Chapter 1340: Milk Bought with Blood

Hearing that this human cub had fallen ill, Broken-Waist Wolf immediately lifted its nose, using its sense of smell to investigate the condition of this weakened cub. Before it could speak, Xia Qing cut off the thought it had just formed. "She has no wounds, no fractures, and no diarrhea from an evolution-bacteria infection. The CT scanner and blood tests both show nothing abnormal. Tenth Sister, right?"

Hearing Xia Qing's words, Broken-Waist Wolf turned its head to look at the other human, its expression growing even more serious.

In Zhang Shi's view, this high-level evolution wolf of both the Psychic and Elasticity dual-systems—whom Xia Qing had introduced as "the second-in-command of the northern wolf pack, currently studying human knowledge, already literate, able to understand human language, with excellent taste, very particular about its fur, and believing itself to be the most handsome wolf on Blue Star"—after hearing Xia Qing's words, its magnetic field became sharper and more active, giving Zhang Shi a faint headache.

In the past, Zhang Shi would have immediately thrown out a self-made irritating-smell bomb and fled; but now that she had returned to human society and was striving to catch up with the pace of human evolution, she forced herself to suppress her fear of this evolved beast, answering Xia Qing's question in as calm a tone as she could manage and giving a professional explanation.

"Correct. Blood tests can't diagnose PTSD, but they can help rule out other illnesses; CT mainly scans brain structure through X-rays and can't show functional brain activity. The abnormal brain regions in PTSD mainly manifest as changes in functional connectivity or metabolic levels, not obvious structural damage, so most PTSD patients' brain CT scans appear normal."

Broken-Waist Wolf hadn't even fully mastered Chinese yet, so of course it hadn't started learning the language and writing of another region—English. So Xia Qing added an explanation. "Broken-Waist, the full name of PTSD is 'Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.' This human cub called Ye Yiyi had her whole family fall ill and die; after losing her family's protection she became very timid and insecure, and trembles when stimulated."

Broken-Waist Wolf, its face solemn, gave a slight nod. This action left Zhang Shi stunned for several seconds, then she quickly gathered her emotions and updated her understanding of the evolved-wolf species.

After Xia Qing finished introducing little Ye Yiyi's situation, she began to formally introduce Zhang Shi to Broken-Waist Wolf. "This is my new companion Zhang Shi. She's a dentist standing at the very top of Blue Star's pyramid. Once I finish building the house, she'll move into my territory to treat Old Four's teeth. Tenth Sister can also examine and treat little Sister Wolf's teeth, so that the permanent teeth she grows will be neat and beautiful, making her the prettiest little wolf cub on Blue Star."

Zhang Shi, who had just been about to explain that she wasn't that impressive, fell silent again upon hearing Xia Qing's second half of the sentence.

So the patients she would be treating after moving into Territory Three weren't limited to just one wolf?

Xia Qing's promises to the patient's family were too high, giving the patient unrealistic expectations. If that young wolf called "little Sister Wolf" didn't grow a set of neat, beautiful permanent teeth under her treatment, what then—orthodontic intervention?

If after intervention this evolved wolf still decided the cub's teeth weren't the prettiest, would there be a medical dispute?

How would a cross-species medical dispute be resolved? Is there a negotiation mechanism?

If she understood correctly, this clinic should have only one dentist—herself. So when Xia Qing said her work was high-risk and heavy-laden, it really wasn't just a polite remark…

Over there, Xia Qing was still chattering away, introducing Zhang Shi to Broken-Waist Wolf.

"…No, Third Brother's too busy, he can't follow Old Four's entire tooth-regeneration treatment in real time—that's Tenth Sister's job… Oh right, Tenth Sister can also operate the CBCT machine!"

After Broken-Waist Wolf figured out Zhang Shi's role and abilities, it turned its head to stare at her for a few more seconds, briefly revealing the sharp tips of its fangs.

To treat a cub's teeth, one must first win the guardian's trust! Zhang Shi steadied herself and earnestly praised the extremely ferocious evolved wolf standing beside Xia Qing and Ye Yiyi. "Brother Duan's two canines have enamel showing a uniform A1 shade—the most natural white on the Blue Star international standard shade guide. That's the most beautiful, handsome tooth color."

Not knowing what the wolf standard for "handsome" was, Zhang Shi couldn't evaluate where exactly this wolf was handsome, so she could only assess its dental condition from a professional angle.

After hearing this, Broken-Waist Wolf grinned, baring a mouthful of teeth.

Although the owner of those teeth was emitting a warm, pleased magnetic field, facing this set of sharp teeth capable of easily piercing prey's hide and muscle and crushing its bones, Zhang Shi still felt an instinctive fear.

She controlled her emotions as best she could and praised it seriously and rigorously. "Brother Duan's enamel is white, the surface smooth, the gingival margin form tight; the dental arch is neatly arranged, the incisal edge curvature of the upper and lower anterior teeth is natural—this is a textbook Class I occlusion, indicating that Brother Duan's jaw development and tooth eruption process are both very healthy."

Xia Qing summed up Zhang Shi's professional assessment briefly and forcefully. "Broken-Waist, Tenth Sister says your teeth are the sharpest, most impressive, and most beautiful."

Zhang Shi…

After Xia Qing left with the evolved wolf that was now a "demon wolf" in every sense of the word, Zhang Shi placed the still-sleeping Ye Yiyi inside the pitched tent, sat beside her, and replayed the direct communication she'd just had with the evolved wolf. Slowly, a smile appeared on her face.

The high-level Psychic evolved animals in the Evolution Forest had already evolved to the point of being able to control their killing instincts and converse with humans as equals—this was absolutely good news for her.

She would work seriously in Territory Three and build good relationships with these fierce beasts of the Evolution Forest. Once her and Shiyi's identities were exposed and they could no longer survive in this territory, they'd have one more escape route.

Under the soft lamplight inside the tent, Zhang Shi lowered her head to look at the sleeping Ye Yiyi. A flash of struggle and hesitation crossed her eyes, then gradually returned to calm.

At eleven at night, after the medicine wore off, the drowsy Ye Yiyi gradually woke and slowly opened her eyes. Before she could even register that her surroundings had changed, she heard Zhang Shi's gentle voice.

"Yiyi's awake? Do you want to pee, or poo?"

Little Ye Yiyi followed the sound to find Zhang Shi, her gaze landing on the warm, fragrant bottle of milk in her hands. Zhang Shi brought the bottle to Ye Yiyi's lips; she instinctively latched on with her little mouth and drank the milk in big gulps.

The fact that Ye Yiyi could still feed herself meant the change of environment hadn't triggered a stress response. Zhang Shi slowly lowered the towel she'd been ready to use to cover her mouth, and spoke to her in a gentle voice. "Yiyi, we'll stay here a few days and then move into Auntie Qing's territory. Auntie Qing's territory has a dairy cow, and the work points I earn can be exchanged for fresher milk for Yiyi to drink."

The Green Light milk powder Ye Yiyi was drinking now had been sent over by Zhang San's people—strictly speaking, it was something Zhang Shi had exchanged with her own blood.

Once she moved into Territory Three and received her wages, she could exchange work points for Green Light milk.

Besides Ye Yiyi, who urgently needed nutritional supplements, if she could exchange for more milk, she should give some to Shiyi to drink too—she'd never had any growing up.

Zhang Shi wiped the corner of Ye Yiyi's mouth and smiled gently.

The Flat-Top who had slept enough and come out to hunt arrived near the valley, lifted its nose to sniff, quickly locked onto the prey's location, and charged forward with a grunt.