Chapter 1458: Hunter and Hunted

The bloodstains might have been left by Qiang Zai when it was injured, or by its prey.

Xia Qing doesn't have night vision. She had just been wearing low-light night-vision goggles, making a round through Qiang Zai's territory looking only for red squirrels, not paying attention to tracks in the snow. Cameras have been set up near several of Qiang Zai's dens, so she can check the surveillance to find out what happened. The most urgent thing right now is to see whether the little fellow is injured.

After sending a message to Yang Jin that she'd found Qiang Zai, Xia Qing called out in a gentle voice, "Qiang Zai, are you awake? Come out and let me see if you're hurt? Qiang Zai…"

Hearing a rustling sound from the straw, Xia Qing breathed a sigh of relief. The little fellow's movements were slow, but it was still conscious and could still crawl, so it probably wasn't a serious problem.

After about twenty seconds, a little squirrel head with a chunk missing from its left ear poked out from the straw, looking at Xia Qing with small black eyes.

Judging by the shape of the wound, it had been clawed or pecked by a bird.

"Qiang Zai had a conflict with a bird?" Xia Qing pulled a few grass seeds that Little Flying Fur had hidden from the pocket of her protective suit, placed them in her palm, and held her hand up on the haystack. "Qiang Zai, come here and let me look."

This little red squirrel was the boldest and strongest of a litter born in the sheep shed this past spring.

That spring, when Xia Qing went to the sheep shed to give the injured Little Flying Fur medicine for the first time, this little squirrel was also the first to dart out and snatch the food from her palm.

After growing up, the little fellow carved out its own territory and often came into Xia Qing's territory, running onto her windowsill to drink water and eat food.

When it had been knocked out by the Plucker's poisonous gas, Xia Qing had also taken care of it, given it food, and even lent it three jin of Green Lantern nuts to help it get through the winter.

So this little fellow's trust in Xia Qing was much higher than the big red squirrel's, and recently it had even learned from the Plucker to trade food with Xia Qing for food.

Xia Qing had high hopes for it, hoping it could bring back new varieties of fruit she didn't have.

Qiang Zai slowly crawled onto this very familiar-smelling hand and didn't eat the grass seeds.

Xia Qing slowly drew back her hand and carefully examined the little fellow, which weighed just over a jin. Besides the ear, it had four claw wounds two or three centimeters long on its body. "These were left by a bird. Did a bird steal your food, or did you steal a bird's food?"

"Squeak."

Xia Qing parted the fur to check the wound, and the little fellow cried out in pain. Wolf Lao Er sniffed Qiang Zai's wound and slowly bared its fangs.

"It's fine, not serious. I'll treat Qiang Zai." Xia Qing had Wolf Lao Er sit with her on the dry, soft straw before opening her satchel and taking out the small first-aid kit.

The first step was to drip in medication to drive out and kill the snow-jump bugs burrowing into Qiang Zai's wound and gnawing at its flesh.

Snow-jump bugs are the main cause of animals dying from winter injuries.

After clearing out the snow-jump bugs, Xia Qing quickly treated the claw wounds on Qiang Zai's body, applied antibacterial patches, and disinfected the peck wound on its ear. The wounds on its body would heal, but the missing chunk of its ear would definitely not grow back.

Xia Qing said to Wolf Lao Er, who was watching intently, "Lao Er, look—Qiang Zai had a narrow escape and even got a wound to match the Queen's. It'll definitely rule over its own territory one day!"

Wolf Lao Er sniffed and didn't smile; it was worried about the little fellow.

Xia Qing cleaned the blood from the little fellow's fur, applied pest-repellent medication, and fed it some anti-inflammatory medicine and X-nutrient solution, then said earnestly, "Qiang Zai, you owe me 450 points in medical fees and three jin of Green Lantern nuts. Next spring you must find at least four kinds of Green Lantern seeds I don't have to clear this debt. Got it?"

"Baa."

"Moo."

The weakened Qiang Zai didn't make a sound. Sheep Boss casually answered, and the little yellow ox beside it echoed.

Xia Qing put Qiang Zai back on the straw. The straw pile in the sheep shed was where Qiang Zai was born and grew up. After being injured, it had left its own territory and come here, probably because it considered this the safest place.

Its companions were all here, so Xia Qing didn't hurry back to the house. She sat on the straw holding Wolf Lao Er, took out her phone, and scrolled through the cameras for Mountain 49, Area Five.

Qiang Zai was a very diligent territorial lord. When the temperature rose during the day, it would crawl out of its nest, go out to patrol its territory, look for food, and find things to bring back to the nest to make it warmer.

The little fellow was inexperienced. When it was carrying food into a tree hollow, a sparrow spotted it. When it returned carrying food again, it found the sparrow stealing its food. It immediately bristled and shrieked, and a fight broke out with the sparrow.

The sparrow's chirping not only summoned a flock of its own kind, but also attracted several large magpies, red-billed leiothrix, and Eurasian jays. The birds mobbed Qiang Zai for its food and even tried to grab Qiang Zai itself.

Just then, a flash of white light streaked past the camera, and the flock of birds exploded outward.

Xia Qing scrubbed back at half speed and hit pause, recognizing it as the speed-evolved yellow weasel Little Whitey, Bai Mao, taking the chance to hunt.

Yellow weasels are also natural enemies of red squirrels. Qiang Zai was badly frightened. It hid in its nest for a long time before poking its little head out. After confirming both the birds and the weasel had left, the little fellow chirped and squeaked a few times, left the tree hollow, and ran into Territory Three.

Red squirrels are too small in size with no obvious individual differences, so the smart-recognition system of the surveillance in Xia Qing's territory could only identify them as "red squirrel" and couldn't tell each red squirrel apart.

To keep the surveillance system from constantly alerting her, Xia Qing had granted red squirrels territory-entry permission. When Qiang Zai entered her home, when Little Flying Fur came in and out of her home, and when the big red squirrel came to raid her home each time, the surveillance system wouldn't send warning notifications to Xia Qing's phone, so Xia Qing didn't receive any alert that Qiang Zai had entered her home.

After watching the footage of Qiang Zai, Xia Qing switched cameras to track Little Whitey, Bai Mao.

The albino yellow weasel Bai Mao gave birth to eight kits in the spring. To this day, only two remained by their parents' side: the poison-gas-evolved Plucker and the speed-evolved Little Whitey, Bai Mao.

Little Whitey, Bai Mao's fur, like its mother's, was pure white. This coat color is conspicuous in every other season, so its survival is remarkable. But in winter's ice and snow, that white coat is the perfect camouflage, so this little fellow is very active in winter, and Xia Qing often sees it out hunting.

The reason this little fellow doesn't trade prey with Xia Qing for Green Lantern eggs is very likely because it can always catch whatever it wants to eat.

In the video, Little Whitey, Bai Mao heard the squirrels fighting with the birds, crept forward little by little, then climbed up a big tree from behind, darted out at the perfect moment, bit a large magpie about its own size on the neck, and quickly dragged the magpie into the dense foliage.

It was a very successful hunt—one that even the Plucker and Bai Mao would nod approvingly at.

Xia Qing had just nodded in satisfaction when she saw a glint of reflected light in the corner of the surveillance screen.

She knew that light all too well. The brain-evolution raven Jasmine from Territory Eight, wearing an ankle ring, had been perched on a nearby tree, watching the food fight and hunt.

Xia Qing switched cameras again and spotted the honey badger Flat Top lying in ambush, the fox Hong Er Mao, the tabby cat Princess with a mouse in her mouth lying on the iron-mesh wall of the isolation belt, and Little Whitey, Bai Mao, which had locked onto Princess.

Survival competition in Evolution Forest is fierce and brutal. Every animal in the surveillance is both hunter and hunted; one careless slip means death. Only the strong survive.

Though Qiang Zai lost the food it had worked so hard to stockpile, it was still lucky. Because it survived, and it learned a valuable lesson in survival—when hiding food, never let a competitor spot you, or it will bring disaster down on your head.

Xia Qing put away her phone, touched the medicine bottle in her pocket, and her expression hardened. Her situation was no safer than Qiang Zai's. She, too, had to stay constantly alert, keep her cover tight, and work hard to grow stronger.

She took out the handwritten medication instructions from her idol and read them carefully, following every requirement strictly. Whether or not it affected libido, Xia Qing didn't care. What she cared about was that the medicine could improve her constitution, raise her evolution level, and make her taller.