Chapter 529: Ten Years

"This is spring water from the valley on Mountain Fifty. The Yi element content is 1?, the Harmful element content is 17‰. More importantly, this water contains no radioactive elements or toxins, and it also has several trace elements beneficial to the human body…" After sharing the water quality with everyone, Xia Qing got to the key point:

"I filtered it once with a basic purification cartridge I traded from the patrol team, and the Harmful element content dropped to 9‰. The reason it dropped so much, Third Brother says, is that the water has a low content of other harmful substances."

"H-how much?" Zhao Ze suspected his ears were malfunctioning.

"9…" Qi Fu repeated in disbelief, "9‰?!!"

"I… oh my god." Shi Zhong's hands holding the water bowl began to tremble, and the steaming spring water rippled out in circles inside the bowl.

Shi's mother quickly took the bowl from her husband's hands and carefully set it on the table. Shi Zhong raised his hands, still slightly swollen at the joints, and covered his face, full of wrinkles and scars.

The scars on Kuang Qingwei's face were also twisting and twitching with excitement. "If we use an intermediate cartridge, the water from this spring might even meet the standard for green-light drinking water…"

"Not 'might'—definitely." Yuan Yan's lips trembled with excitement.

Water sources polluted by Harmful elements, cosmic rays, acid rain, and other contaminants contain large amounts of harmful substances and microorganisms, and must be purified and boiled before drinking.

Purification cartridges are devices developed after the Catastrophe to purify polluted water and air, and are essential survival supplies. Cartridges sold publicly on the market are divided into three grades based on filtration effectiveness and price: basic (reduces Harmful element content by about 3‰), intermediate (reduces Harmful element content by about 6‰), and advanced (reduces Harmful element content by about 8‰).

Air-purifying cartridges are installed in the various grades of protective masks worn by people, in sealed rooms, and in the air filtration systems of planting or breeding greenhouses; water-purifying cartridges are installed in water dispensers. Cartridges must be replaced regularly, or they lose their filtering effect.

Living in the Safe Zone, everyone needs to regularly purchase and install air cartridges on their protective masks, but water cartridges don't need to be bought individually, because the Safe Zone supplies water collectively.

The Safe Zone supplies two types of water: domestic water for bathing and washing clothes, and drinking water.

Domestic water only simply kills or removes microorganisms and toxins in the water, and does not remove Harmful elements; it's priced by the ton. Cooking and drinking water has harmful substances filtered out and Harmful elements reduced to at least yellow-light level; this type of water treatment is more expensive, so the price is higher. Yellow-light drinking water is 1 credit for 2-5 liters; green-light drinking water is 20-100 credits per liter. The price varies with the Harmful element content of the water.

While in the Safe Zone, the lords normally drank the cheapest yellow-light drinking water. After entering their territories, the river flowing through their lands was lightly polluted water; outside of Harmful rain or Harmful snow periods, the Harmful element content in the water was between 13-19‰, and only needed to be filtered with a basic purification cartridge to be drinkable.

A basic cartridge sells for 40 credits and can process 200 liters of lightly polluted water. For Xia Qing, whose territory has only one person and who also has unpolluted spring water, her cartridge need is just for filtering domestic water, so this expense is nothing.

But for Territories Four, Five, Six, and Fifteen, which have twenty to thirty people each, buying cartridges is a major expense. As for domestic water, they can't bear to filter it with cartridges at all; they make their own filtering devices, filter the water, boil it, let it cool, and then use it.

Now, hearing that the spring water in the hidden valley on Mountain Fifty contains no toxins or radioactive elements, and that a basic cartridge alone can reduce the Harmful element content from 17‰ to 9‰, how could the lords not be thrilled?

After the excitement came intense unease.

Hearing Zhu Li asked, "Sister Qing, can we hold onto this water?"

"Mountain Fifty is Third Brother's experimental restricted zone, and Sister Qing is the administrator. Without permission from Third Brother and Sister Qing, outsiders can't go up, right?" Zhao Ze also looked at Xia Qing eagerly.

Those two were so nervous they'd already started calling her "Sister." Not just those two—everyone else was staring at Xia Qing too, with one exception.

Resale merchant Kuang Qingwei kept his head down, writing and calculating rapidly on paper.

Xia Qing took in the expressions of her allies and gave them a reassurance: "Right now, only the few of us here and Third Brother know about this. As long as nobody talks, and nobody is spotted when fetching or using the water, this spring will stay ours."

Sigh…

Hearing Zhu Li's taut nerves instantly relaxed; she slumped in her chair and started laughing foolishly, tears streaming down.

Zhao Ze picked up the bowl and drank several more mouthfuls of water, then cried, "Ten years. It's been ten years…"

Though he didn't finish his sentence, everyone present understood what he meant, and couldn't help tearing up as well.

Radiation, acid rain, cosmic rays, Harmful elements, the Great Biological Evolution… they never imagined that in these last few days of the tenth year of the Catastrophe, they would actually get to drink water this good.

Zhao Ze wiped away his tears and said viciously, "Anyone who lets this water slip, we'll take their life!"

"We have to hold onto it. This is our lifeline." Shi Zhong was the second to declare, his tone uncommonly forceful.

Anyone who'd survived to the tenth year of the Catastrophe knew perfectly well what would happen if word got out that the weak possessed an important resource.

Yue Haiying looked at Xia Qing. "Xia Qing, are you saying we can take the mountain spring water back to drink?"

Xia Qing nodded. "Yes. I called everyone together today because I want us to work out a plan together, to make sure we can all drink the water without the news leaking."

Before he was discharged from injury, Yue Haiying, who had often led teams on missions, clarified further: "Keeping it secret can be split into two links: fetching the water, and the drinking water itself."

Qi Fu added, "There's one more prerequisite: we need to decide how many people in each territory can drink the premium water. I'll go first—only Yanzi and I from our territory will drink this water."

Kuang Qingwei also said, "Our territory is just the two of us too."

Yue Haiying discussed with the group, "I have wounded people in my territory. Premium water can boost their resistance, so I'd like to take enough for ten people. Is that alright?"

Zhao Ze also said, "The people in my territory are split into two groups: one group I hired, and one group of neighbors and relatives who fled with me from our hometown. I need to go back and discuss this with my mom."

Hearing Zhu Li roasted, "I remember the second month after we came to the territories, the person who climbed the big tree in Territory Four to spy on Xia Qing's territory—that was one of your relatives, right?"

Zhao Ze didn't dare look at Xia Qing's expression, and explained with an awkward laugh, "No blood relation, but because we fled together and share the same surname, we treat each other as relatives. Don't worry, I definitely won't let him return to the territory."

Everyone looked at Xia Qing.

That mountain is now Third Brother's experimental zone, Xia Qing is the administrator, and the valley and spring were both discovered by Xia Qing. Who gets to use it, how many people, and how—of course that was for Xia Qing to decide.