Chapter 1396: A Mixed Language of Epoch-Making Significance

After Xia Qing told Lord Cui Yan about the dangerous zone and hung up, Zhang San asked, "You can understand wolf language now?"

Xia Qing answered carefully, "I can understand simple new words — the ones the wolves are learning by following me."

Zhang San continued, "Are the words the wolves use for these new concepts the same?"

That's impossible. Xia Qing answered, "Not the same. Duan Yao likes to gesture, Lao Si likes to write characters directly, and the young wolves prefer sounds or actions, or sounds and actions together."

That was more logical, and Zhang San's rapidly spinning brain felt a little more at ease. He continued, "When the young wolves describe the same noun or concept, are the actions and sounds they use consistent?"

Xia Qing answered honestly, "Not consistent. Each young wolf has its own way of expressing things. Because I've had more contact with them, I can tell which subject they're talking about. That little black wolf just now likes to imitate me — when it imitates me saying 'math,' it copies my tone and even my speaking speed."

So that's how Xia Qing could understand. Zhang San nodded, "What lesson did it say it had learned?"

Xia Qing grinned, "I didn't catch it. It was probably trying to say it had learned a lot, or for a long time."

Not catching it didn't stop this new human from continuing to communicate with a wolf. Zhang San continued, "When the young wolves of the southern pack exchange new knowledge among themselves, can they accurately decode each other's messages?"

Xia Qing answered carefully, "That little black wolf isn't a member of the southern pack, but it has been watching videos with the old wolf and Po Lian. They don't discuss these things in front of me, so I don't know whether they can understand each other accurately."

This question needed to be clarified as soon as possible. Zhang San began laying out the next phase of the research plan, "While the old wolf is in your territory getting its teeth treated, will Po Lian and the little black wolf come along?"

Xia Qing shook her head, "I haven't asked yet, but I think Po Lian might come. That little black wolf probably won't."

Zhang San nodded, "Then when it comes for the test, call over the learning wolves from the northern pack too. Use a peer-evaluation method to check their learning results, and observe how they communicate with each other at the same time. Turn on the indoor monitoring then, and we'll stay in contact."

Xia Qing didn't agree right away, "Peer evaluation is fine, but I'll need to discuss the monitoring with the old wolf in advance. It doesn't like being recorded — every time we're together, except for mission videos, it asks me to turn off the recording function."

That answer was very Xia Qing, very new human.

Zhang San agreed, handed her a dragon fruit, and said, "I watched the mission footage of Yang Jin, Huo Zhun, and Wang Man with the southern pack. What are your thoughts?"

Having spent over a year together, even though her idol hadn't specified which aspect, Xia Qing knew what he wanted to know. She answered honestly, "Duan Yao and Lao Si both came to me one after another, and the two missions had to be carried out at the same time. Since I promised Duan Yao first, for Lao Si's side I could only pick human companions with high combat ability whom I trust."

"The wolves trust me the most, so when they need cooperation or help, they come to me first. What I can do myself, I try to do; what I can't, I bring trusted human companions along for. If I'm stretched too thin, I let trusted human companions handle it — it's good for all three sides. I used to worry that wolves cooperating with other humans would bring uncontrollable risks, but after observing for a while, I've found the risk isn't as big as I thought. The wolf leaders are very smart — they assess risk and won't let people they don't trust into their core territory."

The wolves were extremely cautious — take Duan Yao, the one with the most contact with humans. It wouldn't let any human besides Xia Qing into the wolves' core territory, and wouldn't even let them add a contact method.

Xia Qing didn't dare say this to her idol, because her idol hadn't made it onto his beloved disciple Little Duan's contact list either. Xia Qing kept a straight face, but felt secretly pleased.

Zhang San glanced at Xia Qing and snorted, "Little Four and Duan Yao's brain evolution is extremely advanced — already above the human average."

Xia Qing……

Idol, with that look on your face, are you trying to say I'm at the human average for brain evolution?

Afraid that asking would earn her an even worse evaluation, Xia Qing simply stayed silent and buried her head in the green-fleshed dragon fruit.

Zhang San leaned back in the soft seat, his eyes unfocused, his brain running at high speed. After Xia Qing finished the fruit, wrapped the skin in a bag, and stuffed it into her pocket, Zhang San finally spoke.

"The facts prove that the brain-evolved wolves in the northern and southern packs have reached over 60% accuracy in understanding human language, and the wolves can also use calls and body language that humans understand to give feedback to humans. Previously this kind of communication was limited to you and Little Duan, but now it has expanded to humans like Yang Jin, Huo Zhun, Wang Man, and the Hu Zi Feng squad, as well as nearly ten brain-evolved wolves."

Zhang San considered his words, and used an expression Xia Qing could understand to make her grasp the significance of the matter. "In other words, you and Little Duan have developed a 'mixed language' that can be promoted and put into use. This cross-species mixed language has become a bridge of communication between two civilizations, promoting exchange and cooperation between humans and wolves. This is a landmark event of epoch-making significance."

With her level of brain evolution, she could split open an era?

Xia Qing, who was wiping her fingers, looked up at her kindly-faced idol and answered sincerely, "It was you who looked far ahead and set the broad direction, and it was Song Ge who, at Duan Yao's and Lao Si's requests, revised again and again to produce teaching videos that met your requirements and the wolves', so that more brain-evolved members of the wolf packs could understand human language and learn human writing. All I did was move my mouth and do a bit of physical labor."

She had a very clear sense of self-awareness. Her thinking and perspective couldn't reach her idol's pyramid-level height, and she didn't have Song Ge's skill or patience, so this era wasn't one she had split open.

……

Looking at Xia Qing's expression, Zhang San knew she had silently placed herself on the pyramid again, but since she didn't say it out loud, Zhang San pretended not to know.

Seeing an icon in the lower right corner of his notebook begin to flash, Zhang San clicked it, quickly scanned the test results, printed them out, and handed them to the new human across from him who was obsessed with the pyramid. "Take a look."

"Okay." Xia Qing quickly wiped the dragon fruit juice off her hands, took it, skipped the long string of species classifications, and looked at the key data. "Qiang element content 33‰. It's a Qiang-evolved organism. When high-temperature organisms approach, it releases spores. The spores can parasitize animal skin tissue and reproduce rapidly in large numbers. It's an intermediate-level Qiang-evolved fungus."

Intermediate……

Xia Qing breathed a sigh of relief, "San-ge, we don't need to activate the emergency disaster response procedure, do we?"

"No, but we need to send helicopters to spray chemicals to kill it as soon as possible, to prevent the spores from spreading. You tell the southern wolf pack too."

"Okay." Xia Qing was just about to call Lord Cui Yan when she received a long message from Yang Jin:

Hui Yi and Hui Five's large beast tide, guided by tamed beasts, is moving north rapidly. It's speculated that Lie Huo is using the beast tide to strike the western tiger group's and southern wolf pack's territory to rescue the lost-contact team members. You'll soon receive a transfer order — take a helicopter to come support. Contact Lao Si first, have Blind-Eye Tiger kill Lie Huo's squad before the helicopter flies over Sector 36 mountain area, then have Luo-ge report to base.