Chapter 1371: The Evolved Wolf Delivers an Abnormal Sample

Although Yang Jin guessed that the noise of branches being snapped outside was most likely caused by the wolf-dogs in Territory Three, he still leapt up, put on his protective mask, and rushed out of the cabin.

Hearing the noise behind it, the running Broken-Waist Wolf landed on all fours and turned around, its claws scraping several clear lines in the snow. Seeing that the person charging over was Yang Jin, the Broken-Waist Wolf let out a fierce low growl and continued running toward the West Buffer Forest to find Xia Qing.

The shiny little ball hanging around this wolf's neck flashed in Yang Jin's eyes, and he immediately guessed the wolf's identity and followed.

Now was a disaster period with extremely high atmospheric harmful-element density, and any animals that hadn't lost control would try to find a way to hide. So there must be something very important that couldn't be explained clearly over a video call for this shrewd brain-domain evolved wolf to run over and find Xia Qing.

Yang Jin had to follow and confirm what had happened.

Xia Qing, who was patrolling the West Buffer Forest, had already heard the noise. When she ran out and saw the Broken-Waist Wolf, her heart skipped a beat.

After the two of them and the wolf came to a stop under the West Buffer Forest, Xia Qing immediately asked, "Broken-Waist, what happened?"

The solemn Broken-Waist Wolf turned around, signaling Xia Qing to follow it.

Seeing that the Broken-Waist Wolf's head was pointing toward her own home, Xia Qing's taut nerves relaxed a little. "Alright, I'll go back with you. Captain Yang, I'm leaving the territory to you?"

Yang Jin nodded, without the slightest hesitation. "You two go on ahead."

The Broken-Waist Wolf rushed back to the abandoned village, sniffed greetings with Wolf Lao Er who came out wearing a protective mask, and headed straight for the laboratory.

Zhang Shi in the basement sensed the magnetic fields of two large animals approaching, immediately switched on the East Zone 2 camera, and discovered that besides Xia Qing, there was also a brown-gray evolved wolf, which immediately put him on edge.

An evolved wolf coming over at this time—does it need her for an emergency?

Yang Jin is still inside Xia Qing's territory—will he discover me?

Seeing Xia Qing shake her head toward the camera, Zhang Shi relaxed, understanding that this wolf hadn't come for him.

Although very anxious, the Broken-Waist Wolf still strictly followed the laboratory usage rules, quickly scraping the mud off its paws on the grass mat outside the door before using its nose to tap in the door code with a series of beeps.

Seeing this scene, Zhang Shi was shocked again, and confirmed this wolf's identity: the clever brain-domain evolved one, the Broken-Waist Wolf!

After entering the disinfection area inside the laboratory, the Broken-Waist Wolf quickly disinfected its paws and body, then used gestures to signal Xia Qing—who had likewise finished disinfecting—to take the sample from the side pocket of its protective suit and disinfect it.

"Got it."

Xia Qing responded, took the wet, dirty packaging bag from the Broken-Waist Wolf's protective suit pocket, and found two equally dirty test tubes inside.

This was the Harmful Snow Period, so the samples collected by the Broken-Waist Wolf's paws couldn't possibly be handled very cleanly. Of course, Xia Qing also confirmed that the soil samples in the test tubes hadn't been contaminated and still had testing value.

Why could she be sure?

Well, that was naturally because the samples had been brought by the Broken-Waist Wolf!

It was no ordinary wolf, but the evolved forest researcher Little Broken, whom the big boss held in extremely high regard! It must have sampled strictly according to the methods it had learned, so the samples were definitely fine.

After skillfully pre-treating the samples, Xia Qing rushed to the testing room.

The Broken-Waist Wolf, already wearing rubber gloves, used its paw to signal Xia Qing to test the samples it had brought with the soil microbe detector, then hopped on its hind legs over to the microscope and turned its head to look at Xia Qing.

Xia Qing understood, and asked, holding up the test tube, "Broken-Waist, which test tube goes under the microscope?"

The Broken-Waist Wolf immediately looked at the test tube in Xia Qing's left hand. Xia Qing raised the test tube in her right hand to confirm, "This one goes in the soil microbe detector?"

The Broken-Waist Wolf bared the little tips of its snow-white fangs, and used its large paw—clad in a rubber glove—to signal Xia Qing to quickly place the sample from its left paw on the glass slide, because it wanted to use the microscope.

"Alright." Xia Qing skillfully took some soil sample for the Broken-Waist Wolf, dripped a drop of sterile water on it for it to use with the microscope, while she herself used the soil microbe detector to test the microbial flora in the other test tube.

After looking through the microscope for a full half minute, the Broken-Waist Wolf signaled Xia Qing to come over and see what it had found.

Xia Qing leaned in and looked carefully for over ten seconds, then asked in surprise, "This is the root of an evolved Bai Mao grass? Broken-Waist, where did you find it?"

The Broken-Waist Wolf gave Xia Qing a baffled look. Xia Qing thought for a moment, then understood. "This is the one assigned to you from that mission we did with Lao Si?"

The Broken-Waist Wolf bared the little tips of its fangs.

After confirming the information, Xia Qing continued to ask, "What's wrong with this Bai Mao grass root?"

……

Five minutes later, the human and the wolf were squeezed solemnly into Zhang San's phone screen, with Xia Qing reporting the situation to her idol: "Among the soil samples from Mountain Fifty-Five that Broken-Waist brought back, the methanogens and sulfate-reducing bacteria are far more active than the same types of bacteria found in our local soil tests. Please take a look at the soil test report I sent you. Broken-Waist used the microscope to examine the plant roots and discovered that the roots are being rapidly decomposed by microorganisms in the soil."

Zhang San, sporting a head of curly hair, glanced at the photo of the test results Xia Qing had sent over, his expression even more solemn than that of the human and the wolf. "Little Broken, what changes have occurred in that area?"

Xia Qing, the human-wolf translator, had already figured out this question and answered directly, "The harmful grass there is growing very fast. The plants Broken-Waist planted have already been swallowed up by the harmful grass!"

Zhang San rubbed his forehead. "What kind of grass did Little Broken plant?"

Xia Qing immediately answered, "Evolved Bai Mao grass. Third Brother, I've already issued orders to the technicians at the Soil Research Institute and the Ninth Center to immediately test soil samples from all over the territory. Is there anything else you need done?"

If methanogens underwent large-scale super-evolution, the massive amounts of methane released as they decomposed organic matter would not only aggravate the greenhouse effect, but could also form localized clouds of combustible gas, triggering explosions on the surface or even underground.

If sulfate-reducing bacteria underwent large-scale super-evolution, the large amounts of biological acid they secreted would accelerate the corrosion of metal and concrete; even more seriously, once sulfate-reducing bacteria evolved super-strong acid resistance, they could reproduce wildly in low-pH environments, converting the sulfates in the soil into hydrogen sulfide……

The super-evolution of these microorganisms is far more dangerous than a beast tide!

Zhang San calmly gave orders: "Get the samples to me as soon as possible. I need to confirm the density and grade of the evolved anaerobic bacteria. Immediately take a soil sample from beneath the signal base stations within the territory—one copy sent to me, one copy sent to the Soil Research Department, and test them right away. Just in case, first have everyone ban open flames and stay away from tall metal structures and concrete structures that lack corrosion-resistant layers."

Hearing her idol's orders, the string in Xia Qing's heart tightened again. Because the small building she lived in and the Shelf Building warehouse where supplies were stored were both built before the disaster, and fell into the category of tall structures she needed to stay away from!