Chapter 4: A New Territory, A New Life

Two months ago, when she joined the unit to clear out new territory, Xia Qing had already scouted every inch of this place. Territory Three spans six thousand mu, making it the third largest among the two hundred plots that have been reclaimed so far.

To wipe out all the evolved pests, every piece of arable land in the territory had been cleared and burned. The three abandoned villages inside were each sprayed twice with powerful insecticide and repellent.

Xia Qing took part in every step of the disinfection, so by the time she finished, twilight was already falling. Still, when she walked into the overgrown ghost village, with grass towering above her head, she didn’t worry about being ambushed by evolved creatures.

She made her way through the grass—taller than a person—and entered the most intact two-story house in the center of the village. After dropping her bag in the first floor living room, Xia Qing went outside to gather some dead wood. She closed the door, started a fire, then began to check the supplies she’d received from the main hall.

One basic water filter that can purify 200 liters of mildly contaminated fresh water.

Thirty jin of compressed rations—if she’s careful, that’s enough to last four months.

Six jin each of evolved wheat, mung beans, cotton, and small potatoes, plus a packet of seeds for evolved pumpkin, cucumber, tomato, and eggplant. If she does it right, these could end up on her table in four months. The vegetables could be ready even sooner.

What disappointed Xia Qing was missing out on evolved sweet potatoes. Last year, during a mission with the Azure Dragon Unit, she’d gotten a small share, and the taste had stayed with her ever since.

Since rations and seeds were handed out in bulk bags, Xia Qing wasn’t sure if every lord received the same types. She’d have to find a way to ask around.

After tucking the seeds away, Xia Qing pulled out the used phone she’d just received. As soon as she powered it up, two green lines flickered down the screen, and the display kept flashing. Still, that’s nothing unusual—any phone that still works after ten years of apocalypse is a good phone, no matter how battered.

On the desktop, there was a Word document titled ‘Planting Guide’ showing detailed, illustrated instructions for more than thirty kinds of safe and optional crops—sweet potatoes included. Xia Qing skimmed the list, set the phone aside, and pulled out her other ‘just as good’ little radio sent by the base.

After the disaster took down humanity’s vast and efficient communication systems, simple radios and receivers became the main means of long-distance contact for years. Even now, most regular folks in the Safe Zone still rely on them.

Hui San Base has now restored cell signal coverage inside the Safe Zone, but it’s nowhere near pre-disaster quality. Within the Safe Zone, phones are only good for calls, texts, and the Hui San Base Task App. Outside, where towers are still down, there’s no signal at all—so Xia Qing’s territory is off the grid.

She set the base-issued phone and radio next to her personal one and took out her Land Certificate. As she read the back of the document, her eyes began to shine.

The radio kept repeating that the lords’ rights would be protected, but never explained exactly how.

In the chaos, the threat from nature’s evolved monsters is terrifying, but the real despair comes from the killing, looting, and bullying between survivors. Of those who survived the first three years, at least thirty percent were killed by other humans.

Xia Qing’s father was killed during a beast attack on the Safe Zone—’accidentally’ slain by a high-level Evolver.

She’d witnessed it all, but lacking the strength, she still hasn’t been able to avenge her father.

With food and supplies scarce, anybody who leaves the Safe Zone’s oversight and ends up alone with plenty of provisions is bound to become a juicy target.

Without real strength, a lord might lose hard-earned crops at best—or their life at worst. That’s why, even after all the high-level evolved beasts have been driven back hundreds of miles, most people still don’t dare to farm outside the Safe Zone.

So, to give the lords peace of mind, the base promised round-the-clock patrols—and granted them one more crucial right:

All resources within the range listed on the Land Certificate now belong to the lord. Anyone stepping onto the land without the lord’s permission is guilty of trespassing, to be punished to the full extent of the law. If a lord takes action to stop a crime and harms or even kills the intruder, it’s considered legitimate self-defense.

In simple terms: If you kill trespassers, you walk free.

Looks like her shot at avenging her father has finally come.

Xia Qing picked up a tree branch as thick as her thigh, snapped it with ease, and tossed it onto the fire. She then stretched lazily and hauled out her oversized canvas duffel.

The bag, weighing nearly two hundred jin, held everything Xia Qing owned: a set of bedding, a sleeping bag, a pack of basic cooking gear and seasonings, a huge bundle of woodworking and electrician tools, two big bags of building material, six knives, her old trusty radio, a powerful sling, and one hundred and fifty books. The books covered topics like gardening, farming, animal husbandry, carpentry, electrical work, and home renovation—everything you could imagine.

After her mother passed, making plans for a new life after the disaster became Xia Qing and her dad’s favorite way to unwind. After he died, these dreams became Xia Qing’s reason to keep going.

Now, ten years after the catastrophe, she’s finally stepped out of the Safe Zone and started a new chapter.

Xia Qing packed her books into waterproof storage bags, then opened her clothes bundle and pulled out a phone hidden inside.

The base-issued phone can’t connect to the outside world from inside her territory, but hers can. Technically, it’s not a regular phone at all, but a satellite communication terminal—a graduation gift from her parents the year of the disaster.

When China’s satellite system came back online in the third year after the disaster, satellite terminals became the hottest commodity. People traded them for life-saving food and medicine. Others lost their lives trying to keep them.

After her father was killed, Xia Qing was forced to share a dorm with strangers, so she hid the phone and only powered it up when she was sure it was safe. She’d use it to watch old videos, look at photos, and receive official satellite news and messages from the nation and Hui Yi Base—her only link to what was going on outside Hui San.

The last time she’d switched it on was New Year’s Eve—sixteen days ago. Now that she’s finally on her own land, she can use the phone openly.

Once she powered on and connected to the satellite, the phone immediately flooded with hundreds of disaster warnings, news stories, and alerts. Xia Qing read through each one. As expected, the info matched what she’d heard on the radio—except for one message.

A strange number had sent her a text fifteen days ago, on the morning of New Year’s Day. That sender’s number and message were burned into her memory—because three minutes earlier, she’d gotten an identical text from the same number on her other phone, still back in the Safe Zone.

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