Chapter 1354: Eastern Jackal Pack

After the helicopter took off again, the squad leader standing at the front turned back to check the team members' positions, his gaze landing on Huo Zhun and Wang Man.

Vice squad leader Xia Qing immediately spotted the problem. "Huo-ge is at the tall one's left rear, Man-jie at the tall one's right rear, responsible for defending both flanks. Keep formation while moving."

After Huo Zhun and Wang Man adjusted their positions, Old Wolf took the front, Xia Qing and Broken-Waist Wolf flanked left and right behind Old Wolf, Giant Wolf Big Guy along with Wang Man and Huo Zhun guarded the rear, three half-grown wolves in the middle. The formation was solid.

Xia Qing looked at Old Four. "Captain, shall we set off?"

Old Wolf gave Huo Zhun and Wang Man another stern look, then led the team out.

Wang Man, confirming she had just been scolded by a wolf squad leader, felt it was utterly novel and could hardly wait to call Yan Long and her good friends to share. But she couldn't, because she had joined the Territory Alliance and had to abide by its rules.

At this moment, Wang Man finally understood why Huo Zhun always had that punchable look on his face whenever they mentioned wolves before. Even if it killed her, she wouldn't spill it, because she absolutely could not lose her qualification to join the Human-Wolf Squad.

Wang Man was certain that what she was doing right now was absolutely the craziest thing on Crazy Blue Star.

No more words needed—exciting!

Huo Zhun, whose scouting ability wasn't outstanding enough, couldn't spare the attention for his old comrade-now-new-teammate's emotions. He threw himself entirely into the squad's mission, locking his gaze on every rustle of wind and grass within his assigned evolution forest defense zone, ready at all times to issue warnings and engage.

Old Wolf's initial pace wasn't fast, but upon confirming all three humans could keep up, it gradually increased speed.

Ten minutes later, the Plucked-Fluff Pup, the first to fall behind, leaped with all its might and hitched a ride on Xia Qing's backpack ahead of it.

Twenty minutes later, Xia Qing, who had just soaked in her seventeenth medicinal bath last night, began to fall behind.

Gasping for breath, Xia Qing now clearly understood that the gap in innate evolution ability couldn't be bridged by soaking in a dozen or so evolution potions after birth.

The potions Third Brother gave her were meant to repair bodily damage and strengthen bone and skin resilience, not to boost her evolution ability. The reason Xia Qing felt full of strength after soaking was that her muscles and bones had been adjusted to a better state for her own body—not that her upper limit had been raised.

Non-speed evolvers can reach a running speed upper limit through training equal to that of a Level 5 speed evolver. Xia Qing, wearing acceleration running shoes, had already pushed her speed close to Level 5, yet still couldn't outrun the four-legged evolution wolves or Level 6 elasticity evolver Huo Zhun.

Wang Man? She couldn't outrun them either.

Because although Wang Man was also not a speed or elasticity evolver, she was a high-level lung-capacity evolver. So even though her top speed was comparable to Wang Man's, the other's powerful lung capacity meant she could maintain top-speed running longer than Xia Qing.

Xia Qing had clearly sensed that her muscles, bones, and internal organs would suffer damage if she kept up this running pace, so she began to slow down. Running was never her strong suit anyway; there was no need to force herself to keep up when she couldn't. Broken-Waist Wolf had brought Big Guy, so she could ride a wolf.

Paying points was also acceptable, as long as the stingy big shot's price wasn't too outrageous.

Old Wolf was a qualified squad leader—using hearing and smell to confirm a team member was falling behind, it immediately slowed down and stopped to let Xia Qing adjust her condition.

Little Wolf Sister, who had also soaked in a medicinal bath last night and didn't feel tired yet, played together with the Plucked-Fluff Pup.

More than ten minutes after leaving the team, Scarface Little Wolf caught a forty-something-jin wild boar for Xia Qing, letting her replenish her stamina quickly, which made Wang Man, also adjusting her condition, stare in astonishment again.

Huo Zhun? Not his first time seeing this scene—he was already used to it.

Xia Qing was deeply moved. "Scarface, you truly are the warmest, most considerate little wolf teammate at the very top of Blue Star's pyramid. Thank you for the prey you caught. But my teeth aren't sharp enough, and my stomach isn't strong enough to eat raw meat. I'll take out the prey's innards for you to eat, okay?"

Seeing Scarface Little Wolf didn't object, Xia Qing nimbly put on disposable antibacterial gloves, gutted the wild boar, took out its heart and liver, placed them in a paper bowl, and set it before Scarface Little Wolf.

Scarface Little Wolf turned to look at Old Wolf, saw it wasn't eating, and buried its head in the meal.

The smell of blood drew Little Wolf Sister and the Plucked-Fluff Pup over. Broken-Waist Wolf wouldn't let the pups of its own wolf pack eat Scarface Little Wolf's prey, so it howled once, ordering Big Guy to go hunt.

Before long, Big Guy came back carrying a deer-like prey that looked to weigh over sixty jin. Broken-Waist Wolf placed the prey in front of Xia Qing, signaling her to skin and process it.

Xia Qing likewise took out this prey's innards and put them in the bowl, letting the two little wolves from the Northern Wolf Pack eat.

Over there, after Scarface Little Wolf finished eating, Old Four began to feed. Over there, after Little Wolf Sister and the Plucked-Fluff Pup finished eating, the two adult wolves of the Northern Wolf Pack also began to feed.

Clearly, none of these three adult wolves were hungry—they stopped moving after eating the innards. So Xia Qing packed up the two yellow-light prey with their innards removed and stuffed them into her backpack.

Seeing the wolf pack didn't object to Xia Qing keeping the prey, Wang Man gave Xia Qing a thumbs-up.

Awesome—not a single shot fired, and dozens of jin of edible meat gained!

After Xia Qing put the meat away, some of the birds and small animals in the surrounding trees and evolution forest waiting for a free meal scattered. The rest swarmed in after the wolf-human squad left, fighting over the scraps of meat and blood on the grass.

Xia Qing, carrying dozens of jin of meat on her back, was just about to climb onto Big Guy's back when Old Wolf's stern gaze stopped her, ordering her back to position immediately.

Xia Qing stepped forward and stood at Old Four's side. This mission was to gather wild fruit, not urgent. Old Four wanted her to train her running speed and endurance, and Xia Qing naturally had no objections.

Old Four glanced at Xia Qing, gently swaying its tail to signal her to fall back.

Xia Qing silently retreated to the protected position alongside the three little wolves, and only then did Old Wolf continue forward.

Xia Qing, no longer responsible for detecting danger or defense during travel, only needing to go all-out forward... moved!

"Howl! Howl! Howl!"

The wolf-human squad had just reached the edge of Mountain Fifteen when a jackal within that mountain area let out a high-pitched, 急促 call, warning the intruders. Over thirty jackals immediately howled in response.

This was Xia Qing's first time hearing jackals call, and she found it very different from wolves. Wolf howls have a lower pitch, with a tremolo and a long-drawn-out tail; a pack howling together sounds like they're calling to and harmonizing with each other. Jackal calls have a higher pitch, 急促 and shrill; a pack of jackals howling together sounds more like a pack of dogs howling—dense and noisy, but equally intimidating.

After Old Wolf stopped, Xia Qing steadied her breathing as best she could and pressed the walkie-talkie button. "Huo-ge, Man-jie, maintain formation and adjust your condition quickly. Don't draw weapons."

"Copy," Huo Zhun replied calmly.

"Copy," Wang Man said, slightly breathless.

It took a full five minutes for that pack of jackals to stop howling. Only then did Old Wolf raise its head and let out a long howl toward the jackal pack's direction. Immediately after, Broken-Waist Wolf, Giant Wolf Big Guy, and the two little wolves all began to howl.

Xia Qing raised her hand and pressed the walkie-talkie button again. "Huo-ge, Man-jie, stay still, don't make a sound."

Huo Zhun and Wang Man, already ready to howl along: "Copy."

After the wolf pack and jackal pack took turns howling back and forth for over twenty minutes, Old Wolf led the team forward again. Passing through a dense stretch of evolution forest, Xia Qing saw the jackal pack standing on a slope over fifty meters away.

At the head was a giant female jackal.