Chapter 364: Night Watch

Xia Qing, who was considering how an octopus could use its boneless tentacles to break through the Gui-3 Safe Zone's perimeter wall, quickly raised her gun, aiming it at the young woman who had stepped out of the refugee line and was walking over. She was wearing a Level-2 field protective suit and looked in much better condition than the average refugee.

The newcomer immediately raised both hands. "Please don't misunderstand. I just overheard you talking about the Gui-3 Base, so I came over to tell you how the giant octopus launches its attacks."

To hear her and Deng Yuhui talking from over fifty meters away in the refugee line, this person had to be a hearing-type Evolver. Xia Qing warned expressionlessly, "Not interested. Please step back."

The newcomer stood in place and offered herself sincerely. "I'm a cook, a Level-3 hearing Evolver. May I enter your territory to work?"

Seeing Xia Qing still expressionless, the woman bent over and wept, pleading, "You're a woman too, so you must understand my difficulties. I don't dare go to a territory full of men. Please..."

Seeing Xia Qing didn't respond, the woman took another step forward.

"Click." The bullet was chambered. Xia Qing's voice was icy. "Step back."

The woman bit her lip, turned, and went back to line up.

After setting up the fence posts, Deng Yuhui returned to Xia Qing's side. "She's a hearing Evolver. Wouldn't she be useful in the territory?"

Xia Qing replied, "She's a cook. All the grain I just grew has been traded for points to build the wall. I don't even have enough to eat myself. I don't need a cook."

That was only the surface reason. Xia Qing found this woman very suspicious.

Hui-3 Safe Zone was unwilling to let ordinary refugees in, but it wouldn't turn away Evolvers—especially female Evolvers of childbearing age. This young female Evolver claimed she didn't want to enter a territory full of men, yet she didn't go work in the Safe Zone either, and was lining up outside the territory with a bunch of men.

If there were no problems, then there'd be ghosts!

"Your choice is completely right. Building the wall first is more important. If the grain runs out, you can grow more. But if you don't build the wall, any grain you grow might get stolen." Deng Yuhui finished speaking and went back to measuring distances and setting fence posts.

An hour later, Tan Junjie brought the last batch of people rejected by Territories One and Two, driving toward Territory Eight. That woman who had just been pleading with Xia Qing had actually also been chased out by Tang Huai and got on the truck heading to Territory Eight.

Because the excavator and mixer were so loud, Xia Qing couldn't hear clearly what was happening inside Territory Two, so she didn't know how they were selecting refugees. By all rights, a female Evolver like that shouldn't have been passed over.

Over an hour later, Zhong Tao drove the truck back from Territory Eight. On board were the refugees not chosen by any of the three territories. That female Evolver was on the truck too.

She hadn't been chosen by Territory Eight either.

However, unlike the other rejected refugees who radiated genuine numbness, despair, or anger, the sadness this female Evolver was putting on struck Xia Qing as especially obvious.

It wasn't that Xia Qing had any outstanding ability to read emotions, but because she was an advanced visual Evolver, her gaze had clearly captured the exact moment that person shifted from a calculating expression to sadness.

Zhong Tao, who was driving the big truck, gave a light honk. Xia Qing nodded in response, and only then did he accelerate and drive away with a truckload of refugees who could lose control at any moment.

At seven in the evening, the construction vehicles stopped inside Territory Three, and the construction crew returned to Territory Eight to rest.

Xia Qing had already learned, through the very talkative Deng Yuhui, that Zhang Shiyi had divided Territory Eight into a northern and a southern section. Zhang Shiyi lived in the north section, while the recruited refugees and construction crew lived in the simple houses just built in the south section, all under the unified management of Uncle Zhou, who had come over on the plane.

Although Deng Yuhui hadn't mentioned Uncle Zhou's identity, the respect in her words told Xia Qing that this person's status within the China United Group was no ordinary matter.

After the construction crew left, Xia Qing also went home to cook and grabbed some time to rest.

At three in the morning, fully armed Xia Qing walked out of the house with Ram Boss. She was on the third night shift tonight, from three to six.

Ram Boss hadn't been scheduled for the shift; it had voluntarily come along to keep Xia Qing company on the overtime. Sick Wolf wanted to come too, but Xia Qing pressed it to stay home and rest.

Because Sick Wolf hadn't slept all night, patrolling everywhere to protect the territory.

Queen, my lord?

With voices coming from all around the territory, it had been lying on the roof of the rack-tower the whole time, looking down over the territory with the bearing of a king.

Xia Qing took Ram Boss to the wild grass wall on the south side of the territory. Because of the wall construction, the wild grass wall had been crushed into a mess by the construction vehicles and could no longer serve as a grass wall blocking the line of sight.

One person and one ram stood still, looking at the wild grass wall of Territory Two. Xia Qing couldn't help complaining, "Boss, these people really have energy. It's past three o'clock and they're still fighting over rooms and beds."

"Baa." Ram Boss's voice was a bit irritable too.

"Xia Qing?" Tan Junjie, who was patrolling outside, asked in a low voice.

"It's me." Xia Qing replied. "I'm on patrol."

Tan Junjie walked over from the side and, looking through his night-vision goggles at the person and ram in the wild grass of Territory Three, said, "You guys..."

"Go to hell, all of you go to hell—"

"Bang!"

Roars and fighting sounds suddenly erupted from Territory Two. Tan Junjie immediately turned and ran toward Territory Two, contacting Territory Two's agent as he ran.

"Territory Two, please report the situation. Do you need support?"

Because Tan Junjie was calling Tang Huai, Xia Qing couldn't hear the response. She only heard, amid the roars and fighting from Territory Two, Tang Heng's voice shouting through a loudspeaker: "Fighting is forbidden inside the territory. Anyone who fights again will be kicked out of the territory immediately!"

A few minutes later, the fighting sounds inside Territory Two stopped, but the cursing continued without end.

With two patrol teams on watch, the "refugees" of Territory Two couldn't pass through the alley into Territory Three. Xia Qing, with her snow-white Ram Boss, greeted Er Yong from Beard Feng's squad and went instead to guard the northern buffer forest.

At half past four in the morning, Xia Qing, standing by the northern isolation belt, heard a faint rustling from the north—the sound of a large animal moving through the dense Evolved Forest.

Ram Boss, lying beside her, perked up and stood next to Xia Qing, looking outward.

No need to ask—the wolf had come. Xia Qing just couldn't tell from the sound which wolf it was.

Soon, Broken-Back Wolf, wearing a tattered protective suit and carrying a dark, four-legged prey in its mouth, walked out of the abandoned valley, stopped, and raised its head—essentially greeting Xia Qing and Ram Boss.

"Morning, Broken-Back." Xia Qing responded, then used the walkie-talkie to notify Beard Feng on the west side of the northern isolation belt.

The wild grass wall on the south side of the territory had been crushed flat. Xia Qing was afraid people outside would see Broken-Back Wolf, so she had to take it home along a route where outsiders wouldn't spot them.

After Broken-Back Wolf carried its prey into the yard, it and the Head Wolf sniffed each other. Only after the Head Wolf ate did Broken-Back Wolf walk up to Xia Qing, signaling her to reach into the side pocket of its protective suit and take something out.

Seeing the shape of the bulge in Broken-Back Wolf's side pocket, Xia Qing got excited, because that was a shape only a Yi Stone would make—and at least three of them!

"Handsome wolf-bro Broken-Back, you're too kind." The moment Xia Qing's hand touched the thing in the pocket, she couldn't keep the smile off her face.