Chapter 992: Hidden Currents in Territory Nine

The investigation into the worker injury at the Ninth Center wrapped up quickly.

After a thorough review, the incident was chalked up to human error. Zhang Kui, the team leader, was found to have mishandled the scene. He took primary responsibility, resulting in a demerit, a pay penalty, and a formal self-critique. Rao Yong, head of the Construction Department, was held secondarily responsible.

The day after Xia Qing signed off on the case, she sent the video Zhu Li had recorded to Yue Haiying.

When he finished watching, Yue Haiying—who’d worked tirelessly to build the Ninth Center team’s core from his fellow veterans—was furious. It took him a full hour to calm down before he finally called Xia Qing.

Five days later, Yue Haiying turned up new findings: nurse Chen Xia, hired after the second Devastation Rain, once served in the same detachment as Zhang Kui before retiring. The two were close. What’s more, she wasn’t an ordinary person as her file claimed—she was an Auditory Evolutionary. While working at the Ninth Center, she had been eavesdropping on the Center’s main office.

Following the chain, Yue Haiying confirmed that the lame retired soldier Yang Pei from Territory Fifteen also had secret ties with Zhang Kui and Li Cun.

After discussing with Xia Qing and Tan Junjie, the three agreed to hold off on moving against the five-person spy ring—including Peng Lin—and instead use them to keep misleading the forces lurking in the shadows: Hui One and the Blazing Fire Squad.

Of the eight freshmen at the Ninth Center School, seven passed the physical exam. Their names were sent to Hui Three’s Education Bureau. Under the alias Ye Shiyi, Little Shiyi gained student status as Ye Yang’s niece and received her acceptance letter.

Once the admissions notices went out, Xia Qing cut two more Devastationweed leaves and sent them over to Territory Seven.

Zhang San extracted the active ingredients from these two leaves and injected them into Lu Fangchun and Wang Bo, finally ridding them of the Synthetic Toxin.

After so much suffering, the two children were at last carried home from Territory Seven by their families. As long as they got enough nutrition and rest over the next three months, they’d make a full recovery.

So this winter, when Devastation Snow comes, Section One of the North will gain two fresh young fighters.

Xia Qing drew a deep breath, closed her eyes, and once again sank into her medicinal bath, letting the potent mixture temper her tendons, bones, and skin.

After completing a task in Lan Five openly, news that she was a top-level sniper with dual Strength and Visual Evolution spread everywhere. With Fire Phoenix’s spies placed in both the Ninth Center and the Inspection Team, every move she made was under watch.

She couldn’t keep a low profile anymore. If she wanted to survive, she had to get stronger—no excuses.

Outside, under the eaves, Handsome Huge Wolf and, further south atop ruined buildings, Elder Wolf, both lifted their heads and looked south at the same moment.

Handsome Huge Wolf gave his ears a shake and rested his big head back down.

Elder Wolf leapt off the ruins, quickly leaving the Abandoned Village, darting through the trees before slipping into the southern Wild Grass Wall of Section Three, ears perked to listen closely.

“Sorry.”

Inside a little house tucked behind the northern Wild Grass Wall of Territory Two, a shattered glass cup lay on the floor. A cheerful, middle-aged man smiled apologetically at Tang Lu, whose face had turned ghostly pale across the table. “The water was too hot. I lost my grip for a second.”

Tang Lu jerked her chin, signaling the two bodyguards who barged in to leave, then holstered the compact pistol strapped to her thigh. She didn’t bother clearing the glass. Instead, she poured tea into a clean cup. “My mistake—I should have warned you it was hot.”

The man tapped his fingers lightly on the table in thanks for the tea. “No wonder you keep your cool, Miss Tang. Seems Director Tang sent quite the bodyguard with you.”

Tang Lu gave a gentle nod. She knew that in front of real experts, the more you spoke, the more you gave away—so she chose to stay silent.

The man picked up his tea and just touched it to his lips, his smile still warm. “You don’t believe what I told you? You don’t believe Xia Qing, the lord of Section Three, is your father’s killer?”

Tang Lu shook her head softly. “I believe you.”

He leaned in. “Then why won’t you cooperate with me? Don’t you want revenge?”

Tang Lu put on a show of weakness. “I do want revenge. But she’s a top-level sniper with dual evolutions. I’m just an ordinary person. There’s nothing I can do now. I handed control of Territory Two over to my uncle so I could keep his protection—I really can’t call the shots here.”

“The people at Hui Three have you all wrong. If you ask me, Miss Tang, you’re the sharpest, smartest survivor in the entire Tang Family.”

His smile widened—but his eyes turned cold. “You’re heading to White One Medical University, right? Just this morning, I had a chat with Vice Dean Meng. He says this year’s med school class is full of stars. In five years, they’ll crank out the medical pros this country’s desperate for.”

Hearing that made Tang Lu go even paler, her lips trembling.

“Beep beep, beep beep—”

“Splash—”

The alarm clock rang out from the two-story building in Section Three. After holding her breath underwater for fifteen minutes, Xia Qing finally surfaced, fingers trembling as she gripped the edge of the bath barrel and slowly stood up.

Once she rinsed off the formula and got dressed, Alpha was already soaking in the first-floor medicinal bath with Old Goat.

Xia Qing checked the water temperature, added a splash of hot water, then ladled a small basin of the bath for Little Fei Mao.

Drained, she slumped back in her chair and chatted with Alpha, who was still underwater. “Has the Queen visited the Evolved Forest north of Hill Sixty lately?”

Alpha opened his eyes slowly.

“Goofball’s been wandering the Evolved Forest north of Python Pond for a month now and hasn’t come back with the Red Vein Stone. He still owes me over eighty thousand credits, too. By now, he’s probably forgotten which phase of the moon means it’s time for his bath…”

Alpha slowly closed his eyes again.

Tonight was the 29th on the lunar calendar. No moon—just a sky thick with stars.

At the mouth of a bear cave halfway up Hill Sixty-One, a pale-faced little monkey with a heavy backpack squatted and gazed at the stars. After a while, it crawled inside and curled up among its friends, closing its eyes to sleep.

Dawn was just breaking when Xia Qing, deep in sleep, was jolted awake by Crippled Wolf’s giant paw.

She peeked at her phone, let out a yawn. “Broken Back, your biological clock is uncanny.”

The well-read Crippled Wolf knew exactly what a biological clock was and took it as a compliment, flashing his cute little snow-white fangs.

“Alright. You and the Queen head out first—I’ll meet up with you on Hill Fifty-Two.” Xia Qing, feeling like her bones had been greased, scrambled up, polished off a rich but quick breakfast, suited up in her protective suit, slung on her pack, then left her territory in the care of Old Goat, Hu Zifeng, and Elder Wolf as she hurried to the helipad atop Hill Forty-Nine.

Yesterday, Crippled Wolf had finally agreed to let her pick hickory nuts on Hill Sixty. There was one condition: she had to fly there in a helicopter.

Naturally, Xia Qing had no complaints—helicopters weren’t just fast, they were brilliant for heavy hauling. However many nuts those two trees produced, she’d bring them all back.

Xia Qing and Huo Zhun took off from Hill Forty-Nine and landed on the marked spot at Hill Fifty-Two. When she called for Alpha and Crippled Wolf to board, both wolves snarled at the same time when they saw Huo Zhun—a human—inside.