Chapter 906: Shopping Under the Watchful Eye

Compared to Evolutionary Synthetic Elements, Xia Qing knew this needle-prick sensation of magnetic fields all too well after tending fields within her Territory for a year and a half.

She was absolutely certain—the approaching waiter was carrying a living low-risk aggressive Devastation Evolution plant!

There was something seriously off about this.

The waiter rushed forward, but once she spotted the gold ID badge stamped with ‘Xia Qing’ pinned to the woman holding her phone, she immediately recognized who she was facing.

Last month’s newly promoted level-six Strength Evolver, Director of the Ninth Planting Center, senior Sniper, and Lord of Section Three—Xia Qing.

The tall, stunning woman in front of her, with bronze skin, looked nothing like the infamous net rumor: a red-faced banshee, thin as a stick, violent and antisocial.

Though Xia Qing didn’t look like the brute who could smash a wild boar’s skull with one punch, the waiter still answered with extra caution. “Y-yes… you’re allowed to take photos.”

Before the Calamity, most shopping malls banned photography, worried people might hunt online for cheaper copies.

But now, when resources are scarce, only a select few can afford new mall clothes, so most shops not only permit photos of their displays but even sell matching fabric scraps. Those who can’t buy new can patch up the old with a few cheap pieces.

Wearing patched-up clothes actually helped people feel a little more dignified. Back in the Safe Zone, most of Xia Qing’s outfits had been sewn and mended this way.

Once she finished snapping photos, the waiter plucked up her courage and tried to strike up a conversation. “Miss Xia, what size are you looking for? Boy or girl? We carry children’s clothes in new materials in our VIP section, would you like to browse?”

Xia Qing, still keen to figure out the root of the oddity she sensed, nodded. “For a boy, about five or six months old.”

Instantly energized, the waiter raised her arm in welcome. “Right this way! The new material kids’ clothes aren’t just comfy—they offer special protection too. Here, feel this one: the fabric has antibacterial properties…”

After listening to the introductions, Xia Qing picked out a pale pink baby cap that protected against mosquito bites.

Every animal hide serves its own purpose. When she clipped Monkey’s long fur short, skipped a bath or medicine spray for a day, his head would be covered in bites. This hat would fit Monkey’s head perfectly.

After paying in credits, Xia Qing got a work call from an employee at the Ninth Center.

She guided her cart along at a slow pace, giving clear instructions over the phone, before dialing Yuan Yan. “Yan, did you get the medicine?”

“They haven’t even started the lottery. There’s a flood of people today—a 230 to 1 chance. I don’t feel too optimistic.” Yuan Yan had hurried straight to the Hui Three Pharmaceutical Factory’s sales hall after entering the Safe Zone, queueing up for a number and hoping to score Scar Cleanse at retail price.

Hearing Yuan Yan sounding calm and normal finally put Xia Qing’s nerves at ease. She asked steadily, “Uncle Ping has a package of materials I need. Could you deliver it to the Azure Dragon Squad base for me? I want to shop a bit longer in the Inner City mall.”

Yuan Yan agreed without hesitation. “Sure! But where do I find Uncle Ping?”

“You need an ID to enter the Pharmaceutical Factory. Just tell me where you are and I’ll have Uncle Ping send someone over.”

After hanging up, Xia Qing called Zhou Zhaoping, who was working at the factory today. “Uncle Ping, Yuan Yan is waiting by the lotto machine in the sales hall. Please hand my package to her so she can bring it back to the Territory.”

“No problem. I’ll send someone right away.” Xia Qing’s sudden call—and her mention of a package that didn’t even exist—let Zhou Zhaoping instantly understand her meaning: Xia Qing couldn’t speak freely now. There was danger near Yuan Yan, and she needed immediate backup.

Though the Pharma Factory’s hall had security and, on principle, should be safe—principles are just that. Zhou Zhaoping left to task someone with delivering the fake file, providing Yuan Yan with a bodyguard under the guise of sending paperwork.

Xia Qing ended her call and casually kept shopping.

Back in the childrenswear section, her close-range perception confirmed the aggressive Devastation Evolution plant’s magnetic field on the waiter came from her ornate wooden bangle.

The missing Magnetic Sense Evolver from last night’s Planting Center, the mobile Evolutionary Synthetic Element field by the hospital at noon, the aggressive Devastation Evolution plant inside the waiter’s bracelet, and the two fake shoppers loitering outside the kids’ section—all these things pointed to one possibility.

Xia Qing reasoned it out: someone was canvassing the Safe Zone, hunting for Magnetic Sense Evolvers.

The aggressive Devastation Evolution plants were used to locate those who could sense Devastation Element disturbances; the hospital’s mobile Evolutionary Synthetic Element field was meant to sniff out Magnetic Sense Evolvers sensitive to Evolution Element fields.

Magnetic Sense Evolvers who can’t mask emotional changes would give themselves away in the split second they noticed something was wrong—their reaction would mark them. That’s how the hunters caught their prey.

The missing Magnetic Sense Evolver in the Safe Zone’s Planting Center was probably snatched like this.

Xia Qing, who’d spent years living with secrets behind that ever-dumb Goofball face, figured she hadn’t been made by the two outside the kids’ section—they’d never shadowed her afterward.

But they might have backup in the area. So, instead of leaving, Xia Qing kept browsing with her cart, determined to look for more bait.

If she got the chance, she really wanted to rescue the missing Magnetic Sense Evolver and bring them back to the Ninth Planting Center. Someone able to sense abnormal Devastation Element fields would be invaluable during Devastation Rain.

She picked up a few scraps of cloth suitable for making animal pouches, then wandered down from the fourth-floor clothes section to the third-floor electronics section.

But the appliances here weren’t as good as what she got from Xin Yu and Yang Jin, plus the prices were steep.

Passing the LCD TVs, Xia Qing stopped. There was nothing off about the staff—she was just genuinely interested in the TV.

The attendant eagerly introduced, “This high-def model comes with a top-grade regulator, an ultra-large, highly stable battery. A full charge gives you eight hours of watch time, and you don’t have to worry about over-discharging…”

During the Calamity, not even Inner City families had reliable 24/7 power. Sudden blackouts were almost routine, so batteries had become a must-have for every appliance.

A TV that ran eight hours on one charge was tempting—but equally eye-popping was the price: forty thousand credits.

Absurdly expensive or not, Xia Qing put it on her list. After all, she guessed that wolf with a taste for life’s finer things would go for something like this.

Right now, cooling appliances were all the rage, so this section was crowded. Xia Qing took a lap with her cart, finally spotting a shopper wandering the appliances who was carrying a chunk of Evolutionary Synthetic Element.

After she finished on the third floor, Xia Qing headed to the even busier supermarket on the second floor.

Since the start of the Calamity, Xia Qing hadn’t set foot in a supermarket. The feeling of browsing and touching products for free felt strange and distant.

But she soon rediscovered the joys of shopping, working her way up and down each aisle with her cart.

Whole wheat Green Lantern bread—forty credits a pack. She hadn’t tasted it for years. In the cart.

Seedless Green Lantern dates—twenty credits each. Also years since she’d had one. Grabs one.

Yellow Lantern hawthorn sticks—sixty credits a pack. Monkey’s digestion is slow, so this one’s for him.

Original Green Lantern beef jerky—one hundred credits a stick. She grabbed three as gifts for Er.

A type of Green Lantern leafy greens she’d never seen before—seventy credits per pound. One pound for Old Goat as a present.

……

Not paying any mind to the strange magnetic fields moving around this floor, Xia Qing was thoroughly enjoying herself when her sensitive hearing picked up a sudden crash and a muffled groan from behind the wall.

It was the rough, heavy sort of grunt you get when someone with sinusitis tries to breathe through their nose—except in this case, after the fall, the only noise was from their nose, nothing at all from their mouth. There was only one explanation—

Their mouth was sealed shut.