Chapter 999: The Magnetic-Sense Evolver Disappears

"Thud!"

Xia Qing, crouching inside the wild-grass wall of Territory Three, heard someone land from a height. Judging by the sound and position, they had jumped down from the three-meter-tall Territory Two road sign.

"Huai-ge, look, this is it—look at this thing!"

That was Liu Jing, the auditory evolver in Territory Two. Last winter, when Tang Huai returned to Territory Twelve to recover from his injuries, Liu Jing had served as acting agent for Territory Two and had spoken plenty in the lord channel. He was now a mid-level manager of sorts in Territory Two, running errands and passing messages for Tang Huai.

Because Liu Jing had barely any schooling, Tang Huai didn't use technical terms, only words he'd understand: "This thing can search for cell-phone signals within a certain range, then spoof any phone number to send messages to designated phones in that range."

A voice Xia Qing hadn't heard before answered, "I know! That's a fake base station. Before the Calamity, our company used these things to spam ad messages and scam people out of money!"

Tang Huai swore in a voice barely lower than the man's, "Keep your fucking voice down!"

Liu Jing answered quietly, "Don't worry, Huai-ge. Within fifty meters it's just us brothers. Territory Two isn't worth monitoring anymore—Qinglong wouldn't waste a high-level auditory evolver watching what we're up to."

The scammer from earlier also spoke carefully, "Sorry, Huai-ge, I let it slip. There's only Xia Qing in Territory Three, and she's always busy with big stuff—she's long asleep by now."

There was indeed only one person in Territory Three, but the intelligent beings weren't limited to one. Xia Qing and Old Four crouched in the wild-grass wall, listening quietly. No need to ask—the fake base station on the Territory Two signpost could definitely pick up her phone.

Luckily, her phone—like her idol's private phone—had been modified by Daya, with very high security: anti-wiretapping, anti-fraud!

"I'll note this as a merit for you two today. I'm taking the thing. Keep patrolling." Tang Huai's killing intent blazed. "Liu Jing, remind every brother in the territory one more time: anyone in the territory who doesn't do honest work and dares wreck the brothers' livelihood better hope I never catch them, or I'll chop them into mush and feed them to the bugs. These days, killing a man is easier than slaughtering a rabbit in the Evolution Forest."

After Tang Huai left, Xia Qing heard someone strike a match—probably to light a cigarette. She wasn't an olfactory evolver, though, and at this distance she couldn't smell the smoke. The old wolf beside her probably could, but it didn't speak human language, so communication between the two of them was limited.

After about two minutes, Liu Jing spoke up. "Run-ge, tell me—isn't Tang Lu stupid?"

Hearing that "Run-ge," Xia Qing immediately knew the scammer's identity: Shi Run, an ordinary person who had been the supplies buyer at the former Sufeng Squad base cafeteria.

Shi Run asked, "What do you mean?"

Liu Jing complained, "She snuck that thing onto the signpost in the dark last night—isn't that stupid? We're not blind."

Shi Run leaned against the signpost, tilted his head back at the star-filled sky, and blew a smoke ring. "Guess why she did it last night instead of a few days earlier?"

"Why?"

Shi Run's voice, accompanied by the rustle of wind through grass blades, reached Xia Qing's ears. "Because once she installed it last night, by the time the fake base station was discovered today, she'd already flown to Bai Yi and was inside the heavily guarded Bai Yi University dorm. Even if whoever forced her to do this learned the plan had failed, they couldn't force her back in the short term to plant another one."

Xia Qing nodded.

Shi Run wasn't dumb—no wonder he'd held down the cushy cafeteria buyer job. Who had made Tang Lu plant that fake base station?

Xia Qing decided to keep listening a while longer.

After a while, Liu Jing finally sighed. "Tang Lu's got it tough too. But if Kong Lingqiang forced her to do this, why didn't she tell Tang Dong?"

Xia Qing's face stayed calm. Kong Lingqiang was a minor leader in the Territory Management Department. Who had bought him off? Liehuo?

Shi Run snorted coldly. "If she told, wouldn't that be selling out Kong Lingqiang? She'd gain nothing from it. She sneaked the thing up there and we found it—that just means she lacked the skill. When Kong Lingqiang's people come to her again, she has a reason to wriggle out of it."

Liu Jing waved away the flying bugs circling his head. "Run-ge, you're the smart one. I never thought of that angle. Tang Zhengrong's fallen—who's Kong Lingqiang working for now?"

"Whoever it is, it's definitely not the good guys." Shi Run finished, then warned Liu Jing, "Territory Two has food, drink, and work. Finding a place like this during the Calamity isn't easy. Keep your head down and don't cause trouble."

Liu Jing complained, "Listen to Run-ge talk, as if I'm some big shot. I'm just a small fry—what trouble could I cause?"

"Guess who Huai-ge's parting words were aimed at? Of everyone in Territory Two, you're the one closest to Tang Lu. You're so polite to her—are you thinking that if one day Tang Zhengrong and Tang Rui get released and rise again, you can use Tang Lu to climb back up?"

Liu Jing muttered something quietly that the wind carried away; Xia Qing didn't catch it.

"You say Tang Lu's got it tough—who's got it easy these days?" Shi Run had probably finished his cigarette and was walking from the signpost back into the territory. "Tang Lu's no pushover—she's better at scheming than anyone. When Tang Zhengsu was in power, she was the most eager of the whole Tang family. More than half the evidence against Tang Rui and Tang Zheng came from her. Trying to cozy up to her is fucking useless…"

After the two men walked away, the old wolf also stood and turned back.

Xia Qing followed it to a safe spot before sincerely thanking it. "Old Four, thank you. If you hadn't brought me here, I'd never have discovered this hidden danger."

Dewdrops clinging to the grass blades glimmered faintly under the night sky. Old Four ignored Xia Qing and kept walking through the starlight.

Xia Qing followed behind, instructing the clever wolf. "Old Four, among humans there are good ones and bad ones. The bad ones are very cruel—they have powerful weapons and poisons. What you did today was absolutely right. In the future, if you spot bad guys, don't let them spot you. Come back and find me like you did today, and I'll deal with them."

The old wolf stopped and looked back at Xia Qing.

Xia Qing wasn't sure how much Old Four had understood. She stopped too, took off her night-vision goggles, and made a promise to the clever wolf. "I'm not exactly a good person either, but as long as Old Four doesn't hurt me or steal my food, I definitely won't hurt you."

The old wolf turned and kept walking through the starlight.

Xia Qing followed happily behind. "Old Four, how about I make you a wooden bed and put it on the ruins? Guaranteed comfy. You see that royal cell on Hill Fifty-Five where Her Majesty lies sunbathing? I made that…"

The next morning, while Xia Qing was patrolling the territory killing bugs, she received a message from Yang Jin: Class-B magnetic-sense evolver Ma Xiaoyin had gone missing last night.

Before Xia Qing could reply to Yang Jin, Xu Juan sent her the same news.

A few minutes later, Xia Qing received a call from Zhao Baolin, director of the Planting Management Department and head of the Safe Zone Planting Center. In a commanding tone, Zhao Baolin ordered Xia Qing to deliver Lü Ziqiang—a Class-B magnetic-sense evolver who had joined Center Nine—back to the Safe Zone within three hours.