Chapter 168: Trading with Wolves

After the two injured wolves ate the pangolin's innards, the alpha wolf didn't come out to eat. The two wolves who had carried the prey over gnawed at the meat along the pangolin's belly, then picked up the half-eaten pangolin and dragged it outside—looked like they were going to dispose of the body.

Xia Qing hurried out of the house, holding up a small pangolin scale, and negotiated with the alpha wolf lying in the sheep pen, "Queen, my lord, could you let me handle this leftover pangolin? I need the scales on its body—this one."

The alpha wolf didn't move in the sheep pen. Xia Qing kept flattering, "Clever and beautiful Queen, my lord, I really need the scales. Please, considering I've taken good care of your two brothers, won't you give me the leftover pangolin?"

The alpha wolf still didn't move. The injured brain-evolved wolf crawled forward a few steps on its front legs, then raised one front paw, pointed at the water basin, and patted the gutted pangolin.

"Got it, on it right away!"

Xia Qing thought she understood, and immediately scrubbed the water basin clean, poured in fresh spring water, and pushed it in front of the injured wolf. "Please drink."

The brain-evolved wolf lowered its head to sniff, then pointed at the basin with its paw again, and patted the pangolin.

Not the spring water?

This time Xia Qing really got it. "Want medicine? That green stuff from yesterday?"

The brain-evolved wolf gazed calmly at Xia Qing, and used its paw to push the pangolin toward her. Though it couldn't actually move it, the meaning was crystal clear.

The thing was handing over a gutted pangolin worth two hundred thousand points to her—of course she could spare a few sips of spinach juice. Xia Qing nodded in agreement. "Alright. I'll send the pangolin off first, then make the medicine for you, deal?"

The brain-evolved wolf pushed the pangolin's heavy tail again, meaning deal.

This is really... they've become spirits.

Xia Qing carefully stepped forward and pulled the gutted pangolin to herself. Seeing the wolves didn't object, she immediately carried it back into the house and sealed it up, then quickly and thoroughly sprayed deodorizer over herself, the house, and the yard, not even sparing the soles of her shoes.

Then she shouldered the large backpack loaded with three hundred thousand points' worth of supplies and headed to the isolation belt outside the northern buffer forest to make the delivery.

Because she was afraid Tang Huai from Territory Two might eavesdrop, the exchanges between Territory One and Territory Three were arranged at the northern isolation belt behind Gao Po in Territory Three. It was a detour, but it kept the distance—given Tang Huai's level-five evolved hearing, he couldn't monitor sounds from here.

Chang Li had come over with Beard Feng's squad; they were all familiar, no need for pleasantries. Using the cover of tall trees, Beard Feng quickly transferred the two large sealed bags from Xia Qing's backpack into his own, and dispatched three team members to escort them back.

Then Beard Feng led his team along with Chang Li into Territory Three to search for and clean up the scent, scales, and blood trails left by the evolved pangolin.

Guan Tong naturally took over the sprayer Xia Qing was carrying. Chang Li asked Xia Qing, "Young Lady Xia, is that a scent-masking potion in there?"

"Sister Li, just call me Xia Qing." Xia Qing quite liked this quiet team medic with excellent medical skills. "This is deodorizer I traded with Territory Seven. It works really well. I plan to spray everywhere that has a scent, just in case."

"Mm, Territory Seven's potions all work well." Chang Li, a year older than Xia Qing, switched address. "Xia Qing, there's no unusual smell nearby. I'll go back to the village with you and search along the direction the wolves moved?"

Xia Qing led them to the village entrance, then let Chang Li, Chen Zheng, and Chen Cheng—the three smell-evolved individuals—take the lead. They sprayed all the way from the village entrance to the abandoned wild boar breeding center, then into Gorge One—this was the route the wolves had taken carrying the pangolin. Along the way, they found five fingernail-sized scales, but no blood.

That was because the wolves moved cautiously and had ways of eliminating scent, leaving no obvious traces along the route.

After finishing that stretch, Xia Qing discussed the scent-masking plan for the wolves' comings and goings over the next few days with Beard Feng, then parted ways with his squad.

Chang Li and Beard Feng's squad continued along the wolves' route into Section Three of Mountain Forty-Nine to keep searching. Xia Qing returned to her territory and began spraying deodorizer throughout the village.

Back home, Xia Qing found the injured brain-evolved wolf staring at her, its gaze extremely direct—just two words:

Medicine?

Xia Qing glanced at the alpha wolf lying in the sheep pen resting with closed eyes, and answered, "I just went to deal with the scent left along the route the Queen, my lord carried the pangolin. I'll go make the medicine right now."

After setting down the sprayer, Xia Qing took a basket and went to pick leafy greens.

The spinach in the terraced fields was small and barely had any leaves to begin with. Xia Qing only picked a small handful before heading home. She felt her own head was much better, and Sheep Boss was much perkier too—no more spinach leaves needed.

So this whole handful was all for the wolves.

Back home, she juiced the spinach, dripped in two drops of the potion Zhang San had given her, then poured the thirty-plus milliliters of spinach juice into the water basin and set it in front of the sheep pen. "Medicine's ready, eat up."

Contrary to Xia Qing's expectation, the one who came out to "take medicine" was neither the broken-leg wolf nor the injured brain-evolved wolf, but the alpha wolf.

The alpha wolf sniffed the green liquid in the basin, then began lapping it up. Though Xia Qing was surprised, she didn't stop it—because the alpha wolf really did look unwell. It might have been near the territory during yesterday's battle and been hit by the ultrasonic attack too.

When the alpha wolf had lapped up half the spinach juice, Xia Qing reminded it, "That's enough, no more."

The alpha wolf raised its eyes to look at Xia Qing. Only then did Xia Qing notice the alpha wolf's eyes weren't as bright and clear as usual—seemed it really was feeling off.

Xia Qing boldly reminded it again, "This medicine packs a punch. If the Queen, my lord drinks too much, she'll feel awful. You can let the other wolves have some."

The alpha wolf understood Xia Qing's meaning, returned to the sheep pen, and swapped in the broken-leg wolf to come drink the "medicine."

Xia Qing was delighted to discover the broken-leg wolf wasn't dragging its hind legs—it walked out on all four. Though its two hind legs were still fixed in splints and its gait looked a bit comical, Xia Qing was still overjoyed.

Because when this wolf had arrived at Xia Qing's territory, both its hind-leg femurs had been completely snapped, the legs deformed. In just half a month it could stand—that showed how tough the wolves' recovery was, and also that Chang Li's medical skills were genuinely excellent.

She hoped Qi Fu, who was being treated by Chang Li, would recover soon too.

Xia Qing had no idea how the wolves judged the spinach juice to be a good thing, but the two wolves licked the basin spotlessly clean. She scrubbed the basin clean, refilled it with spring water, left the distinguished guests to their rest, and once again carefully sprayed the whole village with deodorizer.

After spraying, Xia Qing still didn't feel at ease.

It wasn't that she doubted her idol—she doubted whether this potion only worked on animals.

Because when Zhang San had traded her the deodorizer, he'd said it was to keep the wolves from smelling the sheep. Yet Xia Qing had carefully bathed Sheep Boss with the deodorizer, and the alpha wolf still found its way over and cuddled up with the sheep.

Right now, the only use of this potion Xia Qing could confirm was spraying it on crops to reduce their attractiveness to insects. Whether it worked on smell-evolved individuals and evolved dogs, she really couldn't guarantee.

If only it would rain now—a downpour would wash away all traces and scents. Of course, it had to be normal rain; a damaging rain would be terrible—her seedlings still needed tender care, especially the spinach seedlings that had nearly been picked down to bare stalks.

"Rumble rumble—"

Xia Qing had just finished muttering that in her heart when she heard thunder.

Damn!

She didn't care about any scent anymore, jumped up, and rushed toward the fields.