Chapter 350: Xia Qing Didn't Lie

Xia Qing learned from Xin Yu, and also built a small house inside the wild-grass wall beside the No. 3 Territory signpost, used to entertain visitors who came on business. This place was located beside the corridor, at the southernmost tip of No. 3 Territory, several hundred meters from Xia Qing's house and farmland, and very safe.

Once they started digging up trees and building the thorn wall in a few days, this spot could serve perfectly as an office.

The small house was built by Xia Qing using red bricks she had sorted out from the abandoned village; there were more irregular broken bricks than whole ones, but Xia Qing was able to stack these irregular broken bricks into a neat wall. Paired with the natural wood-colored wooden door, wooden windows, stone table, and wooden chairs, it looked comfortable no matter how you looked at it.

"Young Lady Xia used to work on a construction crew, didn't you? Your building skills are excellent." After entering the room, Lu Ying praised her once before getting down to business. "We've already seen the on-site photos Captain Tan took. Today we'd like to ask Young Lady Xia a few questions regarding the case. First, please describe the events of the thunderstorm night as they unfolded."

Xia Qing noticed that the way Lu Ying looked at her was almost identical to the gaze Xie Yu had used when simulating an interrogation of her via video before Xu Juan and Zhang Yong entered No. 3 Territory. They were using their eyes to capture the subject's movements, speech, and subtle changes in expression, gleaning from them the information they wanted.

Xia Qing had never had contact with criminal investigation personnel before, so she didn't know whether they were all like this, or only the Brain-Domain Evolvers were.

She adopted the state she had used when dealing with Xie Yu, staying as calm and composed as possible, banishing all distracting thoughts, minimizing her facial expressions, and recounted the events of the thunderstorm night.

Of course, according to the story she had agreed on with Tan Junjie, what Xia Qing said was not that she herself had discovered two members of Jiang Xiong's squad entering the territory, but that the patrol team had discovered them.

After Xia Qing finished speaking, Lu Ying asked a few more detailed questions, then inquired on a related matter, "During the migratory bird season, when the wolf howls were played in this territory, you were the first to notice something was wrong with them. How did you determine that the howling recorded on the speaker was produced by a wolf that had been imprisoned and tortured?"

Xia Qing answered truthfully, "In the fourth year of the Catastrophe, I personally saw a combat team torture a caged wolf, using its cries to lure and capture a wolf pack, so the sound left a deep impression on me."

In the fourth year of the Catastrophe, social order was far more chaotic than it was now.

Human evolvers, who had gained evolutionary abilities and advanced weapons, believed they had become the masters of Blue Star, and attempted to trample all Blue Star creatures—including ordinary humans and evolved beasts—underfoot. Fierce beasts such as tigers, wolves, bears, leopards, and eagles were the target creatures evolvers sought to capture and attempt to tame and drive.

Lu Ying asked seriously, "Something from six years ago, and Young Lady Xia still remembers it so clearly. Are you a Brain-Domain Evolver?"

Xia Qing replied calmly, "I don't have Brain-Domain Evolution, but my memory isn't bad."

Lu Ying nodded. "Have you had any past conflicts with the people from Jiang Xiong's squad?"

Xia Qing was very certain on this point. "I've never had contact with anyone from Jiang Xiong's squad, so there's no conflict."

Lu Ying pressed, "When you went out on missions before, you never teamed up with Jiang Xiong's squad either?"

Xia Qing thought carefully, and didn't say definitively no. "I never participated in missions called by the Jiang Xiong combat team, but I did take part in large-scale missions issued by the base. I can't confirm whether the Jiang Xiong combat team participated."

The base frequently issued large-scale missions to gather edible plants or clear noxious grass; these missions had low ability-level requirements, and many people took part.

Lu Ying stared into Xia Qing's eyes and suddenly asked, "Are there wolves in your territory, Young Lady Xia?"

"Yes." Xia Qing nodded. "One wolf infected with parasites."

"Has it been in your territory the whole time?"

Xia Qing shook her head. "Not the whole time. After the wolf howls were played from the speaker, it left the territory and returned to the Evolution Forest, and came back after the thunderstorm. Because its intestines are damaged, it can now only eat cooked food."

Lu Ying asked again, "Do you think Jiang Xiong's squad entering your territory had anything to do with this wolf?"

"Probably." Xia Qing answered calmly. "The sick wolf howled once on the day it left my territory. Many people heard it."

Lu Ying asked again, "Who do you think told Jiang Xiong's squad that the wolf had been howling inside your territory?"

Xia Qing raised her eyes and met Lu Ying's gaze, and only after a few seconds answered slowly, "I don't know."

After leaving No. 3 Territory and getting into the car, the assistant following behind Lu Ying reported her observations. "She sprayed a scent-eliminating agent on herself, probably to mask the wolf's scent. This is the first time I've smelled this kind of agent; it definitely wasn't produced in the Safe Zone."

Lu Ying nodded. "Xia Qing didn't lie. First, she has no past conflict with the Jiang Xiong combat team. Second, there is a wolf in her territory. The fact that even you can't pick up the wolf's scent means the agent she used is extremely high quality—it was probably traded with the No. 7 Territory Lord. The medicine she used to treat the parasites on the wolf was probably also traded with No. 7 Territory."

This also fit the preliminary conclusion of their investigation into Xia Qing's interpersonal relationships—she had a very good relationship with the No. 7 Territory Lord.

On this point alone, everyone had to look at Xia Qing with new respect.

A Xia Qing who was on good terms with the No. 7 Territory Lord was unlikely to risk colluding with the Azure Dragon combat team to scheme and lure the Jiang Xiong combat team into invading No. 3 Territory. Because with the No. 7 Territory Lord backing her, she didn't need to rely on No. 1 Territory to survive.

A young, attractive evolver who wanted to depend on others to survive would not have spent five years working on a dirty, exhausting construction crew in the Safe Zone, relying on her Strength Evolution ability.

A person like that wouldn't lose her senses over Hu Zifeng's "pursuit" and completely follow the Azure Dragon combat team's orders.

The other assistant also spoke up. "Sister Lu, Xia Qing lied at the end. Jiang Xiong's squad came teamed up with the Sufeng squad. She must have already guessed it was someone from No. 2 Territory who reported them."

"It doesn't count as a lie. She has no evidence, and she doesn't want to offend the Sufeng combat team." Lu Ying's voice was very calm.

The change in Xia Qing's tone and facial expression when answering the last question was Lu Ying's second basis for determining that Xia Qing had not colluded with the Azure Dragon combat team.

No. 3 Territory had only one person, but the territory was neat, clearly planned, and had cameras installed beside the greenhouses. This showed that Xia Qing planned her work very carefully and had put a great deal of effort into building up the territory—she was genuinely pioneering and farming.

The fact that she left the Safe Zone to become a farming Territory Lord suggested she intended to continue using her own abilities to earn survival supplies, which could also serve as a piece of evidence that she would not actively provoke the Jiang Xiong combat team.

Lu Ying's comprehensive judgment was that Xia Qing had no motive to deliberately lure Jiang Xiong's squad into her territory. The invaders from the Jiang Xiong combat team were lying, attempting to mitigate their guilt for entering the territory armed and damaging the Territory Lord's property.

As for what the Azure Dragon combat team had done in the case of Jiang Xiong's squad invading No. 3 Territory and the Sufeng squad members being killed, further investigation was needed.

Thanks to readers Janeis00, 7923, October's Waxing Moon, and Xiangsi Ru Gu for their tips, and thanks to everyone for your subscriptions. Here is today's second update.