"Buzz—Buzz—Buzz—"
The phone vibrated. Lying on the ground, Xia Qing didn't want to move. She weakly called out, "Idiot, idiot, answer the phone."
"Yes, Master." A rare cheerful voice, unseen since the natural disaster, came from the pocket of Xia Qing's chest.
"Hello."
Team Leader Tan's voice was urgent, with the sound of running. "Xia Qing."
Xia Qing, her face covered in sweat, blinked away the beads of sweat from her eyelashes, gazing at the clear blue sky. "Team Leader Tan."
"The evolution trees in the western buffer forest of Area Three have been cleared, and the entire buffer forest has been checked. I heard sounds of fighting in your village. Where are you? How is the situation?"
"...The fighting is over. I'm fine. Team Leader Tan doesn't need to come over. Everything is normal."
"Normal?"
"Yes."
After answering, Xia Qing realized that Team Leader Tan's voice didn't sound like it came from the phone! She stiffly turned her head and found Team Leader Tan holding a phone, standing not far away with a large group of people, all staring at her.
Su Ming slowly removed his protective mask, his eyes wide and mouth agape.
...
...
...
The sheep, lying on the ground panting, belatedly realized someone was coming. It immediately jumped up, shaking the mud off its head, and stood in front of Xia Qing, facing the group of evolved creatures rushing into its territory, its muddy horns flashing.
Xia Qing raised her hand to wipe the mud splattered on her goggles, but because her gloves were covered in even more mud, her goggles were completely muddy, making it even more impossible to see anyone.
After silently repeating three times, "Only I'm not embarrassed; it's everyone else who's embarrassed," Xia Qing calmly got up, stood beside the sheep, and casually wiped the mud from her gloves onto its horns. She hadn't expected that the sheep's first reaction upon noticing someone was to protect her.
At least it had some conscience.
"Hahaha—" Su Ming couldn't hold back any longer, "Haha—haa—"
Su Ming, bent over in laughter, was kicked into the mud. The group couldn't help but burst into laughter, removing their protective masks and laughing hysterically. Tan Junjie had to shout twice to calm the bunch of good-for-nothings.
When Xia Qing saw Yang Jin, the only one of the two people in the crowd who wasn't bent over, through the mud, her brain immediately went blank. What was he doing here?
Tan Junjie turned back to Xia Qing and continued with the important matter, "What kind of creature was it? Did you defeat it or did it escape?"
The fight was so intense; the opponent was not to be underestimated. Tan Junjie searched around. But as soon as he took a step forward, the evolved mud sheep beside Xia Qing dug a line in the mud with its front hooves and let out a threatening "moo."
This evolved sheep was territorial and didn't want him to get close. Tan Junjie withdrew his foot and looked at Xia Qing.
Xia Qing answered stiffly, "There were no dangerous creatures. My sheep was disobedient, so I disciplined it."
Tan Junjie's gaze swept over the collapsed front door, the ruined shed, the completely flattened courtyard wall, and the muddy yard. "It's good that you're alright. Be careful during operations. If you encounter any more danger, don't handle it yourself; contact me immediately."
Xia Qing immediately stood up straight. "Yes, thank you, Captain Tan."
Tan Junjie nodded and turned around. "Fall back!"
"Captain Tan..." Xia Qing called out softly to Tan Junjie, "Could we... not let this get out?"
As she spoke, Xia Qing's gaze shifted to Yang Jin, the expressionless captain of the Azure Dragon Squad, standing beside Tan Junjie. She was grateful to Yang Jin now because he was the only one besides herself who hadn't removed his protective mask. If he had, Xia Qing would have looked even more like a fool.
Xia Qing recognized him because of the calm eyes behind his goggles and... his outstanding physique, which were truly unforgettable.
Despite her gratitude, she still didn't want to attract attention, didn't want Tang Lu, the owner of Plot Two, to know that Yang Jin had come to her territory, and even more so, didn't want her embarrassing moment to become a laughing stock at Hui San Base.
"Don't worry." As Tan Junjie led the team away from Plot Three along the straight path Xia Qing had cleared, his shoulders trembled like the other team members, but Yang Jin remained ramrod straight.
After watching them leave, Xia Qing slumped back to the ground, staring blankly at the mud-covered sky.
"Splat, splat, splat, bang, bang, bang, tap, tap, tap..."
Hearing the eldest sheep stepping through the mud, stepping through the door, and entering the house, Xia Qing finally looked up and saw it about to eat the compressed food she had angrily thrown on the steps below. She immediately scrambled over, "No, there's a vacuum-packed one..."
Before Xia Qing could even finish saying "packed," the eldest sheep had already quickly tilted its head back and swallowed the compressed food whole, then trotted off to the bathroom. A while later, the eldest sheep came out again, squinting at Xia Qing.
Is it…wanting a bath?
Xia Qing laughed in exasperation, taking off her protective mask and laughing louder and louder, until the eldest sheep got angry and started pawing at its spiral horns. Only then did Xia Qing say, "Wait," and go boil some water for it.
After bringing the warm water into the bathroom, before Xia Qing could say anything, the eldest sheep stepped into the large aluminum basin and started washing. Wearing her protective suit, Xia Qing rinsed off the mud first before giving the eldest sheep a bath. "It was my fault at first today. I didn't know you were outside, and in my haste to come back, I closed the door, but you shouldn't have slammed it down!"
At that moment, Xia Qing's whole heart was focused on that deadly evolutionary tree; she genuinely hadn't noticed where the eldest sheep was. In Xia Qing's eyes, this house, this yard, this territory belonged to her, but in the eldest sheep's eyes, this place belonged to it. So, if it wanted to come in, it had to come in.
The door was closed? Open it!
"But, 'It just rained heavily! Do you know how many dangerous evolved creatures are out there? How can we sleep peacefully without a door? Do you want to get a bunch of parasites again?'"
Faced with Xia Qing's accusations, Boss Sheep comfortably squinted his eyes and took a bath.
"You need to change your temper... Of course, I also need to control my temper," Xia Qing muttered to herself, entering a phase of criticism and self-criticism, finding it unbelievable.
Over the years, she had experienced too many infuriating things, and each time she had managed to calmly and coldly deal with them. How could she have lost her temper today and started fighting with Boss Sheep, even forgetting that Captain Tan was coming to clean up the evolved tree?
This was very wrong; it must be that tree affecting her!
After washing Boss Sheep, Xia Qing immediately went to repair the knocked-down door. Thankfully, the security door was sturdy enough, and thankfully there was a crack in the wall, so although the security door was knocked down, it could be repaired and put back in place, still usable for now.
After taking out her tools and hammering and repairing the door, Xia Qing used a small bag of high-quality cement she had brought from the safe zone to efficiently reinstall the security door.
This cement contained insect-repellent ingredients and had doubled its corrosion resistance, making it an invaluable material. Even Xia Qing, the team leader of the safe zone's construction team, only had this one small bag, which she had originally intended to use wisely, but ended up using it all to repair the door.
After installing the door, Xia Qing, just in case, used two or four wooden sticks to firmly prop it up before calling to the eldest sheep, who was sunbathing and grazing under the eaves, "Eldest sheep, come and try it."
The eldest sheep squinted at Xia Qing but didn't move.
Xia Qing pulled out a piece of food. "Come try it."
"Baa." The snow-white sheep immediately came over. Xia Qing broke off a piece of food for it, then pulled down the modified doorknob and pushed it inward. "See, the door opens now. You only need to open it; you don't need to worry about closing it. It will close by itself. Try it."
The gluttonous sheep ignored the door, only staring at Xia Qing's hand.
Xia Qing broke off another piece of food and stuffed it into its mouth, then grabbed its front hoof and used it to open the door, which had closed again. "Like this, got it?"
The sheep chewed on its food, squinting at the doorknob.