Chapter 133: Storm Clouds Over the Territory

It’s eleven in the morning. Outside, the temperature sits at twenty-eight degrees, while inside the cave, it’s dropping steadily, now down to sixteen. Just right for what Xia Qing needs.

The humidity inside and out is pretty much the same now. Controlling humidity is no big deal for Xia Qing—just needs a door and some dehumidifying materials.

Still, it’s the first cave she’s ever dug. Xia Qing has no idea if it’ll collapse or leak. Better to see how it holds up during the third Xiang Rain before she stores food inside.

After finishing up the cave, Xia Qing headed home, took a shower, then went to check on the second batch of crops she’d planted.

No luck—not a single sprout to be seen. Xia Qing let out a sigh, turned away from the disappointing seedlings, and let her eyes rest on the cotton plants, taking a moment to relax.

The cotton’s grown to a meter and a half tall now. Below, the fruiting branches are sporting little cotton bolls. The middle branches are covered in blossoms, while tender buds cluster at the top. Plenty of small cotton bolls have dropped to the ground.

Every single cotton boll is hard won—fertilizing, weeding, watering, pruning, earthing up, pinching off side shoots and removing flower buds—everything she could do from the Encyclopedia of Cultivation, the radio charts, and Qi Fu’s lessons, Xia Qing tried. But some bolls still drop no matter what she does.

She picked up a freshly fallen cotton boll and spun it like a tiny top in her palm, playing with it as she moved on to check the pumpkin patch.

Compared to the cotton, the pumpkin vines Xia Qing had ruthlessly pruned acted much better behaved.

Ten yellowlight pumpkin vines had actually managed to bloom into twelve flowers. Beneath some shriveled blooms, fuzzy green baby pumpkins were already forming. The sight made Xia Qing’s fingers itch—she just wanted to go at the vines with her knife again and coax even more pumpkins out.

But how many pumpkins should you leave on a single vine? If each one blooms so much, won’t they all fight for nutrients, and end up like the cotton—dropping fruit before they ever ripen?

She grabbed the walkie-talkie, planning to ask Qi Fu, but caught Kuang Qingwei’s voice, talking about fertilizer instead.

“That’s right, it’s earthworm castings. Two points a pound. If you want some, place an order with Captain Zhong. His team can even help with delivery.”

Shi Chong from Plot Ten chimed in, “Is shipping free? Fertilizer isn’t exactly light.”

Kuang Qingwei answered warmly, “No idea about that. But even if they do charge, Captain Zhong’s team will cover the cost, not us. Anyone interested? There are over two thousand pounds ready now. Captain Zhong says we’ve got plenty of people in this area, so he can deliver a batch just for us. Later, if you want more, you’ll need to reserve ahead—no promises on when it’ll arrive.”

Over two thousand pounds? Xia Qing arched a brow as she played with her cotton boll. Had Sun Zhe upped his earthworm farming operation, or had others started making fertilizer too?

Qi Fu and Xia Qing had both already placed solid orders with Sun Zhe, but just like Shi Chong and Zhao Ze, they still asked for five hundred pounds each. Kuang Qingwei snatched up everything that was left.

Once the earthworm castings were divided up, Kuang Qingwei introduced another fertilizer—crab shell fertilizer. “It was shipped over from Guilin City Base’s planting center—good stuff. It isn’t just crab shells in there, but all sorts of marine animal bones. Crab shell makes up most of it. You can use it with confidence.”

“Because it comes from far away, it’s pricier—six points a pound. Get as much as you want; there’s plenty in stock.”

At the mention of a phosphorus-rich fertilizer, Shi Chong and Qi Fu perked up, peppering him with questions. Kuang Qingwei never said a word about where he got the crab shell fertilizer—just kept insisting it was worth the price.

Since it was expensive, Qi Fu and Shi Chong only bought a hundred pounds each, not daring to order more sight unseen. Kuang Qingwei asked around, “Xia Qing? Zhao Ze? Aren’t you interested? This stuff’s the real deal! Miss it now and you’ll never find another chance. If your crops don’t get enough phosphorus, they’ll be weak, and if they’re weak, they won’t survive the Xiang Rain. That means not only no harvest, but you might lose your land—or worse, someone could get hurt.”

“I’m out of points,” Xia Qing shot back. She could buy fertilizer from Zhong Tao for four points a pound—no way she was paying two extra points per pound just to line Kuang Qingwei’s pockets.

Zhao Ze wasn’t about to throw money away, either. “I’ll wait for Qi Ge and Shi Ge to use it first. If it works, maybe I’ll buy some later.”

With business wrapped up, Kuang Qingwei shared the latest rumor he’d heard. “Guilin’s marine creatures are getting more and more out of control. Word is, a big chunk of Hui Five Base’s southwest territory got raided. In the past two months alone, over two hundred thousand people fled from Guilin towards Hui Five Base.”

Shi Chong let out a sigh. “Even if they’re from different bases, they’re all from Hua Nation. If massive crowds start rushing in for food, the army won’t be able to stop them all—some will break through, and they won’t kill everyone.”

Zhao Ze tried to reassure himself. “We’re up north from the Safe Zone. Even if Guilin people came, they’d have to pass through the Safe Zone first—they wouldn’t reach us. If they really do come, then we harvest everything fast, grab the food, and run.”

Qi Fu showed a fierce side nobody had ever seen in the Lord’s Channel before. “I’m not running. If anyone dares break into my territory, I’ll drop them—one by one.”

“Same here,” Xia Qing agreed immediately. No matter how many came, she’d wipe them out. This was her territory—the food in it was grown by her hand. Whoever tried to snatch it would pay the price.

Zhao Ze lowered his voice, asking, “Is Assistant Liu here? I remember Fourth Sister said you had a poison that could silence anything that breathes. I’d like to trade for some, just in case.”

Assistant Liu, acting as online customer service, replied immediately, “Mr. Zhao, we do have a few compounds like that here in our territory, but they’re strictly experimental—not for public sale. May I suggest hiring an Evolver for protection, or purchasing some self-defense weapons instead?”

Hearing there were several poisons stockpiled in Territory Nine, the other Lords all grew nervous.

Xia Qing set down her makeshift spinning top and started flipping through the Territory Law on her phone. She remembered it was illegal to keep poisonous substances stored up in your territory.

She hadn’t found the specific regulation yet when Zhang San spoke up. “Is Tan Junjie around?”

“Captain Tan isn’t in right now. If you need something, just tell me.” It was Huzi from the Inspection Team responding.

Zhang San laid it out calmly. “According to national regulations on hazardous chemicals—including toxic and harmful substances—any chemical rated level two or above must be managed in a unified way, all stored together, and not allowed out of the base lab at will. Territory Nine isn’t a lab, and yet it’s storing a compound classified as level one hazardous chemical—that’s against the law. Captain Tan must report this immediately and have the Hazard Inspection Team sweep Territory Nine for dangerous chemicals to keep the surrounding territories safe.”

“Exactly!” Xia Qing had finally found the section in Territory Law on managing toxic and harmful chemicals just as Zhang San started talking.

Territories weren’t part of the Safe Zone. The risks were higher so the Lords would do anything they could to protect themselves—like Xia Qing with her gun.

Li Si from Territory Nine was a researcher. It made sense for her to hide toxic chemicals for self-defense. Illegal as it was, who would know unless she told someone?

But Li Si had hinted to Tang Huai in the past, and now Assistant Liu had let slip that they had several kinds on hand. Clearly, Territory Nine had no intention of respecting the rules.

With the nation reeling from disaster, law enforcement was stretched thin. Many people took advantage, acting recklessly and ignoring the law.

For Territory Nine to brag about their illegal chemicals in public on the Lord’s Channel—did they really expect the Inspection Team to turn a blind eye, or were they just trying to intimidate the others?

Most of the other nearby Lords wouldn’t dare pick a fight openly with Territory Nine—just like Xia Qing, who’d only report it privately to Tan Junjie.

But Zhang San was notorious for holding grudges, and he wasn’t afraid of Territory Nine at all. With this chance handed to him, there was no way he’d let it go. Everyone over there knew how petty he could be—they should’ve seen this coming. The more Xia Qing thought about it, the more she felt something was off.

When Zhang San requested a search of Territory Nine, Assistant Liu’s customer service voice slipped, sounding almost panicked as she insisted, “We don’t have any dangerous materials in Territory Nine. I was just making up stories to keep us safe.”

Xia Qing, who’d spent a couple days around Assistant Liu from Territory Nine, felt like the change in her tone was off. It was almost as if this Assistant Liu wasn’t the same one she’d met.

Tan Junjie’s serious voice broke in. “We’ve received the territory report and are informing the Land Management Department now. Territory Nine’s Lord, please allow the Hazard Inspection Team to enter and search for level one hazardous chemicals.”

Assistant Liu from Territory Nine abruptly went offline, and Li Si signed on in her place.

But instead of answering Tan Junjie’s request, Li Si turned the accusation on Zhang San. “All I have here are common compounds for crop research. Is there really any need for you to be so drastic, Third Brother? I don’t believe your territory is completely clean. If the Inspection Team is coming to search, then they should check Territory Seven too!”