Chapter 187: Signals and Secrets in Territory Three

Zhang Yong put on the air of someone who was good friends with Xia Qing, certain she’d let him into her territory. Tang Huai folded her arms, leaning against the Territory Two sign, waiting to see what drama would unfold.

People from Territories Four, Five, and Six were craning their necks out from the wild grass walls, some even half-emerged, eager to watch the show.

Xia Qing didn’t refuse Zhang Yong’s entry. She easily hoisted the largest box with her left hand. “I drove over. The vehicle’s just behind the grass wall. Juan, want to stay in my territory for a bit?”

“I came here to see you. Where else would I go if not your place?” Xu Juan let out a quiet sigh of relief and picked up two boxes with a cheerful grin, trailing after Xia Qing.

They squeezed through the thick, man-high wild grass wall. When she saw the rotary tiller parked by the road, Xu Juan couldn’t help but exclaim, “Not bad, Xia Qing! It hasn’t even been half a year and you’ve already got your own farm machine.”

Zhang Yong loaded the supplies into the trailer then hopped up himself. “Did you build this trailer yourself?”

“Yep. Juan, sit next to me.” Xia Qing had just removed Boss Sheep’s special seat, making room for Xu Juan.

Lucky for Xia Qing that “weak” Boss Sheep wasn’t around to see this, or he would’ve thrown a fit and picked a fight for sure.

As the rotary tiller chugged its way back, Xu Juan used the chance to scope things out. She noticed Zhang Yong was sitting with his back to them, then quickly turned to face forward, drawing two characters on Xia Qing’s back with her finger:

“Be careful.”

When she finished writing, Xu Juan pressed her hand to her chest as it jostled up and down with the vehicle’s bumps. Out of the corner of her eye, Xia Qing noticed Xu Juan’s index and middle fingers were pointed together just below her throat.

Xia Qing understood the signal. Xu Juan was warning her that Sufeng Squad had hidden a camera or listening device at her collar. Xia Qing nudged Xu Juan with her elbow to show she’d gotten the message.

After driving back into the courtyard, Xu Juan jumped down and looked around. “Hey, you’ve got a pretty nice place—so spacious! Where’s the bathroom? All that bouncing around in the truck, I can barely hold it anymore.”

Aside from being spacious, there wasn’t much else to praise. Xia Qing opened the security door and led Xu Juan inside. “It’s the room at the back on the right.”

Once Xu Juan headed to the bathroom, Xia Qing went out to help Zhang Yong unload. She spotted that he had his back to her. On the back of his protective suit was a piece of cardboard, torn from a packing box, with words scratched into it using a screw:

“There’s a camera at our collar.”

Sufeng Squad always threw their weight around. Xu Juan and Zhang Yong couldn’t refuse when approached by them, or they’d be finished in Hui San Base.

Look out for yourself, or no one else will.

Given they’d come, even if they didn’t warn her, Xia Qing wouldn’t do anything to them. But the fact they’d risk it to give her a heads-up—she appreciated that.

She slid the cardboard under the rotary tiller’s seat cushion just as Zhang Yong asked, “Where do you plan to install the solar panels?”

Xia Qing’s house already had two panels on the sloped roof, but she planned to put all six new ones back where they’d been before. “On the east side, on top of the storeroom.”

Zhang Yong looked up at Xia Qing’s makeshift building, its windows covered with wooden and iron boards. “Is the rooftop strong enough to hold all that?”

Xia Qing kept it simple. “It’s enough. I replaced the corroded steel bars, poured new concrete, and laid another layer of bricks with cement on top.”

“Good.” Zhang Yong grabbed the welder and toolbox. “How do we get up there?”

“Stairs.”

Xia Qing opened the storeroom door, lifted the bundled solar panels with one hand and led the way. Zhang Yong followed with the welder and voltage stabilizer, while Xu Juan came out from the bathroom and shouldered an iron pipe, joining them.

The storeroom was huge, everything stacked up neat and orderly, though most of it was junk salvaged from the ruins or dried grass—nothing of real value.

Xu Juan asked, “Why’d you gather so much dried grass?”

“I keep a sheep.”

Xu Juan perked up. “Greenlight or Yellowlight?”

Xia Qing, leading the group, answered, “Redlight. Strength evolver. Can carry cargo.”

They made their way up the cement stairs. The makeshift building had two floors, but there was an extra stairwell up to the roof—the former owner must’ve planned to turn the rooftop into usable space.

Too bad disaster struck before it was finished.

“Solid work here—you’ve got the slope just right. No way that’ll collect rainwater.” Zhang Yong gave his approval as he started assembling the solar panels with practiced hands.

Xu Juan wandered around the rooftop, taking in the view and chatting idly. “So, Xia Qing, where’s your sheep?”

Xia Qing kept working on the iron rack, not even looking up. “Sick. In the sheep shed.”

“Is that the little shed in the yard? I passed by and caught a whiff—it’s pretty smelly in there.”

Xia Qing replied, “There’s also a sick wolf in the shed.”

Xu Juan and Zhang Yong both jumped. “You keep a wolf? Aren’t you worried it’ll eat the sheep?”

Xia Qing explained, “Picked it up on a mission. It’s so sick it can barely move.”

Realizing it was a sick wolf, the two relaxed.

Zhang Yong soon finished mounting the solar panels to the iron rack, then installed both the battery and the voltage stabilizer in the stairwell, neatly wiring everything together with pipe-covered wires.

Once he’d checked the equipment and made sure everything worked, Zhang Yong asked, “How do you want to lay the wiring? I can help with that before I go.”

Xia Qing could handle it herself, so she didn’t need Zhang Yong to stay. After coming down, Xia Qing invited them both inside.

Since they had already given her a warning and Xia Qing still let them in, Xu Juan and Zhang Yong figured there was nothing in Xia Qing’s territory Sufeng wanted. They relaxed and quickly followed her inside.

Besides, the courtyard really did stink—definitely not the place for a conversation.

Xia Qing boiled a pot of filtered water, made tea, and placed a plate of dried fruit on the table.

Xu Juan marveled, “You really have it made. Drinking tea already.”

Xia Qing explained, “I traded for the tea with stuff from another territory, and the fruit is just wild berries picked from the buffer forest.”

As soon as Xu Juan spotted Xia Qing’s right hand wrapped in a bandage, she asked, “Are you hurt? That explains why you didn’t use your right hand earlier.”

“The evolved birds attacked and tore my hand open near the base of my thumb. Can’t put any pressure on it.” Xia Qing had shown her wound to them on purpose, just like she’d let them see the wolf.

She did this so people in Territory Two would know—she was already injured the day the pangolin disappeared, so she couldn’t have caught it. There was no pangolin in her territory, and she’d rather refuse twenty jin of grain than let Sufeng people in to search, all because she had a wolf and a sheep to protect.

After the tea, Zhang Yong stood up. “I’ll leave you two to chat. I’ve got to go install equipment in Territory Two.”

Once Zhang Yong left Territory Three, Xu Juan threw an arm around Xia Qing’s neck, giggling. “C’mon, bring out your best snacks!”

Xia Qing’s tone softened a bit. “We’ve got cucumbers, tomatoes, and beans out in the field. What do you feel like for lunch, Juan?”

Xu Juan’s eyes sparkled. “Wish I could stay for a meal, but once we’re done unloading we have to head back. Can I at least check out your vegetable garden?”

Xia Qing led Xu Juan to the vegetable greenhouse south of the reservoir. On the way, by a farm shed near the fields, three members of Hu Zifeng’s squad came out, greeted them warmly.

Everyone had been at the same base for a decade—even if they hadn’t spoken before, the faces were all familiar.

As they passed the farm shed, Xu Juan lowered her voice to ask Xia Qing, “Hu Zifeng’s squad?”

“Yeah. I hired them to guard my territory.”

Xu Juan nudged Xia Qing’s shoulder with a grin. “You’ve got the money to hire guys from Qinglong! Impressive.”

Xia Qing explained, “Just traded some vegetables from the territory—it’s not all about money.”

Xu Juan didn’t say it out loud, but watching Xia Qing’s thriving greenhouses, her admiration grew. Even being a Strength Evolver, growing so much grain and so many vegetables took an incredible amount of time and effort.