Chapter 453: Teaming Up With Whom

For this Green Lantern Peanut gathering mission, Xia Qing decided not to cooperate with people from Territory One or Territory Seven.

Because if she teams up with them, Xia Qing has to give away at least forty percent of the edible peanuts she harvests. If the patch of Green Lantern Peanuts Red Squirrel discovered on Mountain Fifty is small—Xia Qing had watched Red Squirrel for months—the peanuts she ultimately receives might not even fill a handful.

Therefore, only by teaming up with the wolves, who don't eat peanuts, can all the harvested peanuts belong entirely to her.

Today is November 29th, the day for the medicinal bath. If the lead wolf correctly understood the message Xia Qing conveyed to it last time, it can, based on the shape of the moon, lead the wolf pack from Mountain Sixty-One to come over. Tonight, after finishing her bath, tomorrow morning when the wolf pack returns to their territory, they can conveniently make a trip with her to Mountain Fifty to collect the peanuts.

Perfect!

Xia Qing asked Yang Jin: after the two evolved bears from Mountain Fifty returned to Mountain Sixty, they didn't come back again, so there are currently no bears on Mountain Fifty. Her moving together with the wolf pack won't be discovered by evolved bears, which would invite retaliation from the Brain Domain Evolved Bear.

When Xia Qing goes with the wolf pack to gather peanuts, they will pass through the canyon of Mountain Forty-Nine, then through a not-very-wide mountain valley, and enter Mountain Fifty. This route is not within the surveillance range of Territory Nine.

If Territory Nine sends scout birds to tail Xia Qing, with her Level Nine visual evolution ability and current marksmanship, she can absolutely shoot down a scout bird with one shot before it discovers the wolf pack.

No matter how many come, she'll take down that many!

Before dark, Xia Qing carried the sprayer on her back and carefully sprayed the repellent for small reptiles twice inside the wild grass isolation wall.

This is the repellent Xia Qing exchanged with her idol after the evolved water rats invaded the territory. One spraying lasts a month, but it must be reapplied after rain or snow. Last night there was a not-very-heavy sleet, so to be safe, Xia Qing decided to spray one more coat.

After finishing the spraying, Xia Qing asked Hu Zifeng to send people over to guard the territory. Tonight is once again when she and the wolf pack are at their lowest combat strength.

As dusk fell, the wolf pack still hadn't arrived. Xia Qing didn't just wait around either. After finishing dinner, she filled the bathtub on the second floor with uncontaminated spring water and heated it to a suitable temperature, then poured the medicinal solution into the spring water and stirred it evenly.

Then, Xia Qing stood on the stairs and greeted her two companions, "Boss, Wolf Lao Er, I'm going to take a bath. I'm leaving the house to you two."

The sick wolf lying on the tatami on the first floor raised its head, looking extremely reliable.

Sheep Boss, who was playing on the bicycle, squinted at Xia Qing—the meaning was very clear.

Toward Sheep Boss, who worked hard every day generating electricity so she no longer had to worry about power, Xia Qing was of course generous, and lavish praise rained down like a surging river: "Oh my god, Boss, the way you pedal the bicycle is just too cool! I've never seen such a handsome evolved sheep! You're the most handsome sheep on Blue Star, the most creative sheep, the sheep standing at the top of the Blue Star Jin Zita—you're radiant, captivating all living beings…"

Only after Sheep Boss was satisfied did Xia Qing enter the second-floor bathroom.

At fifteen minutes, Xia Qing felt her whole body like acupuncture—this level of pain, she could still endure.

At twenty-five minutes, the medicinal solution penetrated through the skin layer to reach the bones, and the real pain began. To absorb more of the medicine's efficacy, Xia Qing, trembling in pain while soaking in the medicinal bath, began recalling pleasant things to distract herself.

"Beep."

"Beep."

"Beep."

……

The phone on the bamboo rack beside her kept emitting warning sounds, but Hu Zifeng's squad hadn't sent an alert through the walkie-talkie. Xia Qing didn't need to look at the phone to know who it was: the Broken-Waist Wolf, who loves playing with doors, had arrived.

As expected, the Brain Domain Evolved lead wolf could accurately judge the time of the medicinal bath by distinguishing the shape of the moon. Its memory and observation had reached a very advanced level.

"Beep beep, beep beep."

Immediately after, the surveillance cameras inside the territory captured intruders and sent warnings to the phone. Xia Qing kept her eyes closed, soaking motionlessly in the medicinal water, because intruders discovered by the cameras were the Broken-Leg Sister or other companions brought by the lead wolf—no need to check.

Xia Qing felt there was no need to look, but Jing Kuan, who was guarding Territory Three, was greatly shocked, and whispered into the walkie-talkie to his companions, "Those two are… wolves?"

"Brother Kuan, keep your voice down, they're turning to look at you." Chen Cheng whispered a reminder, "Nobody point a gun at the wolves, it's very dangerous."

Jing Kuan muttered, "Your voice is louder than mine."

Xiao Jiang responded, "It's fine. Qing-jie said as long as we don't actively provoke them, the wolf pack won't hurt people inside Territory Three."

Chen Cheng muttered, "…We're crouching like this, the wolf pack should be able to tell we're people, right?"

Everyone……

"Squeak—"

The first-floor door was pushed open, and Xia Qing in the second-floor bathroom listened carefully.

Whoosh whoosh—

Sheep Boss was performing with all its might, the raised rear wheel of the bicycle spinning so fast that Xia Qing could hear the wind from the second floor.

"Splash—"

"Woo—"

A wolf accidentally knocked over the foot-washing basin inside the door, spilling water on the floor, which made the Broken-Waist Wolf let out a low growl, its intimidation fully on display.

With the Broken-Waist Wolf watching, Xia Qing felt reassured, and ducked her head back into the water to continue bathing.

The phone alarm rang. Xia Qing, who had finally soaked for a full hour, opened the drain valve in the bathtub, letting the medicinal water flow through a hose to the large bathtub in the first-floor bathroom, then forced her aching body to reach for the clothes on the bamboo rack beside her.

The weather had turned cold, and Xia Qing had also added some cold-weather clothing.

Although humans' cold resistance improved after evolution, winter temperatures dropped by at least ten degrees, and living conditions were far worse than before. Not only were there no heating facilities like air conditioning or central heating in the house, but one also had to work outdoors and even in the Evolution Forest in the dead of winter, so the clothes worn were thicker.

Xia Qing's winter clothing was divided into three layers, the innermost being quick-dry wear.

Quick-dry wear is relatively fitted and thin; its most important function is breathability and sweat-wicking. Because Xia Qing works and trains every day, her body sweats quite a bit. In low temperatures, if she doesn't wear quick-dry clothing and instead wears clothing that absorbs sweat but doesn't wick it, her body would be completely soaked in sweat, and she'd be very prone to hypothermia after stopping movement.

In the winters of the first few years before the catastrophe, quite a few people, despite wearing very thick clothing, suffered frostbite, frost-sickness, and froze to death. The reason was that they didn't wear quick-dry base layers, and after sweating, they had no way to return to a warm interior, so their bodies developed hypothermia.

The second layer is the mid-insulation layer. The main function of this layer is heat retention; options include fleece, down, and cotton garments of different materials. Xia Qing is a high-level Evolver, more cold-resistant than ordinary people and average Evolvers. As long as the temperature doesn't drop below minus thirty degrees, she doesn't need to wear down or cotton clothing—just a fleece thermal garment with some stretch will do.

This year, through Kuang Qingwei, she purchased two sets of fleece thermals (one thin, one thick) and a down jacket and pants, plus a cotton outfit she commissioned from Mother Shi using contribution points, giving her four sets of thermal clothing in total.

So, although this winter might be the coldest in the ten years since the catastrophe, for Xia Qing, it was the warmest winter yet.

The outermost layer is the protective-insulation layer, which is the winter version of the protective suit. The main task of this layer isn't heat retention, but rather windproofing, waterproofing, scratch resistance, and protection against evolved animal attacks.

Xia Qing had sealed her house very tightly, so it was very warm inside, and now she only needed to wear quick-dry wear and loungewear. If she needed to go out, she'd switch to a thin fleece jacket and protective suit.

When she finally had some strength and slowly made her way down the stairs holding the railing, she saw six extra wolves in the brightly lit first-floor living room.

The lead wolf, Black Wolf, and Sick Wolf were on the tatami, looking at each other, unclear what information they were exchanging with their eyes.

The Broken-Waist Wolf and the Broken-Leg Wolf siblings stood beside the power-generating bicycle, watching Sheep Boss pedal to generate electricity.

The reason the first floor was so bright was that it was lit by the bulb on the bicycle. Surrounded by three wolves, Sheep Boss held its head high Gao Ang, pedaling the bicycle at top speed, as if it had reached the pinnacle of sheep life.

Seeing this scene, Xia Qing felt she needed to get a sturdier power-generating bicycle as soon as possible—this one probably wouldn't last much longer before Sheep Boss pedaled it to pieces.