Chapter 573: Bounty Mission

After this area was covered by the ground base station signal, the chat app she used to use on her phone finally worked again. Tang Huai immediately created a group chat and started pulling people in.

Tang Huai remembered that when he had asked for Xia Qing's phone number earlier, Xia Qing had told him not to give her contact information to anyone, so he didn't dare add the account linked to Xia Qing's current phone number to the group.

That woman's scheming wasn't much less than Zhang San's. Tang Huai was afraid that if he upset her, he'd lose the chance to fleece the sheep and the wolf.

Xia Qing gave Tang Huai the phone number she used in the safe zone, then asked, "Do you still have any green-light purple sweet potatoes? I'd like to trade for a few."

"I do!" Tang Huai said cheerfully, proposing a trade. "I can trade you five purple sweet potatoes, but you have to let me come to your territory to hang out for half a day. It's not exactly going in to play—I can help you with chores, and I can cook for you. How about it?"

These trade terms truly lived up to what one would expect from a premium trading partner on Blue Star.

However, Xia Qing didn't agree directly. "You can enter my territory, but you can't carry weapons, you can't go beyond the areas I've permitted, and you can't provoke the evolved animals inside my territory."

"Don't worry, don't worry, I know the rules." Tang Huai was exceptionally excited. "I'll bring them over tomorrow morning?"

Xia Qing……

"Tomorrow morning at 8:15, the investigation team will come to survey the site."

"No worries, they work very efficiently. They'll be in and out in half an hour at most. I'll head over at 8:45." After saying that, Tang Huai hung up the phone, thoroughly pleased with himself.

Once Xia Qing's old phone had built up some charge and slowly booted up, she approved Tang Huai's friend request, then skillfully found Xu Juan's avatar among her few contacts and sent her a message.

Because the signal quality was poor, and because Xia Qing's phone was genuinely ancient, the Little Circle app took five seconds to send the message.

Less than half a minute after the message was sent, Xu Juan's call came through. The moment she opened her mouth, she called Xia Qing "mom": "Oh my god! You finally remembered to turn your phone on. I heard you got hurt the night of the beast tide?"

This territory had been attacked by invaders, so the news had surely spread throughout the safe zone. Along with the casualty list Tan Junjie had reported, it had certainly been made public too—which was how Xu Juan had learned about her injury.

Xia Qing replied, "Just a small wound, it's fine now. I went out to work today and just found out the territory has signal now. Sister Juan, is it convenient for you to talk right now?"

"Hold on a moment." Xu Juan called out to her teammates, then returned to her own room and closed the door. "Okay, go ahead."

Dongyang Squad was ranked eleventh in Hui-3 Base and had a squad residence inside the safe zone. Xu Juan was a core member of the squad and had a room of her own in the residence building.

Xia Qing listened carefully, confirming that apart from the static coming from her old phone's poor quality or the bad signal, there was no second breath on the line, before asking, "The night the beast tide happened, was there any movement inside the safe zone?"

"Not much movement in the outer city, but there was fierce fighting in the inner city. I don't know the specifics, only heard it was about rooting out moles other bases had planted in ours. If you want more details, you can ask Luo Pei. Xie Yu was in the inner city at the time—I heard he went on a killing spree, his bald head stained red with blood."

Xia Qing……

If she hadn't seen Xie Yu's head full of curls with her own eyes, she'd definitely be imagining things by now. "Sister Juan, how does the base plan to deal with the evolved wolves that triggered the beast tide?"

Xia Qing had just turned on her phone and hadn't had time yet to check the announcements posted by the safe zone's government affairs center.

"The mission hall has already posted a bounty mission to wipe out those evolved wolves and evolved leopards. No squad has taken it yet."

Xu Juan's voice still carried fear of those wolves. "I'll send you the video of the wolves fighting the squad later. I haven't seen a battle that bloody in years. Those evolved wolves were way too ferocious—one wolf had its hindquarters chopped off and still clamped its jaws on Wild Beast Squad's Zheng Wang's neck, nearly killing him."

Xia Qing asked, "Is Zheng Jiang not taking the mission to avenge his brother?"

Wild Beast Squad was ranked sixth in Hui-3. The Zheng Wang who was bitten to death by the wolves was the younger brother of Wild Beast Squad captain Zheng Jiang.

Xu Juan replied, "He went to Qinglong's side today, probably wanting to take the mission together with Qinglong. You don't have much farm work in your territory right now, do you? When are you planning to come back to the safe zone to buy New Year goods?"

Although supplies were scarce during the disaster years, everyone still made sure to celebrate the most important traditional holiday, the Spring Festival.

Xia Qing replied, "I have too much going on over here to get away. If Sister Juan has time, you could come visit my territory."

Not expecting Xia Qing to invite her over, Xu Juan agreed readily. "What supplies do you need? I'll bring them for you."

Xia Qing actually did have something she needed. "If Sister Juan comes across any sturdy pink fabric, bring me two pieces. I want to make bedsheets and seat cushions."

Xu Juan laughed. "Why not just buy you the bedsheets and seat cushions directly? Wouldn't that be easier?"

Xia Qing certainly wasn't going to tell her the fabric was for making a nest for the wolf. "The bed and chairs in my room are ones I made myself, so they don't match the standard furniture sizes from the safe zone."

Living space was tight inside the safe zone. The standard single beds and small stools in the outer city were much smaller than the furniture Xia Qing had made herself.

After dinner, Xia Qing sat by the fireplace, listened to the broadcast, and scrolled through the recently posted mission announcements from Hui-3 Base on her phone, as well as the team-up information posted by various squads.

Looking at these again after a whole year, Xia Qing felt a detached sense of ease. She no longer had to read every message while weighing which squad, which squad members to team up with for a mission to maximize her success rate and her chances of making it back to the safe zone alive.

Xia Qing tapped open the pinned bounty mission to hunt the wolf pack, zoomed in on the picture of the alpha wolf, and studied it carefully. She discovered that this ferocious giant wolf, its muzzle dripping with blood, also had blue eyes.

Both giant wolves, both ice-blue eyes, both silver-gray fur……

This alpha wolf and—?

Xia Qing's heart skipped a beat. Just as she was about to go upstairs to check the materials on Broken-Waist Wolf's notebook, her phone rang.

At the same moment, Broken-Waist Wolf, who had been lying beside her, pricked up its ears, raised its head, and grinned, baring its teeth.

"Beep."

Notification popped up: Broken-Waist Wolf entered Territory Three through the north gate at 21:45 on January 26.

"Beep."

Broken-Waist Wolf left Territory Three through the north gate at 21:45 on January 26.

……

Well then, the moment she was about to look at the notebook, the notebook's owner arrived!

Xia Qing stood in the courtyard, together with the sick wolf, to welcome the honored guest of Territory Three.

When Broken-Waist Wolf trotted in carrying two wild chickens in its mouth, Xia Qing praised it sincerely, "Broken-Waist, you are absolutely the top-tier partner on the Blue Star pyramid!"

Her Majesty wanted roast chicken in the middle of the night, so this fellow left its den to catch two, ran sixty miles to find its "cook" to prepare roast chicken. If a good wolf like this couldn't stand at the top of the pyramid, Xia Qing would absolutely kick the whole pyramid flat!