Chapter 394: Who Is the Strongest on This Stretch of Territory?

Xia Qing's black long blade really did look unusual, but no matter how unusual, it was still a blade.

Clearing trees from the vehicle path should be done with shovels, pickaxes, or axes, cutting out the hard roots along with them. Otherwise, the heavy tires of the dirt-hauling trucks would easily be punctured by the remaining stumps and roots.

Such simple logic—after being a lord for a year, she should know it perfectly well.

The people of Territory Seventeen all stopped, wanting to see how Xia Qing would clear the path.

They watched Xia Qing tap the obstructing patch of red-leaf barberry shrubs with her black long blade a few times, confirming no evolved animals were hiding within. She wasn't foolish enough to slash the shrubs directly with the blade, but she wasn't clever either.

Because she actually bent down and gripped the base of the barberry with her bare hand. This action made the people of Territory Seventeen wince—they knew all too well how dense and hard the thorns on barberry were.

Just as they were waiting to see Xia Qing yelp and let go from the stabbing pain, what they saw instead was her casually gripping a few stems of the shrub and giving a light upward pull. A patch of thorny red-leaf barberry over two meters tall was actually lifted, just like that, a full twenty-plus centimeters off the ground!

Damn it!

This is thorny barberry growing in highly adhesive yellow clay—how could it possibly be pulled up so easily?

Are her hands made of iron? Isn't she afraid of getting stabbed? What kind of gloves is she wearing? They look like snake skin!

If not for the tangled roots of that shrub still stuck in the soil, the people of Territory Seventeen would have thought Xia Qing hadn't pulled up a locally grown shrub at all, but a wooden stick she'd planted there in advance.

It wasn't just Territory Seventeen—Yu Shou and Zhao Ze were also startled by Xia Qing's strength. Only Qi Fu, who had carried chestnuts alongside her, remained calm.

He was also wearing the hardened evolved python-skin protective gear Xia Qing had traded him. With gloves on, pulling up a long-thorned shrub like this was something even he could do—not to mention Xia Qing.

The lateral roots and fibrous roots that posed no threat to the tires didn't need clearing. Xia Qing sliced through the hard stems and hard roots with one blade, then flung this clump of red-leaf barberry over four meters away, accurately tossing it somewhere out of the way.

At this, Qi Fu was also thoroughly impressed.

A large swarm of small insects hiding behind the barberry clump lost their cover and surged toward Xia Qing, but upon catching the scent of the insect-repellent on her, they immediately stopped advancing and flew about in confusion.

Xia Qing paid no attention to these small insects that posed no threat to her. She slashed through the wild grass with her long blade and headed toward the second shrub clump to continue pulling.

Not just shrubs—even thorny bushes two or three years old, thicker than an arm, were felled by her with a single clean stroke.

"This is... way too badass! She must be a high-level strength evolver!"

The people of Territory Seventeen couldn't help exclaiming, "The most badass high-level strength evolver I've ever seen is actually a woman..."

She doesn't even look that muscular—where does all that strength come from?

Wen Nengjie shouted loudly, "Of course she's badass—would they call her a high-level evolver otherwise? Hurry up, hurry up! Cut down ten more trees, dig out ten more roots, and we'll head back for breakfast!"

Wen Nengjie had come over yesterday looking for yellow clay to build a greenhouse and discovered an excavator and several people cutting trees in this stretch of forest. After a careful search, he actually found that excellent yellow clay beneath these thorn bushes, which is why today he brought all his brothers early, fully armed, to claim the spot.

Now? There was no need—he was going to withdraw.

They hadn't chosen the same area as them, so there was no competition. But even if they had chosen the same area, the ones to step aside could only be them.

Because their full armament was nothing in the face of a well-equipped high-level evolver—only fit to be crushed.

At 7:20, before Wen Nengjie and his men had finished their work and gone back for breakfast, four tracked excavators came rumbling over, driving two abreast.

Then, five large transport trucks advanced along the path the excavator tracks had pressed out, passing through the area Territory Seventeen had cleared early that morning, heading toward the riverbank.

Most of the vehicles actually bore the insignia of Hui-2 Territory's Heavy Alliance! These vehicles were best not approached too closely, or they'd be seen as a threat by the Alliance's security team and shot dead on the spot. Such things had happened before.

Over at the riverbank, Zhao Ze ordered through a loudspeaker, "Excavators, take your positions according to the ground markings and start digging—two excavators load one truck. Six people come over here to clear grass and mark lines. Pay attention to safety—do not cross into the evolved forest beyond the cut wild grass, or you're on your own. The rest of you start clearing stones on the riverbank, and also be careful not to leave the marked area..."

Hearing this, Wen Nengjie realized the transport trucks were carrying quite a few people.

At this point, Wen Nengjie deeply realized that on this stretch of territory, their Territory Seventeen was not the strongest.

He'd long known the Lord of Territory Three was a strength evolver, but he also knew Territory Three had only one person.

A hero is hard-pressed against four hands, so no matter how strong a single person was, there was nothing to fear.

But now he realized he'd thought too simply. Xia Qing could not only single-handedly wipe out their entire gang, but what was even more terrifying was that her ability to command was far greater than his.

Even the stubbornly obstinate Territory Fifteen followed her orders.

The transport trucks had only been driving over for ten-plus minutes when the first truck was already returning with a full load of soil, passing through the area Territory Seventeen had cleared and heading toward the human settlement.

Five minutes later, the second truck roared past.

"So fast!" The people of Territory Seventeen were drooling with envy. "Boss, can we work with them?"

Wen Nengjie snapped irritably, "Are they short on people? Didn't you hear they have too many hands and even sent a team to cut trees? Don't want to go back and eat? What are you standing around for? Get back to work!"

Many hands make light work.

On the riverbank, the wild grass and loose stones within the soil-extraction area Zhao Ze had marked out with the tiller were quickly cleared. Zhao Ze directed one excavator to head to the logging area to haul timber, while three excavators stayed on the riverbank to continue scooping soil.

To ensure that each transport truck could be fully loaded for its second run within five minutes of returning to dump, some people needed to stay here to assist the excavators with miscellaneous tasks.

After Xia Qing and Yue Haiying confirmed there were no dangerous aggressive animals or plants in the river channel and on the slope, Yu Shou and two armed members of Territory Fifteen stayed by the river to provide protection, while Xia Qing and Zhao Ze drove the tiller toward the logging site.

The machinery was mainly concentrated by the riverbank; the logging site had more people and a more complex situation, requiring Xia Qing—the strongest combatant with the best equipment—to go over and provide protection.

The area to be logged today had already been cleared once by Yue Haiying's team, and no high-risk plants or large predators had been found.

After Xia Qing arrived, she didn't need to patrol again. She bit the straw in her protective mask and drank a vial of premium nutrient solution, then sat on a large rock at a high spot to rest.

Kuang Qingwei came over and told Xia Qing, "Guess what, sis? The person who rented the vehicles just contacted me and said that after we're done with them, Territory Seventeen is renting them."

Quite a coincidence indeed. Xia Qing asked, "What was his purpose in contacting you?"