Chapter 304: Securing the Territory: Ants, Cameras, and Healing Waters

Two cameras were installed on the southern farmland near the reservoir. One sat two hundred meters northwest of Xia Qing’s house and the other was two hundred meters to the northeast. These two cameras didn’t just keep the fields and greenhouse in view but also covered the north sides of Xia Qing’s home and the storage shed, plus the west sides of the chicken house and sheep shed.

Of course, before that worked, Xia Qing needed to clear out the big trees, ruins, bushes and wild grass cluttering the space between the cameras and the house.

Live and learn.

After being bitten by the evolved wild parasol tree during the third Poison Rain, Xia Qing never just chopped down a tree at its trunk. Instead, she always dug out the whole root system.

If you just hack off the trunk and leave living roots behind, those roots could soak up a deadly dose of toxic elements in the next Poison Rain and become dangerously mutated.

Xia Qing was just halfway through sawing a trunk when, unexpectedly, her idol called.

Zhang San asked, “Xia Qing, did you get attacked by a flock of birds while gathering torreya nuts?”

At first, Xia Qing thought Zhang San wanted birds, so she explained, “Yeah, I ran into them. The birds I shot down all landed on the slope or tumbled into the valley, couldn’t bring any back.”

Zhang San paused for two seconds, then replied weakly, “I’m not looking for bird meat. Did you notice any evolved ants under the torreya tree?”

“There were ants, but not many and they weren’t very big.” Xia Qing had her hands full dodging birds above, snakes hiding in holes and still managed to collect torreya nuts. She only checked the ground for dangers before moving on.

If she’d found any rodent-type evolved ants under the tree, Xia Qing would have bailed right away. Those things are vicious—no way she’d pick a fight.

Zhang San explained why he called. “The torreya nuts you brought back had a high concentration of venom. Anyone poisoned would be paralyzed for at least five hours. I’m guessing there are evolved ants under that tree that can neutralize the toxin. Otherwise, those birds wouldn’t have swarmed you over there.”

Xia Qing had never heard of evolved ants under torreya trees. She’d just assumed the birds were ganging up on a lone forager, hoping to snag some meat.

Turns out she’d overlooked the true first guests at that feast—evolved ants immune to torreya nut toxins.

It actually made perfect sense. If she’d been knocked out by the venom and the birds ate her, they’d be poisoned too and just become someone else’s lunch.

Once Xia Qing figured out what Zhang San was after, she asked directly, “How many evolved ants do you want from under the torreya tree, Third Brother?”

Zhang San tried to work out a deal. “Catching those ants is tougher than picking torreya nuts. Give me the tree’s location and I’ll send a team to catch them. They’ll only grab ants and collect soil and plant samples. No torreya nuts, and they won’t tell anyone else where the tree is.”

Though it wouldn’t be kept totally secret, Xia Qing had already told Qi Fu and Shi Du about her lease on Section Three of Hill Forty-Nine, so there was no reason not to let Zhang San know too.

She hadn’t brought it up before because it didn’t matter. “Third Brother, I’ll guide them myself. That tree’s on a steep slope in the valley—it’d take them forever to find it alone. I’ve leased a patch of Evolved Forest on Hill Forty-Nine and the tree is inside it. They don’t need to check in with Luo or anyone else. They can go straight in.”

For once, Zhang San was genuinely curious. “With such a big territory, aren’t you busy enough? Why rent an Evolved Forest too?”

Xia Qing was ready with an excuse. “The Evolved Forest hasn’t been fully cleared. It’s a good place for someone at my level to train and get stronger. I crunched the numbers—it’s actually cheaper to rent the forest than pay two thousand credits every time I want to train inside.”

Zhang San didn’t press for more. He agreed to send people for ant-catching tomorrow morning, then hung up.

Xia Qing got back to work with Old Goat and Wolfdog Number Two, tackling trees and tangled brush.

Xia Qing handled the chopping, while her animal partners dragged wood and shrubs aside. Old Goat heaved tree trunks and big branches. Wolfdog Number Two, still not fully recovered, gathered smaller sticks and shrubbery.

Hauling heavy stuff was Old Goat and Xia Qing’s specialty, while Wolfdog Number Two was careful with the details. With three companions of different strengths working in sync, by sunset, the day’s clearing was a resounding success.

Tomorrow, after catching those ants, Xia Qing planned to fire up the rotary tiller and clear out the wild grass and the debris piled up from the collapsed houses to the west. Once that was done, the camera in the southwest fields would include the chicken yard in its range.

After a long day, Xia Qing picked a basketful of vegetables and pulled up a corn stalk—the one with the snapped ear—to take home for herself and her two companions.

Dinner left them nice and full. Er Gou went out for a walk and a patrol while Old Goat sprawled happily on the tatami, chewing cud with satisfaction.

Xia Qing listened to the radio as she carefully examined a muscle and soft-tissue healing potion and the handwritten notes from her idol she’d found tucked in the box the cameras came in.

After reading, Xia Qing felt much more confident.

Zhang San had said her bone density was normal and that there were no fractures or deformities, just soft tissue injuries. A few medicinal soaks and the right diet would get her back to her peak.

The lower the toxic elements in the bathwater, the better. Zhang San had suggested buying distilled water, but Xia Qing had an even better option.

That night, she skipped an hour of exercise, told Old Goat and Wolfdog Number Two to guard the territory, then carried two buckets of freshly boiled pure spring water upstairs. She adjusted the temperature following the instructions and started her medicinal bath.

Holding her breath, Xia Qing submerged herself completely in the potion, only coming up for a deep gasp of air when she couldn’t stand it any longer, then dunking herself right back down.

After fifteen minutes, every inch of her skin and muscle was burning and itching, but it was tolerable. Zhang San had warned her that soreness, itching and pain meant the medicine was working.

By forty-five minutes, the burning and itching hit her limit, but Xia Qing only surfaced to catch her breath before slipping beneath the water again.

No matter how much it hurt, she was staying in for the full hour.

That dose of medicine cost her more than forty-four thousand credits. Cutting even a second short felt like robbing both her hardworking self and the idol who’d secretly mixed up the potion for her.

Once the bath was over, Xia Qing washed off the lingering potion, got dressed and crawled back to her bedroom, collapsing into her new, fluffy quilt while her body sang with pain.

Her idol had told her there’d be leftover effects in the used bathwater—it could be reused on the evolved animals in her territory the next day. Back when she read that, she’d wondered why wait till the next day. Now she got it: after her own bath, she had zero strength left to drag those two stubborn animals in for their soak.

She slept soundly all night.

The next morning, it wasn’t the rooster that woke Xia Qing. Nor was it the sound of Red Squirrel sipping water at her windowsill. Instead, she was jolted awake by an alarm from her phone’s surveillance app.

She grabbed her phone at once and checked the cameras—sure enough, the one on the high slope had caught an intruder: Red Squirrel.