Chapter 547: Can Territory No. 1 Join the Territory Alliance?

"Alright." Yang Jin switched off the flashlight, turned, and sat down across from Xia Qing, steadying his voice. "Go ahead."

The low-slope planting greenhouse where compost was being piled was dim, the air still thick with the fermenting smell of plant stems and leaves—a scent that Xia Qing found very relaxing. "So far we still haven't gotten a cultivation guide for Qiangwu Grass, so we don't know whether it needs hand pollination, and after it flowers and sets seed, whether the flower spikes should be cut off, and whether the small leaflets growing on the flower spikes can be cut off and used as cuttings to propagate new plants."

Xia Qing first laid out the problems urgently needing resolution in the current cultivation of Qiangwu Grass, then proposed the solution she had in mind. "To solve these problems, I want to tell Third Brother that we're growing Qiangwu Grass in the territory, and consult him on the cultivation techniques."

After saying that, Xia Qing added, "Third Brother already knows there's pollution-free spring water in my territory."

Yang Jin nodded. "From the moment Third Brother applied to have Mountain No. 50 designated as an experimental zone and appointed you as its manager, I knew you'd told him about this. He told you his identity too, didn't he?"

"He did." Xia Qing tried hard to keep her voice calm, free of any trace of smugness. "Third Brother has joined the Territory Alliance, and now he and I have a stable cooperative relationship."

"Congratulations—you've gained another trustworthy, powerful ally. If Third Brother already knows about the spring water, of course you can tell him about the Qiangwu Grass too. If he's willing to buy it, we can give him a ten percent discount." Yang Jin offered his congratulations, then asked, "Can Territory No. 1 join the Territory Alliance?"

"Sorry, Territory No. 1 belongs to the Azure Dragon Squad, and the Azure Dragon Squad has already joined the Squad Alliance, whose interests don't align with our Territory Alliance, so it can't join." Xia Qing didn't shut the door completely. "However, if one day the lord of Territory No. 1, Brother Luo, leaves the Azure Dragon Squad, I'll invite him to join the Territory Alliance right away."

Yang Jin laughed out loud. "Alright, when Brother Luo comes back I'll discuss it with him. Alliance Leader Xia, there are no two groups—or even two people—whose interests are perfectly aligned."

"I understand. As long as there's a shared interest, we can cooperate." Xia Qing had already thought the whole thing through: the Territory Alliance could cooperate with the Squad Alliance, and it could also cooperate with the Azure Dragon Squad.

But she couldn't let any squad join the Territory Alliance—otherwise the relationship between her alliance and the Squad Alliance would become tangled and complicated. She had to guarantee the Territory Alliance's independence and her absolute authority within it.

Yang Jin caught on immediately and understood what Xia Qing meant. "You're planning to use the hidden valley to raise rice seedlings, right? When the Territory Alliance's rice paddies are ready next year, you'll need to hire people to guard them?"

Over a hundred mu of rice paddies—relying on the few people in the patrol squads to guard them would definitely not be enough.

Xia Qing nodded. "Right, I'll discuss the specific cooperation details with you when the time comes. I remember you said before that you wanted to drive Sufeng out of the Squad Alliance?"

Xia Qing had closely monitored the construction team that came to install the signal base station for a whole day but hadn't gotten any valuable information about Sufeng, so she simply took the opportunity of Yang Jin's visit to deliver materials to ask him about it.

Yang Jin explained, "After Xu Pin died, Bao Zhengchao replaced Xu Pin as a Squad Alliance councilor. This man still has some sense of the bigger picture—he can work with. Another thing is that the squads from Bases Hui-4 and Hui-5 have been eyeing the resources in our base's Evolution Forest, so for now Azure Dragon and Sufeng are united against the outside threat, and the grudges between the squads have been temporarily set aside."

So it was a conflict between squads from three bases—no wonder Sufeng had been so quiet lately. "Captain Yang, isn't Bao Zhengchao Tang Zhengsu's sworn brother?"

Yang Jin gave Xia Qing a detailed introduction to Bao Zhengchao. "Bao Zhengchao, along with Sufeng's Hu Shaojiang, Kou Fanming, and Xu Li, had been running with Tang Zhengsu since before the catastrophe—they're all founding figures of the Sufeng Squad. In the years after Xu Pin joined the Sufeng Squad, two of these four died and one was injured; the only one who came out unscathed, Bao Zhengchao, was also pushed out of Sufeng's upper ranks. Bao Zhengchao blamed Hu Shaojiang's and Xu Li's deaths and Kou Fanming's injury squarely on Xu Pin."

"In the plan to take Xu Pin out, although I didn't openly discuss cooperation with Bao Zhengchao, we reached an unspoken understanding. His evolution ability may not match Tang Zhengsu's, but he's more ruthless and sharper than Tang Zhengsu. Having him in Sufeng's upper ranks is good for the bigger picture."

Could that unknown number that had sent her a message be Bao Zhengchao's? Xia Qing pushed the suspicion aside for now and asked again, "Will Sufeng still send people to investigate the helicopter bombing?"

Yang Jin explained helplessly, "Tang Zhengsu blamed the whole thing on me directly, so he won't send anyone else to investigate."

Xia Qing grinned and laughed silently.

After Yang Jin handed the hard drive loaded with knowledge to Xia Qing, he left the territory early the next morning and returned to the Safe Zone. Because another beast tide was forming in the Evolution Forest to the west of the territory, and the Squad Alliance had urgently summoned the main forces of all squads to resist it.

This beast tide was on a very large scale. Judging by the direction the animals were fleeing, the areas being hit were Territories 150–200 to the west of the Safe Zone and Territories 27–50 in the northern Second District.

The territories had no solid walls, so the defense task was heavy. The Base Commander personally ordered one-third of the personnel from the patrol squads of Territories 1–26 to be reassigned to help defend Territories 27–50 in the western Second District.

Although the danger hadn't yet reached Territories 1–26 in the northern First District, the lords in that area were starting to get nervous.

The well-informed Tang Huai posted the latest update in the lord channel. "Everyone, we've got trouble this time. The main force of the beast tide forming in the western Evolution Forest—guess what kind of animal it is?"

Xia Qing stopped what she was doing and listened carefully.

The lord of Territory No. 17, Wen Nengjie, quickly asked, "Brother Huai, it's not large carnivorous beasts, is it?"

"You actually guessed right!" Tang Huai continued. "It's no fewer than thirty evolved wolves and evolved leopards slaughtering herbivores like crazy in the western Evolution Forest, causing the animals in the forest to flee in massive numbers."

"Hiss—"

Wen Nengjie sucked in a cold breath. "Brother Huai, what are you planning to do? Are you going to withdraw to the Safe Zone soon?"

Tang Huai snorted coldly. "You think I'm the kind of guy with no guts?"

"Of course not! If Brother Huai were timid, he wouldn't have taken on a mission to come out and manage a territory." Wen Nengjie was very good at flattery. "But aren't you still injured right now? Wouldn't it be safer to go back to the Safe Zone to recuperate?"

Hu Zifeng of Territory No. 1 complained, "Can the people from Territories No. 12 and No. 17 take their bickering back to their own lord channel?"

The northern First District of Base Hui-3 has a total of 26 territories. For easier management and protection, these territories are divided into three groups: Territories 1–10 are in one group, protected by the Sixth Patrol Squad; Territories 11–18 form one group, protected by the Fifth Patrol Squad; Territories 19–26 form one group, protected by the Fourth Patrol Squad.

So this stretch of territory has three lord channels in total. That's why Hu Zifeng told the two people from Territories No. 12 and No. 17 to take their squabbling to their own lord channel.

Tang Huai sneered. "I'll go wherever I damn well please—you can't control me."

Wen Nengjie had to curry favor even with Tang Huai, let alone the main squad leader of the Azure Dragon Squad, Hu Zifeng, so this time he didn't chime in.

Hu Zifeng shot back, "I sure can't control you, but I can make a reasonable request to Captain Tan and have you kicked out of the lord channel."

"Go ahead and ask, ask right now—do you think I'm scared of you?" After blustering, Tang Huai added: "You're not even using an encrypted channel. Kick me out, and I'll rejoin in two seconds flat—believe it or not?"

Everyone……

"Xia Qing, you there?" After clashing with Hu Zifeng, Tang Huai called out to Xia Qing in a pleasant tone.