Chapter 690: No Temper, Easy to Talk To

Before heading to Mountain No. 50, Xia Qing doubled back to her territory to fetch 10 liters of unpolluted spring water before continuing on her way.

The main purpose of her outing today was to deliver medicine and water to Zhang Hongda, who was detoxifying in the hidden valley, and then to haul back the hardness-evolved bamboo from Mountain No. 52 to reinforce the greenhouse.

She made a stop at Territory No. 7 first so people would think the medicine and water she had were brought back from her idol's place.

The unpolluted spring water was her biggest secret; the fewer people who knew about it, the safer the spring on her territory.

Because she was carrying over a hundred jin of supplies, Xia Qing couldn't use her personal flyer and trekked on foot toward the Third Peak of Mountain No. 50.

Just as she was about to leave the northern quarantine belt and enter the valley passage between Mountain No. 49 and Mountain No. 50, she ran into the patrol vehicle of the Inspection Team.

Hearing that Xia Qing was headed to Mountain No. 50, Su Ming pushed open the door without a word and offered to drive her over.

With a ride available, Xia Qing certainly wasn't going to be foolishly polite. She set her backpack in the patrol vehicle's cargo bed, sat in the back row with Su Ming, and greeted Yuan Rui, who was driving, and Tan Junjie in the passenger seat.

Tan Junjie, Yuan Rui, and Xia Qing were all rather quiet by nature; after the greetings, the three of them fell silent.

But the vehicle was still lively. After chatting for a while, Su Ming steered the topic to the dagger at Xia Qing's waist. "Sister Qing, is this black blade forged by the Lord of Territory No. 11?"

After Lord Huo Lei entered the Lord Channel, Xia Qing publicly revealed her relationship with him, which was why Su Ming was asking.

Xia Qing nodded and handed the black blade to Su Ming.

"This blade is really heavy, really sharp." No wonder Hu Zi had been so envious after seeing Xia Qing's blade, mumbling about it to himself for half a day back home. Thinking of Hu Zi, Su Ming felt the blade grow even heavier.

He pulled himself together and asked with a grin, "Sister Qing, what kind of steel is this made from?"

Xia Qing answered, "Martensitic aging stainless steel."

Huh? Su Ming was baffled—steel has a surname now?

Tan Junjie glanced at his hopeless team member through the rearview mirror, and Su Ming immediately handed the blade to the captain with a sheepish grin.

Tan Junjie hefted it. "The main material is martensitic aging stainless steel—high hardness, high toughness, and corrosion-resistant. The color is this dark without reflecting light, so chromium was probably added too?"

Sure enough, there was someone who knew his stuff. Xia Qing nodded. "Besides chromium, trace amounts of cobalt, molybdenum, nitrogen, and so on were added, which significantly improved the blade's strength and hardness while maintaining excellent toughness."

Su Ming exclaimed, "Sister Qing, so you really did learn blacksmithing!"

Tan Junjie returned the blade to Xia Qing. "This blade is excellent. I'll also ask the Lord of Territory No. 11 to forge two blades suited for Sister Qiqi."

Trained under Yan Long, Tan Qi also wielded twin blades as cold weapons—her moves clean and fierce—and combined with her speed-evolution advantage, although she was only ten years old, her combat power was already formidable. If killing was the goal, she alone could take on two or three professionally trained ordinary people with absolute certainty of victory.

Once her height and strength increased in a few years, her combat power would surely multiply several times over.

Xia Qing drummed up business for Lord Huo Lei. "This kind of steel has high hardness after quenching and needs to be repeatedly folded and hammered at high temperatures. Different tempering temperatures produce noticeably different combinations of strength and toughness. Uncle Huo is an expert in this field—you've come to the right person by seeking him out."

The patrol vehicle bumped along and stopped at the foot of the Third Peak of Mountain No. 50. Su Ming hopped onto the cargo bed and handed Xia Qing's large backpack down to her.

On the way back, Su Ming felt a pang. Since Hu Zi left, he hadn't carried a backpack this heavy.

Thinking of Hu Zi reminded Su Ming of the call the captain had taken this morning. "Boss, what did Hu Zi's mom say when she called you this morning?"

Tan Junjie stroked the safety bracelet his daughter had braided for him on his right wrist and answered, "She wants Jiang Ying to come work here."

Su Ming's eyes went wide. "Her job at the food factory got taken?!"

Hu Zi died in the line of duty, and his family was left with only his mother and his sister Jiang Ying, both ordinary people. Tan Junjie reported Hu Zi's family's situation to the base, and after much effort from many sides, they finally arranged for Jiang Ying to work in a workshop at the Safe Zone food factory. The food factory had a relatively good working environment and decent pay. Jiang Ying's salary, combined with Hu Zi's death compensation, was enough to cover the living expenses of the two of them.

Su Ming remembered Jiang Ying had only started working in the middle of last month—not even a month in—who the hell had the nerve?!

Yuan Rui, who was driving, glanced at the captain's expression and asked, "They think it's safer here than at the food factory?"

"Huh?!" Su Ming was even more confused. "Even if we've put up a ring of iron fencing here, the safety is still way worse than the Safe Zone. Hu Zi's sister is an ordinary person—what kind of job in the Inspection Team would suit her? If something happened to her too, what would her mother do…"

An evolved animal appeared ahead. Tan Junjie ordered, "Su Ming, get down and catch that snake up front."

"Yes, sir."

After Su Ming got out, Yuan Rui asked, "Boss, does Hu Zi's mom want Jiang Ying to enter a territory?"

If the Inspection Team had no suitable job, the only option was to enter a territory.

A few days ago, Hu Zi's mom came over and asked Tan Junjie to put in a good word with the higher-ups, hoping to arrange Jiang Ying a formal job in the Safe Zone inner city and have the mother and daughter move into the inner city to live.

Hu Zi's military service length and military merits hadn't reached the level required to arrange family members into the inner city. The proper channels wouldn't work, and his comrades-in-arms didn't have the ability or financial means to arrange for the mother and daughter to get in.

Hearing the captain respond with a sound, Yuan Rui looked at the three-meter-plus evolved venomous snake Su Ming had caught in front of the vehicle and frowned. "What happened with Jiang Ying's job at the food factory?"

The thirty-plus disabled veterans in Territory No. 15 were, without exception, unmarried regardless of age; arranging for a nineteen-year-old unmarried girl to live there would be inappropriate—anyone could see that.

So Yuan Rui deduced that something must have gone wrong with Jiang Ying's job.

Tan Junjie answered, "She said a lot of people have designs on Jiang Ying, and the factory isn't safe either. So she asked me to help inquire whether Xia Qing could take Jiang Ying to work in Territory No. 3."

Yuan Rui was stunned for a moment, then sighed. "When Xia Qing isn't wearing a cold face, she really does look like someone with no temper and easy to talk to."

Last time Hu Zi's mom came over, she happened to run into Xia Qing coming out after finishing her business at Territory No. 7. Yuan Rui introduced them to each other, and the two exchanged a few polite words.

Hu Zi's mom knew how to pick her spot, but Xia Qing would definitely refuse. Yuan Rui asked, "Boss, can I take leave to go over and see if I can help?"

After delivering a batch of supplies to Zhang He, who was stationed in the danger zone of the Third Peak cultivating red qiang grass, Xia Qing detoured to the southeast side of the Third Peak and had only walked a few steps up when a honey badger sitting on the game trail eating a venomous snake blocked her path.

Seeing the creature had no intention of yielding, Xia Qing raised her hand to show she meant no harm, then backed up several steps and took a detour.

Flat-head Brother—bad temper, tough meat, and one of snakes' natural enemies—Xia Qing didn't want to kill it.

But unexpectedly, when Xia Qing reached the mountain stream entrance of the hidden valley halfway up the mountain, she ran into this same honey badger on a narrow path.

This time, Xia Qing had no way to detour.