Chapter 1198: Still Want to Raise a Cat?

Watching the video the first time, Zhang San's focus was on the Broken-Waist Wolf, a three-system high-level brain-domain evolver whose brain evolution was already no weaker than most humans.

Watching it a second time, his attention went to the head wolf beside Broken-Waist, the one missing a chunk of its ear.

"This wolf's brain-domain evolution might be no weaker than Broken-Waist's, and its temperament is more decisive than Broken-Waist's. Did Yang Jin bring back the video?"

Xia Qing's camera was on her head; from this angle, Zhang San couldn't properly observe the two wolves' body language and facial expressions.

Another point was that this stingy human's camera didn't have enough resolution—Zhang San needed a clearer image.

Xia Qing shook her head. "Yang Jin didn't record a video."

Yang Jin should have understood that this human-wolf negotiation was a landmark event for Blue Star, so there was only one reason he didn't record it.

Zhang San lifted his eyes weakly. "Was it your request?"

"Yes."

Xia Qing admitted frankly, "The northern wolf pack isn't strong enough yet—if a video like this spread, it would bring them unnecessary trouble. So the team members on Yang Jin's side, apart from the three Blue Dragon squad leaders and the Beard Peak squad, don't know the wolf pack has reached a cooperation with the Blue Dragon battle team. If it weren't to let you understand what happened, I wouldn't have recorded either."

That was why Xia Qing had brought her own laptop over—since the wolf pack's safety was at stake, once her idol finished watching, Xia Qing was going to delete it immediately.

Zhang San, sunk into the soft back of his chair, quietly watched Xia Qing for a few seconds, trying to figure out what the new form of the relationship between humans and animals looked like as reconstructed by the central neurons in her brain domain.

"How do you now view your relationship with the northern wolf pack? What do you want to gain from them? Don't think too deeply—just say whatever comes to mind."

Under her idol's gaze, which swept over her like radar, Xia Qing answered honestly.

"When I first entered the territory, when I encountered animals in the Evolution Forest, I would first judge how dangerous they were, then take different response measures. But after spending more time with the animals in the Evolution Forest near this territory, including the evolution sheep and evolution squirrels within my own territory, my thinking has changed from before.

"I think wolf packs, tiger packs, bear packs—even weasels and little squirrels—are lords just like us. They manage and protect their territories their own way, and obtain the supplies they need to survive. My relationship with the northern wolf pack used to be one of exchange; now it's an alliance, just like with you, Xin Yu, Qi Fu, and Yuan Yan. What I want to gain from them is the same as what I want to gain from you."

Zhang San, the high-level brain-domain evolver standing at the top of the human pyramid, could of course judge whether Xia Qing was telling the truth or lying.

Precisely because she was telling the truth, it made Zhang San fall silent. "You believe humans and Evolution Forest beasts are equal?"

"Third Brother, whether before or after the Catastrophe, complete equality has never existed—there's never been equality between people, let alone between people and animals."

Since her idol wanted the truth, Xia Qing simply spoke the thoughts that came into her head. "I actually haven't thought about something that profound. I just found that once animals' brain domains evolved, I could get the supplies I wanted through exchange or cooperation, so there's no need to take the more costly and riskier route of fighting."

Zhang San asked again, "If the wolf pack grows stronger in combat power and wants to expand their territory, even wage war to seize human territory and resources—what would you do?

Xia Qing's gaze was firm. "Not only are they getting stronger, I am too. Whether it's people or animals trying to take my territory, I will go to war."

"In that case, why would you give them the chance to grow stronger?"

"Because we're allies."

Zhang San……

Xia Qing answered carefully, "Third Brother, didn't you say that at the current stage, humanity's greatest enemy isn't beasts, nor is it the Qiang element, but the millions upon millions of microorganisms on Blue Star that are everywhere and evolving like crazy?"

That came out smooth as anything!

Zhang San corrected Xia Qing's data error. "First, the number of known microorganism species is over four hundred thousand; the unknown ones should number in the millions. Second, under the effect of the Qiang element, the pathogen microorganisms that are evolving like crazy are humanity's most powerful enemy at this stage—the number of pathogen microorganisms discovered so far is over one hundred and ninety thousand."

"Your brain really works well—the data is so clearly remembered. I didn't expect nearly half of the discovered microorganisms to be pathogenic. No wonder you have so many research projects every day, so busy you don't even have time to sleep."

Zhang San……

After offering her admiration and expressing concern for her idol, Xia Qing continued along the lines her idol had set. "Blue Star is too vast and too crazy—human strength is limited. Since more powerful brain-domain evolvers have appeared among animals, they have the responsibility and the duty to join the ranks defending Blue Star and protecting ecological balance. You really had foresight—under your guidance, Broken-Waist Wolf is growing fast, and it's sure to become one of the finest of the new forces defending Blue Star's ecological balance!"

Was this my guidance? Or rather, was this something I wanted to actively guide?!

Zhang San stared coldly at Xia Qing for a moment, then continued asking, "When you first showed Broken-Waist the knowledge video, what was going through your mind?"

This……

Xia Qing rolled her eyes upward, thought back carefully for a while, then remembered. "Last year, after the sick wolf staying in my territory to recover—the one that was nearly killed by parasites—got healthy again, I wanted to improve communication efficiency with it, so I had it watch a human-made training video for domesticated dogs."

Zhang San nodded.

"Then, the head wolf and Broken-Waist Wolf saw me showing this kind of video to the sick wolf and got angry. To distract the two of them, I played them a video introducing the Evolution Forest's ecological environment, and they got very interested, so they kept watching one after another."

Zhang San was very interested. "Why were they angry?"

"Because they saw the dogs in the video performing actions on human command, and the sick wolf was imitating the dogs in the video. I later asked Broken-Waist Wolf, and it felt that dogs tied up with ropes by humans and obeying humans were the weak ones."

The weak ones?

Zhang San lowered his eyes in thought for a while, then looked up at the new human across from him. "What do you think?"

Xia Qing grinned. "There are many reasons dogs get tied up—Broken-Waist Wolf's view is a bit one-sided, but it has some truth to it. Third Brother, does that big shot in Lancheng's brain-domain-evolved shepherd dog still get leashed when it goes out?"

Zhang San shook his head. "Not sure. You can ask Zhang Song."

Seeing her idol's expression shift from cloudy to sunny, Xia Qing immediately put away her laptop, ready to retreat. "Third Brother, Little Fifth looks pretty badly hurt—do you have all the medicines to treat it? Do you need me to look for new medicinal materials?"

"No need. Keep having the wolf pack search for the few herbs they haven't found yet." After saying that, Zhang San stared at Xia Qing for a few seconds, then suddenly asked, "Still want to raise a cat?"