Chapter 1209: The Old Wolf With No Appreciation for Life's Pleasures

At five in the morning, inside a cave on Hui-1 Mountain No. 28, the nine members of the Shenshuang Squad, carrying all their supplies and gripping their weapons, carefully pried open a small gap in the barricade and peered outside.

Traveling through the evolved forest in the rain was extremely dangerous, but staying here was even more so. Based on the furious roars that had come from the evolved forest outside the cave last night, they could confirm the wolf pack had discovered humans hiding here. The wolves weren't fools, though — they hadn't been fooled by the human who had tried to redirect the danger and had kept chasing that person instead.

If the Shenshuang Squad didn't leave while the rain had lightened, once it stopped they would very likely be surrounded by wolves and suffer an unnecessary clash.

The noise of the rain was deafening, and the water vapor masked the various scents drifting in the air. It didn't just limit the detection range of human auditory, olfactory, and visual evolvers — it also shrank the detection range of the evolved wolves. Evolved wolves didn't like moving in the rain. So now was the best time for them to retreat.

"Wooo—"

The moment the Shenshuang Squad pried open the small gap to look outside, the roar of an evolved wolf came from beyond the cave.

The evolved wolves that had spotted them hadn't all left!

Shenshuang immediately signaled the squad members to seal the barricade again, then ordered, "Contact the battle team headquarters. Once the rain stops, send out three squads to distract the northern wolf pack's attention."

"Yes!" While the signaler contacted headquarters, another squad member muttered quietly, "We didn't provoke the wolf pack, so why are they watching us? Could it have something to do with that person who ran past outside the cave in the early hours?"

"I'd guess so," another squad member analyzed. "Someone who can run alongside a hunting wolf pack and only get a few roars without a fight is probably a drifter cooperating with Liehuo — they've got potions the wolves are afraid of."

Another squad member frowned. "Those wolves out there — they wouldn't have mistaken us for the drifter's accomplices, would they?"

"Our scent and gear are very different from a drifter's. Grey-Eye Wolf King shouldn't make that kind of mistake."

Seeing the squad members all looking at her, Shenshuang spoke calmly. "Speculating is useless now. We'll know once we get out."

Fair point. The squad members fell silent and hurried to conserve their energy.

"Knock knock."

At the sound of knocking, the Qinglong signaler pushed open the door and asked Yang Jin for instructions. "Boss, Hui-1 Hanshuang Battle Team is contacting us. They want us to stir up some trouble on Hui-3 Mountain No. 25 to draw the wolf pack's attention and help their squad members escape the wolf encirclement."

Yang Jin nodded. "Contact the Aurora Squad on Mountain No. 25 and see if they'll take this mission. If they won't, send nearby squad members over. Don't get into any actual conflict with the wolf pack."

"Yes."

After the signaler closed the door and left, Yang Jin glanced at his phone, which showed no activity.

To lure the wolf pack away, Xia Qing's word would carry the most weight. But Xia Qing had been busy all night and should be resting now — no need to wake her over something this small.

Besides, she should still have her signal jammer on, in an unreachable state. Actually, Yang Jin really wanted to use this chance to head over there, but such an overreaction would definitely draw attention from multiple parties, so he'd have to wait until nightfall to act.

Inside the karst cave above the cliff on Hui-3 Mountain No. 22, a mountain of supplies was illuminated by a flashlight. Beside it, a person and a wolf were huddled together negotiating.

"Over 700 jin of ore, 70 Yishi stones, 30 jin of compressed biscuits, 30 jin of dehydrated meat, 15 jin of salt, 10 jin of dry noodles, 4 jin of dehydrated vegetables, 1 pack of human clothing, eight boxes, 16 pieces of inner and outer moisture-proof cloth, 8 pieces of unknown-material fabric, 1 pack of unknown potion. Lao Si, does that look right to you?"

The old wolf curled one corner of its mouth, indicating no problem.

"Good. Half of these supplies belong to Lao Si. Let's divide up the Yishi stones first. This is important supplies — wearing Yishi stones during the Qi-Yu Period keeps you from feeling awful and going mad." Xia Qing gave a brief explanation, then took the Yishi stones over, counted out 35 for the old wolf, and kept 35 for herself.

Then Xia Qing pointed at the rest of the supplies. "Lao Si, what else do you want from these?"

Lao Si glanced at them and didn't even want the jerky — it preferred fresh meat.

"Alright, then I'll take all these supplies back, convert them into points, and bring you half on a points card. Whatever Lao Si needs in the future, you can trade with me using the points card." Xia Qing cheerfully took on the job of bartering supplies, then began discussing the next deal with Lao Si. "Lao Si, you know how to use Yishi stones, right?"

Lao Si curled one corner of its mouth, indicating it knew.

"But did you know Yishi stones have a usage period? Once cracked open, if you don't put them in a protective casing like this, they'll stop working in three months. Lao Si, want to trade for Yishi stone protective casings? Just trade with Yishi stones."

Lao Si's face remained expressionless.

"Lao Si, look at this mirror — pretty, right? Don't like it? Okay."

"Lao Si, you've got so many good things to store in this cave. Do you need a front door like the one at my place installed — one that only you can open, that no other person or wolf can open? Give me two Yishi stones and I can install one for you."

Lao Si's eyelid twitched.

Xia Qing sensed an opening and immediately started pitching hard. "Lao Si, doors are really useful — they can protect supplies, and they can protect wolf pups. Broken-Waist traded me two Yishi stones for a door and had it installed in its territory…"

After a whole pitch, Xia Qing only received two Yishi stones for the door. Compared to Broken-Waist Wolf, Lao Si was truly an evolved wolf with zero appreciation for the pleasures of life…

After the supplies were divided, Xia Qing repacked everything except the Yishi stones back into the boxes, tied them up, and crawled into the tent to sleep.

The old wolf lay beside Xia Qing's tent, stared at the eight boxes nearby for a while, then slowly closed its eyes.

"Awooo—woooo————"

Xia Qing felt she hadn't slept long before she heard Lord Cui Yan's howl summoning its companions. She immediately pulled open the tent, called out to the old wolf heading out, and communicated with gestures as she spoke. "Lao Si, Cui Yan is summoning you all over — probably because those humans in the cave on Mountain No. 28 have companions trying to rescue them. Lao Si, try not to clash with those humans. They're very strong fighters with powerful weapons."

After Liehuo's big battle with Mieshi, the authorities had arrested a batch of their people, fined them a lot of points, and they'd lost their pollution-free water source — causing the battle team's overall strength to drop sharply.

Currently, Hanshuang had surpassed Liehuo to become the No. 1 battle team on Hui-1. The Shenshuang Squad was the second-strongest squad in the Hanshuang Battle Team. If the wolf pack went head-to-head with them, they'd definitely come off worse.

Seeing Xia Qing had finished speaking, Lao Si ran out of the karst cave, leapt off the cliff, and vanished into the wet evolved forest in the blink of an eye.

With no companion around, Xia Qing didn't dare lie in the tent to rest. She put on her protective mask, packed up her supplies, ate a little breakfast, then sat against the rock wall with her gun in her arms, resting her eyes while listening to the wolves howling outside.

The rain stopped, the sky brightened. Level-7 auditory evolver Xia Qing sat high on the cliff and could hear Lord Cui Yan's summoning calls coming from Hui-1 Mountain No. 28, and Lao Si's long, majestic howl.

Thirty minutes later, upon hearing Lord Cui Yan's long howl declaring territorial sovereignty coming from Hui-1 Mountain No. 28, the corners of Xia Qing's mouth slowly turned up.

From the sound of it, the wolf pack and the Hanshuang Battle Team hadn't fought. The Hanshuang Battle Team had withdrawn from the wolf pack's territory.

An hour later, a drenched Lao Si came back with a bulging belly.

During the day, Xia Qing taught the old wolf how to use a phone for a while, then went to gather supplies in the evolved forest. After dark again, she had Lao Si bring three wolves to help carry the supplies down from the cliff, heading to Hui-3 Mountain No. 8 to rendezvous with Yang Jin, who had come by helicopter to inspect the hyena pack's unusual activity.

The reason for all this caution was that what Xia Qing had gotten this time wasn't a drifter's stash — it was supplies Liehuo's people had hidden away!

(End of chapter)