With the current situation, it should be easy to discuss. It shouldn't take two or three days, or even ten days to half a month, right?"

General Jiang felt helpless. It seemed he had to give her an answer today. He could only discuss with the Chief while dealing with this cunning Wang Xiaoni.

"Oh, and there's the matter of Xuanhu Pharmaceutical Group," Wang Lingling said with a smile in her eyes.

General Jiang remained unperturbed: "What Xuanhu Pharmaceutical? I remember it was called Xingyun Group? Just a name change, that's your own business."

"Not Xingyun, it's Yunzhou Group."

"Yunzhou." General Jiang's eyes flickered. He remembered that the ten-thousand-person large base of Xuanhu Pharmaceutical Group was across the river from the Safe Zone. Daring to call it 'Zhou' (state), this Wang Xiaoni had no small ambitions.

However, he wasn't a rigid person. The so-called Great Xia no longer existed, and moreover, they were separated from the mainland by the sea. According to rough estimates, South Sea Island was now at least a thousand kilometers from the mainland, and who knew what it would become in the future.

Warlords rising and carving out territories was no longer a rare occurrence. In fact, even if territories were carved out, this land might no longer be dominated by humans. Thinking of these things, General Jiang sighed. He wished there were more people like Wang Lingling, but alas... "Alright, three hundred thousand catties of white flour. This is the sincerity of my Qiongzhou Official Safe Zone." General Jiang was also surprised by the Chief's generosity at this moment.

It was wheat, not sweet potatoes; it was flour, not wheat grains.

Wang Lingling's eyes gleamed with joy. Finally, a pressing matter had been resolved: "Then I thank General Jiang, and please thank the old Chief for me. Please rest assured, for the next month, those Level Five sea beasts will be handled by me. Of course, the contribution points for the sea beasts cannot be shorted, and the sea beast corpses also belong to me."

General Jiang shook his head slightly: "You, ah, you never let go of anything in your hands, and you still try to grab what others have. Then we'll follow our Miss Wang's wishes."

"Happy cooperation."

"I'm not very happy."

Actually, Wang Lingling initially wanted shelter fragments so she could own a level five shelter, which would give her a thousand-mu manor and a continuous supply of food. However, with her current bases clamoring for food, she didn't have much time to plant crops and wait. Moreover, it was unrealistic to gather all the shelter fragments at once; the Safe Zone would never let go of such things. To develop now and consolidate those bases, she first needed to acquire a batch of food and then completely erase the traces of Xuanhu Pharmaceutical.

Zhenhai Pass Xuanhu Pharmaceutical Branch Building

Lu Zhengxi lay on the ground, already on his last breath. The surrounding rain had long since dissipated.

"Who exactly are you, and why are you attacking us?" Lu Zhengxi's eyes held unwillingness.

"Who? Just a bunch of nobodies you abducted from the Qiongzhou Official Safe Zone back then." Thunder suddenly erupted. Lu Zhengxi's eyes were filled with disbelief. He didn't believe it; until his death, he thought the other party was lying to him.

Because those people had been thoroughly investigated, with no background whatsoever. Even their parents and siblings were far away on the mainland. How could it be, how could it be... Wang Lingling also arrived, riding a three-tailed cloud sparrow. This was a strange beast from Taoyuan Mountain that had consumed an ancient bloodline, a cloud sparrow strange beast cultivated by Grandma Zhang Xile. After consuming an ancient bloodline, it became even more extraordinary, and its offspring are now a type of flying mount sold by Heavenly Mansion.

Fu Xiaocheng and the other two looked at the giant cloud sparrow, as white as a cloud, with admiration in their eyes. It was good to have a capable Maternal Uncle, they thought. Look, with a casual move, he produced something countless Talent Users craved but couldn't obtain.

"Captain Fu, you stay here. Cheng and Sister Chu and I will return to the Qiongzhou Official Safe Zone."

"Don't worry, I'll take care of things here." Fu Xiao Jun nodded. At this moment, he was extremely confident in his own strength. A powerful figure like Xuanhu Pharmaceutical Group's second strongest expert had almost no power to resist him.

Wang Lingling nodded. Everything that needed to be prepared had been prepared, and all the necessary connections had been made. All that was left was a head.

Qiongzhou Official Safe Zone

Tang Ping was strolling through a trading market at a city gate. This place was mostly frequented by Talent Users, and the stalls displayed a wide variety of goods.

Unfortunately, this wasn't a hundred years later, and the uses of many Pollution Beasts and contaminated plants had not yet been developed.

However, there was a type of purification potion. After removing some key parts from a Pollution Beast, the contamination could be washed away with the purification potion, and then the parts could be sold.

But what price they could fetch was unknown.

Beside Tang Ping, the purple Little Lion was also brought out for a stroll. The purple Little Lion, which had been continuously devouring ancient bloodlines and sleeping, seemed to have reached a limit. Ordinary ancient bloodlines were no longer of much use. It had now been awake for half a month, and as for the Little Lion's strength, Tang Ping himself couldn't quite figure it out.

The purple Little Lion, like a small dog, followed at Tang Ping's feet, looking up.

Suddenly, a shadow fell from the sky! It instantly attracted the attention of many Talent Users in the market.

"Oh no! Pollution Beasts are invading! Run!"

"Such a huge Pollution Beast!"

"Quick, run!"

"Are you stupid? Our Qiongzhou Official Safe Zone has several Level Five Experts! If this Pollution Beast dares to fly in so brazenly without anyone stopping it, it must be the mount of some important person!"

"Huh, that makes sense!"

"Speaking of which, this Pollution Beast is as white as a cloud and so handsome. Is it really a Pollution Beast? When did Pollution Beasts secretly evolve again?"

"No, this isn't a Pollution Beast. Holy cow, I remember now! This looks so much like the cloud sparrow mounts sold by Heavenly Mansion! But there doesn't seem to be such a large cloud sparrow mount!"

"Hmm? Now that you mention it, it really does look like a cloud sparrow strange beast bred by Heavenly Mansion!"

"What are you talking about? I don't understand. What is Heavenly Mansion?"

"It's normal for a Level One Talent User like you not to know these things, after all, those are matters concerning the mainland."

Tang Ping also saw the cloud sparrow and knew that Wang Lingling had resolved the matter at Zhenhai Pass and was preparing to deal with the Xuanhu Pharmaceutical headquarters. However, the fact that it flew directly into the Safe Zone without any Level Five Experts stopping it indicated that some agreement had been reached with the Safe Zone.

Four people stood on the cloud sparrow. Besides the three members of the Xingyun Squad, General Jiang's youngest son from Zhenhai Pass also hitched a ride and was sent back.