Chapter 432: The Setup

Hu Zi had no idea that the Chinese toon trees in Xia Qing's territory were green-light plants. After carrying his bike into the territory and seeing Xia Qing clip a basket of toon buds, he laughed and chatted with her, "Sister Qing, are you clipping these to dye and hang in the house as decorations?"

Dye? Decorations?

Xia Qing naturally wouldn't reveal her true purpose, and went along with Hu Zi's words, replying, "They do look quite pretty."

Xia Qing already had a boyfriend, so Hu Zi had given up the little fancy in his heart. Getting along with her felt even more natural now, and he sincerely sighed, "Someone with such a down-to-earth feel for life like Sister Qing is really so rare these days."

Uh...

Xia Qing truly didn't know how to respond to that, and could only stiffly change the subject, "Are any refugees going to the Evolution Forest from Territory Two today?"

"After such a big incident yesterday, how would they dare send people out." Hu Zi lowered his voice and told Xia Qing, "When our patrol car passed the south gate of Territory Two, we heard Tang Zhengsu furiously cursing Xu Pin, Tang Huai, and Zhou Xun, blaming them for not managing the refugees properly and causing such a huge mess. Tang Zhengsu also said that if Xu Pin can't handle this matter, his deputy position won't be needed anymore."

Xia Qing asked, "At the south gate of Territory Two?"

"Right. I think Tang Zhengsu was cursing them for Territory Twelve to hear."

Tang Zhengpo had taken his two sons back to Territory Twelve in the southeast corner of Territory Two to "recuperate." If Tang Zhengsu wanted to scold Tang Huai, he indeed had to go near the south gate of Territory Two.

The older ginger is still spicier. Fortunately, Tang Zhengpo took his two sons away in time; otherwise, today the one taking the blame would have been Tang Huai, and the one forced by Tang Zhengsu to step forward and solve the problem would have been Tang Zhengpo.

Xia Qing, walking on the hillside, looked up toward Territory Two. The harder Tang Zhengsu scolded Xu Pin, the more motivated Xu Pin would be to solve the current problem as quickly as possible. The greater Xu Pin's motivation, the closer he was to death.

Xia Qing had thrown in a hundred jin of snake meat and a full snakeskin outfit; perhaps tonight she'd hear some movement.

"Captain Dan doesn't know?"

Tang Zhengsu, who was answering a phone call, though his brows furrowed so tightly they could have clamped an evolved mosquito, could only suppress his anger. Mimicking Tang Zhengpo's unhurried tone, he asked, "May I ask Captain Dan, who is in charge of this matter, and how can I contact him?"

"I don't know. I'll say this one last time—I am only in charge of the planting project, I know nothing about anything else." Shan Ying, inside Territory Nine, directly muted her phone and instructed Territory Nine's assistant Xiao Liu, "Don't let anyone disturb my work again. Leave."

"Yes." As Xiao Liu turned around, she cast a worried glance at Li Si.

Shan Ying pushed her glasses up and, looking at the report, instructed, "Continue."

Li Si continued, "The soil in this territory generally has higher levels of five trace elements—selenium, iron, manganese, boron, and molybdenum—than other territories within Hui-Three Base, so the crops here are of better quality than in other areas. However, the zinc content in this territory's soil is lower than in other areas, so the plant leaves here show more diverse colors..."

Shan Ying cut off Li Si's rambling, "Have you found the reason the water quality here is better?"

Li Si pressed her lips together, "Pages 24 to 27 of the report."

Shan Ying flipped back a few pages, skimmed through quickly, and was somewhat displeased. "Territory Forty-Nine belongs to the Azure Dragon Squad, and Territory Seven belongs to Zhang San, so you couldn't take samples—those two reasons hold. Why couldn't you take and test water samples from the river in Territory Three?"

Li Si explained, "Territory Three's lord Xia Qing is on good terms with Zhang San, and she's very guarded against us. Moreover, she's an Evolver, and her boyfriend is Hu Zifeng, a core member of the Azure Dragon Squad. So in reality, that territory is jointly owned by Xia Qing and Hu Zifeng, and our people can't sneak in to take samples."

"I tested and confirmed that the soil samples from Territory Three show no obvious difference from other territories, so the water quality should also show no significant difference. Additionally, the water quality test results upstream and downstream of Territory Seven are basically the same, so the reason for the superior water quality should be on Mountain Forty-Nine."

"Should be?" Shan Ying disapprovingly raised her eyelids and glanced at Li Si. "Speculation without real, sufficient data to support it has absolutely no value to me. Sampling the water quality of Mountain Forty-Nine and Territory Three must be completed within half a month. Assign this matter to Zhang Qikun."

Li Si objected, "Zhang Qikun's methods are too extreme. Once he's caught with evidence of infiltrating other territories or the Azure Dragon training base, I'll be stripped of my Territory Nine lord qualification, and all supplies within the territory will fall into the hands of the Hui-Three Territory Management Department."

Shan Ying didn't care, "The Hui-Three Territory Management Department is under Tang Zhengrong's control. Tang Zhengrong has already reached a cooperation intention with us. When the time comes, have him run through the procedures, and we'll send someone over."

Li Si used her index finger to push up the arm of her glasses, no longer dwelling on this issue, and asked about the phone call Shan Ying had just had with Fire Phoenix, "Captain Shan, why did the team members sent to attack the evolved bear last night need to use Qiang synthetic poison?"

Shan Ying frowned, "That's not something you should know."

Li Si looked directly at her superior, "Using Qiang synthetic poison is very likely to trigger a series of uncontrollable chain reactions. It's illegal."

Shan Ying's attention remained on the paper report, and she answered offhandedly, "Laws are meant to protect and restrict ordinary people, not us."

Shan Ying, hearing no response from Li Si, finally raised her eyes and glanced at her, instructing, "Go plant the seeds I brought. You must record the entire growth data of those two packets of first-generation hybrid carrot seeds in a semi-open environment."

Li Si remained standing in place, stubbornly pressing, "Why does Captain Shan want to use Qiang synthetic poison on the evolved bear on Mountain Fifty?"

Shan Ying frowned, "That's not something you should know. But since you want to know so badly, I can tell you: the ones who poisoned the evolved bear with Qiang synthetic poison were people from Territory Two. They want to use the evolved bear to go collect the herbs that can cure Qiang snake venom, from where Qiang snakes grow."

Li Si pressed, "Once these herbs are collected, they'll be handed to you, right?"

Shan Ying, annoyed by Li Si's questions, said, "In Blaze, who besides me is more qualified to research this precious herb?"

"That's Qiang snake territory. Yang Jin, to save Luo Pei, gathered the top combat power of the Azure Dragon Squad and paid a huge toll in casualties just to extract the medicine from the bottom of the water. If we don't let the bear gather the medicine, are we supposed to send people?" Shan Ying began to shoo her out, "If you want to study it together, just say so. Why beat around the bush like this and waste my time? Get out."

Li Si pressed her lips tightly together, turned, walked out, and gently closed the door.

"Captain..."

Xu Pin had just stepped into the room when Tang Zhengsu sprayed saliva all over his face.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up—your mother's calling the dead! It's been hours and you still haven't found Yang Jin?"

Xu Pin acted as if he hadn't heard Tang Zhengsu's cursing, and answered, "Found. The scout team, using scout birds for high-altitude search, has already located Yang Jin's tracks. He's crossing over Mountain Fifty-Five with two others, heading back."