Chapter 111: Buying a Knife

After the first day of the agricultural trade fair ended, the lords dispersed to their own activities—some went to purchase supplies, some gathered with friends and family. To ensure the lords' safety, the Safe Zone arranged free lodging at a hotel and an escort team for them.

Xia Qing left the treasures she had traded for at the hotel for safekeeping. Without requesting an escort, she shouldered her backpack and headed out the door. Protection was also surveillance, really. Xia Qing had many things she wanted to do on this trip back to the Safe Zone, and some of them she didn't want anyone to know about.

Xia Qing's first stop was Weapon Street. She entered an unremarkable knife shop and placed her large cleaver on the counter. "Uncle Huo, do you think this knife can still be repaired?"

The shop's owner, his face a slab of pockmarked flesh, raised his swollen eyes and glared at Xia Qing. "You're actually still alive? What a rare sight."

Lord Huo Lei, a Level Four Strength Evolver, had made a living forging cold iron weapons before the Catastrophe and continued in the trade afterward. Xia Qing's cleaver, slingshot, steel balls, dagger, and even kitchen knife had all been bought or traded from his shop. During the period right after her father passed away, when Xia Qing could barely manage to eat her fill, she had shamelessly pestered her way into swinging a heavy hammer for Huo Lei for two months before she could trade for the cleaver she now carried.

"I went out to farm, got pretty lucky. Here's some grain I harvested a few days ago—try it." Xia Qing smiled and took out two sealed two-jin bags of wheat and mung beans, placing them on the counter. A sticky note with Xia Qing's current phone number was attached to the sealed bags.

Huo Lei swept the grain into the counter drawer with his large cattail-leaf fan hand before he began examining the knife. "Clawed by an evolved animal?"

Xia Qing nodded. "Yes. Do you think it can still be repaired?"

"The claw marks are too deep—even if I fix it, it won't hold up. Get a new one." Huo Lei turned and went into the back room, came out carrying a long box for holding knives, and set it on the counter. "Open it and take a look."

The moment Xia Qing lifted the lid, her eyes couldn't look away. Inside the box were three dark black knives—large, medium, and small. Having spent months at the forge, Xia Qing could tell at a glance that this set of knives was more than two grades above her cleaver.

Xia Qing negotiated with Huo Lei. "I want all three. Can you give me the internal employee price?"

Huo Lei, a cigarette dangling from his lips, opened his mouth to curse. "What kind of internal employee are you, damn it! Two thousand points—not a single credit less, and I won't sell."

Knives this good at two thousand was an absolute rock-bottom price. Xia Qing immediately pulled out her card and swiped the points, sincerely thanking him. "Thank you so much, Uncle Huo."

Huo Lei glared. "Thank me for what? I'm running a business here—do I need your thanks? Now get lost after buying, don't be an eyesore around here."

Got it!

Xia Qing briskly tucked the smallest knife into her waist, put the other two back into the knife box and into her backpack, then turned and left.

Huo Lei, cigarette still dangling, watched her retreating back and said fiercely, "Bring me rice next time you come back."

Xia Qing turned her head and smiled. "Sure. I'll go get rice seedlings tomorrow, and once I harvest the rice I'll bring it right over."

After the knife shop's door clanged shut, Huo Lei, the cigarette still in his mouth, smiled. His pockmarked face smiling was even more terrifying than his scowl. The young man poking his head out from the back room was startled and, trembling, called out, "Master, the temperature has reached…"

"What are you yelling for? I haven't even warmed the seat yet!" Huo Lei cursed as he shuffled toward the back room in his straw sandals.

Walking down the street, Xia Qing listened to the commotion from the knife shop, a faint smile on her face. Uncle Huo's knife shop was hot all year round—the warmest place in the entire Safe Zone. She also went to the hardware and woodworking shops to buy some essential tools and farming implements, delivered everything back to the hotel, and only then went to meet Xu Juan.

The route she took was one Xia Qing had long since chosen.

"Brother Jie, look! Isn't that Xia Qing?"

"You just noticed? I saw her this morning when the lords entered the city, carrying a backpack that weighed dozens of jin. Who knows how many good things she's got inside. Brother Jie, we can't let her get away!"

"Right, we absolutely have to get revenge for what happened five months ago!"

Zhao Jie spat hard. "Go, call more people over. I don't believe it!"

Walking among the crowd under the lights, Xia Qing pretended she hadn't heard Zhao Jie and his gang, heading straight for the restaurant. This restaurant was a gathering spot for ordinary evolvers living on the outskirts of the Safe Zone. When the group earned points on missions, they often came here to treat themselves to a meal.

Xia Qing pushed open the door. The stuffy heat and noise, carrying the aroma of food, immediately washed over her.

"Xia Qing, over here!"

Xia Qing passed through two groups of people who silently sized her up, entered the private room, and shut the restaurant's clamor out the door. "Sister Juan, getting rich lately?"

"If you weren't coming back for once, I wouldn't have the heart to book a private room." Xu Juan poured Xia Qing a cup of hot tea. "Why didn't you call Shi Du over to get together too?"

Shi Du also often took on missions, so of course he knew Xu Juan as well.

Xia Qing took a sip of the tea, brewed with filtered water, and set it down. "If Sister Juan wanted to treat him too, I already called him at the mission hall."

Xu Juan laughed out loud. "You still talk as bluntly as ever. Leaving tomorrow?"

"Mm." Xia Qing responded, then suddenly heard a very familiar voice from the next private room. It belonged to Jiang Quan, the head of the management department of Hui-Three Territory, with whom she'd chatted enthusiastically at the agricultural trade fair today, and Secretary Wang from Hui-One Base.

"We're short on new-type materials, so we can't achieve full signal coverage across the territory like the main base can." Jiang Quan's voice carried a note of envy.

Secretary Wang's voice had a few more creases of laughter than that afternoon. "We've only covered a twenty-five-kilometer radius outside the Safe Zone. Other areas are just like Hui-Three Base—we still have to use walkie-talkies or satellite phones to connect."

"The main institute has made new breakthroughs in new-type material research. By the end of the year, the main base will achieve full coverage." Jiang Quan's voice carried a probing tone. "Secretary Wang, the production plant for the new-type materials has already started planning, hasn't it?"

Secretary Wang parried with a Tai Chi move. "Our department is only responsible for territory work. I really don't know about the progress of other work at the base."

Xia Qing picked up her teacup and mulled over the new-type materials they were discussing. They should be tough enough to withstand gnawing insects. She wondered whether such materials would be sold publicly.

"Try this wild chicken—I caught it on a mission a couple days ago." After a steaming big pot of braised chicken was served, Xu Juan immediately urged Xia Qing to eat.

Xia Qing picked up a piece with her chopsticks and put it in her mouth. "Delicious."

Xu Juan watched Xia Qing eating with obvious relish, took a sip of tea, and brought up Feng Wen. "After Feng Wen spent all her brother's death benefits, she attached herself to Tang Rui. Her looking for you was probably on Tang Rui's orders. The news about the Azure Dragon Squad and the Tang family fighting over territory north of the Safe Zone has been all over the Safe Zone."

When Xia Qing saw Feng Wen that afternoon in high heels and perfume, she had guessed Feng Wen had found a man with decent means to be her meal ticket, but she hadn't expected her to choose Tang Rui.

Tang Rui was Tang Zhengsu's son, notorious for being a playboy and a lecher. He changed girlfriends faster than he changed clothes. She really had no idea what Feng Wen was thinking.

Xu Juan smiled as she ate her meat. "Feng Wen is dreaming about marrying into the Tang family. All these years, she's really wasted her time."