Chapter 1640: The Inspection Team Heads to the Southern Wolf Group's Territory

At six the next morning, Xia Qing didn't head straight to the special training ground on Peak Three of Mountain 49. After leaving her territory, she first entered Zone Five of Mountain 49 to deliver food to the patient.

The Evolution Forest in the morning was both quiet and lively. The snow was covered with tracks left by various small animals, and flocks of birds were calling in the trees.

Entering Zone Five, Xia Qing looked up and saw Qiang Zai, the red squirrel who had just been outside her window trading two green-light pine nuts for food and pollution-free spring water, now crouching at a tree hollow entrance confronting two large magpies.

Qiang Zai didn't send a distress call to Xia Qing, and Xia Qing didn't intervene in the animals' territorial dispute either. She continued forward until she reached the big tree where the blue-faced golden snub-nosed monkey lived.

The red fox Hong Red Da Mao and the honey badger Xiao Pingtou had both come over last night to investigate the unfamiliar scent that had appeared here.

Hong Red Da Mao only left tracks under the tree, but Xiao Pingtou had gnawed the trunk a few times, marked the area with secretions from the glands near its tail, and left a pile of droppings.

At this moment, four blue-plumed blue jays were crouching on a branch not far from the wooden cabin, staring at it and chattering noisily.

Seeing a human wearing a string of very beautiful pearls walk over, the four blue jays all fell silent for a few seconds, then burst into even more intense calls.

Bai Yan the raven wasn't around. Xia Qing ignored these four potential bird clients, first cleaned up Xiao Pingtou's droppings, then looked up to check on the patient who had moved into her territory yesterday.

"Blue-face, are you awake?"

"Blue-face, are you in? I've come to bring you food and medicine. If you're here, open the door."

The little golden snub-nosed monkey hesitated for a moment before crawling out of its warm sleeping bag and stretching out a small arm to pull open the cabin door.

Seeing the door open, Xia Qing asked, "Blue-face, I've come to bring you food. Are you coming down, or should I come up?"

The little golden snub-nosed monkey poked its small head out of the cabin and looked down at Xia Qing with eager, pitiful eyes.

Inside Territory Seven's lab, Zhang Song, who was watching this scene through the camera on Xia Qing's protective mask, spoke at a rapid pace, while Zhang Sun beside him recorded furiously.

"Record, Observation Node J3 Blue-face-06: Blue-face's door-opening action — it didn't open the door immediately, but paused for three to four seconds. This isn't fear-induced rigidity; it's a decision-making trade-off. It's evaluating 'current risk' versus 'known need': Xia Qing's voice is a known safety factor, food and medicine are survival necessities, but exposing its location still carries potential risk... Good, it chose to open the door, but only poked its head out, keeping its center of gravity in the shadow inside the cabin — this is a typical risk-minimization strategy, preserving the ability to retreat at any moment..."

In Zone Five of Mountain 49, Xia Qing read the little blue-faced golden snub-nosed monkey's expression clearly, pulled out her cat-claw shoes, and quickly climbed up to the fifteen-meter-high treehouse door to check on the patient's condition.

There was no excrement or urine in the treehouse, only a bit of frozen cabbage stem, and the shutters had been pulled down. The little fellow was curled up in its sleeping bag, looking in much better spirits than yesterday.

Just as Xia Qing felt the sickroom environment and the little monkey's condition were excellent, primate research expert Zhang Song had already spotted thirteen areas where hygiene and living conditions fell short of standard, and was wincing in heartache.

He really wanted to kick those annoying creatures away right now, then apply to Xia Qing for a treehouse so he could take care of this dual-system evolved golden snub-nosed monkey that Xia Qing had named "Blue-face."

Xia Qing asked gently, "Blue-face, you're in much better shape than yesterday. You should recover soon and return to the Mountain 67 Basin. Did you finish the water I gave you yesterday?"

The blue-faced golden snub-nosed monkey pulled a deflated water bag from the insulated bag beside its sleeping bag — an action so cute that Zhang Song let out a silent howl.

"Finished it? Very good, here's a bag of water for you." Xia Qing handed over a new water bag filled with filtered warm spring water, took the empty one back, stuffed it into the garbage bag, and then passed over the small bag of food. "These two cabbage leaves and a few fig leaves are all green-light. This is your breakfast. After eating, you can rest well inside, or come out for some activity. Just don't go up to the treetop — the humans over there will spot you. I'm leaving now; I'll come back in two hours to bring you your medicine."

After saying this, Xia Qing nimbly swapped out the plastic bag holding the frozen droppings for a new one, closed the camera after climbing down, and walked away without looking back.

The little blue-faced golden snub-nosed monkey in the tree watched her walk away through the branches before stretching out a small paw to close the door, slide the bolt, and pull the food into its sleeping bag.

Two of the four blue jays were lured away by Xia Qing's pearl bracelet, and the other two were attracted by the scent of the cabbage leaves, flying to a branch outside the cabin and pecking at the door.

The little blue-faced golden snub-nosed monkey didn't open the door, but did open the shutters and passed out a bit of cabbage leaf.

The fresh cabbage leaf stiffened at a speed visible to the naked eye in the minus-twenty-something-degree air. But before it could freeze solid, a blue jay snatched it up and swallowed it.

The little golden snub-nosed monkey, wrapped in its sleeping bag, passed out another small piece of delicious fig leaf. When it saw the blue jays didn't like it, it switched back to cabbage leaves.

Xia Qing didn't see this scene. She hurried back to the North Isolation Belt, tossed the golden snub-nosed monkey's droppings through the iron mesh wall to Zhang Jingwu of Territory Seven, then turned and ran toward the special training ground.

Today she was definitely going to be the last to arrive and the first to get beaten up among the trainees!

Inside Territory Seven, Zhang Song took the droppings sample and immediately got to work with his two assistants.

Based on his behavioral observations of the blue-faced golden snub-nosed monkey just now, Zhang Song confirmed that the droppings testing couldn't focus solely on pathogens — it also needed analysis of neurological metabolic byproducts, particularly the tryptophan metabolic pathway and short-chain fatty acid profile, to determine whether the blue-faced golden snub-nosed monkey's gut flora disruption was related to the intensity of neural activity.

They had to complete the testing within an hour and a half, compound the medicine, then hand it to Zhang Jingwu so he could pass it to Xia Qing when she returned from special training.

Then, Zhang Song had to finish breakfast within fifteen minutes, first chair a special seminar attended by all members of the investigation team, and then lead a group of experts by helicopter to visit the southern experimental zone of Territory Seven!

"Fourth Brother, today the inspection team is going to your territory to see the management of Dangerous Zones Five and Six." After sparring with Yan Long, Xia Qing completed two more sets of action drills. Taking advantage of the rest break, she spread the map on the ground and discussed the inspection team's itinerary with the former wolf king of the Southern Wolf Group. "Dangerous Zone Five is right here at the Hui-1 Mountain 28 sinkhole. If the helicopter lands, send two wolves to howl a few times and express some anger — don't go over and clash with the humans."

Dangerous Zones Five and Six were the areas within the Southern Wolf Group's territory where toxin spread was most severe, still under remediation, and were one stop on the investigation team's outing itinerary.

Xia Qing had discussed this with Fourth Brother before, and Fourth Brother had agreed. He nodded solemnly to indicate he understood.

Xia Qing pressed her hand on Dangerous Zone Six again. "Here. Can we let them visit?"

Dangerous Zone Six was the area where Xia Qing and Fourth Brother had teamed up to kill the Blaze team members who had broken into the Southern Wolf Group's territory and used poison needles to shoot the Southern wolves.

Fourth Brother's expression was solemn; he didn't nod. Because Dangerous Zone Six was on Hui-3 Mountain 25, very close to one of the Southern Wolf Group's core territories — Hui-3 Mountain 24.

Xia Qing understood. "Alright, I'll tell Zhang Song — these unfamiliar humans aren't allowed near this area. Their helicopter can circle once in the air and then leave. Send a few more wolves to hide in the bushes near this area so the helicopter radar picks them up."

Only then did Fourth Brother nod solemnly, and he raised a big paw to scratch four rough numbers into the snow:

2000.