Chapter 11: Lucky Catch in the Wilds

Xia Qing tossed a small stone into the pond first. The mother boar only lifted her head to glance at the water before lowering it again to root around in the mud, completely unfazed. Even the little piglets tumbling and chasing each other nearby weren’t disturbed at all.

What did that mean? It meant there were no predators lurking in this valley—their guard was so low because they didn’t have any natural enemies here.

Well, a natural enemy had just arrived.

Xia Qing raised her hand and deftly caught an evolved snake that launched itself from a tree, trying to bite her. She stuffed it into her leather pouch without missing a beat and continued approaching the wild boars from downwind.

With her sense of hearing enhanced, Xia Qing could move far more quietly than before. She crawled to within five meters of the herd, and none of the boars noticed a thing.

This was close enough to make a move. Xia Qing pulled out some rope and sticks, quickly fashioned three simple trip snares, then silently circled upwind. Picking up a fifty-pound rock, she hurled it down hard at a piglet.

A piglet let out a piercing squeal. The mother boar snorted and ran over to check. Panic erupted as the piglets scattered, with three caught fast by Xia Qing’s snares, shrieking in terror. The mother boar paced between them, but with the piglets caught in different directions, she could only protect one at a time.

Seizing her chance, Xia Qing rushed in, tossed the piglet killed by the rock into her basket and quickly cut the snares to grab two more piglets. With both in hand, she sprinted back the way she came, keeping an eye out to make sure the boars weren’t following. Three piglets! Her luck today was through the roof.

Grinning like a fool, Xia Qing used her portable tester on the three piglets. Turned out she had two with red lights and one with a green. The live one was green!

The base had always wanted to boost their breeding stock of green-light livestock, especially pigs—they breed fast, and there’s a lot of meat on them. The value of this edible piglet was way beyond that of any regular animal.

This wasn’t just any pig. This was a golden pig.

Wait, scratch that—gold wasn’t worth much these days. This was a points pig!

Overjoyed, Xia Qing clamped the snouts of the two piglets to keep them from screeching, then carried them back home and locked them in a room in her west yard—the only room left with all four walls. The little pigs, still stunned, huddled in the corner squeaking nervously.

She gave the pigs some grass and water, then immediately contacted Zhong Tao to deal with the dead red-light piglet and the evolved snake in her bag.

Humming a tune, Xia Qing pulled out her phone and messaged Zhong Tao: “Tao, do you have a precision bio-tester? I’ve got two red-light wild piglets here, totaling 130 pounds, one dead, one alive.”

Her tester could only tell if something was edible or inedible. The advanced ones could distinguish between safe, optional, and inedible foods. Back in the Safe Zone, she’d been too stingy with her points to upgrade. Now, she could finally afford it.

To her surprise, within just five minutes, Zhong Tao replied:

“I’ve got one. Be there in an hour.”

An hour—he must be nearby. Xia Qing sent another message: “Can you bring some oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar, too?”

Last night’s broadcast had announced that, for the convenience of the lords, patrol vehicles would be stocked with daily necessities available to exchange for points or supplies. To protect the lords’ safety, their transaction details wouldn’t be made public.

Luck was truly smiling on Xia Qing today—she could finally treat herself a little better.

Soon, a light truck kicked up dust as it came to a stop by the Plot Three sign.

To her surprise, not just Zhong Tao and Zheng Kui, but also inspection team leader Tan Junjie hopped out. Xia Qing, basket in hand, felt her scalp tingle with nerves.

Zhong Tao’s eyes lit up when he saw her. “You’re amazing! Where’s the wild boar? Kui and I will weigh them for you.”

“Captain Tan, Kui, over here.” Xia Qing greeted Tan Junjie first, then pulled the tightly-bound piglets from her basket. “I also caught a few snakes.”

Zhong Tao weighed one piglet, eyes shining even brighter. “This one’s got to be seventy pounds! Kui, bring the scale!”

With a cigarette dangling from his lips, Zheng Kui hoisted the scale. “Live piglet’s seventy-three pounds, dead one’s seventy-two, and the snakes add up to thirty pounds.”

Zhong Tao tapped away on his calculator and looked up in shock. “That comes to 3,865 points! Wow, that’s as much as you’d get working in the Safe Zone for a whole year. How much oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar do you want?”

Even after raking in so many points, Xia Qing tried not to look too flashy. “Give me four bags of salt and a jug of each of the others. Only the best stuff.”

Her already conservative order made Zhong Tao so jealous he could taste it. “All the spices are fresh from the factory, top of the line. With the advanced tester, that’ll be 3,790 points. You’ll have 75 points left—want them transferred to your card, or would you like more supplies?”

Hearing that he’d brought only the best, Xia Qing pressed, “What else did you bring, Tao?”

Zhong Tao listed the goods: “Compressed rations, twenty points a pound. Calmness capsules, a hundred per box. Some basic medicines, too. We also have main grains officially swapped out from the army—wheat flour, twenty per pound; corn flour, thirteen; rice, thirty-seven.”

Evolved fighters in the army were well taken care of. Those without family would trade their extra supplies—usually these goods never left internal circles. To find out she’d lucked into this batch, Xia Qing quickly asked, “Tao, grain trades aren’t recorded, right?”

Zhong Tao caught her meaning and grinned. “Nope, totally private deal. No swiping at the official Safe Zone terminal, you can relax.”

With food on the line, Xia Qing couldn’t care less about staying low-key. She whipped out her points card. “I’ll take twenty pounds of each—will that be enough?”

That much?

Zhong Tao sneaked a glance at Tan Junjie, who didn’t object, then nodded. “No problem, you’ll need to use up 1,325 points for that.”

With less than two thousand points left, Xia Qing handed over her card, pretending to look heartbroken. “I’ve only got about fifteen hundred points left. This pretty much wipes me out.”

Zhong Tao used the public card scanner to credit her card with 75 points, then swiped another 1,400 points from her account using his own device and called to Zheng Kui, “Kui, haul the stuff over!”

Just as Xia Qing took the heavy bags, the previously silent Tan Junjie finally spoke up. “Where did you catch the wild boars?”

Tan Junjie’s aura reminded her of her old middle school teacher—the kind that always kept her on edge.

She’d brought back the piglets hoping the inspection team would clear out the big boar for her; otherwise, one rampaging into her territory would be major trouble. So Xia Qing answered honestly, “I headed north from Plot Four, over a hill—there’s a valley with a pond where I caught them. There was a big boar with a group of piglets. It’s likely just a regular evolved one.”

A big boar too? Even if the meat’s red light, it could be processed. Even the usually reserved Zheng Kui sounded tempted, “Captain Tan, with wild boars this close, one could easily bust through the Barrier and ruin crops or even hurt someone.”

But Tan Junjie didn’t take the bait—instead, he shot Xia Qing a stern warning. “Trespassing in the Evolver Forest could provoke large animals or an insect swarm. If it’s only your territory affected, that’s one thing, but if you drag others down with you, the consequences won’t be yours to bear alone.”

Xia Qing immediately stood at attention. “Don’t worry, Captain Tan. I hunt with the teams often and know my limits. I’d never go after something I couldn’t handle.”

Zhong Tao and Zheng Kui drove away, leaving Xia Qing alone with the ever-serious Tan Junjie.

After a few awkward seconds of silence, Xia Qing spoke up first. “Captain Tan, there’s a power-evolved sheep wearing a collar wandering around my land and just north of my territory. If you run into it while hunting the boar, could you maybe give it a pass? It’s a herbivore and won’t hurt anyone—so long as nobody bothers it.”