Chapter 1404: You Look So Beautiful When You Smile

Of the six main fighting wolves that Old Four and Lord Cui Yan had brought over, two had bloodied scratch wounds, but neither was serious—Xia Qing's current medical skills could handle them completely.

But before treating them, she had to negotiate a deal with the old wolf first.

Xia Qing pulled two vials of medicine from her backpack. "Old Four, do you remember this kind of medicine? Qi-Suppression Agent."

The solemn old wolf nodded.

Although Old Four remembered, Xia Qing noticed Lord Cui Yan staring at the Qi-Suppression Agent in her hand, so she gestured and, in a slow tone, introduced the product to this new client. "Queen Cui Yan, this is a medicine that can lower the Qi element content in your body, boost resistance, and make you stronger. Old Four has taken it before…"

Hearing Xia Qing babble on endlessly, Lord Cui Yan grew annoyed and bared its fangs with a low growl.

Xia Qing immediately stopped bothering it, turned to negotiate with Old Four. "Old Four, the Qi-Suppression Agent is 8,800 points per vial. Do you want to trade? I'm giving you a conscience price. Inside the human safe zone, you couldn't buy a single vial for less than fifty thousand points. Old Four, are you buying?"

The Qi-Suppression Agent Xia Qing had received in August, made from the second harvest of cordyceps fungus, had long been used up. These two vials were ones she had specifically traded with her idol for, to handle emergencies among her Hualin Alliance friends during the Qi-Snow Period.

After harvesting the second crop of cordyceps fungus in mid-August, Xia Qing and Yang Jin had partnered to cultivate two more crops of hydroponic cordyceps fungus. The third crop wouldn't be ready until late December, and the fourth crop at the end of January.

Although humanity had overcome the mass-production hurdle of the rare active enzymes needed to manufacture Qi-Suppression Agent, the main raw material—cordyceps fungus—required pollution-free spring water for cultivation. Pollution-free water was a scarce resource, so even after conquering the active enzyme problem, Qi-Suppression Agent production would increase but still couldn't meet demand, and the price couldn't drop much.

Old Four raised a paw and wrote the character "2" on the ground.

Xia Qing beamed. "Brother Four is truly generous and wise. Earning points should be used to trade for scarce supplies and medicine, boosting the combat power of yourself and the pack. I'll treat the two wounded wolves first, then test everyone's Qi element content, and divide up these two vials of Qi-Suppression Agent."

During the wolf pack poisoning incident at the beginning of last month, Xia Qing and Zhang Song had drawn blood samples from all members of the southern wolf pack for testing, screening out the poisoned wolves.

After Zhang Song received the blood samples, he didn't just use them for poison testing—he also tested the Qi and Yi element content in each wolf's body, establishing the "Southern Wolf Pack Individual Health Records." So Xia Qing's phone had the pre-Qi-Snow Qi and Yi element content data for southern wolf pack members.

As the wolf squad's medic, handling simple operations like treating external wounds and drawing blood to test Qi element content was no challenge at all for Xia Qing.

She first treated the wounded wolves' injuries, then drew blood, and along the way dripped a few drops of topical insect repellent behind each wolf's neck and dusted them all over with insect repellent powder. Snow-fleas were very active during the Qi-Snow Period, and although evolved wolves had thick fur for protection, being constantly surrounded by bugs was still annoying for wolves.

These medicines were benefits Xia Qing gave to her allies—free of charge.

After applying the medicine, the snow-fleas in the cave noticeably decreased, and Lord Cui Yan's mood visibly improved. The proof was that it lay on the ground without moving, no longer shifting spots every so often.

After testing the blood samples, Xia Qing opened the "Southern Wolf Pack Individual Health Records" on her phone, entered the latest data, and began announcing the test results. "Queen Cui Yan's Qi element content rose 1.5 points, Old Four rose 3 points, Scarface Junior's father 6 points, the grey giant wolf 7 points, the silver-grey giant wolf 8 points…"

Old Four and Lord Cui Yan had smaller increases because they wore Yi-stone necklaces. Xia Qing gestured as she discussed with the two leaders of the southern wolf pack. "Old Four, Queen Cui Yan, your two's physical condition is still okay. How about giving these two vials of medicine to them? That way those six can get out of the danger period. Wait about twenty-some days until the next batch of medicine comes out, then you two take it?"

One 10-milliliter vial of Qi-Suppression Agent could reduce the Qi element content in a human body by 10‰. Evolved wolves—especially giant wolves—were much larger than humans, so they couldn't achieve such a large reduction. Eight wolves and two vials of Qi-Suppression Agent simply weren't enough to go around.

Lord Cui Yan stared seriously at Xia Qing's phone screen without any reaction; Old Four nodded in agreement.

"Good, I'll start distributing the medicine now." Xia Qing opened the Qi-Suppression Agent pouch and, based on the six main fighting wolves' Qi element increase values and body weights, divided the 20 milliliters of Qi-Suppression Agent into six portions, using a needleless syringe to inject it directly into their throats.

This was precious medicine—not a single drop could be wasted.

After administering the medicine, Xia Qing took out the pollution-free spring water and two vials of X Nutrient Solution from her backpack, poured them into a folding water basin, and let the wolves drink to replenish their energy.

Lord Cui Yan took it for granted that he should drink first, then Old Four, and finally the six main fighting wolves.

"Old Four, Queen Cui Yan, I'm leaving." Wounds treated, insect repellent applied, Qi-Suppression Agent administered, pollution-free water drunk—the wolf pack was out of danger. Xia Qing was going to rendezvous with Er Yong and return to headquarters.

The old wolf turned around, picked up a stone from a corner of the cave in its mouth, and placed it in front of Xia Qing.

As early as when she had entered the cave and confirmed the Qi element content here was negligible, Xia Qing had known there was Yi-stone here, so she wasn't particularly surprised when the old wolf brought Yi-stone over, because the southern wolf pack had just captured four blue-skinned wanderers.

Speaking of which, Lord Cui Yan was much more ruthless than Old Four.

After capturing the four wanderers who had invaded the southern wolf pack's territory, Old Four and Yang Jin hurried to the western tiger group's territory. After Deputy Captain Huo Zhun and team members Wang Man and Hu Zifeng cleaned up the battlefield and were about to take the wanderers and the harvested supplies away, Lord Cui Yan blocked them.

In the end, Huo Zhun's three only took away four stripped humans—their protective suits had all been confiscated by Lord Cui Yan. If Huo Zhun and Wang Man hadn't had backup protective suits in their backpacks, the two captured wanderers would have frozen to death.

Xia Qing, who hadn't been surprised at first, picked up the stone and shone her flashlight on it again, and was immediately overjoyed. Beaming, she asked, "Is Old Four using this pigeon-egg-sized high-grade Yi-stone to pay for the mastiff's medical fees, the Yi-stone necklace rental, and the Qi-Suppression Agent?"

Old Four didn't nod, and Xia Qing's eyes lit up even more. "Is Old Four giving me this small Yi-stone to thank me for helping you kill the Broken-Brow Monkey and that speed-evolved leopard?"

Old Four still didn't nod, but slowly opened its mouth and revealed the tips of its fangs. When it smiled, it looked even better than the Broken-Waist Wolf!!!

"Good, I'll take the Yi-stone. Old Four, you're truly a discerning wolf standing at the top of Blue Star's pyramid—no wonder you could raise such excellent and discerning second- and third-generation wolves like Queen Cui Yan and Scarface Junior! As your companion, I can't fall behind either. You don't need to pay the points for those two vials of Qi-Suppression Agent just now." Xia Qing stuffed the Yi-stone into her pocket, then started pulling food out of her backpack.

Two jin of green-light jerky, four jin of green-light freeze-dried meat—she tore open all the packaging and poured them into the basin, then cracked open eight green-light eggs and stirred them in before pushing the basin in front of Old Four and Lord Cui Yan. She also took out a small packet of dried wild fruit. "It's the Qi-Snow Period now and hard to go out hunting, so eat some food to tide you over. Old Four, keep this packet of green-light dried wild fruit for chewing."

When the old wolf was recovering in Territory Three, Xia Qing had seen it actively eat wild fruit. She had consulted Zhang Song and learned that wolves eat wild fruit to supplement energy when food is scarce. The old wolf had once wandered in the Evolution Forest, so it had eaten wild fruit before and knew which ones tasted better and wouldn't cause diarrhea.

The wild fruit Xia Qing gave the old wolf was the same kind it had actively eaten while recovering in Territory Three. After reminding the wolf pack not to approach dangerous areas and not to prey on sick animals losing their fur, Xia Qing left the cave in high spirits.