Chapter 180: I Didn't Know That

The crops in her territory were all covered by pest-control netting sprayed with insecticide and deodorizing agents. Xia Qing had just done an inspection — the netting was undamaged, and the rest of the crops weren't at risk of being stolen by red squirrels either.

Seeing the red squirrel reminded Xia Qing of chestnuts.

Once the Sufeng Squad cleared out, she would find people to team up with and go look for chestnut trees. Otherwise, once the chestnuts ripened and split open, there'd be none left for humans to gather.

Because Sufeng Squad members were watching from outside, it would be too conspicuous for Xia Qing to just pick Chinese toon leaves. She cut a back-basket full of grass on Gao Po, then "casually" picked some Chinese toon leaves as well, before heading back.

Passing through the old quarantine belt, Xia Qing entered the lower-slope planting zone, moved aside the large stone blocking the spring's cave mouth, took out the bucket filled with spring water from inside, screwed the lid tight, tucked it into her back-basket and covered it with grass. On her way down through the vegetable terraces, she picked two cucumbers and a tomato, then exited through the opening at the lower end of the lower-slope planting zone's greenhouse.

Crossing the stone-slab bridge, Xia Qing broke off a piece of cucumber and stuffed it into Old Sheep's mouth as he pedaled the water-wheel, cooing softly, "Boss, you've worked hard. Have a bite of cucumber first. I'll go back and make you something good, and call you home to eat when it's ready."

Old Sheep crunched the cucumber and pedaled the water-wheel, thoroughly content.

Xia Qing tossed the insects she'd caught into the two fish ponds, then blocked the irrigation channels leading to the two water-filled greenhouses, diverting the water into the other greenhouses.

After finishing with the channels, Xia Qing stood up and saw a flock of birds flying over from the southwest. Bird flocks passing over her territory was perfectly normal, but Xia Qing, having just gone through an evolved-bird attack, still watched the flock with vigilance.

That vigilance paid off — she really did spot a problem:

A black bird about the size of a magpie dropped its flight altitude to roughly thirty meters as it passed over her territory. A flash of light reflected off a peanut-sized shiny object on the bird's belly, caught by the sunlight bouncing off the water flowing in the channel, and Xia Qing spotted it.

This was a reconnaissance bird carrying a camera — one humans had tamed to carry out aerial reconnaissance missions.

She'd been careless, not expecting the Sufeng Squad to send reconnaissance birds to monitor from the air after pulling out their ground surveillance.

If that bird flew another hundred and fifty meters north, the people on the camera's end would be able to see Old Sheep pedaling the water-bike. Xia Qing drew her pistol, took aim, and quickly squeezed the trigger.

"Bang!"

Hitting a reconnaissance bird at thirty meters' altitude was no challenge at all for Xia Qing, who had fired over a thousand rounds in three months practicing her marksmanship. After the hit, she quickly retreated, lifted Old Sheep off the water-wheel, and took cover.

The reconnaissance bird Luo Pei had shot down last time exploded mid-air, which meant these birds carried explosive devices in addition to cameras.

To Xia Qing's surprise, this bird hit the ground without exploding at all. Old Sheep, realizing nothing was wrong, struggled for Xia Qing to let him go.

Xia Qing used the Chinese toon leaves in her back-basket to calm Old Sheep, then pulled out a sealed bag and sealed the reconnaissance bird's corpse together with its equipment inside. She then contacted the Hazard Investigation Team on the walkie-talkie: "Captain Tan, you there?"

Tan Junjie responded quickly, "Here."

"Territory Three has shot down a black bird carrying some unknown equipment. I suspect someone is surveilling my territory from the air. Please send the Hazard Investigation Team to handle it immediately."

Tan Junjie replied sternly, "Copy. Territory Three Lord, please authorize the Investigation Team to enter Territory Three to collect evidence on-site."

"Territory Three Lord Xia Qing authorizes the Investigation Team to enter the territory."

Busybody Kuang Qingwei asked, "Xia Qing, how did you figure out something was wrong with that bird?"

Xia Qing replied, "I was watering the fields. The sunlight reflected off the water surface hit the bird, and there was a shiny spot, so I shot the bird down and sealed it in a bag."

Shi Du jumped in immediately, "Sister Qing did the right thing. Sealing it in a bag preserves the fingerprints and scent on the surveillance device. Captain Tan will definitely be able to track down the bird's owner from those leads."

Zhao Ze, the Territory Four Lord in Xia Qing's eastern neighbor territory, was green with envy. "I only heard one gunshot. Xia Qing, you're just too amazing."

Xia Qing had never broadcast on the Lord Channel how many evolved raptors she'd killed, so everyone only knew she had a gun and was a decent shot — they had no idea just how capable she really was.

The Sufeng Squad member responsible for surveillance in Territory Two immediately reported the news that Xia Qing had shot down and sealed the reconnaissance bird to Xu Pin, who had led the team out looking for the pangolin, explaining, "Because Territory Three only has one Level-Four strength-evolved person, we used standard reconnaissance equipment."

Standard observation equipment had no self-destruct function.

"Useless trash!" Xu Pin cursed before ordering, "Since it was launched from Territory Two, Tang Huai is responsible for cleaning this up."

His fucking—

Tang Heng grabbed his brother, who was about to explode, and whispered, "Bro, we have to get ahead of the Investigation Team!"

Tang Huai frowned, "Get ahead of them to do what? Force our way into Territory Three and take the bird?"

Tang Heng laughed, "No — confess and seek reconciliation before the Hazard Investigation Team traces it back to our territory."

Tan Junjie's squad had just entered Territory Three when Tang Huai's explanation rang out on the Lord Channel. "Captain Tan, Xia Qing, that reconnaissance bird was released by us. We found pangolin scales on the north side of Mountain Forty-Nine, but the area is swampland and inconvenient to search, so we released the reconnaissance bird."

Beard Feng immediately opened fire. "Territory Two, you think everyone's as stupid as you? If your reconnaissance bird was scouting the swamp, why didn't you launch it after reaching the destination?"

Tang Huai shot back instantly, "Where I launch it is none of your damn business."

Beard Feng sneered, "Of course it's my business. A reconnaissance bird you launch from Territory Two passes through Territory Three and then enters the airspace over Mountain Forty-Nine — Mountain Forty-Nine is our Azure Dragon's turf. You should be grateful Xia Qing shot the bird down, or else our boss would've killed you."

Tang Huai played dumb, "Are reconnaissance birds not allowed to fly over training bases outside the Safe Zone either? I didn't know that, nobody told me."

Xia Qing spoke up. "According to the Lord Law, the airspace within three thousand meters above a territory belongs to that territory's Lord. Any person, any human-controlled device, or any tamed beast entering a Lord's airspace without the Lord's permission constitutes a violation."

Beard Feng jumped in immediately. "Territory Two, you hear that? You've been in your territory half a year — you haven't even read the Lord Law?"

Tang Huai kept playing dumb. "I really haven't read it. Xia Qing, my apologies."

Xia Qing said nothing. Tan Junjie replied sternly, "The Investigation Team has completed preliminary testing and confirmed the reconnaissance bird's equipment has a remote-control range of only three kilometers. The straight-line distance from Territory Two to the swamp area on the north side of Mountain Forty-Nine already exceeds this bird's remote-control range. Territory Two's explanation does not hold up."

Tang Huai played dumb to the end. "That's impossible. The bird we released had a fifteen-kilometer remote range. Captain Tan, didn't you get the wrong one?"

Tan Junjie didn't waste words with him. "Territory Two's actions have violated the Lord Law. Territory Two representative Tang Huai is to bring the remote-control equipment for the downed reconnaissance bird to the road marker at the north entrance of Territory Two within fifteen minutes to be investigated."