Chapter 1191: Call the Parents

After Xia Qing walked out of the poison-gas-covered zone carrying the bag with Qiangzai in it, she walked a long stretch further before stripping off her disposable protective gear, sealing it inside the bag, then slinging on her backpack and running in one breath all the way to the north gate of Territory Seven.

Standing outside the north gate, Beard Feng saw Xia Qing rushing over with the bag, and his heart clenched at once.

If anything happened to this little yellow weasel, the wolf pack would definitely retaliate wildly—Little Old Five has really gotten himself into huge trouble this time!

"It wasn't a yellow weasel, it was a little squirrel living in that zone." Seeing Beard Feng's face had gone pale behind his protective mask, Xia Qing offered one line of explanation before pressing the walkie-talkie button to ask, "Third Brother, you there?"

Zhang San's tone was sharp. "This better be important."

Everyone…

Xia Qing answered immediately, "Third Brother, it's important. A little squirrel I keep inhaled too much yellow-weasel poison gas and passed out—could you…"

"I'm not a vet. Go find Zhang Song!"

Everyone… that line is practically Third Brother's catchphrase by now…

"Got it, Third Brother, thanks, Third Brother." Xia Qing knew her idol was definitely rescuing Little Old Five, but without making this call she had no way to get poor Qiangzai into Territory Seven for treatment.

Two hours later, Xia Qing left Territory Seven carrying Qiangzai, who had been thoroughly cleaned and treated, and saw Beard Feng staring at her with eager, anxious eyes.

Xia Qing could understand how he felt and took the initiative to tell him, "Third Brother is treating Little Old Five right now. Its life isn't in danger."

Actually, the main reason Little Old Five's life wasn't in danger was that the plucked brat was too young, and its evolution ability level was still relatively low. If Little Old Five had provoked a plucked yellow weasel, it would have been dead as a doornail long before reaching Territory Seven.

Hearing that the big shot was personally treating Little Old Five, Beard Feng relaxed at once. He looked at the little red squirrel with still-damp fur inside the transparent bag. "This is Qiangzai, right? How is it doing?"

"It inhaled quite a lot of poison gas too, so it needs to take medicine for seven days." Poor Qiangzai—another seven days without food.

Beard Feng very sincerely discussed it with Xia Qing. "This time it was Little Old Five who caused the trouble. Let me cover the medical costs for both Qiangzai and the yellow-weasel cub?"

Xia Qing nodded. "Then sorry to trouble you, Captain Hu."

Hearing that Xia Qing was willing to let him compensate with points, Beard Feng felt much more at ease. "No trouble at all, not the slightest trouble—it's only right. Sister Qing hasn't had lunch yet, has she? Go on back, wash up, and eat something."

Beard Feng didn't even dare take off his protective mask, let alone eat. Because he clearly remembered how terrifying Captain Yang Jin had smelled last year when he returned from gathering herbs in the Evolution Forest.

Little Old Five really ought to learn a lesson this time. He'd never once shorted it on food—why on earth would it go catch a yellow weasel?

Beard Feng had warned Little Old Five many times not to go to that zone, because he was afraid Little Old Five would harm Seeing Xin Yu's tamed birds—birds are cats' food, after all.

Before, in other zones of Mountain 49, it had chased Flat Top, and other members of the wolf pack too, but only watched. Because it posed no threat to the pack, the pack leader hadn't paid it any mind, and Xia Qing hadn't said anything either.

From the reaction just now of Wolf Lao Er, the best-tempered member of the pack, Beard Feng knew the pack definitely wouldn't let Little Old Five off the hook this time—and might not let him off either.

With Xia Qing around, Beard Feng knew his own life wasn't in danger. What he hoped now was that the pack's fury wouldn't spread to anyone else.

When Xia Qing returned to Territory Three, Wolf Lao Er still hadn't come back. Sheep Boss, who had missed his midday meal of mixed fodder, charged over to teach the little brother a lesson! When he was still more than twenty meters from Xia Qing, Sheep Boss suddenly stopped, narrowed his eyes, and stared very unhappily at the stinky Xia Qing.

Xia Qing smiled and held up the bag in her hand. "Boss, I'm back. This is Qiangzai—smells pretty nice, right?"

Sheep Boss couldn't take it and turned to run.

Xia Qing first went to the breeding greenhouse, got a cage, put the unconscious Qiangzai inside, and hung it from a big tree in the north buffer forest to air out.

After Xia Qing left, the freeloading red squirrel mother and Little Feimao glanced at Qiangzai from afar for a few seconds, then went back to their busy food-gathering.

Xia Qing was now standing by the pond, spraying her protective suit and mask all over with the cleaning agent Zhang Song had given her, giving them a thorough scrub before jumping into the water for another thorough rinse. She made a fuss of it for a full half hour before climbing out, holding her breath as she pulled off her protective mask, and slowly drew in a breath.

There was indeed a stink, but it was far milder than the smell left on her last time, when she had carried two wolves on her back with a yellow weasel releasing poison gas on top of her head and crossed the poison-gas zone—mild enough not to ruin her appetite.

Another reason the smell was milder was that Zhang Song's deodorizing agent worked well. Last year, the stinky Yanlong returned to Territory Seven from the Evolution Forest and tossed Zhang Song a tube of plucked-yellow-weasel poison-gas sample.

Zhang Song had spent over a year researching it and finally compounded a targeted detoxifying deodorizer, which had its first real use today.

But now wasn't the time to eat. Xia Qing took out her phone and first sent Beard Feng a message, telling him to prepare for the wolf pack coming to settle the score with him and Little Old Five very soon, and to clear out the monitoring room and everything on Mountain 49 carrying his and Little Old Five's scent within two hours.

The wolf pack would definitely not allow Beard Feng and Little Old Five to remain on Mountain 49.

Beard Feng received Xia Qing's message and immediately began to act.

Inside Territory Three, Xia Qing cleared the lingering stench from her backpack and weapons, took another long look at Qiangzai still sleeping in the cage, then went home and quickly ate a simple yet lavish lunch.

Sheep Boss's lunch didn't need her to make it, because Sheep Boss's sense of smell was far sharper than hers, and right now he didn't even want to be near her.

After lunch, Xia Qing dialed Broken-Waist Wolf's number.

Wolves are animals that hold grudges.

In Year Nine of the Calamity, the Alpha Wolf had led his main pack force and, right in front of Xia Qing, wiped out the twelve core members of the Fengyun Squad who had provoked them.

In Year Ten of the Calamity, humans captured the wild boars being kept by the wolf pack in Zone 3 of Area 49 and set up a wild-boar breeding center there. Later, the Alpha Wolf and Broken-Waist Wolf entered the heavily guarded breeding center one after another, bit the boars to death, and forced the wild-boar breeding center to withdraw to the safe zone.

Although the Azure Dragon Squad held Mountain 49, the northern wolf pack still considered it their outer territory. That was why the pack repeatedly felt safe crossing Mountain 49 to reach Xia Qing's territory.

Today, a tabby cat had dared to harm a wolf-pack cub inside the pack's territory. To the wolf pack, this was an absolute provocation—revenge had to be taken to defend the territory's safety and the pack's dignity!

So Xia Qing had to explain everything clearly to the pack's leader and propose a compensation plan that would satisfy the pack, before the Alpha Wolf, Broken-Waist Wolf, or the plucked yellow weasel tracked the cub's scent and came seeking revenge.

The video call rang five times before it was answered. The screen showed a stretch of blue sky and a big nose. Xia Qing spoke up. "Broken-Waist, where are you? Got time to come by my territory right now? I have something to discuss with you—something important."

The wolf's mouth in the screen split open, revealing snow-white little fang tips, then the nose moved closer to the phone screen, and the video call was hung up.

Twenty minutes later, Broken-Waist Wolf crossed Mountain 49, passed in and out of the north gate between Northern Zone 1 and Territory Three thirteen times in a row, and entered Xia Qing's territory.

Looking at the messages popping up one after another on her phone, Xia Qing knew Wolf Lao Er and the plucked yellow weasel hadn't yet gotten the news of the plucked brat's injury to Mountain 55—otherwise this fellow definitely wouldn't be in the mood to play with the gate.

After Broken-Waist Wolf finished playing with the gate and entered Territory Three, a few bounds brought him to the tree where Qiangzai was hanging. He lifted his nose and sniffed, then slowly bared his bone-white fangs.

The stinky Qiangzai huddled in the grass nest in the corner of the cage, trembling and dry-heaving at the same time.

Arriving at Xia Qing's house and seeing the protective suit and mask hanging under the eaves releasing the same scent, Broken-Waist Wolf grew even more solemn.

Xia Qing walked out of the house. "Broken-Waist, you're here so fast—come on in."

Broken-Waist Wolf stared at the protective suit without moving.

Xia Qing explained, "The plucked brat got into a conflict with a tabby cat on Mountain 49 and released poison gas. I had Wolf Lao Er send the plucked brat back to Mountain 50. Broken-Waist, do you want to see the video?"

Only then did Broken-Waist Wolf shift his gaze, staring at Xia Qing with a solemn face.

(End of Chapter)