Chapter 1451: Rendezvous

After parking her battered-looking off-road vehicle in the lot at the base of the third peak of Mountain Fifty, Xia Qing led Yang Jin along the beast trail buried under more than thirty centimeters of snow, hurrying toward the location the Broken-Waist Wolf had transmitted.

As the administrator of the Mountain Fifty territory, Xia Qing knew this mountain range far too well; even with the beast trail hidden beneath snow, she could still find the way. "Yang, follow my footprints. Step wrong and you'll likely slide off."

"Understood." Yang Jin replied mildly, then took out his phone and switched on the video-conference mic. His voice turned cold enough to freeze. "Xiong Xiazi, on November 27th at 3 p. m., your squad snuck into Hui-Three Evolution Forest and damaged a large swath of precious plants and insects. Are we settling the score now, or after the meeting?"

Xiong Xiazi? The captain of Hui-Six's Xiong Jin Squad? What were they doing in Hui-Three Evolution Forest?

Xia Qing frowned.

Yang Jin muted his mic and used his earpiece walkie-talkie to brief Xia Qing. "The Xiong Jin Squad sneaked into the raptor territory in the northwest of our Hui-Three. After they were spotted by Beard Feng's team, they pulled out. Later they claimed they'd come to look for herbs."

Herbs, my foot! Xia Qing's face darkened. "They were probably trying to catch bears while the cold weather had lowered the bears' activity."

"Very likely. The macaque troops in Hui-Six are getting more and more aggressive, and we need to be ready for them too." When an animal population grows, it needs more food and must expand its territory. If the eastern macaque troops of Hui-Six push west, they'll enter Hui-Three Evolution Forest and fight the beast lords there for territory.

If it's an outside troop like the Broken-Brow Monkeys with no firearms, they won't pose much threat to the beasts of Hui-Three Evolution Forest. But if a troop led by brain-evolved macaques carrying firearms shows up, the humans of Hui-Three will have to join the fight.

Because once the beast lords are defeated, the human settlements growing thousands of mu of grain and vegetables will be targeted by the macaque troops—and the trouble will never end.

Yang Jin paused, then pressed the walkie-talkie. "Sister Qing, Hui-Six has evolved-macaque snipers now. They stole two sniper rifles and over three hundred rounds, and at a distance of 543 meters they put a bullet right through the chest of a human squad member on a mission."

At 543 meters, that's not even entry-level sniper work—it's barely beginner. But the one holding the gun isn't human, it's a macaque, so we have to take it seriously.

Xia Qing asked, "Did they only fire one shot?"

Yang Jin replied, "Mm, one shot and they pulled out. No second shot has appeared yet. Based on the tracks at the scene, Hui-Six confirmed the shooter is one of the brain-evolved macaques that escaped from the Hui-Six lab in Year Five of the Cataclysm."

If it's one of those escapees, ambushes and sniping of Hui-Six humans wouldn't be surprising. Xia Qing acknowledged and kept walking.

"The Hui City Squad Alliance is calling on every squad to form a joint team and use the winter to clear out the Hui-Six macaque troops once. Top-tier snipers who join the mission get ten thousand points; any macaque on the bounty board they hit pays out at 1.2 times the bounty in points. If they post this mission again next winter, how about you, me, and Brother Luo teaming up to go?"

Not this year—Xia Qing was far too busy this winter.

"We'll talk about it next year." Xia Qing warned Yang Jin to be careful. "There's a honey badger living in that hill a hundred meters ahead. Let's be quiet—don't wake it up."

The honey badger was caught by the wolf pack to deal with the Qiang Snakes; it can't be killed. If it's woken up, it'll chase you down and bite you.

Yang Jin acknowledged, and following Xia Qing, carefully skirted past the honey badger's den. After slipping around a stretch of dense forest under a leopard's watchful eye, the two finally rendezvoused with the Broken-Waist Wolf father and son.

Xia Qing stood under the tree and took a photo of the fluffy father and son peering down from the big trunk before greeting them. "Broken-Waist, Little Wolf Brother—you got here early?"

Yang Jin, who was still listening to the video conference, raised a hand in greeting too. "Brother Broken, Little Wolf Brother—long time no see."

The Broken-Waist Wolf stared at Yang Jin without a sound. Little Wolf Brother shook his head, raised a paw to bat at his black nose, trying to swat away the snow-jump bugs pestering him nonstop.

Xia Qing beckoned. "Little Wolf Brother, want me to spray some bug repellent?"

Snow-jump bug bites are the main way animals in the Evolution Forest get infected with pathogens. Wolves have thick fur, but their noses and the edges of their mouths are still easily bitten by snow-jump bugs.

From Xia Qing's observations, northern wolf packs have three main ways to defend against snow-jump bugs.

The first is to rub against yellow weasels. The stench released by evolved yellow weasels effectively drives off snow-jump bugs, but after rubbing against one, the wolf stinks and its hunting suffers.

The second is to find plants with insect-repelling effects and coat themselves in the sap.

The third is to catch a kind of antelope whose skin secretes an oil that repels insects, and rub against its fur. This antelope is outstanding at climbing, leaping, and running—only the main battle-wolves of the pack can catch one.

The Broken-Waist Wolf mainly uses the third method. How does Xia Qing know?

Because this fellow once caught one of those antelopes and carried it to her territory's lab to study its fur, and in the end figured out nothing. Xia Qing even made a special phone call to her idol to ask about it.

Although Little Wolf Brother is barely a year old and still half-grown, he already has hunting ability. The pack no longer feeds him—when he's hungry, he has to rely on what he's learned: either hunt alone, or hunt with the pack, and eat in order of his performance during the hunt.

He still can't catch those antelopes, and he doesn't like rubbing against yellow weasels, so he can only rely on plant sap to defend against snow-jump bugs.

Now, in the bitter cold, the plants are either frozen dead or buried under the snow and hard to find, so the snow-jump bugs have been circling this half-grown wolf, trying to suck his blood and eat his flesh to fill their bellies.

When Little Wolf Brother heard there was medicine, he didn't jump down. Instead he lay on the branch staring at Yang Jin until Yang Jin backed off more than thirty meters; only then did the little fellow leap down and land in front of Xia Qing.

Xia Qing pulled out a powder her idol had formulated—non-irritating to wolves and sheep, but very effective at repelling bugs—and poured it onto the little fellow's fur, rubbing it in to drive off the snow-jump bugs.

Realizing the snow-jump bugs were no longer pestering him, Little Wolf Brother fixed his bright, sparkling eyes on the small medicine bottle in Xia Qing's hand.

Xia Qing pitched the remedy to Little Wolf Brother. "Does Little Wolf Brother want some of this medicine?"

Little Wolf Brother immediately bared his lips, showing off his little sharp fangs.

Xia Qing pulled a color picture from her backpack. "Little Wolf Brother can trade me one of these antelopes for the bug-repelling medicine."

Little Wolf Brother immediately shut his mouth and stared at Xia Qing with a solemn face.

Xia Qing's face was just as solemn. "Little Wolf Brother needs to work hard and learn from the Queen and Broken-Waist, and catch one of these antelopes as soon as possible."

This is a critical period in the little fellow's growth. The cold and the bites he endures this winter are what drive him to keep improving his hunting and combat abilities.