Chapter 1176: The Consequences of Angering Sheep Boss

When Su Ming of the inspection team went to Territory Eleven to deliver the power-generating bicycle, Luo Pei and Xin Yu entered Territory Three one after the other.

"Peng Yuancai has already been executed. Hui One Base Commander Chen Dianming has been stripped of all his duties and escorted to Red One Base. Deputy Base Commander Xie Ping is temporarily taking over as base commander." Luo Pei, who rarely had free time, had come over to help his overworked disciple with some work, and took the chance to brief her on the situation at Hui One. "Liehuo still has three squad leaders left: Head Squad Leader Deng Yufeng, Deputy Squad Leader Qu Fangzhou, and Liao Wendong. They still have around two hundred evolvers, and they're rebuilding Liehuo Mountain."

Xia Qing analyzed, "Most of the buildings on Liehuo Mountain were blown apart, and the spring was destroyed too. The fact that Deng Yufeng still refuses to move back to the safe zone shows she's still full of fear toward it."

Liehuo brought this on themselves. They made plenty of human enemies, and also harmed the evolved forests around Liehuo Mountain. So within thirty li of Liehuo, there are basically no fierce beasts in the evolved forests — and if there are any, they're there to settle scores with Liehuo. If Liehuo had shown a shred of humanity and coexisted peacefully with the fierce beasts in the surrounding evolved forests, the apocalypse survivors wouldn't have been able to cross through the beasts' territory so easily and reach Liehuo Mountain.

"Anyone who's been through the underground experiments will feel fear and rage." Luo Pei let out a silent sigh. Forget Deng Yufeng — even he, who had only personally witnessed the miserable state of the underground experiment subjects, had developed a psychological shadow toward the Hui One safe zone.

Xin Yu asked, "Captain Luo, did Captain Yang go to Hui One with our base commander?"

Luo Pei nodded. "The Azure Dragon Squad captured quite a few blue-skinned wanderers, so they need him to testify."

Xia Qing knew about this, because Yang Jin had checked in with her before he left. Opportunity knocks but once — Yang Jin was determined to seize this chance, and use the blue-skinned wanderers' statements together with the evidence he had to take another few swings at Liehuo.

Base Commander Qi Zhongye's goal, on the other hand, was to secure more power for Hui Three Base. The most important item was filling the Hui Three Deputy Base Commander position, which had been vacant for almost a year, with a suitable candidate. So this time Qi Zhongye brought not only Azure Dragon Squad Head Squad Leader Yang Jin, but also his deputy, Base Office Director Li Xuegang.

If things went smoothly, by the time Li Xuegang came back, his title would be Deputy Base Commander.

"If we can drag Liehuo down from the position of Hui One's number-one squad this time, we'll have a lot less trouble in the future." Xin Yu finished tying up a cornstalk, stood up, and said to Xia Qing, "I'm going to Hui Two safe zone tomorrow. The case against the illegal experiments at Chonglian also needs to be wrapped up, and they need me back there to make a statement."

Although Xin Yu didn't hold a position on Chonglian Group's board of directors or senior management, she was Chonglian's third-largest shareholder, so she had to be present for the sentencing.

Xin Yu hadn't revealed her evolution abilities, so in the Yu family's eyes she was still an ordinary person without even the ability to protect herself — someone easy to push around.

The fact that Xin Yu had come over to bring this up on her own meant she needed help. Xia Qing stood up as well and asked, "What time? I'll call Huo and the others and we'll go with you."

Xia Qing wasn't just Hui Three's top dual-ability advanced evolver sniper, the agent for the petty-minded big shot Zhang San, and the girlfriend of Yang Jin, who always repaid his enemies many times over. If Xia Qing brought Huo Zhun and the other three along, Chonglian wouldn't dare refuse to release the person.

Xin Yu laughed. "You don't need to go. Tomorrow morning at eight, come to Territory Eight and see me onto the helicopter. Then when you get my message, give me a call and call me back, that's all."

"Got it." Xia Qing agreed, and went back to tying up cornstalks.

Luo Pei finished tying up a stalk, noticed a clump of fresh-looking tender grass hidden under the stalks, casually pulled it up, and tossed it to Sheep Boss, who was standing next to Xia Qing. In the dozen-plus years since the apocalypse, the animals in the evolved forests had grown more and more alert and irritable. Seeing such a snow-white, affectionate herbivore all of a sudden, Luo Pei was quite fond of it too.

Sheep Boss, who had been grazing alongside Xia Qing, was startled and leaped sideways a meter, squinted at Luo Pei, and started pawing the ground.

Luo Pei explained to Xia Qing, "Sorry, I saw this bunch of grass looked pretty fresh, I didn't expect to scare it."

"Luo-ge, it's fine." Xia Qing threw an arm around Sheep Boss's neck, pulled out a compressed ration, and cooed softly, "Boss, don't be mad. Luo-ge was trying to give you those few sprigs of tender grass to eat…"

"Baa—" Sheep Boss was furious, shook its neck, pawed the ground, and opened its mouth to summon the wolf.

Wolf Lao Er, who had been feeding fish by the reservoir, arrived on the scene in four seconds, quickly assessed the situation, planted itself between Sheep Boss and Xia Qing, and let out a low growl at Luo Pei.

Does Daigua, who was carrying a bag, arrived right after, climbed up onto Xia Qing, and wrapped its arms around her neck.

Hearing Wolf Lao Er's growl, Lao Si, who had been sunbathing on the rubble of a house, broke through the insect-proof netting into the greenhouse, took up the main attack position, and stared murderously at Luo Pei and Xin Yu.

The big red squirrel and Little Feimao, who had been foraging for food in the territory, sensed something was wrong — one darted into a tree hollow, the other burrowed into Xia Qing's pocket.

Not expecting that tossing out a few sprigs of grass would set off such a chain reaction, Luo Pei tried to rein in his aura as much as possible, let his arms hang at his sides, and stood there obediently, showing he had no intention of provoking anyone, let alone any malice.

"Moo!" The wolf had been summoned over, and Sheep Boss's presence grew even more imposing. It thrashed its neck, trying to shake Xia Qing off.

Sheep Boss had a fierce temper. If it didn't get to vent a little, Luo Pei could forget about ever setting foot in Territory Three again. Xia Qing negotiated with Luo Pei, "Luo-ge, you must be tired. How about… you go rest on that tree over there?"

Xin Yu was holding back laughter, and Luo Pei laughed too, then turned and ran outside.

The moment Xia Qing let go of Sheep Boss, she called out to her other two companions, "Lao Er, Lao Si — don't move!"

Because his own careless behavior had angered this evolved ram of Territory Three, Luo Pei didn't run too fast. He let the ram — which was a bit faster than a normal evolved ram — butt him once, then used the momentum to leap up into the tree, grabbed a branch, spun his body upward, hooked a higher branch with his foot, twisted at the waist, and settled steadily into his chosen spot.

Watching his crisp, clean movements, Xin Yu's eyes lit up.

"Thud!" Sheep Boss still hadn't vented enough, and slammed hard into the tree trunk.

"Ah—"

Luo Pei pretended to be scared, hugged the trunk and let out a dramatic cry, his expression and movements both exaggerated. Neither Xin Yu nor Xia Qing had ever seen this side of him, and they both couldn't help laughing.

"Thud!"

"Thud!"

After letting Sheep Boss ram the tree a few more times, Xia Qing finally called out, "Boss, you're amazing! Are you tired? Want some Napa cabbage?"

The weather had turned cold, so the Napa cabbage's astringency had dropped and its sweetness had risen — it was Sheep Boss's favorite food these past few days.

Hearing there was something good to eat, Sheep Boss immediately stopped ramming the tree, turned around, and went to find its little brother.

Xia Qing told Xin Yu to rest too, then led her companions out of Greenhouse Nine, across the stone slab bridge over the reservoir, and into Greenhouse One to pick cabbage leaves.

From that spot, even if Luo Pei sat in the tree, he couldn't see what she was doing, so Xia Qing calmly distributed food to her companions.

Sheep Boss got six leaves, Wolf Lao Er got four, Does Daigua got one. Lao Si got a packet of jerky and one cabbage leaf, because it didn't like eating cabbage — but the cheeky little wolf did. Little Feimao, who also didn't like cabbage, got a single peanut.

After Sheep Boss finished its cabbage, it stayed under the big Chinese toon tree to rest. Wolf Lao Er followed Xia Qing to the edge of the greenhouse, lay down not far away, and fixed Luo Pei in the tree with a fierce stare. Lao Si, having eaten its jerky, carried the cabbage leaf back to feed the little wolf. Does Daigua was taken back to Greenhouse Four by Xia Qing to continue picking cotton.

Little Feimao had just hidden the peanut in the tree hollow and returned to Xia Qing's pocket when a big squirrel darted into the hollow and stole that delicious peanut.

Xia Qing returned to Greenhouse Nine and tossed a bright red tomato up to Luo Pei. "Luo-ge, try it. The tomatoes now have thicker skins, but the taste is still pretty good."

"Alright." As Luo Pei reached up to catch it, he heard the wolf's growl, but with Xia Qing keeping things in check, he trusted the wolf wouldn't hurt him. He first took off his glove, wiped his hand clean with a disinfectant wipe, then took the canteen from his waist, rinsed the tomato off, and took a bite.

A premium green-light tomato grown in the terraced fields of high-Yi-element soil and irrigated with unpolluted spring water — sweet and sour, with almost none of the bitterness of the Yi element.

Luo Pei took another bite, leaned against the trunk, watched Xia Qing patching the insect-proof netting, and smiled silently.

No wonder Xia Qing didn't want to go on missions. Her comfortable life here — good food, good drink, good companions — really was something to envy.