Chapter 941: Miscarriage

Based on the laughter, Xia Qing could confirm that Feng Wen was roughly 150 meters from where she and Zhu Li had been talking. Xia Qing, who had shared a dormitory with Feng Wen for many years, was certain she was not a hearing-type Evolver; the fact that she could hear them meant she was using eavesdropping equipment.

It seemed that after Tang Huai encrypted the chat channel for Lords 1–10, Territory Fourteen could no longer use walkie-talkies to track their movements, so they had switched to listening devices.

Based on geography, Territory Six to the north of Territory Fourteen, Territory Ten to the west, and Territory Fifteen to the east were all members of the Territory Alliance. She hoped they were ordinarily careful enough not to have had Territory Fourteen's top-secret Alliance matters overheard.

After parting from Zhu Li, Xia Qing made no unnecessary moves. She first went to Center Nine to take care of proper business before returning to her own territory. Only after confirming she had walked out of Tang Huai's hearing range did she contact Xin Yu, asking whether Xin Yu had any aerial panoramic video or photos of Territory Fourteen.

Xin Yu didn't ask what Xia Qing wanted it for and answered crisply, "No, I'll have Owl-Owl go take some right now."

At dusk, the eagle-owls were at their most active.

"No need. Going today would alert the enemy; let's talk in a couple of days." Xia Qing had just come out of Territory Seven. If Xin Yu's trained bird flew over Territory Fourteen now, Ji Li would surely realize that she and Zhang San already knew about the soybean matter.

Besides, the truth was already basically clear from Feng Wen's laugh today. Xia Qing's main purpose in checking the images was to confirm Feng Wen's eavesdropping location and remind Alliance members to be careful.

Xin Yu acknowledged, then suddenly thought of something. "Feng Wen's about four months pregnant, right?"

Xia Qing greeted Chen Cheng, who had been guarding her territory for her, signaled that he could head back to Mountain Forty-Nine, and only then continued, "A little over four months."

The reason Xia Qing knew so much about Feng Wen's pregnancy was that since getting pregnant, Feng Wen hadn't done a stitch of work, and Yan Meng constantly argued with her over it.

Just a few days ago, their verbal sparring escalated into a brawl. Tang Huai brought along the professional eavesdropping equipment he had once used against Territory One, and together with Zhu Li, squatted in the southern wasteland grass wall of Territory Six, providing a full text-based live broadcast of the battle inside Territory Fourteen.

Reviewing the chat logs afterward, Xia Qing learned that Yan Meng had actually made out a will: if he died before Feng Wen's child turned fifteen, Territory Fourteen would be returned directly to the Territory Administration, and the child would have no inheritance rights.

This scorched-earth move completely broke Feng Wen down. The two of them fought viciously, smashing four wooden buckets, three iron basins, two protective masks, a radio, and even shattering the glass on the container window.

On the other end of the line, the crisp, melodious calls of the parrot made Xin Yu's voice sound especially low. "Just this afternoon, in the OB-GYN department of the Chonglian Hospital, another 'accidental' miscarriage—a five-month fetus—was sent to the Chonglian Life Sciences Research Lab."

Xia Qing gazed at the blood-red evening clouds to the west, her voice equally low. "What about the child's mother?"

"She's a Chonglian employee. She doesn't know."

"What are you planning to do?"

In front of Xia Qing, Xin Yu rarely showed a vulnerable side. "In Hui Er Safe Zone, there are a lot of pregnant women who've had all kinds of accidental miscarriages. I don't have solid evidence, and that employee did sign off on letting the hospital handle the fetus's body. I know now isn't a good time to act, but among the female Evolvers I know, several are pregnant…"

"I'm planning to spread the word inside Chonglian, to let people know exactly what the hospital and the Life Sciences Research Lab are up to. What do you think?"

Knowing Xin Yu's temper, she would probably rather just blow that lousy lab straight up. But the lab was inside the Safe Zone, so its security level was bound to be extremely high—blowing it up would be far too difficult.

"Although it'll alert the enemy, it'll at least make them restrain themselves a bit, and make those pregnant people more cautious." After hanging up, Xia Qing stepped up onto the high slope.

Wolf Lao Er, who had been standing watch inside the fence for the boss, turned its head and flashed Xia Qing a happy grin. Xia Qing smiled back.

Only back in her territory, surrounded by her lively companions, could Xia Qing truly relax. She ruffled Wolf Lao Er's head, then looked up at Daigua the monkey perched in the tree, hugging a pine cone and digging out the pine nuts. "Daigua, did you pick that pine cone yourself?"

"Ooo—"

Daigua slowly opened its mouth and let out a sound. It could produce vowels like ah, oo, ee, yoo, but it didn't understand what these sounds meant in human language.

Xiao Feimao, who was digging out pine nuts on the branch above Daigua, saw Xia Qing arrive and immediately hugged the pine cone and burrowed into her pocket.

When Little Flat-Top finally lay down on the ground refusing to get up, Ram Boss raised its big head and cast a sidelong glance over. Xia Qing immediately scanned her face to open the gate, and greeted it enthusiastically. "Boss! You beat Little Flat-Top again! You're amazing! Your muscle lines are looking better and better, Boss—you're the most incredible evolved ram on the whole Blue Star…"

While Xia Qing was praising the Boss, Hong Da Mao from the red fox family came running out of Zone Three of Mountain Forty-Nine, rushed up to Xia Qing, and chirped anxiously.

Xia Qing asked, "What's wrong with Da Mao? Is San Mao stuck again?"

Little fox Hong San Mao was also a jumping-type Evolver, currently in the stage of learning to hunt. Because it couldn't yet use its ability skillfully, it often ran into all sorts of problems like this. Once Xia Qing had seen it wedged between tree branches, and its parents had a terrible time before finally rescuing it.

Hong Da Mao was so anxious it was running in circles, signaling Xia Qing to follow it.

Xia Qing put night-vision goggles on Ram Boss and discussed with it, "I'm going to follow Hong Da Mao to check things out. Boss, can you and Lao Er protect our territory?"

Ram Boss was a herbivore—as long as there was enough food in the territory, it had no interest in exploring new areas, especially at night. Ram Boss puffed out its chest and headed back into the territory.

Xia Qing returned to the territory to grab her tools, then followed Hong Da Mao to Zone Six of Mountain Forty-Nine, where she found the little fox cub Hong San Mao, just as expected, stuck in a rock crevice.

"Ying ying…"

Seeing Xia Qing arrive, little fox Hong San Mao let out a frightened, aggrieved cry. Its mother Hong Er Mao stood on a rock, anxiously running in circles. The honey badger Lord of this territory was scraping away at the rocks with a clack-clack-clack, wanting to eat the little fox. Seeing Xia Qing arrive, the brute glowered fiercely and warned her off, not letting her touch its prey.

Hong Da Mao couldn't beat the honey badger and anxiously circled around Xia Qing again and again. Xia Qing unhurriedly hopped up onto a rock the honey badger couldn't climb, switched on her headlamp, pulled out a printed photo of prey from her backpack, and beckoned the brain-domain Evolver Hong Da Mao over. "Da Mao, you want me to save your daughter Hong San Mao? Fine, go catch me a rabbit."

The red foxes weren't members of her territory, so if she helped rescue the little fox, of course she had to be paid in supplies.

Hong Da Mao turned and ran off, returning in barely ten minutes with a rabbit. Xia Qing tested it and found it was a red-light one. But she wasn't picky. She took the hydraulic jack out of her backpack and quickly pried the gap between the two large rocks wider, allowing Hong San Mao to escape successfully.

After Hong San Mao escaped to higher ground and hid, Hong Da Mao and Hong Er Mao began to fight the honey badger. One red fox couldn't beat a honey badger, but two red foxes were a different story.

Xia Qing had no mind to watch the fight. She packed up the jack, picked up the rabbit, and headed back. She was hungry and wanted to go home and cook. As she neared the north gate of Northern Zone One, Xia Qing stopped and ducked behind a tree.

Before long, Ji Li passed quickly through the northern isolation belt with one team member, heading west.