Chapter 109: Re-entering the Safe Zone

Chapter 109: Chapter 109: Re-entering the Safe Zone

"Thank you."

After hearing the assistant Little Liu’s assessment, Xiaqing also speared one with a bamboo skewer and popped it into her mouth. Caution was necessary, but when faced with a delicacy, a little risk was worthwhile.

There were plenty of these things in Xiaqing’s territory; she’d dug up quite a few while clearing her farmland. But she couldn’t be bothered to test them one by one, nor could she bear to use up the oil for frying cicadas, so she fed them all to the fish, birds, and snakes.

Now, eating the still-warm and crispy fried golden cicadas, Xiaqing felt that for a treat like this, she could also spare some effort and oil.

After Xiaqing ate one, Tang Huai shot a triumphant glance at Wei Chengdong and passed the fried golden cicadas to everyone on the truck except for him. The atmosphere immediately grew lively.

Xiaqing understood that Tang Huai was using this opportunity to reverse the unfavorable situation where the nearby Lords were growing closer to the Green Dragon Team and distancing themselves from the Tang Family.

Just as everyone was animatedly asking Tang Huai for tips on digging up cicada nymphs, more Lords began boarding the truck one after another.

A total of sixteen Lords from Territories one through twenty-six had boarded. It seemed that all who could come had come. The ones who hadn’t either cut off all contact with the outside world, like Lord No. 8, or their territories were already empty and abandoned.

The Lords naturally split into three small groups based on their walkie-talkie channels. The representative from Territory No. 12 squeezed in next to Tang Huai, so the group of Lords from Territories one through ten was now larger than the other two combined.

After Tan Junjie and two other soldiers entered the rear compartment, the truck sped up, heading for Territories twenty-nine to fifty, which were closer to the Safe Zone. Following the pre-announced procedure for the agricultural trade fair, the three of them began inspecting the type and quantity of produce each Lord had brought. They affixed labels from the Territory Management Department, sealed the bags, and returned them to their owners.

Only after the Lords’ produce passed the official inspection could it be brought back to the Safe Zone for trade or exchange.

To protect the Lords’ safety, the inspections were conducted in an area of the truck partitioned off by a divider. The entire process was silent, with no verbal communication, so even someone with an Auditory Evolution ability wouldn’t know what each Lord or representative had brought.

Xiaqing came out of the inspection area carrying her backpack and basket. She returned to her seat and appeared to be resting with her eyes closed, but in reality, her hearing was fully engaged, monitoring all sounds inside and outside the truck.

Based on the bumpiness of the road, the sound of the wind, and the calls of birds, Xiaqing determined that the truck was passing through the ruins of a town.

Ten years ago, this area had been a bustling, beautiful city. Now, it was completely deserted. The whistling sound of the wind blowing through the ruins was particularly desolate.

Suddenly, a different sound carried on the wind. Having been rigorously trained by Luo Pei for over a month, Xiaqing’s self-control was a world of difference from before. She remained perfectly still with her eyes closed.

Xiaqing didn’t move, but Tang Huai did. "Did you guys hear crying? Sounds like a child crying outside."

It wasn’t a possibility; it was definitely a child crying. But the sound was extremely faint, and the ordinary people on the truck surely couldn’t hear it. The crying reminded Xiaqing of what had happened to Zhong Tao and Zheng Kui half a month ago when they were driving through these same ruins—they had been ambushed and injured by a woman holding a child.

The towering Zhao Ze, ever the sycophant just as he was on the Lord’s channel, piped up, "I didn’t hear anything. Brother Huai, your hearing is amazing! No wonder you can even hear insects moving in the dirt."

Kuang Qingwei also replied, "There can’t be any children in a place like this. It’s probably just a stray cat meowing."

"How could I possibly be wrong!" Tang Huai felt that Kuang Qingwei was insulting his ability.

At Tang Huai’s glare, Kuang Qingwei immediately cowered and offered an apologetic smile. Qi Fu quickly changed the subject. "Maybe it’s a child from one of the Lord’s families. Plenty of people brought their whole families out to farm."

Everyone fell silent again. ’What could possibly drive a woman to leave the Safe Zone,’ Xiaqing wondered, ’and risk surviving in the ruins with her child?’

After two hours of bumpy travel in the military truck, the speed slowed, and the Lords from Territories twenty-nine to fifty began to board.

After Sun Zhe, the Lord of Territory No. 48, got on, he immediately spotted Xiaqing sitting in the very back. Although there were a few women on the truck, Xiaqing’s red face was too distinctive.

Xiaqing saw Sun Zhe as well and gave him a nod.

When the military truck stopped outside the Safe Zone, Xiaqing took out her old phone to check the time. She had left her territory at six in the morning and arrived at the Safe Zone by nine-thirty. Although the journey was still very bumpy, the travel time was nearly half of what it took her to get from the Safe Zone to her territory.

It seemed the radio broadcast about the base "putting in a major effort" to repair the roads was true after all.

Tan Junjie called for everyone to get off the truck. Xiaqing followed the crowd, effortlessly hopping down with her massive backpack.

Hui San Base had gone to great lengths for this trade fair. Four military trucks, one from each direction—east, west, north, and south—arrived at the Safe Zone’s main gate at roughly the same time. The Lords, carrying large packs, huge baskets, or big sacks, stood by the trucks sizing each other up.

Xiaqing did a rough count—there were about a hundred people.

Hui San Base had established a total of two hundred territories last year. All were claimed by February, but five months later, only a hundred people had returned to the Safe Zone for the agricultural trade fair.

The remaining one hundred territories were most likely unoccupied. Faced with such a high casualty rate, it was understandable that the ordinary residents of the Safe Zone were unwilling to venture out to farm.

The Safe Zone’s heavy iron gate was already open. A conspicuous red banner hung above it: "Welcome home, Lords."

Beneath the banner stood a large group of Safe Zone staff. Xiaqing was surprised to see someone with a camera on their shoulder, filming. Her calm gaze shifted away from the banner, the crowd, and the camera, and settled on the large, dark bloodstains splattered across the Safe Zone’s walls.

Her father’s blood was among that which stained these walls red.

A bald, middle-aged man in a black suit strode over with a broad smile, shaking hands warmly with the Lords. "Welcome back, everyone, to our Hui San Base’s agricultural trade fair. I’m Jiang Quan from the Territory Management Department. Please, follow me into the Safe Zone."

Xiaqing clutched her backpack protectively in front of her. After presenting her ID card to the Safe Zone guards and undergoing inspection, she followed the stream of people inside.

The sides of the road were packed with sallow and gaunt residents. Their eyes were like hooks, fixed on the Lords, as if they wanted to snatch the produce they carried and swallow it whole.

Clutching his backpack, Kuang Qingwei complained loudly, as if no one else was there, "Why does the Safe Zone stink so much? It’s nothing like the territories."

"What do you expect when so many people who don’t bathe or change their clothes are crammed together?" Zhao Ze replied in a low voice tinged with pride. "We used to be like this too. I really don’t know how we endured it."

It wasn’t just the crowd; the entire Safe Zone exuded a suffocating odor. After ten years of the Natural Disaster, most of humanity harbored an immense fear of everything outside the Safe Zone. As long as they could survive within its walls, they didn’t dare take that step out.

Xiaqing walked forward in silence, her expression unreadable. In these ten years, she had never stopped moving. Because after the Natural Disaster began, her mom and dad had told her countless times: no matter how bitter the road ahead, it’s always closer to happiness than standing still.

They had promised each other to strive for happiness.

So, even if she was the only one left, Xiaqing had to honor the pact she made with her mom and dad and continue running toward happiness.