Chapter 1607: The Seven Agenda Items of the Human-Wolf Meeting

During the Calamity Years, humans suffered shortages of grain and vegetables, so even winters dropping below minus twenty degrees were not an off-season for farming. The lords were busy every day growing various cold-resistant vegetables in greenhouses and raising edible meat sources like chickens and insects.

Number Three Lord Xia Qing, who held multiple posts, not only had to handle her own duties but also managed the Ninth Planting Center, Mountain Fifty, and the two experimental zones in southern Hui-1, as well as fulfilling the duties of the Northern Wolf Pack's Fourth Leader, the human-wolf task broker, and the Blue Star cross-species second-hand dealer.

Beyond the above duties, she also had to attend the special training class every morning and evening to boost her combat ability.

Every single minute of every day, Xia Qing lived a full life. To complete all her tasks she had to work efficiently — holding meetings with the former Wolf King of the Southern Wolf Pack and the Number Two Leader of the Northern Wolf Pack — and she needed to be efficient, because those two were busy too.

Why were they both Number Two? Because the Southern and Northern Wolf Kings were both in pregnancy, about to give birth or having already whelped cubs, and it wasn't appropriate for them to go out during this period.

Breeding offspring was the foundation for strengthening the pack's strength, deterring and driving away invaders, and holding food-rich territory — the most important business of the wolf pack. During this period, all other matters had to give way to this great event.

After the special training ended, Yanlong returned to the territory, the handsome giant wolf and the little wolves rested on the spot, and Xia Qing held a meeting with the two clever wolves.

"We have seven agenda items today. The first is the points settlement for yesterday's mission. Third Brother and Tenth Sister both agree that watching the Southern Hui-1 Wolf Pack's battle with the monkey troop on-site yesterday had a positive effect on Ye Yiyi's psychological treatment. Fourth, Broken-Back, you completed this mission excellently and can receive mission points. I've already paid Broken-Back's reward — Fourth, did you bring your points card? I'll transfer 2,500 points to you."

Fourth, who disliked wearing protective gear, looked calmly at Xia Qing.

Xia Qing had long known this fellow hadn't brought a card. She cheerfully pulled a new points card from her pocket. "Didn't bring it? Fine. This understated yet luxurious black points card is for you — it has 2,450 points in it, with a 50-point card fee... Don't want it? Fine. Then this batch of points will be recorded on the tab, and I'll transfer them to you next time I go to Cliffside."

Xia Qing regretfully tucked the points card back into her pocket and moved on to the next agenda item. "The second item concerns the sampling mission at Valley Twenty-Two in southern Hui-1..."

Xia Qing went through the mission content, then stated the mission details and reward. "The river-bend valley is inside the Southern Hui-1 Wolf Pack's territory. To ensure Broken-Back's safety, I hope this mission will be carried out by Broken-Back teaming up with Black-Nose Junior from the Southern Hui-1 Wolf Pack. The reward for the sampling mission, done once every half month, is 600 points — 100 for Black-Nose Junior, 500 for Broken-Back. Do you think that's acceptable?"

Fourth nodded calmly. Broken-Back wolf thought it over for a few seconds, then reluctantly bared the tips of its fangs.

"Good. When the mission needs to be carried out, I'll post a notice in the group. Broken-Back, remember to come collect the sampling equipment." Xia Qing recorded this mission and moved on to the next agenda item. "The third item concerns the upcoming human inspection team..."

"The fourth item concerns Third Brother's trip the day after tomorrow..."

"The fifth item concerns the researcher from Territory Seven going to the Southern Wolf Pack experimental zone to take samples..."

"The sixth item is about letting the human child Ye Yiyi observe a human mission up close, so she understands that among humans there really are bad people and invaders, but there are also teams that are strictly disciplined, carry out their missions, and will voluntarily withdraw to avoid escalating conflicts..."

"The last item concerns the Northern Wolf Pack. A wild boar in the valley of Zone Three, Mountain Forty-Nine, suddenly displayed very strong aggression — last night it injured several wild boars, one of which was a pregnant sow. This boar needs to be eliminated. Broken-Back, do I kill it or do you?"

Broken-Back wolf immediately raised a paw and gestured to its left.

"Let the little wolves team up to kill it? Fine, this mission will be carried out right after the meeting." Xia Qing asked, "Fourth, Broken-Back, do either of you have anything else?"

Neither wolf moved, and the meeting concluded successfully.

Xia Qing closed her notebook. "If there are any details you need to communicate, just message me privately on your phone, or post it in the group. After we kill the boar in a bit, I need to fly the helicopter to patrol Evolution Forest. Do you need a ride? Fourth, Black-Nose Junior's leg wound has reopened — it would be best for it to take the helicopter back. 100 points per wolf. That's cost price — fuel is expensive."

Fourth remained solemn-faced and motionless.

Xia Qing understood. "Fine, let Black-Nose Junior run back to build up its endurance and mental resilience."

Broken-Back wolf, which had originally planned to bring the cubs along for a free helicopter ride, decided upon hearing this to run back with them as well.

"Squeal-howl—"

Shortly after eight in the morning, a membrane-tearing shriek from Mountain Forty-Nine shattered the peace of the Northern Zone One territory, making the hearing-evolved humans within the territory flinch. Number Twelve Lord Tang Huai dropped the insect in his hand, and Number Six Lord Hearing Zhu Li accidentally sliced off a tomato seedling with her weeding knife.

Tang Huai logged on indignantly. "Madwoman, you haven't even entered the twelfth lunar month and you're already slaughtering the New Year pig?!"

Even during the Calamity Years, the Hua Nation humans, who valued life's sense of ritual, had not abandoned their traditional festivals and did their best to maintain the customs of celebrating them.

Beard Feng, feeding bamboo rats in the poorly-signal Zone Three of Mountain Forty-Nine, couldn't hear Tang Huai's nonsense.

"What? Crazy Hu, has your hearing degenerated?"

Tang Huai kept grumbling. "Not there? Then who's on duty at Mountain Forty-Nine today?"

Number Three Territory's Yong, who was currently sharpening a knife, cheerfully logged on. "Brother Huai, it's me today. Our squad leader is out on a mission. There's a boar out of control in the valley — it rammed and injured several wild boars, so we have to slaughter it early."

Tang Huai sighed. "After the soil anaerobic bacteria evolved, a lot of animals have become violent. I wonder where Fire Phoenix is hiding — she better not get rammed to death by a violent animal."

The progress of the 1223 Mega Explosion Case, the disappearance of Fire Phoenix, and the murder of Yu Dongming were the hot topics of discussion among Huicheng humans during this period. No matter what the Northern Zone One lords chatted about, the conversation always ended up drifting to the first two topics.

The third? Because Yu Dongming was Seeing Xin Yu's maternal uncle, and nobody felt comfortable discussing it openly.

"Exactly — if Fire Phoenix got rammed to death or trampled by a beast tide, it'd be a loss for all humanity. Over 300 million points!" Wen Nengjie chimed in with a sigh, then got down to business. "Brother Yong, what quality is this boar? Can we trade for some?"

Wen Nengjie, who had learned to raise insects from Tang Huai, now had some savings and could occasionally afford a meal of pork.

"Red-grade." Yong certainly wasn't going to tell the truth.

"What a shame." Wen Nengjie wasn't actually disappointed, because only red-grade wild boars became violent-tempered. "Is Brother Huo around? When are we teaming up to go hunting? Can you take me along? My strength has grown again — I can carry the game back."

Wang Man logged on. "Watching Huo Zhun's been busy with the fertilizer plant lately, can't get away."

Qi Fu logged on to ask, "Brother Yong, are your wild boars free-range or pen-raised?"

Yong answered, "This kind of wild boar is extremely dependent on its native ecological environment — it needs to eat various plants in the valley to maintain its quality, so it has to be free-range."

"Wild boars aren't weak in attack power — free-ranging them isn't easy." Zhao Ze followed up. Only evolved humans would dare raise animals with such strong attack power; he still preferred raising rabbits, which weren't as aggressive.

"Yeah." Yong replied, then pocketed the walkie-talkie and trotted off to greet Xia Qing. "Sister Qing, should I carry it, or should we stew the pig's head first?"

The large edible game Xia Qing brought back was always handed to Yong to skin, cut off the parts gnawed by wolves, and then butcher. Depending on the meat's quality, Xia Qing would give Yong one or two jin as payment. Yong, who loved both cooking and eating, was absolutely thrilled with this assignment.

Xia Qing replied, "Don't stew the pig's head. Cut it off, add five jin of tenderloin and half a rack of ribs, and send it to Zheng Chen in Territory Seven. How about we have pork and cabbage stewed with vermicelli for lunch?"

Yong immediately nodded. "That's exactly what you should eat in the dead of winter! Should I stick a ring of cornmeal flatbreads around the pot?"

"Good, make a big pot and call everyone over to eat together." Xia Qing handed the meat to Yong, went home to eat breakfast, then arranged with Jing Kuan and Dajiang to fly the helicopter to the Northern Sixty-Seven Mountain Range.