Chapter 538: Unexpected Guests and Winter Strawberries

Standing under the sign for Territory Two, Zhou Xun greeted Xia Qing with a cheerful, “Xia Qing, you finished checking your territory already?”

The way he spoke, casual and familiar, you’d think he’d been chatting with Xia Qing every day for a year, like Tang Huai, rather than this being their first real conversation.

Xia Qing replied coolly, “I don’t have much land to check.”

Zhou Xun perked up. “We don’t have much to plant either!”

Xia Qing was at a loss for words.

Seeing Xia Qing turn to lock the door, Zhou Xun hurried to invite her. “Heading to Evolved Forest to hunt today? Want to team up?”

Territory Two had taken in over a hundred refugees. In the last three months, more than thirty died for various reasons and over twenty left. Now, just over fifty remained. Their food—plus what the original twenty or so residents needed—came from Sufeng Squad’s supply runs, hunting, and foraging.

Because the northern Hill Forty-Nine was under Azure Dragon Squad’s control, and Hill Fifty to the northeast had been declared an experimental no-go zone, folks from Territory Two could only venture out to Hill Fifty-One or Hill Fifty-Two.

Of course, people complained about it, but there wasn’t much they could do. After all, it was the Blazing Fire Squad behind Territory Nine who triggered the no-go order on Hill Fifty, and nobody wanted to mess with them.

Ever since they’d noticed Xia Qing often brought Tier Two and Three evolvers—and even some non-evolver lords—to Hill Fifty for ‘work,’ always coming back loaded with bags, everyone in Territory Two watched with envy. They pestered Zhou Xun to cozy up with Xia Qing, hoping he could get them in on those jobs too.

Zhou Xun wanted to oblige, but there wasn’t much he could do. He’d tried turning to Tang Huai, who was still recovering from injuries, but Tang Huai wasn’t interested at all. So today, seeing a window of opportunity, Zhou Xun seized the moment and made his move.

Hearing Zhou Xun, Xia Qing glanced back at him.

Zhou Xun felt like Xia Qing could see right through him. He forced an awkward smile. “We’ve got strength evolvers in our territory, too.”

Elsewhere, strength evolvers weren’t so valued. But not around here. Xia Qing, the go-to person for strength evolver management on Hill Fifty, liked working with those types.

“I’ve got enough people. Not teaming up with outsiders,” Xia Qing replied, still perfectly calm.

As Xia Qing locked the door and walked off, Zhou Xun muttered a curse under his breath and headed back to Territory Two’s wild grass wall.

Xia Qing quickly finished up and ran back home.

Old Goat, Er Gou, a dozen chickens, the Green Lantern Yellow Lantern Mealworms, and the strawberries were all at home. The first three were fine, but over half of the Green Lantern Yellow Lantern Mealworms had pupated—fragile as ever, and one misstep could wipe them all out. The strawberries had blossomed, with tiny berries starting to form—Xia Qing’s only fresh fruit in the whole territory.

She dashed in, took the mealworms out of the dark box by the fireplace and transferred them to a warm box. She quickly carried it to the breeding greenhouse and put it back in place, then topped them off with wheat bran and fresh Green Lantern vegetable leaves.

Seeing the larvae still eating, Xia Qing finally breathed a sigh of relief. “Old Goat, Er Gou, these worms might look awful, but they’re packed with even more protein than eggs or Old Goat’s meat. We’re counting on them to eat a little better around here from now on. Er Gou, your fish will grow stronger if you feed them these worms.”

Old Goat eyed the tray of mealworms and greens with clear displeasure. Still, it left the tray untouched. Last time it had tried to butt the tray, Xia Qing dragged it outside for a proper fight—that lesson made it clear: messing with the insect trays just wasn’t worth it.

Er Gou lifted its head and grinned happily at Xia Qing.

After playing mind games with Zhou Qianpeng and company, being with these two straightforward companions—whose every thought was easy to read—felt incredibly grounding for Xia Qing.

She brought in the chickens and fifteen pots of strawberries that Territory Seven had temporarily left with her, moving everything back to the greenhouse. The two strawberry plants she swapped with Yang Jin in the spring had spread runners, multiplying into fifteen healthy plants. Thanks to the greenhouse’s perfect temperature, each strawberry plant thrived and had started to bloom.

Xia Qing arranged the strawberry pots, then patiently used her little brush made of sheep’s wool to pollinate the flowers. Just imagining the fluffy white blossoms turning into blushing red strawberries in a little over a month made her mouth water. “Old Goat, winter strawberries are even sweeter than summer ones. The big difference between warm days and cold nights lets the plants pack their fruit with more sugar.”

Old Goat twitched its ears, chomping away at its tender grass.

And Er Gou? It was off in the breeding greenhouse, tending to its fish, not in the main greenhouse.

“There might be people installing a communications base and signal tower on our south side today,” Xia Qing called out, “so you and Er Gou better stay inside the greenhouse—don’t go wandering outside…”

“Bzzz.” Xia Qing wasn’t finished when she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket.

Buzz. Buzz. Buzz…

Her phone buzzed in a very familiar rhythm. Xia Qing didn’t even need to fish it out—she already knew what was up. “Old Goat, Er Gou…”

Old Goat glanced up from a mouthful of grass, staring at Xia Qing. Er Gou pushed aside the plastic curtain between the greenhouses with its head and padded over, curiosity in its eyes.

“Your friend, Crippled Wolf, is here,” Xia Qing told them. “Both of you stay inside, don’t go out. I’ll see what it wants.”

Old Goat’s ears twitched, but it kept eating. Er Gou grinned wider than ever. Xia Qing ruffled its head, grabbed her protective mask, and headed out.

By the time she reached the northern gate, she saw two rabbits lying on the ground at the entrance, still twitching. Right then, Crippled Wolf pranced proudly in and out of the gate. Spotting Xia Qing, it tilted its head and flashed a beaming grin, those cute little snowy fangs on display.

Xia Qing had to admit—Crippled Wolf’s smile really had gotten a lot more charming than before. It must have spent way too much time posing in front of that full-length mirror in its den on Hill Sixty!

With a grin like that, Xia Qing wasn’t sure if Queen herself would be charmed or not, but she certainly was—her eyes sparkled, and she found herself wanting to ruffle that fluffy wolf head.

“Hey, Crippled! What brings you over in broad daylight?” Xia Qing called. She pointed at the two rabbits on the ground. “Queen craving barbecue again?”

You couldn’t blame her for asking: in the past ten days, Crippled Wolf had shown up three times with fresh prey, always wanting Xia Qing to grill the meat. But once it was cooked, Crippled Wolf never took a bite—just packed it up and left.

Crippled Wolf smiled even wider, but didn’t make Xia Qing cook. It just picked up the rabbits—whose hind legs were still twitching—and trotted straight for home.

Xia Qing was speechless.

It wasn’t even ten in the morning yet, and she hadn’t even finished eavesdropping for the day’s news. Now she was headed home to grill meat again?

But as Crippled Wolf, rabbits in tow, realized Xia Qing wasn’t following, it looked back. Xia Qing called out, “Crippled, head home first. I’m going to clean up your tracks in the snow along the quarantine strip, then I’ll be right behind you.”

If she didn’t erase those tracks, anyone walking by would instantly know a wolf had entered Section Three. Chen Junjie’s crew already knew Xia Qing’s territory played host to wolves now and then, but she still had to be careful—if others saw wolf tracks, there could be bigger problems.