Chapter 1537: News from Tang Huai

"Qing-jie, Jin-ge."

Xia Qing, carrying her medicine pack, rolled out of Territory Seven and met up with Yang Jin. Just as she was about to ask Yang Jin what he'd been chatting so happily about with Zheng Chen, Zhao Ze came jogging up after her.

After exchanging greetings, Zhao Ze lowered his voice and reported to Xia Qing, "Zhao Hao's injuries are no longer a serious problem. The people who arrested him will come with the patrol car tomorrow and escort him back to the Safe Zone for interrogation."

On the evening of the day the 1223 bombing happened, Zhao Hao, a hired laborer in Territory Four, was acting furtively inside the greenhouse. He was spotted by Zhao Ze on patrol and stabbed severely. The next morning, after hearing the bombing bulletin, Zhao Ze again asked Zhang San for medicine through Xia Qing and saved Zhao Hao's life.

Good thing he was saved.

It turned out Zhao Hao had accepted points and secretly recorded Xia Qing's and the Inspection Team's movements. That night, what he was secretly burning was the information he'd recorded. Because the person who bribed Zhao Hao was implicated in the bombing, Zhao Hao, who acted on his instructions, was also treated as a person of interest and taken back for interrogation.

If Zhao Hao hadn't been saved, the fact that Zhao Ze had used excessive force in self-defense would soon have been dug up, and the consequences would have been unthinkable.

A fall into a pit is a gain in wit. After this incident, Zhao Ze keenly realized he was no longer the same as before. He now had a territory, had things he was afraid of losing, and had to be more cautious in everything he did from now on. At the same time, he also began planning for the longer term. "Qing-jie, I want to use Yue-ge's connections to hire a few veterans to work in my territory before next spring. Having Yue-ge vet them is bound to be more reliable than me recruiting from outside. What do you think?"

Xia Qing nodded. "Ask Yue-ge if he has anyone suitable."

"Good!" Having won Xia Qing's agreement, Zhao Ze felt reassured and walked back to his own territory with light steps.

Xia Qing and Yang Jin chatted as they walked. When they reached the area near the south gate of Territory Three and saw Tang Huai standing under the Territory Two road sign, Xia Qing actually found herself missing the fellow a little.

Back when this guy was howling on the Lord Channel every day, Xia Qing had found it pretty annoying. Now that he wasn't howling, she felt something was missing.

Habit — truly a terrifying thing.

"Jin-ge." Tang Huai first greeted Yang Jin, who had taken out his key to open the gate, then asked with a grin, "Qing-jie, can I go hang out in your territory for a bit?"

Xia Qing asked, "You're alone?"

"Of course!"

As Bai Yi's side deepened its investigation into Tang Lu's death, the news that Tang Huai was a β-group active evolution protease host became known to more people. Not only Tang Huai, but his relatives were also being watched.

For this reason, Tang Zhengpo specifically brought his mother, wife, eldest daughter Tang Ning, and second son Tang Heng to the Safe Zone Evolution Ability Testing Center for examinations, confirming that among the whole family, only Tang Huai was a liver evolver.

At the same time, to guard against problems before they arose, the security level for all Tang family members was raised another notch. Wherever Tang Huai went now, he had two bodyguards with him.

But Territory Three was different from other areas. Tang Huai certainly couldn't, and didn't need to, bring bodyguards in.

After Yang Jin opened the gate, he handed the key to Xia Qing and quietly reported his whereabouts. "I'm going to handle some squad business. I'll be back before dark."

Tang Huai said cheerfully, "Jin-ge coming back before dark — is it to cook for Qing-jie? Go early and come back early. Qing-jie does a lot of work every day and gets hungry really fast."

The more Yang Jin looked at Tang Huai, the more he liked him. He nodded and strode toward Territory One.

After watching Yang Jin leave, Xia Qing locked the south gate and led Tang Huai through the wild-grass wall.

As expected, Tang Huai didn't get to see Ram Boss and Wolfdog Lao Er. Territory Three was empty, not a single person in sight, but Tang Huai felt an unusual sense of peace, and didn't pester Xia Qing to call the wolfdog out for a look.

Because he now felt that it was good that the wolfdog only recognized Xia Qing alone — at least it wouldn't be tricked by other humans into being killed, skinned, and eaten.

Tang Huai followed beside Xia Qing and stated his purpose. "Does Qing-jie still remember my cousin Tang Feng?"

Xia Qing nodded. A dual evolver of speed and endurance, former vice-captain of the Sufeng Squad, Tang Feng — a big shot in Hui-Three Base — of course she remembered.

Tang Huai was used to Xia Qing's silence. Seeing her nod, he continued, "She went missing in the fourth year of the Catastrophe. At the end of the fifth year of the Catastrophe, my dad found her in an underground lab in Hui-One…"

Tang Huai talked as he followed Xia Qing forward, arriving outside the Territory Three greenhouse. Through the greenhouse plastic film's ventilation strip, he looked at the soothing green inside and said through gritted teeth, "I just found out that my cousin being captured was orchestrated by Tang Zhengrong and Tang Zhengsu, with Tang Lu and Tang Rui also taking part. Humans are the most screwed-up species on Blue Star! If there were no humans on Blue Star, it definitely wouldn't look like the goddamn mess it is now…"

Xia Qing entered the greenhouse, pointed at a wooden stump, and told Tang Huai to go sit aside and curse, so as not to interfere with her work.

Tang Huai wasn't that tactless. After taking off his thickened protective suit, he drew the smallest black knife, squatted beside the vegetable beds, and listened carefully to the movements in the soil to help Xia Qing catch insects — this was the farm work he was best at.

After listening through several vegetable beds, Tang Huai only heard earthworms tunneling through the soil; he didn't find a single cutworm or grub. He asked in surprise, "The soil here is really clean. Did you use a new type of pesticide?"

Of course not. After the soil anaerobic bacteria evolved, Xia Qing wouldn't dare use chemicals carelessly. "Dajiang just cleared the pests once."

Dajiang of Hu Zifeng's squad is a hearing evolver, and is also good at pest removal.

Tang Huai couldn't do the farm work he was best at, so he pointed his knife at the grass in the corners of the shed and asked, "Qing-jie, do these grasses need clearing?"

"Those are all edible forage grasses, no need to clear them." Otherwise Ram Boss would get angry and butt people.

Tang Huai had actually never seen this kind of forage grass before, and immediately proposed a trade. "When they go to seed, can I trade for some? With mealworms or locusts."

"Sure." Xia Qing's mealworms needed to be refreshed and replaced, so she agreed to the trade.

Tang Huai acknowledged, then walked to the wooden trays where the mealworms were kept, checked on the mealworms' growth, cleaned the trays in passing, and continued the earlier topic. "Back then, to find my cousin, my dad used a batch of precious supplies to get information from a Blue Blood Alliance member at our base — that my cousin might have been taken to the Hui-One Research Institute. That's why my dad went to Hui-One to find a way to rescue my cousin."

A Blue Blood Alliance person? Xia Qing asked, "Who was that person?"

Tang Huai answered, "Guo Tai'an, the manager of Hui-One Wantong Company's branch office in our Safe Zone. When my dad approached him, he was still a grassroots employee at Wantong Company. He only got promoted this year."

Xia Qing had seen Guo Tai'an's name in the intel Xu Juan had given her. This person was implicated in the 1223 bombing and had been arrested three days ago. Connecting this with the fact that Tang Huai hadn't come online these past few days, Xia Qing understood what had happened. "After Guo Tai'an was arrested, he dragged your dad down with him?"

Tang Huai nodded. "Yes. He said he'd hinted to my dad about the 1223 operation. Based on two things, the investigators determined my dad was a suspect and told him to cooperate with the investigation."