Chapter 20: As Long as I'm Not Embarrassed

Chapter 20: As Long As I'm Not the Embarrassed One

"Buzz— buzz— buzz—"

The phone vibrated. Lying on the ground, Xia Qing didn't want to move an inch. She called out weakly, "Silly, silly, answer the phone."

"Yes, Master." A rare, cheerful voice, sounding much happier than usual after the catastrophe, echoed from the pocket near Xia Qing's heart.

"Hello."

Captain Tan's voice was urgent, accompanied by the sound of running, "Xia Qing."

Covered in sweat, Xia Qing blinked away the droplets on her eyelashes and looked up at the washed-blue sky. "Captain Tan."

"The evolutionary tree in the western buffer forest of Site 3 has been cleared, and all buffer forests have been inspected. I heard sounds of combat within your territory village. Where are you? What's the situation?"

"...The fighting has ended. I'm fine. Captain Tan, there's no need to come check; everything is normal."

"Normal?"

"Yes."

After answering, Xia Qing realized that Captain Tan's voice didn't sound like it was coming from the phone! She turned her head stiffly, only to find Captain Tan holding a phone, standing not far away with a large group of people, all staring at her in unison.

Su Ming slowly pulled off his protective mask, his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open large enough to fit a goose egg.

...

...

...

Boss Sheep, who was lying on the ground panting heavily, also belatedly realized people had arrived. He immediately jumped up, shook the mud off his head, and stood in front of Xia Qing, brandishing his muddy horns at the group of evolved creatures rushing into the territory.

Xia Qing raised her hand to wipe away the mud spots Boss Sheep had flicked onto her goggles, but because there was even more mud on her gloves, her goggles became a complete muddy mess. Now, she was even less fit to be seen.

After silently chanting three times, "As long as I'm not the embarrassed one, the embarrassed one is everyone else," Xia Qing calmly climbed up. She stood beside Boss Sheep and naturally rubbed the mud from her gloves onto his horns. She hadn't expected that upon discovering visitors, Boss Sheep's first instinct would be to protect her.

He had a bit of a conscience, after all.

"Hahaha—" Su Ming truly couldn't hold it in anymore. "Haha— ha— ha!"

Seeing Su Ming doubled over with laughter get kicked into the mud, the rest of the group couldn't hold back either. One by one, they pulled off their protective masks and laughed so hard they swayed. It took Tan Junjie turning around and shouting a few times to settle this unruly bunch.

When Xia Qing saw Yang Jin—the only other person in the crowd who wasn't doubled over—her brain immediately stalled. Why was he here?

Tan Junjie turned back to Xia Qing and continued with official business, "What kind of creature was it? Resolved or did it escape?"

Since the fight had been so intense, the opponent must not be to be trifled with. Tan Junjie searched the surroundings. Unexpectedly, just as he took a step forward, the evolved mud sheep beside Xia Qing used its front hoof to scrape a line in the mud, letting out a threatening "Moo" at him.

This evolved sheep had territorial instincts and didn't want him getting close. Tan Junjie withdrew his foot and looked at Xia Qing.

Xia Qing answered stiffly, "No dangerous creatures. My sheep was just being disobedient, so I gave it a little lesson."

Tan Junjie's gaze swept over the fallen entrance door, the collapsed shed, the completely leveled courtyard wall, and the courtyard that had turned into a muddy porridge. "As long as it's fine. Be careful with your movements during this period. If you discover danger again, do not handle it privately; contact me immediately."

Xia Qing immediately stood straight. "Yes, thank you, Captain Tan."

Tan Junjie nodded and turned around. "Squad, fall out!"

"Captain Tan..." Xia Qing called out softly. "Could today's matter... not be spread around?"

As she spoke, Xia Qing's gaze shifted toward the expressionless captain of the Azure Dragon Squad, Yang Jin, who was standing beside Tan Junjie. She was very grateful to Yang Jin right now, because he was the only person on the scene 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 those calm eyes behind the goggles and... his excellent physique, which was truly unforgettable.

But gratitude aside, she still didn't want to attract attention. She didn't want Tang Lu, the owner of Site 2, to know that Yang Jin had come to her territory, and she certainly didn't want her embarrassment to become the laughingstock of Hui San Base.

"Don't worry." As Tan Junjie led the team away from Site 3 along the straight path Xia Qing had cleared, his shoulders were shaking just like the other team members, while only Yang Jin remained perfectly upright.

After watching them leave, Xia Qing fell flat on her back again, staring blankly at the muddy sky.

"Splat, splat, splat, clatter, clatter, clatter, tap, tap, tap..."

Listening to Boss Sheep stepping through mud and over doors to enter the house, Xia Qing finally rolled over and looked up. Seeing him about to eat the compressed rations she had angrily thrown on the ground below the steps, she immediately scrambled over. "Don't, they're vacuum-pack—"

Before she could finish the word "packaged," Boss Sheep quickly tilted his head back and swallowed the compressed rations whole, then trotted off toward the bathroom.

After a while, Boss Sheep trotted back out, squinting at Xia Qing.

Was he... wanting a bath?

Xia Qing laughed out of sheer frustration. She took off her protective mask and laughed louder and louder, until Boss Sheep lost his temper and started scraping his hooves to gesture at his spiral horns. Only then did Xia Qing say, "Wait there," and went to boil some hot water for him.

After carrying the warm water into the bathroom, before Xia Qing could say anything, Boss Sheep stepped into the large aluminum basin and began washing himself. Wearing her protective suit, Xia Qing first rinsed the mud off herself before washing Boss Sheep. "Today's incident was my fault at first; I didn't know you were outside, and I was in such a hurry when I came back that I closed the door. But you shouldn't have rammed your head and knocked the door down!"

At that moment, Xia Qing's entire heart had been hanging on that evolutionary tree; she truly hadn't noticed where Boss Sheep was. In Xia Qing's eyes, this house, this courtyard, and this territory belonged to her, but in Boss Sheep's eyes, this was his. So if he wanted to enter the house, he had to enter.

Door closed? Open it!

But, "It just rained, do you know how many dangerous evolved creatures are out there? How can we sleep peacefully without a door? Do you want to be covered in parasites again?"

Facing Xia Qing's series of interrogations, Boss Sheep simply squinted his eyes comfortably and continued his bath.

"You really need to fix that temper... Of course, I need to control my temper too." Xia Qing muttered to herself, entering a phase of criticism and self-criticism. Thinking about it, she found it incredible.

Over the years, she had experienced too many infuriating things, and every time she had been able to respond with calm indifference. Why couldn't she suppress her anger today and end up fighting with a sheep, even forgetting that Captain Tan was bringing a team to clear the evolutionary tree?

This was very wrong; that tree must be affecting her!

After washing the sheep, Xia Qing immediately went to fix the knocked-down door. She was grateful the security door was sturdy enough, and also grateful for the cracks in the wall, so although the door had been knocked down, it could still be somewhat functional if she repaired and reinstalled it.

After taking out her tools to hammer, dismantle, and modify, 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 had insect-repelling additives and double the corrosion resistance; it was a rare, excellent material. Even as a squad leader of the Safe Zone's construction team, Xia Qing possessed only this one small bag. She had originally intended to use it for something critical, but it ended up all going toward repairing a door.

Once the door was installed, Xia Qing used four wooden poles to brace it firmly just in case, then called out to Boss Sheep, who was sunning his wool and eating grass in front of the house. "Boss, come try it."

Boss Sheep squinted at Xia Qing and didn't move.

Xia Qing pulled out a piece of ration. "Come try it."

"Baa." The snow-white Boss Sheep immediately walked over. Xia Qing broke off a bit of ration for him, then pulled down the modified door handle and pushed inward. "See, this is how the door opens. You only need to worry about opening it; don't worry about closing it, it will close itself. Try it."

The food-loving Boss Sheep didn't look at the door; he only stared at Xia Qing's hand.

Xia Qing broke off another bit of ration and stuffed it into his mouth, then grabbed his front hoof and used it to open the re-closed door. "Just like this. Got it?"

Chewing on the ration, Boss Sheep squinted his eyes and stared at the door handle.

(End of Chapter)