Chapter 1557: Xie Yu Calls

Broken-Waist Wolf pushed its precious card toward Zhang Shi, then looked at the little wolf girl beside it.

Based on her exchanges with Broken-Waist Wolf, Zhang Shi reasoned it through and asked tentatively, "Brother Duan, do you mean for me to prepare food for the little wolf girl until her incisors are fully grown?"

Broken-Waist Wolf opened its mouth, revealing the most beautiful set of teeth on the entire Blue Planet.

Zhang Shi flinched at the sight of those sharp teeth, steadied herself, and answered as carefully as she could, "If the little wolf girl can be looked after these next few days and eat soft, nutritious meals, her newly grown incisors should come in nice and even. If Brother Duan wants me to provide food for her, you can talk it over with my leader, Sister Qing. I'm just an employee of Territory Three—I handle treatment, not intake or billing."

Broken-Waist Wolf closed its mouth, looking thoughtful.

Zhang Shi shut her mouth and waited in tense, bated silence.

After a few seconds, Broken-Waist Wolf simply fished its phone out of its hazmat-suit pocket with its mouth and used its big nose to dial Xia Qing's number.

Xia Qing, who had just returned from Territory Seven to her own territory and was cleaning out the chicken coop, answered and asked, "Broken-Waist, are you in Lao Si's cave? What do you need?"

The information Broken-Waist Wolf needed to convey to Xia Qing was too complicated to express in howls, so it looked up at Zhang Shi across from it. Zhang Shi immediately began explaining, "Sister Qing, Brother Duan brought the little wolf girl to see me…"

After hearing Zhang Shi's explanation, Xia Qing replied, "Got it. Sister Shi, go on with your work—I'll talk this over with Broken-Waist."

"Okay." Zhang Shi immediately opened the door to the cave she shared with Ye Yiyi and went inside.

She had gone out earlier to watch Yang Jin deal with the bodies, so it hadn't been appropriate to bring Ye Yiyi along. She'd been gone so long she was worried Ye Yiyi might be scared.

After Zhang Shi entered the cave, the little wolf girl decided there was nothing more for her here, turned around, and went off to play with Broken-Face Little Wolf and the others. In the empty corridor of the cave, only Broken-Waist Wolf remained.

Xia Qing asked, "Broken-Waist, you want Zhang Shi to make nutritious meals for the little wolf girl, to make sure her teeth grow in as even and pretty as yours?"

Broken-Waist Wolf bared its teeth in a grin, revealing its cute little snow-white fang tips.

"Good, Broken-Waist—you really are a good dad. The little wolf girl is lucky to have a father like you." After praising Broken-Waist Wolf's diligence and responsibility, Xia Qing got down to business. "The meat Sister Shi uses to make Lao Si's nutritious meals is provided by Lao Si. For the little wolf girl's meat, will you provide it, or should I? If I provide it, the price will be a bit higher… You'll provide it? Good."

After arranging with Broken-Waist Wolf to deliver meat to Zhang Shi every few days, Xia Qing began discussing the price. "The price for the little wolf girl's nutritious meals at Sister Shi's place—we'll talk about it when you come over to my territory. Are you free tomorrow? …You are? Good, come by tomorrow. Yanlong and Huo Zhun are bringing back the confiscated supplies tomorrow—come over to take stock of the supplies and we'll discuss this then."

To hide their movements, Yang Jin's squad had left Northern Zone One under the pretext of going to the western tiger group's territory to help Huo Zhun capture the bad guys hiding there. So Yanlong and Huo Zhun had to wait for Yang Jin to return at the same time; both groups were currently in the Evolution Forest.

Xia Qing asked again, "Is Lao Si with you?"

Broken-Waist Wolf pressed its mouth shut.

"Not there? Okay. Tell Lao Si to come by tomorrow too, to divide up the confiscated supplies and points from the mission." Xia Qing continued asking, "The four wolves from the western wolf pack that got injured this morning—did you take them to the southern wolf pack and have Sister Shi do a CT scan on them?"

Seeing Broken-Waist Wolf visibly freeze after she said this, Xia Qing couldn't help but rib it, "You didn't forget, did you?"

Broken-Waist Wolf tilted its head, bared its teeth in a grin, and showed its little fang tips.

Xia Qing laughed too. "No worries, forgotten is forgotten. Just take them over when you have the time, and be careful on the road. The Evolution Forest isn't peaceful right now—there might still be bad humans hiding out there."

After hanging up, Xia Qing laughed and said to Wolf Lao Er beside her, "Lao Er, wasn't Broken-Waist just as cute as Little Wolf Brother when he was little?"

Hearing Xia Qing call its name, Wolf Lao Er grinned broadly.

It probably didn't understand what she was saying, but that didn't matter. Xia Qing's smile brightened too. She held up an egg she'd just picked up to show it. "Lao Er, look—this egg is the cleanest and biggest, so it must be delicious. I'll boil it for you for lunch today, okay?"

Wolf Lao Er grinned even more happily.

"Meh." Hearing that something tasty was on offer, Sheep Boss, who was lying nearby chewing its cud, let out a bleat.

Xia Qing asked, "Boss, what do you want for lunch? Green-Light cabbage mixed with Ration Three?"

"Meeeeeh~~~"

"Moo—" Little Huang Niu, who was grazing nearby, didn't have an evolved brain domain, but when it heard Sheep Boss call out, it called out too.

Xia Qing replied, "Okay, Boss gets Ration Three mixed with Green-Light cabbage for lunch, and Little Huang Niu gets Green-Light corn stalks mixed with Yellow-Light corn grits."

After arranging her companions' lunches and giving the chicken run another thorough cleaning, Xia Qing crouched beside the vegetable bed to pull weeds.

The half-bed of X-2 spinach she'd sown a few days ago had already sprouted. In the bed, alongside the slender, tender green spinach cotyledons, the seedlings of various weeds had also poked through.

The greenhouse was at a comfortable temperature with plenty of fertilizer and water, so the weeds were growing far faster than the vegetable seedlings. These weeds didn't just compete for the nutrients, fertilizer, and moisture in the soil—they also fought the spinach seedlings for sunlight and growing space. If not cleared in time, the dense weeds would block airflow, creating a damp, stuffy environment that easily bred pathogens and pests, raising the risk of disease and insect damage to the spinach.

Some weeds look very similar to vegetable seedlings in their early stages, and inexperienced growers with poor eyesight can't tell the weeds from the seedlings—they might accidentally pull out the vegetable seedlings as weeds, or leave the weeds thinking they're seedlings.

Xia Qing was a very experienced grower; she could now pull weeds and chat with her companions at the same time.

Before long, Xin Yu, who had a meal date with her, arrived. The two of them crouched beside the vegetable bed, pulling weeds and chatting as they worked.

Today was the last day of the eleventh year of the Catastrophe. The allies of the Territory Alliance had originally planned to gather at Territory Twelve today for a feast and celebration, but invaders had appeared in the early hours of the morning. The Investigation Team asked the territory lords to stay in their own territories as much as possible and not go out, so the Territory Alliance's gathering was cancelled and replaced with smaller get-togethers between close friends.

After they finished pulling weeds and picked some vegetables to take home, Xin Yu asked eagerly, "Sister Qing, how many points is one of those black bombs you had today?"

Xia Qing had long expected Xin Yu would be interested in that kind of bomb. "That's a non-sale item made by Third Brother. Once you've learned from Zhang Xu how to remove the impurities from organic fertilizer, you can mention it to Third Brother and see if he's willing to teach you."

"That's an incredibly complex air-fuel bomb that combines chemistry, physics, fluid mechanics, materials science, and precision electronics. Third Brother's so busy every day he doesn't even have time to sleep—how could he possibly have time to teach me?" After grumbling, Xin Yu couldn't help exclaiming again, "Just how much knowledge is packed into Third Brother's brain? Is there anything he doesn't know? He's just amazing! I…"

"Buzz—"

Before Xin Yu could finish her exclamation, she heard her phone buzz in her pocket. She pulled it out and saw the two characters "Xie Yu" on the screen, and felt a little uneasy.