Chapter 1666: Wolf Dog Lao Er VS Evolved Border Collie

After Tang Huai killed Tang Lu and retrieved the dog-skin bag, he could finally speak calmly about his two Samoyeds. "I can confirm it's not brain-domain evolution, speed evolution, or strength evolution. Beyond that, I don't know."

Zhu Li came online to ask, "Brother Huai, didn't you take them in for testing?"

Tang Huai replied, "No. At the time I was too weak. If the test had turned up an evolution ability, I wouldn't have been able to protect them."

Everyone fell silent for a few seconds. Kuang Qingwei came online. "Brother Huai, you're already very impressive. A lot of people's pets didn't even survive to the second year of the catastrophe."

Tang Huai answered calmly, "It's not that I'm impressive. It's that my family is impressive."

Xia Qing understood perfectly why Tang Huai hadn't taken his dogs in for evolution-ability testing.

After she brought Sheep Boss back to Territory Three, she told the outside world it was a red-light sheep that couldn't be eaten directly, just to keep people from getting ideas about it. Even now that Xia Qing's strength had improved, she still kept Sheep Boss set up as a red-light sheep that had been traumatized and would go berserk at the slightest provocation—all for its safety.

It was obvious that Wu Chengyu had a deep bond with those two Border Collies. Presumably it wasn't Wu Chengyu who spread the word that the Border Collies were brain-domain evolvers; it was just that this kind of evolution ability was very hard to keep hidden.

Among animals, brain-domain evolvers—whether in facial expressions or body language—were clearly distinct from non-brain-domain evolved animals.

There were exceptions, of course, like the handsome giant wolf with a naturally icy face, or snake-type animals covered entirely in scales. But those two Border Collies clearly weren't the same type as the handsome giant wolf.

After Xia Qing divided the delicious food she'd brought back from this mission among Sheep Boss, Wolf Lao Er, red squirrel Little Feimao, and weasel Little Whitey Bai Mao, she went inside, took off her protective suit, steamed some green-light rice, and went up to the second floor to check on the Feimao Select oil sunflower seeds that were drying.

After two days of drying behind glass, the oil sunflower seeds could be bagged and stored in the basement.

After bagging the oil sunflower seeds, Xia Qing picked up two small pitch-black round balls beside them—each a bit smaller than a soybean and shaped very much like hand grenades.

These two little black balls were something Little Feimao had found in the mountain cave where the tiger of Mountain Area Thirty-One lived.

For the timid Little Feimao to risk being caught by the evolved tiger and dart out of her pocket to fetch them back, they had to be quality seeds.

After Little Feimao burrowed back into her pocket, Xia Qing searched the tiger's cave once through but couldn't find any more seeds. These two had probably stuck to its fur and been carried back to the cave during one of its territory patrols.

Xia Qing examined them carefully under a microscope and, in the crisscrossing grain on the black balls, found the seed hilum and micropyle—confirming beyond doubt that these were plant seeds.

These seeds looked somewhat like those of a pre-catastrophe plant called the "landmine flower." Xia Qing had loved picking up landmine-flower seeds to play with as a child.

But they were only somewhat similar; the exact variety still needed to be confirmed.

Once the second batch of survey experts left, Xia Qing would take Little Feimao back to the tiger's territory, gather a few more seeds and some native soil, then try cultivating them in her lab by simulating the plant's native environment.

You never knew what would sprout when you planted a seed, but that was exactly what made it so exciting. Farmer Xia Qing truly loved this feeling.

After a nutritious lunch of green-light pork and cabbage stewed with glass noodles, paired with green-light rice, Xia Qing—watched by her companions—cleaned out the chicken coop, shoveled up the little yellow cow's dung and dumped it into the dung pit to ferment, then took her companions to squat outside the beekeeping greenhouse.

The problem of the evolved aphid flies symbioting with Hui Six's green-light bee colony still hadn't been fully resolved. Every day Xia Qing had to squat outside the beekeeping greenhouse with Lao Er a few times. If Lao Er bared its teeth, Xia Qing would go inside, open the hive, find the aggressive aphid fly, and isolate it from the colony to keep it from going berserk and killing too many green-light bees.

Lao Er didn't bare its teeth, meaning the colony was fine. Xia Qing cheerfully went to rummage through the organic manure and plant-straw compost fermenting in the buffer forest greenhouse.

In ten days, the temperature would rise rapidly, the ice and snow would melt, and the earth would thaw. Then the lords had to fertilize and plow their fields as quickly as possible, and after the first blight rain, sow and transplant rice seedlings right away—otherwise they'd miss the farming window.

These two greenhouses full of organic fertilizer were the guarantee of a bountiful harvest. Just looking at them made Xia Qing feel especially grounded.

Working until three in the afternoon, Xia Qing finally got the call from Broken-Waist Wolf.

At Broken-Waist Wolf's ability, if it traveled at full speed, it could get from Mountain Thirty-One to Mountain Forty-Nine in half an hour. But to investigate the anomalies in the evolved forest, it had taken it over four hours.

That length of time was proof enough of how seriously Broken-Waist Wolf took the discovery of the synthetic toxin Blight 18 within the tiger's territory.

This was only the first step. Next it would certainly conduct a thorough sweep of the northern wolf pack's territory. The wolves were about to enter the whelping period; no amount of caution was excessive.

Entrusting the territory to Squad Beard-Feng, Xia Qing took Lao Er and hurried to the Third Peak of Mountain Forty-Nine to meet up with Broken-Waist Wolf.

Xia Qing first warmly praised Broken-Waist Wolf's diligent work attitude, then discussed with it: "Those two brain-domain evolved dogs from Lan One have entered Third Brother's territory. They might wander into my territory in the next few days. How about letting Lao Er go back to Mountain Fifty-Five for a few days?"

Wu Chengyu's intentions were unclear. No matter how reluctant Xia Qing was, Lao Er's safety had to come first.

Broken-Waist Wolf heard this, clamped its mouth shut, and stared at Xia Qing with a solemn expression.

Xia Qing held its gaze for a few seconds, then nodded. "Alright. Lao Er stays in my territory, and I'll protect its safety. When the evolved dogs come, I'll have it stay in the Zone Three evolved forest."

Xia Qing was a member of the wolf pack; Mountain Forty-Nine was the pack's territory. To avoid two evolved dogs, she would make a wolf leave its own territory?

Impossible! Lao Er could dodge humans, but it would never back down in front of dogs.

What if those two brain-domain evolved Border Collies ran into Zone Three of Mountain Forty-Nine and found Lao Er?

Their aura made it obvious they were domesticated beasts very well protected by humans. The two of them together couldn't beat Lao Er, who had survived the brutal fights of the evolved forest.

Two sheepdogs decked out in high-tech gear? If they dared use high-tech equipment against Lao Er, one bullet from Xia Qing would drop them and make them drop their gear!

Brain-domain evolved dogs trying to outthink Lao Er? Lao Er had no interest in that, and Xia Qing wouldn't give them the chance.

Broken-Waist Wolf was satisfied. It raised one dirty big paw and swept it downward.

Xia Qing asked, "You're asking about the test results on the tiger? Not out yet. When the results come in, Third Brother will contact me, and I'll let you know right away. But don't worry—Little Wolf Brother and Black Three don't have Blight 18 toxin in their bodies… Send you a copy of the results? That should be fine, I'll ask Third Brother…"

After meeting up with Broken-Waist Wolf, Xia Qing first thoroughly cleaned the scent and fur from herself, Lao Er, and the sample bags, then took Lao Er back to Zone Three of Mountain Forty-Nine, wandered around picking up animal droppings to soak up the evolved forest's scent, and only then returned to her own territory.

Then Xia Qing took her heavy sample bags to Center Nine for a look around, picked up more samples and two documents that needed her idol's signature, and went to find her idol.

The moment she entered Territory Seven, Xia Qing spotted the two black-and-white Border Collies and Wu Chengyu on the stone steps of the North Buffer Forest, along with the survey team experts standing at a distance watching the one person and two dogs.

She gave them only a glance, then walked straight ahead without looking sideways, following Zheng Chen to the lab building.