Chapter 1015: The Green-Tinged Evolved Wolf

Xia Qing didn't speak, and Zhang San couldn't tell whether the northern wolves' reaction was normal, so he lowered his voice and asked, "Could it be the spray I put on myself that's making them uncomfortable?"

The spray formula Zhang San used was Bai Liu's research result—a scent meant to make evolved wolves relax their guard and lower their hostility. It seemed the evolved wolves in the northern part of Hui Three Forest had different preferences from the ones in Bai Liu's forest; his clever trick had backfired.

"It's fine, just relax." Xia Qing shielded Zhang San behind her and once again gently emphasized his importance to the lead wolf. "Queen, Third Brother runs slowly and can't dodge attacks, so he sprayed himself with bug repellent. He's saved the lives of Broken-Waist, Broken-Leg, Lao Er, Little Bai Mao, and Little Four-Eyes. He's my companion; he won't hurt the pack."

After the lead wolf slowly retracted her fangs, Xia Qing took out the idol-dedicated carrier strap made from wild boar hide. "Third Brother, I'll carry you on my back. We need to get through Section Three of Mountain Forty-Nine as fast as possible and link up with Huo Zhun."

Originally Xia Qing had planned to have the big fellow carry Zhang San and the handsome giant wolf carry her. Seeing the lead wolf's attitude, that was clearly impossible.

Carrying the feather-light idol on her back, Xia Qing ran at top speed to the edge of the chestnut grove inside the valley. The other wolves stayed on the hillside; only Broken-Waist, wearing his protective suit, followed her into the valley.

The two of them first set up the sampling tent in a safe area. Only then did Xia Qing enter the chestnut grove. When the giant bees that released the Yi-synthesis elemental magnetic field came out, she immediately sprayed them down with a powerful anesthetic spray. The hornets engulfed by the mist lost their formation and, in less than twenty seconds, went thump-thump-thump onto the ground.

Xia Qing picked up the last giant bee to fall and quickly carried it into the tent. "Third Brother, this is the one."

"Good." Zhang San took the anesthetized giant bee and finished sampling and weighing it in just fifteen seconds. "Send it back."

Xia Qing ducked out of the tent, leaped over the stream, and placed the giant bee exactly where it had fallen unconscious. Then she watched the surroundings to keep other animals from running over and snatching the anesthetized evolved bees scattered on the ground for a free meal.

Inside the tent, Zhang San was portioning out samples. Broken-Waist stared at his nimble fingers, lost in thought. When Zhang San finished and looked at him, Broken-Waist opened his mouth and showed off his two cute, snow-white little fang tips.

Although this wolf looked a bit green around the gills, he was a purely wild evolved-forest predator. Zhang San couldn't quite figure out what he wanted for the moment, so he just smiled at him, then calmly unzipped the tent flap and pointed outside. "Go on out, I'll pack up the tent."

Before the man and the wolf had finished packing the tent, Xia Qing darted back from the stream, swiftly bundled the tent and handed it to Broken-Waist, then slung the idol onto her back. "Move out!"

The giant bee's wings had already begun to tremble—another moment and the chance would be gone.

After the two humans and one wolf climbed out of the valley, Zhang San sprayed scent-isolator, Xia Qing packed the tent back into her bag, then, with Zhang San on her back and protected by the wolf pack, they crossed Section Six of Mountain Forty-Nine.

Huo Zhun, waiting outside Mountain Forty-Nine, saw Zhang San on Xia Qing's back—his eyeballs nearly popped out. "Th-th-third… Qing…"

Xia Qing cut him off. "Third Brother wanted to come dig bamboo shoots too. Let's go."

When you came carrying that fish to find me yesterday to team up, you didn't say Third Brother was coming too!

Third Brother is a top-tier scientist who legally enjoys special protection! What kind of place is this? This is an evolved forest with an extremely high danger rating!!!

Xia Qing, with Zhang San on her back getting jostled until he was seeing stars, shot Huo Zhun an exasperated look. "I can't come out to dig bamboo shoots?"

Huo Zhun immediately pulled his eyeballs back in. "Of course you can. Of course. Whatever you want to do is fine—want me to carry you for a while?"

Xia Qing shook her head. Huo Zhun's close-combat ability was far better than hers. "I'll carry Third Brother. Huo-ge, you take point. Queen, the left, right, and rear are yours."

Huo Zhun nodded, then couldn't help reminding her, "Sister Qing, watch your step."

Don't you dare drop Third Brother.

Last month, Xia Qing and Huo Zhun had led a team to Mountain Fifty-Two's bamboo grove to dig up the roots of an aggressive evolved bamboo. The path they'd cleared then hadn't been fully reclaimed by weeds and vines yet. Huo Zhun drew his black blade and hacked through the obstructing vines as they advanced.

Now that Xia Qing had finally stopped running, Zhang San felt a bit better and began paying attention to the evolved wolves around him, as well as the two weasels—one big, one small—trailing far behind.

The small one was probably one of the five kits born back in February to that albino weasel that had had a difficult delivery. Wild animals bred and grew up so much faster than humans.

The sharp-eyed lead wolf noticed Zhang San watching and bounded forward several meters, standing on a boulder to let out an authoritative roar in his direction.

Huo Zhun was so startled his body hair stood on end. "Sister Qing, what's happening?"

Xia Qing understood what the lead wolf was growling about and reminded the idol, "Third Brother, the wolves don't like being stared at by humans. You can use this chance to observe the plants and animals in the evolved forest. Queen, Huo-ge, let's keep moving."

"All right." Zhang San stopped watching the wolves and shifted his gaze to observe the plants inside the evolved forest.

It was his first time up close with a forest that had turned riotously colorful after evolution. Even though he could identify the names and characteristics of these plants, his heart was still shaken.

He really wanted to pull off his protective mask and take a deep breath of that free, humid air.

Today's teamed-up evolved wolves had developed a certain tolerance for Xia Qing's poky pace. Only the weasel kit, on its first group activity, started slacking off after a short jog—chasing butterflies one moment, grabbing lizards the next.

By the time Xia Qing finally reached the bamboo grove, the little fellow still had half an unfinished small lizard dangling from its mouth.

When Hu Zi Feng, who was guarding the bamboo grove, saw Zhang San, his shock was even greater than Huo Zhun's.

Chen Cheng ran over to help Xia Qing unbuckle the carrier strap and carefully steadied this skinny, bespectacled brother as he stood. "Sister Qing, who is this?"

This guy, thin as a skeleton—is he ordinary, or does he have special abilities?

Xia Qing introduced him. "This is Third Brother from Territory Seven. He's come to harvest edible bamboo shoots too."

Th-Third-Third Brother?!!!

Chen Cheng's hands were trembling. He suddenly felt they hadn't cleaned the bamboo grove thoroughly enough—they should have netted the soil here and sifted through every bit before inviting Third Brother over to dig shoots. The rest of Hu Zi Feng's squad felt pretty much the same.

Zhang San nodded to Hu Zi Feng's squad. Once he'd recovered, he first took soil samples here before asking, "Is this all moso bamboo?"

"Yes, this whole large patch is. If you go west about two hundred meters, you'll find other evolved varieties." Xia Qing asked the lead wolf to take the pack on perimeter watch, had Hu Zi Feng's squad and Huo Zhun protect them at close range, and only then began explaining to Zhang San how to dig shoots at this time of year.

"The only kind you can dig now is whip shoots—the tips of the underground bamboo roots. The shoot tips that have broken through the soil surface have already hardened and don't have much meat left; they don't taste good. Third Brother, look here—lots of the whip shoot tips poking out have been bitten off by wild boars or bamboo rats…"

Xia Qing fitted the idol with his iron umbrella and led him to a relatively open spot beside a thick, aggressive green-light bamboo, then opened the umbrella. "This is an aggressive green-light bamboo; its root system is relatively intact. We need to gently scrape back the topsoil and look for the tips of the bamboo roots, the rhizomes. Don't break the roots, or this bamboo will shoot out leaf darts."

"All right." Although brain-domain evolver Zhang San had never used a pickaxe before, after watching Xia Qing dig a few times he grasped the key points. Gripping the small pick with both hands, he began scraping at the soil.

After a few scrapes, he found his first whip shoot and said happily, "Xia Qing, look—is this one?"

Huo Zhun, who was protecting Zhang San at close range, suddenly understood why Xia Qing had risked bringing him out to dig shoots. Because here, Zhang San was no longer the skeleton in the lab coat back in the laboratory—he had the air of a living person about him.

Huo Zhun grew more and more convinced that the path his father had chosen for him was the right one. Although this territory was vast and sparsely populated, with endless daily farm chores and no restaurants, bars, or shopping centers, the people here lived more genuinely, more solidly, more humanly.

Zhang San, who usually lived like a highly efficient, precise research machine, must have sensed this too, which was why he was willing to leave the laboratory and become part of this territory.