Chapter 136: Crisis at Territory Nine

This time, Xia Qing clearly heard Zhang San’s voice. He must have unzipped his airtight protective suit—otherwise, his voice wouldn’t come through so clearly.

“If anyone from Territory Nine dares to break the law and dump or release any banned hazardous chemicals, in two hours Territory Nine will be crawling with Super Evolved Golden Bacillus.”

Li Si immediately seized on Zhang San’s words. “Did you all hear that? Zhang San has Super Evolved Golden Bacillus—that’s a Level 1 hazardous chemical! I’m requesting a search warrant for Territory Seven, right now!”

Xia Qing heard Zhang San’s mocking laugh. “Ordinary Golden Bacillus isn’t contraband. Are you doubting I can grow Super Evolved Bacillus from it in just two hours? Want me to show you?”

The place fell silent for over ten seconds until Li Si reminded Zhang San, “Don’t forget, Third Brother, attacking humans with bacteria is a violation of the Emergency Relief Plan for Natural Disasters.”

“Oh, so you remember the emergency plan?” Zhang San’s voice was nonchalant. “Well, so what if it’s illegal? After I deal with you, I’ll just move somewhere else. Honestly, I’m sick of staying here anyway.”

Huh?

Huh?

Ah!

Hearing that, Xia Qing almost jumped to her feet. How could her idol even think of leaving? If he left, where would she get awesome supplies to give him? No, where would she go to deliver her gifts to her idol?

Xia Qing might have stayed put, but Tang Huai did leap up. “Damn!”

“What’s wrong, Huai-ge, is there a fight in there?” Kuang Qingwei shouted anxiously.

“No, just got a dead leg.” Tang Huai shook his leg out and lowered his voice. “They found hundreds of kilos of contraband in Territory Nine.”

H-hundreds of kilos? All the lords stood there, stunned.

When Tan Junjie’s Squad marched out carrying and hauling heaps of vacuum bags and sealed boxes, everyone took a big step back in unison.

That was hundreds of kilos worth of poison—enough to shut anyone up. Who’d dare step forward and tempt fate?

No one dared get too close, but they all still had questions that needed answering.

“Captain Tan, what’s going to happen with all these poisons?”

“Are the people from Territory Nine getting kicked out?”

“Just confiscating the contraband isn’t enough, is it? They’ll probably start producing more.”

…

Tan Junjie spoke up loud and clear. “The Land Management Department will announce a punishment plan soon. Please return to your territories for now.”

“Alright, we’re heading back. Thanks for all your hard work, and thanks, Third Brother.” Zhao Ze waved as he called out.

Zhang San lifted a hand and went off with Tan Junjie. He had his airtight protective suit fully on again, so even though everyone saw him wave, they still couldn’t get a good look at his face—much to their disappointment.

With the show over, everyone drifted off—some heading east, others west.

When they all reached the road sign for Territory Three, Tang Huai called out to Xia Qing, who was about to enter, and to Da Jiang, who was about to walk west. “Hang on. What’s your plan for what happened at Territory Nine?”

Da Jiang shot back, “What’s there to plan?”

Tang Huai lowered his voice. “Territory Nine is a ticking time bomb. If we don’t kick them out now, who knows what mess they’ll cause in the future.”

“If anything blows up, it’ll be your Plot Two or Plot Twelve, not my problem.” Da Jiang waved to Xia Qing, then went back to Plot One.

Tang Huai swore under his breath, then turned to Xia Qing. “Out of all the nearby territories, you’ve benefited most from Third Brother lately. I just heard him say if Territory Nine acts up again, he’ll wipe them out and move away. You want him to leave?”

Xia Qing’s face darkened. “Don’t talk nonsense. What do you mean, benefited? Every supply trade I have with Third Brother is fair and mutually agreed on!”

“Alright, alright, you’re right. You win.” Tang Huai replied perfunctorily, then asked, “Just answer me—do you want him to leave or not?”

“That’s none of my business.” After a morning of digging caves, Xia Qing was starving. With that, she headed home.

Tang Huai chased after her. “You probably don’t know this: Li Si is from the Blazing Fire Unit. Five years ago, the Azure Dragon Unit was forced out of Plot One Base by Blazing Fire, so there’s old grudges. If you tell Hu Zifeng…”

Xia Qing didn’t care to listen to more and cut him off, “What about Sufeng Squad and Blazing Fire Unit?”

Tang Huai answered, “They keep out of each other’s business.”

“And so do I with Territory Nine,” Xia Qing said, making it clear she wouldn’t get involved. “The Land Management Department will deal with it. Not my business, not my place.”

Tang Heng quickly grabbed his brother before he could start shouting, giving Xia Qing a polite smile. “You go on ahead, Qing-jie.”

After Xia Qing walked through the overgrown grass walls of Territory Three, she could hear Tang Huai already grumbling as he headed back to Plot Two, “How could Hu Zifeng fall for such a foul-tempered woman?”

Tang Heng gently advised, “She’s just a strength evolver with no backing, and her territory isn’t even close to Nine. Of course she doesn’t want to get involved. Let it go—if Dad hears, he’ll scold you again.”

“Unless you tell him, how would he know?” Tang Huai huffed. “Let’s go eat, and I’ll tell Dad about what happened at Territory Nine. Damn, both our plots border it. What rotten luck. Hundreds of kilos of poison—does that sound like self-defense to you?”

Tang Heng dropped his voice even lower. “Blazing Fire Unit’s tried to recruit Zhang San several times without success. Looks like they’ll try to use force next.”

Once the two brothers were out of earshot, Xia Qing gently stroked the wool of Boss Sheep, who’d waited for her to return. “Let’s go, time to eat.”

Back home, Xia Qing discovered there was an uninjured wolf in the sheep shed.

It stood in front of the two injured wolves, acting like their bodyguard. The brain-evolved wolf with the bad spine was also holding its head higher than yesterday, and its eyes looked a lot livelier.

Evolved wolves recover with shocking speed. If they keep this up, in another ten days or so, these special guests will be on their way again.

Truth be told, Xia Qing rather hoped they’d stick around. After all, the wolf pack’s rent payment was more than generous. Maybe tomorrow morning, the Alpha Wolf would bring her a live rabbit.

Xia Qing took off her protective suit and washed her hands thoroughly before starting to make lunch. With all her digging work in the morning, she definitely deserved a good meal.

She decided on a hearty bowl of noodles.

Even after Xia Qing brought the noodles to the table and started eating, not a word was said on the Lord’s Channel. Clearly, everyone was wary of Li Si, who was still lurking in the group—no one wanted to risk making her mad.

Normally, the Lord’s Channel was bustling after the weather report and farming broadcast each night, but today it was dead quiet. Everyone was waiting to hear how the Land Management Department would handle Territory Nine.

Two days later, Zhong Tao and Zheng Kui dropped by with earthworm castings and shared the latest news. “Blazing Fire Unit sent someone straight to Tang Zhengrong’s office in our Safe Zone. From what I’ve heard, it’ll probably end with a fine and a suspension of privileges. They can’t actually kick anyone out, since Li Si’s a certified lord.”

Xia Qing nodded. She’d spent the last two days flipping through the Lord’s Code and had already guessed at this outcome. For someone like Li Si, who wasn’t short on cash, this kind of punishment was barely a slap on the wrist. It wouldn’t serve as any real warning.

In Xia Qing’s view, there’s no way Zhang San would let Li Si off the hook after making such a fuss.