Chapter 811: Life and Survival in the Hidden Valley

Xia Qing parked her beloved car by the edge of Hill Fifty, in a parking lot that still hadn’t been cleared out after the explosions. She glanced at Xin Yu, who was teaming up with her today. “Do you want to take a walk through the valley? There aren’t many people inside.”

It was still early. Xia Qing needed to patrol two high-risk zones on Hill Fifty first.

Xin Yu, the Magnetic Sense Evolved fighter who could sense human intentions, shook her head. “You go ahead. I’ll wait here in the car.”

“Alright, I’ll make it quick.”

With Zhang He accompanying her, Xia Qing began her inspection of the high-risk areas and the region where seeds had been maliciously spread, causing the red Devastation Grass to run wild. She also finalized arrangements for cleaning up the last of the red Devastation Grass planting project. Only then did she circle around to the entrance of the Hidden Valley, halfway up the southeast side of the Third Peak, at the mountain fissure.

Hu Ningsheng opened the Stone Gate and welcomed Xia Qing warmly but quietly inside.

Xia Qing handed over the supplies she’d brought and asked, “Are all the crab seedlings still alive?”

“They’re all alive. The pond water’s filtered, and the green algae and other feed are all prepared according to Director Tang’s methods. Zhang Wenshe’s family was in aquaculture before the disaster hit. He knows how to raise crabs.”

Zhang Wenshe had been attacked by an evolved venom centipede on a mission, got poisoned in his right leg, and had to have it amputated. He’s now one of the critically wounded in Territory Fifteen. After arriving, he started taking antidote made by Zhang San, and he’s recovering slowly.

When Yue Haiying retired and brought his group to Territory Fifteen, they arrived with nineteen serious injuries. He did everything he could to save them, but twelve of these wounded ended up dying over time.

The seven who are left, thanks to the high-quality water and Green Lantern vegetables in the valley, can’t exactly be called cured, but they’re still hanging on.

Back when disaster struck, everyone shouted about how they’d rather die than suffer. But faced with death, people will fight with everything they have to survive.

Survival is instinct. This urge to fight for life goes beyond just the mind—it’s wired into the body too. Even if you give up in your heart, your body will defend itself, pumping adrenaline and speeding up your heartbeat. In short, even when people give up mentally, their bodies don’t quit.

Compared to most of the wounded in the Safe Zone, the critically injured from Territory Fifteen were lucky to be cared for in such a safe and comfortable place.

At the moment, five of the injured were either sitting or lying out in the sun beside the Pure Spring. The other two hadn’t come out, probably because they weren’t doing so well.

As Xia Qing walked over, three of them stood to greet her. The two in wheelchairs raised their hands and shouted, “Sister Qing!”

Xia Qing couldn’t remember everyone’s names. She stopped to chat, said a few words, then moved on to feed bugs to her Green Lantern peanuts.

The Green Lantern and Yellow Lantern peanuts she’d planted in March were starting to blossom. For big, hearty peanuts, the Green Lantern variety needed to eat a lot of bugs.

On the other side of the valley, Zhang Shi appeared, coat white and glasses perched on her nose. At the same time, Zhang Shiyi crouched near a wooden cabin, eyes fixed intently on Xia Qing. That setup was all too familiar to Xia Qing—it was the classic Wolf Pack defensive formation.

If Xia Qing attacked Zhang Shi, Zhang Shiyi, positioned at the side, would immediately pounce to protect her mother. At five years old, Zhang Shiyi saw herself as her mom’s companion, not a cub needing constant rescue.

Zhang Shi greeted Xia Qing. “These Green Lantern peanuts attack just like the aggressive Devastation Evolution Cassia plant.”

Cassia is a medicinal herb found in Valley Two of Section Three on Hill Forty-Nine, but those are either Yellow Lantern or Red Lantern types. No aggressive Devastation Evolution plants have turned up there, so Xia Qing had no firsthand info on their attack methods. Pretending to ignore Zhang Shiyi hiding out, she answered calmly, “The flowers and leaves of cassia do look a lot like peanuts.”

“Exactly.” Zhang Shi smiled, warm and sincere. “When I first found cassia, I thought I’d stumbled on peanuts. I was happy for days. When your peanuts ripen, can I trade for a few kilos? Yellow Lantern or Green Lantern, either is fine.”

Zhang Shi had once exchanged rare medicinal herbs with Zhang San for more than 200,000 credits—enough for everyday supplies and food.

Xia Qing nodded. “Up to twenty kilos of Yellow Lantern, five kilos of Green Lantern, at market price.”

“Then I’ll take twenty kilos of Yellow Lantern and five kilos of Green Lantern. Thanks.” Zhang Shi asked again, “Could I also buy some eggs laid by your chickens?”

“What I raise are Green Lantern chickens—they lay hatching eggs. The eggs sell for more than regular Green Lantern chicken eggs in the Safe Zone. They’re 750 credits each.” Because the hatching eggs were so expensive, only Li Si and Tang Huai had ever traded with her. The other lords couldn’t stomach spending that many credits for a single egg.

Except for the Idol. He had hatching eggs too, so he and Xia Qing just swapped them one for one.

Plus, since the eggs in Section Three were too high-quality to trade openly, when Xia Qing swapped eggs with Tang Huai and Li Si, she always first traded for eggs from Territory Seven, then offered those for exchange.

Honestly, that was just too pricey.

No live animals could be raised in the valley because of the noise. So when Zhang Shi moved into the Hidden Valley, she’d swapped her eight Green Lantern wild chickens from the Town Ruins to Fu Tianfeng—aka Zhang San. She’d planned to settle in and trade for eggs with Xia Qing, but was shocked to find the Green Lantern chicken eggs in Xia Qing’s territory were even pricier—especially the hatching eggs.

Zhang Shi asked, “Can I raise a few wild chickens or those Green Lantern chickens from your territory here in the valley? I promise they won’t make a sound.”

Xia Qing nodded. “Sure.”

“Thanks.” Zhang Shi had survived for years with her daughter in the Evolved Forest and knew plenty about keeping animals hidden from both humans and beasts.

Once Xia Qing left, Zhang Shiyi came over and looked up at her mom with those expressive eyes.

Zhang Shi ruffled her daughter’s soft hair, “Eggs are just too expensive. Why don’t we trade for a few chickens to raise ourselves, sound good?”

Trade? Zhang Shiyi looked a little puzzled. Why not just snatch some from the Evolved Forest? Trading needed credits and might reveal their hiding place.

Catching on to her daughter’s thoughts, Zhang Shi gently explained, “It’s different here. There are leopards and Wolf Packs outside. It’s dangerous.”

Back when the two hid out in the Safe Zone ruins, there weren’t many large animals. But the leopards and Wolf Packs here were serious threats, and even with homemade firearms, they weren’t a match for the beasts.

Even though both of them had Recovery Evolution, so injuries weren’t a death sentence, the healing still burned through their strength.

Zhang Shiyi nodded, turning to look at the injured sunbathing beside the spring.

Zhang Shi patted her daughter’s head, “Go join Uncle Ye and the others for some sunshine—it’ll help you get stronger with all that vitamin D.”

Zhang Shiyi shook her head, tugged her mom to stay in the sunny part of the valley, then pulled a book out of her little bag and started reading. The books were ones her brothers and sisters had studied before, the pictures filled with kids wearing clean, pretty clothes. Zhang Shiyi loved them.

While the mother and daughter discussed chickens, Xia Qing was crouched beside a hidden earthen burrow on the eastern slope of Hill Fifty, lost in thought as she quietly watched the long-unseen family of Yellow Weasels.