Chapter 409: Teaming Up with the Wolf

The speed-evolved red squirrel living in Area 3 of Mountain 49 was large by squirrel standards, but its body length still didn't exceed thirty centimeters, and it weighed only about two jin. When Xia Qing pulled it out of the tree hollow, it felt feather-light to her.

Animals surviving in the Evolution Forest had a hard time of it. Such a small creature, busy every day, had already stockpiled over thirty jin of food.

Logically, twenty jin would be enough to last it through winter, but it still refused to stop. Every day it kept scraping corn and sunflower seeds from Xia Qing's yard territory, taking the mung beans she left for it on the windowsill, and gathering food from all over the Evolution Forest to bring back to its den.

As long as the weather wasn't cold enough to keep it in its nest, it wouldn't stop. Though they weren't of the same species, Xia Qing understood its obsession with food, because she shared the same obsession.

She took off her protective gloves, pulled a medical kit from her backpack to disinfect her hands, then put on sterile gloves and examined the wound on the red squirrel's belly.

At a single glance, Xia Qing confirmed what had injured the red squirrel.

This was a wound caused by the root system of a Green Lantern Peanut being triggered and violently shooting out its fibrous roots. Six leaf-vein needles from the Green Lantern Peanut were still embedded in the wound. If the red squirrel hadn't possessed speed-evolution abilities, it wouldn't have been just a scratch on its body—it would have been pierced straight through the skin by the Green Lantern Peanut's root tendrils, which would have drained its blood.

"If you weren't my neighbor, you'd be dead for sure this time."

Xia Qing muttered, then swiftly and precisely pulled out the peanut leaf-vein needles embedded in the wound, scraped away the bloodstained white fur around it with a knife, cleaned and disinfected the wound, sutured it, and after finishing, force-fed the red squirrel some special-effect anti-inflammatory medicine from Territory Seven.

She brought the red squirrel home, placed it on the haystack in the sheep pen, and instructed Sheep Boss, "The red squirrel is injured. Protect it for a while. Once it wakes up, let it go wherever it wants. No need to mind it."

If the red squirrel hadn't carried the smell of blood, which would easily attract small hunters, Xia Qing wouldn't have brought it home.

"Baa."

Without Xia Qing stuffing compressed rations in as payment, Sheep Boss actually agreed, and lay down beside the red squirrel.

Looks like those two are pretty close. Xia Qing raised an eyebrow, pulled a beef jerky stick from her pocket, and waved it in front of the sick wolf. "Lao Er, how about we follow the blood scent the red squirrel left behind to find where the Green Lantern Peanuts grow? As long as you agree to go, this beef jerky is yours."

The red squirrel had leaf-vein needles stuck in it, so its blood must have dripped all the way from the Green Lantern Peanut's growing site back to Area 3 of Mountain 49. This was the perfect chance for Xia Qing to track down the Green Lantern Peanut's origin.

Actually, Xia Qing would have preferred to team up with Yan Long, the advanced olfactory evolver from Territory Seven. But the Blaze Squad had sent people to this territory, and Yan Long bore the responsibility of protecting Zhang San, so he definitely couldn't leave the territory at this time.

Apart from Yan Long, among the evolvers Xia Qing knew, only the ordinary olfactory evolvers Chen Zheng and Chen Cheng could go on missions into the Evolution Forest.

But the red squirrel was too fast, leaping through the treetops, with blood drops spaced far apart. The Chen brothers' evolution level was low, so searching for the blood scent would take too much time. It was now two in the afternoon, only three hours until sunset—there wasn't enough time.

Wolves are naturally animals with outstanding senses of smell. Even an evolved wolf with only ordinary evolution still has a better sense of smell than an advanced olfactory evolver human. That's why Xia Qing decided to team up with the scent-sensitive evolved wolf.

Seeing the beef jerky Xia Qing pulled out, the sick wolf wagged its tail twice—an unprecedented sight—clearly showing how much it loved the beef jerky.

Xia Qing put protective clothing on the sick wolf, then stuffed the jerky into its side pocket, and led it to Area 3 of Mountain 49, the spot where she had found the red squirrel returning injured.

After carefully sniffing the blood scent the red squirrel left on the tree branches, the sick wolf slightly raised its head, using its sensitive nose to distinguish the various scents in the air. It quickly locked onto the red squirrel's blood trail and headed northwest along Valley One.

Xia Qing followed behind it at full speed.

The temperature now was around 5 degrees. Cold-blooded animals and insects had already hidden away to overwinter, and the tall trees had shed their leaves, revealing fruits of various sizes hanging from the branches.

This was the best time for hunting and gathering—the Evolution Forest's chance for humans to stockpile winter food. If this weren't the Blue Dragon Squad's training ground, there would surely be plenty of squads active nearby, who would have spotted an evolved wolf in protective gear running, and the human evolver chasing behind it.

After more than half a year of hard training, Xia Qing's running speed had now reached the level of a third-level evolver, but she was still left far behind by the sick wolf.

The sick wolf noticed Xia Qing's speed slowing down and slowed its own pace to match. Wolf and human passed through Valley One in Area 3 of Mountain 49 and entered Area 6 of Mountain 49. Xia Qing didn't make the sick wolf stop.

Because she had paid points to Yang Jin, she could freely enter and exit all areas of Mountain 49 this winter and participate in the Blue Dragon Squad's collective training. Once she locked down the Green Lantern's growing site, how to split the share with Yang Jin would be a matter for later.

But Xia Qing hadn't expected that the Green Lantern Peanuts weren't actually growing on Mountain 49.

"Lao Er, stop." Xia Qing called out to the sick wolf that was about to leave Mountain 49, caught her breath for a few seconds, pointed at Mountain 50 across the valley, and asked the wolf that had turned back, "The blood scent is over there?"

The sick wolf panted with its tongue out, tilted its head slightly to look at Xia Qing—this was its gesture of agreement.

Xia Qing hesitated for two seconds, took out her phone, and called Beard Feng. "Captain Hu, I'm at the edge of Area 6 of Mountain 49 right now, and I want to go to the Evolution Forest below the Third Peak of Mountain 50. Do you know where the refugees from Territory Two are at the moment?"

Beard Feng looked at the human and wolf on the surveillance screen, didn't ask what Xia Qing was going to do, and only replied, "Let me check. Two minutes."

"Alright, thanks."

Xia Qing hung up the phone, took out two vials of premium nutrient solution, drank one herself, then signaled the sick wolf to raise its head and squeezed the other into its mouth.

Jing Kuan watched, heart aching. "Qing-jie is actually feeding premium nutrient solution to an evolved wolf…"

Guan Tong, meanwhile, was puzzled why Xia Qing would appear on the monitor at this hour. "Sunset is in another two hours. If Qing-jie goes out now, can she make it back before dark? Moving alone in the Evolution Forest at night is way too dangerous."

Although Xia Qing's marksmanship was decent and her combat ability was improving fast, in Guan Tong and the others' eyes, she was still just a strength evolver with decent marksmanship. Moving alone in the Evolution Forest at night was simply too dangerous.

The tabby cat that poked its little head out from Beard Feng's protective suit stared with round eyes at the monitor screen—at the clothed evolved wolf raising its head to drink the nutrient solution, and the human wiping the corner of the evolved wolf's mouth with her hand.

"Alright, Lao Er, rest a bit too." After feeding the sick wolf the nutrient solution, Xia Qing put the bag back in her pocket and sat on a rock to rest. The sick wolf crouched beside her, back turned to Xia Qing, ears pricked up on guard.