Chapter 1653: The Three Human Intruders Captured Alive by the Southern Wolf Pack

In the bitter cold of minus twenty-something degrees, Xia Qing rode her giant wolf through the mountains for two and a half hours, covering over three hundred li, and stood before the Southern Wolf Pack's former Wolf King, Fourth, at 7:49 PM.

The reason it took so long was that Xia Qing didn't let the giant wolf sprint at full speed; instead, she kept a rhythm of running for a stretch then resting for a stretch, maintaining a certain combat readiness along the way so the team could handle any human bandits or fierce beasts that tried to block their path.

Xia Qing's decision was correct. As the human-wolf team ran south along the edge of the Western Wolf Pack's territory, they encountered a group of hyenas searching for a new territory. After avoiding the hyenas, the team ran into two evolved tigers locked in a fierce fight over a mate.

If Little Wolf Brother hadn't been alert and immediately sped up the team, Xia Qing would have had to fire her gun twice.

Little Wolf Brother, who was leading the team, stopped in a mountain hollow thick with trees and grass where even moonlight couldn't penetrate. Through her low-light night-vision goggles, Xia Qing saw eight members of the Southern Wolf Pack—six wolves and two dogs—with the Southern Wolf King leading them.

The Southern Queen, her belly swollen, bared her fangs and snarled at Xia Qing for arriving too slowly, and the Southern Wolf Pack members spread into formation and bared their fangs.

Little Wolf Brother, who was leading the team, bared his fangs but didn't howl, because this was the Southern Wolf Pack's territory, the enemy had more wolves and greater combat power, and he didn't dare declare war.

Xia Qing jumped down from the second wolf's back, landed steadily on both feet, walked in front of Little Wolf Brother, raised her hand to remove her protective face mask, keeping only her low-light night-vision goggles on, and locked her gaze on the Southern Wolf King. She had to wear the goggles—without them she had no night vision, and without them all she'd see before her was a bunch of glowing wolf eyes.

Then Xia Qing bared her canines and let out a low snarl, majestic and brimming with killing intent.

Because her identity at this moment was neither a member of the Southern Wolf Pack nor a human-wolf mission broker, but the number-four combatant of the Northern Wolf Pack.

The Northern Wolf King, the Broken-Waist Wolf, and the Handsome Giant Wolf were all absent, so she was the leader of the five evolved wolves of the Northern Pack. When the Southern Wolf King snarled, she had to snarl back!

After the two sides faced off for half a minute, Lord Cui Yan closed his mouth first, and only then did Xia Qing close hers. Fourth, who stood to the left of Lord Cui Yan, walked to the center of the clearing and looked calmly at Xia Qing.

The mutual-snarling, muscle-flexing segment was over; they could move on to the next step. Little Wolf Brother, Scarface Junior, and Black Three huddled together to sniff each other and exchange information, while the adult wolves and the human got down to business.

Xia Qing spoke in a gentle voice, "Fourth, I hurried over as fast as I could, as you asked. Lord Cui Yan's…"

Xia Qing's gaze swept over Scarface Junior's father, the Missing-Ear Wolf, Mastiff One, and Mastiff Two of the Southern Wolf Pack, then landed on the male wolf standing to the right of Queen Cui Yan.

Under her night-vision goggles, Xia Qing couldn't make out this wolf's coat color, but she could tell it was young and strong. Based on its position, however, she deduced its identity. "Lord Cui Yan, is this strong male wolf your mate?"

Lord Cui Yan turned his head to sniff the male wolf beside him, then looked back at Xia Qing.

Seeing that she understood, Xia Qing introduced herself to this male wolf. "I am the human Xia Qing."

The male wolf stepped forward two paces, bared its fangs, and a bright cloud of hot breath rose before its mouth. It probably didn't understand what Xia Qing was saying, but it understood she was greeting it—this was clearly another brain-domain evolved being. That was normal; any wolf that could become a Wolf King's mate was no ordinary wolf.

Xia Qing stepped forward two paces and exchanged breath with this wolf—of course, it was this male wolf that memorized her scent. Xia Qing's sense of smell hadn't evolved, so she couldn't identify creatures by scent the way Yanlong could.

After greeting this male wolf, who was very likely the Southern Wolf Pack's number-three combatant, Xia Qing asked, "Fourth, where are the intruders you captured?"

Fourth turned and gestured for Xia Qing to follow him.

Xia Qing followed Fourth, stepping over dense vegetation for over a hundred meters, until she reached a mountain crevice about a meter wide, where she saw two Southern Wolf Pack members and a pile of humans.

Based on the brightness levels in her infrared night-vision goggles, Xia Qing assessed the current state of this human intruder team. "Eight intruders, five dead, three unconscious?"

The old wolf nodded.

Xia Qing asked, "Were the three unconscious ones put under with anesthetic?"

Before the investigation team entered the Northern Zone One territory, Xia Qing had opened a video call to brief the Northern and Southern Wolf Packs on the situation and suggested they exchange some anti-anesthetic drugs with each other, just in case.

The Northern Wolf Pack exchanged drugs. Fourth of the Southern Wolf Pack, who had rich combat experience against humans, didn't just exchange anti-anesthetic drugs—he also traded for airborne anesthetics and signal jammers.

The old wolf nodded again.

Xia Qing praised him warmly, "Fourth didn't just use anesthetic, he also tied up the living humans with rope and used a signal jammer to cut them off from the outside world—he did an excellent job. Fourth is a wolf standing at the very top of Blue Star's combat pyramid, the most combat-experienced wolf on all of Blue Star!"

"Aow." Little Wolf Brother, who was standing with Scarface Junior, let out a dissatisfied cry.

"Queen, Lord Cui Yan, you are also wolves standing at the top of the pyramid, the pride of evolved wolves. In a few more years, you'll become kings as rich in combat experience as Fourth, standing alongside him at the pinnacle of Blue Star's pyramid. Little Wolf Brother, Scarface, Black Three—you need to work hard to grow and climb to the highest peak too!" After adding this clarification, Xia Qing asked, "Fourth, should I set up the tent now to check these intruders' identities and take stock of the supplies you've captured?"

After getting the old wolf's permission, Xia Qing nimbly set up the stealth tent she'd bought for 50,000 points.

This tent combined optical camouflage, infrared heat insulation, and radar-wave absorption technology, making it invisible to visual, infrared, and radar detection. It was top-tier domestic equipment Xia Qing had acquired through Yang Jin's channels, perfectly suited for this kind of scene and mission.

After quickly setting up the tent, Xia Qing first dragged the three unconscious intruders inside. Only the old wolf, Little Wolf Brother, and Scarface Junior followed her in. Apart from these three wolves who regularly interacted with humans, the other wolves didn't want to stay in a fully enclosed space filled with unfamiliar scents.

Once the one human and three wolves were inside the tent, the Northern Wolf Pack members lay down outside to rest; Lord Cui Yan and his royal consort leaped to the highest point, and the other Southern Wolf Pack members spread out around the area to guard the territory.

Inside the tent, Xia Qing turned on the light, removed her low-light night-vision goggles, and carefully examined the three still-unconscious humans. "These three have pale complexions, thin bodies, and lack muscle—they should be non-combat personnel. Has Fourth seen them before?"

The old wolf raised a paw and traced two characters on the tent's floor mat: Dog, Fire.

Little Wolf Brother felt the old wolf's characters weren't standard, so he raised a paw to demonstrate. Scarface Junior bared his fangs and snarled, refusing to let Little Wolf Brother interrupt the exchange between Fourth and Xia Qing. Little Wolf Brother immediately bared his fangs in response.

Xia Qing unzipped the tent, let the two youngsters out to fight, zipped it back up, and asked, "Was it the mastiffs who recognized them as Fiery Fire Squad members by scent, or has Fourth seen them before?"

The old wolf raised a paw and wrote the character "Dog," then his gray-white eyes turned to the three humans tied up inside the tent.

Xia Qing understood. "The ones you killed were ones you recognized; these three were identified by Mastiff One through scent. Why did Fourth keep these three humans alive?"

The Fiery Fire Squad had invaded the Southern Wolf Pack's territory many times, capturing and killing pack members. The old wolf had kept three mastiffs specifically to track the scent of his enemies. Logically, after confirming these people were Fiery Fire Squad members, Fourth should have killed them all.

Because Xia Qing had shown the Northern and Southern Wolf Packs Hui City bounty notices, and Hui City Base was offering a bounty on escaped Fiery Fire Squad members—dead or alive, same price.

Because these escaped members hadn't returned to the safe zone to surrender within the deadline, they had all been designated as criminal suspects in the Hui Three 1223 Major Explosion Case.