Chapter 181: SSVIP-Level Distinguished Guest

"Got it, Captain Tan, I'm on my way." Tang Huai's attitude was cooperative.

Holding the walkie-talkie, Tan Junjie quietly communicated with Xia Qing, "Although Territory Two's actions were an infringement, this reconnaissance bird didn't cause actual damage to your territory. If Tang Huai insists the criminal act was due to his ignorance and negligence, even if it's submitted to the Territory Management Department, the final punishment would just be a deduction of points plus a warning."

Xia Qing understood this point, which is why she chose to speak publicly on the Lord Channel, "If Territory Two is willing to deliver six brand-new solar panels, two matching adaptive constant-voltage controllers, and three 2V600AH maintenance-free storage batteries to my territory's station sign within three days, I'll agree to a private settlement."

Tan Junjie...

This girl, she dared to open her mouth even more than he'd anticipated, not afraid of offending the Sufeng Squad at all.

Hu Zi, who knew how to install and repair electrical appliances, reminded her, "Sister Qing, six panels with one constant-voltage controller and two large-capacity storage batteries are more than enough."

Xia Qing nodded, "I know, but the set I'm currently using in my territory needs replacing too. If Territory Two doesn't agree, I'll choose to report it immediately and go through legal procedures."

Tan Junjie took the sealed bag and led his team away from Territory Three to meet Tang Huai.

Hu Zi muttered softly, "Sister Qing is asking for too much, Territory Two definitely won't agree."

After the hailstorm, the already insufficiently stocked solar panels at Hui Three Base had gone up in price again. Even though the Sufeng Squad wasn't short on supplies, they wouldn't give that much, "Captain, you tell me—did Sister Qing leave herself room to bargain by asking for so much?"

The olfactory evolver Yuan Rui said with great certainty, "Xia Qing doesn't like to haggle with people. What she says is what she means—not a single screw short."

Hu Zi worried for Xia Qing, "If Territory Two chooses to go through legal procedures, Sister Qing will lose out. Better to ask for less."

Yuan Rui shook his head, "No. The Sufeng Squad is closely tied to Tang Zhengrong, and the territory policy is being vigorously promoted by the upper levels. If this case goes to public trial, it won't do Tang Zhengrong any good. The Sufeng Squad has no shortage of money or supplies—they'll definitely agree to a private settlement."

But after a private settlement, whether they'd continue to make trouble for Xia Qing was hard to say.

The leading Tan Junjie didn't speak, but he also believed Tang Huai would definitely agree. Because besides Yuan Rui's reasoning, there was another point: the reconnaissance bird definitely wasn't released by Tang Huai, and the compensation supplies wouldn't come from him either.

An hour later, Xia Qing, who was eating, received a call from Tan Junjie, "Territory Two has agreed to deliver the supplies you requested the morning after tomorrow."

"Got it, thanks Captain Tan." Xia Qing hung up the phone, took a blissful bite of a steamed flatbread with jerky tucked inside, and picked up another bite of smashed cucumber with her chopsticks.

The reason she asked for six solar panels was that winter sunlight wasn't as abundant as summer's. Her territory originally had five solar panels; three were smashed by the hailstorm, leaving only two. So she needed more solar panels to generate electricity to meet her territory's power needs.

Eight solar panels sounded like a lot, but it wasn't actually that conspicuous. The day she went to Hearing Qi Fu Territory to deliver medicine, she saw twelve on their roof.

With the electricity problem solved, next came temperature- and humidity-controlled equipment. This kind of equipment couldn't be purchased through Zhong Tao, because going through him would be equivalent to exposing the existence of a food storage room inside Territory Three.

Besides, the equipment available in the Safe Zone wasn't as good in quality as Territory Seven's. She'd delivered Green Light meat to Territory Seven several times, and Territory Seven hadn't exchanged supplies yet. Once Third Brother returned, they could discuss a trade.

Xia Qing decided to dig another food storage cellar beneath the warehouse. Because the cellar in the abandoned village on the southwest side, paired with solar panels, would be equivalent to directly exposing the cellar's location.

So building the cellar around her house was the safest option.

Of course, Xia Qing wouldn't abandon the cellar already dug in the abandoned village on the southwest side. She'd use this ordinary cellar without temperature-control equipment as a decoy, and incidentally experiment with how long food could be stored inside.

However, she had to irrigate the farmland today and water the terraced fields tomorrow, so digging the new cellar would have to be postponed.

The wound on Xia Qing's hand hadn't healed yet, and digging a cellar was hard labor. Ram Boss couldn't help either. She needed to rest and recover before starting work.

After finishing breakfast, the Hu Zifeng squad entered Territory Three to help with defense.

At least today, Territory Two wouldn't dare release reconnaissance birds to monitor Territory Three again. Xia Qing coaxed the well-fed Ram Boss onto the water bicycle again, letting it continue drawing water to irrigate the fields. Xia Qing returned home to tend to the sick wolf; its anesthetic had worn off, and it could eat now.

Just as she entered the courtyard gate, Xia Qing smelled a foul stench—the sick wolf had defecated.

Fortunately, this wolf had been to her territory before and knew where to relieve itself, so it hadn't dirtied the sheep pen. Xia Qing held her breath, first shoveling a spadeful of dirt to cover the wolf droppings, only to discover that the wolf's feces were densely packed with white threadworms a few millimeters long—some dead, some still wriggling.

Although disgusting to look at, this was a good sign.

It meant the deworming medicine injected into the sick wolf's body shortly after three in the morning had taken effect, and it had begun expelling the parasites from its intestines. Xia Qing covered it with a thin layer of soil, then built a fire on top of the dung pile to burn and kill the worms, before entering the sheep pen to check on the sick wolf's condition.

After being cleaned up, although the sick wolf was still very weak, it looked much better than yesterday. Hearing movement, it tremblingly stood up, its head facing Xia Qing's direction, neither baring its teeth nor swiping its paws.

It was so sick there was really nothing to fear. Xia Qing walked into the sheep pen, added pollution-free spring water to the water basin, then in a gentle tone, expressed her goodwill to this SSVIP-level distinguished guest, "Did you eat meat last night? Is your stomach emptied out? Want something to eat?"

Xia Qing pulled out a palm-sized evolved locust from the cage, pinched off its legs and wings, and placed it in front of the sick wolf, "This is a Yellow Light locust—will you eat it?"

The sick wolf tremblingly lowered its head, found the locust with its mouth, and ate it.

The previous two times, how did the pack leader, bringing a wolf this seriously ill, get past all the obstacles and enter her territory? Carry it on its back? No wonder it got so angry when she refused the trade.

Xia Qing placed another locust down for the sick wolf, "Eat up. I caught a whole basket of evolved insects this morning—lucky me, three were Yellow Light ones. They're all for you."

Listening to Tang Huai share his experiences of catching and eating bugs on the Lord Channel every day, Xia Qing had also developed the habit of testing every locust she caught. Previously, when she tested an edible locust, she couldn't bear to spend the points to fry it, so she always roasted it over a fire.

After roasting, she sprinkled on salt and seasoning—the taste wasn't exactly great, but it wasn't bad either. Now that an SSVIP-level distinguished guest who had paid a walnut-sized yishi in medical fees had come to her territory, Xia Qing naturally had to let the distinguished guest have the good stuff.

After the sick wolf ate three locusts in a row, Xia Qing asked, "Are you full? If not, I'll go catch you a snake."

Xia Qing raised quite a few snakes. The reason she hadn't fed the sick wolf snake right away was that snake meat was tough and full of bones; she was afraid this wolf's teeth couldn't handle it. So after consulting Chang Li by phone, she chose to feed it locusts, which were easy to digest and bite.