Chapter 90: Digging Bugs Steadily

"Boss, help me press the walkie-talkie button." Xia Qing, holding heavy objects in her hands, certainly wouldn't interrupt her training just to talk to Tang Huai.

Sheep Boss, lying beside Xia Qing, stretched out a front hoof and accurately pressed the walkie-talkie button. It had seen Xia Qing do this countless times and had long since learned how.

"Here." After saying one word, Xia Qing fell silent. Sheep Boss released the button and squinted its sheep-eyes at Xia Qing.

Xia Qing immediately fired off a rapid stream, "Boss is really smart, worthy of being a sheep standing at the top of Blue Star's pyramid, the sheep who pioneered Blue Star's evolutionary sheep history. Tomorrow morning I'll make you something delicious."

Sheep Boss, believing it would receive a food reward tomorrow, was satisfied and continued chewing its cud.

Tang Huai asked furiously, "What have you been busy with in your territory today, running around with your sheep all day long, thump thump thump."

The plan she had discussed with Luo Pei could begin its first step. Xia Qing narrowed her eyes, "Boss, press the walkie-talkie button."

Sheep Boss extended a hoof and pressed down. Xia Qing shouted furiously into the radio, "Is Captain Tan there? Someone from Territory Two is spying on my territory. Please, Captain Tan, uphold justice."

Tang Huai...

Everyone...

Tan Junjie replied sternly, "Received. Handling it immediately."

Everyone...

Tang Huai cursed loudly, "Xia Qing, that's going too far! I only asked one question, what's your rush? Or did you do something shady and feel guilty?"

"Bullshit!" Xia Qing couldn't be bothered to trade barbs with Tang Huai. Beard Feng, who loved this sort of thing, immediately jumped in, "You damn well eavesdropped on her all day, and now you're turning the tables accusing her of feeling guilty and doing shady things. I think the one doing shady things is you!"

Tang Huai was choked into silence, "I didn't listen all day."

Beard Feng sneered, "What? You don't even dare to own up to your own words now? Everyone here has ears, and Captain Tan heard it too."

Tang Huai got a little flustered, "Captain Tan, let me explain. I was just exaggerating a bit. I didn't eavesdrop."

Tan Junjie replied sternly, "Ten minutes. Under the Number Two signpost."

Tang Huai...

Li Si of Territory Nine spoke up coldly, "Territory Two, if you dare squat on the edge of Territory Nine eavesdropping, I'll deploy poison immediately and shut up everything in Territory Two that can breathe."

Tang Huai...

"Fourth Sister, I am Xu Pin, vice-captain of the Sufeng Squad. I apologize to you on behalf of the people from Territory Two who have caused you displeasure. I will deal with the relevant personnel seriously. Please rest assured."

True to form for Xu Pin, great at official-speak, even her voice was this annoying. Xia Qing frowned.

Li Si, very much in the manner of a research worker, said, "Sufeng Squad? Never heard of it. Your people, how you deal with them is your own business, nothing to do with me. I only arrange the optimal action plan based on actual conditions."

Xia Qing, holding a stone in her hands, nodded. Although her idol found Li Si disagreeable, Xia Qing felt Li Si was actually quite to her own taste.

Inside Territory Two, Xu Pin, whose face had been publicly humiliated, darkened her expression, "The trouble you caused, you handle it yourself."

Tang Huai went out of the room, using spray to drive away the evolved insects attracted by the protective mask's light while cursing as he walked toward the signpost, "Xia Qing, just you wait. One day I'll kill you for sure."

After saying that, Tang Huai couldn't hear his brother Tang Heng's voice of dissuasion, only then realizing his brother hadn't followed him out. Listening more carefully, he found his brother was actually busy inside the room coaxing Xu Pin into a good mood. Tang Huai's rage was suddenly replaced by an indescribable, complicated emotion.

Arriving under the signpost, without waiting for Tan Junjie's questioning, Tang Huai took the initiative to explain, "Captain Tan, I didn't deliberately eavesdrop on the activity inside Territory Three. I was digging for bugs and looking for rats in this area north of Territory Two. Territory Three was making a lot of noise, so I heard it. If you don't believe me, I can take you to look. There are plenty of bug-digging holes on that patch of ground."

Tan Junjie, wearing a protective mask, asked, "From the location you indicated to the area where the Territory Three lord moves around, the distance is at least five hundred meters. How could you clearly hear sounds from inside Territory Three?"

Not wanting to be treated as a criminal trespassing on someone else's territory, Tang Huai had to prove his innocence, "I'm a Level Five auditory evolver. Xia Qing makes a lot of noise, so I could hear her."

Tan Junjie nodded, "Why did you fill in 'ordinary person' when reporting your statistical data?"

Tang Huai, surrounded by evolved flying insects, irritably waved his arms to shoo them away, "I hid my ability of course for self-protection. Captain Tan, that's not illegal, right?"

"Not illegal. However, over the past three-plus months, the patrol team has spotted you dozens of times in areas close to Territories One, Three, and Seven, so we have reason to suspect your motive for hiding your ability. Please come back with us to cooperate with the investigation." Tan Junjie had his team members take Tang Huai away and return to the investigation team's dormitory for interrogation.

It wasn't until noon the next day that Tang Huai was finally released. Returning to Territory Two with unsteady steps, he was grilled by Xu Pin again, and the whole person was on the verge of collapse.

"What, you still not convinced?" Xu Pin's face darkened, "I think digging bugs has made you stupid! Xia Qing of Territory Three was an extra member of Luo Pei's squad back in the safe zone, and now she's following Beard Feng. You publicly exposed your crime on the lord channel. It would be strange if she didn't take the chance to mess with you to curry favor with Beard Feng."

"Daily affairs inside Territory Two will be handled by Tang Heng from now on. The walkie-talkie goes to Tang Heng too. You and Zhou Quan will monitor Territory One twenty-four hours a day. If you can't even handle this little thing, get back to the safe zone and guard the gate!" Xu Pin didn't want to waste too much time on an idiot, and waved her hand for him to get out.

Tang Heng chased Tang Huai out of the room, walking alongside him and comforting him in a low voice, "Lunch is left in the kitchen. After eating, brother, go rest for a while. Let Zhou Xun keep watch first."

Although Tan Junjie had interrogated him for over a dozen hours, he did feed him. Tang Huai walked straight to the wild grass edge separating Territory Two from Territory One, lay down on the grass, and stared blankly at the sky.

Zhou Xun knew his boss had taken some heat, and lowered his voice to curse, "It's all that bitch's fault. We'll find a chance to deal with her sooner or later."

"Behave yourself. If something happens, I can't protect you." After saying that, Tang Huai closed his eyes and started snoring.

After the auditory evolver Dajiang returned to the small building to report the situation, Beard Feng laughed with schadenfreude, "Tang Huai must have gotten chewed out by Xu Pin."

Luo Pei called Xie Yu, "Xu Pin released evolved rats inside Territory Two, causing Tang Huai to lose two ordinary-person team members, escalating Tang Huai's dissatisfaction with Xu Pin. Another point is, Tang Huai has gradually developed a strong interest in farming and digging bugs, and hasn't seriously carried out the surveillance mission assigned by the Sufeng Squad. I think we can use this point to get Tang Zhengpo out of the safe zone and into the territory, to grow and strengthen here, and split the Tang family from within."

Xie Yu, the second-in-command of the Azure Dragon Squad on the other end of the phone, laughed, "Luo-ge, that's a good strategy. When you get back, have the team medic test you. I feel like this poisoning of yours might have triggered a brain-domain evolution."

Get lost! Luo Pei laughed, "Not my idea. It's a friend."

"Xia Qing? I'm getting more and more curious about her." Brain-domain evolver Xie Yu quickly gave a schedule for implementing the plan, "Let me arrange it. Within three days, Xu Pin will return to the safe zone. Within five days, we'll get Tang Zhengpo over to farm. That way, Tang Huai can dig bugs in peace."

Tang Zhengpo is the father of Tang Huai and Tang Heng. As one can tell from the name, he is a cousin of Tang Zhengrong, the deputy base commander of Hui-Three, and Tang Zhengsu, the captain of the Sufeng Squad. Before the catastrophe, Tang Zhengpo was a well-known entrepreneur and had done much better than Tang Zhengsu.

After the catastrophe, neither he nor his younger son managed to evolve and became ordinary people. Although his elder son Tang Huai evolved into a high-level ability user, his auditory ability had no real combat use. So their branch gradually declined, suppressed by Tang Zhengsu. Although Tang Huai joined the Sufeng Squad, he couldn't get into the upper echelons.

"Tang Zhengpo is a real power figure in the Tang family. Five days—isn't that a bit rushed?" Luo Pei asked.

Xie Yu on the other end of the phone laughed like a fox, "Because Tang Zhengrong took Tang Zheng to Hui-One Base to explain the matter of the evolved potatoes. He'll be back in five days."

Luo Pei also laughed, "Mm, then we definitely need to move fast. Territory Two is Tang Lu's. Even if Tang Zhengpo comes, he'll be suppressed. Territory Twelve happens to be empty. Making him the lord of Territory Twelve is more appropriate."

Tang Zhengsu and Tang Zhengpo don't get along, so he suppresses him everywhere, not giving him a chance to get back on his feet. This time, the brothers Tang Huai and Tang Heng being banished to Territory Two to carry out a mission was definitely Tang Zhengsu's doing.

In that case, let's move Tang Zhengpo over too, let this branch of the Tang family stand up again and fight Tang Zhengsu internally. That way, the nail the Tang family drove into the old headquarters and next to the Azure Dragon Squad becomes a knife tearing the Tang family apart.

Luo Pei had to admit, he felt this idea really didn't seem like something Xia Qing, who had her mind solely on farming, could come up with.