Chapter 392: A Road Through Thornwood

To transport timber out of the Thornwood Forest on Hill Fifty, a work truck had already carved out a five-meter-wide path from this territory’s eastern quarantine strip straight into the forest.

The road was in rough shape. Trucks hauling wood made it just fine, but dump trucks—well, by the time they rattled over, half a load of dirt was all that was left.

Zhao Ze stopped the truck and turned to Qi Fu. “It’s almost six. We’ve got a little over an hour. There’s no way the digging shovel will cut it in time. What do you say we use the dozer blade instead? Should we go get it and hook it up?”

“You get the tools, I’ll grab the dozer blade. Once it’s mounted, you push up front and I’ll smooth things out behind.” Qi Fu opened the door and hopped out, heading for the cart where the dozer blade was lying.

As he reached the cart, Yu Shou—the fourth-level Strength-Based Evolution standing watch on the truck bed—picked up the dozer blade with no trouble and handed it to him. “Qi, you got it?”

“Of course I do.” Qi Fu took it with a smile. “I’m an Evolution myself, second-level.”

Qi Fu’s actual Strength-Based Evolution had reached level three after being triggered by a super-evolution fungus attack, but he kept that under wraps, telling others he was just level two.

Seeing Qi Fu heft the blade with ease, Yu Shou let go. “If you get tired, just holler. You do the defense, I’ll take over roadwork.”

“Not my thing. I’m terrible with guns—defense isn’t my strong suit. Our territories aren’t far apart anyway, so let’s visit more often.” Qi Fu extended the invitation with a smile.

He’d always respected the soldiers safeguarding the Safe Zone. So he felt a real fondness for Territory Fifteen. After all, it was packed with veterans and its lord was Tan Junjie’s daughter.

He wasn’t the only one. The other four lords in the Lords’ Alliance felt the same. That’s why, after Xia Qing suggested it, everyone quickly agreed to invite Territory Fifteen to join the Alliance.

With Yue Haiying radioing Tan Junjie for permission, Territory Fifteen officially became the Alliance’s sixth member. Now everyone could visit each other freely.

Qi Fu’s Section Five bordered Territory Ten to the south. Territory Ten’s eastern neighbor was Territory Fourteen, and further east was Territory Fifteen, where Yu Shou was from.

On the map, these territories were definitely close, but until now, none of them had ever actually met.

Mostly that was because disaster years brought endless shortages—everyone was too busy farming and scraping by to wander off or worry about other territories. On top of that, they fell under different Inspection Teams and didn’t share a Lords’ channel.

Territories Eleven through Eighteen were handled by Inspection Team Five. Just like Territoriy One through Ten had their own, these eight territories shared a chat channel, so naturally their lords communicated and bonded more.

That’s why, even though Territory Fourteen and Fifteen had routes both north and south, they always used the South Gate—it led straight to lords they actually knew.

Territory Ten was similar, with routes leading both north and south and a signpost on either side. But Shizhong’s family usually took the Northern Gate.

Territory Ten’s northern neighbor was Territory Six, flanked by Section Five on one side and Section Seven on the other. All belonged to the same chat, so Shizhong was way more familiar and comfortable with these folks than the southern neighbor—Territory Thirteen, a territory he’d never even dealt with.

Territory Two was different. They used both gates. Since Tang Zhengbo’s Territory Twelve sat southeast, Tang Huai and Tang Heng often crossed over for family meals.

Qi Fu slung the 300-plus-pound dozer blade over his shoulder. By the time he reached the rotary tiller, Zhao Ze was already there waiting, tools in hand.

“Clack, clack, clack—”

That terrifying, unmistakable sound—the wings of a giant evolutionary locust—buzzed through the air. Zhao Ze’s mind hardly registered it before he heard Xia Qing, perched on the truck roof, say two calm words: “I got this.”

Then, with a sharp thwack, a locust the size of a large palm dropped from the sky. Its wings stopped dead, and it crashed to the dirt. Spines on its legs still twitched, but bright green ichor was already seeping into the ground, staining the soil weirdly.

Winter was nearly here, and giant evolved locusts still hadn’t died off. Was this an all-new breed?

If one of those monsters bit or kicked him, Zhao Ze’s regular protective suit would be torn to shreds.

He waved his wrench at Xia Qing on the roof. “Nice shot, Sis. Dead on target.”

He was grateful Xia Qing had taken out the beast, but also thankful for the Inspection Team who kept the quarantine strip clear—otherwise, stuff like that would be flying straight into the territory.

Qi Fu, a bit bolder than Zhao Ze, had caught more detail. “Xia Qing, you didn’t use the gun, did you?”

“Steel pellet. Not worth wasting a bullet on this one. Qi, Zhao, move faster.” Xia Qing stood tall on the truck roof, gun in her right hand, an eight-millimeter steel pellet in her left, urging them on.

This way of flicking steel pellets by hand was something Xia Qing had just mastered over the past two months.

She used to have no gun—so close range meant using a blade for defense, and long range meant countering with a slingshot. But now that she had a gun, it just wasn’t practical to swap to a slingshot for small close-up threats, so she began training to flick steel pellets by hand.

After soaking her hands in body-repair medicine, Xia Qing’s fingers had clearly gotten stronger, more flexible, and precise. Her hand-flicked steel pellets hit harder and landed on target.

At this range, she could hit something as small as a mosquito’s head, never mind a palm-sized locust.

“Right.” In the Evolved Forest, danger could hit at any moment. This was no place to relax and chat. Zhao Ze and Qi Fu, faces flushing a bit, quickly mounted the dozer blade and got to work.

Seeing Xia Qing’s marksmanship calmed Zhao Ze’s nerves, and even Qi Fu’s hands felt steadier as he smoothed out the rough road behind the truck.

Yu Shou glanced at the corpse in the grass—the locust was already being chopped up by ants. His view of Xia Qing’s combat ability was definitely changing.

Now retired, Yu Shou knew all too well how expensive bullets were. Using the gun came at a steep cost. Maybe he should train himself to attack with steel pellets, too.

They pushed the rotary tiller a thousand meters to the edge of Thornwood. From her perch, Xia Qing spotted a big tree down southeast, and through the gap she could make out someone cutting wood.

Without turning her head, Xia Qing spoke into the walkie-talkie inside her protective mask to Yu Shou in the truck bed. “Yu, there’s someone cutting trees three hundred meters southeast—might be from Territory Seventeen. Can you check it out? If anything happens, call me right away.”

When two parties meet in the Evolved Forest, both after the same patch of resources, it can turn into a fight before you know it.

But since Territories Seventeen and Fifteen shared a channel, they probably knew each other. Best to let Yu Shou talk first, see what’s what.

“Roger.” Yu Shou jumped off the truck, gun in hand, and headed toward the southeast edge of Thornwood.