Chapter 364: Night Watch at the Territory

As Xia Qing pondered how a boneless octopus might break through the Gui San Safe Zone wall, she quickly lifted her gun and aimed it at a young woman approaching from the refugee line. The woman wore a second-level wilderness protective suit and looked much better off than most refugees.

The newcomer immediately raised both hands. “Please, don’t misunderstand. I overheard you talking about Gui San Base, so I came to share what I know about how giant octopuses attack.”

Even from more than fifty meters away in the refugee queue, she’d overheard Xia Qing and Lu Yuhui’s conversation. She had to be a hearing evolver. Xia Qing kept her expression blank as she warned, “Not interested. Step back.”

The woman stayed where she was and introduced herself sincerely. “I’m a chef and a Level 3 hearing evolver. Can I work in your territory?”

Seeing that Xia Qing was still unmoved, the woman bent at the waist and started crying, begging, “You’re a woman too. I know you understand why I’m desperate. I’m terrified of going to any male-dominated territory… Please, just this once.”

Still getting no response from Xia Qing, she took another step forward.

“Click.” Xia Qing chambered a round, her voice cold as ice. “Step back.”

The woman bit her lip, turned around, and went back to wait in line.

After setting up the fence posts, Lu Yuhui came back to Xia Qing’s side. “She’s a hearing evolver—shouldn’t we have a use for her in the territory?”

Xia Qing replied, “She’s a chef. All the food I just harvested I used up trading for credits for this wall. Even I barely have enough to eat, so I really have no need for a chef right now.”

But that was just her excuse—Xia Qing actually found this woman highly suspicious.

Gui San Safe Zone never let ordinary refugees in, but they wouldn’t turn away evolved people, especially female evolvers of childbearing age. Yet this young woman insisted she didn’t want to go to any male-dominated territory, but didn’t try for work inside the safe zone either, instead queuing with a group of men outside its walls.

There had to be something wrong with her—no way was she clean.

“You made the right call. Putting up the wall matters more. Food can always be grown again, but if you don’t build the fence, even what you plant can be stolen,” Lu Yuhui said, then kept measuring and putting in fence posts.

An hour later, Tan Junjie arrived with the last group of people rejected by Territory One and Two, heading for Territory Eight. To Xia Qing’s surprise, the very woman who’d just been begging her also got sent away by Tang Huai—and loaded onto the truck to Territory Eight.

The excavators and cement mixers were so loud that Xia Qing couldn’t make out what was being said in Territory Two. She had no idea how they picked their refugees, but as far as she knew, someone like that female evolver shouldn’t have been rejected.

Another hour passed, and Zhong Tao returned from Territory Eight with a truck filled with refugees that none of the three territories had accepted. That same female evolver was still among them.

She hadn’t been picked by Territory Eight, either.

But unlike the other rejected refugees—who radiated real numbness, despair, or anger—this woman’s display of sadness was painfully fake to Xia Qing’s eyes.

It wasn’t that Xia Qing was unusually sensitive to emotion, but as a high-level vision evolver, she could see in razor-sharp detail the exact moment that woman’s face shifted from scheming to sorrow.

From the big truck, Zhong Tao gave a quick tap of the horn. Xia Qing nodded in return before he floored it, taking off with a load of potentially volatile passengers.

By 7 PM, the engineering vehicles were parked inside Section Three, and the construction crew had returned to Territory Eight to rest for the night.

Thanks to the very chatty Lu Yuhui, Xia Qing now knew that Xin Yu had divided Territory Eight into north and south zones: Xin Yu lived in the north, while all the recruited refugees and the construction team stayed in temporary prefab shelters in the south, under the unified management of Uncle Zhou, who’d come with the plane.

Lu Yuhui hadn’t said outright who Uncle Zhou was, but the respect in her voice told Xia Qing he held a high position within Zhonglian Group.

Once the construction crew left, Xia Qing headed home for dinner, eager to grab some rest.

At three in the morning, Xia Qing geared up and left home with Old Goat—tonight she was on the third night-watch shift, from three to six.

Old Goat hadn’t even been scheduled, but insisted on keeping her company. Er Gou wanted to tag along too, but Xia Qing ordered him to stay home and rest.

Truth was, Er Gou hadn’t slept all night, having patrolled constantly to keep the territory safe.

As for the Queen?

With voices echoing constantly around the territory, she sprawled atop the highest scaffold, watching everything below with a true monarch’s gaze.

Xia Qing and Old Goat made their way to the south side, near the wild grass wall. Thanks to construction work, the wild grass had been crushed flat by the heavy machines and couldn’t hide anything anymore.

Man and sheep stopped and stared at Territory Two’s wild grass wall. Xia Qing couldn’t help grumbling, “Old Goat, these guys have real spirit. It’s after three and they’re still fighting over rooms and beds.”

“Baa.” Even Old Goat sounded a little annoyed.

“Xia Qing?” The low voice belonged to Tan Junjie, out on patrol.

“It’s me,” Xia Qing replied. “Just making the rounds.”

Tan Junjie came over, using his night vision goggles to peer at the solitary figure and sheep standing in Section Three’s grassy border. “You two…”

“Die! All of you just die—”

“Bang!”

Suddenly, shouts and the sounds of fighting broke out from Territory Two. Tan Junjie spun and sprinted that way, contacting Territory Two’s acting manager as he went.

“Territory Two, report your status. Do you need backup?”

Since Tan Junjie was calling Tang Huai, Xia Qing couldn’t hear the reply—only the ongoing shouts and noise from Territory Two. Then she caught Tang Heng’s voice, amplified through a megaphone: “No fighting permitted in the territory. Anyone who starts trouble will be kicked out!”

A few minutes later, the fighting died down, but curses and arguments rumbled on.

With two patrol teams on duty, none of Territory Two’s ‘refugees’ could slip through the passageway into Section Three. Xia Qing, white-furred Old Goat in tow, simply greeted Er Yong from Hu Zifeng’s Squad and headed off to guard the Northern Buffer Forest instead.

Around 4:30 AM, while standing at the edge of the Northern Barrier, Xia Qing heard a faint rustling to the north—the sound of a big animal forcing its way through the dense Evolved Forest.

Old Goat, lying beside her, perked up and stared attentively into the darkness.

No need to ask—it had to be a wolf. Xia Qing just couldn’t tell which one, judging by the sound.

Moments later, Crippled Wolf strode out from the abandoned valley, clutching a four-legged, dark-furred prey in its jaws. It paused, looking up to greet Xia Qing and Old Goat.

“Crippled, morning,” Xia Qing called out, and radioed Hu Zifeng on the west side of the Northern Barrier.

The wild grass wall to the south was ruined, and Xia Qing didn’t want outsiders spotting Crippled Wolf. So she guided Crippled Wolf home along a route where prying eyes couldn’t see.

Once inside, Crippled Wolf dropped its catch and exchanged sniffs with the Alpha. Once the Alpha started eating, Crippled Wolf approached Xia Qing, motioning for her to check the side pocket of its battered protective suit.

One look at the bulging pocket and Xia Qing’s heart leapt—no mistaking that shape, it could only be Yi Stones, and at least three of them!

“Crippled Wolf, you’re way too generous.” Xia Qing reached for the pocket, but her smile faltered as soon as she touched what was inside.