Chapter 171: Evolution Python

Xia Qing thought she understood what the alpha wolf meant and immediately perked up, launching into flowery flattery:

"My lord, you can even catch a python this thick—my lord is truly beautiful and dashing. My lord has made history for Blue Star's evolved wolves and opened a new era for them…"

But after she finished flattering, the alpha wolf still didn't move its paw away. Xia Qing couldn't help but yawn. "Sis, are you giving me this snake or not? If not, I'm going back to my room to sleep."

Seeing Xia Qing still didn't get it, the alpha wolf turned, carried the water basin over in its mouth, set it down in front of her, and pressed the snake's tail down with its paw again.

This time Xia Qing understood—and felt annoyed. "Sis, isn't this snake the room rent for your brothers? When did it change to bartering for medicine?"

The alpha wolf didn't move, just stared at Xia Qing. Considering this guy's combat ability, Xia Qing had no choice but to agree. "Fine, I'll trade medicine for it. I'll give it to you after dawn."

Only then did the alpha wolf move its paw, signaling that Xia Qing could take the snake away.

Xia Qing carried the python back to her room. After the detection light turned green, she immediately skinned it, cut off a section, then turned on the dehydrator and started drying the snake meat slices.

A python weighing over forty jin—her small dehydrator alone couldn't process it in time. Xia Qing gritted her teeth and sent a message to Ji Li.

She wanted to wait until almost dawn to send it, but in two hours the snake meat wouldn't be as fresh as it was now. Given Zhang San's picky nature, he might refuse to trade.

Ji Li seemed to never sleep. The message Xia Qing sent in the middle of the night got a quick reply:

"Don't wait until five. Deliver it within fifteen minutes to the north quarantine belt of Territory Three. I want the snake skin and gallbladder too. Thanks. Nine-seven-six, three-five-four."

After getting the reply, Xia Qing immediately packaged the snake, put on night-vision goggles, and delivered it to the north quarantine belt of Territory Three, exchanged the password with the person waiting, and handed over the snake meat.

After returning, Xia Qing slept until dawn before getting up, stretching contentedly.

She'd locked the chicks and goslings in the cellar last night, so she finally didn't have to be woken at four in the morning by their chirping. After getting up, Xia Qing patrolled the territory, then squeezed thirty milliliters of spinach juice for the wolf pack.

Today the wolf drinking spinach juice was a different one again. The alpha wolf still got first share, then came a wolf Xia Qing had never seen—so thin she could count its ribs. Not only thin, this wolf's eyes were also in bad shape, barely able to open.

Was this one also the wolf that brought the python last night? Xia Qing hadn't paid attention last night to whether it was among the wolves at the back of the pack.

Although a strange wolf had come into the territory, Xia Qing wasn't scared at all. Because this wolf was really too thin, and its eyes were cloudy—it didn't look like it had any attack power.

It seemed the wolf pack had recognized the "medicinal effect" of the spinach juice, so they brought sick members over to "take medicine."

This was a very, very good sign. Xia Qing's eyes lit up, as if she could already see countless Yi Stones raining down on her.

After drinking the "medicine," this wolf also went back to the sheep pen to rest. Xia Qing scrubbed the water basin clean and filled it with fresh water, then turned on the lord's walkie-talkie. "Captain Hu, are you there?"

Hu Zifeng answered, "I'm here."

Xia Qing pretended to be anxious. "Your phone's been unreachable. Is Doctor Chang in the territory? My evolved sheep isn't eating this morning and doesn't look right. Could you ask Doctor Chang to come take a look? I'll pay the consultation fee and medicine costs."

Hu Zifeng, who was currently "courting" Xia Qing, agreed immediately. "She's here. I'll bring her over right away. Don't worry."

After Xia Qing thanked him, Qi Fu came online. His voice sounded a bit stronger than the past couple of days. "Xia Qing, could your sheep have been injured in the ultrasonic attack?"

Xia Qing pressed the button. "After that it really did lose energy, but it could still eat, so I didn't pay much attention."

Tang Huai also spoke up. "After an ultrasonic attack, the ears, brain, and stomach get hurt. It's normal for symptoms to show up slowly."

Kuang Qingwei also said, "Xia Qing, don't you have medicinal herbs in your territory? Feed it some and see if it'll eat."

Xia Qing replied, "The chicken-dropping vine got smashed by the hail and hasn't recovered yet. I'll go get some and try. Thanks, Brother Qing."

Chang Li quickly arrived at Xia Qing's territory. The moment the two met, they both laughed.

"Sister Li, sorry to trouble you again today."

Having traded with Xia Qing for the scale piece that could detox the Third Boss, Chang Li was grateful to Xia Qing—how could she mind the trouble? "The path the wolf pack took, including the quarantine belt, has already been cleaned up. Captain Hu and I will go clean up the traces inside the territory. You go do whatever you need to do."

Xia Qing really did have things to do—her underground food storage room wasn't even built yet.

Although her hands were injured, Xia Qing spent the whole day and finished bricking the inner walls of the cellar beneath the tool shed.

She'd originally planned to build a cube-shaped underground storage room, but the flat top of a cube was hard to tile, so Xia Qing changed the plan and built the storage room's roof into a sturdy arch structure.

After laying the bricks, Xia Qing lit a pile of firewood underneath to smoke-cure the cellar walls, then used that gap to go clean up the cellar in the abandoned village.

Although she was busy building the cellar, Xia Qing didn't slack on the training tasks Luo Pei had arranged for her—she carried them out meticulously and strictly.

She couldn't go to Section Three of Mountain Forty-Nine to train, so for outdoor training like frog jumps and full-speed running, Xia Qing just did them inside the territory. While she did frog jumps, Sheep Boss lay nearby, half-closed eyes, chewing cud and watching.

When she ran, Sheep Boss followed along too.

So Tang Huai, already fed up with the team from the safe zone bothering him, couldn't take it anymore. "Xia Qing, didn't you say your sheep was sick? How come you're making such a racket again?"

Hearing Tang Huai complain, the lords who had their walkie-talkies on started silently counting.

One, two, three, four, five.

When five seconds were up, Tang Zhengpo began to lecture his son. "Tang Huai, what did I warn you about?"

Hearing that familiar scolding-the-son voice, the lords burst into cheerful laughter from their respective territories.

Tang Huai explained, "Dad, I'm not spying on the neighbor's movements. I'm caring about the neighbor, caring about the neighbor's evolved animals."

Xia Qing wiped the sweat from her forehead and replied coldly, "Exactly because my sheep is sick, I need to exercise it."

Tang Huai was speechless. "Is Chang Li really a professional doctor? Is there any treatment like this? After an ultrasonic attack it should rest quietly!"

Before Xia Qing could answer, Hu Zifeng came online. "Hey Tang, you need to rest quietly after an ultrasonic attack, so the sheep needs to rest quietly too? Are you the same as a sheep, or is the sheep the same as you?"

Tang Huai, who already had nowhere to vent his anger, immediately started cursing. "You lunatic, are you looking to die?"

The lord channel became a stage for the two of them to trade insults again. Although Xia Qing had her walkie-talkie on, she kept focused on training. This was something Luo Pei had taught her—to learn to stay focused amid chaos.

Over the next two days, the wolf pack still delivered prey at one or two in the morning. Whether the injured wolf ate wild chicken or rabbit, the alpha wolf still used green-light pythons to trade with Xia Qing for green-light spinach juice.

To trade for spinach juice, none of the pythons the alpha wolf gave Xia Qing were light. Now Xia Qing didn't suspect the wolf pack couldn't catch other prey—she suspected this pack had a grudge against pythons.

Green-light meat, even dead, could sell for 150 points per jin in the safe zone. The prey the alpha wolf gave her had gone from a few jin to several dozen jin—the extra weight alone was enough to trade for two portions of premium nutrient solution.

But with so much meat, Xia Qing couldn't finish processing it. Every night she had to make a trip to the north quarantine belt.

At night Xia Qing was busy processing jerky, and during the day she built another cellar beneath the abandoned village. Two days later, the cellar under the abandoned village was dug out, and the walls of the underground storage room beneath the tool shed had dried. Xia Qing installed ventilation pipes in the underground storage room, applied cement mortar to the walls, smoothed it flat, then applied an insect-proof surface layer.

After the surface layer was applied, the cellar construction was complete. Seven days of curing—if the walls didn't crack, it could be used to store food.

After applying the surface layer, Xia Qing monitored the cellar's temperature and humidity every day, only to find that controlling the underground storage room's temperature and humidity was even harder than she'd expected.

That evening after dinner, while Xia Qing was worrying about the cellar, Tang Huai suddenly brought up the pangolin matter on the lord channel.