Chapter 302: Installing Surveillance Cameras

"Wolf Lao Er, did you dig this up?" Xia Qing pulled a clump of herbs from the pocket of the protective suit she had taken off the sick wolf. Looking at the shape of the leaves in this clump of herbs, they seemed very similar to the kind Zhang San had the wolf pack search for last time, so she excitedly held it up in front of the sick wolf's eyes to ask.

Why was she excited? Because Zhang San had said this kind of herb cost ten thousand per plant!

Perhaps the water was a bit hot, for the sick wolf soaking in the bath tub stuck out its tongue and kept panting, looking not nearly as clever as Sheep Lao Da, who was leisurely soaking in the bath next to it and eating grass.

Xia Qing simply stopped asking, tested the water temperature, went out to call Zhang San, "Third Brother, the wolf infected with parasites is back, and it also brought a clump of herbs. Do you still want them?"

"I do." Zhang San was quite interested in the matter of the wolf returning, "Only one came back?"

"Just one." Xia Qing asked again, "I picked forty jin of Green Lantern torreya fruit, with a qiang element content of 2.6 parts per thousand. Do you want the pits and the flesh?"

"I do." Zhang San's interest in delicacies grew even stronger, "I'll take all the torreya flesh, and I'll keep a quarter of the pits?"

"Sure." Xia Qing agreed readily, ran to the bathroom to discuss with the sick wolf and Sheep Lao Da, "Lao Da, Lao Er, I'm making a trip to the North Isolation Belt to deliver something. If you two don't want to soak anymore, come out on your own, shake off the water, then lie down on the dry grass under the eaves to sun your fur. Don't get water all over the house, understand?"

Sheep Lao Da pretended not to hear, used its front hoof to pull back the food bowl that had drifted far on the water's surface, and continued eating grass. The sick wolf, Wolf Lao Er, looked at Xia Qing and kept panting, showing no reaction either.

Sheep Lao Da was a stubborn sort, and Xia Qing had already given up on it, but the simply obedient sick wolf Wolf Lao Er could still be salvaged. Xia Qing squatted beside Wolf Lao Er's bath tub, gesturing as she spoke to it, "Wolf Lao Er, from now on, when I talk, nod if you understand, shake your head if you don't."

The sick wolf Wolf Lao Er pulled its tongue back in, closed its mouth and looked calmly at Xia Qing, then, under Xia Qing's expectant gaze, opened its mouth again and continued panting.

Xia Qing... forget it, this fellow just got back today and was in such a good mood it couldn't help laughing. She'd teach it another day.

"I'm heading out for a bit, you two watch the house." Xia Qing left the bathroom, carrying today's harvest of torreya fruit, and hurried toward the North Isolation Belt.

Seeing that the person coming to pick up supplies was only Da Ya, and he was carrying a big pack, Xia Qing's eyes lit up.

Surveillance cameras? Herbs?

Da Ya walked over, grinning happily, "Third Brother told me to come see how you plan to install the surveillance cameras, so I brought the cameras along with me."

Xia Qing immediately invited Da Ya into the territory, "I want to install cameras in the two greenhouses inside the Buffer Forest, the five greenhouses south of the reservoir, the three mu of land south of those two greenhouses on the east side, and near my house. Brother Ya, how many do you think I need?"

Xia Qing had originally planned to add only one mu of cultivated land next year, but she calculated that one mu wasn't enough for her to sow.

She now had three and a half jin of M-11 Green Lantern wheat from her first harvest that could be used as seed, plus five jin of M-14 Green Lantern wheat seed she had traded with Zhang San for black-skinned peanuts, forty jin of M-14 Yellow Lantern wheat seed and forty jin of D-21 Yellow Lantern rice seed she had traded with Zhang San for chestnuts, as well as 97 stalks of Green Lantern rice seed from her own fields, plus the half jin of rapeseed given to her as a reward by the Territory Management Department. Just these seeds alone required over five mu of cultivated land to plant.

Besides wheat, rice, and rapeseed, she also wanted to plant mung beans, cotton, potatoes, sunflowers, and sweet potatoes next spring, so at the very least, she needed to add three mu of cultivated land.

"These three areas aren't large, four will be enough." Da Ya stood on Gao Po and looked down for a while, then took brand-new cameras from his backpack and explained to Xia Qing, "These cameras are made with new materials. They're not only waterproof but also very hard; gnawing insects can't bite through them."

Although Xia Qing wasn't responsible for installing and debugging surveillance equipment when she was on the construction team, she had stubbornly tagged along to learn the principles and installation of these things, so she could be considered knowledgeable. At a glance, she could tell that the one Da Ya had taken out was not only made of different materials, but also a different model, and was more than twice the size of those used in the Safe Zone.

"These are the first batch of new-material military cameras. Not only can you not buy them outside, even the military doesn't have enough to go around. Because our territory is of utmost importance, headquarters specially approved sending fifteen over. If it weren't for you, Third Brother would never have taken them out for trade."

Da Ya made clear the scarcity of these cameras, letting Xia Qing understand how much Third Brother valued her as a trading partner, before launching into an enthusiastic explanation of the new camera's features, "Look, this is an embedded dual-track gimbal integrated design. The upper and lower lenses can be independently controlled to rotate, supporting fixed-point patrol, electronic zoom, true 360-degree no-dead-angle monitoring, HD night vision, full color day and night, with moving object tracking and alarm functions..."

"Can it perform facial scanning and identify unknown intruders?" Xia Qing also knew her stuff; the more she listened, the brighter her eyes grew, and she asked a question every now and then, each one right on the mark.

Meeting someone who knew her stuff, Da Ya grew happier and happier the more he explained, talking more and more, "Of course it can. Besides humans, it can also identify large animals. The wolves and sheep in your territory can all be entered into the system and set not to trigger alarms within the monitoring range. Once any unentered unknown humans and large animals enter, it will trigger an early warning."

This was really so thoughtful. Xia Qing hurriedly asked, "Brother Ya, we don't have local area network coverage here. By what method do the cameras connect to my phone? What's the effective range?"

Da Ya grinned happily, "This camera works even without internet, because it can directly connect to high-altitude communication satellites and be remotely controlled by phone. As long as you don't leave Hua Country, you can check your territory through the cameras anytime, anywhere."

Hearing about direct satellite connection, Xia Qing became anxious, "So, I still have to pay data fees for each camera?"

Unlike the cheap phone data plans within the Safe Zone's local area network, using phones for communication in territories and Evolution Forests without local area network coverage was very expensive.

Xia Qing's satellite communication phone had a base fee of 200 points per month. If she made a few more calls or sent a few more messages, the data fees would shoot right up. Now adding four cameras that needed data, the monthly data points would definitely run over a thousand.

Another question right on the mark! Da Ya grinned happily and opened the cover at the bottom of the camera, showing Xia Qing the data card slot, "This is a military special supply, the data card is already equipped, and the data in the card is enough for you to use for a year."

Xia Qing was relieved, "The military really thinks of everything. In a year, our territory should have local area network coverage no matter what."

Da Ya took the opportunity to tell Xia Qing some good news, "It won't take a year. If our base can continue to operate stably in the second half of the year, we should have ground mobile communication base stations installed by the end of the year."

This was really great news! With ground base stations, their territory could become a local area network, and it would be cheaper and more convenient for Xia Qing to contact people nearby.