Chapter 362: Chonglian Construction Team

"I don't need the tiller, I'll drive it out for you right now. What parts do you need? Trenching blades, grass-cutting wheels, and digging shovels?"

The Chonglian construction team would bring machinery over; the perimeter wall didn't need Xia Qing's tiny tiller.

"All of them, thanks!" Zhao Ze shouted back.

Xia Qing drove the tiller out of the territory, pointed at the six bags of quicklime next to the digging shovel in the cargo bed, and said to Zhao Ze, "Use these first, Brother Zhao. You can also drag the thornwood from the valley over to fence the south wall."

Quicklime could burn the roots and reduce the chance of the buried tree stumps evolving.

After the last lord meeting, Xia Qing had already agreed with Zhao's mother to seal the valley gap with an iron-net wall. The materials and labor points used to block the valley would be split evenly between the two territories, with Xia Qing fronting the cost first. So the evolved bramble wood dragged over earlier to block the valley had no use to Xia Qing other than as firewood.

"Okay, okay! As soon as I trade for lime, I'll replenish yours right away. Xia Qing, thank you so much." Zhao Ze expressed his thanks.

After Xia Qing explained how to change parts and operate the tiller, Zhao Ze, who had done engineering work before, quickly recalled his old trade and skillfully drove the tiller back to Territory Four.

Xia Qing returned home, invited the head wolf back to the sheep shed, covered the corn drying on the roof, and hurried off with the strength evolver Guan Tong, who had rushed over, to clear the supply drop point.

After she left, the red squirrel hiding in the front yard ruins darted into the yard at top speed. It snatched up two kernels of corn that had fallen on the ground before three birds, and raced back to its tree nest.

Over an hour later, a large transport plane and a large helicopter arrived on time above this stretch of territory. The transport plane landed directly inside Territory Eight, while the helicopter flew above Territory Three, the enormous roar of its rotors—

The red squirrel that had stolen two kernels of corn thought Xia Qing had come to settle the score, and curled up in its nest trembling.

The head wolf stood inside the sheep shed, watching outside through a crack in the door. Its sister, the broken-backed wolf with only two functional legs, bared her teeth and growled low, while the sick wolf and Sheep Boss lay at the back, gnawing on the delicious food Xia Qing had left for them.

The helicopter hovering in the air opened its cabin door, and two evolvers in protective suits rappelled down on ropes, landing in front of Xia Qing, who was waving a red flag.

The female evolver walking in front asked, "You are the lord of Territory Three, Young Lady Xia Qing?"

Xia Qing nodded. "I am."

"I'm Deng Yuhui, captain of Construction Team Six of the Chonglian Group. Our squad is in charge of the perimeter wall construction for Territory Three. Which side of the wall would you like to start with, Young Lady?" After briefly introducing herself, this female construction captain immediately got down to business. The aircraft was still up in the air, waiting to unload.

In her, Xia Qing seemed to see a reflection of herself when she had been a construction squad leader, and answered crisply, "Start with the south side, then seal off the valley at the northeast corner, and after that begin the rest."

Deng Yuhui sent her assistant to direct the helicopter's unloading, and continued coordinating construction matters with Xia Qing. "In a bit, five engineering vehicles will drive over from Territory Eight. Please approve the engineering vehicles' entry into Territory Three, Young Lady."

Installing the iron-net wall required first digging a foundation, pouring concrete to fix the fence's anchor frames, and only after the concrete set could the iron mesh and anti-climb spikes be welded onto the frames. Excavators, mixers, and tampers would be needed.

Xia Qing of course agreed. When she followed Deng Yuhui to inspect the supplies, she found that the iron mesh Seeing Xin Yu had sold her was not the 1.5-meter-wide mesh she had previously ordered, but 2 meters wide.

An iron-net wall made by welding two sheets of iron mesh together, with anti-climb and anti-theft spikes installed on top, could reach a height of 4.3 meters!

As a lord herself, Seeing Xin Yu better understood what lords needed. This neighbor was truly worth getting along with.

After unloading Xia Qing's supplies, the helicopter left the airspace above Territory Three and landed inside Territory Eight to continue unloading.

After Deng Yuhui confirmed the territory boundary line with Xia Qing, construction began directly. Xia Qing stood nearby to protect the construction workers and observe at the same time.

The construction team first cleared the territory boundary outside the weed wall, and after marking the foundation trench line with white lime, three excavators began digging the trench.

Seeing that they were digging a standard trench 80 centimeters deep and 40 centimeters wide, Xia Qing felt reassured. Because once such a deep trench was dug, a layer of gravel would be laid at the bottom, then cement mortar would be used to fix the foundation. An iron-net wall built on this would be extremely solid.

Two hours later, Tiger Feng and Liangzi came to relieve Xia Qing, telling her to go home and rest.

When Xia Qing got home, she first opened the sheep shed door. The construction team was only operating at the territory's edge, so the area near the house was very safe, and the wolves and sheep could move about freely at home. Then Xia Qing opened the rainproof tarp on the roof and continued drying the corn.

At noon, the construction team rested the workers but not the work; the construction noise never stopped. This sound irritated the wolf pack and Sheep Boss, but Xia Qing found it very reassuring to listen to.

Tang Huai in Territory Two, who was most afraid of noise, didn't protest either. Xia Qing guessed he was probably swamped with work right now too.

At four in the afternoon, when five large trucks carrying refugees appeared on the road between Territories One through Ten, Deng Yuhui had already led the construction team to dig a trench over 600 meters long in the south of Territory Three, filled it with cement mortar, and erected the fence posts for the iron-net wall.

But the cement mortar hadn't fully set yet, and Territory Four had only put up less than a hundred meters of thorn wall. The progress in the other territories was about the same.

In other words, between the crops and food inside the territory and the refugees, there was still only a weed wall that could only block the line of sight.

The lords currently under construction sped up their work.

Xia Qing stood fully armed beneath her territory's road sign, while Hu Zi Feng and Chen Zheng stationed themselves over a hundred meters away from her, both to prevent refugees from rushing into Territory Three and to keep them from threatening the construction team's safety.

Tang Huai beneath the Territory Two signpost watched the slowly approaching convoy with a look of pure irritation.

The driver of the first truck was Zhong Tao, the convoy's driver. He wasn't wearing a protective mask inside the cab, his beard scruffy and lips cracked and dry, his exhaustion plain to the eye. The trailer of the large truck had no cover, and the refugees squeezed inside it could be seen from far away.

Zhong Tao nodded a greeting to Tang Huai, Xia Qing, and the others, and drove straight for Territory Eight.

Equally haggard, Zheng Kui stopped along with the third large truck beneath the Territory One road sign. The last two trucks stopped outside the Territory Two signpost. The trailer's rail was opened, and one after another, refugees in tattered protective suits jumped down from the trucks.

Tan Junjie, who was leading order maintenance on the road, announced over the walkie-talkie, "The refugees have arrived beneath the territory signs. Territory One, Territory Two, and Territory Eight, please send people out to select refugees."

"Territory One, received." Luo Pei responded, his voice mild.

"Territory Two, received." Tang Huai's voice carried an irrepressible irritation.

"Territory Eight, received." Seeing Xin Yu remained calm as ever. Xia Qing guessed she was definitely wearing her pure-black, single-sided see-through protective mask again today.

The pure-black visor concealed her features, making her look mysterious while also giving off an air of pressure—perfect for wearing when interviewing refugees. Unfortunately, Territory Eight was south of Territory One, and Xia Qing didn't have X-ray vision, so she couldn't see how Seeing Xin Yu would handle a truckload of refugees all on her own.