Chapter 442: A Survivor’s Solitude

After the disaster, the world erupted into chaos. As a Three-Element Evolver, Xia Qing kept her powers hidden. After losing her parents, she chose to survive alone.

But ‘alone’ didn’t mean living like a hermit—she wasn’t capable of that. Instead, she squeezed into the overcrowded Safe Zone with over two million people. Even the crammed dorms had to be shared with strangers.

Her solitude was more a state of mind and a way to stay alive. Xia Qing kept her distance from everyone to avoid unwanted attention. In all these years, the only person she could truly call a friend was Xu Juan.

Now that it was time to divide up the top-grade Green Lantern meat, Xia Qing definitely set aside a share for Xu Juan.

Besides Xu Juan, Xia Qing planned to supplement the rest for her allies in the Territory, hoping to boost their immunity.

It was the first day of the Lunar New Year when someone messaged her, pointing out which territories were worth looking at—and Su Feng had her eyes on those places too. Later, this mysterious contact even told her about Xu Pin’s evolution ability.

As Xia Qing prepared lunch she thought about this person.

A whole year had passed, and this person never once asked for anything from her—not a single favor or reward. When Xia Qing returned for the Crop Trade Fair and tried to gift the person some food, she was turned down flat.

The more Xia Qing considered it, the more convinced she felt this person was a friend of her late father. He’d warned her about the Territory out of goodwill, but he clearly didn’t want her to know who he was.

Xia Qing took a deep breath and pressed the button. The meat grinder roared to life, crushing the rock-hard snake meat into mince.

She scooped some meat into the bubbling pumpkin soup. This was Er Gou’s meal.

For the leftover meat, she mixed in minced green onion, ginger, egg white and salt. Once the clear soup in another pot began to boil, she scooped the seasoned meat into small balls and dropped them in, adding dried bamboo shoots and other veggies at the end. That would be her own dinner.

Afterward, Xia Qing tossed toon sprouts with a nutritious blend for Old Goat.

She’d spent all day working and decided she and her companions deserved the most nourishing Green Lantern food they had.

Once the dishes were ready, Old Goat and Er Gou dug in immediately. Guarding her fragrant snake meatballs sprinkled with scallions, Xia Qing solemnly took out her phone and carefully typed the message that had been running through her mind all day:

“Hello, I have a secret channel to purchase top-grade evolved Green Lantern meat from the Evolved Forest. How many pounds do you need?”

She deliberately left out the real source of the meat. This time she didn’t ask ‘Do you want it?’ but ‘How many pounds do you need?’—a decision she weighed carefully. Xia Qing wanted to hide that she had high-quality Green Lantern meat while still showing her sincerity.

After sending the message, Xia Qing stuffed her phone into her pocket and happily started eating.

By ‘delicious,’ she meant the food was packed with nutrition, not that it tasted great. She’d gone a bit heavy on the salt, so it was pretty salty.

Over in Territory One, Yang Jin stared at his phone for a long time before finally setting it down, leaning back in his chair with a silent grin.

While Xia Qing ate her snake meatballs, she listened to the news and then a farming program while washing the dishes. Still, there was no reply.

For someone to ignore such premium Green Lantern meat—even Third Brother would have jumped at the chance. It was unusual, to say the least.

She couldn’t help but wonder if something had happened to the mysterious contact. Or maybe, after Xu Pin was killed and Fire Phoenix tangled with Su Feng, the person was too busy to check their messages.

“Ding.”

Just as Xia Qing finished putting on her protective suit, ready for a night run and patrol around the Territory, her phone chimed from her pocket.

Quickly pulling it out, she saw it wasn’t the reply she’d been waiting for—Yang Jin had messaged, asking if she was free.

Night had long since fallen. With all eyes on Yang Jin during the day, it made sense he’d choose to move under cover of darkness.

If he was coming all this way, it could only be to split up whatever compensation they’d gotten from Fire Phoenix or Su Feng. She and Yang Jin had already agreed to split the profits from the Devastationweed fifty-fifty.

They set a time, and Xia Qing arrived at the Northern Gate right on schedule.

When Yang Jin appeared in Section Three of Hill Forty-Nine, he was carrying two huge bags—one in each hand. Xia Qing lit up with joy and was about to run over, but Yang Jin sped up and suddenly appeared right outside the gate.

She hurried to open the gate and let him into the Territory. Neither spoke a word, worried someone might be eavesdropping or watching.

Raising her hand, Xia Qing signaled for Yang Jin to hand over the bags, but he shook his head and motioned for her to lead the way. With a giant backpack and heavy bags, he followed quietly behind.

Judging from the sound of Yang Jin’s footsteps, Xia Qing guessed the supplies easily weighed over 400 pounds. The fact that he could handle that much and move so effortlessly meant his Strength Evolution level had to be at least Tier 3!

Anyone not using Strength-Based Evolution would never manage that kind of load. No wonder he led the Azure Dragon Squad—his strength was truly off the charts.

Inside the little cabin at the edge of the fields, Xia Qing carefully closed the door, made sure the curtains were drawn tight, and only then turned on the light.

Yang Jin opened the bags. Under the lamp, the white rice almost glowed.

Xia Qing’s eyes lit up. “The color of this rice is perfect!”

The less Devastation Element and other contaminants the rice had, the whiter it would be.

She’d thought the Green Lantern rice she’d gotten—with a Devastation Element content of 4.7‰—was already pure, but Yang Jin’s rice was even whiter. That meant this batch had even less Devastation Element.

“This is Green Lantern rice harvested this autumn by the White San Planting Center—Devastation Element at 4.1‰, Evolution Element at 2.1. Four hundred pounds in total. No high-Devastation grains mixed in.” As he spoke, Yang Jin opened the two bags he’d carried, plus the two in his backpack, letting Xia Qing inspect everything.

It was easy to tell if any high-Devastation grains were mixed into the Green Lantern rice because the colors would be different.

Leaning in to take a closer look, Xia Qing could even catch a faint rice fragrance. Just knowing those 400 pounds of rice were all hers had her bursting with joy. “This rice is totally worth it! Four hundred credits per pound isn’t expensive at all.”

This was genuine, real grain—so rare and precious! The White San Base must be incredible to grow high-quality rice on such a large scale.

Yang Jin nodded, not bothering to talk about how dangerous it was to get this rice. He just wanted her to treat it as an ordinary transaction.

After Xia Qing finished checking the rice, Yang Jin pulled out two metal buckets from his backpack. “This is nano stealth coating—twenty pounds total. Here’s the instruction manual. Want me to coat a weapon for you as a demo?”

After five years on the Construction Team, Xia Qing skimmed the manual with confidence and took it in both hands. “It works the same as regular paint, I know how to use it. No need to trouble you.”

Yang Jin nodded, then filled her in on exactly how he’d managed to take down Xu Pin.

When she heard Yang Jin had dodged the bomb with nine meters to spare, she couldn’t help muttering to herself, “Only someone with real skill—and guts—could pull that off.”