Chapter 1525: How Dare You Mock a Wolf?

After entering the highly confidential office of the big shot of Territory Seven, Xia Qing briskly took two insulated sampling cases out of her large backpack. "Third Brother, these are the Yi Snakes I caught and the native fish from that hot spring lake. Where should I put them— which lab?"

Zhang San, his face full of kindly warmth, immediately set the food he had prepared on the table, took a fresh Green Lantern dragon fruit from the fridge, poured a glass of Green Lantern snow pear juice, and placed it in front of Xia Qing. "You just got back and haven't eaten yet, right? Eat first, I'll take them over."

"I haven't eaten. Thank you, Third Brother, you're so thoughtful." As expected of the idol standing at the very top of the universe's pyramid, he even thoughtfully prepared food for her. Xia Qing happily wiped her hands clean with the disinfectant wipes on the table, opened the lunchbox, and dug in.

Yang Jin and Xie Yu, who had just rushed over, were secretly interrogating Liao Wendong on Mountain Forty-Nine. After Xia Qing returned to her territory to get the test results, she came straight to her idol. Her being so efficient was, first, because she didn't want to keep her idol waiting too long, and second, to mooch a meal along the way.

Although the idol had thoughtfully prepared food, he had underestimated her appetite. After Xia Qing stuffed all the meal, fruit, and pear juice into her stomach, she pulled out a thermos from her backpack, poured a cup of pollution-free spring water, then took out a pack of dried sweet potato and kept eating.

When Zhang San returned to the office from the lab and saw Xia Qing hadn't eaten her fill, he took out a box of snacks from a drawer and set it in front of her, then took out fermented yogurt from the fridge, poured a cup, and handed it over. "Of the sixteen Yi Snakes, only one has slightly damaged skin; the rest are in good condition and should all survive."

"Third Brother, you drink the yogurt, I'll just eat these." The idol, tormented by the Shang Element allergy until he was nothing but skin and bones, used Green Lantern yogurt to regulate his stomach and supplement nutrition—Xia Qing couldn't bear to drink even a sip.

"My body's much better now, I won't miss this one cup." Zhang San set the yogurt in front of Xia Qing.

Currently, Zhang San had on hand the anti-allergy medicine made from recovery factors extracted from Zhang Shi's blood, as well as the fifty small Yi Snakes Xia Qing had insisted he freeze, specifically for regulating his body. With medicine plus dietary therapy working together, Zhang San's allergy symptoms were already much milder, and his appetite much better.

The reason he still looked this thin was that Zhang San deliberately controlled his food intake. Until the Yi Snake breeding succeeded, he didn't want his body's changes to attract more unnecessary trouble.

Since the idol insisted on giving it, Xia Qing didn't refuse. She downed the yogurt in one gulp, poured in half a cup of warm water, swirled the cup, and downed that too, then dug out a bag of lemon chicken feet from the snack box the idol had provided and asked, "Third Brother, do the Yi Snakes in our lab grow faster, or the ones in the lake?"

Zhang San poured himself a cup of yogurt too, sank into the soft chair, took a sip, and looked very relaxed. "Growth speed is about the same; the content differences need to be confirmed after testing."

Xia Qing exclaimed, "The snakes in the lab grow that fast too? You're amazing!"

"The Zhang He team is specifically in charge of the Yi Snake breeding project, and they're fed premium food, so of course they grow fast." After saying this, Zhang San didn't give Xia Qing the chance to throw herself onto the pyramid, and went on to ask, "Why did you run off to Mountain Sixty-Seven tonight? Did Little Duan call you over?"

"No, someone broke into Mountain Sixty-Seven, and Daigua called me for help. I called Duan Yao, Yang Jin, and Huo Zhun, and we teamed up to go rescue them. Only when we got there did we find out it was the Blaze Second Squad—Huo Lin's modified-human squad."

Zhang San asked, "Huo Lin's squad's combat power is second only to the squad protecting Deng Yufeng. You guys weren't hurt, were you?"

Xia Qing shook her head. "No, we won big. Killed four of Huo Lin's squad, captured one sniper and one olfactory evolver alive, and dug out the real Liao Wendong from a tree hollow. Do you want Huo Lin's modified-human corpse? If you do, I'll bring it in for you."

Zhang San was surprised for a second, then shook his head. "The Blaze Squad's modified evolvers use Red One Research Institute's tech; the corpse has no research value. Did you record a mission video?"

"I did." Xia Qing handed over the USB drive.

Zhang San opened it on his laptop. The very first scene was Xia Qing sprinting through dense vegetation shrouded in thick fog. Fog, night, a non-HD camera, plus her great speed—the picture was a total blur, and Zhang San got irritated just watching.

Xia Qing munched on chicken feet as she briefed him on the mission. "The Blaze Squad's sniper had taken the best sniping position in their hiding spot. To draw his attention so I could get to a position where I could snipe him, Brother Wolf and Sister Wolf went to the hot spring lake to catch baboons…"

When he saw that after Xia Qing fired three shots, the first shot the enemy sniper fired came straight at her protective mask, Zhang San's heart clenched into a knot.

Xia Qing dodged immediately, the camera footage went completely blurry, and a piercing screech of metal on metal rang out. Zhang San felt a wave of dread. "It hit the protective mask?"

"Yeah, Feng Ziyu's counterattack speed was extremely fast." Xia Qing, still munching chicken feet, also felt a chill of dread. "Good thing the helmet you traded me is sturdy enough."

Zhang San didn't tell Xia Qing not to take dangerous missions in the future, because saying it would be pointless. He thought of ways to improve Xia Qing's defenses. "I'll keep an eye on the research progress of domestic weapons and equipment labs and get you several more pieces of protective gear."

"Third Brother…"

"Shut up and eat your chicken feet!"

Seeing Xia Qing use drugs to take down Liao Wendong, Zhang San both breathed a sigh of relief and got a bit of a headache, but he said nothing, only silently deciding to upgrade the special-effect anesthetic he used for self-defense.

After watching the video of Xia Qing applying medicine to Xiong Wang, Zhang San asked, "You want to develop Xiong Wang into a member of the Blue Star Lords Alliance too?"

Xia Qing nodded. "Xiong Wang's brain evolution level isn't low, and it's communicative. Once we bring it in, you can go to the hot spring lake on Mountain Sixty-Seven for a field survey and soak in the hot springs."

Zhang San wasn't interested in soaking in snake soup or fish soup, but there was one thing he was very interested in. "Strengthen your exchanges with Xiong Wang and bring it in as soon as possible. Once we get its consent, we can build a concealed lab by the hot spring lake to study the lake's ecology on-site."

Xia Qing…

Idol, aren't you taking things a bit too far?

Zhang San asked with great interest, "Did you sample the fruit that attracts Yi Snakes?"

Xia Qing took out the fruit and soil samples and handed them to her idol. "I only broke off one branch—see if you can cultivate it successfully. If not, I'll look for saplings next time I go over."

"Judging by the appearance, it might be an evolved variety of black persimmon." After putting the samples away, Zhang San asked, "Have the test results for the bear's infection samples come out?"

"They have." Xia Qing handed over the test samples.

Zhang San asked, "It really is infected with anaerobic bacillus of dissolved keratin? Who took the sample—was the test done by you, or by Little Duan?"

…Why does the idol sound like she's totally unreliable? Xia Qing silently roasted him and answered honestly, "Daigua took the sample, your Little Duan did the test."

Zhang San shot a look at the new human across from him. "This is the third anaerobic bacterium discovered and named by the Soil Research Department of our Territory Alliance, and you, as the Alliance Leader, can't even remember the name of an anaerobic bacterium—how dare you mock a wolf?"

Xia Qing…