Chapter 1719: The Old Wolf Proposes a Deal

"Hey, Bai Yan, this is for you—good for the brain, will make you smarter." Xia Qing first pulled a bracelet strung with a pink pearl from her pocket and slipped it onto her wrist, then took out half a green-light walnut kernel and tossed it to the white-eyed raven.

The green-light walnut kernel was a fine treat. The freeloading big red squirrel, Qiang Zai, the little Fei Mao on Xia Qing's shoulder, the three blue jays, and the big magpie on the roof all stretched their necks at once, but not a single one darted out to snatch it. Because Xia Qing was fast, and the white-eyed raven was very close to the windowsill—in the blink of an eye, the walnut kernel was already pinned under the white-eyed raven's claw.

A businesswoman never makes a losing deal. The big centipede the white-eyed raven had brought over was worth only two green-light mealworms and six green-light mung beans, so of course Xia Qing had her own reasons for handing over the precious green-light walnut.

The clever white-eyed raven seemed to understand this too, so it didn't peck at the walnut kernel directly. It merely held it under its claw, a pair of white eyes fixed on Xia Qing.

Xia Qing held up a map and a color printout of the No. 86 Mountain big prickly ash tree, gesturing as she negotiated with the white-eyed raven perched on the branch. "Hey, Bai Yan, are you heading back to No. 86 Mountain today? I want to swing through your territory, collect a few kinds of samples."

The investigation team's experts, who had lingered in the Northern Zone One territory for a day, would be leaving by helicopter at noon today. Xia Qing decided to head out today and take care of everything that needed doing.

The investigation team and medical squad in the tent outside Territory Seven? They wouldn't leave until Guo Qingbin woke up.

Soil microbial activity was rising every day, and the snow springtails had grown noticeably bigger than a few days ago, signaling that the snow was about to melt. If Xia Qing didn't act now, once the snow melted quickly, the creature on No. 86 Mountain that emitted a Yi-element magnetic field might become impossible to find.

The white-eyed raven stared at the picture in Xia Qing's hand for a few seconds, gave her no response at all, and simply beat its glossy black wings and flew off, clutching the walnut.

Xia Qing cheerfully tucked the picture away and turned to make breakfast. Whether the white-eyed raven had understood or not, she had already checked in with this territorial lord, so she could head straight over to dig and look for treasure.

So, after breakfast, Xia Qing went through the motions of claiming in the lord channel group the task her idol had posted—patrolling the surrounding evolution forests, collecting biological samples from the evolution forests, and comparatively analyzing soil anaerobic bacteria activity across the evolution forests—and recruited team members in the group.

She didn't need to stay inside the territory, waiting for the investigation team still in Northern Zone One to question her?

Of course not! Because her task had been issued personally by her idol, who had been maliciously attacked and knocked unconscious for seventeen hours—who would dare block Xia Qing from going out? Her idol was a big shot sitting at the very top of Blue Star's petty-minded Jin Zita!

At 9:50, Xia Qing's five recruited team members boarded on time. Xia Qing called the last team member directly and found it was still inside the wolf den. "Hey, Broken-Back, assembly time's up—are you coming or not?"

Broken-Back Wolf shut its mouth, face dead serious.

Looks like it had something more important going on. Xia Qing asked, "Do you need me to send backup your way?"

Broken-Back Wolf still wore a dead-serious face.

Xia Qing understood. "Alright, you go ahead. If something comes up and you can't make it to a task on time in the future, send me a message ahead of time. We're heading out now. Has Handsome Giant Wolf rushed off to Bird Valley on No. 45 Mountain?"

Broken-Back Wolf bared its fangs in a grin, just the tips showing, and used its big nose to hang up the call.

Sensing the magnetic fields of Zhang Song, Huo Zhun, Wang Man, Beard Feng, and Liang Zi on the helicopter all shift noticeably, Xin Yu, head down over the map, pressed her lips together against a headache. Looks like everyone was dying to team up with Broken-Back Wolf.

Squad leader Xia Qing spoke up. "Captain Hu, let's go—head to Evolution Forest No. 22 Mountain in the south first."

No. 22 Mountain was the experimental zone of Territory Seven. After arriving, Xia Qing and Huo Zhun, who was carrying Zhang Song, jumped off the helicopter.

Zhang Song went to collect samples; Xia Qing went to settle accounts.

To protect the human Zhang San, who had fallen into a deep coma, Xia Qing had issued the southern wolf pack a task.

To complete the task, the 13 members of the southern wolf pack led by Old Fourth not only patrolled the southern wolf pack and western tiger group territories as Xia Qing required, checking for intruders and potential breaches in the defensive line, but also stopped an internal fight among the southern hyena pack, to keep it from startling the hundreds of raptors in Shi Zhu Forest and triggering a bird tide.

For this, Xia Qing not only paid out the agreed 3,000 task points but also gave a 300-point bonus. After confirming the transfer amount was correct, the former southern wolf king—worth over a hundred million—put a trade request to the human middleman, Xia Qing.

In last night's task, Missing-Ear Wolf's assigned location was over 300 li from Old Fourth—far beyond the communication range of howling—so Old Fourth couldn't keep timely track of Missing-Ear Wolf's progress on the task, nor receive the messages Xia Qing had sent about Zhang San's condition.

Because the southern wolf pack's only phone had been carried by Missing-Ear Wolf to No. 50 Mountain, Old Fourth didn't learn Zhang San had woken up until Missing-Ear Wolf returned to the southern wolf pack.

The information was seriously delayed!

After weighing everything, Old Fourth decided to trade Xia Qing for two more phones, to be used as long-distance communication tools when southern wolf pack members carried out tasks far away.

Xia Qing also felt the southern wolf pack should have more communication gear. She nodded. "Encrypted phones were one phone per point last year. I don't know this year's price yet—I have to ask Third Brother to find out. Whether I can trade you two depends on whether Third Brother has stock. If he doesn't, I can only trade you regular phones."

Old Fourth nodded in agreement.

Xia Qing cheerfully chatted with Old Fourth for a bit, discussed moving Zhang Shi and Ye Yiyi to a new place, then ran off to meet up with Zhang Song and Huo Zhun and hurried toward Bird Valley on No. 45 Mountain.

After getting back on the helicopter, Zhang Song sidled up to Xia Qing to ask, "Sister Qing, I just saw a gray-furred, yellow-brown-eyed brain-evolved male wolf next to Broken-Face Little Wolf—is it new to the southern wolf pack?"

Xia Qing nodded. "It's the southern wolf king's mate."

"Sister Qing, which wolf pack is this wolf from, how old is it, and besides brain evolution, what other evolution abilities does it have?" He hadn't been able to go on tasks with Xia Qing for two months, and the southern wolf king already had a mate! Zhang Song's eyes went wide—he felt like he'd missed out on a hundred million!

No way—he had to update the southern wolf pack files right now!

Xin Yu beside him pretended she didn't have a headache at all and calmly peeled sunflower seeds for Guagua.

Xia Qing answered calmly, "I haven't dealt with it directly, so I don't know its situation."

Zhang Song was silent for a few seconds, then released an even stronger magnetic field—gentle this time. "Sister Qing, so this wolf doesn't have a name?"

To avoid another non-distinctive name like "Honeysuckle" appearing among the wolf pack members, Xia Qing answered directly, "It's called Big Gray Wolf."

Everyone... Sister Qing, are you serious?