Chapter 388: Lord No. 14

Chapter 388: Chapter 388: Lord No. 14

Seeing Xiaqing, Kuang Qingwei, and Shi Zhong all nod, Qi Fu finally responded, "Alright. Captain Tan, please have Brother Yue come over now. We’ll wait for him by the road sign."

After hanging up, Mrs. Zhao said in surprise, "From what I’ve seen, Captain Tan’s daughter is only about ten. Can someone that young have a Territory? Don’t you have to be an adult?"

"It’s probably a special policy for military families. Both Captain Tan and his wife were soldiers, and she died in the line of duty," Kuang Qingwei replied. "Territory No. 15 rented a thresher from me before. Yue Haiying is missing part of his right arm. I thought he was the Lord, but it turns out he’s just an agent."

Xiaqing speculated, "The refugees from the Second Territory will want to forage for supplies in the Evolution Forest, and the closest entry point for our area is Mountain No. 50. Mountain No. 50 is just to the east of Territory No. 15, so I guess they also want to haul lumber from the part of the forest we chose to build their eastern wall. Uncle Shi, have you ever dealt with the Lord of Territory No. 14?"

To the east of the Tenth Territory is Territory No. 14, and further east of that is Territory No. 15. If both the Tenth and Fifteenth Territories build their respective walls, Territory No. 14 would only need to build its north and south walls to be fully enclosed.

Logically, if Shi Zhong wanted to build the wall between his land and Territory No. 14, he should have coordinated with the Lord of No. 14 beforehand. If the lord was reasonable, they should have each built half.

Shi Zhong shook his head. "I’ve shouted over from the eastern side of my Territory before, but no one ever responded. Later, I asked Captain Tan to pass on a message, but I still haven’t heard back. That’s why I’m building the north and West Walls first and haven’t touched the eastern one. In the past six months, I’ve only heard any activity from Territory No. 14 once, when they were using a machine to shell corn."

At the mention of shelling corn, all eyes immediately fell on Kuang Qingwei.

"That’s right, Territory No. 14 rented their thresher from me." Kuang Qingwei’s smile tugged at the pitted scars left on his face by acid rain, giving him a ferocious look.

He rarely smiled like that in front of outsiders. Now that he was comfortable with everyone, he was much more relaxed.

"The Lord of Territory No. 14 is like Xin Yu—he doesn’t like dealing with people. He didn’t participate in the July produce exchange, either. Renting the thresher was the first time he ever contacted me. He looks to be in his forties, with big eyes, a square face, and a full beard. There’s a blue, cross-shaped scar more than three centimeters long on his left cheek. He’s about one-point-nine meters tall, so he should be an Evolver. But he’s exceptionally thin and speaks very quietly. I don’t know if he’s injured or what’s going on."

When the Qiang and Yi Elements suddenly appeared on Blue Star and triggered the Initial Great Evolution, Human Evolvers under the age of 25 would undergo a second growth spurt, the most obvious trait of which was a significant increase in height.

That was why Kuang Qingwei inferred he was an Evolver based on his height.

’A tall, gaunt man with a full beard and a blue, cross-shaped scar on his left cheek?’

Xiaqing’s expression was calm. "Based on Brother Qing’s description, that person is likely Yan Meng, a former member of the Wind and Cloud Team and a Level 4 Olfactory Evolver. He was poisoned during a mission last August. His Yi Evolution Ability was damaged, so he lost his combat effectiveness and retired from the team. He and I have a feud. All of you should try to avoid interacting with him, so you don’t get implicated because of me and become one of his victims."

Everyone was shocked and hurriedly asked Xiaqing what she meant.

Plenty of people knew about this incident, so there was no reason to hide it. Xiaqing explained simply, "Last May, the Wind and Cloud Team accepted a mission to clear out the Evolution Forest and recruited Strength Evolvers, so I signed up. During the mission, we ran into an Evolution Wolf Group. The main force of the Wind and Cloud Team tried to hunt the wolves, but they ended up getting wiped out. I only escaped with my life because I was hiding in a tree."

"Ah!" Mrs. Zhao exclaimed. "I’ve heard about that! I heard all the core members of the Wind and Cloud Team had their stomachs torn out by the Evolutionary Wolves, and their hearts, livers, and lungs were all eaten."

Kuang Qingwei and Qi Fu also nodded. It had been a major incident last year, and everyone in the Safe Zone had heard about it; they just never imagined Xiaqing had been part of that hunt.

Kuang Qingwei asked, "Did the wolves really eat them? I thought Evolutionary Wolves didn’t like the taste of human flesh and only drank our blood."

’Have the rumors really gotten that absurd?’

Xiaqing, who had been there, corrected them. "After killing the people, that group of Evolutionary Wolves destroyed the Wind and Cloud Team’s weapons. They didn’t eat their flesh or drink their blood."

"Then the Wolf Group must have just eaten and wasn’t hungry," Shi Zhong said before asking, "I heard about this from Little Du. Is Yan Meng looking for trouble with you just because you survived?"

Xiaqing nodded.

In truth, Yan Meng had targeted the right person. His sister—Yan Pan, the Wind and Cloud Team’s Level 4 Olfactory Evolver—had been killed by the Wolf Group only because Xiaqing had pushed her out of a tree.

For that mission, the Wind and Cloud Team had dispatched a total of twelve members, eight of whom were part of the core team. Although Yan Pan wasn’t one of the main members chasing the Wolf Group, she was the first to open fire on them after the core members proposed the hunt. She was a good shot and managed to wound one of the wolves.

In the Evolution Forest, a gunshot wound was a death sentence for a wild animal.

So, after the Head Wolf led the Wolf Group in killing the other members of the Wind and Cloud Team, they began to attack Yan Pan, who was up in a tree.

After Yan Pan ran out of Bullets, she climbed along the branches over to the tree where Xiaqing was hiding. She planned to throw Xiaqing down to buy time for a rescue. But she underestimated Xiaqing’s hidden strength and was thrown from the tree herself, dying under the wolves’ claws.

After the rescue team arrived, Xiaqing recounted the clash between the Wind and Cloud Team and the Wolf Group truthfully, only concealing the struggle between herself and Yan Pan. However, Yan Meng, who had accompanied the rescuers, smelled Yan Pan’s scent on Xiaqing and wanted to kill her to avenge his sister.

But the captain of that rescue team wasn’t from the Wind and Cloud Team. He needed Xiaqing to report what had happened back at the base, so he stopped Yan Meng from making a move.

Afterward, the way Yan Meng looked at Xiaqing was always filled with killing intent, but Xiaqing was cautious and never gave him an opening. Not long after that, Yan Meng was severely injured and disappeared. Xiaqing, who had wanted to kill him, never got the chance.

’I can’t believe he also ran out here to farm, and so close by, too.’

Even though they weren’t on the same Lord communication channel, Xiaqing spoke on the channel often, so Yan Meng must already know she was in the Third Territory.

Once things settled down, Xiaqing decided she would find an opportunity to test Yan Meng’s intentions. If he was really just there to farm, she had no problem with that. But if he was there to avenge his sister, then Xiaqing wouldn’t mind sending him on his way.

Mrs. Zhao frowned. "That man is so unreasonable. Who knows if he has a gun. Xiaqing, you have to be careful."

"Yan Meng isn’t unreasonable, he’s just a coward. If he weren’t, he would have gone after the Wolf Group for revenge long ago," Qi Fu said, then warned Shi Zhong, "Brother Shi, you have to be careful with a neighbor like that."

Why wasn’t Qi Fu worried about Xiaqing?

It was a stupid question.

Forget the fact that Yan Meng’s Evolutionary Ability was already crippled. Even if it hadn’t been, he was just an Olfactory Evolutionary who wasn’t much of a fighter. He was no match at all for Xiaqing, a Strength Evolution Sniper.