Chapter 702: A Morning Call and Squirrel Surprises

Thanks to Old Goat’s tough-love lessons, the Black-Feathered Rooster moved back into the chicken house and hadn’t dared crow at dawn—he never disturbed Old Goat or Xia Qing’s sleep anymore. But today, at five in the morning, nearly an hour early, Xia Qing was startled awake by the Red Squirrel.

Anything out of the ordinary meant something was up. Xia Qing quickly lifted a corner of the blackout curtain and found the Red Squirrel crouched right on the windowsill, looking at her with pleading eyes.

Its belly looked smaller and there were blood spots on the sill. Looks like she’d just given birth—exhausted and thirsty, she threw caution aside, parking herself on the windowsill to beg for water.

Xia Qing wasted no time pouring out a can of untainted water. The Red Squirrel drank greedily, then skipped asking for food and leapt straight up—onto the roof.

Xia Qing immediately checked the sheep shed cameras and saw the Red Squirrel glancing around warily before finally slipping into the hay pile. The baby squirrels must be hidden right there.

After dressing, Xia Qing headed outside and listened closely near the sheep shed. From the faint suckling sounds inside, she guessed three or four tiny squirrels were nursing.

After seeing what a mother rabbit could do—killing and eating her newborns—Xia Qing thought the Red Squirrel made a very responsible mom by comparison.

Giving birth left her starved. Xia Qing walked out of the village, waved a greeting at Old Goat on her way past the planting greenhouse. “Boss, I’m going over to Section Three for some squirrel food. I’ll be right back.”

The moment Old Goat heard Xia Qing was heading off territory, he rushed out after her, trailing behind.

In his hurry, he tugged too hard and yanked the roots off two evolved perilla plants in the breeding greenhouse—they wouldn’t be sprouting new leaves anymore. He couldn’t remember the last time he made such a rookie mistake.

Xia Qing rubbed his fuzzy head. “Want to check if Flathead’s around?”

“Baa!”

Old Goat was the first to step out of the territory. At the north gate in the middle of the barrier, he sniffed at the ground and started pawing furiously.

What’s up now? Xia Qing followed, only to find a half-meter-deep hole dug just outside the gate—clearly the work of the Honey Badger. She felt a surge of anger too.

That thing actually tried to tunnel in under the wall and pick a fight—there were deep claw marks of frustration even gouged into the concrete foundation!

“If Flathead dares show up again, you’ll teach him what it means to be a beast, Boss!”

“Baa!” Old Goat had no clue what Xia Qing was saying but he heard the anger and got riled up with her.

Xia Qing navigated quickly through the brush to the Red Squirrel’s tree hollow and started gathering up its hidden stash.

She checked on the Red Squirrel’s stores often and knew exactly what kinds and how much food it kept.

Fresh snakeberry fruit, good for cooling and detoxing, sat on top—just picked yesterday. Clearly, the Red Squirrel had set aside some postpartum fruit for herself.

She’d stashed pine nuts and all sorts of big grass seeds she’d scavenged from everywhere. Bits of corn and mung beans—those came from the human territory—were amongst her usual staples.

After emptying three squirrel nests, Xia Qing lugged the bag full—must have weighed over ten pounds—back to her territory. She dropped the food off in the sheep shed. “Freeloader, your grub’s here, and there’s a basin of water on the ground.”

After Xia Qing closed the door and left, the Red Squirrel darted out of the hay, stuffed herself at the food bag, then started ferrying food into the nest where her babies were hidden.

She just couldn’t relax unless she slept next to her food.

While the green lantern rice porridge cooked, Xia Qing dove into a day full of tasks.

First up: feeding the chickens.

The thirty-plus chicks in the breeding greenhouse spotted Xia Qing as soon as she walked in and came peeping and scurrying toward her.

They were hungry and needed food.

Chickens aren’t mammals, so from the second they break out of their shells, chicks have to fend for themselves and find food.

Xia Qing found the four chicks missing red dots on their heads, scooped them into a small basket, then poured chick feed into the trough. Instantly, a fuzzy swarm crowded together, pecking away.

One chick tried to gulp down a chunk of alfalfa leaf, but it was too big—so he grabbed it and ran to the side. The others chased after to snatch it. That’s competition for you: even with plenty of food around, the chicks still battled for anything a buddy managed to grab and run off with.

She quickly gave the four new hatchlings some starter medicine, then a round of vaccines, dotting each fluffy head with a red mark before letting them join the others for breakfast.

With the chicks sorted, Xia Qing went to prep food for the mother hens.

The hens had worked hard incubating eggs and caring for chicks, so Xia Qing treated them to a few breadworms as a reward. The only fat-bellied pure spring fish left in the tank, plus two male Green Lantern fish, got some worms tossed to them too.

Any big fish finished laying eggs had already been moved to the reservoir and sealed in a cage made from fine iron mesh. As soon as the last fish finished laying, she’d move it there too.

There were microorganisms, tiny shrimp, and small fish in the reservoir. Once the big fish were in, Xia Qing and Old Goat wouldn’t need to catch bugs for feeding anymore. When the next Devastation Rain hit, Xia Qing would scoop up the pure spring fish from the cage and move them back to the tank for safekeeping.

She’d picked up this trick from Qi Fu, and the fine mesh for the fish cages came from swapping with Yue Haiying for some scrapped military supplies. Having allies really made a difference.

Once she finished tending to the animals, Xia Qing did a sweep of the territory and fields, checking and patching up any damaged insect netting, and hunting down bugs that snuck into the greenhouse.

After all that, Xia Qing finally sat down to a hearty breakfast. Just as she was about to head off to Territory Fifteen to keep building houses, her phone rang. It was Kuang Qingwei.

“Sis, I just found out Yan Meng sold 100 spinach seeds for 300 credits a piece. Early this morning, I spotted someone cutting a patch of wild grass off the north wall of Territory Four and making a new north gate. Whoever it was—short and stocky, kind of built like me—it definitely wasn’t Yan Meng.”

Short and stocky? Xia Qing immediately thought of Liao Chen, the strength evolver from the former Storm Squad, who’d always gotten along well with Yan Meng. “Qing, do you know who the buyer was?”

Those X-2 spinach seeds were the main hope for Hui Three Base. Lords and residents in the Safe Zone got them for free, and trading or selling them was strictly forbidden.

But plenty of people still swapped their X-2 seeds under the table for things they needed more urgently—medicine, food, clothes, shelter.

Yan Meng, for instance, was desperate for medical treatment. Otherwise, he might not survive the next Devastation Rain.

Kuang Qingwei lowered his voice. “Guy’s name is Zhou Mingli, goes by ‘Old Zhou the Skinflint.’ He works for Wantong Company at Hui One Base. Their boss is Wan Ji—everyone calls him Old Wan. He’s ruthless and knows all the angles. Sis, you didn’t hear it from me, all right? If word gets out, my trading routes will be cut off for good.”

Xia Qing didn’t know this Old Zhou, but she’d heard of Wan Ji at Hui One Base. Officially, he was a middleman like Kuang Qingwei, but his business was much bigger—and he was the biggest black-market arms dealer at Hui One.

Kuang Qingwei would never dare offend someone like that.

Xia Qing appreciated the info. “Got it. Thanks, Qing. Be careful out there.”

Crouched in the northern buffer forest by his fields, Kuang Qingwei flashed a wide grin—his face cratered from acid rain scars. “Don’t mention it. We’re neighbors in this, working the land side-by-side. Of course we help each other out. Oh, one more thing—my wife’s hearing might have evolved. Not sure if she qualifies as an evolver yet, though. We’re keeping it quiet for now. After a couple more spinach harvests, I’ll take her to Territory One for a checkup.”

Xia Qing congratulated him. “Even if it’s not there yet, just keep eating those high-evolution spinach and Green Lantern foods. By autumn she’ll definitely make Level Two. Congrats, Qing.”

Kuang Qingwei tried to sound modest. “She thinks super-hearing’s useless, but I think it’s great. Even if she can’t do much else, she could help clear pests from the fields.”

Xia Qing understood what he meant and offered some hope. “Hearing evolution is a must-have for any squad. Have your wife keep training: get fitter, start working on using her ears to track anything that moves. Next time we team up, she’ll have an even bigger role to play—and more responsibility comes with more credits.”

More important responsibility meant a bigger share of the credits.

Kuang Qingwei flashed a toothy grin, the acid rain scars even more pronounced. “Will do. I’ll tell her right away. Sis, better avoid the main passage today—swing around through the Northern Barrier instead, just to be safe.”