Chapter 848: Negotiations Under the Hidden Valley Moon

After chatting about the adorably clueless little monkey, Yang Jin shifted the topic back to the evolved bear. “That brown bear is heading south, and its destination is probably Hill Fifty. Even if it doesn’t show up for a few months, it’ll come eventually. You should be prepared.”

The Bear Pack gave up Hill Fifty-Five back to the Wolf Pack, but which animals lay claim to Hill Fifty? Xia Qing still hadn’t figured it out.

Thanks to the poison gas bombs, there were barely any animals left on the Third Peak of Hill Fifty. Neither bears nor wolves seemed interested in it anymore.

But if that little bear was stubborn and decided to come back, it’d find its old bear cave—where it had lived for half a year—blocked off by humans, and its private garden in Hidden Valley taken over.

If that happened, the ‘little’ bear might just let out some mighty roars and call its parents for backup. If two giant bears tried to take back Hill Fifty just so their cub could play, what was Xia Qing supposed to do?

Go to war with the bears, or give back Hidden Valley?

She didn’t want either option. If the Wolf Pack didn’t stop that cub from heading south, Xia Qing had a third plan: share the valley with the bear.

Was the valley the bear’s by right? No way. Humans developed it first, then it became Wolf Pack territory, and only last year did the bears move in.

Territory belongs to whoever’s strong enough to hold it. Since she wasn’t strong enough yet, sharing seemed like the best plan.

Even though Xia Qing kept a straight face and stayed quiet, Yang Jin could still guess what was on her mind and offered some useful intel: “That brain-evolved cub really loves honey.”

Xia Qing’s eyes lit up. “Thanks, Captain Yang. Hui Six snuck into our base’s woods to catch that bear, kicked off a war between the Wolf Pack and Bear Pack, and almost dragged Section One of the North into it. They really ought to compensate us for the mess, don’t you think?”

Yang Jin grinned. “How many jars of Green Lantern Honey do you want?”

Yang Jin really was a great partner—always knew how to help her out. Xia Qing jumped right in. “Six jars of honey, and two crates of Green Lantern bees.”

“That’s doable, I’ll add both the bees and honey. But…” Yang Jin suddenly shifted gears, getting to the real reason for this visit. “You can’t keep that transport plane you captured in your territory. It’s military property. There are two trade options: Hui Six can trade you two civilian helicopters, or they can buy it back with credits or other goods.”

Can’t keep it? Xia Qing felt a twinge of regret.

After the disaster, the country tightly controlled all long-distance travel tools—especially aircraft. Civilians couldn’t use military planes, but if a base’s official combat force was lacking, their top-ranked squad could apply for one.

Hui Three’s official combat force was obviously lacking, so Xia Qing had hoped she could keep that military transport plane under the Azure Dragon Squad’s name.

But since that was impossible, she didn’t make things difficult for Yang Jin and just asked, “What kind of civilian choppers?”

Yang Jin immediately pulled out a stack of colorful, printed brochures. “All of these are the newest models from Lan One. Take a look and pick what you want.”

Huaguo’s top brass had always been forward-looking. Even before the disaster, they’d consolidated resources to build White One and Lan One into the country’s two main aircraft manufacturing bases. White One focused on developing fighter jets, while Lan One made civilian aircraft.

Since she had to trade, Xia Qing was determined to pick something she actually liked.

Whether Hui Six had managed to buy any of the new helicopters was their problem. If they missed out, they had no shot at getting back that military plane.

They’re the ones who broke the law, and they’re the ones terrified of getting in trouble with the higher-ups. Every extra day that military plane stayed here just added to their anxiety.

Expression still blank, Xia Qing took the album and flipped through it, asking as she did, “Captain Yang, I’m supposed to pick two, right?”

Yang Jin’s smile bloomed like a flower. “Sister Qing, your helicopter will have to be parked in Territory One, right?”

Xia Qing…

“The helipad in Territory One will be handled by Azure Dragon Squad. We’ll also watch over the helicopters, handle daily maintenance, and even protect them during Devastation Rain. I can sell you fuel at a 20% discount too. So…”

Yang Jin stood up and leaned in, tapping the page Xia Qing had stopped at—a mid-sized helicopter worth 8.6 million. He asked seriously, “Sister Qing, could you sell us this one at half price?”

Xia Qing looked down at Yang Jin’s perfectly clean hand, tapping the exact helicopter she’d had her eye on. Great—they’d picked the same one.

Half price? Ha, nice try.

“The one you’re after is a limited edition, Captain Yang. Each base can only buy one, and it just so happens I want this model too. I heard Captain Xie went to Lan Jiu before the Devastation Rain and hasn’t come back, right?”

Lan Jiu had the biggest oilfield in the country. This base got almost all its trade goods and supplies by selling oil. Second-in-command Xie Yu must have gone to Lan Jiu to negotiate a fuel deal.

Everyone knew how outrageous the price of energy got during the disaster years. A 20% discount? The Iron Rooster really was Broken Back Wolf’s big brother—sharp as ever!

With her own channels for information, Xia Qing didn’t need to rely on him anymore. Impressive! Yang Jin’s grin never faded as he volunteered, “Still not back. He said the scenery there is too nice and wanted to stay a few more days. I’ll give you fuel at 25% off, but that’s my limit.”

Twenty-five percent off? Xia Qing leaned back in her chair and looked up at Yang Jin, still standing. “To snag that helicopter I had to dodge eighteen rounds of shells, nearly died nine times, and now my hearing’s shot. The best I can do is 15% off for you.”

Yang Jin hid his sympathy behind his eyes, showing none of it on his face. When she played up her misfortune, he played up his poverty. “With your skills, Sister Qing, 15% off is fair. But you know how much trouble Su Feng left behind…”

After sending the Iron Rooster on his way, Xia Qing took out her new phone and hummed a tune as she showed off to Wolfdog Number Two, emerging from the bushes. “Er, look at this pretty laptop!”

Er wasn’t interested in the shiny gadget in Xia Qing’s hands, but he could sense how happy she was and grinned too.

“This color’s called smoky pink. I got it for free—Broken Back will love it.” Noticing Er didn’t like bright things, Xia Qing put the phone away and took him on a patrol of the territory. When they reached the gate, Xia Qing looked at the pitch-black window and the snow-white Old Goat lying under the eaves on the east side, falling silent.

Er looked up at Xia Qing, confused why she suddenly wasn’t happy anymore.

“It’s nothing, I’m just tired and want to sleep.” Xia Qing patted Er’s head, then perked up to greet Old Goat. “Boss, we’re home!”

Old Goat let out a bleat, clearly in a foul mood. The weather was muggy and awful—no good indoors, no good outside either.

If Old Goat was feeling the heat this badly, then the shaggy Monkey inside the Sheep Shed had to be even worse off.

Xia Qing entered the shed and used her night vision goggles to spot the Monkey. Its big white face looked pretty creepy at night.

Yang Jin was right—this was just a little monkey, barely bigger than a housecat. She shouldn’t be so wary just because the big ones were tough.

It had been eleven years since the disaster, and Xia Qing had never heard of any base or combat team being attacked by a Monk-faced Monkey.

So, this little guy was no different than any of the other healing animals staying in the Sheep Shed.

As she walked over, Xia Qing saw that the Monkey was still lying in the same position as when she’d force-fed it the nutrient shake. The only difference was it could blink slowly now.

And then, it had diarrhea again.

Old Goat had moved as far away as possible, clearly because the smell was awful—though with her protective mask, Xia Qing couldn’t notice a thing.