Chapter 1194: The Meeting

Amid a chorus of wolf howls, under the gaze of over forty evolved wolves, a human slowly climbed to the peak of Mountain 52 and reached the gathering point, pulled off her protective mask and quickly adjusted her breathing, ignored the cursing of Broken-Leg Girl, pushed away the broken-legged wolf pawing at her, and checked the wolf pack members who had answered the call to fight today.

The lead wolf had arrived, the main force of the pack had arrived, and those who had protective suits had put them on — this was within Xia Qing's expectations.

The plucked weasel had brought its plucked youngster, also within Xia Qing's expectations; what she hadn't expected was that little Bai Mao and its albino cub Little Little Bai Mao had also come.

As if that weren't enough, the red fox family living in the bamboo forest of Mountain 52, Leopard Bro and Leopard Sis from Mountain 51, and the two cheetahs that had once tried to rob the hunting team Xia Qing led of their prey on Mountain 52, were all standing in the distance.

The red fox family and Leopard Bro and Leopard Sis she could accept, but those two cheetahs didn't look particularly bright — why had the Queen collected them too?

Wolf Lao Er carried the injured plucked youngster on its back and came to Xia Qing's side. It wasn't wearing a protective suit because its suit was inside Territory Three.

Xia Qing patted Wolf Lao Er's head, took out a small medicine box from her satchel, poured out a pill and stuffed it into its mouth, then fed it a nutrient shot.

Wolf Lao Er's belly was a bit sunken — it definitely hadn't eaten at noon.

When the conflict broke out today, Wolf Lao Er, who wasn't wearing a protective suit, was the first to rush to the scene to protect the plucked youngster, and even licked the plucked youngster's wounds, inevitably inhaling its poisonous gas. Wolf Lao Er isn't a poison-gas evolver and has no immunity to weasel poison gas; its body was affected, so it definitely had no appetite to eat.

So when Xia Qing sent Strong Cub to Territory Seven for treatment, she specifically grabbed medicine for Wolf Lao Er.

Seeing food, the broken-legged wolf immediately stopped howling and ran over to paw at Xia Qing. Xia Qing pulled out a piece of jerky and stuffed it to the wolf, then checked the wound near the plucked youngster's neck on its back — the idol's special medicine worked like a charm; the plucked youngster's wound showed no signs of infection.

The last pack member finally arrived, and Broken-Waist Wolf called a halt. The lead wolf standing at the highest point raised its head and let out a long, majestic and furious howl, then leapt off the rock and charged toward Mountain 49; the pack members immediately followed.

Xia Qing glanced at the handsome giant wolf running like the wind, turned, and leaped onto the back of the nearest giant wolf, Er Ge Zi.

Er Ge Zi bared its teeth and shook its body, but could only reluctantly carry Xia Qing as it chased after the lead wolf. The weasel family, the red fox family, and the two cheetahs also followed from a distance.

The lead wolf led its pack into Mountain 49 through the area where Broken-Waist Wolf had already destroyed the surveillance cameras, charged straight up to the highest peak of Mountain 49, stood atop the lofty summit, and raised its head in an angry howl.

Except for the evolved wolves that had stopped along the way to guard the passages, the other pack members arrived at the highest peak one after another, quickly found their positions, and howled along with the lead wolf.

Xia Qing also jumped down from Er Ge Zi's back, slung her sniper rifle, and stood in the empty spot at Broken-Waist Wolf's flank and rear — that was the attack position belonging to the pack's Fourth.

In October the wind blows from the north; the pack stood howling on a high mountain six thousand meters north of the territory, and the sound clearly reached the ears of the lords of the Northern Zone One territories.

Tang Huai, standing in the courtyard of Territory Two, pressed the walkie-talkie button. "From the sound, that's over forty evolved wolves — the northern pack is going big! What the hell did the Azure Dragon Squad do to piss them off?"

Everyone wanted to know the answer. Zhao Ze, hiding inside the house, asked cautiously, "Sister Qing?"

Chang Li inside Territory Three pressed the walkie-talkie button and replied calmly in Xia Qing's tone, "Don't know."

Shi Mu, busy hauling adobe bricks into the kiln, reminded her allies, "Everyone, don't make too much noise. Captain Tan said as long as we don't charge over there, this fight won't spread to our territories."

Wen Nengjie, holding his gun, also encouraged himself, "Right, as long as we don't go out and provoke the pack, they probably won't make things hard for us. When the western pack attacked last spring, the northern pack actually protected us."

Tang Huai continued to wonder, "How did the pack end up facing off against the Azure Dragon Squad? Surely not just because Hu Zi Feng's cat got into it with a weasel?"

Qi Fu, who was moving adobe bricks, came online, "It probably wasn't because of that. Although the weasel has 'wolf' in its name, it's not a wolf. Weasels are even smaller than house cats, let alone compared to wolves, and besides, that weasel is Xia Qing's — it doesn't count as purely wild."

Hearing Zhu Li, who was patrolling the northern buffer forest inside the territory, also came online, "That weasel beat Captain Hu's cat — it's very likely an evolver."

Watching Huo Zhun came online to cover for his teammate, "It didn't really win either. Sister Qing said this morning the weasel only released its poison gas to escape after the cat had already scratched it up."

Tang Huai was successfully led astray by Huo Zhun, "They say weasel farts stink to high heaven! Madman, you there? What does your cat smell like right now?"

Inside Territory Eleven, Di Ming stopped his hoe and looked at Huo Zhun's pretending face, "So the weasel that almost killed that cat today really is an evolver, and also a member of the northern pack."

Huo Zhun lowered his head with a dumb look and kept hoeing — don't ask him, he doesn't know anything.

Wu Lianmin's eyes lit up too, "It couldn't be that poison-gas evolved weasel from the third Plague Rain last year that made Yan Long puke and couldn't eat for seven days, could it?!"

That incident left Wu Lianmin with extremely painful memories, because Yan Long had been in a foul mood those few days and had beaten every single member of the special ops team three times over. Because he couldn't help snickering a few times, he got beaten five times.

Dead Man Jie speculated, "Probably not. Even if Cat Princess's cub was raised stupid by Hu Zi Feng, it wouldn't be suicidal enough to challenge a high-combat adult weasel. I'd guess it went after a weasel cub."

Wu Lianmin nodded, "Cat Princess's combat ability isn't low, and that tabby cub looked pretty sharp when it was little. If Third Bro had given it to Sister Qing to raise back then, it definitely wouldn't have gotten into a fight with Sister Qing's weasel."

Di Ming stared at Huo Zhun, who was working seriously, and yawned, "Dead Man Jie, Wang Damin, Hammer's skin is itching — shall we scratch it for him?"

"Aooo~~~ woo…"

Before she had even finished one howl, Xia Qing noticed all the wolves had shut up and turned to look at her; several wolves, including Broken-Leg Girl, even bared their fangs at her.

The lead wolf glanced at Xia Qing, then continued howling, and the other wolves joined in. Wolf Lao Er, carrying the plucked youngster on its back, walked over and nuzzled Xia Qing in comfort.

Xia Qing humbly sought guidance, "Wolf Lao Er, did I howl wrong?"

Wolf Lao Er raised its head and let out a war-declaring wolf howl, "Aoo — woo —"

Xia Qing raised her head and was just about to join in when Little Wolf Sis jumped in front of her, looking at her with a solemn face. The usually lazy Little Wolf Sis was now as murderous and majestic as the lead wolf.

Xia Qing shut her mouth, put on her protective mask, and stopped howling. The mountaintop was too high and the wind too strong — wearing the mask kept her warm.

The pack's howling was a display of strength; Hu Zi Feng and Little Fifth didn't dare howl back, which the pack interpreted as backing down. After howling for over ten minutes, the howls of a few fellows, including Broken-Leg Wolf, were noticeably less serious, and only reined themselves in after a fierce warning glare from Broken-Waist Wolf.

After two minutes, the lead wolf stopped howling, lowered its head to look down the mountain, and the pack members also stopped, following the lead wolf's movement and slowly baring their fangs.

Xia Qing couldn't smell anything, couldn't hear any movement, and because of the angle and the mountain mist couldn't see what was happening below either, but she guessed Yang Jin was coming up.

After hearing Wolf Lao Er and the plucked youngster behind her both cry out, Xia Qing confirmed that Hu Zi Feng and Yang Jin were coming up together.

Next came the critical moment for handling this conflict. Xia Qing took a deep breath, tried to relax as much as possible, and quickly prepared herself to deal with any sudden situations.

After squeaking a few times, the plucked youngster climbed from Wolf Lao Er's back onto Xia Qing's back, then quickly scrambled onto her protective mask, propped up its long body on its two hind legs, and looked down.

Seeing Hu Zi Feng climbing up carrying Little Fifth, Xia Qing was surprised — she hadn't expected Third Bro to let someone from the Azure Dragon Squad bring Little Fifth over.

Yang Jin, seeing Xia Qing standing in the wolf pack with a weasel perched on her head, was even more surprised.