Chapter 1158: The Children Within the Territory

"Sister Qing!"

When Xia Qing rolled out of Territory Seven and returned to Center Nine to pick up her car, it happened to coincide with the school's midday dismissal. Tan Qi, who was pulling little Shiyi out of the school, spotted Xia Qing and ran over excitedly to greet her. Shiyi's eyes sparkled as she looked at Xia Qing and called out "Sister Qing" along with her.

Over the past half year, Tan Qi had visibly grown taller. After a month in Territory Fifteen, Shiyi also looked more like a normal child rather than a little beast from the Evolution Forest, and blended in with the other children without any sense of awkwardness.

Before Xia Qing could speak, Lu Fangchun and Wang Bo also walked over to greet her.

Two months ago, Lu Fangchun and Wang Bo, who were still members of the Liangqing Squad, went out on a mission and were captured through a trap set by Chen Dongyang, who tortured and poisoned them, then used them to threaten Liangqing Squad captain Chen Deng.

Xia Qing took on the mission under her identity as Azure Dragon Night Heron, went over and rescued them. But Lu Fangchun's mother She Xing still recognized her. Later, She Xing, through her connection with Xia Qing, arranged for the two children to enter Territory Seven for detoxification. Their families had told them all about this, so in Lu Fangchun and Wang Bo's hearts, Xia Qing was their savior and the idol they admired.

After withdrawing from the Liangqing Squad and recuperating within the territory for over a month, 14-year-old Wang Bo and 13-year-old Lu Fangchun picked up their textbooks again, returned to school in the advanced class, and became classmates with Tan Qi.

Xia Qing looked at the next generation growing up within the territory, nodded expressionlessly, and handed her car keys to Tan Qi. "You four go to my car. Once I'm done with my business, I'll give you a ride back."

The various territories of Northern Zone One had a total of 12 children studying at Center Nine School. After the medicinal agents on the territory passages were cleaned up, these children either walked or rode beat-up bicycles to and from school. Because migratory bird season had arrived these past few days, the inspection teams feared the children would be attacked by raptors on the road, so they started using the patrol team's beat-up vehicles to shuttle them again.

Vehicles and fuel were scarce during the Calamity years, so there was no such thing as overloading. Squeezing a dozen-plus children into the vehicle compartment was far safer than having them walk on the road, exposed within the raptors' attack range.

"Thanks, Sister Qing!" Tan Qi took the keys and cheerfully led her friends toward Xia Qing's SUV.

Xia Qing walked toward Wang Jun, who was waiting for his son to come out of school so he could take him to the staff cafeteria for a meal.

Wang Jun, who had long been prepared to greet Xia Qing, noticed that she had spotted him. He immediately jogged over and greeted her respectfully. "Director."

Xia Qing nodded. "Brother Jun, when Third Brother was giving the children a lecture today, he noticed that Shunkang's mental state was unstable and said he needs psychological intervention. This afternoon after Shunkang gets out of school, take him to Territory Seven for an examination and to work out a treatment plan."

The employees listening with pricked-up ears all looked over in surprise, unable to figure out why Wang Jun's child qualified to enter Territory Seven for an examination.

Wang Jun was overjoyed. "Okay, alright! Thank you, Director. I'm really troubling you and Third Brother!"

Xia Qing instructed with great seriousness, "Territory Seven is a national-level key laboratory. Once you're inside, absolutely don't look around or ask questions everywhere. Violating the management regulations will get you kicked out. If you miss this rare opportunity, you'll have to take Shunkang to the Safe Zone hospital for treatment."

Wang Jun, who worked at Center Nine, certainly knew what Territory Seven was and how impressive its lord was. He nodded repeatedly. "Don't worry, Director. I'll keep a tight hold on Shunkang. Wherever Third Brother tells us to go, we'll go. Whatever he tells us to do, we'll do. I'll bring my salary card too—however many points it costs, I'll pay however many points it costs."

Xia Qing nodded. "Your performance ratings have been Excellent for three months in a row, and it just happened that Third Brother noticed something off about Shunkang today, so I was able to secure this rare treatment opportunity for him. If your points aren't enough to cover the medical fees, give me a call."

After normally finishing her instructions, Xia Qing didn't wait for Wang Shunkang to come out, but drove off with the four little ones, leaving Center Nine.

Tan Qi, who had the closest relationship with Xia Qing, was in an excited state, chattering away about how amazing the experiment Zhang San demonstrated today was. "It was just a little bottle of something that looked like white sand. He poured a colorless, transparent liquid on it, and instantly it produced a huge amount of foam!"

"Just like the volcanic eruption in the video, foam shooting outward!" Shiyi was also very excited. "Uncle Zhang San could even make a rainbow in a cup, just as pretty as the rainbow in the sky!"

When Zhang San went to the school for a lecture, he didn't use his identity as Fu Tianfeng, the nation's top medical authority, but rather his identity as Zhang San, Lord of Territory Seven, so the school students all called him "Uncle Zhang San."

Xia Qing gripped the steering wheel and nodded calmly. "Once you learn these principles in the future, you'll be able to do experiments like this with your own hands."

"Uncle Zhang San said the same thing!" Tan Qi kept chattering. Lu Fangchun and Wang Bo were more reserved in front of Xia Qing, sitting in the back listening silently, not daring to chime in.

It wasn't until Xia Qing dropped Tan Qi and Shiyi off outside the north gate of Territory Fifteen and continued driving that the two in the back seat sincerely thanked Xia Qing.

"I went over to take on a mission." Xia Qing, whose identity as a top sniper had already been exposed, didn't deny that she was the one who led the team to rescue them, but simply gave a brief explanation.

Wang Bo, a Level Five Visual Evolver who wanted to become a sniper, seized the opportunity to ask Xia Qing for guidance. "Sister Qing, how do you do your core muscle group strengthening exercises?"

Xia Qing gave a detailed explanation. "Plank, dynamic plank, side plank, hanging leg raise, and spiral torso rotation. Do these moves once in the morning and once in the evening, hold them as long as you can, until you're completely exhausted…"

After dropping off Lu Fangchun and Wang Bo in turn, Xia Qing went to Territory Eleven to find Lord Huo Lei, asking him to use some high-grade hardness-evolved snake skin to add a layer of reinforcement to the neck-protecting equipment she had just obtained from Territory Seven.

Although she had been kicked out of Territory Seven on this trip, Xia Qing had still traded for top-grade equipment made of new materials. Her face was expressionless, but her heart was overjoyed.

Watching Huo Zhun and the other three looked at the wildly popular protagonist online standing calmly right before them. No matter how curious they were, they kept discipline and kept their mouths tightly shut, not asking Xia Qing about last night's mission.

But Tang Huai didn't care about any of that. When Xia Qing drove back to the south gate of Territory Three, he immediately hurried out from Territory Two, took Xia Qing's keys to open the gate for her, and asked eagerly, "Sister Qing, you definitely recorded a video when you fought the Phantom, right? Copy one for me, I want to study it."

Xia Qing refused directly. "No, it's a military mission."

Tang Huai asked again with a grin, "Sister Qing, are you going on a mission tonight? Take me with you?"

"I'm not the one forming the team. My word doesn't count."

Tang Huai cheerfully asked again, "Then after migratory bird season is over, let's find a chance to team up for a hunt?"

Xia Qing nodded. That was fine.

After returning to the territory, in the afternoon Xia Qing sniped fat birds flying over the territory with the Beard Feng Squad. In the evening, she pretended to take a helicopter and leave the territory to carry out a mission, but in reality, it was to confuse the opponent—she had never actually left the territory.

Not only did she not leave, Xia Qing even called her "student," Broken-Waist Wolf, over by phone.