Chapter 755: Strangers in the Valley

Earlier this year, a few bad apples from the Dongyang Squad, driven by greed, sneaked into the core territory of the Western Wolf Pack and brutally killed over a dozen of their pups. This sparked the most severe conflict between humans and evolved beasts that Hui Three Base had seen in the past two years.

After that incident, the Western Wolf Pack refused to let humans remain in the Western Territory they’d established the previous year, all to ensure their own safety.

Expanding territory and boosting crop production have become non-negotiable national directives for every base. There were also strict requirements for initial territory development. To meet these standards and resettle the Western lords who lost their land, the management at Hui Three Base decided to clear a new stretch in the southern part of Section One of the North, naming it Section Three of the North.

Work on Section Three of the North began this February and is expected to finish by early May. After the second Devastation Rain, the former Western lords can move into Section Three and start farming.

The ruined town Zhang San mentioned is just a short distance south of Section Three of the North. Most of this new territory has already been cleared, and the construction teams are now dealing with potential hazards around the borders.

And those ‘two people’ Zhang San mentioned? They are, of course, the prized experimental subjects from Hui One’s underground lab—Shi Jiaran, the Recovery Evolutionary, and her child.

Xia Qing had long guessed that Zhang San was in touch with Shi Jiaran. So when he said he planned to settle them somewhere, Xia Qing wasn’t surprised. He quickly asked Idol for permission to arrange the details. ‘The valley could hold them easily, but right now a few retired and wounded soldiers from Territory Fifteen are living there. Should I have them moved out in advance?’

Even though Xia Qing managed the testing zone at Hill Fifty, Zhang San called the shots. Once Zhang San made a request, Xia Qing always had to follow through.

Zhang San shook his head. ‘She wants to go to the valley at Hill Fifty for two reasons. First, her family once lived there. Second, she hopes her child will gradually adapt to human society. Retired soldiers have a good public image and aren’t dangerous, making them the safest people for her child to interact with.’

Xia Qing nodded in understanding. ‘So, how should I introduce them to everyone?’

Leaning back in his chair, Zhang San answered lazily, ‘Just tell them she’s Zhang Shi, a researcher from Territory Seven.’

The Zhang surname went without saying. If Idol wanted them to be under Territory Seven’s name, then not just people—the insects in Territory Seven could bear the Zhang name, too.

Xia Qing asked, ‘Shi as in the stone?’

Zhang San corrected him, ‘No, Shi as in the number ten. Assign her a research plot, and make sure everyone entering the valley knows their studies are listed as a top-level Alliance secret. They’re not to be shared outside.’

Anyone who leaks an Alliance-level secret, for any reason, will have their territory expelled from the Alliance, losing all rights to trade with other members. Plus, the Alliance will reclaim every benefit that territory once enjoyed, and demand double the compensation for any losses their leak caused.

It’s this confidentiality rule that’s kept the spring water safe for so long, even with Alliance members drawing on it. That same policy is why Zhang San was willing to discuss Shi Jiaran and her child’s placement with Xia Qing at all.

‘Got it. I’ll make sure the Alliance members understand. Don’t worry, Third Brother.’ Xia Qing added, ‘Is the child a boy or a girl?’

Zhang San shook his head. ‘I’ve never met them and didn’t ask. Just act like you don’t know her real identity. Treat her as the researcher I assigned to the valley’s crop studies, and don’t interfere with their comings or goings. Don’t worry—she won’t leak any secrets about the valley or the spring.’

Human wanderers are those who, for various reasons after the disaster, never made it into a base or Safe Zone and instead live out in the Evolved Forest.

Xia Qing had heard about such people, but never actually met one.

Shi Jiaran and her child—or rather, Zhang Shi and her child—were the first drifters Xia Qing had ever met, and he found himself full of curiosity about the pair.

So, three days later, Xia Qing arrived fifteen minutes early at the foot of the northern slope of Third Peak, Hill Fifty, waiting for them to appear.

Third Peak, Hill Fifty, has two high-risk zones. Zhang He was leading people to plant red Devastation Grass here. The path up and down the mountain on this side lay to the southwest of the peak.

Yu Shou, Shi Du, Qi Fu and the others would enter the Hidden Valley from the northwest of Third Peak to fetch water and tend crops—always giving the excuse they were foraging in the Evolved Forest to keep things secret. The forest on the northern slope was so dense there wasn’t even a road.

So Xia Qing picked a clearing, climbed onto a rock and waited there quietly.

At four in the afternoon, amidst many sounds, she picked out the footsteps of humans. Light-footed yet solid, they didn’t slip or break twigs or bump stones.

If it weren’t for the distinctly human pace, Xia Qing would have thought two hunters were coming.

When they drew close enough for even non-evolved to hear, Xia Qing turned to look—and promptly froze.

Because the Zhang Shi stepping out of the forest looked nothing like Shi Jiaran in the video call or the pictures Zhang San had shown her, where she’d been covered in needle marks and emotionless.

She wore a half-worn camouflage Level-3 Wilderness Protective Suit. She looked scholarly, her skin pale and smooth, a pair of black-rimmed glasses perched on her nose, and a faint smile glinting in her eyes. For a moment, Xia Qing actually thought Assistant Xiao Liu from Territory Nine had come back.

But that was impossible…

Xia Qing composed herself in a heartbeat and waved. ‘Sister Shi, I’m Xia Qing. Third Brother asked me to meet you.’

Zhang Shi nodded, smiling. ‘Thank you.’

Her voice was low and slightly hoarse, not bright like Assistant Xiao Liu’s, but gentle and full of quiet strength—the kind of voice you’d expect from a researcher.

Still, her micro-expressions were no match for a level nine Vision Evolutionary.

Zhang Shi looked calm, but she was tense all over, her relaxation just an act and her face showing the faintest forced smile. She held her child’s hand with her left, and her right hovered only a few centimeters from her weapon. Her hands weren’t relaxed either; she was ready to draw at any moment.

The child with her, also in a not-quite-new Protective Suit, walked upright but looked at Xia Qing more like a wild beast than a person.

Judging from the eyes and half-concealed face behind the protective mask, Xia Qing couldn’t tell if the thin, small child was a boy or a girl.