Chapter 529: The Secret of the Hidden Spring

“This is hot spring water from that valley on Hill Fifty. Yi Element content is 1, Devastation Element content is 17 per mille. What matters most is, not only is it free of radioactive elements and toxins, it also contains several trace elements that are actually good for the body…” After Xia Qing announced the water quality, she got to the main point:

“I used a basic purification filter I traded from the patrol team and ran the water through it. The Devastation Element dropped to 9 per mille. Third Brother says the drop is so big because there aren’t many other harmful substances in the water.”

“How much… did you say?” Zhao Ze couldn’t believe his own ears.

“Nine…” Qi Fu repeated in disbelief. “Nine per mille?!”

“Oh my god…” Shizhong’s hands trembled as he cupped the steaming bowl, ripples spreading out across the water.

Madam Shi rushed to take the bowl from her husband, carefully placing it on the table. Shizhong lifted his swollen joints and covered his wrinkled, scarred face.

Even the scars on Kuang Qingwei’s face twisted in excitement, his lips twitching. “If we used a mid-grade filter, this spring might just meet the Green Lantern water standard…”

“It’s not a maybe. It’s a sure thing,” Yuan Yan said, so excited her lips trembled.

Water sources contaminated by Devastation Elements, cosmic rays, acid rain and the like are loaded with harmful substances and microbes. You have to purify and then boil it to make it drinkable.

After the apocalypse, people developed filter cartridges to purify contaminated water and air. These became essential survival gear. The ones sold on the market are split into three types based on their effectiveness and price: basic filters (reduce Devastation Element by about 3 per mille), mid-grade (about 6 per mille) and high-grade (about 8 per mille).

Filters for air get installed in personal protective masks, sealed rooms, and the air filtration systems inside greenhouses for crops or livestock. Filters for water go inside drinking dispensers. You have to swap out filters regularly or they stop working.

To live in the Safe Zone, everyone has to buy and regularly replace the air filters in their personal protective masks. But you don’t need to buy your own water filters—those are handled together through the Safe Zone’s collective water supply.

The Safe Zone provides two types of water: domestic water for washing and bathing, and drinking water.

Domestic water only gets simple disinfection or toxin removal. It doesn’t filter out Devastation Element and is priced by the ton. Cooking and drinking water is fully filtered, with Devastation Element levels pushed down to at least the Yellow Lantern standard. Processing this kind of water is expensive, so the price is higher. Yellow Lantern water costs 2 to 5 credits for 1 to 2 liters. Green Lantern water goes for 20 to 100 credits a liter—price varies based on how little Devastation Element remains.

Back when they lived in the Safe Zone, the lords all drank the cheapest Yellow Lantern water. But after moving into their territories, the river running through became their source. It’s only lightly polluted outside periods of Devastation Rain or Snow, with Devastation Element levels between 13 and 19 per mille. All it takes is a basic filter to make it drinkable.

A basic filter costs 40 credits and can process 200 liters of low-polluted water. Since Xia Qing lives alone on her territory and has access to pure spring water, all she needs the filter for is ordinary household water—it’s not much of an expense.

But for places like Territories Four, Five, Six and Fifteen, with twenty or thirty people each, buying filters is a serious cost. When it came to domestic water, they’d never waste filters on it. Instead, they use DIY filtration setups then boil and cool the water before using it.

So now, hearing that the spring hidden deep in Hill Fifty’s valley is clean—free of toxins and radiation—and can be dropped from 17 to 9 per mille Devastation Element with just a basic filter, it’s no wonder the lords are so excited.

Excitement was quickly replaced by a surge of anxiety.

Zhu Li asked, “Sister Qing, can we really keep this spring safe?”

“Hill Fifty is Third Brother’s test zone, right? Sister Qing is the manager. No one can go up there without permission from either of them, isn’t that right?” Even Zhao Ze was looking to Xia Qing with pleading eyes.

These two were so tense they’d started calling Xia Qing ‘Sister’. They weren’t the only ones—everyone had their eyes glued to her, everyone except one person.

Middleman Kuang Qingwei kept his head down, scribbling calculations on a piece of paper.

Xia Qing took it all in and gave her allies some reassurance. “Right now, only us and Third Brother know about this. As long as we keep quiet and don’t let anyone see us fetching water, this spring stays ours.”

Phew…

Zhu Li’s nerves finally unwound. She slumped into her chair, wiped at her eyes and broke into a silly, tearful smile.

Zhao Ze took a few more sips, then started to cry. “Ten years. It’s been ten years…”

He never finished the thought, but every single person there knew what he meant and couldn’t hold back their own tears.

Radiation, acid rain, cosmic rays, Devastation Elements, biological disasters… Who’d have thought that, after ten years of apocalypse, they’d be drinking water this pure?

Wiping his tears, Zhao Ze swore, “If anyone leaks a word about this water, we take them out!”

“We have to keep it safe. This spring is our lifeline.” Shizhong was next to speak, firmer than ever.

Everyone who’s survived to the tenth year of disaster understood what happens if word gets out that the weak have a treasure like this.

Yue Haiying looked at Xia Qing. “Xia Qing, are you saying we can start bringing spring water back for everyone to drink?”

Xia Qing nodded. “Exactly. I called everyone here so we can come up with a plan. We need to make sure everyone gets water—without anyone else finding out.”

Yue Haiying, who used to lead missions before he was injured and retired, clarified, “We need to split up secrecy into two stages: water collection and drinking.”

Qi Fu added, “There’s another thing—we have to be clear how many people in each territory get to have this high-quality water. I’ll start. There’s just me and Yan in ours.”

Kuang Qingwei said too, “Same here, two of us on our side.”

Yue Haiying asked, “I have some wounded in my territory. That good water could really help them recover. Would it be all right to bring enough for ten people?”

Zhao Ze said, “My territory splits into two groups. One side’s hired hands, the other side’s neighbors and relatives who escaped with us. I need to talk it over with my mom first.”

Zhu Li teased, “I remember back in month two after we moved here, the guy who climbed up Four’s big tree to spy on Xia Qing’s territory—wasn’t that your relative?”

Zhao Ze couldn’t look Xia Qing in the eye. He gave a lame excuse, “No blood relation. We just escaped together and share the same surname, so we count him as family. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure he never gets back in our territory.”

Everyone looked to Xia Qing.

That mountain is Third Brother’s experiment zone now. Xia Qing’s the manager. She found the valley and the spring, so who gets to use the water, how many people, and how it’s shared—those are all decisions only she can make.