Chapter 1302: Ergua's Syndactyly Deformity

Before Xia Qing could speak, Tang Huai cut in, "Brother Wang, you're an olfactory Evolver?"

Professor Wang nodded. "Not in the same league as everyone here—I'm only a fourth-rank olfactory Evolver."

"Brother Wang's too modest. Our territory is a farming-survival one, and we don't have many Evolvers." Tang Huai returned the courtesy with a kind warning: "Looks like Brother Wang hasn't visited Hui-6's territory much, has he? Otherwise you wouldn't have asked a question that violates the Territory Law: unauthorized law-enforcement personnel privately investigating conditions inside a territory is illegal. The light penalty is a fine in points and docked benefits; the heavy one is detention with forced labor."

That's what the law says, but in this day and age, how many actually abide by it? And over something this small, how many would even bother calling the police? Even if you did report it, the Investigation Squad wouldn't have the time to deal with you!

Still, since Tang Huai had laid it out so plainly, Wang Zhanxi could only apologize to Xia Qing: "I'm used to using my sense of smell to scan my surroundings, and it's true I rarely visit territories for inspection or study. Director Xia, my apologies."

Xia Qing nodded calmly and led them forward.

Zhang Song walked up beside Xia Qing and asked in a low voice, "Sister Qing, I only got back to the territory at noon today. Third Brother told me that yesterday, when you were patrolling the Evolution Forest, you brought back two monk-faced monkeys infected with the evolved anaerobic bacteria. How are they doing now?"

Because Zhang Song had been carrying out disaster-eradication missions at Hui-1 these past few days and couldn't patrol the Evolution Forest with Xia Qing, the loss pained him more than missing out on several hundred million points.

Xia Qing answered, "One was more seriously ill. Yesterday and today I gave it a quarter-dose of C-5 each time, and half a dose of the No. 2 blue potion orally. I haven't taken samples for testing today yet."

"Good. After we finish looking at the bees, I'll head over and take a look."

Xia Qing nodded.

Tang Huai's eyes lit up, and just as he was about to say he'd go too, Professor Wang walking beside him kindly reminded Xia Qing, "Monkeys are cunning, Director Xia. Keeping them in the territory means you have to be on twelve-alert guard."

Before Xia Qing could respond, Zhang Song—who had taken an instant dislike to this surnamed Wang—darkened his face. "May I ask who you are?"

Professor Wang replied politely, "Myself, Wang Zhanxi. I conduct insect research at the Hui-6 Research Institute."

Zhang Song introduced himself first as well: "Myself, Zhang Song. I work at the Hui-3 No. 7 Territory Research Institute, specializing in primate research. May I ask which researcher at your institute put forward the assertion that 'monkeys are cunning'?"

Put on the spot by Zhang Song, Wang Zhanxi glanced at Xia Qing first. Seeing she had no intention of intervening, he could only answer himself: "That is my own view. Hui-6 has long suffered monkey plagues—injuries to people, damage to farmland and apiaries. I am more than a little fed up."

Zhang Song corrected him sternly: "'Cunning' is a judgment humans make based on moral concepts about certain behavior of their own kind, and it carries an obvious pejorative meaning. In March of the fourth year of the Catastrophe, at the Primate Research Conference held at Red-1, the principal primate researchers from bases across the country put forward a proposal and reached unanimous agreement: research on primates must strictly distinguish the 'intelligent behavior' of animals from human moral concepts, and neutral terminology should be used to describe primates' strategic behavior."

Being told to his face by Zhang Song that he was unprofessional stung Wang Zhanxi, but he kept a smile on his face. "Is that so? I'm an insect researcher, so I really don't know much about the primate field. I hope you'll forgive my ignorance. But do you really think that the various behaviors of Blue Star's evolved primates—especially Hui-6's evolved macaques—still don't qualify as 'cunning'?"

"When understanding animal behavior, one must strip away the human-centered perspective to get closer to the true logic of the natural world. A monkey's 'cunning' is a marvel of life's evolution, not a mirror of human nature. When you study the bee-aphid flies in your hives, would you use 'cunning' to describe their survival strategies?"

Seeing Wang Zhanxi rendered speechless by Zhang Song's rebuttal, Zhang Shunzhou, who had come with him, immediately stepped in to smooth things over. "Director Xia, which of the greenhouses up ahead is the one for the bees?"

Xia Qing answered, "The last row, the one on the left. Brother Huai, could you take the experts over first? Brother Song and I will go check on the monk-faced monkeys?"

"Sure." Tang Huai, who very much wanted to see the monk-faced monkeys, accepted the task and gestured for the two Hui-6 experts to follow him.

Zhang Song turned back and told Zhang Han behind him, "You go to the bee house first. I'll come by later."

Zhang Han, looking every bit the student, immediately nodded and followed Tang Huai with his equipment.

Wang Zhanxi watched Xia Qing stride off with Zhang Song without so much as a backward glance, and concluded that even if Territory No. 3 really did have unpolluted spring water, it certainly wasn't inside the beekeeping greenhouse.

Where could it be, then?

He cast a discreet glance around, his gaze quickly sweeping past the two terraced greenhouses on the northern buffer forest. Zhang Han behind him didn't gawk; he obediently carried his equipment and followed along.

Once they had followed Xia Qing into the abandoned village and were completely out of the hearing Evolver's detection range, Zhang Song finally spoke. "Those two—one plays the good cop, one the bad cop. On the surface they came to see the bee-aphid flies, but their real goal is to scout your territory. Letting them wander around a bit won't hurt, Sister Qing."

Xia Qing nodded and didn't bring up Zhang Han, because she didn't know how much her idol had told Zhang Song.

Zhang Song had long been used to her silence. He chattered the whole way back to her house with her, greeted the impossibly cool and domineering Boss Sheep in the sheep pen, and finally stepped into Xia Qing's living room—where he came face to face with the two monkeys he had been longing to see.

At a single glance, Zhang Song recognized the little female monkey that Does Daigua had found. "This is a youngster born in May this year to another troop on Mountain 62, and one of my key observation subjects. At the beginning of this month, after it started foraging on its own, I never picked it up on the monitors again—I assumed a predator had taken it."

Territory No. 7 had installed quite a few cameras on Mountain 62 to observe the white-faced monk-faced monkeys living in that area. So Zhang Song's recognizing Ergua was no surprise to Xia Qing; what did surprise her was the relationship between Does Daigua and Ergua. "This little monkey isn't a member of Does Daigua's family?"

"No, their foraging ranges don't overlap. White-faced monk-faced monkeys are single-birth breeders, but this little monkey is a rare twin. It's the only infant in all the monk-faced monkey troops I've observed that grew up on its father's back." Zhang Song, beaming with fatherly affection, tried to communicate with his main observation subject. "Did Does Daigua know this little female monkey before?"

Does Daigua, holding the little female monkey, stared at Zhang Song in terror and made no move to respond.

Xia Qing walked over, picked up the monkey-ball Does Daigua and Ergua had formed, and asked gently, "Does Daigua, have you met Ergua before?"

Does Daigua trembled, bared its lips, and showed its teeth.

Hmm? Hmm? Hmm?!!!

Zhang Song suppressed his inner excitement and stood still, observing as calmly as he could.

Xia Qing didn't ask anything further. She turned and showed Zhang Song Ergua's left hind paw. "Brother Song, look at this paw—can it be corrected by surgery? I took a CT scan for it and confirmed it's a simple syndactyly deformity. Only the skin and soft tissue are fused; the four toe bones are separate."

That was why Xia Qing had asked Zhang Song to come over. When she had given Ergua a bath yesterday, she had noticed the problem with its hind paw, then called the Broken-Waist Wolf over, and together the woman, the wolf, and the monkey did a CT scan on Ergua and confirmed its condition.

"It has syndactyly? I never observed that!" The drawbacks of observing wild animals through cameras were too many. Zhang Song asked, "Sister Qing, could you show me the CT images?"

"Sure." Xia Qing and Zhang Song were now members of the same research group, so they had each other's contact information. She sent Zhang Song the CT scans of both of Ergua's hind paws directly.

Zhang Song gave his professional opinion: "The surgery is very simple. It can be done once the little monkey's body has recovered. After the syndactyly is separated, skin flap repair will be needed. If the aftercare isn't good, there's a risk of wound-surface infection and postoperative scar contracture—but with Sister Qing's level of nursing care, and the special potions from Territory No. 7, the risk is almost zero."

Xia Qing understood: all the risk rested on her.