Chapter 25: The Lords

On the newly claimed hillside there were five abandoned farmyards. Xia Qing had only done a quick sweep the first time she came up; today she was going to do a thorough, carpet-style search.

Collapsed stone walls, houses—move everything aside and inspect carefully.

Rusted farm tools with broken wooden handles? Keep them. Once repaired and polished, they might still be usable.

Dented stainless steel basins? Keep them. Hammer them back into shape and they can still hold things. Cracked? Patch them up.

Broken kitchenware? Keep it. Even if it can't be repaired, it can be taken apart for spare parts.

Cloth items that haven't mildewed or rotted? Keep them. Scald, wash, and disinfect them to make mops.

Evolved centipedes that bit her? Keep them! Sun-dry them and trade them for points.

Evolved flesh worms? Burn them to death!

……

After clearing all five yards, the supplies she needed to haul back were piled higher than she was. Xia Qing felt a great sense of accomplishment.

What excited Xia Qing most was that in a vegetable bed buried under a collapsed stone wall, she found three patches of green onion seedlings. More than thirty plants in total, and from the look of it, more could still sprout!

Green onions—truly a vegetable every household plants.

Xia Qing finished sorting and packing the supplies, then immediately washed her hands and tested the qiang-element content of the onion seedlings. Two yellow lights, one red light—enough to make her happy.

Xia Qing really wanted to take off her protective mask and taste that long-missed flavor.

But reason won out. Xia Qing put up a little fence to protect the two patches of onion seedlings, watered them with mountain spring water, and sprayed them with insecticide.

She hoped that once the temperature rose again after a while, other vegetables might sprout on Gao Po and the terraced fields.

Xia Qing called over Sheep Boss, who was chewing his cud under the Chinese toon tree, stuffed some rations into his mouth, and let him shoulder two sacks weighing over a hundred jin each.

"Boss is the best. Without Boss, I couldn't carry all this stuff back." Xia Qing discovered that Sheep Boss wasn't just greedy—he also liked to hear flattery. To get him to work more, she praised him sweetly in every possible way every day.

Under Xia Qing's flattery, Sheep Boss gradually lost himself. He gave Xia Qing a haughty sidelong glance before setting off with the sacks. That expression seemed to say: without him, this household would fall apart.

Xia Qing held back a laugh, shouldered the biggest sack, carried the Chinese toon sprouts and perilla in one hand, gripped a machete in the other, and followed behind Sheep Boss, ready at any moment to cut down any evolved animals that attacked her and the Boss.

As the woman and her sheep passed through the buffer zone between the new territory and the original territory, the danger-inspection team happened to be walking over from the north side of Plot Four's buffer zone.

Sheep Boss immediately shook off the sacks, shielded Xia Qing behind him, and struck an attack-ready pose.

Tan Junjie's squad…

Xia Qing raised the machete in her hand and waved it to greet the inspection team.

At such a distance, shouting through her protective mask would be exhausting.

Su Ming, the vision-evolver leading the inspection team, waved back enthusiastically. After reaching the boundary between Plot Four and Plot Three, they didn't take the buffer zone between Xia Qing's two plots, but turned to continue patrolling along the wire fence of the wild boar breeding center.

After driving them off, Sheep Boss dropped his attack stance and squinted at Xia Qing.

Xia Qing immediately poured on the sweet talk in a soft voice. "Boss is still the best—seeing someone come over, you know to protect me and protect our territory. What would I do without you?"

Sheep Boss lifted his head and glanced at the sacks on the ground.

Xia Qing immediately loaded them onto his back and kept praising him. "Boss is really amazing—you even remembered our supplies. It's almost dark, shall we head home for dinner?"

Only after the woman and her sheep had entered the buffer forest did Cao Xianyun, the hearing-evolver, speak up. "They're far enough now."

Su Ming immediately sighed in admiration. "Sister Qing is amazing—she actually got a sheep to carry things for her."

"That's not all." Hu Zi spoke up. "She plowed thirty mu of land in her territory, all with a sheep-drawn plow."

Everyone…

Impressed!

This sheep is more useful than their military dogs!

Tan Junjie, who never usually joined in such boring discussions, asked Cao Xianyun, "What does she call the sheep?"

"Boss, Sheep Boss." Cao Xianyun grinned wickedly. "I really want to drag Jin-ge over here to hear it."

The members of the Azure Dragon Squad also called their captain "Boss," "Yang Boss."

Tan Junjie, in a good mood, replied, "Not the same Yang."

"Right." Cao Xianyun laughed even louder.

Su Ming turned back and asked, "Old Cao, what are you laughing at?"

"None of your business. Just lead the way."

"Hmph!" Su Ming snorted, walked to the buffer zone on the north side of the wire-mesh wall, turned east, and when he entered the buffer zone on the north side of Xia Qing's new territory, headed toward the buffer forest.

Xia Qing got home, full of anticipation, and plugged her phone into the charger. The screen lit up, and she was thrilled—finally, electricity!

Just as excited as her were the lords of Plots Four, Five, and Six, who had installed solar panels and received walkie-talkies.

After listening to the base broadcast while plugged in, Xia Qing turned on her fully charged walkie-talkie, tuned it to the frequency the lords used for private chats, and sure enough heard a rough voice calling out.

"Brothers and sisters of Plots Three, Four, Five, and Six—are you there, are you there?"

"Here, here."

With her sharp hearing, Xia Qing recognized it as the voice of Zhao Ze from Plot Four.

The person asking immediately brightened up. "Oh my, more than half a month and I've finally heard a voice from outside my territory besides camouflage-clad patrol officers. I'm Plot Six, Kuang Qingwei. Which plots are you brothers from?"

Zhao Ze answered, "Plot Four, Zhao Ze."

"Plot Five, Qi Fu."

Hearing this voice, Xia Qing raised an eyebrow. Qi Fu was also on the construction crew, though not in the same squad as Xia Qing. She knew he had also been allotted land, but hadn't expected him to be so close to her.

Kuang Qingwei of Plot Six began sharing news. "Brothers, have you heard? Everyone on Plot One is dead. Lucky for me I have plenty of people and full equipment, so nothing happened."

Xia Qing smiled silently. Kuang Qingwei was both sharing news and warning those around him not to get any ideas about his plot. Anyone who'd survived to the tenth year of the catastrophe was indeed no simple person.

"What?" The people from Plots Four and Five exclaimed in unison.

Kuang Qingwei sighed. "I heard it from the soldier brothers who installed the solar panels. I was going to ask if any of you know how they died."

The channel was silent for a moment, then Xia Qing heard another familiar voice. "Bitten to death by highly poisonous evolved caterpillars."

Hearing someone else join in, Kuang Qingwei quickly asked, "Brother, which plot are you from?"

"Plot Two, Tang Huai."

The channel went quiet for a moment before Kuang Qingwei asked, "I remember Plot Two doesn't have a buffer forest. Tang-ge, you brought your own walkie-talkie?"

Just a moment ago he'd been calling him 'bro,' but the instant he heard it was Plot Two, Kuang Qingwei immediately switched to calling him 'ge.'

Tang Huai was being very Versailles about it. "Mm, when I was packing to come out I wasn't paying attention and just grabbed one."

The channel went quiet again for a while, then an unfamiliar voice drawled:

"I also grabbed one. Plot Seven, Zhang San."

Xia Qing...

That name—seriously?

It was Kuang Qingwei who spoke up again. "San-ge, how are you charging your walkie-talkie? This is Kuang Qingwei from Plot Six, we're neighbors. I've got solar power, you can come over and charge."

Xia Qing poked at the fire and laughed. "Boss, you hear that? Plot Six just got solar panels installed and he's already doing business."

Boss Sheep said nothing, narrowing his eyes at the walkie-talkie.

Xia Qing solemnly warned him, "You absolutely cannot bite this, and you can't kick it either, or I'll cut your rations and kick you out of the house!"

Boss Sheep kept staring at the walkie-talkie, Xia Qing stared at Boss Sheep, and neither was willing to back down first.

While the human and the sheep were squaring off, Zhang San's drawl drifted out of the walkie-talkie. "I've got solar panels too. What seeds did all you brothers get? Wanna trade?"

The instant she heard 'seeds,' Xia Qing immediately forgot about Boss Sheep and pricked up her ears to listen.