Chapter 1038: The Evolved Tiger's Old Wounds

Xia Qing retreated to the spot farthest from the water basin inside the cave, squatted with her back to the wolves, and began examining the evolved tiger's wounds, letting them understand she meant no harm.

If the western wolf pack still refused to drink, Xia Qing would pour all the leftover potion from the northern wolf king straight into the belly of this immobilized tiger — not a single drop wasted.

The lead wolf was long used to eating what Xia Qing prepared. After walking over and taking a few sips, it looked toward the western wolf king.

The western wolf king stared at Xia Qing with killing intent for a while, then walked over, sniffed the water in the basin carefully, and opened its jaws to drink in big gulps.

"Wooo—"

Seeing this fellow drink half the basin in one go, the northern wolf king let out a majestic roar; the deep, trembling howl echoed through the valley, hammering against the hearts of Xia Qing and the wolf pack.

The western wolf king lifted its big head, potion dripping from the corners of its mouth, and locked eyes with the northern wolf king in a silent clash for several seconds before finally understanding its meaning. It stepped aside and looked at its own companions. The five giant wolves came over one after another, each drinking a few mouthfuls of water; the last one even licked the basin clean.

Hearing that familiar sound, Xia Qing glanced back and met the eyes of the black giant wolf that was licking the basin.

The black giant wolf bristled, immediately leaping back to its companions and baring its gleaming white fangs at Xia Qing.

Good. This scarred-right-cheek, golden-eyed female giant wolf is a foodie — cooperation might be possible in the future.

Xia Qing pointed at the western wolf king's neck. "Big Wolf's Bro, the Yi-stone necklace around your neck is mine. After the Devastation Rain, remember to return it to me."

The western wolf king swept a vicious glance at Xia Qing, shook its fur, and led its pack out of the cave.

The Devastation Rain was about to begin.

Unable to get the Yi-stone necklace back, Xia Qing could only pull a Yi-stone protective case from her backpack, open it, take out another necklace, and hang it around the evolved tiger's neck.

This fellow is very weak; it needs Yi-stone protection during the Devastation Rain too.

Xia Qing first gave this big fellow a simple disinfection, injected an antibacterial agent, then set up a tent, hauled it inside, crawled out, and discussed with the lead wolf: "Her Majesty will rest here for a while. Shall I go collect today's spoils for us?"

Seeing the lead wolf didn't object, Xia Qing first called her idol on the phone to confirm that the bodies of this squad didn't need to be brought back, then ran out.

Treating the evolved tiger's wounds was urgent, but collecting the enemy corpses and supplies in the valley was even more urgent — otherwise, if a scavenger came along and dragged the bodies away, it would be a real headache.

The corpses and supplies were divided by Xia Qing into two bags, which she hauled back. The supplies were placed inside the cave; the bag of corpses was tied tight and set at the cave entrance. Once the Beard Peak squad brought over the remaining two bodies, they'd take a photo together and then burn them.

Although one vagrant had been blown into chunks by Xia Qing's grenade, the head was still intact. With the photo and their sidearms, Xia Qing could claim the bounty from Huiyi Base.

How much is the bounty?

Too busy — Xia Qing had no time to check online. Even if she had free time later, the first thing she'd do was contact Chen Cheng, who was guarding her territory, to confirm the exact situation of her territory and companions.

Xia Qing laid out the three backpacks, ten satchels, a pile of weapons and protective suits from the vagrant squad, together with the five large backpacks and two bags of wriggling bugs from this cave — over three meters high, over two meters wide, and over ten meters deep — and arranged them all together.

Her idol was very interested in the bugs and wanted her to bring them back. The remaining supplies were spoils belonging to the lead wolf and Xia Qing.

When the Beard Peak squad brought back the vagrant Xia Qing had shot and wounded, based on mission contribution, Xia Qing could give them half of his supplies.

The remaining spoils belonged to her and the lead wolf. Xia Qing pointed at the spoils distribution and asked, "Your Majesty, these are the supplies from those seven blue-skinned humans. What do you want? You pick first — whatever's left is mine."

The lead wolf glanced at the stinky backpacks, turned its head away in disgust.

Teaming up with Her Majesty is way better than teaming up with Yang Jin's stingy older-brother wolf!!!

Xia Qing was overjoyed. "Her Majesty doesn't want any of it? Great, then all these backpacks are mine, as a reward for this mission. Thanks, Your Majesty — let me disinfect you first."

The lead wolf was wearing a protective suit, but its head had been drenched in Devastation Rain and needed to be wiped dry and dusted with medicated powder to kill germs and disinfect.

Xia Qing first cleaned the lead wolf's fur, then disinfected her own protective suit, before crawling into the tent, removing her face shield and putting on a mask, and beginning to treat the wounds on the evolved tiger's body.

On closer examination, Xia Qing discovered that on the outside of this evolved tiger's right hind leg there was a horizontal wound fifteen centimeters long. Judging by the wound's surface and depth, it had most likely been inflicted by a human arrow; the injury was over five days old, and the wound was already red, swollen, and suppurating.

Because it had appeared standing on Shanfeng, Xia Qing and the vagrant squad leader, who were positioned lower down, hadn't noticed.

This wound was probably the main reason this evolved tiger was physically weak, had elevated Devastation Element levels, and had lost control during the Devastation Rain.

The human who wounded it was probably wearing the same style of protective suit as Xia Qing, and had a build similar to hers — which was why the evolved tiger, upon seeing Xia Qing, had been so furious that it ignored the wolf pack's attempts to stop it, ignored the new wounds it was taking, and tried to kill her in revenge.

The reason it was so frenzied was probably that it knew perfectly well its body couldn't survive this Devastation Rain.

"Such big eyes, and yet such terrible aim." Xia Qing sighed and began treating its wounds.

This tiger had thick, tough hide; the external injuries looked serious, but none had reached the bone, so they weren't difficult to treat.

Xia Qing first shaved the fur around a dozen or so wounds, cleaned and medicated the shallow ones before applying waterproof adhesive patches; the deep ones were cleaned, sutured, medicated, and then patched with waterproof adhesive.

The old wound on the hind leg was more troublesome. After shaving the fur, she first had to irrigate it with saline to flush out the pus and necrotic tissue and drain the internal pus, then apply an anti-inflammatory, hemostatic medicine.

A wound like this needed fresh sterile dressings every day or every two days, and had to be kept dry and well-ventilated, avoiding friction, impact, and secondary infection.

This fellow could fight seven evolved wolves even while injured — once it healed a bit, its combat power would be even higher. And it considered Xia Qing an enemy, so she didn't dare come running to change its dressings during the Devastation Rain, let alone bring it back to her territory.

Therefore, Xia Qing only treated it this one time; whether it could recover was entirely up to its fate.

Xia Qing certainly hoped it would survive, so she gave it another antibiotic booster shot to control the infection.

It was all Territory Seven's special-effect medicine — as long as it stayed put these next few days, didn't run out and get infected with evolved bacteria, and the hind-leg wound didn't suppurate again, these external injuries should heal within a few days.

With the external wounds handled, it was time for the internal injuries.

Testing revealed that the Devastation Element content inside this evolved tiger, which was on the verge of losing control, had reached an astonishing 35‰!