Chapter 1548: Saving the Wolves

"Aooo—wooo!!!"

Amid the furious howling of the western wolf pack, the human Xia Qing switched on her flashlight to check on the six motionless evolved wolves lying on the snow.

Under the flashlight's beam, the blood-red staining the snow was shocking to behold. Taking in the scene, Xia Qing's heart gave a sudden lurch.

Of the two wolves whose glow had been faint, one had its belly slit open by a blade, the other had been cleaved in two by a blade. Snow-hoppers and other cold-hardy insects had gathered in dense swarms over the two corpses, gnawing at their entrails.

So the faint glow Xia Qing had seen through her infrared night-vision goggles had been the residual body heat of the wolf corpses and the crawling insects on them.

Confirming that the two wolves were thoroughly dead, Xia Qing swung her flashlight toward the four wolves lying beneath the trees. From the fresh crimson drag-marks on the snow, it was clear these four had been hauled there by their packmates.

Their bellies were still rising and falling faintly. Xia Qing strode quickly over.

"Wooo!!!"

Three evolved wolves of the western pack, guarding their wounded companions, planted themselves in front of the injured wolves, bared their fangs and snarled, warning the human not to approach.

Handsome Giant Wolf came to Xia Qing's side and let out a long, complex howl at the three wolves. The other three Giant Wolves of the northern pack, like Xia Qing, stayed silent. The plucked-fur cub perched on her head nimbly ducked into the satchel at her waist.

Seeing the three wolves still refusing to back off, Handsome Giant Wolf bared his fangs and charged in, with Big Fellow and Black Two following, forcing the three western wolves to retreat.

Under the protection of Two Fellow, and amid the western pack's howling that wished it could tear her apart, Xia Qing pulled out a pair of rubber gloves and put them on. She stepped forward, pried open the mouths of the unconscious evolved wolves, and after confirming that no vomit or secretions were blocking their mouths and noses, she immediately opened the medical kit, drew blood to test the toxins in the four wolves' bodies, and determined which antidote to use.

Her idol, who stood at the very pinnacle of the pyramid, had—based on the materials provided by Li Si and Wang Wu, together with secondhand information obtained from other channels—specially formulated ten kinds of antidotes targeting Fierce-Fire poisoned weapons. The poison in today's wolves could be neutralized by Number Six Antidote, with no aftereffects left behind.

Number Six Antidote cost thirty thousand per dose to make and sold for thirty-three thousand. The western wolf pack certainly wouldn't pay that many points, so Xia Qing would have to cover the cost herself.

Just as Xia Qing was about to sink the syringe into an unconscious companion, a Giant Wolf lurking in the evolved forest leapt high into the air and lunged at her. Its mouth full of razor-sharp fangs glinted coldly under the lamp on her head.

"Kaka!" The plucked-fur cub, poking a small head out from Xia Qing's waist, let out a rapid cry for help.

Two Fellow of the northern pack's Giant Wolves went to meet it, blocking this main combat wolf of the western pack.

Seizing the precious time her companions had bought her, Xia Qing first injected the antidote into the four poisoned wolves, then gave their external wounds basic treatment. She placed the wolves, already beginning to lose body heat, into four warm sleeping bags, wrapped the bags in thermal blankets, taped the blankets tight, and left only their nostrils exposed for breathing.

In an environment below minus twenty degrees, retaining warmth was just as important as neutralizing the poison and treating the external wounds.

After finishing the emergency treatment, Xia Qing carried the four wolves on her back to a spot sheltered from the wind, then quickly retreated.

Members of the western pack tried to rush forward, to bite and tear at the sleeping bags and thermal blankets binding their companions. Handsome Giant Wolf bowled aside these two clueless idiots, then stood facing outward to shield the four wolf cocoons on the ground, the fur on his neck bristling as he bared his sharp fangs and let out a fierce snarl.

"Aooo—wooo—"

One of the western pack's main combat wolves threw its head back in fury, calling for the Wolf King.

Handsome Giant Wolf's presence lost none of its force. He threw his head back and let out an even longer, more majestic howl: "Aooo—wooo——"

Xia Qing stripped off her rubber gloves, quickly sent the photos she'd just taken to her idol, and was about to send a voice message reporting the situation when Di Ming called her.

"Sister Qing, the Western Wolf King has joined the fight, bit Huo Ting to death, killed a machine-gunner, then led the pack back into the evolved forest. I reckon it's going to ambush us."

Xia Qing asked, "Is the raiding squad fully dealt with?"

"All dealt with." Through his low-light night-vision goggles Di Ming couldn't see a single wolf, but on the display screen in the hand of Seeing Xin Yu beside him, thirteen wolves were shown advancing on them in a fan formation!

Di Ming asked in a low voice, "Sister Qing, how soon can you get back? If you can't make it in time, we'll use tranquilizer rounds?"

The other wolves were manageable, but the Western Wolf King, which looked exactly like the northern pack's Handsome Giant Wolf, was clearly a brain-domain evolver with terrifying leaping power. Unless they took it down, Di Ming and the others had no confidence in retreating unscathed without hurting the wolves.

"No need, hold on." Xia Qing immediately jumped to Handsome Giant Wolf's side. "Handsome Wolf Bro, your brother killed the bad humans who attacked the western pack, and now he's going to attack my companions. Hurry up and call him back."

Di Ming!!!

"Aooo—wooo——" Handsome Giant Wolf threw his head back, his tone utterly unchanged.

Howl your head off, will you—at a time like this you still have the mind to compete with other wolves over who's louder!

Xia Qing lost her temper. "Handsome Wolf Bro, if your brother hurts my companions, Third Brother won't make you any more strength-boosting potions. Without strength-boosting potions, how are you going to beat your brother, beat Queen my lord, beat Lord Cui Yan? Do you still want to be Wolf King or not…"

Di Ming!!!!!

"Aowoo—awoo—aooo—"

Hearing the change in Handsome Giant Wolf's tone, Xia Qing finally breathed a sigh of relief. Through her Bluetooth earpiece she spoke to Di Ming: "Di Ming, the Western Wolf King is withdrawing immediately. Get ready on defense, and don't hang up."

"…Copy that." The way Xia Qing could switch from fussing over a Giant Wolf to having a normal conversation with him—that had to be an evolved ability too, right? And now she could actually understand wolf language!

That was way too cool. He was going to learn wolf language, no matter how many points it cost!

Di Ming pulled himself together and quickly relayed Xia Qing's order to the whole squad.

Five minutes later, Xia Qing stared at the Western Wolf King emerging from the dense forest two hundred meters away and replied in a low voice, "The Western Wolf King has reached the Third Peak. Clean up the battlefield and withdraw immediately. I'll head back to the territory on my own later."

Di Ming reported, "Sister Qing, the western pack dragged off Huo Ting's and the machine-gunner's bodies."

Xia Qing raised her eyes to the two Giant Wolves behind the Western Wolf King, each carrying a human corpse in its jaws. "Those two bodies are mine to handle."

"Copy."

Three, four, five, six…

Pairs of wolf eyes—some blue, some green—appeared all around, encircling the four wolf cocoons on the ground and the northern pack's four wolves and one human in the middle.

Standing beside the northern pack's Number Three combatant, Number Four combatant Xia Qing, reached up and touched the special-effect tranquilizer on her wrist, steadied herself, and spoke calmly: "Wolf King my lord, the humans of our Northern Zone One are not in league with the invaders. They were carrying potions to destroy our territory, so I led a team to intercept and killed them."

Then Xia Qing raised her hand and pointed at the four wolf cocoons behind her. "Your four companions were poisoned by the bad humans. I used medicine to save them. So the humans of Northern Zone One are not enemies of the western wolf pack. Handsome Wolf Bro, translate what I just said to your brother."

Seeing that Handsome Giant Wolf stayed silent, Xia Qing nudged him with her body. "Handsome…"

"Wooo!"

Handsome Giant Wolf let out a furious snarl and charged in. The Western Wolf King met him without the slightest hesitation, and the two Giant Wolves—identical in coat color and barely different in size—tore into each other in a tangled melee.