Chapter 1013: Bargains and Barriers: The Task Before the Rain

The Wolf Pack asks Xia Qing to heal their injuries and join their missions, offering Yi Stones in exchange. Of course, when Xia Qing asks them for help, she also needs to pay them in supplies the wolves need.

Crippled Wolf quickly grasped Xia Qing’s meaning. It lifted its big paw, gently closed her notebook, and motioned her to follow.

Human and wolf made their way down the mountain. They stopped by a pond even larger than Python Pond, and Xia Qing felt a bad premonition. When Crippled Wolf pointed its huge paw toward the water, Xia Qing sighed inwardly, signing with her hands, “Handsome Wolf, are you really asking me… to fill up this entire pond?”

Crippled Wolf grinned, showing off its charming set of small, snow-white fangs.

“You really are the Iron Rooster’s true brother!”

Forcing a smile, Xia Qing asked, “Handsome Wolf, are there giant pythons in this pond?”

Crippled Wolf clammed up.

Getting nothing, Xia Qing pressed on, “Is it possible a giant python could come out of this pond?”

Crippled Wolf just grinned, flashing those sharp little fangs.

Got it. This pond is a danger zone on Hill Fifty-Five too—it needs to be handled. This was going to require a lot of back-and-forth.

Sitting on a stone by the pond, Xia Qing explained, with both words and gestures, just how different these two tasks were. “You want my wolves to help protect Third Brother? That’s just from when the sun rises here… to over there—half a day. But filling this pond—at least fifteen days. The moon would go from here… to here. I’ve got way too many things to deal with!”

Since the sun looks the same every day but the moon changes shape, Xia Qing always used the moon to show any time longer than a single day when talking with the Wolf Pack.

Crippled Wolf understood, his grin fading as he chewed it over.

“I can fill in this pond, but in exchange, you help protect Third Brother for half a day and pay me one walnut-sized Yi Stone and one pigeon egg-sized Yi Stone.”

Crippled Wolf stared at Xia Qing’s proposed trade, tightly closing his mouth in refusal.

At two in the afternoon, exhausted in both body and mind, Xia Qing trudged back to her own territory. She handed Old Goat a bundle of Green Lantern grass she’d picked on her way back—an offering to distract him from being mad she hadn’t made lunch on time. The moment he saw it, the spiraling horns he’d raised in preparation to scold her quickly calmed down.

“Boss, you’re too good to me.” Compared to the ever more cunning wolves, Old Goat was the true top-tier companion!

Old Goat munched away, not even sparing Xia Qing a glance.

“Boss, how about we water the fields together after you finish? You look so cool pedaling that Water Bicycle. Think you still got it in you today?”

Old Goat, mouth full of grass, lifted his big head and squinted at his annoying sidekick.

“Understood! Of course Boss’s still got it. I’ll go set up the Water Bicycle and put up the shade, you just keep eating. After you’re done, we can play some more.” Xia Qing dashed home, hauled out the Water Bicycle, and set it up by the reservoir. Old Goat swaggered over, head held high, and started pedaling with gusto as Xia Qing sang his praises.

Water splashed into the channels, rushing toward the fields. Xia Qing opened the rest of the channels that hadn’t been irrigated yet, then hurried over to Shed 8. There, she handed Monkey, who was busy picking ripe mung bean pods, a Greenlight Tomato. “You’ve worked hard, Goofball. Hungry? Have a tomato and take a break.”

Before the Devastation Rain arrived, not only did all the fields need to be watered, but all the ripe beans, cotton, and vegetables needed to be picked. Otherwise, a single misstep during the rain could cause unnecessary losses.

Xia Qing’s plan had been to go to Hill Fifty-Five and get back before lunch. She’d asked Monkey to pick beans in the shed before she left, but the negotiations with Crippled Wolf dragged on. By the time she returned, her obedient helper had been working nonstop for over three hours and filled half a shed with beans. The big bag nearby was already stuffed.

Monkey, dressed in pink shorts, clambered up to the crossbeam of the greenhouse, tomato in mouth, noisily slurping out all the juice before tucking in for a big meal.

While picking beans into her basket, Xia Qing felt guilty. “Monkey, was one tomato enough? Want me to dig you a sweet potato too?”

Monkey’s eyes lit up immediately, tomato forgotten for now.

After filling a basket, Xia Qing heard padding footsteps. Looking up, she spotted Elder Wolf—the one she’d sent to catch bugs—trotting back with a wild duck clamped in its jaws.

This one was clever. Whenever he didn’t feel like catching bugs, he’d run off and nab bigger prey.

Xia Qing dumped her beans into the bag and went out to take the duck. “Number Four, you’re amazing! Even caught such a big wild duck. Hungry? Want some freeze-dried meat?”

Elder Wolf didn’t bother responding. Duck in mouth, he snagged the freeze-dried meat and headed for the shade to eat.

After checking, Xia Qing found Number Four had caught a Red Lantern wild duck. She chopped it up into meat chunks and tossed them into a designated area of the fish pond.

As the fish in the pond went wild for the new food, she slowly pulled up the wire fishing net and hauled in a net full of big fish.

That was another job to finish before the Devastation Rain: sorting all the fish from the pond into net cages by quality. Green Lantern Fish would be protected with Yi Stones during the pouring rain; Yellow Lantern Fish would get traded to Kuang Qingwei; Red Lantern Fish would be handed over to Zheng Kui.

After checking a few more fish, Jasmine the Brain Evolution Raven from Territory Eight landed by the pond with her tail-banded sea eagle. Terrified, the egrets and crows that had been waiting for a free meal scattered in all directions.

“Gua Gua, Little Jade, here you go.” Xia Qing handed the invited bird guests two Yellow Lantern Fish.

Not long after, Xin Yu arrived on her eagle owl to help Xia Qing sort and classify the fish in Section Three’s pond.

When she left that evening, Xin Yu didn’t take any fish. Instead, she picked out some favorite vegetables from Xia Qing’s greenhouse on the terraces. She had a pond in her own territory too, so she wasn’t here for the fish—she just wanted to chat with Xia Qing and check on the swallows in Xia Qing’s territory.

After seeing Xin Yu off, Xia Qing suddenly heard heavy footsteps racing toward her. Flathead, who hadn’t shown up for two days, was right on schedule to challenge Old Goat to another bout.

Old Goat, done watering and now grazing on the hillside, dashed over instantly. Xia Qing helped him into his Protective Suit, and he charged right out.

Just as the animals started sparring, Xia Qing’s phone rang. Er Yong asked, “Sister Qing, the Inspection Team has someone coming in. Do you need us to stop them?”

Since Old Goat and Flathead always fought on schedule, Hu Zifeng had coordinated with Tan Junjie to claim that the Azure Dragon Squad needed to train every evening, leaving patrol duties in Section One’s Northern Barrier to the squad. That way, the Inspection Team didn’t have to send anyone or any vehicles out.

By keeping their territory safe but lightening the workload, Tan Junjie had no reason to disagree. For the past few months, these two had fought without the Inspection Team ever catching them at it.

Xia Qing calmly asked, “Who’s coming?”

Er Yong replied, “Peng Lin and Li Pingwei.”

Just as Xia Qing expected: Peng Lin. She responded without hesitation, “Block them.”

“Got it.”

Xia Qing leaned quietly against the northern iron mesh wall of Section Three, listening for movement on the Western Barrier. She couldn’t make out what Peng Lin was saying to the Azure Dragon Squad members—too far away—but she knew exactly why Peng Lin was here.

He’s here for her.