Chapter 1465: A New Era of Symbiosis for All Things

"Qing-jie."

Tang Huai's hoarse voice, accompanied by heavy footsteps with an echo, reached Xia Qing's ears. She calmly uttered one word: "Speak."

"Tang Lu is dead. After you take over Territory Two, can you grant me permission to freely enter and exit the north and south gates of the Ninth Center? Otherwise, coming to find you is really too inconvenient."

After Tang Lu's death, Territory Two became an ownerless territory and was reclaimed by the base for other arrangements. If Lord Tang Huai of Territory Twelve still wants to stay in Northern Zone One, he'll have to return to his own territory.

Territory Twelve and Territory Three are separated by a row of territories. If Tang Huai could cut straight through the Ninth Center, coming and going would be much more convenient.

Xia Qing answered expressionlessly, "No. Ask for something else."

Tang Huai swiftly switched to his second request: "Once my running speed reaches Level Three and my combat skill reaches C-rank, can you take me along on missions in the future, Qing-jie? I will absolutely follow mission rules and not reveal mission details to anyone, including my family."

"Sure." The reason Xia Qing didn't bring Tang Huai on missions wasn't because she didn't trust him, but because his combat ability was too low — bringing him would only hold her back.

Hearing Xia Qing agree to Tang Huai's request, Di Ming, who was carrying Tang Huai on his shoulder, reached out, took Tang Huai's phone, and pleaded, "Qing-jie, me too! Take me along!"

Xia Qing, with Wolf Lao Er on her back, replied, "I never said I wouldn't take you."

Di Ming, his protective suit blackened by smoke, frowned miserably. "I can't beat Wang Man, so I can't grab a mission slot. Can you just directly assign me to missions in the future, Qing-jie?"

Xia Qing, who had sparred with Wang Man three times, was silent for two seconds, then calmly replied, "I can't beat her either."

Before the chatty Tang Huai could speak, Xia Qing hung up the phone.

How did she know Tang Huai was being carried? Of course she heard it — she was a Level Seven auditory ability Evolver, and after she took medicine to improve her physique, she might be able to reach Level Nine!

Tang Lu was dead, Territory Two was merged into the Ninth Center, and the unstable factor to the south of her territory was eliminated.

Xia Qing shifted Wolf Lao Er higher on her back, walked briskly back to the village, greeted Zhang Shi who was running laps around the laboratory, and returned to her own courtyard.

Since Hui Yi escaped, Zhang Shi had been living in the Evolution Forest, so of course she understood the importance of physical fitness. When she had previously lived in a hidden valley under the identity of a researcher, it wasn't convenient, and she could only exercise inside the laboratory. Now that she had moved into Territory Three, Xia Qing didn't restrict her range of movement. Not only had she resumed her morning and evening exercise routines, she was also learning combat skills from Xia Qing.

Tuition is charged by the hour, internal employee rate — 20 credits per hour.

Xia Qing returned home and found Handsome Giant Wolf had already left. She opened the surveillance feed, and while doing sniper-specific training in the living room, she checked what Handsome Giant Wolf had done before leaving.

This fellow had soaked in the bath for an hour, shook the water droplets off its body, walked out of the bathroom to the fireplace, found the fire wasn't strong enough, actually picked up two logs from the woodpile beside it and tossed them into the fireplace, then raised both front paws onto the edge of the fireplace to dry the fur on its belly, before turning around to lie on the straw mat and dry its back.

This fellow's IQ is definitely a whole lot higher than it usually shows!

After all its fur was dried, this handsome and clean Giant Wolf drank up the water in Wolf Lao Er's bowl, stretched luxuriously, swiped open the door, and left Xia Qing's home.

That manner, that look in its eyes — clearly off to start a fight.

After Handsome Giant Wolf left, Does Daigua crawled out of its tree hollow, ran to the bathroom to drain the water from the tub, took the floor cloth and wiped clean the muddy paw prints and water stains left by Handsome Giant Wolf, rinsed the cloth clean and hung it on the rack, then washed its own little black paws clean, and crawled back into the tree hollow.

Does Daigua is really getting more and more capable. Xia Qing decided to give it a bigger bonus this year!

After watching the video, Xia Qing put down a two-hundred-jin stone, showered, lay in bed ready to sleep, and received a video Yang Jin had sent — an overhead shot taken from a helicopter.

The first shot was of a giant jackal with an iron-rust-red back, leading a pack of evolved jackals sprinting across the icy, snow-covered landscape reflecting the sunlight. Then Yang Jin pulled the camera back, and a long, narrow green forest belt appeared on screen — beyond the belt, a frozen grey-white sea; beyond the frozen area, the deep blue ocean.

Watching this video, one can fully appreciate why this green mangrove belt, brimming with vigorous vitality, has been called the "Great Wall of Hope" by humanity.

Because this green forest belt standing tall amidst the icy, snow-covered landscape is truly so eye-catching, so uplifting!

Yang Jin's filming skills were decent. Xia Qing gave him a like and asked: What are the eastern jackals up to?

Yang Jin replied immediately: They weren't coming for the helicopter. Once I've figured it out, I'll tell you. What did Qing-jie have for dinner tonight?

Xia Qing's fingers paused for two seconds, then she replied: Sour soup dumplings.

Before Yang Jin left, he had not only wrapped dumplings but also made thirty seasoning packets for sour soup dumplings. Xia Qing would boil a packet of frozen dumplings and add one seasoning packet — in ten minutes she could make a bowl of delicious sour soup dumplings.

Yang Jin, in his seaside tent, smiled: There's a stew seasoning packet in the blue box on the fridge door shelf. Blanch or braise the meat, pour in hot water just covering the meat plus one seasoning packet, stew for an hour, then add salt to taste and it's ready.

She hadn't actually noticed this seasoning packet. Xia Qing asked: No ginger needed?

Yang Jin replied: There's dried ginger in the seasoning packet.

Why dry the ginger? Xia Qing wondered for a moment, then decided it wasn't important. After thanking Yang Jin, Xia Qing watched the video he had sent once more, then forwarded it to Lao Si with a message: Yang Jin took a helicopter to guard the eastern mangrove protection belt, encountered the eastern jackal pack, no conflict occurred.

Lao Si, who was studying math, tapped open the video Xia Qing had sent, watched it carefully twice, and replied with a paw: Polar bear invasion.

Although Xia Qing had spent an entire class teaching these smart wolves how to type on laptops and phones, they found it too troublesome. Broken-Waist Wolf only liked sending emoji packs, and Lao Si sent nothing at all.

So this was the first time Xia Qing had received a text reply from her wolf student, and she was very excited.

Because an evolved wolf had taken the initiative to type out human text on a phone to communicate with her!

Xia Qing took a screenshot and sent it to Third Brother, then sent two excited-proud emoji packs, before continuing to chat with Lao Si: I didn't see any polar bears in the video. How does Lao Si know it's a polar bear invasion?

After about half a minute, Lao Si replied: Brain.

Seeing this character, Xia Qing was so angry she wanted to get up, get dressed, and rush to the wolf den dozens of meters away to knock some sense into the old wolf's head.

Brain, you call that brain?!

Before Xia Qing could get up, her idol's call came through. Xia Qing immediately sat up and answered, "Third Brother."

"Mm." Zhang San acknowledged, then asked, "Can you send me a copy of the video you sent to Xiao Si?"

"Of course." Xia Qing immediately sent the video to her idol, then explained, "I thought this video was quite beautifully shot. Lao Si has a good relationship with the eastern jackal pack, so I forwarded it for it to see. Third Brother, this is the dawn you mentioned, right?"

Could your memory possibly be any worse?!

Zhang San raised a hand to press his temple and repeated coldly, "Not this time. It's the first time you used text to communicate with Evolution Forest animals — that was when you stepped past the twilight of old humanity and ushered in the dawn of a new era — the Era of Symbiosis of All Things. From then on, humanity will no longer think alone, but must learn to explore the future of Blue Star together with the intelligent animals of the forest."