Chapter 1698: Xia Qing vs. Hui Three Base Commander Qi Zhongye

Xia Qing swiped open the north gate and returned to her territory. Seeing Wolf Lao Er waiting for her inside the brush wall, her previously expressionless face broke into a brilliant smile. "Lao Er, I'm back!"

When a tiger is sick, other tigers come to visit; the pups of the western wolf pack have the Wolf King worrying over them. She wasn't alone either—she had her family wolf, her family sheep!

Wolf Lao Er's grin, with a layer of frost on his fur and steam rising from his mouth, looked extraordinarily bright in Xia Qing's infrared goggles.

Xia Qing scanned her territory, confirmed everything was normal, and walked down the hillside while chatting with Wolf Lao Er. "Lao Er, did you hear? The Western Wolf King's mate gave birth to wolf pups. The Queen should be due soon too. Lao Er, you'll be going back to the pack to look after the pups again, right?"

That was a complicated sentence, and Wolf Lao Er couldn't understand what Xia Qing was saying, but he could sense her mood and nuzzled her with his body.

Xia Qing responded, "I wonder how many pups the Queen will have this year. Two seems a bit few, right? It'll be hard work for you going back to look after the wolf pups, so eat well lately…"

The person and the wolf walked down the hillside and returned to the abandoned village. Xia Qing, who'd already had plenty of exercise tonight, only did accuracy training before washing up and lying down in bed.

At five-thirty in the morning, when the red squirrels outside the window woke her up, Xia Qing stared blankly ahead.

Last night, she had actually dreamed of Yang Jin.

After this iron rooster returned from the Ruins Continent and learned that the cameras in Section 6 of Mountain 49 had been broken by the Western Wolf King, he didn't go to the Western Wolf King to demand compensation, nor did he go to Lao Si—he actually came to her with a stack of forms. Not only did he make her pay double for the cameras, he claimed the trees knocked down by three beasts were high-value species, the stones they smashed were precious minerals, and the dead grass they trampled was a valuable sample…

All in all, he actually made her pay. 45 points! Only an iron rooster could calculate compensation down to two decimal places!

Xia Qing silently complained for a moment before getting up to cook green-light cornmeal porridge in the rice cooker, then hurried to the special training grounds. The first thing she did upon arrival was pet the Lucky Wolf for a good omen—today she was going to the Safe Zone to negotiate with the Base Commander, and she desperately needed the handsome giant wolf's blessing of wealth.

The handsome giant wolf coldly shifted his big icy face aside. Just as thick-skinned Xia Qing was about to sidle over, Yan Long called her by name onto the field for a sparring match.

Two hours later, Xia Qing left the special training grounds and limped back to her territory, her face sporting no new bruises.

Her face wasn't unblemished today because she'd gotten better, but because her idol had specifically called Yan Long and asked her to leave Xia Qing a face presentable in public.

Two hours later, when Xia Qing stood with this very face before Hui Three Base Commander Qi Zhongye, she still received a warm greeting: "Is Xia still participating in Yan Long's special training program?"

Yan Long's special training of Xia Qing, Tan Qi, Ye Shiyi, Wang Bo, and Lu Fangchun wasn't a secret—everyone who needed to know already knew. Yan Long's special training of the wolf pack was the secret; only Xia Qing and Zhang San knew.

"Yes." Xia Qing nodded calmly. "Sorry to bother you today."

Hui Three Base Commander Qi Zhongye, dressed in a faded old-style military uniform, smiled warmly and pointed to the chair opposite, inviting Xia Qing to sit. He got straight to business: "After incorporating the 14,000 mu of evolved forest south of Northern Section One Territory into your territory, do you have any plans for it?"

"Yes."

Xia Qing took a printed land-use plan from her briefcase and handed it to the Base Commander with both hands, introducing it at an unhurried pace: "I plan to divide this area into seven plots. One will be used to recruit Professor Wu Chengyu from Lan One Base, and I'll build a precision instrument factory on the plot next to his territory…"

"Wu Chengyu being willing to come to our base is a good thing." Qi Zhongye spoke at a measured pace, every word seeming carefully weighed. "If his research can take root here, it holds extremely important strategic value for our base's development. These wastelands should, in principle, be approved."

Xia Qing silently added: after "in principle," there was bound to be a "but."

Sure enough.

Qi Zhongye raised his eyes, his gaze landing on Xia Qing's face, which looked all the more resolute for its bruises. His gaze wasn't sharp, but it was slow and heavy: "However, this wasteland is construction ruins. After clearing it, the soil layer thickness doesn't meet the national requirements for cultivating territory."

Xia Qing had already considered this point. "You're right. So I plan to first clear the construction debris from this land, then improve the soil…"

Xia Qing took out a second plan and handed it over. This time-phased plan detailed how to manually sort the construction waste for recycling and reuse, and then how to physically and chemically improve the farmland so the soil would meet the requirements for cultivation as territory. And after this plan, she had even prepared a detailed cost budget.

The soil improvement plan at the front was Xia Qing's own work; the construction plan and budget at the back were done by Zhao Ze, whom she'd paid points to hire.

The more the Hui Three Base Commander read, the more satisfied he became—though he showed none of it on his face, still radiating an imposing aura. "If Wu Chengyu takes a liking to Northern Section One Territory and wants to stay there as your neighbor and ally, alongside Third Brother, there's no need to spend 1.2 million points and eight months improving 14,000 mu of soil. Fifteen hundred mu would be enough."

Xia Qing pulled out another terrain map and handed it over. "Besides Professor Wu, I have two other people I want to recruit. Together with the precision instrument factory, I need four plots in total. You see, if I only fence off four plots, the remaining area will become a defensive gap in Northern Section One. That's why I included this area in my planning—to level it directly and use the soil for fill…"

Qi Zhongye neither agreed nor disagreed, nor did he ask who the other two people Xia Qing wanted to recruit were. He simply asked with a warm smile, "This plan and budget table—were they done by a Ninth Center employee?"

Xia Qing shook her head. "No, by Zhao Ze from Territory Four. He studied engineering and did landscape development before the Calamity."

The Base Commander's attitude confirmed that the plan Zhao Ze had burned the midnight oil over for three days was worth the high price Xia Qing had paid.

"The Calamity these years has buried a lot of talent. The territory policy has given these people room to develop. Under your leadership, they've twisted into a single rope and become a force that cannot be ignored. That's very good."

Qi Zhongye raised his eyes; the warmth in his gaze remained, but his aura grew even more powerful. "Used well, this force will be a solid shield on Hui Three's northern flank, a guarantee of food supply and stability."

If not for Xie Yu's reminder, Xia Qing would have only offered a couple of modest words upon hearing the Base Commander praise her like this. But at this moment, she brought out her utmost sincerity.

"It's the country's policies that are good, and you, Base Commander, also value the territories, sparing no personnel, money, or material to provide medicines, seeds, and security. Only because of that can we common folk who ventured out of the Safe Zone to become Lords farm in peace within our territories."

After a two-second pause, Xia Qing continued to state her position: "We've twisted into a single rope not to become anyone's force, but to better carry out the base's policies—farm the land well, put down solid roots. More grain, stable hearts—only then can the northern defense line change from a single brick into a wall. The goal of everyone in me and the Territory Alliance has always been just one: within the framework of Hui Three, survive, and live better. Beyond that, I have no other thoughts."