Chapter 196: My Lord, Exactly How Many Subordinates Do You Have?

After finishing her patrol of the territory, Xia Qing picked two fresh cucumbers, broke off a section for Sheep Boss, who was feeding the fish with big bugs, and said, "You've worked hard, boss. Our fish only survive because you tirelessly catch bugs and feed them. Have some cucumber to soothe your throat."

Sheep Boss, who doesn't eat fish, immediately opened his mouth and bit down, starting to crunch the cucumber. Although he can go in and out of the greenhouse door, all the plants he likes to eat inside are fenced off with thorny branches by Xia Qing, so if Sheep Boss wants to eat anything in there, he has to ask Xia Qing to pick it for him.

Cucumbers are Sheep Boss's favorite food.

Seeing the sick wolf staring at the cucumber in her hand, Xia Qing broke off a small piece and placed it on the stone in front of it. She didn't dare feed it by hand, because no matter how weak it was, it was still an evolved wolf.

"This is raw. Can you eat it?"

The sick wolf lowered its head to sniff, and actually started eating.

Xia Qing had seen the sick wolf gnaw on Bai Mao's chicken-droppings vine raw, so she wasn't worried about it eating cucumber. She picked up the small basket and headed home. "I'm going back to cook. You two wander around the territory, don't go to the edges."

Seeing Xia Qing return with the small basket, the Black Feather rooster immediately led its subordinates charging over, chirping at her through the net fence.

After the sick wolf could move, it also helped Sheep Boss catch bugs, so the bugs they caught these past few days were more than before. The small basket still held over thirty evolved grasshoppers, crickets, and mantises. Added to the bugs Xia Qing caught or dug up during her patrol, it was enough not only to feed the snakes in the snake box full, but also to share some with the poultry.

After feeding some of the evolved insects to the chicks and goslings, Xia Qing carried the rest home to feed the snakes.

After pouring a basket of evolved insects into the snake box, Xia Qing took out the Qi Element Detector and tested the eight snakes she had caught today. These snakes varied in size, and two were evolved—one was very fast, the other had some unknown evolution ability. Xia Qing could only judge from its movement that it was different from ordinary snakes.

Of the eight snakes, only that small one with the unknown evolution ability was edible. Xia Qing stuffed it into the snake box, and kept the other snakes in the bag, waiting for Zhong Tao to come over at noon today to exchange them for points.

Zhong Tao and Zheng Kui's supply truck comes once every three days. Last night Zhong Tao had already spoken to Xia Qing about wanting to buy a batch of her vegetables. Xia Qing agreed and asked Zhong Tao to deliver five bags of worm castings and some daily necessities.

The vegetables produced in the territory were increasing, and so were the exchanges between Xia Qing and Zhong Tao. All these properly accounted-for points were used by Xia Qing to trade for daily necessities.

Xia Qing, who never shortchanged herself, had already switched to new pure-cotton bedsheets and underwear, and her toothpaste and skincare products had been upgraded by two tiers. The carbon pens she used now were no longer the cheap kind that needed a few flicks to get the ink flowing after writing a few characters.

When Zhong Tao came last time, he also brought a catalog to try to sell Xia Qing the jewelry currently popular in the Safe Zone. Xia Qing had zero interest in these little trinkets that cost thousands of points but had no practical use.

Pretty to wear, pleasing to others and oneself?

Before the Catastrophe, Xia Qing in her teens liked inexpensive pretty trinkets, but now she had no use for them.

Bracelets and rings? She wore protective gloves most of the day—buying them would just mean they sat at home.

Pretty hair clips and barrettes? She kept her hair short now, no use for them. She could clip one on her head if she insisted, but it would get in the way when she put on her protective helmet. If one fell off during combat and obstructed her vision, it would put her in fatal danger.

Necklaces? She was wearing a Use Yishi necklace worth over ten thousand points on her neck. Living in the Qi Element-filled atmosphere of Blue Star after the Catastrophe, what necklace could possibly be better than a Use Yishi necklace?

After eating two flatbread rolls stuffed with roasted meat jerky until she was full, Xia Qing gave the sick wolf anesthetic.

At 8:40, Xia Qing put the sick wolf into a large sealed bag, stuffed it into her backpack, picked up the thick wooden plank she'd used last time to carry the wolf to Territory Seven, and told the head wolf and Sheep Boss, who were watching her, "I have to take the sick wolf and the two injured wolves in the cave for a checkup. I'll definitely be back before noon. Boss, guard the territory; my lord, are you coming with me?"

Following behind a human? Impossible. My lord leaped onto the ruins south of the yard in one bound, and vanished with another.

After it left, Xia Qing, carrying the wolf on her back, walked outward while talking to Sheep Boss beside her. "Boss, although neither of us is a speed evolver, as long as we train like mad following our current method, we can push our physical fitness to the limit and reach the level of a Level Four speed evolver. When that happens, we'll be both fast and strong, and ganging up on my lord won't be a dream! Add in my godlike shooting skills, and we might even be able to step on Yang Jin of the Azure Dragon Squad!"

"Baa."

Sheep Boss gave a short perfunctory reply and trotted off to eat grass, clearly having zero interest in Xia Qing's topic.

Xia Qing also pulled herself together, activating all her abilities to monitor the surroundings, and swiftly and stealthily made her way to the abandoned mountain cave in Area Three.

She called the two injured wolves out, had them drink the medicine, then laid the two injured wolves that had been knocked out by anesthetic together with the sick wolf on the thick wooden plank. Just as she was about to lift the plank and head out of the valley to meet up with the people sent from Territory Seven, she received a call from Yan Long.

"People from Territory Six are operating in the North Buffer Forest. You can't take the North Isolation Belt anymore. Where are you? I'll come meet up with you."

Not expecting Yan Long to come personally, Xia Qing immediately replied, "I'm in the Wild Boar Breeding Center valley. Sister Yan, wait for me at the isolation belt on the north side of the valley. I'll be there in five minutes."

After the Wild Boar Breeding Center was abandoned, this valley was incorporated into Area Three of Hill Forty-Nine, nominally becoming part of the Azure Dragon Squad's training base, but in reality it was part of Xia Qing's private evolution forest.

So when Tan Junjie led the inspection team to patrol the territory, they no longer crossed through the isolation belt north of the Wild Boar Breeding Center valley, but instead took the isolation belt north of the buffer forests of Territories Four and Five.

The isolation belt north of the Wild Boar Breeding Center, like the isolation belt in Xia Qing's territory that separated Gao Po from the low slope, had been abandoned. But Xia Qing still regularly sprayed medicinal powder on this isolation belt and cleared the wild grass, so it hadn't yet been swallowed by weeds and shrubs.

"No need. Wait for me at the cave entrance." Yan Long hung up after saying that.

Xia Qing had heard Hu Zifeng's squad chatter about how formidable Yan Long's combat ability was, so hearing that she didn't need to be met, Xia Qing didn't take the extra step and leaned against the rock to wait quietly.

Before she heard any sign of Yan Long, the head wolf appeared with four wolves. Two wolves stood in front of the plank holding the wolves, while the head wolf and another stood on top of the cave, its tyrant-like golden eyes glaring with murderous intent into the distance.

The two wolves by the plank—one black, one brown—were ones Xia Qing had never seen before. She asked in surprise, "My lord, exactly how many subordinates do you have?"