Chapter 915: New Recruits and the Rhythm of Daily Life

“Brother Yue, here are the employment contracts for these four.” Xia Qing handed the contracts to Yue Haiying, the head of Human Resources at the Ninth Center, and reminded him, “If any family members who’ve moved in together meet the job requirements, you can arrange for them to join as well.”

“Got it!” Yue Haiying accepted the contracts, clearly delighted. Magnetic Sense Evolvers were rare talent—he’d thought Xia Qing might manage to bring back just one. He hadn’t expected her to return with four.

With these four abilities users joining, during the next Devastation Rain, not only would the center’s hundreds of acres of farmland be better protected, but the safety of the whole territory would rise a notch. The potatoes and sunflowers everyone was afraid to plant could finally get sown!

Zhong Tao had been helping the new hires move their belongings from the helicopter into the tractor trailer. He jogged over to Xia Qing to report, “Director, everything’s loaded up.”

“All right.” Xia Qing nodded, turning to the four new employees and their five accompanying family members. “This is Minister Yue from Human Resources. He’ll explain our management policies and benefits, and help you with the onboarding process. There’s one thing I need to mention upfront: although the Ninth Planting Center is a planting division, since we’re located within the territory, it’s a high-risk environment, so we use military-style management. Both employees and family members need to apply in advance to leave. If you’re leaving on work business, the center provides protection. For personal errands, you can apply for protection, but you’ll have to cover the security fees yourselves.”

“Understood!” Wang Jun answered enthusiastically, then asked, “Do kids need to apply to enter and leave the Ninth Center for school?”

This kind of minor detail didn’t need Xia Qing to answer herself. Yue Haiying explained, “The school is located inside our center. Kids don’t need to leave for classes.”

Children’s safety was what Wu Xinlian cared about most. She followed up, “Minister Yue, are there security guards at the school?”

Yue Haiying nodded, “The school is surrounded by walls and has ten security staff. Anyone entering or leaving must pass a security check. Aside from security, no teacher or student may bring weapons inside.”

With that, everyone felt reassured.

Wu Xinlian’s mother asked, “Minister Yue, what’s the process for kids to enroll?”

Yue Haiying replied, “First, the kids get a checkup from the center’s medical department. If they’re healthy enough, they can enroll. Fees for books and supplies are the same as schools in the Safe Zone.”

Hearing there’d be a medical exam, Wang Jun, who was holding his son’s hand, tensed up again. The usually shy Wang Shunkang squeezed his father’s hand tighter and sidled a bit closer, making sure the big ant scurrying by wouldn’t bite his feet.

It wasn’t just Wang Shunkang who was nervous—the other two kids were jittery too. Having been born and raised in cramped rooms, they’d hardly played outside. Now, standing in such an open space for the first time, everything around them made them feel incredibly uneasy.

It was already past five, and the supplies they’d brought had been checked by the planting center’s gatekeeper. After everything was moved into their assigned dorms, the sky would start to darken.

The new employees climbed into the tractor trailer to keep an eye on their family’s goods. Zhong Tao drove, and Yue Haiying sat beside him as they all headed back to the Ninth Planting Center.

Xia Qing didn’t go with them. After a quick word to Hu Zifeng, she left Territory One by the north gate and started walking back to her own territory.

Tang Huai slipped out of the overgrown northwestern corner of Territory Two and caught up to Xia Qing for the walk home. “Sister Qing, how many of the new recruits are Magnetic Sense Evolvers?”

Although news about recruiting Magnetic Sense Evolvers hadn’t been made public yet, word traveled fast in the Tang Family. It was no surprise Tang Huai had caught wind of it. Xia Qing answered calmly, “Four.”

“That many?!” Tang Huai’s eyes lit up. He hurried to ask, “Sister Qing, can they take private jobs? I want to hire one of them to check my breeding greenhouse—some of my breadworms and locusts keep ending up dead and I can’t find the culprit.”

Xia Qing thought these employees could probably handle Tang Huai’s request, but she couldn’t say that directly. “They’re also responsible for detecting aggressive evolved creatures in Section One and Section Three of the north. Once the notice from the Territory Management Department goes out, things will proceed by the book.”

“All right!” Tang Huai grinned. “Sister Qing, that protective suit looks great on you. Where did you get it? I want to buy one for my sister’s birthday.”

Of course Xia Qing wouldn’t admit she got it by trading with Yang Jin. “Hu Zifeng bought it. You can ask him.”

Tang Huai tried hard to hold back a complaint, then finally muttered, “Didn’t expect him to look that rough, have such a bad temper, but surprisingly good taste.”

Xia Qing walked on in silence.

Then Tang Huai couldn’t help adding, “It’s only because the crazy one has good taste that he chose you—you only picked him ‘cause your taste is terrible.”

Xia Qing ignored the one-man comedy show and walked straight into her territory. After she passed through the Devastation Grass barrier, she took off her protective mask and gloves, pulled out a small packet of Green Lantern boar jerky from her pocket, and tore it open for a bite.

She’d been busy all day, so busy she’d skipped lunch. Hungry didn’t even begin to cover it.

When she saw Er trotting over, eyes glued to the jerky, Xia Qing immediately fished out a piece of original-flavor Green Lantern beef jerky from her pocket and shoved it into Er’s mouth. “Good job, Er! Here, chew on this—it’s super tasty. I bought it just for you.”

The moment Old Goat noticed Er had gotten a treat, he charged over from under the tree like he wanted to start a fight. Without skipping a beat, Xia Qing grabbed some Green Lantern celtuce strips and stuffed them into Old Goat’s mouth. “Old Goat, you did a great job guarding the territory too.”

Little Fei Mao bounded over next, so Xia Qing dug a chestnut out of her briefcase and handed it to him. Why carry so many snacks? Simple: she’d been hungry before, and not having food on hand made her anxious.

Perched on Xia Qing’s shoulder, Little Fei Mao rolled the chestnut in his tiny paws, and with a crisp crunch, bit through the shell.

Watching all this from afar, Peng Jian—an Evolved with Level Five Vision—felt the vibe in Section Three was getting stranger day by day. Other territories kept filling up with people, but here it was more and more animals. Even Peng Jian felt like the odd one out.

When Xia Qing got closer, Peng Jian gave her a rundown of everything that had happened in the territory that day, then brought up the upcoming assignment. “Sister Qing, did Captain Hu tell you? Our squad’s got a mission—we’ll be gone for up to seven days. Er Yong, Chen Zheng, Chen Cheng, and Da Jiang will stay, so if you need help go to them.”

After Luo Pei noticed their squad’s strength had diminished, he increased their training and frequency of outside missions. The reason four stayed behind was because Hu Zifeng’s Squad had the jobs of monitoring Hill Forty-Nine and helping guard Xia Qing’s territory.

Relations with the Northern Wolf Pack and Section One of the North were smooth lately, and there hadn’t been any major disaster warnings. So it wasn’t necessary for the whole Hu Zifeng Squad to be on guard duty.

“Thanks.” Xia Qing pulled another small pack of Green Lantern boar jerky from her briefcase and handed it to Peng Jian. “I just bought this in the Safe Zone—give it a try, it’s pretty good.”

“Thanks, Sister Qing!” Peng Jian hadn’t expected to get any snacks and happily ran off. But as soon as he took the jerky, Wolfdog Number Two gave him a look—like he’d turned into a walking treat. No one knew just how fierce that beast really was, except maybe Xia Qing.

“Baa!” Old Goat took a few steps toward the Northern Buffer Forest, then, noticing Xia Qing wasn’t following, called out in protest.

Xia Qing explained, “Old Goat, you and Er heading out to brawl with Flathead? Go on ahead—I’m just running home to get Goofball’s medicine. I’ll catch up.”

Back home, Xia Qing saw the grown and baby chickens had all returned to the Chicken House. She sealed up the entrance and grabbed the medicine, then headed to the fields. She found Old Goat and Er still waiting for her at the edge.

Finally, seeing Xia Qing emerge, Old Goat led his two little henchmen toward Flathead—ready to teach him a lesson.