Chapter 440: The Wolf Who Can Do Housekeeping

She'd heard the saying before: the same rice feeds a hundred different people.

Now that she'd had more contact with them, she found that animals' personalities varied just as widely. Take this pack of wolves she knew, for instance: the lead wolf was capable and responsible, an outstanding leader; the broken-leg wolf was a dimwit who barreled straight ahead, bouncing every which way and stirring up trouble; the black wolf was silent and quiet, always on alert; and the broken-back wolf was not only scheming and obsessed with home decor, but also outrageously curious.

Xia Qing held up her new protective boots—laces bitten through and several slashes torn in them—right in front of the broken-back wolf and demanded, "Broken-back, what happened to my shoes?"

New shoes! She'd only worn them a few days!

The broken-back wolf turned its head and intently studied the cracks on the wall, pretending it couldn't hear Xia Qing, but the slight twitch of its ears gave it away.

Xia Qing sighed. "Fine, forget the shoes. I know you meant well—you saw my shoes were dirty and helped me take them off. But where are my socks? Where did you put them?"

The broken-back wolf's ears twitched; it stubbornly refused to turn around.

Xia Qing could only switch her tone, speaking softly and sweetly. "You helped me take off my shoes and socks, and you didn't hurt my feet at all. Broken-back, you're really amazing."

She herself was damn amazing too—sleeping like a dead pig, not even feeling a wolf bite through her shoes and pull off her socks!

Still, Xia Qing knew perfectly well this was because she trusted the elder-care team and the wolf pack, which was why she slept so deeply.

"Having companions feels really good." Xia Qing, lonely for five years, sighed sincerely.

Hmm?

The broken-back wolf's ears twitched dramatically, its head swiveled back, and it flashed its snowy-white, adorable little fang tips at Xia Qing.

Xia Qing laughed too, pointing at her bare feet dusted with wolf hair and asking, "Handsome wolf-bro, where are my socks? You know, the cloth you wear on your feet. Look—my feet have no fur, no paw pads, no sharp claws. Without socks or shoes, they get hurt really easily."

The broken-back wolf stared thoughtfully at Xia Qing's feet for a few seconds, then trotted happily upstairs and pushed open the bathroom door.

In the hand-woven wooden basket hanging in the bathroom sat the clothes Xia Qing had taken off before her bath the day before, and on top of them were the socks she'd worn last night, arranged neatly.

"So, while I wasn't around, you often sneak up to the second floor—you even know where I keep my dirty clothes."

Xia Qing was speechless. She rubbed the broken-back wolf's head and asked with gestures, "Do you know where I keep my protective suit? You know, the clothes and hat I wear when I go out to work and fight."

The broken-back wolf immediately turned around and happily pushed open the door to the storage room next to the bathroom.

Xia Qing...

"Do you know where I keep the food?"

The broken-back wolf immediately ran to the locked fridge and scratched at the padlock with its claws.

Xia Qing...

Very good, very clever. A little training and it could do housekeeping.

When she had time, Xia Qing would make a mop the wolf could use—let the broken-back wolf mop the floor, Ram-Boss pedal the bike to generate electricity, the sick wolf catch bugs to feed the poultry, and Her Majesty guard the territory.

Perfect!

Xia Qing sent the broken-back wolf off to play on the first floor. She washed her feet, put on indoor shoes, and went back to the bedroom to check on the red squirrel.

The timid red squirrel was hiding in the hay pile inside its cage, head tucked in and rump exposed, its bushy tail puffed out.

The indoor temperature was higher than outdoors; the pollution-free spring water in the cage hadn't frozen, and the dried fruit in the small bamboo tube had decreased. Evolved animals had strong immunity—this little fellow could eat and drink, so it would recover soon.

"Once the wolf pack leaves, I'll put you back in the sheep shed, or you can go back to your own nest if you want." Xia Qing gave the instruction, and without waiting to see if the red squirrel understood, she turned and went downstairs, quickly cooked and ate, and began her busy day.

The first task, of course, was to patrol the territory.

Xia Qing dug out a pair of winter protective boots patched in several places from a box in the storage room, put on her protective mask, and went to check the hole in the eastern iron-net wall.

Beard-Feng's squad had already firmly welded the gap shut with leftover wire mesh from the wall repair.

Xia Qing hurried to the fields and found that Beard-Feng's squad had already eaten breakfast and was helping her dig cold-protection trenches around the greenhouses.

It was already eight in the morning—Xia Qing had slept in for the first time.

Seeing Xia Qing arrive, the chatty Chen Cheng immediately shared the latest news with her. "Sister Qing, you haven't heard yet, have you? Xu Pin got blown up!"

Xia Qing asked excitedly, "Confirmed dead? Not a decoy escape?"

Chen Cheng nodded. "The search team confirmed on-site—he took the full blast of the explosives, blown to bits. Tang Zhengsu is making a fuss with Liehuo over this."

The usually quiet Chen Zheng also chimed in. "They're dogs biting dogs."

Er Yong gloated. "Sufeng lost a helicopter, a vice-captain, a reconnaissance drone, and multiple scout birds. Liehuo lost a trained eagle-owl, and they've thoroughly offended Zhang San. The base is also going to hold them accountable for provoking the evolved bear. They're in deep trouble this time."

Xiao Jiang joined the discussion. "If Xu Pin didn't die, the trouble would be huge. Now that he's dead, things get simple. Liehuo and Sufeng will quickly reach an agreement and pin all the blame on Xu Pin."

"That's bound to be the outcome, but getting rid of that menace Xu Pin this time is great news." After saying this, Xia Qing went into the breeding greenhouse to check on the animals.

The light was good today, and the cold-protection grass curtains of the breeding greenhouse had already been rolled up by Beard-Feng's squad; the indoor temperature was slowly rising. Xia Qing opened the ventilation strip at the top of the greenhouse, then poured chicken feed into the trough.

The chicken feed was made by mixing crushed corn, wheat bran, and chopped vegetable leaves with pollution-free spring water—it smelled great.

The 22 green-rank chickens in the coop immediately rushed over, poking their heads out to eat. The highest-evolved white hen claimed a spot of her own, and no chicken dared fight her for it.

Xia Qing had no objection at all to the chickens dividing spots by strength, and she wouldn't intervene.

After feeding the chickens, Xia Qing went to check the spring-water fish in the tank. Although there was no aerator, the tank Xia Qing built was large enough—she'd added a certain proportion of pollution-free spring water, transplanted some aquatic plants into the tank, and hung a large bottle that constantly dripped water into the tank, so there was no lack of oxygen. The spring-water fish were all doing fine.

Watching them, Xia Qing was already looking forward to next spring when the tank would be covered in fish eggs, and next summer when she could eat fish whenever she wanted.

If only she had a cute, clingy little kitten to keep her company while she ate fish, it would be perfect.

After checking the fish, Xia Qing went to look at her green-rank yellow mealworms. Honestly, worms—no matter what rank—wriggling around always made Xia Qing want to stomp them dead on the spot. After poking around and confirming there were no dead worms, she poured some cabbage stems onto the tray for the worms to nibble, tossed a few cabbage stems to the yellow-rank rabbits, and headed to the planting greenhouse to check the green-rank chive roots she'd planted the day before.

After one night, the chive roots hadn't changed much. Today, she was going to start soaking seeds and prepare to plant other vegetable varieties.

Both the Farming Knowledge Broadcast and Qi Fu recommended waiting until the Calamity Snow ended before planting vegetable seeds, to prevent the vegetables from being exposed to excessive Calamity Element during germination and seedling stages, which would lower their quality.

But Xia Qing didn't need to consider the impact of Calamity Snow on vegetable planting, because she had the Yishi stone.