Chapter 909: Confined to Quarters

Xia Qing's helicopter flew into the setting sun and landed on the helipad of Territory One. The cabin door opened. Lord Wen Nengjie and Huo Zhun jumped down first, reached out to help everyone off one by one, and each hurried off to their own family.

Xia Qing was the last to disembark. She carried a huge backpack filled with supplies she'd bought at the mall and the 2,000 bullets she'd traded with Yang Jin.

In front of Lord Wen Nengjie, Xia Qing traded 300 rounds with Yang Jin, and later traded another 1,700 rounds via cell phone, because 300 rounds simply weren't enough. Trading so many in front of Lord Wen Nengjie was her way of creating the impression that the points she'd worked hard to save over half a year were only enough to buy 300 rounds.

Yue Haiying still carried Yan Yue on his back and hurried back to Territory Nine together with Zhong Tao and his wife.

Seeing his wife return safely, Kuang Qingwei breathed a sigh of relief and thanked Huo Zhun and Shi Du repeatedly.

Huo Zhun and Shi Du came out for the exam with people to send them off but no one to meet them, yet they were still cheerful.

Qi Fu noticed at a glance that something was off with his wife, but he didn't ask anything. He just held her cold hand tightly and chatted and laughed with everyone as they walked out.

Xia Qing, who had arrived at the territory first, greeted everyone, opened the south gate to enter her own territory, walked through the wild grass wall, and saw the Old Big One, Wolf Lao Er, the Does Daigua monkey on Lao Er's back, and the vast territory behind them waiting for her by the roadside. Her whole body instantly relaxed.

The twelve hours away from the territory had felt especially long.

Because there were two auditory evolvers on the path outside the territory, Xia Qing didn't make a sound. She stepped forward and patted the heads of Old Big One and Lao Er, then lifted up the Does Daigua monkey in its green shorts from Lao Er's back and stalked fiercely over to the north side of the territory by the greenhouse.

Chen Zheng and Chen Cheng, who were guarding the territory, saw Xia Qing coming with the monkey, greeted her, and left Territory Three. It wasn't that they didn't want to see what Xia Qing was about to do with the monkey the moment she got back, but rather that Sheep Old Big One and Wolf Lao Er, seeing Xia Qing return, were glaring at them even more fiercely.

If they didn't leave, they'd get beaten up.

After the Chen brothers left, Xia Qing threw Does Daigua on the ground, murderous aura blazing. "Does Daigua, which greenhouse did you steal the sweet potatoes from?"

Lao Er understood what Xia Qing was asking, turned around to lead her there, but was called back by Xia Qing. "Lao Er, come back."

Xia Qing took out her phone, found the video of Does Daigua gnawing on a sweet potato, and shoved it in front of the white-faced monkey pretending to be dumb. Her voice was low as she asked slowly, "Where did you dig this sweet potato?"

Sensing that Xia Qing was truly angry, Does Daigua stopped playing dumb. It flipped over and slowly crawled north. Just crawling past Greenhouses 11, 10, 9, and 13 took it over ten minutes.

Old Big One had long since lost patience and run off to graze. Lao Er still stayed by Xia Qing's side. At the tree hole of the dawn redwood by the western buffer forest, two little red squirrel heads peeked out.

Does Daigua slowly crawled past the breeding greenhouse, crossed the stone slab bridge over the stream, climbed up the northern buffer forest, and arrived beside Greenhouse 2. Xia Qing, who had been following it the whole time, asked fiercely again, "Where did you dig the sweet potato?!"

Does Daigua raised its little black paw, slowly pushed open the door of Greenhouse 2, crawled inside, crawled to the thorn-fenced sweet potato terrace, then squeezed through a gap in the thorns and crawled to the spot where it had dug the sweet potato.

One look, and Xia Qing got even angrier.

This monkey hadn't just dug up one sweet potato—it had also pulled up the sweet potato vines. The vines, sun-dried for most of the day, had already withered and couldn't be replanted to survive.

This terrace was Xia Qing's seed-breeding plot. She had painstakingly fertilized, watered, and tilled the soil for over three months, and hadn't even been willing to dig up a single small, not-yet-grown sweet potato to eat!

Xia Qing opened the thorn fence and walked in, pointed her unsheathed black blade at Does Daigua, her fury surging. "I told you not to steal any food from the greenhouses. Looks like you took my words as a breeze past your ear."

About this matter, Xia Qing had warned Does Daigua several times. She was sure Does Daigua had understood.

Not just Does Daigua—she had warned Old Big One, Lao Er, the wolf pack, the red squirrel family, and the red-haired family too. Everyone followed the rules Xia Qing had set. Even when the alpha wolf and Broken-Waist Wolf came, they only took food out of the refrigerator. This monkey had ignored her warning and stolen her food. It had to be taught a harsh lesson, or next time it would dare to do it again.

Xia Qing used her blade to lift up the terrified Does Daigua, carried it out of the territory, and entered the northern isolation belt. The little Flathead with its round, full belly, waiting to fight Sheep Old Big One, saw Xia Qing delivering food and immediately trotted over with a swagger that disowned all kinship.

Does Daigua was so scared it tucked in its long arms and hugged the scabbard.

That belly of Flathead's clearly showed it had just had a big meal. Still, Xia Qing took out the snake meat jerky she'd bought for it. "Flathead, thank you for guarding Section Three of Mountain Forty-Nine for me and clearing out the snakes and rats here. This is for you to eat."

Xia Qing carried Does Daigua on her blade and kept walking forward. Sheep Old Big One, who had followed her out, charged over and head-butted the little honey badger that was gnawing on the jerky, sending it flying.

Lao Er didn't keep following Xia Qing forward. It stopped to protect Old Big One.

The Evolution Forest was different from the territory, which had been cleared repeatedly. There were plenty of living creatures here, and the air was full of things that put Does Daigua on alert. It stared wide-eyed, hugged the scabbard tight, and let out low, pitiful "ah-ah" begging sounds.

Only now you know to be afraid?!

Xia Qing jumped down into the wild boar valley, pushed open the wolf den's door, and tossed Does Daigua inside. "You didn't pay the medical fees, and you stole my food. You don't deserve to stay in my territory anymore."

There's no water or food in the wolf den?

Obviously. Animals being punished in solitary confinement find their own food when hungry and their own water when thirsty!

After closing the wolf den's door, Xia Qing searched along the wild boar valley for the boar carcasses the wolf pack had killed.

Entering Valley One from Wolf Valley, following the stream past a patch of poisonous flowering plants the wild boars never touched, and walking a few hundred more meters, Xia Qing finally spotted the large wild boar skeleton surrounded by a flock of crows, vultures, and a single white-tailed sea eagle.

Molihua, who was in the middle of eating, saw Xia Qing arrive, flew over, and circled her. "Shrimp, shrimp, shrimp."

"Guagua, you came out hunting with Little Jade? Good job." Xia Qing waved and greeted the empty-mind-domain evolved crow with a smile.

The raven landed on a nearby rock and hopped as it said, "Xinxin, xinxin."

"Seeing Xin Yu knows you've come out? Guagua really is a good raven—going out to hunt and still telling Seeing Xin Yu so she doesn't worry." Xia Qing replied, took out her phone to record a short video and send it to Seeing Xin Yu, with a note inviting Seeing Xin Yu to dinner tomorrow night, then continued on her way.

When she reached the end of the valley, it was already getting dark. Most of the hornets protecting the chestnut grove had returned to their nest; only a small portion that hadn't eaten their fill were still buzzing around the chestnut trees, gnawing on the insects stuck to the leaves.

Two little red squirrels perched on the big pine tree next to the chestnut tree saw Xia Qing arrive. One ran off, the other ran over and burrowed into her pocket.

Xia Qing felt the slightly bigger bulge through the fabric and said gently, "Feimao wants chestnuts? They're not ripe yet. In another two months, we'll come harvest them."

After making a round, Xia Qing confirmed the wolf pack had killed three wild boars, but there were only two carcasses left in the valley. The carcass at the other bloodstained spot, where flies, ants, scorpions, and centipedes were fighting over it, must have been carried off by wolves or large birds.

Those several hundred jin of meat hadn't been taken away by Xia Qing, but not a bit was wasted—it had been divided up and eaten by various animals. Flathead must have eaten its fill in the valley and then been carried out by Lao Er.

The honey badgers in the northern mountain forest are under the wolf pack's protection.

Xia Qing immediately returned from the Evolution Forest to the northern isolation belt and found that Old Big One and Lao Er had already returned to the territory. Flathead, full from eating and done fighting, was lying sprawled out asleep in its dirt nest.

Hearing Xia Qing come over, Flathead just opened its little eyes for a glance, then went back to sleep.

Xia Qing smiled, returned to the territory, finished petting the three round-bellied foxes by the reservoir, went home, and took out the gifts she'd bought for her companions.

A gift for Does Daigua? After it's done being punished in solitary confinement and behaves itself, maybe. Xia Qing would not tolerate any person or any animal stealing or snatching the grain and vegetables she had painstakingly grown.

At night, Broken-Waist Wolf, carrying a basket through Section Three of Mountain Forty-Nine, paused by the wolf den and lifted its nose to sniff.