Chapter 827: Write It Off

The Fire Phoenix, accompanied by two bodyguards, followed Xia Qing into Territory Nine. She looked around and sighed, "Li Si left Blazing Fire Mountain for this territory a year ago, and I've never managed to find the time to check on things here. I didn't expect there to be such flat farmland at the foot of the mountain, plus surface water for irrigation. It really is a fine piece of land."

Her meaning was: everything Li Si had done here had nothing to do with her? Still, Li Si didn't seem to have done anything out of line.

Xia Qing replied politely, "It's precisely because the terrain here is flat and suited to farming that, after Fourth Sister left, the base decided to build this place into a planting center. Captain Deng, this way please—mind your step."

"They're in, folks, they're in!" Inside the eastern weed wall of Territory Two, Tang Huai lowered his voice and reported the live situation.

The Blazing Fire bodyguards caught the movement in the weed wall and turned to face where Tang Huai was hiding.

The hell are you looking at—think I'm as cowardly as Wen Nengjie? Tang Huai, who was within his own jurisdiction and protected by the Territory Law, felt perfectly safe and continued, "All three of them are in."

Wen Nengjie asked, "Brother Huai, how is it?"

Although both bodyguards wore pure black, single-sided see-through protective masks, Tang Huai still recognized them by their builds. "They're both in the top ten of Hui One's combat power rankings—how many do you think? Oh, and their protective suits are nice—definitely made of some new material."

I… damn! How many?!

Wen Nengjie didn't dare make another sound.

The two bodyguards paid Tang Huai no more attention and looked up at the jade-belt sea eagle circling in the sky to the southwest.

"Blazing Fire Squad's number-four combatant Huo Zhen, number-six combatant Huo Ting—both modified humans."

Inside Territory Eight, Zhou Zhaoping introduced to Seeing Xin Yu the identities of the two bodyguards following the Fire Phoenix on the screen. "This gear of theirs is appearing for the first time—judging by the style, it should be an upgrade."

Seeing Xin Yu enlarged the surveillance image and carefully examined the connection between the protective suits and the masks at Huo Zhen and Huo Ting's necks, then gave a confirming answer. "The mask and suit connect seamlessly—definitely an upgrade, and certainly new material."

Zhou Zhaoping quickly searched the data on his computer, then turned the screen toward Seeing Xin Yu. "This is the list of new materials Blazing Fire has purchased from last June to now—black is public procurement, red is the underground trade we've uncovered, fifty-four types in total. Young Lady, please look."

Seeing Xin Yu scanned through it quickly. "Compile a document and give it to Lord Huo Lei—he should be able to figure out what material Blazing Fire's protective suit is made of."

"Yes."

Inside Territory Nine, the Fire Phoenix followed Xia Qing toward what could barely be called a building—the "office"—and didn't ask why the place was so dilapidated.

Because she knew when these broken-down houses had been blown apart, and why.

That very reason was standing right in front of her, and had even become the manager of this territory!

The Fire Phoenix turned her eyes away and looked at Yue Haiying, who was opening the door for them. "I heard before that Captain Yue had retired—I didn't expect you to be in this territory too."

Hui One and Hui Three weren't far apart, and over the past few years had carried out plenty of joint disaster-elimination missions. Yue Haiying's squad had cooperated with the Blazing Fire Squad several times. Although the Fire Phoenix never led teams on missions herself, they had crossed paths twice.

Yue Haiying didn't believe she'd only just learned he was here. He nodded. "Director, Captain Deng—please come in."

The Fire Phoenix saw Yan Yue, sitting in a wheelchair inside the room, and said to Xia Qing with a smile, "Lord Xia has a keen eye for talent and doesn't stick to convention when picking people—the Ninth Planting Center truly is a place where dragons and tigers lie hidden."

Tang Huai snorted. "Three idioms in one sentence—impressive, huh!"

"Right!" Liu Jing, lying next to Tang Huai, chimed in immediately, then said with regret, "Boss, they've gone inside and shut the door—we can't hear anymore."

The inside of Xia Qing's office was just as spartan as the outside—just one table and two chairs—but it was very clean. After entering, Deng Yufeng took off her protective mask, revealing a fiery-red face.

Up close, this face was visually striking, and many people didn't dare look at it directly. But Xia Qing didn't feel that way, because in the past ten years, she had spent five of them with a dark-red face of her own.

Every time before, when she saw her own face in the cracked mirror of the dim bathroom in the Evolver dormitory, Xia Qing felt like she was watching a horror film.

She also took off her protective mask and opened a package of disposable paper cups. "It's humble here, no distilled water—would filtered water be all right, Captain Deng?"

"Of course, any water will do." Deng Yufeng took off her gloves, deliberately revealing a pair of fiery-red hands whose needle marks on the backs hadn't yet healed, took the filtered water Xia Qing handed her, and drank a sip. "Don't laugh at me, but just now at Third Brother's place I was so nervous I didn't even dare drink a sip of water."

"Of course, Third Brother is still angry with me—he didn't even give me a bottle of water." Deng Yufeng drank half a cup of water and gazed at Xia Qing sincerely.

"Miss Xia, I won't speak in riddles before a straight person. I knew Shan Ying was looking for revenge on you, and I didn't stop her. After all, her only living relative in this world died at Miss Xia's hands—she had her reasons for revenge, and I had no grounds to stop her. Afterward Third Brother called to warn me, and only then did I learn that Third Brother owed Miss Xia a favor. So I came specially to apologize to Third Brother and to Miss Xia."

"You're too kind, Captain Deng. Accidentally causing Shan Xiang's death was indeed my fault." Among the causes of death of Blazing Fire's beast-hunting squad members that Xia Qing had reported, Shan Xiang was listed as "accidental killing."

Xia Qing's account was that Shan Xiang had hidden behind a rock and attacked her, and because she had already been poisoned at the time, she couldn't control her strength well and accidentally smashed Shan Xiang to death.

Would anyone believe that?

The Blazing Fire beast-hunting squad had provoked them and drawn weapons first, so regardless of whether Shan Xiang was killed by accident, Xia Qing was innocent—and no one would investigate whether her story was true.

The Fire Phoenix's face remained sincere. "Third Brother saved my life. The fact that my people moved against you and I didn't stop them is the same as me moving against you. Third Brother has every right to be angry, and every right to cut off one of my revenue streams. Miss Xia, let's write off the past between us—can we do that?"

Just like that? Not a scrap of compensation? Xia Qing nodded calmly. "Of course. Hearing you say this, the stone in my heart has finally fallen to the ground—I can get on with farming in peace from now on."

The Fire Phoenix laughed, but as she laughed, a sudden sadness came over her. She leaned back in her chair and murmured, "If I had luck like Miss Xia's—if I'd had Third Brother's protection back then—I wouldn't have ended up looking like this neither-human-nor-ghost."

She waited a few seconds, but Xia Qing didn't ask why she'd ended up like this. The Fire Phoenix understood. "Miss Xia already knows about the underground experiments?"

Xia Qing nodded. "I heard some of it from Brother Yue a while back. To walk out of that hell alive, Miss Deng didn't just have good luck—her ability is strong too."

Most of the people used as experimental subjects had died terrible deaths underground.

The Fire Phoenix, who had meant to play the sympathy card, was cut off by Xia Qing. She smoothly changed tack. "Mm, compared to those who died miserably underground, my luck really isn't bad."