Chapter 1325: Xia Qing vs. the Baboon King

"Queen, my lord, hold on a moment. Broken-Waist, come here and learn to recognize this herb."

The next morning, just past nine, the northern wolf pack once again crossed through the raptor's territory and entered the mist-shrouded basin of Mountain Sixty-Seven. Number Four combatant Xia Qing stopped in front of the cat's claw vine and called out the idol's prized pupil.

Once Broken-Waist Wolf came over, Xia Qing taught it to recognize the new herb. "This is the evolved cat's claw vine—it's the herb Third Brother needs. Look, these are the vine's fruits. Once the skins of the fruits have dried, gather some and take them back. You can use them to trade with Third Brother for medicine and instruments."

Seeing Broken-Waist Wolf's eyes light up, Xia Qing knew it wanted to use this herb to trade for the cone-beam CT scanner for oral and maxillofacial imaging in Territory Three—the instrument in the examination room in Territory Seven with the "CBCT" sign on it.

Xia Qing figured she definitely couldn't trade the seeds of this herb for such a precision machine, but Broken-Waist Wolf just might be able to, because Third Brother is quite taken with Broken-Waist Wolf.

What the hell is this crazy Blue Star!

After teaching Broken-Waist Wolf to recognize the herb, Xia Qing grabbed several venomous snakes and poisonous insects lunging at her, stuffed them into her beast-hide pouch, quickly dug up a section of cat's claw vine root and a tube of native soil, and followed the wolf pack onward.

After crossing the dead-leaf-colored flower sea and getting covered in pollen, the lead wolf cleared the way ahead while Xia Qing, Broken-Waist Wolf, and Handsome Giant Wolf guarded the left and right flanks, leading the northern wolf pack's six main-force wolves, two adult leopards, three half-grown wolves that hadn't yet eaten little Yi-snakes, and two half-grown leopards toward the hot spring lake.

Xia Qing had asked Broken-Waist Wolf, and it turned out they had brought the red fox family here on the first day of the bloom, and Red Three-Hairs had also eaten little Yi-snakes.

So, if today's operation goes smoothly, all the northern wolf pack's wolf cubs, little yellow weasels, little leopards, and little foxes will have eaten the nutritious little snakes, pushing their resistance up another notch.

Xia Qing planned to scoop up a few extra today to feed Little Flat-Top and boost its resistance.

When she led the team to the edge of the hot spring lake, Xia Qing found the southern wolf pack had already arrived. Today the one leading them wasn't Lord Cui Yan but Old Four, and they had brought over the same three wolf cubs as yesterday.

These three were all the wolf cubs the southern wolf pack had given birth to this spring and kept alive until now.

The old wolf，主动 brought Broken-Face cub over, and the two wolf leaders sniffed each other. Then it walked up to Xia Qing and gazed at her calmly.

Xia Qing suddenly understood why Old Four was leading the southern wolf pack today—because Old Four had a closer relationship with her, the snake-scooping worker, and could help the southern pack's cubs eat their fill and withdraw faster later.

Xia Qing leaned in and let the old wolf sniff her protective mask, and she sniffed hard through the mask in return—that was how two wolves greeted each other. After completing the social ritual, Xia Qing lowered her voice and asked, "Has Old Four been taking its medicine on time these past two days?"

Old Four's teeth had inflammation; the inflammation had to be treated before the teeth could be fixed.

Old Four nodded solemnly.

"Good." Xia Qing reached up and scratched Broken-Face cub under the chin again, her voice gentle. "Broken-Face, stay with me later. I'll catch snakes for you to eat."

The Broken-Face cub standing beside the old wolf tilted its head up to let Xia Qing scratch it a few times, then nodded solemnly.

Five minutes later, the western tiger group, all dead-leaf-colored, arrived at the hot spring. They brought another tiger cub, and Blind-Eye Tiger had come too, flicking the tip of its tail happily when it saw Xia Qing.

Xia Qing raised a hand to greet it too, working hard to raise its favorability. If she fed it another meal of snakes today, maybe next year she wouldn't need to bother Old Four and could enter Mountain Thirty-Six herself to dig up the evolved purple flower ground ivy.

"Shh, shh—"

From the dense forest not far off to the right came the sound of a large animal walking and water droplets falling. Xia Qing turned her head and saw that yesterday's group of baboons had actually teamed up with over twenty evolved macaques to come over.

Although there was water mist, and although the tall evolved macaque leading them was stained dead-leaf yellow all over by pollen, the obvious knife scar on its left brow ridge immediately let Xia Qing recognize who it was.

This was the macaque chieftain that had led the invasion of the western and southern wolf pack territories this spring—it really was still alive!

Xia Qing turned her head left to look at Old Four, then right to look at Handsome Giant Wolf, and found both baring their fangs with killing intent. They had both fought the invading macaques before and clearly recognized them too.

The macaque on the opposite side also bared its yellowed fangs, looking fierce.

You still dare to provoke us? If it weren't for hunting little Yi-snakes, the battle-hungry Handsome Giant Wolf would have already pounced.

Old Four gave a low howl, and the southern wolf pack and western tiger group drew closer to the northern wolf pack, the three teams forming one.

The fierce Broken-Brow Monkey chieftain on the opposite side sheathed its fangs and solemnly sized up the tiger-wolf alliance. Its gaze swept around once and finally settled on the human standing among the tigers and wolves.

The lead wolf, Broken-Waist Wolf, and Handsome Giant Wolf simultaneously shifted position to stand in front of Xia Qing, baring their fangs at Broken-Brow Monkey. Xia Qing also stepped forward into her own position, unslung the sniper rifle from her back, and radiated killing intent to the heavens.

Dare to plot against me, and one bullet will send you to the Western Heaven to meet your monkey ancestors!

Hui Six's macaque group had long fought humans and knew about weapons like guns. The moment Xia Qing drew her gun, Broken-Brow Monkey immediately retreated behind a rock, and the big and small macaques it had brought all hid as well, leaving only the twenty-odd big and small baboons standing where they were.

The chieftain baboon standing furthest forward reached back with a paw and took out something that looked a lot like Xia Qing's snake-scooping net. Then, except for the adult baboons carrying little baboons on their backs, all the others matched the chieftain and took out identical items.

This scene was a little eerie.

Through the hazy water mist, Xia Qing—a level nine and a half visually evolved being—was about to take a closer look at what the baboons were holding when an even eerier scene unfolded.

The lead wolf, Broken-Waist Wolf, and Handsome Giant Wolf turned their heads in unison to look at Xia Qing, indicating it was her turn to produce a paw.

Xia Qing was silent for a few seconds, then pulled the insect-catching net head she had made yesterday from her pack, assembled the iron rod, held it in her hand, and stared at the group of baboons opposite.

Perhaps noticing that the tiger-wolf group only had one net while they had many, the baboons got happy and opened their mouths in soundless howls.

Xia Qing hadn't wanted to pay the group any mind, but Broken-Waist Wolf felt they couldn't be outdone and turned back to paw at Xia Qing's pack.

In front of the rivals, Xia Qing had to give the wolf pack's number two combatant face. She quickly made another net, and holding two between them, the two bared their teeth at the baboons.

The chieftain baboon opposite immediately took the tool from the baboon beside it, held one in each paw, and stared at Xia Qing.

The two sides called it a draw.

Seeing Xia Qing put her gun away, Broken-Brow Monkey led its macaque group out from behind the rocks and stood at the rear of the baboon group.

After the raptor's patrol passed, the lead wolf stepped into the hot spring first, followed by Old Four, then the largest male tiger in the tiger group. Xia Qing also stopped paying attention to that baboon, slipped silently into the water, and began luring the little Yi-snakes.

When the gentle magnetic field of the Yi element surged over, the lead wolf no longer picked up snakes in its mouth but turned its head to look at Xia Qing.

Xia Qing, on whom the alliance had pinned its hopes, waved her two snake-catching nets.

Don't worry, Queen, my lord—watch me!