Chapter 40: Machines, Cats, and New Alliances

After some spirited haggling, Xia Qing put down a deposit for the cat and two household machines, paying thirty spinach leaves. She also managed to trade for a rotary tiller and some diesel without a hitch.

Xia Qing took out spinach leaves—partly to barter for supplies from other territories using the green-light spinach seeds, but also, now that she had a handgun and a solid security squad backing her up, her territory’s safety was on a whole new level. With that support, she wasn’t the least bit worried about people eyeing her precious plants.

If anyone dared sneak in and steal her crops, that’d be a perfect chance to make an example out of them.

While the group chat exploded with heated bidding wars over Zhang San’s goods and the not-yet-existent evolved kitten, Xia Qing lay on her bed, listening in for entertainment.

Over an hour later, Hu Zifeng, who’d snagged the kitten, switched off his pager but was still stoked. “Who knew farming could be this much fun?”

One of his teammates muttered under his breath, “Feng-ge, Zhang San over at Plot Seven can’t be simple.”

In a year where most folks barely had enough to eat, anyone generous enough to feed their kitten fish and meat definitely wasn’t ordinary. Hu Zifeng knew who Zhang San really was but kept it to himself, only reminding his teammates, “Doesn’t matter who he is—if he’s not on the Tang family’s side, we’re not his enemy.”

“Got it.” The teammate grinned and saluted playfully. “But what if Zhang San’s cat only has one kitten?”

Hu Zifeng glared. “Then you go give birth to one for me!”

Over in Territory Two, Tang Heng sorted through the information they’d gathered that night. “Luo Pei went with Yang Jin to detox—the guy’s not in any real danger, but his abilities are done. There’s no way he’ll avoid getting pushed out of the Azure Dragon Unit. Hu Zifeng’s one of his closest guys, so it makes sense he’s out there covering Luo Pei’s escape route. Over at Plot Three, it’s just Xia Qing and her evolved sheep. It also makes sense she wants to trade for farming equipment. What really makes people jealous is that new buffer forest in Plot Three, with the green-light perilla and spinach growing there.”

Tang Huai couldn’t help but yawn. “You think they’re the only ones with new discoveries? Wait and see. The first place to get in trouble will definitely be Plot Three, since she keeps showing off.”

Tang Heng didn’t think things would be that simple. “Nobody who’s survived this long is stupid. I suspect Xia Qing is offering up those two green-light veggies in exchange for Zhang San’s protection.”

Tang Huai’s yawn cut off halfway. “If her spinach matches ‘his’ tastes, that guy might really send someone to watch out for her.”

“If that’s true, we’d better keep our hands off Xia Qing’s red-light evolved sheep. No good can come from crossing Zhang San. We need to smooth things over with him fast.” Thinking about the three taels of mutton they’d sent, Tang Heng’s suspicions grew. “Bet it was the Inspection Team that messed with the meat!”

Tang Huai slumped in his chair. “Even if that’s true, what can we do? The Tang family’s always causing trouble. People can’t get back at the big shots, so they take it out on nobodies like us. Let’s just get some sleep.”

Lying down, Tang Heng muttered, “Bro, let’s do a sweep of the territory tomorrow. Once we’ve got some green-light crops, I bet even Zhang San will be interested in a trade. The stuff he’s holding is top shelf…”

Tang Huai sounded completely uninterested. “I have missions to run. If you want to check, take some people and do it yourself.”

Early the next morning, Su Ming rolled up on a fire-red rotary tiller, engine rumbling as he pulled up beneath the Plot Three sign, shouting excitedly, “Qing-jie, this is from Plot One! There are two more crates of parts on the way!”

The multifunction rotary tiller looked like a compact tracked tractor. Standing just over five feet tall, it had a fire-red body paired with black tracks and two fierce headlights mounted up front, making for a seriously awesome sight.

Xia Qing recognized it instantly. That was the kind of machine used and maintained by specialists at the Safe Zone’s planting center greenhouses.

Back when she worked at the center, she could only steal a glimpse of machines like this from afar. Getting to touch one was out of the question. But now, she owned one herself!

Once Huzi and Cao Xianyun showed up toting two giant crates of parts, they got everything assembled according to the manual. Xia Qing was stunned all over again.

Turns out, ‘multifunctional’ was no exaggeration. Besides the rotary tiller, plowshare, trenching blades, cultivator, ridger, backfill tool, weeding wheels, and a spray tank, it had extras for grading the road, digging holes, harvesting root veggies, and even planting seeds!

Eleven functions—way more than the one she’d seen at the planting center. As long as there was enough diesel, this thing could replace ten farm workers. Xia Qing’s eyes sparkled; she couldn’t wait to take it for a spin.

And it wasn’t just her—all three faces, including Su Ming’s, were lit up. Su Ming grinned at Xia Qing. “Qing-jie, why don’t we have Huzi install each attachment, and run through them?”

“Sounds good, but I’ll have to trouble you guys then.” Xia Qing could drive a car—though she didn’t technically have a license and her skills were a bit wild. With all the instructions, she still doubted she could get the hang of this machine just by reading the manual.

“No trouble at all, not even a little.” Su Ming jumped into the driver’s seat, beyond eager. “Huzi, hurry up and put on the digging tool!”

Operating heavy machinery was every kid’s childhood dream—or at least one of them.

“Now that we’ve got the dozer blade and rotary tiller on, let’s test those out first.” Cao Xianyun nudged Xia Qing. “Qing-jie, your sheep is charging over here.”

Xia Qing heard it before anyone else; Boss Sheep’s location and the noises he made were out of normal earshot, so she pretended not to notice. But with Cao Xianyun’s warning, Xia Qing dashed toward Boss Sheep, and soon, the two of them were having an animated ‘conversation’ with the newcomers and the new machine.

Su Ming shot a look over his shoulder, stunned that the usually feisty Boss Sheep didn’t pick a fight with Xia Qing. Strutting away, he called out, “Old Cao, what did Qing-jie say to that stubborn ram to make him so docile?”

Cao Xianyun had no way of repeating Xia Qing’s words, so he just snapped, face cold, “You done dawdling? If you can’t drive, get out. I’ll take over.”

“Who do you think brought it here? I could drive circles around you with my eyes closed.” Su Ming ignored the showdown between Xia Qing and Boss Sheep, firing up the rotary tiller again.

Once the rotary tiller’s rumbling filled Plot Three, Zhou Xun—a fivefold vision evolver—was lying in wait inside Plot Two, spying and softly reporting back to Tang Huai. “The Inspection Team just delivered the tiller and two big crates. Grass wall’s blocking my view of what’s going on inside.”

A ten-meter-wide east-west dirt road separated Plot Two and Plot Three. On the south side, tall, three-meter-thick walls of dense grass stood on both shoulders of the road, shielding everything inside from prying eyes.

That meant Xia Qing, set up on the north slope of the buffer forest, had a prime vantage point to watch what happened inside Plot Two. Tang Huai and the rest, stuck in the low ground, couldn’t see into Plot Three at all.

But scouting took more than just sharp eyes.

Tang Huai, a fivefold hearing evolver, caught every word of conversation in Plot Three, including how Xia Qing calmed Boss Sheep down. “Nothing abnormal. Let’s wrap it up.”

High above, in the buffer forest of Plot One, Hu Zifeng—using vision-evolver abilities—kept his eyes on Tang Huai and Zhou Xun. He pulled out his phone and shot a message to Wei Chengdong.

Wei Chengdong put away his phone. “Luo-ge, Tang Huai and the others just left the territory. Looks like they’re heading east to hunt evolved beasts in the mountain woods.”

Lying on the operating table, Luo Pei gave a calm order. “Let’s begin.”

Deep beneath the southwest side of Plot Three, the generator in the second underground level of the ruined village roared to life. But the sound was completely covered up by the thunder of the rotary tiller above. The four people gathered around it didn’t notice a thing.

Once the surgical lights reached the right intensity, the team’s medic started the most crucial phase of Luo Pei’s Xiang synthesis poison treatment—the removal of organs tainted by the life drain element.