Seeing Xia Qing remain silent, Feng Wen got out of bed and strolled to the door, reaching out to pull at the grain sack she had brought back, but Xia Qing quickly pressed it down with her hand.
Feng Wen tugged at the sack, refusing to let go, “If you can’t finish all this food, it’ll spoil. What a waste! Give me half, and I won’t take it for free. How about this: if you really survive and grow something, you can give me thirty percent, and I’ll have my brother run errands for you, how’s that?”
Feng Wen gripped the grain sack, looking smugly at the dirty woman in front of her who lived more sloppily than a man. “My brother is a Level 3 Speed Evolutionist.”
Xia Qing looked up coldly, “I can’t afford it. Let go.”
A Scent Evolutionist couldn’t defeat a Strength Evolutionist. After Feng Wen reluctantly let go, she stared greedily at the grain sack and threatened, “Xia Qing, don’t be ungrateful. Do you really think a Level 4 Strength Evolution is so great? My brother is in the Su Feng Squad, and there are plenty of ways to kill someone outside the Safe Zone.”
Xia Qing, holding the grain sack and canvas bag, turned back. On her dirty face, a pair of clear, black-and-white eyes were exceptionally bright. “If Tang Lu knew you liked Yang Jin, and your brother was secretly selling internal information about the Su Feng Squad, how many days would your siblings have left to live?”
With that, Xia Qing no longer paid attention to the pale-faced Feng Wen, who was scared stiff, and walked out of the suffocating dormitory building, feeling refreshed.
She hadn't gone far when she heard familiar voices at a nearby street corner, planning to rob her.
“Robbing her this time will be enough for two months. Be careful not to kill or cripple her; our four brothers still need her to support us.”
Listening to the disgusting lewd laughter, Xia Qing, holding the bags in both hands, took a few steps forward and stopped at the street corner, facing the four ordinary people who were about to rob her.
This was… a fat sheep delivering herself to their doorstep?
Zhao Jie was stunned for a moment, then excitedly shouted “Go!” and led the charge towards Xia Qing—or rather, the bags in her hands.
Although a Level 4 Strength Evolution woman's strength was equivalent to four strong, ordinary men, women had poor psychological fortitude and couldn't exert their full strength in danger. Not to mention four men, she couldn't even beat three. They had done this dozens of times in the past five years, it was a piece of cake…
“Bang, bang, bang, bang!”
Zhao Jie’s hands were trembling with excitement and he hadn't even grabbed the grain sack when Xia Qing kicked him flying into a wall, then he fell onto his good brother.
No…
Zhao Jie looked at the thin, red-faced woman in front of him in terror. Impossible, how could this be!
The groups of emaciated people ambushing on both sides of the road were stunned by Xia Qing's effortless act of kicking down four big men and dared not make a move.
Feng Wen, standing by the window on the third floor of the Evolutionist dormitory, watched with wide eyes as Xia Qing effortlessly walked through the dangerous zone with her belongings.
“Xia Qing, sis, come on, brother will carry it for you!” Zhong Tao, who had been craning his neck at the Safe Zone entrance, finally saw the person with the green tag bearing the words “Xia Qing” on her chest. He jogged forward to take the half-human-tall canvas bag she was carrying, but nearly stumbled from its weight.
So heavy?!
Xia Qing steadied the canvas bag in her right hand and handed the grain sack in her left to the familiar Zhong Tao, “Tao Ge, why are you here?”
Zhong Tao easily carried the sixty-plus-pound grain sack. “Our War Team was assigned the task of escorting the Lord. Which territory did you get, sis? Brother will take you there.”
People were coming and going at the Safe Zone entrance, and Xia Qing didn't want to reveal her location, so she vaguely replied, “North of the city.”
“Alright!” Zhong Tao led Xia Qing to a light truck, opened the door, greeted the brother in the driver’s seat, and then told Xia Qing to get in, “This one’s going north of the city. Sis, go on in and chat with Kui Ge for a bit; we’ll leave once it’s full.”
“Thank you.” Not having to sit in the truck bed, bouncing and eating dust, Xia Qing naturally didn't refuse. She greeted the driver, Zheng Kui, then easily lifted her canvas bag into the truck, tucked it in front of the seat, and then sat in the passenger seat holding her grain sack, waiting for the truck to depart.
Once she was settled, Zheng Kui pulled out a small iron box of tobacco, then rolled a cigarette with a piece of cut-up old book paper, and handed it to Xia Qing, “Have one, sis. This is evolution tobacco; it’s very refreshing.”
After the catastrophe, surviving humans, not knowing whether tomorrow or disaster would come first, mostly indulged in pleasure while they were still alive; tobacco, alcohol, and sex were rampant.
Xia Qing didn't say she didn't smoke, only waved her hand in refusal, “This kind of tobacco is too strong; I’m not used to it. Kui Ge, you smoke it.”
Women preferred tobacco with a scent. Zheng Kui pulled out a match, lit his cigarette, and took a deep drag. “Which territory did you get?”
“Third Land.” Xia Qing hadn’t idled chatted with anyone for a very, very long time. Seeing Zheng Kui didn’t respond, she proactively added, “It’s about 120 kilometers north of the city, near the Dragon Coil Reservoir. It’s a pretty small Reservoir; Kui Ge probably hasn’t heard of it.”
Zheng Kui exhaled a puff of smoke out the window. “That’s a good place, not far from the regiment’s garrison.”
“Mm.” Xia Qing’s voice contained an undeniable satisfaction. She chose Third Land partly because it was close to the army garrison, allowing her to call for help nearby in dangerous situations.
After finishing the slender rolled cigarette, Zheng Kui asked again, “Just you alone?”
Xia Qing nodded, “Yes, it’s quiet alone.”
Having been squeezed with two million people in the small Safe Zone for almost ten years, if she hadn’t been able to get some fresh air outside during missions, Xia Qing would have gone crazy long ago.
“Out of 1.8 billion people, only a little over 100 million are left. Outside the Safe Zone, there’s no one anywhere, and everything eats people.” Zheng Kui’s voice was heavy, and he casually rolled another cigarette and put it in his mouth.
China, with only one-eighteenth of its population remaining, was already the country with the highest survival rate after the natural disaster on Blue Star. Many small nations had been wiped out by the catastrophe, and some countries had even sunk underground due to crustal movement, ceasing to exist.
Xia Qing silently looked at the large, dried dark red bloodstains on the ten-meter-high reinforced concrete wall of the Safe Zone, and the scorch marks and cracks left by repeated human-beast battles, and said nothing more.
“Little girl, I’ve found you!” The man who was queuing behind Xia Qing at the territory assignment ran to the truck and enthusiastically greeted Xia Qing, “My name is Zhao Ze, and I got No. 4 Territory. We’ll be neighbors from now on.”
No. 4 Territory was to the east of Third Land and was Xia Qing’s second choice after Third Land. She glanced at the dozen or so men and women behind Zhao Ze who were staring intently at her grain sack, and nodded slightly, “Xia Qing.”
Xia Qing's attitude was cold, but her willingness to acknowledge him was already considered good among Evolutionists.
As Zhao Ze leaned through the window, trying to strike up more conversation, Zhong Tao approached with a large group of people carrying tattered luggage, urging Zhao Ze and his group to get in the truck, “Everyone, get in! If you dawdle any longer, we won’t reach our destination before dark.”
Zhao Ze led the rush into the truck bed. Zhong Tao got in and sat between Xia Qing and Zheng Kui. Zheng Kui hit the gas, and the truck shot forward.
The once extensive roads before the catastrophe had been completely destroyed by strong acid rain and evolved plants. The current truck routes were dirt roads that had been cleared section by section over the past few years. Because there were many people in the truck bed, the vehicle slowed down after leaving the flat roads near the Safe Zone. They departed from the Safe Zone at 10 AM, stopping and starting along the way, and finally pulled up to the signpost at the edge of Third Land at past 5 PM.
Xia Qing, the last passenger, got off the truck and watched the light truck turn around and head back. Then, she picked up her bags and ran wildly across her field for a while. After tripping over a tree root, she rolled onto her back, gazed at the sky, and giggled for a bit before getting up and heading towards her dwelling.