Chapter 1549: New Members of the Western Wolf Pack

"Bang!"

"Crack—snap!"

A tree as thick as a human waist was rammed and broken by Handsome Giant Wolf; as the dead branches and withered leaves on it came crashing down, the Western Wolf King sprang up and landed on a stone pillar over ten meters tall nearby.

This time, without needing Handsome Giant Wolf to lift a paw, Xia Qing, who had already jumped to the base of the stone pillar, drove two steel crowbars into the pillar's weak point and bellowed with all her might, "Get down here for me—now!"

"Boom—"

The weakness of a spring-type Evolver is that, while falling after a leap, they cannot change direction mid-air. If the Western Wolf King were the enemy, Xia Qing could have used a sniper rifle to blow its head off in those two seconds! But it wasn't the enemy, so Xia Qing only pried the stone pillar and didn't shoot the wolf.

Losing its foothold, the Western Wolf King plummeted and was pinned to the ground by Handsome Giant Wolf, which had lunged over. The two brothers bit into each other again, wolf fur flying everywhere.

Xia Qing quickly retreated back between Big Guy and Second Guy, rapidly rotating her sore wrists and ankles, poised and ready.

How did the situation evolve to this point?

An hour earlier, after the Western Wolf King led its subordinates to the Third Peak of Mountain Forty-Eight, Handsome Giant Wolf charged in without explaining anything and started fighting. After the Western Wolf King and Handsome Giant Wolf tangled together, the war wolves of the Western Wolf Pack closed in step by step on the Northern Wolf Pack that had captured four of their members, intending to rescue their companions.

Perhaps both sides were familiar wolves, so neither pack went for killing bites—both wanted to force the other to retreat. But that was the critical window for detox treatment, and they couldn't let the Western Wolf Pack tear the warming sleeping bags and moisture-proof pads off the four wounded wolves, so after a bout of snarling, both sides went for claws.

Xia Qing's purpose in staying here was to defuse the Western Wolf Pack's hatred toward the Northern Zone One territory, so she didn't draw her blade or pull her gun, nor did she use tranquilizers. Instead, she stood bare-handed behind the three giant wolves—Big Guy, Second Guy, and Black Second—and when members of the Western Wolf Pack lunged at her, she struck from the shadows, grabbing one and hurling it away.

As the fight went on, Xia Qing saw the Western Wolf King bite off a chunk of fur from Handsome Giant Wolf, then bounce a few times onto a stone pillar and refuse to come down. Handsome Giant Wolf was so enraged it rammed the stone, howling, but it hit the wrong spot and couldn't topple the pillar. Listening to that bone-jarring crash, Xia Qing's fury shot straight to the top of her skull.

So what if you're a speed Evolver? So what if you're a spring Evolver? You think you can bully my Handsome Giant Wolf just because it doesn't have a combat-type Evolution Ability?

Get the hell down from there for me!

So, after Xia Qing grabbed two members of the Western Wolf Pack and threw them aside, she pulled crowbars from her pack, extended and tightened them, charged over, and pried down the stone pillar the Western Wolf King was standing on.

After the Western Wolf King fell, it still fought Handsome Giant Wolf for a few moves before jumping again. It climbed a tree—Xia Qing kicked the tree; if it wouldn't fall, she split it with her Black Blade. It jumped onto a stone pillar—Xia Qing pried the stone; if it wouldn't budge, she blew it up with a grenade.

Later on, it came to this: the Western Wolf Pack and the Northern Wolf Pack stood on the left and right sides respectively, watching Xia Qing and Handsome Giant Wolf challenge the Western Wolf King.

After Xia Qing had leveled all the big trees and footholding stone pillars around them, the Western Wolf King couldn't spring up high to evade Handsome Giant Wolf. The two giant wolves, evenly matched in close combat, fought amid flying snow and scattering stones to a draw.

Xia Qing stood in the Northern Wolf Pack with the crowbar on her back, and after carefully observing the fight, reached an unwelcome conclusion: if the Western Wolf King weren't a spring-type Evolver, Handsome Giant Wolf might still have a shot at becoming the Western Wolf King, but…

Sigh…

"Creak, creak… crunch…"

Hearing movement from the Evolution Forest to the west, Xia Qing immediately turned her head and saw a reddish-brown giant wolf emerge from the Evolution Forest. The moment her eyes met its oily green wolf eyes, Xia Qing immediately understood this was a very powerful Brain Domain Evolver.

It wasn't only Xia Qing—the three giant wolves beside her sensed it too and let out low growls at the same time. Xia Qing said nothing, watching quietly.

After this Brain Domain Evolver wolf stepped out of the Evolution Forest, it passed through the dozen-plus members of the Western Wolf Pack and stood steadily at the very front of the pack, its bloodthirsty eyes locked directly onto Xia Qing.

Based on this mother giant wolf's position and the target it had locked onto, Xia Qing immediately understood that this reddish-brown mother giant wolf was the Western Wolf Pack's second or third leader. Seeing its already noticeably swollen belly, Xia Qing judged this was almost certainly the Western Wolf King's mate!

Where did this wolf come from, and when did it join the Western Wolf Pack? It looks like a tough one to deal with—what do we do now?

"Whine…"

Just as Xia Qing opened her mouth to call Handsome Giant Wolf back, one of the poisoned wolves she had bundled into a sleeping bag and thermal blanket let out a soft moan, drawing the attention of every person and wolf present.

Xia Qing, crowbar in hand, immediately stepped back, and amid the Western Wolf Pack's growls, she checked the condition of this awakened wolf, then shouted loudly, "Wolf King, my lord, Handsome Wolf Bro, stop fighting! The poisoned Western Wolf Pack members have passed the danger period—they're awake!"

The Western Wolf King leapt out of the fight circle and was about to come over to check, but Handsome Giant Wolf bit off a chunk of its fur. It roared furiously, turned around, and tangled with Handsome Giant Wolf again. The reddish-brown mother giant wolf watching from the side ignored the two brothers fighting and continued to glare ferociously at Xia Qing.

The antidote from the idol standing at the top of the pyramid was, of course, top-notch—the toxins inside the four poisoned wolves were neutralized by the medicine, and they woke up one after another. Taking advantage of the fact that their stamina hadn't fully recovered, Xia Qing injected each wolf with a special anti-inflammatory shot, force-fed each of them half a tube of Harmonic-Element Reducer, and cut open the plastic tape that had stuck the thermal blankets together.

The first two tubes of Harmonic-Element Reducer made from the third batch of Cordyceps were poured into the four wolves' bellies, reducing the elevated Harmonic Element content in their bodies caused by the poisoning—eight thousand eight hundred points per tube!

Once the four poisoned wolves recovered their stamina, they crawled out of the sleeping bags and thermal blankets, stood up, and rejoined the pack. The Western Wolf Pack let out a jubilant howling. The Western Wolf King used its spring ability to evade Handsome Giant Wolf, bounced several times in succession to land on the towering Shanfeng, raised its messy, filthy big head, and let out a long, majestic howl.

The reddish-brown mother giant wolf stopped staring at Xia Qing, and in the blink of an eye was standing beside the Western Wolf King, tilting its head back to howl with it.

Handsome Giant Wolf didn't chase after them to keep fighting; it stood in place and tilted its head back to howl, and the three giant wolves of the Northern Wolf Pack howled along. The Northern Wolf King, standing on the Third Peak of Mountain Forty-Nine, yawned, led its team down the mountain, fetched a cage of plump bamboo rats from the bamboo rat shed, and after eating them, returned to Mountain Fifty-Five.

Xia Qing, standing below the Third Peak of Mountain Forty-Eight, looked at the pair of giant wolves atop the peak, then looked at Handsome Giant Wolf below the peak, and felt its hope of becoming the Western Wolf King had grown even slimmer.

Nothing more to say—both leaders of the Western Wolf Pack had shown up, the poisoned wolves had woken up, and it was time for her to pack up and head back to her own territory.

"Buzz—"

Just as Xia Qing turned around to start packing up the sleeping bags and thermal blankets, the phone on the body of a human corpse the Western Wolf Pack had brought back began to vibrate.