Chapter 238: Time to Get to Work

After hanging up the phone, Xia Qing felt the time pressure grow even tighter.

Today was September 9th. She had to manage the farmland, prepare for the migratory bird flocks, pick chestnuts, and form teams to gather pine nuts—she had to make the most of every moment.

The pits dug up while clearing the mutated evolved plants inside the greenhouse had already been filled in, and the mutated grass had been cleaned out. Xia Qing decided to spend today clearing the mutated grass roots across the territory.

To save time, she needed her companion's help. Xia Qing hauled out of the warehouse a modified, three-meter-wide grass-raking iron rake, and called her companion over with a toon leaf. "Boss, let's go rake up mutated grass roots?"

Sheep Boss, who loved hard labor, immediately followed along, heading out of the village to work.

The grass-raking iron rake was basically a giant version of a regular rake. Xia Qing fitted Sheep Boss with a leather harness and ropes to pull it, hung tender toon leaves at the front as bait, then stepped onto the three-meter-wide iron rake and shouted, "Boss, let's go!"

"Baa!" Sheep Boss replied excitedly, pulling the iron rake and running forward with Xia Qing on it. The leftover mutated grass stubble and roots cut by the mower were raked up and caught on the rake's iron wires.

Once the iron wires were packed full of mutated grass, she scraped it off into a pile on the side. Let it dry and burn it, and the job was done.

This method of removing mutated grass was perfect for the two strength-evolved lords of Territory Three.

Seeing her modification was a success, Xia Qing shouted excitedly, "Keep it up, Boss! This is way easier than an iron plow—we can finish the whole job in one day!"

"Baa!" Sheep Boss was just as excited, charging forward with the iron rake.

Hearing the commotion outside, the head wolf yawned, closed its eyes, and went back to sleep.

About a quarter of the mutated grass on Territory Three's cultivated land had been cut by Xia Qing with the mower; the rest had been pulled out by her, Hu Zifeng's squad, Qi Fu, and the others. Pulling it out already removed the roots, so now she only needed to rake up the parts the mower had cut.

To Sheep Boss, with its boundless strength, this kind of work that just required running wild and pulling hard was like play. Play around a while and the job was done—by three in the afternoon, with plenty of time before sunset.

Over two thousand mu of flat farmland spread out, giving off the unique scent of earth, as countless birds landed on the ground to peck at bugs in the soil.

The black-feathered rooster penned inside the chicken coop had had enough, flapping its wings and crowing noisily. Xia Qing, who had piled the mutated grass roots into several large heaps, opened the coop door and let the chickens out to eat bugs. "Come on out."

The three-month-old chickens were already quite big. There were no raptors circling overhead now, the mutated grass on the ground had been cleared, and predators had nowhere to hide. Letting them out for a stroll was fine.

The black-feathered rooster charged out first, startling the small birds that were eating bugs into flight. Xia Qing sat on the mutated grass pile, slingshot in hand, acting as bodyguard for the chickens.

If any clueless bird dared to peck her precious green-light chickens, she'd smack the hell out of it!

After Xia Qing scared them off a few times with dirt clods as ammunition, even the most aggressive evolved magpie calmed down and flew off to find bugs elsewhere.

After the black-feathered rooster strutted around triumphantly once, it picked a spot neither too close nor too far from Xia Qing and used its black claws to scratch at the soil for bugs. Six hens—yellow, white, or reed-spotted—followed behind the black-feathered rooster, clucking and scratching at the dirt to eat. The other four roosters started pairing off to fight.

The red-light geese wandering around were not on Xia Qing's protection list, because they couldn't be eaten.

Those four fighting roosters weren't on her protection list either—there was no need to keep that many roosters; one or two was enough.

Just as Xia Qing was deciding which chicken to eat first, the wolf pack came out of the village.

Leading the way was Broken-Waist Wolf, followed by Sick Wolf, and at the rear, the fastest head wolf. Judging by their direction, the three wolves were coming to find her.

This was the first time Broken-Waist Wolf had wandered around inside its own territory. After the waist brace was removed, unlike Broken-Leg Wolf, it hadn't gone crazy—it was still moving at its usual unhurried pace.

Seeing the wolves approach, the birds took flight in a flurry. The red-light geese and the fighting roosters ran to join the chicken flock. The black-feathered rooster shielded the hens behind it, its neck feathers all puffed up, as if facing a great enemy.

So this was how big the difference was between chickens with a coop and chickens without one when facing wolves.

But thinking about it, it made sense—wolves were predators. Not to mention chickens; if she were facing an unfamiliar wolf pack, Xia Qing, as a human, would probably react even worse than the unprotected black-feathered rooster.

Xia Qing laughed and rubbed Sheep Boss's wool. "Boss, your friends are here."

Sheep Boss lifted its head for a glance, then lay back down on the grass roots. It was tired and didn't want to move.

The three wolves—more accurately, two wolves and one wolf-dog—walked up to Xia Qing and lay down. Xia Qing asked with a smile, "Wolf Lao Er, Broken-Waist, how are you two feeling?"

Wolf-dog Lao Er walked over and nuzzled Xia Qing's leg with its thin, frail body, then crouched down beside her. The head wolf lazily lay down on a nearby pile of grass roots, eyes fixed on the chickens. Broken-Waist Wolf turned to sniff the medicinal patch on its back, then looked at Xia Qing, seemingly dissatisfied with the patch.

Broken-Waist Wolf's meaning was crystal clear. Xia Qing understood and explained, "Your injury hasn't fully healed yet. After removing the brace, you need to keep applying the patch for another month. It doesn't smell that bad, right?"

Broken-Waist Wolf stared at the head wolf for a while, then fixed its gaze on Xia Qing.

In the sunlight, the head wolf's fur gleamed. Xia Qing got what Broken-Waist Wolf was getting at and gestured as she explained, "Once you stop wearing the patch, the fur here will grow back. Fur, right here, it'll grow back, just like the Queen's fur."

Broken-Waist Wolf seemed to understand. It stood up, climbed onto the nearby grass pile, lay down next to the head wolf, and turned to start grooming its fur. Having worn the brace for nearly two months, the fur on its waist hadn't been combed in a long time.

Broken-Waist Wolf was a male, slightly larger than the head wolf. Once it fully recovered, it should be quite formidable. After this wolf pack recovered, would they go for revenge?

Xia Qing stared at the chickens and birds that had resumed scratching for bugs, imagining scenes of wolves, snakes, and bears battling, and found it rather thrilling. "Lao Er, the ones fighting you guys for territory in July—were they snakes or bears? Bears, right?"

The injuries on Broken-Leg Wolf and Broken-Waist Wolf didn't look like they'd been broken by a snake coiling around them.

Xia Qing kept chatting. "If there's another fight, can you guys take them? Do you need backup? As long as you can pay the price, I can go negotiate with the Azure Dragon Squad for you. The Queen plus Yang Jin—absolute sweep."

Wolf-dog Lao Er and the head wolf showed no reaction, but Broken-Waist Wolf raised its head and stared at Xia Qing quietly, looking thoughtful.

Seeing it was interested, Xia Qing kept chatting. "You haven't met Yang Jin, have you? Human, top-tier speed evolver, extremely extremely powerful, and very sharp. Looks are top-tier too—great at using his looks as a weapon. Though he got sick from a weasel's stink the other day, hahaha—"

Xia Qing couldn't help herself again, lying on the grass pile and laughing uproariously, only to be disgustedly kicked several times by Sheep Boss.

Having a fit—for days on end, nonstop fits!

"Xia Qing, you there?" Tang Huai's voice came through the walkie-talkie.

Xia Qing, who had been kicked to the ground, rubbed her sore cheeks from laughing and pressed the button. "Here."

Hm?

Tang Huai asked, "What's so funny? Share it so we can all have a good laugh?"

That crazy sheep had been running around all day inside Territory Three. Tang Huai really wanted to ask what this person and her sheep were up to, but he was afraid of getting scolded—scolded by his old man.

After rubbing her cheeks, Xia Qing said coldly, "What do you want me for?"