Chapter 355: The Wall Builders’ Pact

“Are you planning to take in refugees?”

The next day at noon, after a restless night, the members of the Lords’ Alliance gathered again to discuss major decisions.

Xia Qing spoke up first. “I’m not taking any.”

Her good neighbor, Zhao Ze’s mother, chimed in right behind her. “I wouldn’t dare. You might know someone’s face, but you can never guess their heart, let alone people we’ve never even met before. Things aren’t like they were ten years ago. These days, you pull in a random person and who knows how many lives they’ve got on their back? If they come into our territory, I’d never sleep easy again.”

Realizing nobody wanted to take in refugees, the mood lightened a bit, though the issue still weighed on the lords like a stone.

Kuang Qingwei looked worried. “I’m not concerned about bringing people into Territory One. It’s Two and Nine that have me on edge. I spent all night thinking about it and couldn’t find a good solution.”

Shizhong sounded even more anxious than the rest. “I’m right next to Territory Nine. The west wind picked up last night and I didn’t sleep at all, terrified that Li Si would toss poison and kill my whole family.”

Between Xia Qing’s Section Three and Tang Lu’s Territory Two ran a five-meter-wide corridor. Territory Ten pressed up right beside Territory Nine, with only a patch of weeds for a wall. No wonder the Shizhong family was so uneasy.

Qi Fu tried to reassure Shizhong. “Captain Tan and Third Brother are always keeping watch. All the contraband has been cleared out of Territory Nine. Even if they tried to stash a little, no way they’d be so bold now.”

Shizhong nodded. “It’s not that I don’t trust Captain Tan and Third Brother. I just don’t feel secure. Kuang, do you have a way to sell grain? I want to sell three sacks of Yellow Lantern mung beans—use those credits to hire some machines and put up a bramble wall between Nine and Ten. It won’t stop poison, but at least it’ll keep people out.”

Digging out and hauling loads of evolved trees covered in sharp thorns would take ages by hand, so they’d have to hire vehicles.

Qi Fu had come to the same conclusion. “I want to sell grain too. I’ll never have enough credits for all four sides, so I’ll start by blocking off the south two.”

To the west, Xia Qing had decided to wall in all four sides. To the east, Qi Fu would cover the south and north. That made things much easier for Zhao Ze’s mother. “We’ll block off the north and south too. That’ll make our whole section airtight.”

“I’ll do north and south as well. The wall by Third Brother’s side is solid already.” Kuang Qingwei had absolute faith in the defenses at Territory Seven. “The grain will sell, trust me. I’ll make the contacts this afternoon, and the price will be double what the Safe Zone is paying. Just don’t spread the word, and wait for my update.”

“Not sure if I’ve got enough thorn trees in my territory. Xia, is there enough on Hill Fifty for all of us?” Qi Fu urged.

Shizhong jumped in before Xia Qing could answer. “My son says that patch of woods has plenty for Xia Qing. Once she’s done digging, we’ll get ours. If we run short, we’ll look elsewhere. If we can’t find any big thorn trees, we’ll just use thorny shrubs. The main thing is to get the wall up and reinforce it later if needed.”

Xia Qing’s territory was the largest, so she’d need the most thornwood. She’d been the first one to announce she’d be building a wall and to claim trees from Hill Fifty. The Evolved Forest had no official owner, but everyone respected ‘first come, first served.’ Letting Xia Qing go first was only fair.

Hearing that all four territories were planning on walls, Xia Qing changed her mind. “I think I’ll switch to a wire fence, then. You all can use the thornwood.”

Xia Qing had originally gone for thornwood because wire fencing stood out too much. Now, even the weakest territory, Section Four, was pooling credits to hire vehicles and put up bramble walls. As an evolved lord, raising the bar and using wire mesh wouldn’t make her stick out.

Wire mesh fencing was way tougher than thornwood walls. As long as you cleared the weeds beside it and sprayed pesticide regularly to keep evolved plants and rodents from gnawing through, it was nearly unbeatable.

Ideally, it’d be sturdy iron mesh like the kind at the Wild Boar Breeding Center, strong enough to stop even wild boars. Problem was, that stuff didn’t come cheap—and Xia Qing definitely didn’t have enough credits for it. She needed to head back and get in touch with her top buyer in Section Three: Yang Jin, the Iron Rooster.

Wire fencing was no small investment. Zhao Ze’s mother and Kuang Qingwei were shocked. Shizhong and Qi Fu took it in stride, since they knew Xia Qing had solid resources. Just the thousand-plus pounds of edible chestnuts she hauled back last time were worth a pile of credits.

And that chestnut grove was hers. Unless some disaster took out the trees next year, she’d be harvesting over a thousand pounds more.

Xia Qing explained where her credits came from. “Last month, I got lucky and collected over a thousand pounds of edible chestnuts from the Evolved Forest. If I sell them all and it’s still not enough, I’ll ask Qing to help me sell some grain.”

“Alright, I’ll help you calculate what you’ll need for the fence.”

Kuang Qingwei flew across his calculator, fingers flying. “We’ll need the same kind of wire mesh used for the Wild Boar Breeding Center—one and a half meters high, mesh openings 1.5 centimeters, wire three millimeters thick, each roll eighteen meters long. Hui Two Base is selling them at two hundred credits a roll. If you fence it at three meters high, what’s your territory’s perimeter?”

Xia Qing answered without hesitation. “Nine thousand meters.”

“For nine thousand meters, just the wire mesh runs you two hundred thousand credits.” Once he’d tallied up the wire mesh, Kuang Qingwei moved onto the extras. “Shipping it from Hui Two Base will be at least ten thousand. Add in the steel posts, fasteners and labor costs, and the total comes to about two hundred forty thousand credits.”

With the fence numbers done, Kuang Qingwei started working out the value of the chestnuts. “The Safe Zone buys Yellow Lantern chestnuts at eighty credits a pound, Green Lantern at two hundred fifty a pound. How much have you got?”

Xia Qing went low on her numbers. “A thousand pounds of Yellow Lantern, two hundred of Green Lantern.”

Two hundred pounds of Green Lantern chestnuts?! Zhao Ze’s mother was stunned. That must be a fortune in credits!

Even Kuang Qingwei’s big hands trembled at those numbers. He tapped quickly. “That’s thirteen thousand credits from the chestnuts, plus the ten thousand you’ll make selling fish. In total, twenty-three thousand—almost enough! Check in with Xin Yu. She wants to build a compost starter plant and has to ship building materials from Hui Two Base. If your wire mesh ships with her cargo, you might save on freight. Maybe you won’t even have to sell any grain.”

After all that, Kuang Qingwei offered another tip. “Still, I suggest you sell at least one sack of grain. If people think you had to sell grain just to afford the fence, you won’t attract any thieves.”

Xia Qing thanked him sincerely before asking about the next step. “You always know the ropes, Qing. I feel much more confident now. I’ll get in touch with Xin Yu and Luo soon. I’m planning to sell the chestnuts straight to Azure Dragon Squad—think they’ll go for it?”

Kuang Qingwei’s eyes crinkled with a smile as he found an option for moving the goods. “I was just going to suggest it! Out of all the groups, Azure Dragon Squad is the safest to deal with when you’re moving a thousand pounds of food. Captain Yang might haggle hard, but he’s the most trustworthy broker and squad leader at Hui Three—pays up front, never plays dirty.”