Chapter 968: Sampling, Secrets, and the Red Lantern Hunt

“That’s right, you’re really sharp, Crippled Wolf.” Xia Qing drew a blood sample from the prey and placed it in the analyzer. Half a minute later, the display showed the Devastation Element content, and the red indicator light next to the analyzer lit up.

Xia Qing asked, “Crippled Wolf, what do you think about the quality of this prey? Green Lantern?”

Crippled Wolf kept his mouth shut.

“Yellow Lantern?”

Still, Crippled Wolf stayed silent.

“Red Lantern?”

At that, Crippled Wolf opened his mouth, showing off those tiny sharp fangs.

Xia Qing gave an earnest thumbs up. “Bingo. This bamboo rat’s Devastation Element content is 22 per mille—humans mark that as Red Lantern, which means it’s not safe to eat directly. If you eat too much of these, Devastation Element builds up and your health tanks.”

Crippled Wolf nudged the bamboo rat, glanced at the fish pond, then at Xia Qing, gears turning in his head.

Seeing that, Xia Qing nodded and slowed her speech, using hand gestures to explain to the thoughtful wolf. “You’re right. If fish eat too much high Devastation Element prey—anything over 15 per mille—it builds up in their bodies, too. Trouble is, I don’t have enough Green Lantern prey to go around, so I have to feed the fish the Red Lantern types. But I also give them Green Lantern vegetables and keep the water in the pond top-notch, so their Devastation Element doesn’t get too high.”

After explaining, Xia Qing efficiently tested another bamboo rat and six snakes, keeping one Yellow Lantern snake and tossing the rest into the fish pond. She only took the guts from one Red Lantern bamboo rat back home to feed the snakes.

Xia Qing was also raising about a dozen Green and Yellow Lantern snakes. Snake meat didn’t beat chicken, sure, but with disaster always looming and who knew what might die off, the best bet was to raise a bunch of edible animals and boost their territory’s food security.

Once the snakes were fed, Xia Qing scooped up the limping Crippled Wolf and headed to the pasture shed to call Old Goat home for dinner. These past few days, swapping out the greenhouse support poles, Old Goat had been on edge that Hu Zifeng’s crew would sneak his food, and wouldn’t let them near his shed.

So the pasture shed’s supports had been replaced by Xia Qing, Old Goat, and Crippled Wolf together. Even afterward, Old Goat stood guard inside, still on high alert.

Lunchtime was when all the busy lords finally kicked back and chatted after a hard morning’s work.

Wen Nengjie started things off, “Sister Qing, the bamboo from your territory is tougher and more flexible than anything on Hill Fifty. Thanks for trading me such good stuff!”

Xia Qing explained, “During the last Devastation Rain, I harvested six rounds of bamboo—the later the batch, the better the quality.”

The support poles in Xia Qing’s greenhouse were made from the sixth and some of the fifth harvest, with enough from the fourth and fifth for three more greenhouses in reserve. She only sold the bamboo from the first three rounds.

Wen Nengjie lit up. “No wonder, when I learned to cut bamboo at your place, I found them way tougher than on Hill Fifty. I’ll have to cut extra batches during the third Devastation Rain!”

Xia Qing reminded him, “I stopped at the sixth harvest. The danger level rises with later batches, so stay safe.”

Yuan Yan from Territory Five chimed in, “Yeah, after the sixth batch, the bamboo roots started popping above the soil.”

“Got it, thanks Sister Qing, Sister Yan.” Wen Nengjie thanked them, already tallying up how many stalks he could harvest during the third Devastation Rain.

Tang Huai logged in sounding drained. “Xia Qing, everyone—Tang Lu built a little house by the Wild Grass Wall on Territory Two’s northern edge. She’s got eavesdropping equipment. Watch your backs.”

Xia Qing’s neighbor, Zhao Ze, was furious. “That’s way out of line!”

Hu Zifeng joined the chat. “That’s pretty much standard for Territory Two. We’ve been bugged for a year.”

Everyone else was speechless.

Zhu Li asked, “Sister Qing, will this cause problems for you?”

“Not at all,” Xia Qing answered calmly. “Both my territory and the Ninth Center have jamming devices installed.”

“Only you, Sister Qing—always got everything covered with those defenses.” After basking in the praise, Wen Nengjie asked, “Brother Huai, can’t you just report her to the Inspection Team?”

“She’s not stupid, she’ll never give me actual proof.” Tang Huai snorted. “Plus, the Inspection Team can’t set foot in a territory unless a lord grants permission. By the time they get that, what evidence do you think is left?”

Huo Zhun pointed out, “Tang Lu’s really good at exploiting legal loopholes.”

“She and Tang Rui stirred up more trouble than anyone in the Safe Zone before the disasters. If she didn’t know her way around the rules, she’d have been locked up ages ago,” Wen Nengjie sighed. “People used to say Tang Lu was clueless, but now it seems she’s the sharpest one of that family.”

While kneading dough, Zhu Li chatted with her husband. “Tang Lu’s got good taste in men too—Yang Jin and Zheng Chen have skills, good morals, and looks, all in one package.”

Kuang Qingwei, busy picking beans, shook his head. “Neither Yang Jin nor Zheng Chen are interested in her.”

“Bzzz—”

While Xia Qing was kneading dough she heard her phone ring. Stepping into the living room, she saw it was Third Brother’s alt calling. She said to Crippled Wolf, who was playing on the phone, “Crippled, tap the green button on the right.”

Crippled Wolf couldn’t be bothered to find the stylus and just poked the answer button with his nose. A familiar voice came through the line:

“Xia Qing, after lunch go sample the soil and air in your cave and bring them here. I want to run a comparison analysis.”

Xia Qing replied, “Okay, Third Brother. I’ll be there in an hour.”

After the call, Xia Qing went back to the kitchen while Crippled Wolf stared at the phone, lost in thought.

At lunch, after having noodles, Xia Qing dripped pesticide into Elder Wolf’s ears in the sheep shed. After giving him medicine, she told Crippled Wolf and Old Goat to hold down the fort. She then headed out to the cave for samples, before driving to Territory Seven.

Inside Territory Two, Tang Lu slipped out the Wild Grass Wall, watched Xia Qing’s off-roader disappear, then dialed Tang Huai nervously. “Big Brother, can I borrow your car for a trip? I’ve got something to take care of, and it’s scorching outside.”

Before the disaster, Tang Zhengrong tried to get closer with his cousin’s family by making their kids all line up in order.

Of the boys, Tang Huai was the eldest, Tang Heng the second, and Tang Rui the third. For the girls, Tang Ning was the oldest, Tang Feng second, Tang Lu third, and Tang Zheng fourth.

But after the disaster, Tang Huai had never heard Tang Lu call him “Big Brother” again. He spoke coldly, “No. If you want to make it safely to university, keep your head down. You can’t afford to mess with some of the people in this territory.”

After hanging up, Tang Lu couldn’t hold back her fury—her fists clenched as she let out a silent, seething roar.

Xia Qing parked her car outside Territory Seven’s south gate, passed the security check, and followed Ji Li to Zhang San’s laboratory.

Her idol looked as skinny as ever, skin stretched over bone, but at least the dark circles under his eyes had faded a bit. He wasn’t quite so zombie-like, and Xia Qing felt a little more at ease.

Zhang San stood and opened the lab door, glancing back at Xia Qing.

Xia Qing quickly followed her idol into the lab, watching as he used precision instruments to analyze the soil and air samples she had brought.

When both results were ready, Zhang San typed furiously on the keyboard with slender, pale fingers, then handed Xia Qing two test reports. “Take a look.”