Chapter 8: Danger Sweep

"Captain Zhong, don't shoot—it's me, Zhao Ze from Plot Four."

The tall Zhao Ze came running over, leaning on the cart and gasping for breath as he asked, "Captain Zhong, one of our people got bitten by a venomous snake. Did you bring antivenom?"

"I brought it. Where's the person?" Zhong Tao greeted Xia Qing, then immediately took Zheng Kui and Zhao Ze to rescue the victim.

Plot Four lies east of Plot Three and also has a large stretch of buffer woodland. In spring, when everything comes back to life, snakes slithering out isn't strange. If the biter was a venomous snake, that would be trouble.

A little after three in the afternoon, Xia Qing received a text from Zhong Tao:

"An evolved venomous snake killed one person on Plot Four. The base has decided to sweep the buffer woodlands again. Plots 1–10 will be handled by Captain Tan Junjie. Don't worry—our own people."

In these years of natural disasters, someone died every day from attacks by evolved creatures. What Xia Qing cared about more was tomorrow's sweep of the buffer woodland.

She had to find a way to keep anyone from discovering the spring, and she had to catch that sheep before the search team arrived. Once the sheep was caught outside the territory, it would have nothing to do with her.

Arriving at the mountain, Xia Qing found the stone blocking the cave mouth hadn't been moved, and there were no new hoofprints on the ground. After lowering the bucket in to collect water, Xia Qing didn't stay at the cave to wait for the sheep, but instead tracked the hoofprints to find where it had gone.

Xia Qing discovered that the sheep had left her buffer woodland, crossed the isolation belt, and entered the evolved forest.

The danger index of an uncleared evolved forest was far higher. She definitely wouldn't catch the sheep today—she could only try again tomorrow morning.

Early the next morning, before Xia Qing had even managed to corner the sheep on the mountain, she received a call from Tan Junjie.

The danger-sweep team had already begun moving and was expected to reach Plot Three by ten o'clock. He asked whether she had discovered any evolved venomous snakes or other dangerous creatures within her territory.

Xia Qing replied, "There were three evolved venomous snakes. I've already killed them. No other dangers have been found so far."

After hanging up, Xia Qing killed two more snakes but still couldn't wait out the sheep. She had no choice but to seal the cave properly, then take her machete and slingshot and head to the isolation belt outside the western buffer woodland to wait for the sweep team.

Before the sweep team arrived, Xia Qing heard an argument coming from the direction of Plot Two. She pricked up her ears to listen. It turned out the people of Plot Two had heard about the snake-bite fatality and wanted the sweep team to enter Plot Two and inspect it, but the sweep team explained that today's mission was to patrol the isolation belt and buffer woodland, not the cultivated areas.

The people of Plot Two were unhappy and made a great noisy fuss.

This stretch of mountain forest forms a reclining S-shape. Plot One lies on the south side of the U-bend in the rolling hills, and like Plot Three, its territory includes both cultivated land and buffer woodland. Plot Two is east of Plot One, and its territory is entirely farmland.

Plots Three, Four, and Five are on the south side of the n-bend, and their territories contain both buffer woodland and cultivated land.

So relatively speaking, Plot Two is safer than Plots One, Three, Four, and Five—which was also why the person who had sent Xia Qing those two messages recommended Plot Two.

The lord of Plot Two is Tang Lu, who of course wouldn't come farm in person. The one arguing with the sweep team was someone sent by the Tangjia Sect. The Tang family was used to throwing its weight around in Hui-Three Base, and naturally wouldn't take a small sweep team seriously.

Xia Qing listened quietly, wanting to see how Captain Tan would handle it.

"I'm in the middle of a mission. If you don't get out of the way, I'll treat it as a legal violation!" Hearing Tan Junjie's hard-edged roar and the sound of a round being chambered, the corner of Xia Qing's mouth curved up.

Tan Junjie stuck to principles and acted strictly according to orders. For her, that was a good thing.

Seeing seven soldiers in camouflage protective suits appear in the distance, with green plates on their chests, Xia Qing's mood improved even more.

A sweep team of seven evolved people—plenty tough!

"Captain, look—there's a chick standing up ahead, wearing a green plate. She's gotta be Xia Qing from Plot Three. Level-four strength evolution, age twenty-five, single!"

"Shut it!" Tan Junjie growled low. "All of you, get serious."

"Yes, sir!" the six team members answered in unison.

At this distance, quiet conversation couldn't be heard by anyone without auditory evolution, so Xia Qing stood quietly, pretending she hadn't heard a thing.

Tan Junjie led his team up to Xia Qing, removed his protective mask, and saluted her. "Captain Tan Junjie, Danger Sweep Squad Six."

After checking his credentials, Xia Qing volunteered, "Captain Tan, I'm Xia Qing from Plot Three, a four-times strength evolved person. Before leaving the safe zone I carried out six evolved-forest clearing missions. I'm requesting to patrol Plot Three's buffer woodland and isolation belt with you."

The evolved-forest clearing missions had been issued for a total of three months, with each outing lasting ten days. Xia Qing had completed sixty days of missions and was still alive and well, which showed that even though she was only an entry-level strength-type evolved person responsible for hauling and pest-control work, she had considerable ability to handle danger. What's more, the patrol she was asking to join was her own territory—Tan Junjie had no reason to refuse. "Stay behind me."

"Yes, sir." As they walked, Xia Qing briefed them on the buffer woodland's situation. "I've checked the northern slope twice, killed five snakes, and found no other dangers. I haven't had time to check this western slope yet."

Xia Qing was the most capable of the fifty lords in the northern district, and also the most likely to encounter danger. Because the more capable a person was, the more confident they were, and the more actively they explored their surroundings—making them the most likely to run into dangerous situations.

Tan Junjie reminded her to be careful. "The temperature's started rising again lately. Hibernating animals are waking up one after another and coming out to move around. Try to stay in the cultivated areas. If you get bitten by a snake, call me and Zhong Tao immediately—we'll arrange for someone to bring antivenom right away."

"I'll remember. Thank you, Captain Tan." Xia Qing obediently agreed, took her own protective mask out of her back basket, and put it on. Although she felt it wasn't necessary, the sweep team was all wearing them, so she couldn't very well be different.

After entering the buffer woodland, a team member behind Tan Junjie cried out in surprise, pointed down the slope, and asked Xia Qing, "Miss Xia, that huge stretch of land by the reservoir—you turned all of that over by yourself?"

Xia Qing could tell this was the same one who had just called her "chick." "Just call me Xia Qing. I'm a strength evolved person—I've got nothing but brute force, so I'm only good at this kind of rough work."

This team member introduced himself as well. "Sister Xia Qing, I'm Su Ming, a Level-three visual evolved person. You turned your land over so well—did you farm before the disasters?"

Xia Qing shook her head. "I lived on the outskirts of the city. My family only had a small vegetable plot, so I wouldn't really call it farming. But over these years I've often gone to the safe zone's planting area to work, so I picked it up."

"Movement at nine o'clock, forty-five meters out—probably a snake or a lizard." The auditory evolved person in the squad spoke up, alerting everyone.

Tan Junjie immediately gave the order. "All hands on alert. Xia Qing, stay behind me. Three, Four, Five—go check it out."

Xia Qing took another step behind Tan Junjie and watched Su Ming and the other two head toward the nine o'clock direction to search. After a few sounds of movement, the three quickly came back carrying a patterned snake over a meter long.

Su Ming grinningly handed the snake to Xia Qing. "Sister Xia Qing, it's just a regular food snake."

Xia Qing had just shaken her head when she heard Tan Junjie cite the regulations. "All resources within a territory belong to the lord."

Xia Qing didn't refuse any further and stuffed the snake into her back basket.

After the sweep team finished searching the western buffer woodland, they had caught a total of six snakes and two evolved venomous centipedes as long as an arm. Looking at the evolved centipedes, Xia Qing's scalp went numb.

After moving into the northern buffer woodland that Xia Qing had already checked twice, the sweep team found no dangerous creatures, said goodbye to Xia Qing, and prepared to enter Plot Four.

Xia Qing, holding her back basket, asked Tan Junjie, "Captain Tan, could I trade this meat with you for some seeds?"