Chapter 173: Searching the Territory

Xia Qing forced down her temper, hung the grenade back on her waist, and extended her left hand toward Ram Boss. "Boss, I've already refused this deal. Give me the python."

Ram Boss let go, handing the heavy python to Xia Qing.

Xia Qing grabbed it, then hurled it viciously at the brain-evolved injured wolf.

The lead wolf and the two wolves that had carried the snake over instantly teleported, shielding the two injured wolves behind them and arranging themselves in a fan-shaped attack formation before Xia Qing.

"Boom!"

The snake was heavy, and Xia Qing was strong—she smashed the ground into a trench with the python, the kicked-up dust scattering in every direction under the lights.

Since entering the territory, Xia Qing had never, ever been this furious.

She gripped her pistol tightly; from using too much force, the wound at the Hukou of her right hand split open again, the smell of blood spreading. "What? You provoked me first, pissed me off, and now you think you can send me off with a piece of meat? Who the hell do you think you're insulting?"

"This piece of junk would fetch at most 7,500 points in the human safe zone, and you lot drank up four days' worth of my points' worth of medicine!"

After cursing out the wolf pack, Xia Qing pointed at Ram Boss—who was pawing the ground and showing off his spiral horn, looking for a fight with her—and gave him a dressing-down. "Whose damn side are you on? Get inside and sleep, or don't expect another mouthful of rations!"

The light was dim at night, and Ram Boss, with his poor eyesight, couldn't make out Xia Qing's expression, but he could feel her mood. He stopped pawing the ground, stopped showing off his spiral horn, and clip-clopped over to stand beside Xia Qing.

Before the powerful wolf pack, Ram Boss chose to stand by her side, and that took a small edge off Xia Qing's anger.

The rest of her anger, of course, had to be taken out on the wolf pack!

"Cut the crap with your scheming! The fight between humans and wolves, and you drag a dim-witted sheep into the middle to make things hard for it—what kind of friends are you? If you want to keep getting treatment, tuck your tails and stay curled up. If you don't, then get the hell out of here. Get out the same way you came in!"

After the cursing, Xia Qing slammed the security door shut with a clang, the whole house trembling three times. Seeing Ram Boss beside her lift his head to look at her, Xia Qing pulled a ration from her pocket and stuffed it into the pouch hanging around his neck. "You're wounded. Get some sleep."

With his compressed ration, Ram Boss clip-clopped back to his nest and slept soundly.

Back in the bedroom, Xia Qing locked the door from inside. Both Ram Boss and the wolves could open the security door; if she didn't lock the bedroom door, she wouldn't feel at ease.

After messaging Ji Li that there was no meat to trade today, Xia Qing turned on the light, took off her gloves, treated the reopened wound on her right hand, then dropped off to sleep.

The more tense and difficult the moment, the more she had to ensure sufficient stamina and energy. This was a survival rule verified by the lives of countless people who had perished in the natural disasters.

The next morning, Xia Qing found Ram Boss was no longer in the house; the python was still lying in the trench she had smashed into the ground. The lead wolf had left; two injured wolves and one sick wolf lay in the sheep pen. Quite a few evolved giant flies were going crazy around the stinking green-light python and the pool of blood outside the sheep pen.

The broken-legged wolf's gaze at Xia Qing was still full of wildness, while the brain-evolved injured wolf had gained a touch of wariness.

What look did the sick wolf have? Both its eyes were injured and could barely open—what look could it possibly have?

Does it look pitiful?

Pitiful.

Is Xia Qing soft-hearted?

Not soft-hearted.

In ten years of natural disasters, Xia Qing had seen countless creatures—including humans—far more pitiful than this wolf, countless times. She was just a clay figure, not even a clay bodhisattva; in the natural disasters, being able to protect herself was already good enough, and she had no ability to save all beings.

Over fifty jin of green-light meat wasted like that—Xia Qing's heart ached, but she didn't regret it.

When bullied in the safe zone, Xia Qing had no power or backing and could only swallow it and take revenge in secret. Now in her own territory, why should she hold it in?

Xia Qing poured diesel on the python and set it alight. Spoiled meat had to be thoroughly destroyed as soon as possible, or it would not only breed super-evolved bacteria, but might also attract evolved raptors.

After dealing with the python, Xia Qing went back and entered the cellar. The chicks and goslings in the cellar were cheeping and peeping, and not a single reading on the hygrometer hanging in the cellar met the standard.

This meant her cooling and moisture-proofing experiment had failed again. Controlling the temperature and humidity of the underground storage room was even harder than she had anticipated.

Xia Qing sighed, carried the cage back up to the ground, and went to the backyard to release the chickens. Passing by the sheep pen, she saw Ram Boss leisurely chewing his cud beside the emaciated sick wolf, and was a little surprised.

Ram Boss was a snob—he only stayed beside the strongest. Could this wolf have been very powerful before too?

No matter how powerful it once was, it was no use now—it was on its last legs.

Xia Qing made a round of the chicken coop, confirmed the fence was undamaged, then put the chickens and geese inside, and sent a message to Chang Li.

Chang Li quickly arrived at Territory Three with two smell-evolved members of the Beard Feng Squad, and began the scent-clearing work.

Although Xia Qing hadn't taken the wolf pack's python last night, the wolves had brought prey into her territory, which would leave a scent that had to be cleaned up.

After entering Territory Three and seeing two pistols, three knives, and a ring of grenades hanging at Xia Qing's waist, Chen Zheng didn't think anything was off—only envious.

Today the Sufeng Squad would search the neighboring Territory Four. As a lord who had refused the Sufeng Squad entry, Xia Qing naturally had to be ready for battle.

He envied Xia Qing's great strength—being able to carry so many weapons on her person and still maintain peak combat readiness.

Chen Cheng was curious about the food the wolf pack had delivered these past two days. "Sister Qing, why have the wolves switched to sending snakes these past two days?"

Last night, the Beard Feng Squad had already cleaned up the traces of the wolf pack's passage outside Territory Three along the way. Chen Cheng was a smell-evolver, so he knew the wolves had sent Xia Qing snakes.

Chang Li also felt the wolves' behavior was somewhat unusual. "Wolves like to eat offal and tender meat. Snakes have little offal, tough flesh, and lots of bones—they're not a wolf's main food."

If they don't like to eat it themselves, why send it to her?

A thought suddenly flashed through Xia Qing's mind: snakes are in some ways quite similar to pangolins—could the wolf pack have caught snakes to trade for medicine because they saw she liked pangolins?

It really was…

There was that possibility. Otherwise, why would her food be a different kind from the injured wolves'?

At the thought of this possibility, Xia Qing's mood grew somewhat complicated.

Just as Territory Three had been cleaned up, Tang Huai's inquiry came over the walkie-talkie's lord channel. "Zhao Ze, you there?"

"Brother Huai, I've been waiting the whole time. What time do we start?" Zhao Ze answered immediately, his voice excited—clearly because of the wheat the Sufeng Squad had promised.

See? That's the attitude a normal person should have. Xia Qing and Seeing Xin Yu aren't normal people! Tang Huai pressed the button. "There are a lot of territories to inspect today. We'll head to yours at six-thirty. Alright?"

"Of course." For the sake of the wheat, Zhao Ze agreed very readily.

It was already six o'clock now. Xia Qing and the others immediately sped up.

After the cleanup, Chang Li returned to Territory One, and the full Beard Feng Squad arrived armed to the teeth, deploying along the two-thousand-plus-meter stretch of wild-grass wall between Territory Three and Territory Four that ran along the ditch.

Beard Feng told Xia Qing, "Leave this side to us. You keep an eye on the animals in the territory and stay in contact at all times."

Xia Qing left Beard Feng five grenades before heading back, gathering the dried grass into bundles on the way and bringing them back to the two-tiered rack warehouse on the east side of the main house, before going to check the sheep pen.

The four inside were in the same state as when she left. Xia Qing ignored the broken-legged wolf glowering at her and the emaciated wolf resting with its eyes closed, and looked directly at the brain-evolved wolf. "Hostile humans are entering the neighboring territory. I have to close the sheep pen door. You all rest well. Boss, are you staying inside or coming out?"

Seeing Ram Boss lying there chewing his cud without moving, Xia Qing decisively closed the sheep pen door, sat down herself in the yard, and wove a grass mat in the sun.

With sheep, chickens, and wolves at home, the consumption of moisture-absorbing grass mats was huge.

From the earpiece radio came Beard Feng's voice:

"Xia Qing, Captain Tan and the six-person squad from Sufeng Battle Team have simultaneously arrived beneath the Number Four Territory road sign. The Sufeng squad went in; Captain Tan stayed outside and didn't move. The Sufeng squad isn't carrying heavy weapons; they're led by Tang Huai. The team members include one Level Six Strength Evolver, one Level Seven Olfactory Evolver, one Level Five Speed Evolver, one Level Five Visual Evolver, and one person whose identity and abilities are unknown."