As she moved closer, she observed that the people were a father and son duo, the neighbors who had arrived later. Since the fence had already been set earlier, they followed the lines drawn by Wen Qian before.
Wen Qian put down her telescope, but it seemed that the others were not following the rules.
Her house was located far from the fence, and even farther from the new neighbors' home, indicating that their actions were intentional.
The others were trying to occupy her territory.
Wen Qian let out a light sigh.
The new neighbors were later arrivals, seemingly a family of four - an old man, a couple, and a young man who had just come of age.
Wen Qian had only briefly met the couple once before, and hadn't seen them again after that.
The remaining information was from Ni Sha and Big Jin; Ni Sha also shared a border with them.
Big Jin, on the other hand, had met them when they visited traveling upstream along the river.
According to them, it seemed the new neighbors got along well with everyone except Wen Qian.
But Wen Qian didn't care much, as their home was too far from hers, so they wouldn't encounter each other even if they tried.
As long as they didn't cross the boundary, everything would be fine.
So previously, there had been no intersection or conflict between them, and they didn't have much presence in Wen Qian's life.
However, this year, they suddenly crossed the boundary, because they thought Wen Qian's territory was better.
Better than their own, and the fact that such a good territory was occupied by a single woman made them want to test the boundaries.
First, they set traps across the fence, and when Wen Qian didn't notice, they started coming more frequently.
This year, when they saw Wen Qian's house, and after observing for a while without seeing any signs of her, they decided to occupy it.
They thought that even if she built a small hut, the materials she used would be better than their own home, because they didn't have bricks.
This made them want to occupy this place even more, because they felt that for a single person, it was a waste for her to occupy such a large area without using it.
And even if she came, they thought they could overpower her, two against one.
They had been staying there for three days and felt like it was already their home, conveniently saving them from having to build a new hut.
Wen Qian climbed up a tree and sat on a branch, pondering her options.
Should she confront them now, or pretend not to see and simply return home?
Confronting them could escalate the situation into an armed conflict, and she couldn't win a physical fight against either of the father and son duo alone.
But if she killed them, the situation hadn't reached the point of needing to kill, and killing one would only enrage the other, making it impossible for her to escape unharmed.
So how could she make them leave?
Give a prior warning? After considering, Wen Qian could only issue a long-range warning, avoiding a direct confrontation and potential violence.
So Wen Qian moved further away, took out a gun from her spatial storage, and found a suitable position to open fire.
She observed the person cooking soup outside going back inside, then fired a shot at the pot, the shattering sound drawing their attention.
The person came out from the house, initially thinking there was an issue with the pot, but then noticed the ground beside them being struck.
After observing, he realized it was a bullet, meaning someone was aiming at that spot.
The one sleeping inside was Old Liu, the father, while Young Liu was outside, who then rushed to wake his father in panic.
"Dad, there's trouble! Someone's come to cause problems!" Young Liu had always felt that their occupation of others' territory would lead to conflict eventually.
Little did he know that the other party wouldn't even show their face, and instead fired warning shots from such a distance.
That meant the other party had something that could observe from that far away, as well as a tool to take their lives from that distance.
Old Liu finally understood what his son was saying, and upon going outside and seeing the shattered pot and the spot his son pointed at, he realized the issue.
He looked towards Wen Qian's direction, and then a third shot hit a nearby tree trunk, the sound clearly audible to both of them.
Realizing it was a warning, Old Liu could only raise his hands in a circle, signaling his son to go inside and pack their belongings to leave immediately.
Wen Qian observed them through her telescope as they left, even closing the door behind them, until they were out of her line of sight.
She didn't approach after driving them away, as there was nothing of interest inside, and she didn't want to check the situation.
Instead, she went to the third hut, planning to spend the night there.
Since they left quickly and without any aggressive behavior, Wen Qian didn't feel the need to take drastic measures.
Of course, if this happened a third time, Wen Qian would need to come up with a more secure solution.
She was unwilling to kill casually, especially since the other party was just an ordinary mountain dweller like herself.
The father and son duo packed their belongings and returned home, where the woman was curious to see them back so soon, as they had said they would stay there for a few more days.
When her son recounted the neighbor's warning actions, the woman looked at her child with concern, as he was her only child, and she didn't want him to be in danger.
But the head of the household insisted on trying, without considering that for someone to occupy such a large territory and build such a large courtyard, they must have exceptional abilities.
Why should their family have to confront them directly? Besides, everyone had guns, so why escalate the situation to that point?
But she had no say in the matter, just as she had none in the modern society before the calamity, let alone now.
Wen Qian arrived at the third hut and swept the earthen bed with a feather duster, then fumigated it with a small bundle of mugwort before heating it up and making the bed.
She was constantly pondering what to do if the neighbors tried something again, as she felt she might have become too accustomed to killing, always thinking the most straightforward solution was that.
Perhaps she had been away from a lawful society for too long, so her methods of resolving issues were also quite lawless.
She didn't want to waste time and effort on verbal reprimands or warnings, as she felt they would be useless.
But if she truly engaged in armed conflict with them, it would inevitably lead to enmity.
And if she didn't resolve that enmity, it would be like burying a time bomb near herself.
Wen Qian absolutely wouldn't allow such an unsafe factor to exist near her.
It seemed she could only observe the neighbors' behavior, and she sincerely hoped that the family would cherish their lives and stay away from her.
