Chapter 1138: Passing the Inspection

Xia Qing had been busy these past few days dealing with the disaster and catching snakes, so she hadn't had the energy to keep up with what was happening at Hui One in real time. This was a good chance to ask about it.

Yang Jin gave a brief rundown. "Peng Yuancai conducted illegal human experiments while on the run from prison — that's a serious crime. With multiple charges stacked together, a death sentence is a certainty. Chen Dianming will definitely step down, but who takes over isn't clear yet, so Liehuo Mountain has put its relocation plan on hold and is staying put on Liehuo Mountain. On the surface, Mieshi and Liehuo have reached a reconciliation, but behind the scenes they're still fighting. However, Mieshi's fanatical believers are nearly used up — in at most a month, they'll fizzle out."

Hui One base leader Chen Dianming was Liehuo's main partner. Now that he's stepping down, Liehuo returning to the Hui One safe zone would be a bird in a cage, and Fire Phoenix hates being locked in a cage most of all. She definitely won't go back. Xia Qing continued asking, "How much combat power does Liehuo have left?"

"About half. When Liehuo Mountain was bombed, they used a large amount of banned toxic bioweapons to fight back — that can't be covered up. So for a long time to come, Liehuo, just like Chonglian, will have to accept strict official oversight and spot checks."

After saying this, Yang Jin took a sip of tea, feeling pleased. "Liehuo has made plenty of enemies over the years. Besides the officials, the various bases in Hui City won't pass up this chance — they'll stick a knife in deep."

Xia Qing asked, "Which officials?"

"Hui City main base." Yang Jin understood what Xia Qing meant. "There are indeed Liehuo moles over there, but Liehuo doesn't have the energy or enough points to keep feeding these bloodsuckers. There'll be plenty of entertainment coming up. Over the next year, Fire Phoenix will be busy dealing with officials and various squads — she won't dare provoke Third Brother."

One year was enough. By the time Liehuo freed up its hands, it would find that this territory in Northern Sector One had already become an existence Liehuo wouldn't dare provoke lightly.

Xia Qing acknowledged this and took a sip of tea. She thought again of that Wang Wu who had gone up Liehuo Mountain, trying to use the problematic yellow soybean seeds to contact Third Brother. She still didn't know whether he was alive or dead.

But Xia Qing didn't even know his real name, so there was no way to inquire.

Since Xia Qing had brought up the topics of Liehuo and Hui One, Yang Jin continued. "What does Third Brother want in exchange for Zhang Kui and the others?"

Before Yan Meng lost control, Feng Wen had told Xia Qing outright that, in exchange for Xia Qing's help taking Territory 14, she knew who Liehuo's mole was inside Northern Sector One's territory, and who had scattered the aggressive qiang grass seeds on Northern Sector One's territory passage.

Xia Qing, who had long been looking for the right chance to cut out these tumors in Northern Sector One, naturally reported this matter to Tan Junjie.

After Yan Meng died, Feng Wen could no longer stay on in Territory 14. She followed the patrol vehicle back to the safe zone and was taken straight into the criminal investigation brigade's interrogation room.

Just like the last time she and Tang Rui fled Hui Three and were caught by the Qinglong Squad, Feng Wen — as a coerced party — confessed many things that wouldn't implicate her, in exchange for a no-guilt release and admission to the maternity welfare facility inside the Hui Three safe zone to await childbirth.

Based on Feng Wen's testimony and previously gathered evidence and leads, the criminal investigation team took away Patrol Squad's Peng Lin, the three Zhang Kuis from the Ninth Center, and Yang Pei from Territory 15 for investigation.

Besides these five, the criminal investigation team also took away four people from Territories 2 and 12.

Tang Huai secretly told Xia Qing that these four people's involvement in the aggressive qiang grass case was a trap that Tang Huai and Tang Heng had seized the opportunity to set — their goal was the same as Xia Qing's: cut out the tumors.

After Peng Lin was caught, Xia Qing finally learned how he had scattered the qiang grass seeds.

When a person is truly determined to do evil, they really will stop at nothing.

Peng Lin had laid out his plan for over half a month. Taking advantage of his driving patrols, he made an inconspicuous hole in the bottom of the patrol squad's battered patrol vehicle. During the qiang rain period, he hid the grass seeds in the interlayer of his shoe soles and secretly scattered them out through this hole.

During the qiang rain period, the passage was overgrown with qiang grass and muddy. These small grass seeds scattered in secret didn't stand out at all, so they fooled Su Ming, who had been paired with him and was responsible for supervising him.

Peng Lin was just a small fry. After his arrest, the key was how deep this case dug and how many people it pulled out. The same logic applied to the mastermind behind the three Zhang Kuis at the Ninth Center.

What is the truth?

In these chaotic times, the truth is a piece of paper, a set of talking points, and a few scapegoats — all negotiated and agreed upon by the various interested parties.

The Peng Yuancai case, the firefight between Liehuo and Mieshi, and the Chonglian illegal experiment case — none of them have been closed, precisely because the various stakeholders haven't finished negotiating.

Yang Jin asked directly, and Xia Qing didn't hold back. "Third Brother can't be bothered. I want to use this chance to increase the weapons and equipment for Northern Sector One's Patrol Squad and the Ninth Center. The base leader has already agreed to my proposal, but how much we can get isn't certain yet."

Chen Dianming was deeply tied to Liehuo. The Zhang Kui at the Ninth Center both took orders from Liehuo and provided intel to Hui One's officials. Taken narrowly, this is a personal grudge — between Liehuo, Chen Dianming, Zhang San, and Xia Qing. Taken broadly, it's Hui One base, or even Hui City main base, disregarding the bigger picture, sabotaging national territory policy, attempting to kill a thousand civilians in Hui Three's Northern Sector One, damaging nearly a thousand mu of farmland, and even trying to destroy the national-treasure-level scientist team inside Territory 7.

As for what the "truth" turns out to be, that depends on Hui Three officials' ability to maneuver and negotiate.

"No matter how much we can get, getting anything is a good thing." Yang Jin praised Xia Qing, then prepared to get down to business — earning back the points he'd just paid her for the snake meat.

But before he could speak, Xia Qing picked up the thread. "Does Captain Yang have time this afternoon?"

Yang Jin immediately nodded. "Yes. Testing your sniping ability this afternoon?"

"Sure. Two o'clock?"

"Two o'clock has plenty of light — it doesn't meet the conditions Luo Ge set. How about six?" That way, before the test, he could work alongside Xia Qing in Territory 3, and after the test they could come back together for dinner. Perfect!

Xia Qing had no objections. "Sure."

After Xia Qing left, Yang Jin contentedly went into the inner room for an afternoon nap.

Leaving the conference room, Xia Qing raised a victorious smile. She hadn't given Yang Jin the chance to propose a new deal — she was determined to get every last point from the snake meat sale!

That afternoon, Xia Qing declined Yang Jin's help, chased him out of the territory, and went to the cotton shed herself, carrying her bundle and picking pockets.

Does Daigua the monkey stayed on Mountain 61 to look after its injured friend. It wouldn't come back until it had eaten all the food in its little backpack, so Xia Qing had to go into the cotton field herself, bending over to pick cotton.

This job, Sheep Boss and Wolf Lao Er both couldn't do.

After picking cotton, Xia Qing weeded the Green Lantern fig seedling shed and the greenhouse flower shed once each. After the sniping test in the afternoon, she would bring back the Green Lantern bees she'd "exchanged" for.

Xia Qing had originally planned to bring the bees back once the lab was built, but the wolf-bear-snake battle had delayed it until now. She absolutely couldn't delay any longer — her honey was almost gone.

That evening's test went very smoothly. Xia Qing's effective range had reached 2,100 meters — she was a top-tier sniper in every sense of the word.

This result was something she had achieved through persistent training.

The sweat shed during training didn't count for much — what really pained Xia Qing was the sniper rounds she'd fired off.

All together, over a million points!!!

Suffering yet happy, Xia Qing directly refused Yang Jin's suggestion of dinner together, went to the beekeeping shed in Territory 1, and carried a box of bees down the mountain.

Then, that evening, just as she'd settled the bees in and hadn't yet had time to cook, Xia Qing saw Yang Jin's even-more-infuriating non-blood-related brother.