Chapter 1080: Always Feeling Something's Wrong with My Brain

"Your Majesty, let's rest here for a bit."

On the way back to the territory, after she had run for half an hour on her own, then had Black Wolf carry her pack while she rode the handsome giant wolf for another half hour, Xia Qing detected the Yi-element magnetic field she'd noticed the last time she passed through here, and called for a stop.

After the lead wolf stopped, the handsome giant wolf shook its body hard, throwing Xia Qing off, then walked to a shady spot under a tree and lay down to rest. Broken-Waist Wolf and Black Wolf took up high ground to stand guard, while the lead wolf took little wolf sister to the clear pool beneath the waterfall, enjoying the cool water while washing the soot off their fur.

Xia Qing untied the pack from Black Wolf's back, set it beside Broken-Waist Wolf for it to guard, then took the black blade and went searching for the Yi-evolved creatures releasing a gentle magnetic field in this area.

When she found that the strongest magnetic field was coming from a patch of stones in the pool beneath the waterfall, where sparse brown moss-like plants were growing, Xia Qing chipped off a piece of stone and discovered it was ordinary stone with silicon dioxide as its main component.

Broken-Waist Wolf, on lookout duty, heard the sound, turned its head, and looked at Xia Qing—filthy, standing in the water, playing with stones instead of cleaning her fur—and fell into thought.

If the stones were ordinary, then the gentle magnetic field could only be coming from the small water plants growing attached to them. Xia Qing scooped up a small stone and stared intently at the water plant.

Drawing on her rich farming experience, Xia Qing figured this kind of small plant growing on the bottom must be very particular about water quality and environment, and that on the way to deliver samples to Territory Seven, the roots clinging to the stone might fall off and die.

So Xia Qing took a photo and sent it to her idol, asking if he'd ever seen a plant that could release a Yi-element magnetic field.

The idol quickly called her on video, which made Xia Qing realize this water plant might be very valuable. She couldn't help breaking into a smile. "Third Brother."

Looking at the pitch-black Xia Qing on his phone screen—so starkly contrasted against the vividly colored evolved forest behind her—Zhang San asked, speechless, "Where did you go, climbing a chimney to deliver gifts?"

Though she looked filthy, the uninjured Xia Qing kept smiling. "I went on a mission with the wolf pack to Mountain Twenty-Six, and on the way back I found this plant that releases a Yi-element magnetic field in the Mountain Twenty-Two area. Third Brother, what kind of grass is this?"

Lately, every conversation with Xia Qing made Zhang San feel like something was wrong with his own brain, because understanding the human language Xia Qing spoke was getting harder and harder. He rubbed his forehead, didn't ask anything, and went straight to the point. "Turn the screen around."

"Okay." Xia Qing immediately turned the screen to face the small plant underwater.

Because the waterfall was very loud, Xia Qing raised her voice. "Third Brother, look—the water plant is growing in the pool beneath the waterfall, on pebbles or rock walls at a depth of 0.3 to 2 meters. The water flow here is fast, the Qiang-element content in the water is 4.3‰, no radioactive substances…"

After cleaning its cub's fur thoroughly, the lead wolf took the little one to relieve Broken-Waist Wolf and Black Wolf, letting them go clean their protective suits and fur.

Black Wolf, miserably hot, immediately jumped into the cool stream. Broken-Waist Wolf, wearing its filthy protective suit, walked over to Xia Qing and stared at the unremarkable little plant underwater.

"Based on growth characteristics and environment, I initially judge this should be an evolved species of Chuan-tai moss. Before the Catastrophe, habitat degradation caused the numbers and species of these plants to plummet, and they were listed as endangered. After the Catastrophe, natural ecological environments recovered, and this plant has been found in many evolved forests in the south of our country, but no Yi-evolved variety has been discovered yet. Did you bring a No. 6 sampling tube?"

Xia Qing walked toward her pack with her phone, keeping the camera pointed at the ground so the wolf pack wouldn't be in frame. "I was in a hurry to head out today, so I didn't bring a No. 6, but I brought a No. 4."

"The No. 4 is a soft tube, so it's not shock-resistant…" Before Zhang San could finish, he saw a styrofoam container holding six chicken eggs appear on screen, and his head hurt even more.

He didn't want to ask Xia Qing why she'd brought eggs on a mission to the evolved forest, and went straight to the sampling method. "Fine, find a small stone with Chuan-tai moss growing on it, put it in the No. 4 tube along with some water, then poke a hole in the styrofoam to hold the test tube. Bring back water samples and rock samples too."

Xia Qing put away her phone, took out a No. 4 tube, a No. 1 tube for water samples, and a medium-sized sampling bag, and went back under the waterfall to take samples.

Broken-Waist Wolf stared at the white styrofoam holding the eggs, lost in thought.

When Xia Qing returned with the samples, she found three extra holes in the styrofoam holding the eggs, and the pitch-black Broken-Waist Wolf squatting beside it, grinning happily with its mouth wide open.

Xia Qing laughed too. "Broken-Waist, you really are the smartest wolf at the top of Blue Star's pyramid."

Upon hearing this, Broken-Waist Wolf revealed four little white fang tips.

Xia Qing enlarged the small holes Broken-Waist Wolf had poked with its sharp claws, tucked the No. 4 test tube containing the Chuan-tai moss inside, and patiently explained, "Even though we took three kinds of samples, only this one with the stone and the plant needs shock protection…"

When Xia Qing finished packing the samples and was about to put the egg tray away, Broken-Waist Wolf raised a paw to press down on the egg tray and looked toward its own cub.

Xia Qing's eyes lit up immediately. "Handsome Broken-Waist wolf bro, you want little wolf sister to eat the delicious green-light eggs I brought? These aren't cheap…"

When Xia Qing had left the territory before the sun came up, the sun had already dipped behind the western peaks by the time she returned, and the sky was nearly dark.

After thanking Chang Li, Dajiang, and Xiaojiang for guarding her territory all day, and after contacting her idol and handing over the two plant species and one meat worm that released Yi-element magnetic fields to Zheng Chen, she quickly patrolled the territory once and headed home carrying a few vegetables.

After a thoroughly enjoyable hot shower, changing into clean clothes, and listening to the news broadcast while making dinner, Xia Qing was eating happily with Lao Da and Lao Er when she heard a "beep" from the table, then a second, then a third.

From this alert frequency, Xia Qing knew who it was without even looking.

After this fellow finished playing with the north gate of Territory Three and came to play with her surgical-style entry door, Xia Qing couldn't take it anymore. "Broken-Waist, can you settle down for a bit? You keep opening and closing the door, and bugs are flying in!"

Broken-Waist Wolf, who was having fun, turned its head to look at the screen door behind it.

"Right, the screen door can block most bugs, but what if some evolve to be smaller and can squeeze through the screen holes? Even if no smaller bugs evolve, you playing with the door like this lets the hot air from outside in, and that wastes electricity too."

Broken-Waist Wolf stopped playing, went inside, and placed the bag containing its and the lead wolf's protective suits beside Xia Qing's pack. The suits had gotten dirty and needed cleaning—a job only Xia Qing could do.

Then Broken-Waist Wolf turned on the TV, sat under the air conditioning, and started studying. When Xia Qing finished eating and washing the dishes, Broken-Waist Wolf immediately dragged her big pack to the sofa and gestured for her to open it—time to distribute supplies.

Xia Qing…

Fine.

She dried her hands, put on protective gloves, and opened the pack, taking out two large packaging bags. The instant she opened the bags, Wolf-Dog Lao Er on the hanging chair immediately raised its head and looked over with a solemn expression.

The smell of blood in the bags put it on alert.

Sheep Lao Da also caught the smell of blood, and its cud-chewing mouth only paused for two seconds.

"It's fine, Lao Er, don't be scared, keep watching TV. These are supplies we got on this trip, nothing dangerous." Xia Qing soothed Lao Er and opened the second bag.

Such a strong smell of blood might attract enemies, so Lao Er, not reassured, swiped open the entry door and went out to patrol the territory.