Chapter 355: The Response

Chapter 355: Chapter 355: The Response

"Are you guys planning to take in refugees?"

The next day, after lunch, the members of the Territory Alliance, who hadn’t slept well all night, gathered again to discuss important matters.

Xiaqing was the first to state her position. "I’m not taking any."

Xiaqing’s good neighbor, Mrs. Zhao, immediately chimed in, "I wouldn’t dare. You can know a person’s face, but you can’t know their heart, let alone people you’ve never even met before. This isn’t ten years ago. Any random person you pull off the street could have who knows how many lives on their conscience. If I let someone like that into my territory, I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night."

The atmosphere in the room improved after discovering that no one else wanted to take in refugees, but the issue still weighed on the Lords like a heavy stone, making it hard to breathe.

Kuang Qingwei wore a worried expression. "I’m not worried about No. 1 Territory adding people. What I’m afraid of are the Second and No. 9 Territories. I thought about it all last night but couldn’t come up with a good solution."

Shi Zhong was even more worried than the others. "I’m right next to No. 9 Territory. When the west wind picked up last night, I didn’t dare to sleep. I was terrified Li Si would spread poison and kill my whole family."

There was a five-meter-wide path between Xiaqing’s Third Territory and Tang Lu’s Second Territory. But the Tenth Territory was directly adjacent to the No. 9 Territory, with only a few meters of weeds for a wall. It was certainly enough to give the Shi family a headache.

Qi Fu comforted Shi Zhong, "Captain Tan and Brother San are keeping a close eye on them. All the contraband in No. 9 Territory has been cleared out. Even if they’ve hidden a little something, they wouldn’t dare to be so blatant."

Shi Zhong nodded. "It’s not that I don’t trust Captain Tan and Brother San, I just can’t shake this uneasy feeling. Brother Kuang, do you have a way to sell grain? I want to sell three bags of Yellow Light Mung Beans and use the points to hire machinery. I want to put up a thorn wall between the No. 9 and Tenth territories. It won’t stop poison powder, but at least it can stop people."

Digging up and moving a large number of Evolution Trees with long thorns would be too slow by hand; they’d have to hire vehicles.

Qi Fu had the same idea. "I want to sell grain too. I definitely can’t afford enough points to fence all four sides, so I’m thinking of walling off the north and south sides first."

With her neighbor to the west, Xiaqing, walling all four of her sides, and her neighbor to the east, Qi Fu, walling his north and south sides, Mrs. Zhao had it much easier. "We’ll block off our north and south sides too. That way, our whole area will be secure."

"I’ll wall off my north and south sides too. I don’t need to do the side bordering Brother San’s territory." Kuang Qingwei had absolute confidence in the defenses of Territory No. 7. "Selling the grain won’t be a problem. I’ll make some calls this afternoon. I can definitely get double the Safe Zone’s purchase price, but you can’t tell anyone about this. Just wait for news from me."

Qi Fu asked Xiaqing, "I might not have enough thorny trees in my territory. Sister Qing, are there enough thorny trees on Mountain No. 50 for all of us?"

Shi Zhong spoke up first. "My son said that patch of forest has enough for Xiaqing. We can start after she’s done digging. If there aren’t enough, we’ll find some elsewhere. If we really can’t find large thorny trees, we’ll use thorny shrubs. The important thing is to get the wall up first; we can patch it up later."

Xiaqing’s territory was the largest, so she would need the most thorn wood to build her wall. Moreover, she was the first to propose building one and had already said she would be getting trees from Mountain No. 50. Although the Evolution Forest was ownerless, everything operated on a first-come, first-served basis. Of course, no one had any objections to letting Xiaqing have first pick.

After hearing that four territories were now planning to build walls, Xiaqing changed her mind. "I’ve decided to use a wire mesh fence instead. You guys can have that patch of thorn wood."

A while ago, Xiaqing had decided on thorn wood mainly because a wire mesh fence would be too conspicuous. But now, even Territory No. 4, the weakest in this area, was spending points to hire vehicles and haul thorn wood for a wall. As an Evolver Lord, upgrading to a wire mesh fence wouldn’t attract too much attention.

A wire mesh fence was much sturdier than a thorn wall. All she would need to do was regularly clear the weeds along the fenceline and spray Insect Repellent to prevent plants and rodent-type Evolutionary Animals from chewing through it.

The best option would be the kind of heavy-gauge wire mesh used at the Wild Boar Breeding Center, which could even stop wild boars. However, that kind of mesh was definitely not cheap. The points on Xiaqing’s card certainly wouldn’t be enough. She needed to get back immediately and contact her big client, the Iron Rooster, Yang Jin.

A wire mesh fence was not cheap, which shocked Mrs. Zhao and Kuang Qingwei. Shi Zhong and Qi Fu weren’t surprised, though, because they knew Xiaqing had resources. Not to mention anything else, the thousand-plus pounds of edible Chestnuts she brought back last time were worth a lot of points.

Besides, that chestnut forest belonged to Xiaqing. As long as no major disaster destroyed the trees next year, she could harvest over a thousand pounds of Chestnuts again.

Xiaqing explained the source of her points. "I had a windfall last month. I gathered over a thousand pounds of edible Chestnuts from the Evolution Forest. If selling all the Chestnuts still isn’t enough to cover the cost of the fence, I’ll ask Brother Qing to help me sell some grain."

"Alright, I’ll help you calculate how many points you’ll need for the fence."

Kuang Qingwei’s fingers flew across his phone’s calculator. "For a territory fence, you’ll need the kind they used at the former Wild Boar Breeding Center. That’s galvanized wire mesh, 1.5 meters high, with a 1.5-centimeter mesh size, 3-millimeter wire thickness, and sold in 18-meter-long rolls. The factory price from the Hui Er Base is 200 points per roll. You want to build a three-meter-high fence all the way around. What’s the perimeter of your territory?"

Xiaqing answered immediately, "9,000 meters."

"For 9,000 meters, the wire mesh alone will cost 200,000 points." After calculating the price of the mesh, Kuang Qingwei started adding up the other costs. "Shipping the wire mesh from Hui Er Base will be at least ten thousand. Add in the steel pipes for posts, other materials, and labor... the grand total will be around 240,000 points."

After calculating the points for the fence, Kuang Qingwei started calculating how many points the Chestnuts could fetch. "The Safe Zone buys Yellow Light Chestnuts for 80 points per pound and Green Light for 250 points per pound. Sister, you have..."

Xiaqing deliberately understated the amount. "1,000 pounds of Yellow Light, 200 pounds of Green Light."

’T-t-two hundred pounds of Green Light?!’ Mrs. Zhao was stunned. ’How many points is that!’

Even Kuang Qingwei’s thick fingers trembled at the numbers Xiaqing reported. He quickly calculated the price of the batch. "That’s 130,000 points. Add the 100,000 from your fish sales, and you’ve got a total of 230,000. That’s almost enough! Sister, go find Xin Yu. She’s building a compost starter factory and will definitely be shipping building materials here from Hui Er Base. If you can get your wire mesh shipped with her cargo, the shipping fee will be cheaper. You might not have to sell your grain after all."

After finishing, Kuang Qingwei kindly offered another piece of advice. "However, I still suggest you sell one bag of grain. Let outsiders think you only had enough points for the wire mesh fence because you sold grain. That way, you won’t attract thieves."

Xiaqing thanked him sincerely, then asked, "You really know your stuff, Brother Qing. Now I have a much clearer picture. I’ll contact Xin Yu and Brother Luo in a bit. I plan to sell the Chestnuts directly to the Green Dragon Team. Do you think that’ll work, Brother Qing?"

Kuang Qingwei, who was already thinking of sales channels for Xiaqing, smiled until his eyes narrowed into slits. "I was just about to suggest that. Selling over a thousand pounds of food to the Green Dragon Team is the safest bet. Captain Yang drives a hard bargain, but among all the merchants and teams in Hui San, he’s the most trustworthy. He pays upon delivery and never pulls any dirty tricks."