Chapter 942: The Note

After quietly waiting for Ji Li and his companion to run far away, Xia Qing emerged from behind the tree, scanned her face to enter the Beimen of District One, and then entered the Beimen of her own territory.

As for where Ji Li and his team members went, Xia Qing was curious but wouldn't risk following, because she was no match for Ji Li—following him would be seeking death.

Xia Qing never does anything that courts death.

Stepping into her territory, Xia Qing saw a white cube the size of a die on the ground. She picked it up with a plastic bag, passed through the wild grass wall, went down Gao Po, and entered the meeting room beside the farmland.

After drawing the curtains and turning on the lights, Xia Qing didn't remove her protective mask and began examining the paper-folded little cube, already warped from being gripped in her hand.

After checking and confirming it wasn't poisoned, Xia Qing still didn't remove her protective mask or gloves, unfolded the paper, and discovered a line of writing on it:

Don't eat the soybeans. There's a problem with the seeds. Don't tell Third Brother — Ji

Ji Li's handwriting, like the man himself, was stiff and methodical.

Staring at the two characters "Third Brother" on the note for quite a while, Xia Qing finally took out her lighter and burned the note to ash, turned off the lights, and went to pick vegetables for the evening meal.

Rustle, rustle…

Wolf Lao Er, who was patrolling the territory, walked over from the western buffer forest and showed Xia Qing a smile.

Xia Qing scratched under its chin, her voice gentle, "Lao Er, there's still the yellow-light frozen rabbit you caught yesterday in the fridge. Tonight I'll make pumpkin stewed rabbit for you, plus a boiled egg. How does that sound?"

Wolf Lao Er wagged its tail once and followed Xia Qing up the hillside.

Passing by Greenhouse No. 6, Xia Qing stopped and looked through her night-vision goggles at the nearly mature soybeans.

Among the people of Territory Seven, aside from Zhang San and Yan Long, the one Xia Qing had the most contact with was Ji Li. But regarding Ji Li's swapping out the soybeans, including his slipping her the note, Xia Qing didn't feel much emotional fluctuation—she only wanted to figure out his purpose in doing so.

Because Ji Li was originally someone sent over from the Hui faction, and the Hui faction's official side is already deeply bound to Liehuo.

Ji Li swapping out the soybeans was certainly carrying out orders from his superiors. Him slipping her the note—was that carrying out orders, or his own idea?

If it's the former, this is indeed a clever move.

If it's the latter, the fact that Ji Li neither told her face-to-face nor through his phone means he's also under surveillance. In that situation, Ji Li still found a way to pass the information to her, which shows that, like Yan Long, beyond just carrying out orders, he has his own stance.

Because this note is the handle he's handed to Xia Qing. And the form of address he used wasn't "Lord" as the guards use, but the more intimate "Third Brother."

Can this be understood as: although Ji Li follows Hui faction's orders, he personally also greatly approves of Zhang San?

Don't tell Third Brother? Too late—Third Brother already knows.

Without much evidence, any further speculation is meaningless. Xia Qing stopped overthinking, quickly caught up with Wolf Lao Er, and went with it to pick vegetables.

The next day, Xia Qing carried Daigua Monkey and Little Feimao to Territory Seven for the two animals' follow-up checkups.

Both animals had been saved by Territory Seven, which didn't arouse Ji Li's suspicion but did pique Zheng Chen's interest.

Because he arrived late and had only seen Daigua Monkey once, never the red squirrel. On the way to escort Xia Qing to Zhang San's office, Zheng Chen asked curiously, "Is this little squirrel also an Evolver?"

Xia Qing answered nonsense with a straight face, "It's not even four months old yet. Last time it was scratched by a hawk, it never quite healed properly, so I brought it over to ask Third Brother to take a look."

"It does look pretty chubby—should be able to raise it to adulthood." Zheng Chen had heard from Ji Li's squad about Xia Qing's failure in adopting an Evolved cat, so her keeping an adorable little squirrel as a pet didn't strike him as strange. "This monk-faced monkey looks much better too."

"Mm." Xia Qing responded, took the cage holding the two animals from his hands, and entered her idol's office.

Zhang San directly called over Zhang Song and told him to take them for examination.

"Ah—"

The Daigua Monkey in the cage was very frightened, stretching out its tiny black little fingers, trying to grab Xia Qing.

Xia Qing pulled two yellow-light figs from her pocket, opened the cage lid, and stuffed one into Daigua Monkey's hands, "Go with Song Ge for the checkup. You'll be back soon."

Daigua Monkey held the fig and behaved. Xia Qing also gave one to the red squirrel that was trying to take the chance to dart out and burrow back into her pocket, and stroked its little head.

Zhang Song was surprised by Xia Qing's changed attitude toward the monk-faced monkey, "Is this monkey a brain-domain Evolver?"

Zhang San gave him a look, "Which primate animal isn't smart after evolving?"

"Fair point." Zhang Song cheerfully picked up the cage, "I'll go run the check and confirm."

Zhang San reminded him, "For the red squirrel, just check on how the wound is healing."

"Understood!"

After Zhang Song left, Xia Qing quietly told Zhang San about Territory Fourteen and the note.

Zhang San leaned back in his chair and said listlessly, "Ji Li's wife and child are both in the Hui faction safe zone. He has far more concerns than Yan Long."

Xia Qing asked, "Do you think Ji Ge was giving me a friendly reminder?"

Zhang San nodded, "This time it should be goodwill. However, whatever orders the Hui faction side gives him to act against you, he won't defy them either. Be careful yourself. It seems Liehuo didn't tell the Hui faction officials the truth—they only know there's a problem with Liehuo's seeds, not what the problem is. Otherwise, the order Ji Li received wouldn't just be to swap out the seeds, but to destroy the soybeans."

Regardless of stance, as the base management side, Hui faction certainly wouldn't want bioweapon seeds to spread and affect the base's population quality.

Xia Qing asked, "Third Brother, what should we do next?"

Mentioning this made Zhang San a bit irritable, "Harvest the beans as usual, then store them in the No. 1 Territory grain warehouse as quickly as possible. Someone will definitely try to swap the beans for normal ones. Just act like you don't know anything—I'll handle the rest."

"Got it. Luckily the beans matured and went into storage before the third Deadly Rain, otherwise the magnetic-sense Evolver from Territory Nine would have taken a stroll through my territory and we'd definitely be exposed." After finishing the matter of the beans, Xia Qing lowered her voice and asked, "Third Brother, does Ji Ge know about Tang Huai's Evolved ability?"

Zhang San wasn't at all surprised that Xia Qing had guessed Tang Huai's special ability.

"Not only Ji Li and the Hui faction people know—the Red One people know too. Otherwise, what do you think got the Deadly Rain Reducer approved? You don't need to worry about Tang Huai's safety. His dad and the Hui Third Army military have both sent people to protect him."

"Then I can rest easy. Our cordyceps can keep being grown." Xia Qing lowered her voice and asked, "Third Brother, can Zhang Shi be like Tang Huai?"

Little Eleven is about to start school soon—Zhang Shi can't stay in the cave forever.

Zhang San took off his glasses and rubbed his brow, "Tang Huai's evolution is in liver function. His liver can synthesize three special enzymes, so his body's metabolism, detoxification, secretion functions, and immunity are all higher than ordinary people's. Including me, there are twelve laboratories in the country conducting in-depth research on these three enzymes, and breakthrough progress has already been made. Within the next half year, we should be able to use gene cloning technology and microorganisms as a medium to achieve mass production of the enzymes."

"Zhang Shi is a recovery-type Evolver. Her blood contains a restorative element named Yi synthetic compound. The country has gathered top-tier talent and researched the recovery factor for nearly ten years, but still hasn't made substantive progress."

So, Tang Huai will soon not be rare anymore, but Zhang Shi and Fire Phoenix remain rare.

Just as Xia Qing was about to continue asking questions, she heard rapid thudding footsteps in the corridor. Zhang Song, carrying the cage, quickly arrived outside Zhang San's office door—even his knock sounded excited.