Chapter 547: Allies, Alliances, and the Looming Beast Tide

“Alright.” Yang Jin switched off his flashlight, turned and sat across from Xia Qing, keeping his voice steady. “Go ahead.”

Inside the dimly lit Lower Slope Greenhouse, the earthy scent of fermenting stems and leaves filled the air, a smell that always soothed Xia Qing. “We still don’t have the Growing Manual for Devastationweed, so there are a lot of things we don’t know. Like, does it need to be hand-pollinated? After it flowers and seeds, do we need to cut the flower spikes? And those little leaves growing on the stalks—can we snip them off and replant them to grow new ones?”

Xia Qing laid out all the pressing issues with cultivating Devastationweed, then offered her solution. “To get to the bottom of this, I’m thinking of telling Third Brother about us growing Devastationweed and asking him for some tips on how to raise it.”

After she finished, Xia Qing added, “Third Brother already knows we have Pure Spring Water in my territory.”

Yang Jin nodded. “Ever since Third Brother had Hill Fifty designated as an experimental zone and put you in charge, I figured you’d filled him in. He’s probably told you who he really is by now, right?”

“He has.” Xia Qing kept her tone calm, hiding her pride. “Third Brother joined the Alliance, so now we’re stable partners.”

“Congratulations. You’ve got yourself another strong and trustworthy ally. He already knows about the spring water, so of course you can tell him about the Devastationweed too. If he wants to buy some, we can give him a ten percent discount.” Yang Jin congratulated her, then asked, “Can Territory One join the Alliance?”

“Sorry, Territory One belongs to the Azure Dragon Squad, and they’re already part of the Combat Team Alliance. Their interests don’t really line up with ours, so it’s off the table for now.” Xia Qing didn’t completely close the door. “But, if Lord Luo ever leaves the Azure Dragon Squad, I’d invite him to join the Alliance right away.”

Yang Jin chuckled. “Alright, I’ll talk it over with Luo when he gets back. Leader Xia, groups, even people, rarely have interests that are completely aligned.”

“I get it. As long as there’s common ground, we can cooperate.” Xia Qing had always thought things through clearly. The Alliance could work with the Combat Team Alliance, or even just the Azure Dragon Squad on certain deals.

But she knew better than to let any full-fledged combat squad into her Alliance. That would tangle their relationship with the Combat Team Alliance way too much. She had to keep the Alliance independent—and keep her own voice as the final authority.

Yang Jin understood right away. “So you’re planning to use the Hidden Valley to grow rice seedlings? And next year, when the Alliance has rice paddies, you’ll need to hire people to guard them, right?”

With hundreds of acres of rice fields, there’s no way just a handful of people from the Inspection Team could keep them safe.

Xia Qing nodded. “Exactly. We’ll talk about the details when the time comes. I remember you mentioned before that you wanted to kick Su Feng out of the Combat Team Alliance?”

After watching the crew install a signal base all day, Xia Qing hadn’t heard anything about Su Feng, so she took this chance, while Yang Jin was dropping off the data, to ask.

Yang Jin explained, “After Xu Pin died, Bao Zhengchao took over as a Combat Team Alliance council member. He actually has some vision—could be a good partner. Also, the combat teams from Hui Four and Hui Five Bases are eyeing the resources in our section of the Evolved Forest, so for now the Azure Dragon and Su Feng squads are joining forces against outsiders. Their old grudges are on hold.”

So, the drama’s between the three base squads… No wonder Su Feng had been lying low lately. “Captain Yang, isn’t Bao Zhengchao one of Tang Zhengsu’s closest friends?”

Yang Jin went into detail. “Bao Zhengchao, along with Su Feng’s Hu Shaojiang, Kou Fanming, and Xu Li, all used to run with Tang Zhengsu before the disaster. They’re basically founding members of the Sufeng Squad. When Xu Pin joined them these past few years, two of the four got killed and one was badly injured. Bao Zhengchao, the only one left unscathed, ended up getting pushed out by the higher-ups. He blames Xu Pin for Hu Shaojiang and Xu Li’s deaths, and for Kou Fanming’s injuries.”

“When it came to getting rid of Xu Pin, I never explicitly worked with Bao Zhengchao, but we definitely understood each other. His Evolution Ability isn’t as strong as Tang Zhengsu’s, but he’s even tougher and a lot shrewder. Him being in the Sufeng leadership is good for the bigger picture.”

Could that mystery number texting her be Bao Zhengchao? Xia Qing pushed the thought aside and asked instead, “Will Su Feng send people to investigate the helicopter explosion again?”

Yang Jin sounded helpless. “Tang Zhengsu just pinned the whole thing on me. They’re not sending anyone else to check.”

Xia Qing broke into a silent grin.

After handing off a hard drive full of data, Yang Jin left the next morning, heading back to the Safe Zone. There was another beast tide rising in the Evolved Forest on the western edge of the territory, so the Combat Team Alliance had called all squads to defend.

This beast tide was huge. Judging by the direction the animals were fleeing, it’d hit territories 150 through 200 west of the Safe Zone, and the 27 through 50 range up in Section Two to the north.

None of the territories had sturdy walls, so defending was going to be tough. The base commander issued orders: a third of the Inspection Teams from Territories 1 to 26 were to support the defense of territories 27 through 50 in Section Two on the western front.

Even though the danger hadn’t reached the northern Section One yet—the 1 through 26 territories—their lords were already getting anxious.

With his finger on the pulse, Tang Huai posted an update in the Lords’ channel. “Everyone, this one’s serious. Want to guess which animals are leading the beast tide out of the Evolved Forest in the west?”

Xia Qing paused her work and listened closely.

Wen Nengjie, lord of Territory Seventeen, was quick to ask, “Brother Huai, don’t tell me it’s a bunch of giant carnivorous beasts?”

“Got it in one!” Tang Huai replied. “No less than thirty Evolved Wolves and Evolved Leopards are tearing through the western Evolved Forest, slaughtering herbivores by the dozen, and now everything’s fleeing for its life.”

“Hiss—”

Wen Nengjie sucked in a cold breath. “Brother Huai, what’s your plan? You thinking of retreating to the Safe Zone?”

Tang Huai gave a cold laugh. “You think I’m the kind of coward who’d run?”

“Of course not! You’d never have been put in charge of a territory if you were the cowardly type, Brother Huai.” Wen Nengjie had a knack for flattery. “But you’re still injured, aren’t you? It might be safer to fall back and recover.”

From inside Territory One, Hu Zifeng interjected, “Can the folks from Territories Twelve and Seventeen take your bickering to your own channel?”

In northern Section One of Hui Three Base, there were twenty-six territories total. For easier management and protection, they were split into three groups: Territories 1 to 10 were a group under the Sixth Inspection Team, 11 to 18 another group under the Fifth Inspection Team, and 19 to 26 formed the last group with the Fourth Inspection Team.

So, there were three different Lords’ channels for this region. That’s why Hu Zifeng suggested the lords of Territories Twelve and Seventeen take their sparring elsewhere.

Tang Huai shot back with a sneer. “I’ll chat wherever I like. You’re not the boss of me.”

Wen Nengjie might’ve been bold enough to flatter Tang Huai, but he’d never dare mouth off to Hu Zifeng, a core Azure Dragon Squad leader. So he held his tongue this time.

Hu Zifeng retorted, “I might not be your boss, but I can ask Captain Tan to kick you out of this channel.”

“Go ahead, ask. See if I’m scared.” Tang Huai shot back, then added, “It’s not like you’re using some encrypted channel. Even if you kick me out, I’ll be back in two seconds, believe it or not.”

Everyone just stared…

“Xia Qing, you there?” After sparring with Hu Zifeng, Tang Huai’s tone switched to friendly as he called out to Xia Qing.