Chapter 941: Hidden Eyes in the Wild Territories

Based on that laugh, Feng Wen must be about 150 meters away from where she and Zhu Li were talking. After years of sharing a dorm with Feng Wen, Xia Qing was absolutely sure Feng Wen didn’t have enhanced hearing. If she heard anything, she must have been using some kind of listening device.

Looks like after Tang Huai encrypted the chat channel for Lords 1 through 10, the Lord of Territory Fourteen couldn’t use walkie-talkies to listen in on them anymore. So they switched to bugging instead.

Given the location, Territory Fourteen is bordered by Section Six to the north, Territory Ten to the west, and Territory Fifteen to the east—all Alliance members. Xia Qing hoped they’d usually been careful enough that the Lord of Territory Fourteen hadn’t eavesdropped on any top-level Alliance secrets.

After parting ways with Zhu Li, Xia Qing didn’t do anything extra. She first took care of her business in the center of Section Nine, then went back to her own territory. Once she was out of Tang Huai’s hearing range, she contacted Xin Yu to ask whether there were any aerial photos or panoramic videos of Territory Fourteen.

Xin Yu didn’t even ask what she wanted them for and just answered without hesitation, “No, but I’ll send Owl up to take some right now.”

Evening was when the eagle owl was most active.

“No need. If we go today, it’ll tip them off. Better to wait a couple days,” Xia Qing said. She’d just stepped out of Territory Seven when Xin Yu’s tamed bird flew toward Territory Fourteen. Ji Li would definitely notice that she and Zhang San already knew about the soybeans.

Besides, after Feng Wen’s laugh today, the whole situation was pretty much clear. Checking the photos was just to confirm Feng Wen’s eavesdropping spot and warn the other Alliance members.

Xin Yu agreed, then suddenly remembered, “Feng Wen’s been pregnant for four months, right?”

Xia Qing waved at Chen Cheng, who was helping her watch over the territory, letting him know he could head back to Hill Forty-Nine. Then she replied, “A little over four months.”

The reason Xia Qing was so aware of Feng Wen’s pregnancy was because ever since Feng Wen got pregnant, she stopped doing any chores, and Yan Meng frequently argued with her over it.

Just a few days ago, the arguments had escalated from back-and-forth shouting to an actual fight. Tang Huai, using the professional equipment he’d once used to bug Territory One, teamed up with Zhu Li to squat in the southern wild grass wall of Section Six and gave a live text commentary on the battle happening inside Territory Fourteen.

Xia Qing only found out after scrolling through the chat logs that Yan Meng had even made a will: if anything happened to him before Feng Wen’s child turned fifteen, Territory Fourteen would automatically be returned to the Territory Management Department and the child would have no inheritance rights.

That move pulled the rug out from under Feng Wen, breaking her completely. The fight was brutal: four wooden barrels busted, three metal basins dented, two protective masks and a radio smashed, and even the window glass on the shipping container was shattered.

On the phone, the clear calls of a parrot echoed in the background, making Xin Yu’s voice sound even deeper. “Just this afternoon, another five-month-old fetus, the result of an ‘accidental’ miscarriage, was sent from the Chonglian Hospital OB-GYN to the Chonglian Life Sciences Lab.”

Watching the sunset bleed red across the western sky, Xia Qing’s voice matched Xin Yu’s somber tone. “What about the child’s mother?”

“She works for Chonglian, but she doesn’t know anything.”

“What do you plan to do?”

For once, Xin Yu showed a hint of vulnerability in front of Xia Qing. “There are plenty of women in Hui Two Safe Zone who’ve had accidental miscarriages… but I don’t have solid evidence, and this employee did sign off on letting the hospital handle her fetus. I know now isn’t the right time to take action, but several of the female Evolvers I know are pregnant…”

“I plan to spread the word inside Chonglian, let everyone know what Chonglian Hospital and the Life Sciences Lab are really up to. What do you think?”

Knowing Xin Yu’s personality, she’d probably rather just blow up the damn lab. But since the lab is in the Safe Zone with tight security, pulling that off would be nearly impossible.

“It might alert them, but at least it’ll make them more cautious. It’ll also warn people who are pregnant.” After hanging up, Xia Qing climbed up to the high slope.

Inside the fence, Er was watching the field for Old Goat. Seeing Xia Qing, he turned and broke into a big grin, and she smiled back.

Only when she was home, surrounded by her lively companions, did Xia Qing truly relax. She ruffled Er’s head, looked up at Monkey who was hunched on a branch prying pine nuts from a pine cone, and called out, “Goofball, did you pick that pine cone yourself?”

“Ooo—”

With its mouth open, Goofball let out a drawn-out sound. It could make vowel sounds like ah and ooo and ee, but had no clue what any of them meant in human language.

Above Goofball, Little Fei Mao, who was also harvesting pine nuts, saw Xia Qing arrive and darted straight into her pocket, pine cone and all.

Before long, Flathead flopped onto the ground and refused to budge. Old Goat lifted his big head, gave Xia Qing a sidelong glance as she came over, and she quickly greeted him at the gate with enthusiasm. “Boss! You beat Flathead again! You’re amazing! Your muscles are looking better than ever—Old Goat, you really are the strongest Evolved Sheep on all of Blue Star!”

While Xia Qing was praising Old Goat, Red Fur from the Red Fox family came running out from Section Three of Hill Forty-Nine, rushing up to her, yipping anxiously.

Xia Qing asked, “What’s wrong, Red Fur? Did Three-Fur get stuck again?”

Little Fox, Red Three-Fur, was another jumper, still learning to hunt and struggling to control her talent. Xia Qing once saw her wedged between two branches—her parents had a hard time getting her unstuck.

Red Fur spun around in a panic, trying to get Xia Qing to follow.

Xia Qing slipped night vision goggles onto Old Goat and said, “I’ll go with Red Fur and take a look. Boss, you and Er hold down the fort for us, okay?”

Old Goat, a herbivore through and through, had zero interest in exploring anywhere as long as their territory had enough food—especially at night. Puffing his chest, he turned back toward home.

Xia Qing grabbed some supplies before following Red Fur to Section Six of Hill Forty-Nine. There, she found the little fox cub, Red Three-Fur, exactly as feared—wedged between two rocks.

“Yip yip…”

Seeing Xia Qing, Red Three-Fur whimpered in fright, while her mother, Red Two-Fur, paced in circles on a boulder, frantic. The local Honey Badger lord was digging away at the rocks, clearly intent on making a meal out of the little fox. When it spotted Xia Qing, it glared at her menacingly, warning her not to interfere with its prey.

Red Fur knew it couldn’t beat the Honey Badger and kept circling Xia Qing in fretful worry. Calmly, she hopped onto a rock the badger couldn’t reach, switched on her headlamp, then took a printed photo of prey from her backpack and waved it at Red Fur—who was a Brain Evolutionary. “Red Fur, if you want me to save your girl, Three-Fur, you’ll have to catch me a rabbit.”

Since the Red Foxes weren’t technically part of her territory, saving the little fox meant a trade for supplies.

Red Fur spun around and dashed off, catching a rabbit within minutes. Xia Qing checked it and saw it was a Red Lantern, but she didn’t mind. She fetched the hydraulic jack from her bag, used it to open up the gap between two big rocks, and finally freed Red Three-Fur.

Once free, Three-Fur scurried up high out of sight, while Red Fur and Red Two-Fur teamed up to take on the Honey Badger. One Red Fox couldn’t beat a badger, but two just might.

Xia Qing wasn’t in the mood to watch. She packed up the jack, grabbed the rabbit, and headed home for dinner. As she neared the north gate of Section One, she suddenly stopped and hid behind a tree.

Not long after, Ji Li and a teammate hurried past along the Northern Barrier, heading west.