Chapter 227: Whose Subordinate Is This?

This weasel looked timid and shrinking, but happened to have a smiling face, looking as if it were laughing the whole time. That look, those eyes, those movements—Xia Qing couldn't have been more familiar with them.

"Ding."

Yang Jin sent another message: Is this weasel a companion of the missing-eared alpha wolf?

Xia Qing's arms and upper arms were swollen and red; it wasn't obvious when doing heavy labor, but the fine movements of tapping the small on-screen keyboard were somewhat difficult.

With slightly trembling fingers, Xia Qing typed out one letter at a time: Confirmed it's the alpha wolf's companion. This weasel often follows the wolf pack into my territory to pluck chicken feathers. After the alpha wolf saw the picture Zhang San gave, it hasn't shown up again—should have gone into the mountains to gather herbs. This weasel also hasn't appeared for several days.

A bold idea took shape in Yang Jin's mind, and the more he thought about it, the more feasible it seemed. Inside the narrow, gloomy mountain cave, Yang Jin's eyes behind his protective mask were lit up by the phone screen. He quickly typed a few characters on his phone and handed it to Yan Long to read.

Hidden in the caves around them were over a dozen experts from four squads; even the smallest sounds of conversation could be picked up.

Yang Jin was risking discovery to contact the outside world, so it had to be something important. After Yan Long read it, she typed two lines:

If that wolf is nearby, eighty percent chance; if not, certain defeat.

Yang Jin typed a few more characters and showed them to Yan Long, who nodded in approval.

Yang Jin then quickly typed three lines and pressed send with solemnity:

The wolf pack may deliver the herbs Brother Luo needs to you today or tomorrow. After receiving the herbs, please hand them over to Zhang San as soon as possible.

When Xia Qing received the message, she read it carefully three times before confirming her eyes weren't playing tricks on her.

The supremely proud alpha wolf, cooperating with Yang Jin to gather herbs? When did those two get together, and what does the weasel have to do with it? Too many things to complain about, but Xia Qing also knew the Evolution Forest was dangerous, so she didn't ask a single question, only trembling hands typing back a few words:

Got it. The alpha wolf's share of the cut—we'll talk after you get out.

The alpha wolf led its subordinates—even bringing along the weasel—to brave the Harmful Rain to gather herbs, all to cure the sick wolf. Its teaming up with Yang Jin was also because it thought those herbs were for the sick wolf. The reason the alpha wolf believed this was because Xia Qing had pointed at the picture and told it so.

Yang Jin chose to cooperate with the wolf pack surely because gathering herbs was fraught with danger, and the top-tier squad Green Dragon had assembled had no certainty of victory—which was why they needed to borrow the wolf pack's strength.

Business is business, friendship is friendship. The alpha wolf was essentially hired by Xia Qing to gather herbs, so if it really could bring the herbs out, the Green Dragon squad should pay the reward.

No matter how clever the alpha wolf was, it was no match for the miser Yang Jin, so this deal had to have Xia Qing step forward to represent the wolf pack in negotiating with Yang Jin.

Seeing Xia Qing's message, Yang Jin smiled soundlessly and replied with a single "Okay."

No matter the reason, she was waiting in the territory for him to come back now—he had to get back as soon as possible.

Yang Jin gestured to call Yan Long and the other five over, and through text and gestures, quickly laid out the battle plan.

In Territory Three, Xia Qing slept straight through until two in the afternoon. When she got up, the swelling in her arms and shoulders had faded quite a bit, but hadn't fully recovered.

Outside the window, the Harmful Rain was still pattering down. The few mung beans placed under the small rain awning on the windowsill were still there, the spring water in the jar hadn't decreased, and the red squirrel was hiding in its nest, not coming over to drink.

That little fellow had stolen over ten jin of tobacco leaf and stored up plenty of food, which was why it could rest easy hiding in its den from the Harmful Rain.

Xia Qing didn't just envy it—she wanted to raid its stash.

Glancing at the courtyard that had turned back into grassland, Xia Qing washed her face and went first to the underground storage room to get the animal offal the sick wolf needed to eat. The Harmful Rain had been falling for over fifty hours, but the cellar remained dry and cool; the grain, rations, and meat neatly stacked on the shelves were all perfectly intact. The more Xia Qing looked, the more pleased she was, and she suddenly felt she could share the joy of food storage with the red squirrel.

Xia Qing opened the exquisite storage box on the shelf closest to the Yishi stone and took out eleven vials of premium nutrient solution. That morning, when she was juicing spinach for Luo Pei, she had pinched off extra leaves, dripped in the medicinal agent, and sealed them in the special plastic freshness bags used for premium nutrient solution.

The Harmful Rain still had fourteen hours to go, and during this time the third wave of red Harmful Rain could fall at any moment—the likelihood of mid-risk or higher Harmful-evolved creatures appearing in the territory was very high.

The Hu Zifeng squad had been holding the territory for over fifty hours; their minds and bodies were both in a state of fatigue. Only premium nutrient solution could quickly bring them back to peak condition.

For others, premium nutrient solution cost two thousand points, but for Xia Qing, it was just a handful of spinach leaves plus a few drops of medicinal agent—she could afford to supply it.

Since it had only been a little over ten hours since she last drank spinach juice, Xia Qing only drank half of her own vial, then tucked the small nutrient solution bag into the dedicated slot inside her protective mask for nutrient solution, to have on hand for emergencies.

After putting the offal on to boil for the wolves, Xia Qing put on her protective suit, carried several jin of sealed fresh meat out of the house. In the sheep pen, the three wolves and one sheep wearing protective masks all turned to look at her in unison.

After confirming the air was toxin-free, Xia Qing waded through Harmful grass that came up past her calves into the sheep pen, took the protective masks off the four fellows, let them drink spring water, and gave medicine to the sick wolf and the broken-back wolf.

Then, Xia Qing held up the meat and asked, "Broken-back, broken-leg, you two hungry?"

The two wolves, whose bellies had already gone hollow, followed the meat in Xia Qing's hands with their eyes: hungry.

Xia Qing tore open the packaging, put the fresh meat into the basin, and said, "Eat."

When the broken-back wolf started eating the meat, Sheep Boss wasn't having it, and nudged Xia Qing with its head, "Baa—"

Xia Qing rubbed its forehead, "I know, I'm going to make your food right now. Wolf Lao Er's meat is also on the boil."

Before the rain, Xia Qing had cut two armfuls of forage grass and stored them in the garage's underground storage room. After checking that this storage room was also perfectly intact, Xia Qing brought the forage grass back up to the surface, made concentrate feed for Sheep Boss, and mixed feed for the chicks and goslings.

When she went to the tool shed to feed the chickens, she almost got pecked by the black-feathered rooster. This drab fellow's neck feathers were all puffed up, and it flapped its wings at Xia Qing, looking ready to throw down—making Xia Qing laugh.

"Mad I won't let you out? With your scrawny little body, even if you didn't go crazy out there, after ten minutes you wouldn't even be worth putting in the pot." Xia Qing refilled the water, shoveled a few spadefuls of dirt to cover the chicken droppings under the coop, and tossed the few grasshoppers and crickets she'd just caught into the water bucket.

The ferociously evolved spring-water fish splashed and fought for the food, splashing water all over the black-feathered rooster and turning it into a drowned rat, making Xia Qing laugh out loud.

After finishing a round of household chores, Xia Qing made do with a few pieces of jerky and a bowl of tea soup, put protective masks back on the wolf pack and Sheep Boss, then drove the micro-tiller, mowing grass as she headed toward the farmland.

Over fifty hours of Harmful Rain had turned the human territory into a world of Harmful grass. Xia Qing turned on the lord's walkie-talkie and connected to this territory.