Chapter 418: The Deal

Yang Jin replied: "The scout bird hiding in the woods was killed right after capturing this image. We don't know whether it was wolves or bears that did it. Right now, the wolves and bears are still facing off, and I'm leading four evolved bears back toward Mountain 61."

Yang Jin was actually still inside the Evolution Forest, and what's more, he was leading four evolved bears north, away from human territory. How did he manage to lead them? How could he find the time to message her while carrying out such a dangerous mission?

Before Xia Qing could send her questions, Yang Jin sent her another long message:

Last night the wolf pack's sneak attack on the pythons succeeded. They killed one giant python, several qiang snakes, and countless small snakes. It's confirmed that qiang snakes and pythons have a symbiotic relationship. After the bear group discovered the wolf pack's sneak attack on the pythons, they came down the mountain to fight the wolves, and the remaining pythons retreated. So it's confirmed that the bear group and the pythons are allies. The two in the picture are brain-evolved individuals from the bear group. You absolutely must not let them discover that you're working together with this pack of wolves.

Xia Qing carefully read Yang Jin's message twice, saved the image and the message, and replied earnestly: Received, thank you.

Ordinary bears seeing Xia Qing with the wolf pack might not cause much trouble. But if these two brain-evolved bears saw her, they would certainly identify her as an ally of the wolf pack.

When that happens, the bear group would very likely mark her as an enemy, and might even mark this entire territory as a target for attack.

She absolutely could not drag the whole territory into danger just because she was trading supplies with the wolf pack.

After Xia Qing made up her mind, she took out the qiang-element detector and tested the giant python's qiang-element content. When the detector's green light came on, Xia Qing wasn't surprised in the slightest.

Any animal that can become the leader of a territory gets access to the best food within that territory, maintaining peak physical condition.

This giant python's status within the snake group was absolutely not low, and the hardness of its skin had certainly reached the advanced level.

So this was an advanced evolved creature, and its meat was extremely valuable—at least 300 points per jin. Eating its meat could promote bodily evolution.

Xia Qing was going to have a serious talk with the Broken-Waist Wolf to see what supplies it wanted to trade for this python. This time, even if the Broken-Waist Wolf asked her to haul an automatic gate all the way to Mountain 60, Xia Qing would do it.

"Knock knock knock." Xia Qing knocked on the wolf den's door and asked solemnly, "Handsome Broken-Waist Wolf, sir, are you home?"

A few seconds later, the Broken-Waist Wolf pushed open the door and flashed its cute little white fangs at Xia Qing.

Xia Qing smiled too, pointed at the giant python by the pond, and asked, "Handsome Wolf, sir, can you trade me that python? I can exchange medicine or a door for it."

The Broken-Waist Wolf stopped smiling, stared at Xia Qing thoughtfully for a few seconds, then retracted its paw and closed the door.

Xia Qing...

There's no need, really no need. Even if you squat right in front of me and discuss it, I still won't understand.

After a short while, the wolf den's door was pushed open. The Alpha Wolf came out first, followed by the Broken-Waist Wolf, the Black Wolf, the Broken-Leg Wolf carrying its sister on its back, and finally the Sick Wolf.

The six wolves walked over to the python and stopped, turning their heads in perfect unison to look at Xia Qing. Their gazes were remarkably aligned:

What are you doing? Why are you spacing out? Come on over.

After the scorned Xia Qing walked over, the Broken-Waist Wolf patted the python with its paw, then patted the Alpha Wolf's leg, and looked at Xia Qing.

Although the wound on the Alpha Wolf's leg had healed, the fur was sparse and the scar was clearly visible.

Xia Qing felt she understood what the Broken-Waist Wolf wanted to trade for. She pointed at the Broken-Waist Wolf's back, where the fur had already grown back after its injury, then pointed at the Broken-Waist Wolf's fully furred leg, and asked, "Handsome Wolf, sir, you want to use this giant python to trade for medicine that grows leg fur for the Queen, my lord?"

That's no problem at all, of course!

Actually, there's no need to trade at all. If the Queen, my lord soaks in a few more medicinal baths with her, the damaged skin tissue will repair itself and the fur will slowly grow back.

The Alpha Wolf's face was solemn, and the Broken-Waist Wolf stared at Xia Qing thoughtfully.

Clearly, Xia Qing had misunderstood.

She racked her brains trying to figure out what else might be wrong with the Queen, my lord's leg. Could it be that her leg hadn't fully recovered and still needed more treatment? That shouldn't be the case—when the Queen, my lord leapt over the four-meter-plus wall, her movements were very agile, not at all like she had any lingering injury.

The Broken-Waist Wolf thought for a while, then took action again. It walked up to Xia Qing and pawed at her wrist with its claws.

There's nothing in my hand...

A bolt from the blue flashed through Xia Qing's mind, and she seemed to understand what the wolf pack wanted to trade for. She took off her protective glove, pointed with her left hand's fingers at the snake-skin glove and bracer on her right hand, and asked, "You want this?"

The Broken-Waist Wolf looked up and flashed its cute little fangs at Xia Qing again.

Holy crap!

Xia Qing's eyes went wide. "Handsome Wolf, sir, how did you know I have snake-skin protective gear? Did Wolf Lao Er tell you?"

Is Wolf Lao Er really that smart? How on earth do you communicate with each other?

The Broken-Waist Wolf showed its cute little fangs, patted Xia Qing's bracer with its paw, then ran back and patted the Queen, my lord's leg, and finally patted the hardest scales on the python's heart area.

Xia Qing understood: the Broken-Waist Wolf wanted Xia Qing to use the hardness-evolved snake skin that protected the python's heart area to craft protective gear for the Alpha Wolf's leg.

Setting aside whether she could actually make it, weren't they afraid that wearing snake skin so openly would provoke the python group into exploding and fighting them to the death?

Even if pythons don't have fur, their allies—the giant bears—do!

But that wasn't Xia Qing's concern. She asked the Broken-Waist Wolf seriously, "You're giving me this python and want me to use the snake skin to make... leg guards for the Queen, my lord, right?"

The Broken-Waist Wolf paused thoughtfully, then, under Xia Qing's astonished gaze, turned around and sniffed its own waist, which was protected by the protective suit.

Xia Qing...

"You want a python-skin waist guard too?"

The Broken-Waist Wolf then patted each wolf's waist and legs in turn—the Alpha Wolf, the Broken-Leg Wolf siblings, the Black Wolf, and the Sick Wolf—then turned to look at Xia Qing.

Xia Qing was dumbfounded. She drew a circle with her finger, pointing at the legs and waists of the wolves before her, each with different expressions and coat colors, and confirmed with the Broken-Waist Wolf, "All the wolves want waist guards and leg guards, made from python skin?"

Seeing that Xia Qing finally understood, the happy Broken-Waist Wolf fished out a walnut-sized yi stone from the side pocket of the Alpha Wolf's protective suit, carried it in its mouth to Xia Qing, and set it down.

Well, they'd even prepared the processing fee.

The vital areas on an evolved wolf are the waist and abdomen, the four limbs, and the throat. The protective suit already guarded the wolves' throats and bodies. The Broken-Waist Wolf wanted to use the hardness-evolved python skin to protect their four limbs, then add another layer of insurance for the waist and abdomen. Once fully outfitted, this wolf pack's combat power would directly double.

No wonder the skin on this python hadn't been damaged at all. When the wolf pack went to fight the pythons, a big part of the reason was that they had their eye on the snake skin.

This brain-evolved wolf was terrifyingly intelligent. Xia Qing, a human, looked at the yi stone and the wolves before her and hesitated.