Chapter 467: Advance

Ten minutes later, the Yi Element Stimulant began to take effect, and Xia Qing felt her stamina rapidly recovering and surging.

She unzipped the backrest section of her shoulder pack, took out a folding stretcher from the compartment, quickly secured the Alpha Wolf and the Broken-Back Wolf onto the stretcher and strapped it to her back, then put the sick wolf into the pack, hung it on her front, and fastened it with straps.

This front-and-back carrying rig was specifically designed for situations where vehicles cannot pass after a natural disaster, allowing strength-type evolved humans to transport the wounded. In this way, a single strength-type evolved human can carry two to three wounded at once.

Xia Qing's current appearance, at a quick glance in the dark evolved forest, looked just like a special two-legged evolved beast with three heads.

Carrying three evolved wolves totaling eight or nine hundred jin and moving at speed exceeded the capability of a level-six strength-type evolved human, but Xia Qing now felt it was effortless—this was the effect of the Yi Element Stimulant.

Before Xia Qing could even take a step, the plucked-fur weasel shivering in the cold wind squeaked twice and started running down the mountain.

Xia Qing asked, "Plucked-fur, is it telling me to follow it? My lord, Broken-Back, that's what Plucked-fur means, right?"

The Alpha Wolf strapped to Xia Qing's back tilted its head and bumped the protective mask on Xia Qing's head.

That gesture from the Alpha Wolf instantly pulled Xia Qing back to the night of the great battle between wolves, snakes, and bears.

That night, the evolved bear group had been poisoned by the Alpha Wolf, and after all four of its legs were torn up, it went to Mountain 61 to provoke them. Before the Alpha Wolf went to fight again, it had bumped Xia Qing's protective helmet with its head.

A complex feeling that was hard to describe in words suddenly welled up in Xia Qing's heart. This feeling seemed to have been amplified by the stimulant as well, making Xia Qing—who had already forgotten what tears were—feel a stinging in her eyes.

She reached up and stroked the Alpha Wolf's weak, powerless head, her voice gentle yet firm. "I understand. Rest easy, my lord."

The weasel bounded down the mountain along a beast trail not covered by the poisonous gas. Xia Qing watched its landing spots and followed at full speed.

The weasel was about the size of a house cat. With three evolved wolves in tow, Xia Qing following the beast trail the weasel chose kept getting scraped by branches and rocks from above and both sides.

Branches with thorns—Xia Qing simply hacked them off with her blade. Branches that attacked on contact, when she didn't have time to cut them, she just snapped off with her bare hands.

Her strength was surging now. Forget snapping branches—even if an elephant blocked the road, she could flip it over on the spot!

"Kaka!"

The leading weasel suddenly stopped and shrieked in panic. The sound was just like a human sneezing, and the Broken-Back Wolf stirred.

"Heard it. Watch me."

Even without their warning, Xia Qing could hear a large animal crashing rapidly through the dense forest toward them.

This evolved animal, which looked like some kind of wild buffalo and was taller than Xia Qing, had blood-red eyes and heavy breathing. It was clearly a violent poisoned-evolution or berserk animal—it would not stop attacking until it was beaten to the point it couldn't stand.

Xia Qing acted decisively, landing a vicious punch on its cervical vertebra that broke its neck outright, then kicked away several evolved wild rabbits and rats that tried to bite her, and reminded the stunned weasel, "Plucked-fur, lead the way fast. Listen—the wolf howls are already close."

Seeing that Xia Qing still had such fierce combat ability, the Alpha Wolf closed its eyes to rest and conserve its strength. The Broken-Back Wolf turned its head to look at Xia Qing, thoughtful.

The further down she ran, the more animals were stampeding. Xia Qing had originally assumed only animals from the area south of Peak Three of Mountain 50 were being driven south by the wind-borne toxic fog. But she hadn't expected animals north of the fog to also be stampeding.

If all these animals were charging toward human territory, then this beast tide was definitely not going to be a small one.

Xia Qing urged the weasel to speed up. She had to rejoin the wolf pack as soon as possible and couldn't let them keep howling like this. Wolves were large predatory beasts—a pack of evolved wolves howling and charging would undoubtedly startle large numbers of animals and make them run faster.

"Aow—wuu—"

When the distance between Xia Qing and the wolf pack was only five or six hundred meters, the Broken-Back Wolf threw its head back and howled.

Soon, Xia Qing heard several "swoosh—", "swoosh—" sounds. Handsome Giant Wolf led three wolves to block Xia Qing's path, forming an encirclement attack formation, baring their fangs at her and growling low.

A dozen seconds later, over twenty evolved wolves arrived and surrounded Xia Qing completely. Broken-Leg Sister was among them. Xia Qing stood still, waiting for the two wolf leaders to communicate with the pack.

Broken-Leg Wolf jumped out from the pack, anxiously circling Xia Qing, raising its two front legs to paw at the Alpha Wolf and the Broken-Back Wolf, hoping they would get down from Xia Qing's back quickly.

The plucked-fur weasel had stopped shivering and climbed onto Xia Qing's shoulder, clearly taking her side.

The Alpha Wolf opened its earthy-gold eyes and looked at the pack. The wolves, including Giant Wolf, sheathed their fangs. Handsome Giant Wolf walked over, stared at Xia Qing with its ice-blue eyes for a few seconds, then lowered its head to sniff the two wolves on her back.

Xia Qing clenched her fists, her whole body taut, not moving a muscle. Even with the Yi Element Stimulant, she didn't dare provoke nearly thirty evolved wolves right now!

After Handsome Giant Wolf confirmed some information and stepped back a few paces, Xia Qing negotiated with the wolf pack. "My lord, we have to get back to my territory to detox as fast as possible. The pack can't come along—better to leave them here to block the animals charging this way. Otherwise, the humans in the territory will be busy dealing with the beast tide and won't be able to focus on detoxifying you."

Xia Qing couldn't see the expressions of the two wolves on her back, nor could she hear their response, but she didn't have time to linger here, so she ran straight toward Mountain 49 on the other side of the valley.

In the valley, animals large and small stampeding south had already merged into a roaring, thundering river.

The plucked-fur weasel jumped off Xia Qing, charged toward the beast tide, and released its poisonous gas. The surging river of animals instantly exploded into chaos, scattering in all directions.

Xia Qing charged forward without hesitation, seizing the opening the weasel had created to "cross the river."

The Broken-Leg Wolf siblings immediately followed. Handsome Giant Wolf paused for a few seconds before leading the pack to charge up and escort Xia Qing.

"Holy shit! Boss, it's that weasel!" A team member who had followed Yang Jin to the lake beside Mountain 61 to gather herbs recognized the terrifying weasel that had released its poisonous gas and then climbed back onto Xia Qing.

Yang Jin, who was standing at the foot of Mountain 49 on the other side of the valley, immediately gave the order: "Open the passage. Let Xia Qing and the wolf pack through."

After the Azure Dragon team members obeyed and pulled back, they watched with mixed feelings as Xia Qing charged over, protected by the wolf pack.

After Xia Qing rushed into the animal interception net on Mountain 49 and stopped, she first waved to Yang Jin in the distance. Seeing that the wolf pack was also charging into Mountain 49, she negotiated with the two wolves on her back: "My lord, Broken-Leg, whichever of you two can still speak, tell the pack they can't advance any further."

The Alpha Wolf raised its head and let out a roar at the pack—not loud, but absolutely commanding. Every wolf immediately stopped and lowered its head. Apart from Handsome Giant Wolf, all the wolves slowly retreated.

Handsome Giant Wolf and the plucked-fur weasel perched on Xia Qing's head were presumably the "guards" my lord had chosen.

Xia Qing didn't waste any more words and sprinted toward her own territory.