Chapter 1390: It Came from the East

"Attention all lords: a red-grade Harmful Snow event will arrive in thirty-five minutes, with a predicted duration of thirty-five minutes. Please take precautions in advance. Attention all lords…"

After broadcasting the disaster notice three times, Tan Junjie stressed very seriously, "There are still forty hours until the Harmful Snow period ends. Please all 'lords' arrange your time reasonably, with priority on protecting your own safety and your farmland."

Not long ago, someone in Territory Sixteen tripped over a Harmful-evolution vine that had sprouted inside the territory while chasing an extremely fast snowhopper, and broke an arm. So Tan Junjie's reminder was meant for the young lords who were still enthusiastically discussing how to catch bugs.

After Tan Junjie's reminder, Tang Huai came online right behind him and solemnly spoke up to remind everyone, "Captain Tan is right. We're lords, so of course farming has to come first. Everyone, don't neglect your proper work."

Everyone: …

Shi Du lowered his head and tapped out a message in the group: @Brother Huai?

Tang Huai stayed silent. Di Ming replied: Don't ask—word must have gotten back to the safe zone, so Director Tang specifically called to remind Brother Huai to "stick to his proper work."

Yu Shou: Am I remembering wrong? Catching bugs and raising bugs IS Brother Huai's proper work, isn't it?

Zhu Li: sneaky-smile. JPG

Di Ming: So the ones who should be scolded are all of you who are neglecting your proper work.

Tang Huai: Keep a low profile, everyone. Discuss anything in the group, and stay safe.

Just then, Zhang San's voice came through the walkie-talkie. "Xia Qing."

Zhang San suddenly coming online startled all the lords; their first reaction was that another serious disaster had appeared and the disaster-suppression protocol needed to be activated.

In the monitoring room of Territory Three, Chang Li pressed the walkie-talkie button and responded in Xia Qing's voice, "Here. Go ahead."

Zhang San's voice was flat. "Answer your phone."

Chang Li responded again: "Got it. I just noticed my phone was dead. I'll charge it and turn it on right away. Please wait a moment."

This is… Third Brother tried calling Sister Qing and couldn't get through, so he's angry?

After waiting a few seconds and hearing nothing from Zhang San, Kuang Qingwei came online to break the silence. "Hearing that Xia Qing's phone died made me realize mine only has 5% battery left too."

Wen Nengjie, a step late, chimed in right away. "I only bought a secondhand phone in June, and now even a full charge doesn't last a day. The quality is terrible."

Xia Qing's good neighbor Zhao Ze neatly changed the subject. "A red-grade Harmful Snow lasting over half an hour—surely plenty of wheat seedlings will Harmful-evolve again. It's stressing me to death."

Qi Fu joined in talking about the wheat seedlings. "Has everyone noticed? The normal wheat seedlings that didn't Harmful-evolve during this Harmful Snow are also growing faster than last year."

Tang Heng came online. "Indeed faster than last year. It might be because temperatures are higher now, or it could be related to a chain reaction triggered by anaerobic bacteria in the soil. We're testing soil samples now—once we have results, we'll share them right away."

Only then did Zhang San lazily come online. "Tang Heng, send a copy of the results to Zhang Tao."

Tang Heng responded immediately. "Understood."

Everyone: Great, Third Brother isn't angry!

Just as the lords were worrying over the approaching red-grade Harmful Snow, the Green Dragon Squad's helicopter flew back from the west and slowly landed on the helipad of Territory One.

Huo Zhun, Wang Man, Hu Zifeng, and others carried several large packaging bags off the helicopter. Then Huo Zhun, together with Di Ming who had been waiting nearby, escorted Zhang He—who had been brought over under Zheng Chen's squad's protection—onto the aircraft, and it took off again.

Before the red-grade Harmful Snow, they had to reach their destination and hover-wait. Otherwise, the exhaust system of its overheated turboshaft engine could trigger a Harmful storm and cause the helicopter to explode.

After the helicopter flew off, Zheng Chen's squad was driving back to Territory Seven when Xiao Peng glanced at Territory Three shrouded in Harmful Snow and nudged his comrade Luo Weiyi beside him with his elbow.

Luo Weiyi thought there was enemy contact and instantly widened his eyes while gripping his gun. Xiao Peng cursed under his breath, then turned to look back at Territory Three, using this rare chance to go outside to scout it.

Zhang He going out without the Territory Seven guards accompanying him as protection must be because Zhang San doesn't want them to know the contents of this mission. But why would he trust a retired special forces soldier from Hui One who's inside Territory Eleven?

Before sending Zhang He out, Zhang San contacted Xia Qing—was it to ask her to protect Zhang He during the mission, or was there something he wanted to discuss with her?

Is Xia Qing really still staying inside the territory? Why would Hui Three Base leave two top snipers here?

The more he thought about it, the more Xiao Peng felt there had to be something going on here.

In Mountain Zone Thirty-Six, Xia Qing heard the rhythmic sound of someone knocking on stone. She moved aside the large rock blocking the cave entrance and found Lao Si, Broken-Waist Wolf, and Yang Jin had come together.

She looked out at the empty snow valley and asked, "Broken-Waist, where's that domesticated canid?"

Broken-Waist Wolf raised his head and silently gazed at Xia Qing.

In the brightly lit cave, Xia Qing quietly looked into those amber eyes and only spoke after a few seconds. "It's dead?"

Broken-Waist Wolf slowly nodded.

Xia Qing stepped aside, let the two wolves and one person enter, then blocked the cave entrance again before continuing to ask, "How did it die?"

Broken-Waist Wolf opened his mouth very wide, paused a few seconds, then closed it.

Xia Qing understood. "Killed by Blind-Eye Tiger?"

Broken-Waist Wolf kept his mouth tightly shut and didn't move.

Xia Qing asked again, "It ran into another evolved tiger's territory and was killed by another evolved tiger?"

Broken-Waist Wolf nodded.

After Xia Qing knocked off the weak-electricity command collar from its neck, the evolved wolf—which had had its prefrontal cortex removed—could no longer receive the electric-shock stop command and only knew how to run desperately. It charged into another tiger's territory, gathering more and more animals along the way.

Then, because it could no longer understand the lord's warnings, its continued charging forward was seen as an invasion by the evolved tiger lord, so it was killed.

Xia Qing didn't know what to say for the moment and could only remain silent.

With a solemn expression, Lao Si had already spotted a member of his own kind inside the cave and slowly walked over. Broken-Waist Wolf followed closely behind.

Yang Jin gestured for Xia Qing to go with the two wolves while he took over the clearing task she had been doing. Xia Qing reminded him, "Captain Yang, turn on the camera. Broken-Waist will want to watch the supply-clearing video afterward."

Keeping the camera on for the entire supply-clearing process is one of the basic rules that must be followed when teaming up for a mission. Broken-Waist Wolf was in a hurry to confirm whether that wolf was his companion and couldn't worry about it now, but afterward he would definitely check the video. On these details, Xia Qing would never make the slightest mistake and give that stingy guy a chance to chop her share.

Then, Xia Qing followed the old wolf and Broken-Waist to a corner of the cave and watched them lower their heads to sniff the wolf or wolf-dog lying on the rainproof cloth outside the cage.

The wolf-dog's appearance was very similar to a wolf's. Xia Qing felt it looked more like Lao Er, so she believed it should be a wolf-dog. To confirm this, its DNA would have to be tested through a blood draw.

However, in the eyes of these two wolf leaders, the bloodline of this canid didn't matter—what they cared about was its scent and its pack affiliation.

Lao Si repeatedly sniffed the neck of this unconscious member of his own kind. Broken-Waist was more concerned about the scar on its forehead.

Xia Qing explained, "The scar on its head is from a craniotomy. This wolf should have had its prefrontal cortex removed. The wound on its neck was left by the plug-in weak-electricity command collar. I just took the collar off—it's in that bag right beside us."

This wolf was emaciated, with some ulceration on the skin of its neck. The three Ao dogs beside it, tied by ropes around their necks and wearing muzzles, had no obvious external injuries, but their coats were also disheveled and filthy. One look told you this group of people hadn't treated these domesticated beasts well.

Seeing Lao Si slowly bare his fangs and growl softly, Xia Qing's heart clenched at once. "Lao Si, is this wolf your companion?"

Lao Si slowly retracted his fangs and used his sharp claws to trace a character on the ground:

East.

?? Thanks to readers caguest1969, October's Waxing Moon, Dayu'er, 9067, Lan Qi_Ce, and sita_cb for their tips; thanks to reader Feng Yichi for the tip to Sister Qing; thanks to reader Gui Zhen Qinxiang for the tip to Fourth Brother; thanks to everyone for your subscriptions, votes, bug reports, and comment support.

? Today's chapter title isn't missing any characters. Right now I'm typing on the highway, and looking up to see the pale blue clouds filling the sky outside, along with the corn flowering by the roadside and the yam vines climbing their trellises, I suddenly thought of the verse from the *Book of Songs* · "East Mountain," and felt those four words were oddly fitting.