Chapter 572: There's Signal

"Sister Qing, the safe zone will send people over soon to install and pick out the mobile signal communication equipment for our territory. We'll have cell phone signal very soon."

While the five-person Red One investigation team surveyed the explosion site, Su Ming sidled up to Xia Qing and told her a piece of great news.

Because of the beast tide, the signal tower installation work in this territory had been interrupted. If the investigation team hadn't come, the base wouldn't have organized a construction crew to resume work so quickly.

The vast majority of people in this territory didn't have phones that could connect directly to satellite communications, so for them this was a huge piece of good news.

Although Xia Qing's phone could connect directly to satellites, it could only be used for voice calls and sending/receiving messages. Once she had signal, she could use her phone to check the public information in the safe zone's government affairs hall, and learn what tasks the hall had issued, which squads were publicly recruiting evolvers to go out on missions, and so on.

Mastering this information was also very important for Xia Qing. She stopped studying the Red One survey team's equipment and asked in a low voice, "Does the investigation team stay inside the territory, or go to the safe zone?"

"A small number stay inside the territory, most go to the safe zone. All the invaders we captured have been locked up in the safe zone's prison." Su Ming lowered his voice. "I think this time they're really going to investigate thoroughly."

Although Su Ming didn't finish his sentence, Xia Qing understood what he meant: if they investigated thoroughly, the revenge for Hu Zi and the others being killed could be taken.

Xia Qing asked in a low voice, "Have Hu Zi and the others' funeral arrangements been taken care of?"

"Taken care of." Su Ming's voice was low. "Several family members have fallen ill."

Falling ill during the disaster years was extremely dangerous—one careless moment and your life was gone. Xia Qing asked, "How is Hu Zi's mother doing?"

"Her emotions are still fairly stable. Captain Tan agreed to report Hu Zi's family's situation to the base, and help Hu Zi's younger sister find a formal job in the safe zone."

Two people depending on each other for survival was indeed much better than just one person left alone. Xia Qing asked again, "Is Hu Zi's younger sister an evolver too?"

Su Ming shook his head. "She's nineteen this year, and no evolution ability has been detected in her yet."

"She's only nineteen, she still has a chance to evolve."

Xia Qing shouldered her large pack and was about to continue installing cameras when one of the investigators who had finished surveying the site walked over. "Miss Xia, after we finish surveying here, can we go to your Territory No. 3 to inspect the explosion site?"

Xia Qing had just checked this person's credentials and knew his name was Peng Zhen, the leader of the survey team. "Tomorrow morning, would that work? Today I need to lead the team to finish installing the surveillance equipment in this area. However, the explosion site inside my territory has already been cleaned up, and the destroyed greenhouse has been repaired."

Peng Zhen nodded and confirmed the time with Xia Qing. "We're just going to confirm the exact location. Would eight-fifteen tomorrow morning work?"

"That works."

After the investigation team left, Xia Qing led her squad to install cameras all morning. At noon she hurried to the Xiong Dong office on the Third Peak. After confirming there was no ethanethiol gas residue inside the cave, she let everyone take off their protective masks and rest and eat their lunch in the office.

Xia Qing entered the valley first, looking for the wolf that helped her guard the valley. "Plucker, you there? Plucker, you there? Plucker…"

After calling out for a full two minutes, Xia Qing finally saw the Plucker weasel's round little ears trembling as they poked out from the same rock crevice as last time.

Standing far away in her protective mask, Xia Qing placed a piece of roasted rabbit meat on a stone and negotiated with it. "Plucker, you don't need to bother guarding this valley anymore, you can go back to your own territory. You've worked hard these past few days—this meat is my thank-you gift to you."

The Plucker weasel poked out its head to sniff, darted out to snatch the meat, then darted back into the rock crevice, and soon there was no sound.

Twenty minutes later, Xia Qing called out softly, "Plucker, are you still there? Plucker, Plucker…"

When she saw the little brownish-yellow ears poke out of the crevice again, Xia Qing sighed and asked, "Plucker, why haven't you gone home yet?"

The Plucker weasel looked at Xia Qing with its round, black-pearl-like eyes, looking very innocent.

Xia Qing was silent for a few seconds. "Your home is on the Third Peak of Mountain No. 50—is it near here?"

There really was that possibility. After Xia Qing fought fiercely with three wolves at the foot of the Third Peak, the lead wolf howled at Xiong Dong, which quickly summoned the Plucker weasel.

Perhaps because the weasel lived nearby, the Broken-Waist Wolf had assigned it to guard the valley.

Xia Qing confirmed that this valley definitely hadn't been part of the weasel's territory before. Because two evolved bears lived here, and there were also wound snakes in the valley.

Now?

Hard to say…

Xia Qing had the urge to take off her protective mask and rub her face, but she didn't dare, afraid she'd throw up the lunch she'd just eaten.

Green-light food absolutely could not be wasted.

Xia Qing gently and softly negotiated with the weasel. "In a little while, a few of my companions are going to enter the valley to tidy up the farmland. Don't attack them, okay?"

The weasel's little whiskers trembled a few times. Finding that Xia Qing had stopped talking, it burrowed back into the rock crevice.

Only then did Xia Qing call Yue Haiying and the others in, pointed at the crevice, and instructed them: "Inside here there's an evolved weasel that I found to guard the valley. It's very timid, and if startled it releases a highly toxic, extremely foul-smelling gas—direct contact will cause poisoning and unconsciousness. Everyone stay away from this crevice. If you see it moving around in the valley, just ignore it—it won't attack humans."

People who had lived through the eleventh year of the disaster would never underestimate any evolved animal. After hearing Xia Qing say this weasel wouldn't attack humans, the group felt reassured.

Qi Fu was very pleased. "Weasels are expert mouse-catchers. With a weasel living in the valley, we won't have to worry about the seedlings being damaged by rats. I was worried before that rats might burrow in and cause the soil layer we'd laid down to leak down through the rat holes."

This was indeed a very big benefit—as long as no one provoked the weasel into releasing its toxic gas.

Qi Fu and Yue Haiying stayed inside the cave to tidy up the fields, while Xia Qing, Shi Du, Zhao Ze, and Yu Shou continued installing cameras.

When the construction squad returned to the territory after a day of installing cameras, they saw two military trucks and one engineering vehicle parked on the passage between Territories No. 1 through No. 10.

Xia Qing took out her phone and discovered she already had signal.

After getting home, she took out the old phone she'd used while in the safe zone from the tool room and started charging it. Before she could even turn it on, Tang Huai's call came through.

"Xia Qing!" Tang Huai's voice was forever full of energy. "Did you notice? Our area has cell phone signal now!"

Xia Qing answered calmly, "I noticed."

Tang Huai extended an invitation to Xia Qing. "I've set up a lords' exchange group for Territories No. 1 through No. 26. Add me as a friend and I'll pull you in, how about it? Once we have the group, exchanging information and supplies will be much more convenient. Do you want to use this current phone number to join the group, or a different one?"