Chapter 257: Wolf Howl

As a strength evolver, Xia Qing could of course put more force into it and snap the branch along with the pine cones. But pine trees grow slowly, and if she knocked off the small branches like she did when gathering chestnuts, she might not be able to harvest any pine cones the next year or the year after.

Fortunately Xia Qing had prepared for every contingency. She put away the stick in her backpack, pulled out a pole pruner, and in the wind used the shears to clamp the base of a pine cone and squeezed hard.

"Crack."

The first pine cone finally broke free of the great tree and fell. This method of harvesting was slower, but it did the least damage to the tree.

Xia Qing called down, "Wolf Lao Er, don't let the pine cones hit you."

The sick wolf's hearing was sharp; not only did it dodge, it also picked up the pine cones that had fallen to the ground in its mouth and placed them into the carrying basket Xia Qing had brought.

This was a job the sick wolf, which every day caught evolved bugs to feed the chickens and fish, did with great skill.

"Wolf Lao Er, good job, you've been a huge help." After loudly praising the sick wolf, Xia Qing began clipping pine cones one by one from the top of the tree downward.

Once the pine cones hit the ground, the sick wolf went over, picked them up in its mouth, and put them in the carrying basket.

When Xia Qing had descended to a height of about ten meters, she saw a flash of red light—the little thief, the red squirrel, had indeed come to steal pine cones. Fortunately she had prepared in advance and called the wolf dog Wolf Lao Er over.

The sick wolf, which was in the middle of picking up pine cones, saw the red squirrel come to steal and immediately charged. But the red squirrel was incredibly fast; it snatched up a pine cone, leapt onto a tree, and bounded rapidly away through the branches.

Xia Qing...

The sick wolf, having failed its mission, was furious. Standing in place it raised its head and let out a wolf howl.

"Aoo—woo—"

Not good!

Ever since the wolf pack had twice broken into the wild boar breeding center and killed the boars, forcing the breeding center to relocate, people nearby had become extremely afraid of wolves. Though the sick wolf's howl wasn't loud, it could still carry a long way. It might well cause the lords to panic and draw Tang Huai's attention along with inquiries from the inspection team.

Xia Qing immediately turned on the lord walkie-talkie she carried on her; this location was within its reception range.

The moment she switched it on, she heard Tang Huai asking, "Territory One, what's the situation? Is there a wolf on Mount Forty-Nine?"

Beard Feng answered calmly, "Yes."

Tang Huai immediately demanded aggressively, "You signed an agreement not to let large carnivorous wild beasts disturb the territory!"

"Yes, we did sign it." Beard Feng replied smugly, "That's not a wild beast, it's our tamed beast. It didn't enter the territory; it's active in our training grounds."

Hearing Beard Feng's reply, Xia Qing stepped aside to send him a message reporting the situation.

Tang Huai was furious. "Since when does the Azure Dragon Squad have a tamed wolf beast? How come I didn't know?"

Beard Feng retorted, "Do we need to report to you whenever we have a tamed beast? Who do you think you are?"

"There's absolutely no way you have the ability to tame a wolf beast!" Tang Huai, who squatted by the territory border every day digging for bugs and eavesdropping on Territory One's movements, was seething with rage.

Since that wolf wasn't the Azure Dragon Squad's tamed beast, it had to be Xia Qing's. But he had promised Xia Qing he wouldn't reveal the wolf's secret, so he could only stew indoors, tearing at his own hair.

Tan Junjie asked, "Territory One, confirm that the wolf howling on Mount Forty-Nine is a tamed beast?"

Xia Qing pressed her lips together in a smile. Tan Junjie's question was cleverly phrased—he asked about a "tamed beast," not "the Azure Dragon Squad's tamed beast."

Beard Feng answered very clearly, "Confirmed. The tamed wolf beast is using its howl to drive off small animals."

This was Mount Forty-Nine. Since Beard Feng had taken responsibility for the matter, Xia Qing pretended she hadn't turned on the walkie-talkie, lowered her head, and comforted the sick wolf: "Wolf Lao Er, it's fine, don't be angry. Getting worked up hurts the body. Wait till I come down and we'll go get our pine cones back together."

"Aoo—woo—"

The sick wolf raised its head and howled again.

Tang Huai, who had already run to the Territory Two road sign, confirmed that this howl carried a note of weakness and shouldn't be the one that had stood beside Xia Qing last time, ready to tear him apart.

This was the evolved wolf inside Xia Qing's territory that was nearly dying of illness? If it really was that one, Xia Qing must have asked Zhang San to treat the wolf.

Damn it, did she have any idea what Zhang San's status was? And she dared to ask him to treat a wolf!

"Wolf Lao Er, stop howling, I'm coming down right now." In Zone Three of Mount Forty-Nine, Xia Qing stepped quickly down on her tree-climbing spikes.

Before she had even reached the ground, she saw two grey-brown evolved wolves rushing over from the direction of the valley.

Xia Qing knew these two wolves all too well: the alpha wolf and the broken-legged wolf!

It turned out the sick wolf wasn't angry—it was calling its packmates.

The sick wolf and its arriving companions sniffed each other, then the three wolves stood around the pine tree, forming an equilateral triangle to guard the great pine. Then the sick wolf looked up at Xia Qing.

Xia Qing immediately praised it: "Wolf Lao Er, you're so smart, knowing to call packmates over to help. Queen, Broken-Leg, thanks for your hard work. I'll keep clipping pine cones then."

Hearing Xia Qing's voice, the alpha wolf didn't even lift its head; the sick wolf wagged its tail; the broken-back wolf leaped about wildly like a maniac, knocking over the carrying basket, and the pine cones the sick wolf had gathered were scattered all over the ground again.

Even though the pine cones were scattered everywhere, the red squirrel didn't dare come back to collect them. With more wolves around, there was no room left for it to freeload.

After the second wolf howl, Mount Forty-Nine fell quiet. Zhao Ze asked cautiously, "Captain Hu, that wolf isn't going to go berserk, is it?"

Except when he was bickering with Tang Huai, Beard Feng's voice was always quite calm. "Please rest assured, lords. As long as no one forces their way onto Mount Forty-Nine, our tamed beasts won't pose any threat to anyone."

Zhao Ze quickly assured him, "Definitely, I definitely won't force my way in."

Kuang Qingwei asked, "Brother Feng, is your tamed wolf male or female? Will it have pups next spring? If it does, I'd like to adopt one to guard my territory."

Although he knew the odds were slim, Qi Fu couldn't resist the temptation and chimed in, "Brother Feng, put me down for a number too."

Zhao Ze quickly followed up, "I want one too. I raised a large dog before the Catastrophe, so I have experience."

Tang Huai couldn't hold back either. "I raised two Samoyeds, I have experience too."

Beard Feng, who was petting a cat, replied, "Sorry everyone, that's not my call."

Tang Huai asked, "Where's Captain Luo? Why haven't I heard him speak in a while?"

Beard Feng retorted, "Do you need something from Brother Luo?"

Tang Huai retorted again, "Can't I ask if there's nothing in particular?"

"Anyone else can, but what standing do you have to ask?"

After that, the lord channel once again became a platform for Beard Feng and Tang Huai's verbal sparring. Xia Qing simply turned off the walkie-talkie, focused on finishing clipping the pine cones, climbed down, took off her iron shoes, and picked them up together with the sick wolf.

The Queen? She had too high and mighty an air to do this sort of work.

Broken-Leg? It was going wild and couldn't be bothered.

A pine tree over twenty meters tall had only grown a little over a hundred pine cones, but each one was the length of a palm, so there should be plenty of pine nuts inside.

Xia Qing poured the pine cones into a bag and slung it on her back, then set off with the sick wolf in high spirits: "Wolf Lao Er, let's go, we're going to get our pine cones back."

"Awoo!"

Listening to Xia Qing's tone, the broken-waisted wolf grew even more excited than the sick wolf, leaping and bouncing about. The sick wolf obediently stayed by Xia Qing's side, and the alpha wolf bringing up the rear let out a great big yawn.

With the phone app's positioning, Xia Qing quickly found the big pine tree where the red squirrel was hiding.

This was a yellow-lamp pine tree, with over a hundred pine cones growing on it. Xia Qing drew her dagger and tested it, discovering that this tree had not undergone a hardness evolution—no wonder the red squirrel had chosen this tree to dig its nest.