Chapter 1009: Hornet Swarm Evolution

Early the next morning, Xia Qing swapped the Qi-Suppressing Agent for points cards and specialty goods from various territories, then took one vial of the agent to discuss with Old Wolf. "Old Four, look—this is a potion that can make you stronger. Want it?"

The Queen's body contains 7? Yi element and 4‰ Qiang element. This old wolf is also a high-level brain-domain evolver, but its body currently holds only 1.2? Yi element and as much as 16‰ Qiang element. Taking the Qi-Suppressing Agent can improve its constitution and raise its combat power.

Old Wolf gazed calmly at the small vial without looking away.

Xia Qing cheerfully drew 2 milliliters of the potion with a syringe, mixed it into unpolluted spring water, and set it before Old Wolf. "Drink up—it'll make you stronger. Once you're done, come with me to the Evolution Forest on Mountain 49. I need to pick fruit and I want your help."

Old Wolf lowered its head to sniff, then after drinking kept staring at the potion still left in Xia Qing's hand.

"Drinking too much at once will give you a stomachache. All of this is yours—split it into five days." Of the four vials of Qi-Suppressing Agent Xia Qing left behind, one was for Old Four, and one was for Does Daigua Monkey and Little Feimao.

Both Does Daigua and Little Feimao had suffered extremely serious bodily damage, so the Qi-Suppressing Agent suited them for improving their constitutions. The two were so small that one ten-milliliter vial of potion was more than enough to share between them.

After putting away the potions, Xia Qing handed the territory over to the Beard Feng squad that had come to dig pits, solemnly asked Boss Sheep to keep an eye on the home, then took Old Wolf and Does Daigua Monkey along, with Little Feimao tucked in her pocket, and left the territory through the north gate, heading for the chestnut grove at the northernmost end of Valley No. 1, Zone 3, Mountain 49.

Why bring Does Daigua Monkey along?

Because when it heard Xia Qing was going to pick fruit, it clung to her leg and insisted on coming. Little Feimao lived in Xia Qing's pocket—as long as Xia Qing didn't pull it out, wherever Xia Qing went, it went.

Beard Feng saw that Xia Qing's state was no different from usual, and then thought back to last night's boss, who had gone crazy and made it impossible for every person and animal on Mountain 49 to rest. Suddenly he felt a bit of sympathy for her.

He figured that in Xia Qing's eyes, whether it was the captain of the Azure Dragon Squad or a mere mission squad leader like him, anyone pretending to be her boyfriend made no difference at all.

Entering Zone 3 of Mountain 49, Xia Qing took Does Daigua out of her backpack and Little Feimao out of her pocket, letting them walk on their own. As for whether Little Feimao would keep up, Xia Qing didn't force it.

Noticing Old Wolf staring at the wild boar foraging by the valley pond, Xia Qing stopped. "Old Four, this is the Northern Wolf Pack's territory. The wild boar in the valley belong to the Northern Wolf Pack. If you dare hunt a boar here, the Queen, Sever-Waist, and Big Wolf Bro won't let you off."

She was different—she was the wolf pack's number-four combatant. If she wanted to eat boar, she could just kill one. Xia Qing felt secretly pleased.

Old Wolf looked away and followed Xia Qing onward.

They walked all the way to the end of the valley and stood above the cliff beside the chestnut grove, but Xia Qing didn't run into Little Flat-Top or the Red Fox family the whole way.

The Red Fox family would avoid Old Wolf, but Little Flat-Top wouldn't. The little guy had probably run off to other zones of Mountain 49 to fight.

Old Wolf stared solemnly at the buzzing Evolution Hornet swarm in the valley.

Xia Qing, meanwhile, was brimming with a sense of accomplishment. "Old Four, see that? All the fruit on those trees is mine. Those Evolution Hornets are guarding my grove for me."

Last year, when she followed the Free-Eater and found this grove, there were 31 chestnut trees in total: 19 yellow-light chestnut trees over a year old, 4 green-light chestnut trees; among that year's seedlings, 3 green-light, 2 yellow-light, and 3 red-light.

After harvesting the chestnuts, Xia Qing cleared out the red-light chestnut seedlings and dug up one green-light chestnut seedling, soil and all, to send to Territory Seven.

Then she buried a ring of sturdy stakes around the chestnut grove and wove a thorny hedge wall to firmly protect it, keeping the valley's wild boar from getting in to damage the trees, and applied high-quality fertilizer to the chestnut trees.

The fertilizer used was a special organic blend, prepared according to the organic fertilizer recipe that Zhang Tao had prescribed after testing the chestnut grove's soil and the seedlings' composition.

In spring, Xia Qing dug up two of last year's green-light chestnut seedlings and traded them with Territory Five for two green-light orange seedlings. This year she had also fertilized the chestnut grove and watered it with unpolluted spring water three times in succession.

Under her careful tending, none of the 5 green-light and 2 yellow-light chestnut seedlings that sprouted this spring turned red-light.

So now Xia Qing owned 32 edible chestnut trees, of which 17 yellow-light and 4 green-light trees had borne fruit. By eye, the yield looked like it would be one or two hundred jin higher than last year.

The chestnuts still had a month before the bulk of them ripened. Most of the chestnuts on the trees still had greenish husks stuck with a layer of insects; only a few husks had begun turning yellowish-brown, the spines on the husks had begun to wither yellow, and a small cross-shaped crack had opened at the tip, revealing the chestnut inside.

The scent the chestnuts gave off—which Xia Qing couldn't smell—attracted birds, squirrels, hedgehogs, and other small animals.

If the leaves of this chestnut grove weren't sticky, and if several thousand Evolution Hornets weren't standing guard, the ripe chestnuts would long since have become food for these small animals.

Following the beast trail down the steep slope into the valley, before entering the hornets' domain, Xia Qing took out her phone, adjusted the focal length, and snapped a rare group photo of the Free-Eater family perched on a big pine tree not far away, Does Daigua, and Jasmine, then sent it to her friend.

Xin Yu quickly called back on video. "The litter of squirrels the big squirrel gave birth to this spring—only two are left?"

The hornets' buzzing was so loud that the small animals in the trees couldn't hear Xia Qing and Xin Yu's conversation; otherwise Guagua would have flown over long ago.

Xia Qing pointed the camera at the two little red squirrels. "Right, the bigger one has its own territory in Zone 3 of this mountain; the smaller one is Little Feimao. The two that stayed living in my territory with the big squirrel—I don't know where they ran off to."

Survival competition in the Evolution Forest was brutally cruel. The two missing little squirrels might have established territories elsewhere, or might already have become prey for other animals.

Seeing her tame bird perched on the white-faced little monkey's shoulder, Xin Yu was delighted. "I didn't expect Guagua and Does Daigua to get along so well. Next time we can take them to the Evolution Forest together for an adventure. Is Does Daigua going back to live in the Evolution Forest?"

"It hasn't shown any sign of leaving these past two days. I'll pick the ripe chestnuts and bring you some later."

After hanging up, Xia Qing sprayed insect-repellent on herself and Old Wolf, and had Old Wolf, who wasn't wearing protective gear, stay in the distance to keep watch for her. Carrying the long-branch pruners, she went in full battle gear across the stream and into the chestnut grove.

"Buzz——!!!"

The hornets that had been feeding on insects around the chestnut trees spotted the intruder and came swooping in buzzing, but didn't dare get close because of the irritating smell on Xia Qing.

Old Wolf retreated cautiously, and the small animals in the surrounding trees began to stir.

Xia Qing ignored the hornet swarm cursing at her around her head and quickly used the long-branch pruners to harvest the ripe chestnut burrs.

Because of the angle, one chestnut burr didn't fall into the net bag beneath the pruners, but slammed into the ground instead.

"Bang!"

When the chestnut burr hit the ground, its outer spiny shell split open and three earth-red chestnuts bounced out, scattering on the ground.

A speed-evolution red squirrel stomped hard on the tree trunk, and a red streak shot to Xia Qing's feet. Before the Evolution Hornets could pounce on it, it snatched up a chestnut and fled at top speed.

The strongest cub the Free-Eater had given birth to in spring had once again snatched a tasty free meal from Xia Qing's hands.

"Ah—"

"Woo—"

At the simultaneous warning cries from Does Daigua and Old Wolf, Xia Qing, who had been bending down to pick up chestnuts, straightened up at once and saw an Evolution Hornet as big as a human palm trembling its wings as it took off from a rock and charged toward her.

This hornet nest has freaking evolved again!