Chapter 1436: Guardian

Territory Three, a small building in an abandoned village.

In the bathroom on the first floor, the murky medicinal liquid in the bathing tub was stirred by two trembling wolves, sending out rings of fine ripples that hit the steel walls of the tub and silently turned back, clashing messily with the ripples spreading from the center. The light cast by the bathroom heater above was shattered into specks that flickered across the unsettled water surface.

Sitting at the edge of the tub, Xia Qing scrolled through the surveillance footage, found the recording from over four hours earlier when she was soaking in the medicinal bath, and began playing it at double speed.

Just as Xia Qing had deduced from the footprints, in the fifty-fifth minute of her medicinal bath, the alpha wolf ran upstairs, then quickly ran back out. It paused outside the lab for a few seconds, gave up on going to find the weakling Zhang Shi, left the village to fetch Yang Jin, and brought him charging upstairs.

After the alarm upstairs went off, little Does Daigua rushed up, and after more than two minutes came running back down and burst into the bathroom. Based on the timing, it had successfully completed the second task she had given it, then rushed into the bathroom to complete the first task. Xia Qing showed a faint smile.

After that came Yang Jin carrying her, wrapped in a thermal blanket, following the alpha wolf down from upstairs, then turning back to bring down her bedding, placing her in the bedding and pulling out the thermal blanket. Because he wanted to apply medicine to the wound on her lips, he was chased out by the alpha wolf.

After watching it all, Xia Qing thanked the alpha wolf in the tub, "My lord, thank you for bringing Yang Jin over to take care of me."

Even though she had already made her arrangements, the alpha wolf had brought Yang Jin to look after her out of concern, and Xia Qing had to accept that kindness.

Did Yang Jin see what she looked like without clothes? If he saw, he saw; if he didn't, he didn't. It was no big deal. If Yang Jin hadn't carried her down and laid her flat under the covers to sleep, Xia Qing wouldn't have recovered to her current state.

The alpha wolf tremblingly poked its head out from under the water, a pair of bloodshot, gaudy golden eyes watching Xia Qing quietly.

Xia Qing leaned over and gently bumped it, "My lord, rest easy soaking in the medicine. If you pass out, I'll hold up your head."

The alpha wolf closed its eyes, took a deep breath, and sank back into the medicinal liquid.

After a short while, the broken-waist wolf also tremblingly poked its head out for air. Xia Qing reached out and flicked its over-evolved big head, "Soak easy. When you wake up, I'll settle the score with you!"

The trembling broken-waist wolf stared at Xia Qing with a solemn face, its eyes gradually losing focus. Xia Qing put down her phone, put on rubber gloves, and just in time caught its head, muttering softly, "Passed out in forty-five minutes? Looks like your bone and muscle damage is pretty serious. I held on till fifty-five minutes."

Three minutes later, the alpha wolf surfaced again for air, trembling, nuzzled the unconscious broken-waist wolf and Xia Qing's hand, then sank back into the medicinal bath.

Supporting the broken-waist wolf, Xia Qing kept close watch on the movements beneath the water.

Over the next twelve minutes, the alpha wolf held its breath for shorter and shorter stretches, but when the bathroom alarm went off, it was still conscious.

Truly worthy of a wolf king!

Xia Qing first lifted the broken-waist wolf out of the tub, gave it a shake, set it on the floor, then stopped the alarm and called to the wolf king beneath the water, "My lord, a full hour is up. Time to come out."

After the trembling, pain-racked alpha wolf slowly raised its head above the surface, Xia Qing immediately reached in and lifted it out, "My lord is amazing — truly worthy of a wolf king standing at the very top of Blue Star's pyramid!"

To tough it out to the very end requires not only extreme resilience and willpower, but also an extraordinarily powerful ability to control one's emotions. Possessing such qualities, it deserves to stand at the top of the pyramid!

Xia Qing grabbed the towel that had been half-dried by the bathroom heater's lamp, quickly wiped down the alpha wolf's fur, then carried it to the straw mat in front of the living room fireplace, "Does Daigua, you blow-dry my lord's fur. I'll go take care of the broken-waist wolf."

"Eh?"

Does Daigua, who had already finished with the big fellow, immediately grabbed the hair dryer and hopped in front of the alpha wolf — only to be met with the alpha wolf's bloodshot, murderous eyes. The little guy got so scared it dropped the hair dryer and ran to the bathroom to find Xia Qing.

"My lord won't let you blow-dry her? No problem, Does Daigua, go rest. When you wake up, I'll get you some honey." Xia Qing soothed the little monkey clinging to her neck, carried the broken-waist wolf out and set it beside the alpha wolf, then tucked the little monkey into its tree nest. She began blow-drying the fur of the two wolves.

The broken-waist wolf was already unconscious and showed no reaction no matter how she handled it. The alpha wolf was still conscious, so Xia Qing moved with great care, especially when blow-drying the fur on its belly.

The belly is the most vulnerable, completely unprotected part of a wolf's body; an attack to the belly can easily cause death. If the alpha wolf made even the slightest resisting movement, Xia Qing would immediately pull back.

Although the alpha wolf had remained conscious the whole time, it trusted Xia Qing deeply and made no resisting movements at all.

After quickly blow-drying the fur on both wolves' bellies, Xia Qing explained to the alpha wolf, "My lord, go to sleep. I'm going to bring that missing-ear wolf from Lao Si's den in for a medicinal bath. I'll be right back."

The medicinal liquid in the tub still had some potency left, and the missing-ear wolf had a skin condition on its body, so the diluted liquid would work perfectly to treat it.

The alpha wolf refused to rest, watching Xia Qing with bloodshot eyes.

Xia Qing understood. "Alright, I won't bring that wolf in. I won't step outside the house until my lord wakes up."

Only then did the alpha wolf stop staring at Xia Qing, its trembling head slowly inching toward the broken-waist wolf. Xia Qing simply reached out, shifted the broken-waist wolf — sleeping like a dead pig — closer to the alpha wolf, and after curling the two of them into a fur ball facing outward, she brought the little wolf sister and little wolf brother over and placed them in the middle of the fur ball. Only then did the alpha wolf lower its trembling head and slowly close its eyes.

Xia Qing knew the alpha wolf hadn't yet fallen into a deep sleep, so she sat quietly on the straw mat keeping watch, pondering the meaning behind the alpha wolf's actions.

In previous medicinal baths, after Xia Qing finished soaking, the alpha wolf and Ram Boss were the first batch, Handsome Giant Wolf the second batch, and the broken-waist wolf waited until the alpha wolf and Handsome Giant Wolf had mostly recovered their combat strength before going in. So in those previous baths, the alpha wolf had shown no signs of unease.

This time the medicinal bath's effects were too strong — Handsome Giant Wolf's combat strength hadn't recovered yet, and Xia Qing had only recovered sixty or seventy percent. That's why the alpha wolf needed to stay close to the broken-waist wolf and the two pups; it was a sign of insufficient sense of security. Its refusal to let the missing-ear wolf in for a soak was probably for the same reason.

Could the alpha wolf think that even with sixty to seventy percent of its combat strength recovered, it couldn't beat that skinny, weak old missing-ear wolf? Could that old missing-ear wolf in the den be very powerful?

Xia Qing stretched her aching body a little, took out her phone to check the surveillance across the territory, and sure enough received a reply from Yang Jin.

Just three words, but they made Xia Qing laugh.

Xia Qing sent him a message, ending with the two words "Thank you" — thanking him for coming with the alpha wolf so she could lie flat in the warm bedding and recover her strength.

Fifteen minutes after her message was sent, Yang Jin replied "You're welcome." Through those three words, Xia Qing could almost picture his expressive face.

Opening the surveillance of the wolf den, she saw the two old wolves hugging the ceramic heating element and sleeping soundly. Xia Qing switched cameras and patrolled every corner of the territory, unexpectedly discovering that Yang Jin was still keeping watch by the second shed at the northern buffer forest.

There was nothing unusual in the territory, yet he was still outdoors. Either something was happening at Mountain 49, or there was an anomaly in Territory Four. Xia Qing immediately sent Yang Jin a message to confirm the situation.