Chapter 786: Reunion at the Territory and the Return of Old Friends

After thanking the four evolved fighters from Territory Eight for their help, Xia Qing handed over the duties at Territory Nine and returned to her own land. Hu Zifeng’s squad had already uncovered all the rain covers on the greenhouses, letting the crops inside breathe and enjoy the wind.

The rain cover over the small fish pond had also been removed. The young fish fry, having survived their first bout of Devastation Rain, were now feasting on the bodies of those that hadn’t made it.

Deep in the hidden valley of Hill Fifty, Ye Yang, seated in a wheelchair, instructed Hu Ningsheng, “Keep an eye on your phone and as soon as the Devastation Element levels return to normal, put away the Yi Stone.”

Yi Stone is a rare, precious ore with a limited lifespan. You have to get the absolute most out of its value.

Hu Ningsheng, his face disfigured, grinned and sounded relaxed. “Sister Qing said she rented these Yi Stones for exactly three full days, so seventy-two hours. We’ve got to watch the time. I’ve already set an alarm—six-thirty tomorrow morning. By then, the Devastation Element in the air will be much lower than it is now, and the crops in the valley should keep their quality.”

Ye Yang leaned back in the chair, sunlight filling the valley and warming his face. He grinned with satisfaction. “With someone as sharp as Sister Qing leading the Alliance, things are just going to keep getting better for us.”

“You got that right!”

Zhang Shi, who was standing in the beam of light to the left of the cave, let the sun dry the dampness on her. Just thinking that her loved ones once stood here, soaking up the sun and gazing at the sky above, filled her with a deep peace.

She felt a strong sense of belonging to this valley her family had carved out.

Did all her loved ones really die here?

In the years of calamity, a family dying together in one place and being buried side by side is still a sort of happiness.

In a while, she planned to find a chance to move her relatives’ bones from Section Three and bury them together at Hill Fifty.

The traitor who’d escaped deep into the Evolved Forest had vanished without a trace. After Yan Long and Zhang He cleared away the dangerous Red Devastation Grass, they left a team to guard the research staff. Yan Long then took a few people to escort the scientists Zhang Dazhou and Zhang Xiaozhou, along with security officer Gao Yanbin from Territory Seven, away from Hill Fifty. Before leaving, she glanced up at the mountainside.

Zhang Song, waddling over in his airtight protective suit and looking like an awkward duck, spoke into his headset. “Captain Yan, is there something up?”

Yan Long shook her head, hefted Zhang Song over her shoulder, and hurried down the mountain.

Further north, birds and beasts began streaming out of the fissures along Hill Fifty-Five. Hungry predators used the chance to hunt herbivores who’d just survived the disaster together, while the starving grazers pulled out every survival trick they knew in a desperate bid to escape.

On a stone platform inside the crevice, two leopard cubs were tearing into a half-grown wild boar. Below, a honey badger licked up the trickle of pig’s blood running down from the platform. The mother leopard panted on top, waiting for her cubs to get their fill before scarfing down her own meal.

After licking for a while, the little honey badger was still unsatisfied. When it tried and failed to climb onto the stone, it followed its nose out of the mountain fissure, tumbling all the way to Python Pond’s edge. There, it fixed its sights on a giant crocodile corpse being swarmed and picked clean by scavenger birds.

Even further north, an Evolved Wolf in a snake skin protective suit was carrying a fawn across Hill Fifty-Eight, when it bumped into another Evolved Wolfdog, also in a snake skin suit, running south.

The Evolved Wolf set down its catch and the two sniffed each other, then it picked the fawn right back up and continued on its way. The wolfdog picked up its pace and kept running down the familiar animal trail.

On a sunny slope of Hill Sixty-One, two brown bear cubs—each weighing several dozen kilos—were sprawled under some weirdly shaped shrubs, sound asleep in the sunshine.

Section One of the North, Section Three. Xia Qing, lying on the bay window in the second floor living room sunbathing alongside Old Goat, was dozing when she suddenly heard a sharp beep.

That sound only played when someone entered or exited through either Section Three’s northern gate or the northern gate of Section One’s iron mesh wall.

Had someone from Hu Zifeng’s squad, who’d already left Section Three, come back?

“Beep.”

Another beep. Looks like it was time to check who’d arrived.

As Xia Qing rolled over to grab her phone, she accidentally kicked her sleeping companion, only to get booted off the window ledge in return.

Flat on the floor, Xia Qing squinted at her phone screen. The next instant, she bolted upright and started tapping away.

Once she was sure her eyes weren’t playing tricks, Xia Qing leapt up, shoved on some shoes, opened the back window of the second floor living room, and vaulted outside—speeding off north through the Devastation Grass.

Old Goat lifted his massive head to glance at the back window, then settled back down and went right back to sleep.

Up on the high slope of the Northern Buffer Forest, Wolfdog Number Two caught Xia Qing’s scent and heard her footsteps pounding through the brush. He broke into a run toward her.

“Er!”

Xia Qing threw her arms around the wolfdog, whose protective suit was covered in grass blades. “Er!”

Er wagged his tail and rubbed a few damp tufts of wolf fur into Xia Qing’s tangled black hair.

“Er!”

“Awoo!”

“You’re back!”

“Awoo!”

Xia Qing brushed off a bloodsucker that sprang at her, then cupped Er’s wet head in her hands. “Where’s your protective mask?”

Wolfdog Number Two just grinned, mouth wide with joy.

Seeing the tears in Er’s eyes, Xia Qing couldn’t help but smile back. “I was going to tidy up the Devastation Grass in the territory and then visit you at Hill Sixty, but you beat me to it. You look thinner—haven’t you been eating?”

Er kept grinning, happy as could be.

Xia Qing plucked some dead grass off his head and slapped away two locusts and three blue dragonflies. “I didn’t put on my own protective mask. How about we run back, huh?”

Of course Er didn’t mind. The two of them, person and wolf, dashed back home together.

After helping Er out of his protective suit and watching him gulp down pure spring water, Xia Qing felt a fresh wave of concern. “Er, I’ll cook you two eggs at lunch, half a rabbit, and some spinach leaves. How about you eat before you go?”

Er lifted his soaking snout from the water, droplets sliding down his fur, making Xia Qing think he was just too adorable.

“If nothing’s going on with the Wolf Pack, why not stay a couple days before heading back?”

Er’s grin stretched even wider.

Unable to resist, Xia Qing hugged his neck tight. He might have slimmed down a bit, but he’d made it home safe. That’s all that mattered.

“Thud thud thud.”

Old Goat sauntered down the stairs. Unlike Xia Qing’s wild enthusiasm, the two animals simply sniffed each other calmly. Then Old Goat clambered into his hammock chair, swaying it dramatically as if showing off.

Xia Qing grabbed a thick, soft straw mat from the little house north of the kitchen and spread it out in her own hammock chair, then gently lifted Er in and settled him down.

“Er, this one’s yours. You’ve come a long way and must be tired. Have a rest here. I’ll go collect eggs and start on lunch.”

Er wasn’t new to hammock chairs, but he still felt awkward as he swayed above the floor. Still, he trusted Xia Qing, so he quickly relaxed and lay obediently inside.

After a shower and change, Xia Qing came downstairs to see Old Goat and Er curled up on their own hammock chairs. A warm sense of fulfillment filled her heart.

This must be what happiness feels like.