Chapter 1137: The Growth of the Ninth Center

Not selling the meat doesn’t mean Xia Qing plans to eat all of it herself. After trading some of the python meat with her allies, she stored the remaining meat from both this python and the medium-sized Yellow Lantern python in the Territory One food depot, using it as reserve stock for the Ninth Center’s cafeteria.

With the latest expansion, the Ninth Center’s official staff has increased from 320 to 560. Family members now total 170, including 37 kids aged 12 to 15, 73 aged 3 to 12, and 13 toddlers under three. That means the number of children under fifteen has gone up by seventy-eight after this expansion.

There aren’t many non-working family members, because Yue Haiying has arranged jobs for all family members between 15 and 65 who can work. In other words, retired soldiers can bring their families to work and settle here. That’s a big part of why the Ninth Center is so attractive to veterans.

This time, most of the veterans eager to join the Ninth Center’s expansion and move in with their families have loved ones to care for. The ten staff members Xia Qing recruited from the Safe Zone’s Planting Division all have elderly parents or young kids—without exception.

The Ninth Planting Center has its own school right inside the compound. For veterans with children, it’s even safer than the Safe Zone. That goes double for those veterans who’ve become evolved fighters.

With strict security in place, the kids never have to leave the center for school. Employees with evolution powers can live here with their children, without fearing their kids might be kidnapped, bled, eaten or sold.

So, in this latest hiring round, out of 240 new regular employees, an impressive sixty-seven are evolved fighters. The Ninth Center now boasts a total of 115 evolved fighters.

Thirty-nine of those 115 have disabilities, but the sheer number of evolved fighters at the Ninth Center shocked all of Hui Three Base.

Why so shocking?

Because this small farming department outside the Safe Zone has suddenly leaped to fifth place in Hui Three’s evolved fighter rankings.

First place goes to the Hui Three Military, with 910 evolved fighters. Then it’s the Azure Dragon Squad with 260, Aurora Squad with 193 in third, and End of the Line Squad with 130 in fourth.

Because of this, other departments—especially the four planting centers outside the Safe Zone now hiring—can’t help but be green with envy.

Still, nobody dares to mess with the Ninth Center. No one wants to become the next Zhao Baolin—making the mistake of provoking Director Xia Qing, the top sniper known for her direct approach—and end up as the laughingstock of the Safe Zone.

Now that she’s responsible for a staff of 730, Xia Qing has a lot more to think about.

With over seven hundred mouths to feed, Xia Qing knows the two thousand plus kilos of meat she put aside for staff rations won’t last long.

Once the bird tide passes, she’s planning a trip to Crocodile Lake on Hill Fifty-Two. Since the wolves drove the snake pack out of Hill Fifty-Five, the crocodile population in the lake has exploded, throwing the ecological balance out of whack. It’s time for a cull.

Anyone else might get attacked by the Wolf Pack during a crocodile hunt, but that’s no worry for Xia Qing.

Of course, any python or crocodile meat delivered to the Ninth Center still has to be paid for. Even as director, Xia Qing keeps public and private matters separate. She won’t be dipping into her own medicine packet to subsidize the Center.

The base took the dietary needs of the five planting centers outside the Safe Zone into account, building their cafeterias to military first-class standards and allocating funding. Sure, meals can’t compare to those before the Calamity, but no one’s going hungry.

But during the Calamity, even credits can’t guarantee you edible meat. If you want to eat well, you have to earn it.

As the Fourth Power of the Wolf Pack and director of the Ninth Center, Xia Qing raised her cup and took a leisurely sip of tea.

Nice. Now that’s good tea. Third Brother would approve.

Yang Jin grinned. “Director Xia, you’re truly dedicated. No wonder so many evolved fighters fight tooth and nail to work here.”

Xia Qing replied modestly, “At Ninth Center, everyone except me is just an average evolved fighter, and forty percent have some kind of disability. Aside from farming, there really isn’t much else we can do.”

Watching Xia Qing keep her guard up before him, Yang Jin’s smile grew even brighter. “If you’re looking to boost the Ninth Center’s combat strength, I won’t compete with you for the python meat. But could I get a share of the hardness-evolved snakeskin?”

Xia Qing shook her head. “The hardness-evolved snakeskin has already been divided up. I can ‘trade’ you half of the snake bones instead.”

Divided up already? Yang Jin raised an eyebrow. “What about the scraps? Could you use those leftovers to make gloves for me, Luo, and Xie Yu? One pair each?”

“Alright,” Xia Qing nodded, proposing an exchange. “You can pay the processing and material fees with this tea. Add that to the tea you just agreed to give me—one jin in total.”

Yang Jin’s eyes went wide. “Wait, Sister Qing, I said I’ll give you half a jin of tea—only if you give me all the python meat!”

Leaning in with a dazzling smile, Xia Qing replied, “I never said the python meat alone was worth half a jin of tea. Throw in the three pairs of gloves and it’s one jin total. If that’s too steep, we don’t have to trade. With your squad’s strength, getting a few high-grade hardening pythons should be a breeze.”

Faced with Xia Qing’s confidence, Yang Jin’s mind went completely blank for a moment. He leaned back, gathered himself then laughed. “Alright, one jin of tea it is.”

“Deal. One jin of Hui Seven’s finest Green Lantern Maojian.”

“Got it.”

Once the deal was done, Yang Jin moved on to the next topic. “Devastation Snakes are so rare. Sister Qing, you must have caught a few alive, right? Raising them can’t be cheap. How about we go into business together?”

Xia Qing had already planned to work with the Azure Dragon Squad when she brought out the Devastation Snake meat today. If word got out that there were Devastation Snakes in Python Lake, there’s no way she could protect them there—or the Northern Wolf Pack or Bear Pack—by herself.

But as for how the partnership works, Xia Qing still hadn’t decided. “The live snakes I’ve caught are all with Third Brother. Exactly how we breed them is up to him.”

All four snakes are male, but there’s no need to tell Yang Jin that. Next spring, when the Devastation Snakes return to Python Lake, Xia Qing is determined to catch a female.

And if she still can’t manage it, she’ll bring along four marine veterans from Territory Eleven and dive in after one herself!

“Alright, I’ll lock in a partnership spot for now. When Third Brother finalizes the details, we can discuss how to cooperate more specifically.”

Once negotiations wrapped up, Yang Jin gathered the items from their previous trade—a jin of hazel mushrooms, a laptop, two phones, two pairs of evolved running shoes made from the new material just for strength evolvers, and now this new jin of tea—and stacked them on the table.

The new running shoes look pretty much the same as regular protective boots in color and style, except their soles are two centimeters thicker and each shoe weighs at least two jin more than the average boot.

The new soles have much better cushioning, but with that kind of weight, only strength evolvers could handle it.

If Xia Qing had gotten her hands on these shoes earlier, she might’ve outrun that hot-tempered Giant Bear and snatched those two Devastation Snakes!

But life never gives you a do-over. After carefully checking her loot, Xia Qing packed it all away and then asked about the situation with Hui One Officials and Fire Phoenix.