Chapter 620: Alliance and Intrigue: The Contest for Territory Eleven

Huo Zhun, always quick to the point, jumped right in. “Xia Qing, have you heard about the Lord of Territory Eleven being killed?”

Xia Qing nodded. “Yeah, I heard. Uncle Huo, are you after that territory?”

“Exactly. I’ve wanted my foolish son to have a plot of land closer to yours, let him follow in your footsteps. But Territories One through Twenty-Six were all taken. Now, finally, there’s a spot open.” Huo Lei explained his urgency. “Now that we’ve got High Evolution Element spinach seeds and your lands are putting up walls—not to mention you’re under the Wolf God’s blessing—lots of people want Territory Eleven. My idiot talked to his boss, even asked the Lord of Section Seven for help, but I’m still not confident. Xia Qing, do you have any connections you could tap?”

Xia Qing had already heard from Xu Juan about Northern Section One being under the protection of the Wolf God.

Rumors had gone wild in the Safe Zone: when the Western Wolf Pack tried to invade, the Northern Wolves surged out and bared their fangs, driving the invaders away.

Now the Queen herself, currently cozied up birthing pups, had been elevated by the believers to godhood—a winged, four-wheeled Wolf God basking in the incense of worship.

That idol—it couldn’t be flashier or more outlandish if it tried.

Naturally, Xia Qing hoped the Huo family would become the new lords of Territory Eleven. If Level 4 Strength Evolved Huo Lei, who forged weapons, and Level 5 Elasticity/Level 7 Strength Evolved Huo Zhun joined the Lords’ Alliance, the alliance’s strength would jump by two notches.

Huo Zhun’s boss and his idol, Zhang San, were figures on the higher rungs—a bit like grim reapers in the system. All the Huo family was missing for this was a fixer who could actually get things done.

Even though she wasn’t in the Safe Zone, Xia Qing knew the ins and outs of the Territory Management Department. Xu Juan sent her daily briefings, collecting all the latest about territories and farming.

From those updates, Xia Qing quickly picked a fitting fixer. “Uncle Huo, do you know Zhou Qianpeng from the Territory Management Department?”

Huo Lei was honest. “He used to be in the Commerce Department. I know him, but he doesn’t know me.”

Didn’t matter—knowing him wasn’t as important as not having crossed him. That meant there was a shot.

Xia Qing laid out the details. “The department head, Jiang Quan, has a nephew—Jiang Yansheng—who seized territories and aggressively cornered the earthworm casting business. Someone ratted them out to the Red One Investigation Team. Since Jiang Quan’s a direct crony of Tang Zhengrong, it’s only a matter of time before he’s ousted. So now he barely works, spending every day trying to pull favors and avoid punishment. The whole department’s on edge. Zhou Qianpeng’s a slippery one—he’ll dodge any fallout. Right now he’s hustling hard, desperate for a shot at promotion.”

“Uncle Huo, tonight get a Points Card loaded with five thousand credits. Be near his place by seven thirty tomorrow morning. I’ll call him ahead. When he shows up, pass him the card on the sly—he’s scrambling for credits to grease some palms right now.”

Zhou Qianpeng’s a small fry—he can’t afford an Inner City place, so he lives with his family in an apartment in the Outer City. Still, he’s close to the Inner City, and it’s miles safer than where Xia Qing used to live.

Huo Lei agreed happily. “All right, I’ll get on it! Xia Qing, whether this works out or not, any time you need tools or weapons, I’ll make them for you free of charge.”

Xia Qing smiled. “Then I won’t stand on ceremony.”

At seven sharp the next morning, Xia Qing called Zhou Qianpeng, exchanged a few polite words, and helped connect Huo Lei. Whether or not things panned out wasn’t up to her—there were just too many people eyeing that territory.

Actually, there was another plot in Northern Section One that was basically up for grabs—the land of Territory Nine.

Territory Nine’s Lord, Li Si, had been taken to Red Eleven Base for questioning involving a case. Once that’s wrapped up, she’ll probably lose her territory anyway.

When that happens, there’ll be a fierce scramble for it. But thanks to Territory Nine, the fight for the suddenly vacant Territory Eleven won’t boil over. That gives fixers like Zhou Qianpeng room to maneuver behind the scenes.

Once Xia Qing finished all the maneuvering she could, she stopped thinking about it and threw herself back into farming.

Today, she and Old Goat had to water two acres of Yellow Lantern Wheat, half an acre of Green Lantern Wheat, and an acre of Yellow Lantern Rapeseed to help them green up after winter.

Greening water is crucial for winter crops—it jumpstarts regrowth, spurs growth, and improves frost resistance. Whether it’s done well or not will directly affect yield, so there’s no room for sloppiness.

Xia Qing hefted the pedal-powered water bicycle from the warehouse, set it up by the reservoir, and before she could say a word, Old Goat hopped right on.

Xia Qing grinned. “Easy does it, Old Goat. We only have the one water bike, you know.”

Tiger had already sacrificed himself, and if this last water bike broke, Xia Qing would need to barter with Zhong Tao for spare parts or swap for an old bike to rebuild one herself.

Old Goat squinted at Xia Qing, looking pretty disgruntled.

Xia Qing couldn’t help but smile, reaching out to give his head a gentle rub. “My fault, Old Goat. You’d never break a bike—nobody’s sturdier than you. And if it does break, it’s the bike’s problem, not yours.”

Now satisfied, Old Goat threw himself into it, paddling against the wind and soaking up the sun.

Water pumped from the river rushed along the channel toward the wheat and rapeseed in the greenhouse. Xia Qing dashed ahead of the flow to scatter fertilizer across the fields.

Even though Wen Nengjie moaned on the Lords’ channel every day about working odd jobs to earn credits for fertilizer, this year’s spring planting wasn’t nearly as short on fertilizer as the last autumn.

That’s because Territory Eight’s compost starter had been mass-produced since last fall. Over the winter, every lord worked like mad to collect manure, leaves, and crop straw, fermenting it all into fertilizer.

Unless a major disaster struck, the crops this spring—Year Eleven of the Catastrophe—should outshine those from last spring.

Section Three had the fewest people and not much farmland, but Xia Qing’s selection of manure was richer and of higher quality than most. She’d managed to gather more types and larger quantities than most territories.

She kept over a dozen Green Lantern Chickens and a single Green Lantern Sheep—Old Goat, the manure-making champion. Their droppings, once fermented, made premium Green Lantern fertilizer, perfect for Green Lantern crops.

Er Gou, the Evolved Wolf, contributed as well—his Red Lantern droppings were mixed with wild boar manure gathered from Section Three of Hill Forty-Nine for fermentation. Plus, teaming up with the Alliance, Xia Qing had collected a lot of bird droppings, ideal for Yellow Lantern crops.

On top of all that, Xia Qing fermented plenty of crop straw and leaf compost, and with her stores of earthworm castings and crab shell fertilizer, she had all she needed for spring planting.

The agricultural radio had recommended—when watering for regrowth, it was best to supplement crops with some nitrogen fertilizer.

Among all her fertilizers, the Green Lantern Sheep droppings had the most nitrogen, followed up by the Green Lantern Chicken droppings.

She decided to use two bags of sheep manure and one of chicken manure for the half-acre of Green Lantern Wheat, and bird droppings for the Yellow Lantern Wheat and rapeseed.

After watering the winter crops, Xia Qing moved on to tidying up the High Evolution Element soil plots—the high and low terraces.

All winter long, Xia Qing had been sketching out plans for every terrace she’d plant once spring arrived.