Chapter 1254: Human!

Fortunately, Xia Qing and Old Wolf pulled a pack of antidotes from the tree hollow, and the idol was able to use the antidotes inside to make a special detox agent targeting the toxins leaked from Liehuo!

After Zhang Song tested the 33 wolves that rushed over, as well as Lord Cui Yan and Old Four's blood, he detected four poisoned wolves in total. Fortunately, all four were still in the toxin incubation period.

The first three wolves were injected with the antidote; the fourth would have to wait until the helicopter returned with more antidote. This place was too far from Territory Seven—a round trip would take nearly two hours.

Xia Qing, who was suppressing the evolved wolf, spoke. "Song Ge, check the wound and confirm how long this wolf has been poisoned."

"Okay."

Before Zhang Song could find it, Old Wolf had already located the wound on its companion. It leaned close to sniff the wound carefully, then let out an angry, low growl.

Zhang Song quickly examined the spot Old Wolf had sniffed and found a puncture wound with only a tiny red dot. "Based on the wound, this wolf hasn't been poisoned for more than half an hour—it can wait for the antidote to arrive. But to prevent the toxin from spreading, I recommend injecting it with an anesthetic and performing emergency treatment."

Xia Qing nodded. "Go ahead."

Examining the wound up close, which had not yet festered, Zhang Song could now confirm it was a puncture left by a needle.

His feelings at this moment were extremely complicated and heavy. He didn't know how to tell Xia Qing his conclusion, because Old Wolf beside them could understand human speech and read human writing.

How could he eliminate the grief and anger of these two brain-domain-evolved wolves and prevent this incident from escalating into a large-scale bloody conflict between humans and the wolf pack?

Zhang Song's brain domain spun rapidly, but his hands didn't stop. He injected the anesthetic into this evolved wolf, wrapped pressure bandages above and below the wound, and had Peng Jian set up a tent.

Without Zhang Song saying a word, Xia Qing, upon seeing the wound, had already raised the possibility that humans had used toxins to attack the Southern Wolf Pack to 95%.

Likewise, without Zhang Song saying a word, Old Wolf had already confirmed, by scent, the creature that had attacked its companion. It used its sharp wolf claws to write a single character on a stone, and stared with killing intent at Xia Qing, whose eyes held the same killing intent.

Human!

"This kind of wound is very likely caused by humans, but it could also be from another animal infected with the toxin that has poisonous spines," Xia Qing first responded to Old Four's judgment, then asked, "Old Four, how many of your companions haven't come to gather yet?"

The reason Xia Qing was certain the Southern Wolf Pack still had companions who hadn't arrived was that Lord Cui Yan was still howling.

Old Four used its sharp wolf claws again to carve a deep "3" into the stone.

That meant, besides the two wolves that had died of poisoning and the four wolves still in the incubation period, three members of the Southern Wolf Pack were still unaccounted for.

Those three wolves were very likely already in the toxin-onset stage, too weak to move, or possibly already dead.

The poisoning rate among the Southern Wolf Pack had already exceeded a quarter!

Old Four's fur bristled again. After letting out a long string of howling with rising and falling tones at Xia Qing, it turned to go search for its companions—and to take revenge.

Xia Qing stopped it. "Old Four, wait a moment. Going alone is too dangerous. I'll get my weapons, and we'll go together."

This last wolf hadn't been poisoned for more than half an hour, which meant the people who had attacked the Southern Wolf Pack were most likely still within the pack's territory.

Their purpose in using poison against the evolved wolves was very likely to search for the supplies hidden in the giant tree forest of Mountain 28. Once the wolf pack lost its defensive capability, they could comb through the Southern Wolf Pack's territory and dig out the supplies.

When the wolves' corpses were discovered by humans, they would be attributed to the follow-up disaster caused by the Liehuo Mountain toxic gas leak.

As for how many animals would die from the resulting spread of toxins, what impact it would have on the evolved forest ecosystem, and whether the surviving evolved wolves would retaliate against humans as a result—none of that was within their consideration!

With an expressionless face, Xia Qing entered the tent that had been set up, opened her backpack, and with brisk movements clipped magazine pouches and grenades to her waist, and slung long and short black blades, a sniper rifle, and a crowbar across her back.

Inside the tent, Zhang Song, who was performing emergency treatment on the poisoned wolf, watched with alarm and asked in a low voice, "Sister Qing?"

"Song Ge, report the situation to Third Brother. After I and the wolf pack eliminate the creatures that poisoned the evolved wolves, I'll ask Third Brother to launch the disaster-elimination procedure." Xia Qing's tone was no different from usual, but Zhang Song listened with his heart pounding. "After you finish treating this wolf's wound, Song Ge, take one wolf corpse and leave this place. Create a video of you discovering the evolved wolf corpse in the evolved forest, to keep as evidence."

Zhang Song knew he couldn't persuade her, so he could only nod. "Okay. Sister Qing, stay safe."

Xia Qing gave a slight nod, unzipped the tent flap, and walked out. "Watching Huo Zhun, Peng Jian, you two protect Song Ge. As long as you don't attack the wolf pack, the wolf pack won't hurt you."

"Understood!"

"Copy that!"

Xia Qing leaped down the mountain in a single bound, mounted a giant brown wolf, and teamed up with Old Four and two other evolved wolves that had been injected with the antidote after being poisoned, heading toward the mountain area where they had just been active.

The humans who could evade the evolved wolves' keen sense of smell and hearing, move within the core territory of the wolf pack, and attack the evolved wolves with poisoned needles could be Blue-Skin Wanderers, or they could be other people who possessed the same drugs or concealment methods.

The Southern Wolf Pack had already lost two evolved wolves to death, with three more missing. If these human scumbags were allowed to escape, the Southern Wolf Pack would definitely retaliate.

If Old Four couldn't lock onto a target for revenge, it would very likely launch a beast tide during this month's blizzard at the end of the month, retaliating against human territories or safe zones.

The day before yesterday, the Hui City news broadcast reported that, affected by the sudden natural disaster in October, the number of evolved-forest animals predicted to lose control in this year's blizzard would increase by at least 30% compared to last year, and could trigger beast tides that endanger human territories and safe zones.

Yesterday, both the Northern District One Territory and the Ninth Center received notices from their superiors, requiring them to produce effective beast-tide defense plans as soon as possible and implement them quickly.

When Xia Qing left the territory today, the Hui Three Northern District One inspection team was repairing the iron-net wall, which put a lot of pressure on her as the Ninth Center's director.

With favorable timing and terrain, plus Old Four's intelligence and Lord Cui Yan's combat power, even though the Southern Wolf Pack only had just over thirty wolves—eleven of which were old, weak, and half-grown pups—they could still drive the out-of-control and nearly out-of-control animals in the evolved forest to form a large-scale or even super-large-scale beast tide, trample Hui Three Southern Territory or Hui One Northern Territory, and even pose a threat to human safe zones.

By then, the number of human and evolved-wolf casualties would absolutely exceed those from the Western Wolf Pack's attack on human territory last spring.

Therefore, today they had to kill these scumbags who had broken into the wolf pack's territory and used poisoned needles to attack the evolved wolves with lethal intent.

If Xia Qing and Old Four couldn't complete this mission within an hour, she would call the idol directly and ask him to immediately launch the emergency disaster-elimination procedure to lock down the Southern Wolf Pack's territory.

Even if these people hid in a rat hole, she and Old Four would drag them out and destroy them.