Chapter 480: Don't Pass Out

"Understood."

After hanging up on Yang Jin, Xia Qing received a positive answer from her idol and immediately used the walkie-talkie to relay the battle plan to Huo Zhun.

Then, Xia Qing secured the fugitive's empty backpack onto the lead wolf's back, pointed toward the path they had come from, and carefully instructed, "Queen, my lord, you go with Huo-ge along the route we just ran, leading the helicopter toward the territory. Queen, my lord, you must be careful…"

Before Xia Qing could finish, the lead wolf flung its head to shake off the accumulated snow and bolted toward the northwest at an unbelievable speed.

Xia Qing didn't even have time to blink before the lead wolf vanished from her field of vision.

Swallowing the rest of her sentence, Xia Qing asked the Broken-Waist Wolf to bury the fugitive's backpack in the pit it had dug, then struggled to raise her arm and pointed ahead to give the order, "Handsome Wolf-ge, you and Giant Wolf-ge quickly carry me and hide under that rock over there—this place is about to get blown up."

The Broken-Waist Wolf was just about to head out, but Xia Qing grabbed the protective suit pocket on its back in one swift motion—an action and force that hurt her terribly, "Broken-Waist, don't go out, we'll go under the rock."

This protruding sedimentary rock was only a little over a meter tall. The Broken-Waist Wolf could walk beneath it fairly easily, but Handsome Giant Wolf could only crawl behind the Broken-Waist Wolf as they moved quickly.

Xia Qing lay on the Handsome Giant Wolf's back, her back continuously scraped by sharp stone edges, but for Xia Qing, this level of pain was nothing—not even a drizzle.

The helicopter roared as it arrived directly above the one person and two wolves. The spot where they had just been hiding was raked by heavy machine gun fire; the protruding rock was shattered, crashed to the ground with a boom, kicking up a cloud of snow.

The two evolved wolves let out low growls. Xia Qing used every ounce of her strength, wrapping one arm around each wolf's neck to stop them from charging out, and in a trembling voice, soothed them gently,

"As long as we don't go out, the helicopter won't spot us. Don't move…the helicopter will leave soon."

The rock Xia Qing and the two evolved wolves were hiding under was raked by bullets; the sedimentary rock crumbled and fell on Xia Qing. Xia Qing still held the two wolves tightly, "Don't move, don't bark, it's fine, it's going to be fine."

After a round of wanton bombing failed to spot any moving target, the helicopter flew northwest while strafing, pursuing the evolved one leaping rapidly with the fugitive, and the evolved wolf sprinting with the backpack.

The crisis seemed to be over, but Xia Qing, pinned under the stone slab, still wouldn't let the two wolves move. Sure enough, another burst of fire swept over, the sound of bullets hitting stone especially piercing.

Xia Qing, still pinned under the rock, kept chatting casually with the two wolves.

"Handsome Wolf-ge, we still have very pretty pearls at home. When we get back, I'll make a pearl chain for your mirror so you can hang it on the wall of the wolf den. Do you want a big gold chain too? You can trade Yishi for it."

"Giant Wolf-ge, I can see you quite like that quilt at home. The quilt's yours—take it back to Langshan and use it as a mat."

"What does Queen, my lord, like? Do you know?"

The two wolves could easily break free of Xia Qing's grip, but neither moved, just listening to her nonsense under the rock.

Twenty minutes later, a huge explosion sounded from the northwest, followed by a string of blasts.

Xin Yu finished the job—beautiful!

"Huo-ge, Queen, my lord, are you alright?"

Parched and exhausted, Xia Qing asked through the walkie-talkie. Perhaps the person and wolf were moving too fast and had already gone beyond the walkie-talkie's range, or perhaps Xia Qing's walkie-talkie had been smashed by the impact, so no response came.

Twenty-five minutes later, the two evolved wolves, soothed by Xia Qing, tensed their muscles again and bared their fangs. Xia Qing wrapped her arms around their necks and strained to listen to the sounds outside.

"Buzz."

The phone in Xia Qing's protective suit pocket rang, but she was pinned under the rock and couldn't reach it.

"Xia Qing."

For the first time, Xia Qing felt that Yang Jin's voice was so magnetic, so pleasant to hear.

"Handsome Wolf-ge, Giant Wolf-ge, let's go out. My companion is here."

The Broken-Waist Wolf and Handsome Giant Wolf immediately crawled forward a few steps, stood up, and shook off the stone chips and dust.

Xia Qing forced herself to lift her dizzy head and saw Yang Jin, wearing an extremely cool special-ops protective suit, standing a dozen meters away.

Seeing Xia Qing's wretched state, Yang Jin's heart ached terribly, but he didn't rush toward the giant wolves. He only stood in place and asked, "Xia Qing, are you hurt anywhere? Bleeding?"

"…No."

Although Xia Qing was in a sorry state and had no strength, she was a high-level Evolver and had also soaked in body-damage healing potion for two months—how could a few pieces of crushed stone hurt her? "Captain Yang, fifty meters to your front-right, there's a backpack buried under the rubble, with two shockproof medicine boxes inside."

"Got it." While retrieving the backpack, Yang Jin kept watching Xia Qing. "Can you undo the straps yourself? The crisis here is resolved; I've brought people to protect you."

"I can." With trembling hands, Xia Qing used the last of her strength to undo the straps at her waist, slid off the Handsome Giant Wolf, and lay face-down on the rubble.

Yang Jin rushed forward and, amid the growls of the Broken-Waist Wolf and Handsome Giant Wolf, wrapped Xia Qing in a hypothermia emergency blanket.

Yang Jin pulled the emergency blanket down slightly and saw Xia Qing's deathly pale little face beneath the visor. His heart felt as if someone had suddenly clenched it in a fist, aching terribly.

Yang Jin knew very well how painful the side effects of the Yi-element stimulant were. Xia Qing had forced herself out to carry out the mission during the worst period of the side effects—if she hadn't possessed tremendous willpower, she wouldn't have held on until now.

Now that she had completed the mission, her spirit relaxed, and her gaze began to drift. Yang Jin had a mission and had to leave immediately; he needed to perk her up quickly—passing out would be troublesome.

"Xia Qing. Yesterday, to block the reinforcement squad from Territory Nine, I deployed four main combat squads and two reconnaissance teams from Qinglong. You need to pay me 200 jin of high-grade Green Lantern python meat. Plus the emergency blanket I just wrapped around you…"

Two hundred jin?!

You think I'm running a butcher shop? Slicing my own flesh!!!

Xia Qing's nearly-slit-shut eyes flew wide open. "Captain Yang, even a lion doesn't have an appetite like yours. Also, the blanket on me was something you took from the fugitive's backpack—it's supplies captured by the Third Echelon, it doesn't belong to you."

Xia Qing had inspected the backpack and knew what supplies were inside; Yang Jin couldn't try to fish in troubled waters and steal her supplies.

Seeing that Xia Qing was indeed alert again, Yang Jin smiled. "Your face is pale and your lips are trembling—those are symptoms of hypothermia. Although the blanket was captured by your squad, it was I who wrapped it around you and stopped your continued heat loss. How about this—for the sake of our alliance, you pay me twenty walnuts."

Xia Qing, who had worked hard to survive into the tenth year of the Catastrophe and had plenty of cold-weather supplies at home, would never let herself get hypothermia.

Pale face? That's fucking from the pain!

Trembling lips? From anger!

Who the hell charges an ally twenty walnuts just for wrapping a blanket around them?

On what grounds? Because you're handsome and your smile looks good? Are you as handsome as the giant wolf beside me, you bastard?

Still, he was the dignified commander of the Qinglong Squad, wrapping a blanket for a tiny farming lord like herself—it really couldn't be for free.

Lying on the ground, Xia Qing's face was expressionless as she mustered her presence and haggled hard, "Three walnuts."

"Deal."

……

……

Xia Qing, tricked again, felt terribly stifled.

There was no time. Yang Jin helped the now-spirited Xia Qing up, leaning her against the windbreak of the stone wall. "While there's a moment, figure out exactly how much python meat you owe me. When Er Yong arrives later, have him and Huo Zhun take you back to the territory to get the meat."

With that, Yang Jin turned and vanished from Xia Qing's sight in an instant.

The Waist-Cut Wolf, reading the sequence of Yang Jin's movements, understood that Xia Qing was very cold right now. It immediately scooted over and lay down on Xia Qing's feet, then turned its head to look at the Handsome Giant Wolf.

Only when the Waist-Cut Wolf bared its fangs and growled low did the Handsome Giant Wolf slowly come over and squat down beside Xia Qing.

Seeing how reluctant this giant wolf looked, how slow its brain was to react, Xia Qing—who didn't want to give up even half a jin of meat—now wanted to take back even the cotton quilt.

Good-looking ones are never reliable; the Waist-Cut Wolf is still the best.

Xia Qing feebly soothed the Waist-Cut Wolf, "Don't worry, Handsome Wolf Bro. I'm dressed thickly enough today, I'm not cold at all—it's just that yesterday's potion had too many side effects; the pain is almost more than I can bear."