Chapter 828: You and I Are Quite Alike

Deng Yufeng's ordeal in the underground lab was indeed tragic, but was it of her own making?

She hadn't laid a finger on me, yet she repeatedly allowed her subordinates to move against me. If not for Xia Qing's vigilance, I'd have been gnawed down to bare bone by evolved creatures long ago.

Zhang San stepped forward to protect me, and now she's come over under the guise of an apology—sitting across from me with her legs crossed, snapping out a few words to call it even.

On what grounds?

On the grounds that Blaze's strength is overwhelming.

Her words were polite, her facial expression well-disguised. But the lofty air she let slip unintentionally—especially the moment she saw Yue Haiying and Yan Yue—couldn't escape the eyes of a Level-9 visually evolved person.

At that moment, Xia Qing deeply understood the long passage her idol had once spoken to her.

After enduring endless suffering, the recovery-type evolved person Deng Yufeng, now wielding power, had become a "god" who stood above others. Nominally she came to admit fault, but she didn't believe she was in the wrong at all. The ones at fault were those who dared oppose her and obstruct her great enterprise of vengeance.

It was almost mealtime. Seeing she showed no sign of leaving, Xia Qing politely asked, "Mealtime's almost here, Captain Deng—any dietary restrictions?"

Deng Yufeng, without the slightest courtesy, shook her head. "None. Anything edible will do."

Just as she expected Xia Qing to invite her to dine at Territory Three, she saw the other woman stand up, walk to the door, and instruct the woman in the wheelchair outside, "Sister Yue, let Territory Fifteen know to send three extra work meals for lunch—Captain Deng is staying for food too. Is there any meat today?"

The Ninth Planting Center already had over a hundred staff on duty. The first batch lived inside Territory Two and Territory Six; the later arrivals had simply pitched tents inside Territory Nine.

Although the three large iron pots Yue Haiying had commissioned Lord Huo Lei to forge were already set up, the allocated supplies hadn't arrived yet, so the "tent cafeteria" at Territory Nine could only cook porridge and boil hot water for now. So the staff's breakfast and supper were coarse-grain porridge and compressed biscuits, with lunch delivered by the Territory Fifteen cafeteria.

Of course, the meal costs were drawn from the Ninth Planting Center's daily operating budget.

Yan Yue replied, "People from Territory Fifteen came to help out, and no one went hunting today, so there's no meat dish. But there's steamed pumpkin for lunch."

Pumpkins had high yields, good flavor, and low price—serving as either staple or dish—and were a very popular food within the territory.

Hearing there was no meat, Xia Qing used her walkie-talkie to contact Beard Feng, "Brother Feng, is Er Yong in?... Out on a mission? Then go to the breeding greenhouse and get 50 mealworms, plus six eggs and six Green Lantern tomatoes, and take them to the Territory Fifteen cafeteria. Ask them to stir-fry two dishes and send them to Territory Nine. Right... Captain Deng is staying for a meal, so be careful—don't let Old Sheep headbutt you."

Fifty worms—barely enough to half-fill a plate.

Deng Yufeng crushed a small black bug crawling slowly across the floor, and by the time Xia Qing returned to the room, she had already switched to a teasing expression. "Sorry to make you go to the expense, Miss Xia. Were you calling your boyfriend just now?"

Xia Qing nodded. "Things are busy here at the center, so I asked Captain Hu to go over and watch the territory, and do some weeding on the side."

Beard Feng and the Territory Fifteen kitchen crew were quick—within half an hour, the stir-fried worms and tomato-egg stir-fry were delivered.

As Deng Yufeng carried the lunch box out, she made small talk with Xia Qing:

"Miss Xia would rather keep an evolved sheep than hire a permanent worker for the territory. You've got a strong sense of caution."

Xia Qing said frankly, "People are too complicated. Evolved sheep may have bad tempers, but they only eat grass and can till the fields—pretty good."

"You've hit the nail on the head. People really are too complicated. If humans could cut down on internal friction, we wouldn't be living this hard. After you took power, you agreed to hire someone who can't even walk for an important post, giving her the chance to earn a better life through labor rather than her body. On that point, you've done better than the vast majority of those in power."

Xia Qing pointed out her error. "Yan Yue is very capable and meets the qualifications for the Office Director position."

Deng Yufeng laughed. "I notice that in many ways, you and I are actually quite alike."

Xia Qing replied sincerely, "Captain Deng flatters me. If I had a tenth of your ability, I wouldn't still be scrapping in the dirt eleven years into the apocalypse. The reason the Ninth Planting Center director job landed on me is that Third Brother's team all have real work to do and no time for this kind of running-around errand."

"Miss Xia, you're too kind. Thanks for the lunch. Let's get together again when we have time." When words don't click, half a sentence is too many. Deng Yufeng ended the chat and walked out of Territory Nine with her bodyguards.

Xia Qing stood beneath the Ninth Planting Center road sign, watching them go. The moment she turned around, she saw Tang Huai crawling out of the wild-grass wall, two small caterpillars perched on his head, giving her a thumbs-up.

"Sister Qing, awesome! You really know how to talk!"

Xia Qing examined the wild-grass wall closely. "The wild-grass wall needs pesticide sprayed."

The wild-grass walls of the two territories were adjacent. Spraying only Territory Nine's side and not Territory Two's wouldn't get the job done.

"I'll spray it—I'll spray it when I get back." Tang Huai was unusually excited, chattering away as he followed Xia Qing. "Phoenix laid out all that groundwork, just waiting for you to hand her a ladder so she could lead up to the main point—how you're alike, how well you click. And what did you do? You yanked the ladder away!"

Xia Qing's face remained calm. "I didn't catch that she meant that."

Tang Huai was still buzzing. "That's exactly what I mean—your ability to open your mouth and set people on fire is god-given. Awesome on top of awesome, super awesome! Watching you take down Phoenix cured every illness your tantrum gave me last year!"

Xia Qing...

After silently walking several kilometers back to the helicopter, Phoenix tossed off her protective mask, pulled a pale-blue potion from the insulated case, and drank it down in one go.

Huo Ting packed the boxed lunch he'd brought back into the sample preservation case to take back for testing. Then he and Huo Zhen sat together in a corner, keeping their presence as low as possible.

As Blaze's helicopter roared into the sky, heading for Hui-Three Safe Zone, the disinfection work at the Territory Nine director's office was also wrapping up.

Both Yue Haiying and Yan Yue were uneasy, urging Xia Qing to hurry to Territory Seven for a checkup. She hadn't worn a protective mask and had been in the same room as Phoenix for over an hour.

Phoenix was a walking toxic warehouse.

Xia Qing agreed and returned to her own territory.

Deng Yufeng had come this time to make peace with Zhang San. Even if she wanted to kill me, she wouldn't make a move on this visit—so that's why Xia Qing dared remove her protective mask in front of her. Still, understanding it and feeling at ease were two different things. Xia Qing was a bit on edge, but her idol hadn't called her over, so she wouldn't dare disturb the big shot's afternoon nap.

So after returning to the territory, Xia Qing disinfected herself all over again, used her Yi-element detector to scan her protective suit, and after confirming it was toxin-free, still wasn't reassured—she changed into a fresh protective suit before cooking lunch for Old Sheep, then headed to Mountain 49, Zone Three, to bring Wolf Lao Er back for a meal.

Wolf Lao Er, sprawled on a big rock in the shade guarding the wild boars, wagged his tail and grinned happily at the sight of Xia Qing. Down the slope by the pond, a flock of freeloading birds and a little honey badger were squabbling over a half-eaten wild boar piglet.

Wolf Lao Er didn't need her to prepare lunch—when he got hungry, he caught a boar and gnawed on it himself.

Xia Qing's heart softened. She dropped down into the valley, sat beside Wolf Lao Er, and together they watched the big and small wild boars foraging by the pond.

The wild boar piglets born this spring had already grown to over forty jin. The watermelon-rind stripes on their coats had faded—they weren't as cute as when they were little, but they stirred the appetite even more.

Xia Qing asked, "Lao Er, what do we do with these wild boars? Just keep raising them? They're about to strip the valley bare."

Last winter, the wolf pack had driven eight adult wild boars and over twenty half-grown ones over here, paying Xia Qing a Yi stone to raise them.

Now three adult wild boars remained, and nine of the half-grown ones remained—they'd grown into adults too. In February and March, these adult boars had farrowed six litters, over forty piglets in total.

Wild boars were omnivorous and ate anything, but there were just too many of them. If they didn't start hunting the boars soon, they'd probably soon break through the thorn fence Xia Qing had built and brave the stings of evolved bees to root up the Green Lantern chestnut trees.

Because that patch was the only spot in Valley One the wild boars hadn't yet ravaged. Xia Qing suspected that the chestnuts that had fallen to the ground in previous years and weren't carried off by squirrels and other small animals had all been eaten by the boars.

Wolf Lao Er naturally wouldn't answer Xia Qing's question. It was comfortable here, and it wanted to sleep.

Xia Qing sat leisurely on the big rock, still warm from the morning sun, just about to catch a nap with Wolf Lao Er, when a glint of light from the pond suddenly flashed in her eyes.

Holy—!

That crow with the black metal leg ring in the flock of birds fighting over the piglet—wasn't that Molli from Territory Eight!