Chapter 419: The Relationship Between Humans and Evolved Fierce Beasts

Humans and the wolf race are both fierce beasts on Blue Star.

After evolution, human physical indicators—smell, sight, hearing, running speed, leaping ability, even the instinct to sense danger—are generally weaker than those of the wolf race.

In the tenth year of the Calamity, the fundamental reason humans could still establish base after base and survive on this mad Blue Star is that the human brain domain evolved to a higher degree than the wolf race's.

The superior evolution of the brain domain is an advantage humans accumulated slowly over tens of millions of years of evolution—the sole reason humanity stood at the top of Blue Star's food chain for several thousand years.

The clever human brain can imagine and create all kinds of tools, raising this species' chances of survival and reproduction.

Now, the wolf race also has a few brain-domain evolvers. In Xia Qing's view, their brain-domain evolution has already far surpassed the IQ of a human child of seven or eight as assessed by human experts, reaching a much higher level.

For instance, the brainy brain-domain evolved wolf before her had already recognized the benefits of "tools" and begun consciously trading with humans for tools to raise the wolf race's combat strength.

After Xia Qing put protective suits on Ram Boss and the injured wolf, the Broken-Waist wolf realized the use of the protective suit and took the initiative to propose a trade.

If the trades for protective suits and later for "medicinal baths" both happened because Xia Qing actively "introduced" them, letting the Broken-Waist wolf realize the value of those two supplies—

Then the Broken-Waist wolf's trade with Xia Qing for a "door" was because it actively "discovered" the door's usefulness on its own and proposed the trade.

That alone was terrifying enough.

Because the "doors" humans possessed were right out in the open, plain to see. The Broken-Waist wolf discovering the door's use and trading for it, even spreading grass on the floor of the cave—none of these behaviors surprised Xia Qing too much.

But this time, what it wanted to trade for was snake-skin protective gear, and that truly made Xia Qing feel the terror of a brain-domain evolved animal.

Because Xia Qing had never actively introduced the use of snake-skin protective gear to the wolves. She had never even exposed the gear in front of the wolf pack—her protective gear was always worn inside the protective suit!

At some unknown moment, this brain-domain evolved wolf had actually discovered that she wore snake-skin protective gear, realized its function, and taken the initiative to catch a python with better-quality skin, offering the Yi stones she liked most in exchange for protective gear the wolf pack could use.

If this continued, the wolf race's combat strength would grow ever stronger. If one day they believed they had already surpassed humans, then in their eyes humans would be no different from the wild boars in the valley.

Just as, before Blue Star's evolution, wild boars and wolves were no different in human eyes.

When that day came…

Xia Qing took off her protective mask and night-vision goggles, drew a deep breath, and re-examined the terrifyingly clever brain-domain evolved wolf before her—re-examined the wolf race.

The Broken-Waist wolf sensed something off about Xia Qing and stared back at her, seemingly lost in thought.

Under the combined effects of nuclear contamination, cosmic ray storms, and the two elements Qi and Yi, the great evolution of Blue Star's creatures continues, its direction unpredictable. Whether humans are willing or not, humanity can no longer fully stand above other creatures—this is a fact that can no longer be changed.

A brand-new food chain of mutually restraining Blue Star creatures is taking shape; the creatures at the higher levels of Blue Star's food chain are forming symbioses or alliances to face the survival challenges of mad Blue Star together.

For instance, the pythons and Qi-snakes in the northern waters of Mountain 60 have formed a symbiotic relationship; the bear race and the pythons are allies; the wolf race and the bear-snake alliance are opposed.

For instance, the symbiotic and alliance relationships among creatures in tropical regions are richer and more varied than in the area where Xia Qing lives. There, humans fighting nature alone have suffered defeat after defeat.

For instance, in the most heavily polluted oceans, biological relationships are even more intricate. Highly brain-domain evolved creatures like dolphins and whales have already formed alliances with hundreds of marine species, and different alliances even wage great wars over reasons humans cannot fathom.

……

Humans cannot exist independently of Blue Star's food chain.

Or more precisely, with human strength, we could indeed wipe out any single link in the food chain that has reached a basic balance after ten years of natural development—but this might destroy the new ecological balance, and once the food chain breaks, the evolved creatures would reshuffle, and the resulting situation could be worse than now.

At present, humanity cannot bear the consequences of doing so.

To survive, humans must find new ways to seize as much initiative as possible within the existing food chain.

Therefore, the far-sighted top leadership team of Hua Country proposed a "coexistence" approach. Humans coexist with the fierce beasts of the Evolution Forest; provoking the fierce beasts is forbidden, lest it trigger great wars between different races.

Several years ago, when Xia Qing was still hauling bricks at the base, she heard on the broadcast a Red One Base reporter interviewing a senior national leader about how to understand the "coexistence" relationship between humans and fierce beasts.

That leader said: coexistence means surviving together. The primary form of surviving together is not to provoke or hunt; the evolved form is "co-opetition." Compete within cooperation, cooperate within competition, face the Calamity together, develop together.

The leader also stressed one point: in the co-opetition between humans and fierce beasts, it must be humans who hold the initiative—only then can humanity firmly grasp its own destiny.

At the time, Xia Qing could not imagine what "co-opetition" between humans and fierce beasts would actually look like. But looking at the wolves before her, she understood a little.

But in the area she could see—the Evolution Forest surrounding the northern Sector One of Hui Three Base's human territory—the only ones currently able to form a co-opetition relationship with her were the wolves before her.

The wolf pack needed to cooperate with her to raise their combat strength; she needed the wolves' Yi stones to grow grain and vegetables.

Noticing Xia Qing's expression change again, the Broken-Waist wolf's taut muscles relaxed slightly. The Alpha wolf yawned and closed its eyes to rest.

As last night's main combatant, the Alpha wolf was already exhausted. With the human no longer a threat, it had to seize the time to rest.

Once the Alpha wolf lay down, the idiot Broken-Waist wolf tossed its little sister aside and ran off to frolic. Broken-Waist Sis was so angry she bared her teeth at Broken-Leg Wolf, howling and yowling as if cursing viciously.

Sick Wolf and Black Wolf faithfully stood guard on either side of the Alpha wolf, protecting its safety. But the two wolves watched different targets—Sick Wolf kept an eye on the big wild boar that had just come out of Valley One, while Black Wolf watched the human standing ahead.

Xia Qing unslung the sniper rifle from her back and held it in her hands.

She and the wolf pack could form a co-opetition relationship, but it had to be she who held the initiative—not the wolf pack.

Therefore, she had to make the wolf pack clearly recognize her strength.

The Broken-Waist wolf stared thoughtfully at the gun in Xia Qing's hands. The Alpha wolf lifted an eyelid for a glance, then closed its eyes again. Black Wolf bared its fangs at Xia Qing. The Broken-Waist wolf ran off to chase the wild boar for fun. Broken-Leg Sis kept on howling and yowling.

Sick Wolf, meanwhile, stared at a half-grown wild boar and began to drool.