Chapter 699: Trouble on the Horizon

After returning to her territory through the South Gate, Xia Qing thanked Guan Tong for watching over things and hurried home to change into her protective suit.

She’d worn her old, second-class field suit while working in Territory Fifteen, but now she needed to scout Territory Fourteen. For that, she switched to a special protective suit that blocked infrared detection and had a non-reflective face shield.

Old Goat huffed and bumped her a few times, clearly annoyed she was leaving again right after coming home, but still followed behind.

“I’m heading to Section Three. Want to come with me, Boss?” Xia Qing led Old Goat through the double northern gates into Section Three of Hill Forty-Nine. They stopped beneath a tall pine. “You play down here, I’ll climb up and take a look.”

“Baa—”

Old Goat watched Xia Qing put on different shoes and shoot up the tree until she disappeared. He let out an uneasy bleat.

“I’m up here, don’t worry. We’ll head back before dark,” Xia Qing called down. She made it to the treetop, dozens of meters up, and gazed toward Territory Fourteen.

She knew there was bad blood between her and Yan Meng from Territory Fourteen. That meant her neighbors—people like the Shi family and Yue Haiying—always kept an ear out for any movement involving Yan Meng.

Except for those couple of days when Territory Seventeen’s people were hired to work, Territory Fourteen had been eerily quiet, like no one lived there at all.

But Xia Qing’s sharp hearing told her: When she got home just now, the pace and power of the mowing in Territory Fourteen weren’t something an injured Yan Meng could manage—especially not that close to the inside of the northern Wild Grass Wall.

Yan Meng’s home sat in the center of his territory. If he was clearing land, it should be near the river or his home, not out by the edge. Something was definitely off.

From her vantage point high in the treetop on the hillside, Xia Qing saw the Wild Grass Wall marking Territory Fourteen—a greenish yellow stripe over two meters tall snaking along the ground. Beyond it, most of the land was still barren, with a freshly cut winding path stretching from the northern wall down to Yan Meng’s shipping container home. It stood out sharply against the dense vegetation.

The cut grass had been tossed along the path, making piles taller than a person. Some stalks looked thick and tough, and clearing them was noisy. Zhu Li, who could hear far better than most, stood by the signpost in Territory Six and easily caught the sound of mowing from Territory Fourteen.

Xia Qing’s gaze followed the newly cut trail, sweeping over two farms still wrapped by wild grass—neither even had a greenhouse set up yet—then landed on the shipping container.

Mosquitoes were everywhere this time of year. Xia Qing couldn’t spot any movement outside the container, so she waited silently.

“Baa—”

Xia Qing wasn’t in any rush, but Old Goat was impatient.

“Don’t worry, Boss, I’m here.” Xia Qing kept her eyes locked on Territory Fourteen, soothing her companion. She could speak softly since Old Goat’s hearing was excellent.

Reassured by her voice, Old Goat lowered his head and went back to searching for tasty grass.

After about ten minutes, Yan Meng circled from the south to the west side of his shipping container. Xia Qing immediately noticed he was recovering.

A few months ago, Xia Qing had seen Yan Meng from the back of a truck—thin, stooped and weak. Now he stood tall, nearly one meter ninety—his normal height.

Xia Qing’s estimate was spot-on, since he stood right next to the two-and-a-half-meter-high shipping container. Yan Meng had been injured in the Evolved Forest, his protective suit torn, infected with the evolution spores, and even after spending all his credits, he never fully recovered—he’d slowly lost his ability to evolve.

So how had he gotten better after more than a year? Where did he get new medicine or credits?

Even though his posture and thin frame showed improvement, there was still no way he could have worked the grass so quickly or with such strength. Someone else must be in Territory Fourteen. After Yan Meng finished his call and went back south to his container, Xia Qing waited for sunset but still saw no one else appear.

She finally climbed down, only to be scolded by a furious Old Goat who butted her a few times before she quietly followed him home.

As soon as she stepped out of Section Three and into the barrier zone, Xia Qing heard something. Turning, she saw a young Honey Badger, its flat little head glowing red in the sunset, running her way.

Old Goat perked up at the noise, squinted at the newcomer, then immediately turned to stare up at Xia Qing. “Baa!”

Xia Qing sighed.

“Fine, I’ll put it on you. Go easy with the night vision goggles, okay? Don’t break them, or I’ll have to buy another pair. I just worked all day for 25 credits.”

Xia Qing earned 50 credits building a house in Territory Fifteen. She had to pay Guan Tong 25 credits to watch her territory though, so she only made 25 in the end.

“Moo!” With the night vision goggles on, Old Goat charged the Honey Badger, now strutting a few meters away. The little badger, all attitude, bared its teeth and readied itself for battle.

But as always, Old Goat made quick work of it and left the badger sprawled on the ground.

After lavishly praising Old Goat, Xia Qing walked over and tapped the Honey Badger’s flat head.

Though exhausted, the small badger stubbornly twisted its head to nip at Xia Qing’s finger. She held its head down and teased, “You came to challenge our boss at night hoping his night vision didn’t work? Pretty clever. Too bad Old Goat’s got goggles now—guess you miscalculated.”

“You know why you’re still alive? Because Old Goat doesn’t eat meat. Stop showing up, or you’ll end up dead on the road. Staying alive is so much better than getting chewed down to bones by some other animal.”

There were cameras on the iron mesh wall in Section One up north, and four surveillance cameras along Section Three’s northern barrier belonged to Xia Qing. That meant the Inspection Team only saw the little Honey Badger show up—they had no idea Old Goat and the badger were fighting nearby.

Honey Badgers are small and aren’t considered a danger to humans when wandering outside the barrier, so the Inspection Team would send someone only to check for safety.

After finishing her lecture, Xia Qing led a proudly strutting Old Goat back to Section Three.

A little while later, once the Honey Badger had rested up, it huffed to its feet and followed scents into Section Three of Hill Forty-Nine.

A suspicious Red Squirrel, just emerging to forage, caught the smell of a predator and shot up a tree in a flash.

The Honey Badger reached the big pine where Xia Qing and Old Goat had been. It sniffed around, confirming its enemies’ scent, then gnawed a big chunk of bark from the pine, marked the base with pee and stalked off to find more food.

After it left, the Red Squirrel crawled back out of its tree hollow to keep foraging. With intruders coming one after the other today, its plans were all disrupted. It wouldn’t feel safe until its stash was full, so it hurried to gather more.

Catching a grasshopper, the Red Squirrel suddenly heard danger close by and zipped back up the tree.

A mountain rat paused its meal to look around carefully but, finding nothing, relaxed and went back to gnawing juicy, sweet roots. Then a two-meter-long venomous snake crept in, bit the rat and slowly swallowed it whole.

Afterwards, the black python slithered towards the pine where the Red Squirrel was hiding.

Watching from its tree hollow, the Red Squirrel’s fur stood on end, not just its tail. It didn’t hesitate, abandoning both its burrow and food, racing off toward Section Three.

The snake was far slower; as the squirrel vanished, it tried to rely on its sense of smell and heat sensors to hunt—right when the little Honey Badger bit its tail.

Honey Badgers are natural enemies of small snakes. The little flat-headed creature pinned the snake’s neck with its forepaws and began tearing in without pause.