Chapter 1336: The Wolf Who Led a Team to Take Part in the Evolved-Forest Sweep Mission

Although the Class C magnetic-sense evolution ability let Zhang Shi confirm that Xia Qing was telling the truth, she still couldn't help suspecting that her own hearing and brain had malfunctioned, mis-receiving and mis-decoding the information Xia Qing had sent.

The "patient" about to move into Territory Three was actually a... wolf?

After Little Shiyi moved into Territory Fifteen, Zhang Shi would look for a suitable chance to climb to the peak of the Third Peak and use binoculars during school commute times, breaks, and PE classes to check on her daughter's situation. But she kept her promise with Xia Qing — she would not and could not use the binoculars to peek into the lords' territories, so she didn't know that evolved wolves frequently roamed within Xia Qing's territory.

"Would not" is a moral-level restraint; "could not" is because Territory Three sits in the northwest corner of the Northern Zone One territory, blocked by Mountain Forty-Nine, so from the Third Peak of Mountain Fifty she couldn't see the situation in Territory Three.

So Zhang Shi felt this was extremely unreasonable: "Why would Third Brother perform tooth-regrowth treatment on a wolf?"

This medical technology has already been finalized and pushed to market; it doesn't need further animal experiments. Even taking a step back — say problems arose during the full market rollout and they had to return to the animal-experiment stage — they should choose miniature pigs, whose tooth structure is highly similar to humans, not wolves, which are fierce beasts.

Xia Qing gave the explanation she thought Zhang Shi would find most reasonable; as for whether her idol actually thought that way, Xia Qing never asked: "This evolved wolf is an important member of Hui Three's southern wolf pack. The southern wolf pack's territory is now the experimental zone of Territory Seven. Third Brother needs this wolf to recover its combat strength so it can better advance the research projects in that experimental zone."

Zhang Shi felt this wasn't the real reason, because Zhang San had always advocated not over-intervening and letting the evolved-forest creatures survive the fittest to achieve dynamic balance. But she didn't press further on the purpose and began focusing on the risk level of this project: "If you keep the wolf inside the territory, how do you stop it from howling? If the measures are improper, its howling could easily draw the wolf pack and threaten the safety of humans living in Northern Zone One."

Xia Qing simply stated it outright: "It doesn't need to be kept in a cage. This wolf is a brain-domain evolver; it understands the meaning of this surgery and voluntarily accepts and cooperates with the treatment."

This... Zhang Shi began doubting her hearing again. Could it be that she'd been away from human society too long and could no longer keep up with the pace of modern human evolution?

Xia Qing asked curiously, "When Tenth Sister lived in the evolved forest, she never had contact with brain-domain evolved animals?"

Zhang Shi, who was seriously sensing Xia Qing's magnetic field, steadied herself and answered honestly, "I've run into brain-domain evolved rats, rabbits, wild boars, and birds, but never a brain-domain evolved fierce beast. My combat power was low and I had a child with me, so I mainly lived in town ruins that large fierce beasts didn't bother with. Even when I went into the evolved forest to gather or hunt, I'd avoid the core activity zones of large fierce beasts and only operate on the edges. If we encountered a wolf pack, we'd hide up in a big tree — sometimes we'd stay up there two or three days before coming down. I... I was cut off from information in the evolved forest. Even though I've been studying hard these past six months, there's still a big gap. I didn't know evolved wolves could already communicate complex information with humans."

After voluntarily exposing her own shortcomings, Zhang Shi actively seized this work opportunity that was both extremely rare and very suitable for her: "Still, I think this also fits evolutionary logic and the probability of high-level evolvers appearing in different species. Brain-domain evolved dogs living with humans — like those two brain-domain evolved border collies in Orchid City — have already reached normal human intelligence. Wolves and dogs both belong to the canine family, with only about a 0.2% genetic difference, so it's normal for a high-intelligence individual to appear among evolved wolves."

At this point, Zhang Shi still cautiously asked, "By what means did that evolved wolf come into contact with humans? Can you confirm it correctly understood the information humans sent?"

Xia Qing answered honestly, "It very likely often secretly observed humans doing missions in the evolved forest."

Half an hour later, Xia Qing left the hidden valley, went first to the danger zone to communicate with Zhang He's squad, and only then went to join the sweep mission.

Once there she discovered — damn it — that miserly, sharp Broken-Waist Wolf had actually brought twelve wolf-team members to take part in the evolved-forest sweep mission.

As one of the main sweep targets of this human mission, the evolved wolf had formed a team to take on a mission issued by humans, earning human points while protecting humans sweeping the evolved forest...

As the mission issuer, Xia Qing could only be grateful that Broken-Waist had gotten proper clearance with the person in charge of the Mountain Fifty mission zone; otherwise her idol would surely suspect her of falsifying expenses.

At three in the afternoon, Xia Qing led the Mountain Fifty sweep team — made up of members of the Lords' Alliance — back to the territory. The lords cleaned up and distributed the harvested supplies. Xia Qing went to Territory Seven to turn in the work and, taking the chance, reported the matter of Zhang Shi to her idol.

Her idol was very busy; the small matter of Broken-Waist Wolf leading a team to take part in the mission didn't need to be reported to her idol in detail. She'd wait until her idol discovered it during the expense review.

By then, the 5.643-million-point subsidy for Hui Three's southern new experimental zone would surely have arrived, and her idol wouldn't quibble with her over a few hundred points.

Thanks to Yang Jin, Broken-Waist Wolf's elder brother, who was negotiating in Hui One Safe Zone.

"I just found out Zhang Shi is actually a dentist." Xia Qing asked, "When Third Brother traded the machine to Broken-Waist, was he already considering having Zhang Shi take part in Old Four's treatment?"

Zhang San, sporting two dark circles under his eyes, yawned and gave Xia Qing a deep look. He had indeed told Xia Qing to act as if she didn't know Zhang Shi's true identity and not pay too much attention to Zhang Shi and her son. But he hadn't expected Xia Qing to carry it out so thoroughly that she hadn't even gathered Zhang Shi's basic information.

Realizing this, Zhang San couldn't resist wanting to pry open this new human's skull and take a look. If she hadn't thought to bring in Zhang Shi, a professional doctor, to handle the treatment, then when she so readily agreed to treat the old wolf's dozen-plus teeth, who had she planned to have responsible for the old wolf's daily care and nutritional food supply after the extractions?

Broken-Waist, or herself?

Zhang San raised a hand and pressed his forehead, skipping the question entirely: "I thought you'd have her stay in that valley where you raise pigs."

Xia Qing nodded very honestly: "She did make that request, but I think it's safer and more convenient for them to live inside my territory. Still, Zhang Shi said that she herself moving into Territory Three wouldn't give her away, but if Ye Yiyi moved in, she definitely would. Third Brother, why is that?"

Zhang San yawned again and explained to Xia Qing: "Any area where animals — humans included — have been active for a long time will inevitably leave scent. Even if you use the best deodorizers to eliminate the smell, you can't fool a high-level olfactory evolver's detection."

One person's scent will undergo short-term or long-term changes due to physiological, environmental, or behavioral factors, but its core scent characteristics are determined by genes and remain relatively stable. So once that person's scent is memorized by a high-level olfactory evolver, the moment she appears again she'll be locked onto immediately.

Xia Qing knew all this, but she still couldn't make sense of Zhang Shi's words. Because in Xia Qing's view, Zhang Shi moving into the territory carried a higher danger coefficient than little Ye Yiyi.