Chapter 516: The Companion Who Left and Returned

Just what exactly is the reason? Xia Qing sat by the fireplace with her notebook, thinking seriously about this matter.

Are they angry because they discovered the Sick Wolf obeyed the commands of that unfamiliar voice in the video and performed actions, or because the Sick Wolf completely obeyed the commands of a "human"?

Or is it because they had seen humans drive Evolution Dogs in the Evolution Forest, and thought she was going to turn the Sick Wolf into an Evolution Dog tied up by a rope, with no freedom?

Perhaps, all of these are possible.

Now she could no longer use the pre-catastrophe mindset of humans standing at the top of the food chain to think about the relationship between humans and Evolution Animals, especially Brain Domain Evolution Animals with a certain capacity for thought.

Evolution Wolves have their own territory, and can trade with Xia Qing when they need something. Perhaps in their eyes, humans and Xiong Qun alike are not much different—just animal species that possess territories?

This might be why, even though the catastrophe has already reached its tenth year, humans still cannot successfully domesticate Evolution Wolves, and also why Shan Ying was willing to spend a fortune to "buy" the Sick Wolf from her.

In the past, humans had indeed tried capturing wolves for breeding. But without exception, they encountered fierce resistance from the wolf packs. The captured wolves, seeing no hope of escape, would choose to starve themselves; even when humans used forceful means to make she-wolves give birth to pups, the pups were too weak to be tamed.

Shan Ying believed that the Sick Wolf who could act together with Xia Qing was a "special case" among Evolution Wolves, that it had already been tamed by Xia Qing, so Shan Ying wanted to use this wolf to breed the next generation of domesticated wolf beasts.

Shan Ying guessed wrong. The relationship between Xia Qing and the wolf pack was not one of taming, but rather a true companion relationship built upon a certain foundation of trust, or rather, a companion relationship built upon "exchange."

Xia Qing explained again sincerely, "Wolf Queen, Broken-Waist, I didn't mean to make Lao Er completely obey my commands. I treat it as a companion just as important as the Big One. It was my method that was wrong. From now on, I won't show Lao Er videos like this anymore."

The Head Wolf and the Broken-Waist Wolf remained extremely solemn. The Sick Wolf looked at Xia Qing with clear eyes, seemingly thinking seriously about the current situation.

Xia Qing opened the notebook again. "This isn't a bad thing. There's a lot of knowledge inside. Not only is Lao Er learning, so am I. Look."

To dispel the anger of the two Brain Domain Evolution Wolves, Xia Qing opened the notebook again and played a popular-science video explaining knowledge about the catastrophe. "Look, this is the process and characteristics of plant evolution filmed by humans."

The first shot of this popular-science video was an aerial overhead view of the Evolution Forest, with dense vegetation and gorgeously colorful hues. The narrator was still female, but her tone was very different from the kindergarten-teacher voice that taught little children earlier; this voice was smooth, flowing, and full of magnetism.

"What you viewers are now seeing is Huiyi Base No. 9 Forest, located five kilometers south of the Huiyi Base safe zone. The third Devastation Rain of the ninth year of the catastrophe has just passed two days ago, and No. 9 Forest is full of killing intent..."

The two Brain Domain Evolution Wolves sheathed their fangs and stared intently at the screen. The Sick Wolf watched along. Judging from its expression, this kind of popular-science video was, in the Sick Wolf's eyes, not as interesting as the teaching video.

Xia Qing quietly breathed a sigh of relief, put the notebook back on the low table, and stood beside it watching. The Sick Wolf watched for a while, walked over to Xia Qing, and rubbed its body against her leg. Xia Qing sat down next to the Sick Wolf and gently stroked the fur on its neck.

After the thirty-minute video finished playing and the screen froze, the two Brain Domain Evolution Wolves turned their heads at the same time and looked at Xia Qing.

Xia Qing, who was in the middle of strength training, paused. "You like watching this? Okay, I'll find more for you."

After the second video introducing the Evolution Forest finished playing, the two wolves looked at Xia Qing again, so Xia Qing could only play a third one for them. In this video, a large fierce beast appeared—a golden leopard.

The two Evolution Wolves stood in front of the low table, letting out low growls at the same time, watching with great absorption. Xia Qing was afraid they would pounce and smash the notebook, so she hurried forward to protect it.

This was something she had traded for using precious meat from a high-grade Evolution Green Lantern Python, and it was filled with knowledge she had spent a fortune trading with Yang Jin for. She hadn't learned much of it yet; if the wolves damaged it, she would be heartbroken to death.

After all the popular-science videos about Huiyi Base No. 9 Forest had finished playing, the two Evolution Wolves still wanted to watch. Xia Qing noticed it was getting late, so she started playing videos introducing weeding and pest control.

The Head Wolf wasn't interested in these, turned around, and went to sleep on the tatami. The Broken-Waist Wolf still squatted in front of the notebook, watching with great interest.

By ten o'clock at night, when Xia Qing put away the notebook, the Broken-Waist Wolf was still staring at her with lingering interest. Xia Qing warned very seriously, "You can't watch too much of this, or you'll ruin your eyes."

The Broken-Waist Wolf tilted its head, staring at Xia Qing thoughtfully.

Xia Qing firmly hugged the notebook and went upstairs to sleep. She didn't dare leave the notebook down here, because this thing couldn't withstand a single swipe from a wolf's paw.

The next morning, Xia Qing was woken up by a red squirrel that came over to drink water. After feeding this neighbor water, Xia Qing once again refused to give it food. Going downstairs, she found the first floor empty of both wolves and sheep.

Sheep Big One was eating grass under the eaves; the three wolves were not within the territory.

The Sick Wolf was gone.

Although she had thought this day would come, when it actually arrived, Xia Qing still felt a hollow emptiness in her heart. But she quickly pulled herself together and seriously patrolled the territory.

When the Sick Wolf was here, these were its tasks, because its hearing and sense of smell were sharper than Xia Qing's. Now that the Sick Wolf was gone, of course Xia Qing had to do them.

Inside the wild grass walls around the territory, Xia Qing regularly sprayed repellent for small reptiles. Combined with the fact that the Devastation Snow had not yet melted, whether any small animals had crawled into her territory was obvious at a glance.

After completing a patrol, Xia Qing went to the low-slope planting area in the North Buffer Forest to check on the Devastation Cabbage Grass in the spring cave.

She found that the flower buds of the Devastation Cabbage Grass had grown a bit larger. At this rate, it might bloom sometime between the end of this month and the beginning of next month.

Carrying buckets filled with water, Xia Qing returned to the territory and began making breakfast.

When she took out the frozen snake meat from the refrigerator and started grinding it to prepare snake meat pies, she heard the phone in her clothing pocket emit "beep," "beep," "beep"—rhythmic alert tones—and her eyes immediately lit up.

The Broken-Waist Wolf had returned!

Did that mean the Sick Wolf had also come back with it?!

Xia Qing put down the snake meat and immediately pulled out her phone to check.

She discovered that the Sick Wolf, carrying a beast-skin bag in its mouth, had already walked under the big Chinese toon tree. The Broken-Waist Wolf was still going in and out of the north gate repeatedly.

What was inside the beast-skin bag? Xia Qing immediately rushed out and met the Sick Wolf at the village entrance. Seeing Xia Qing come out, the Broken-Waist Wolf went from the north gate to the Sick Wolf's side in two or three seconds.

The Sick Wolf put down the cloth bag, wagged its tail once at Xia Qing, and looked very happy.

Xia Qing was also overjoyed. "Lao Er, you're back. Did you go back to Mountain Sixty with the Wolf Queen and the others this morning?"

Seeing the Broken-Waist Wolf pick up the cloth bag in its mouth, Xia Qing also greeted this Brain Domain Evolution Wolf that seemed to be in a good mood. "Broken-Waist, did you come back to trade for the mirror?"

It wasn't a wild guess on Xia Qing's part—this bag was bulging, and the side pocket of the Broken-Waist Wolf's protective suit was also bulging!

To bulge like that, it had to be either mountain walnuts or Yi Stones!

Xia Qing brought the two wolves back home. The clever Broken-Waist Wolf, after rinsing its paws, carried the dirty bag in its mouth to the mirror placed against the wall, set the bag down, and looked at Xia Qing.

Xia Qing, who was wiping Lao Er's paws clean, beamed. "Handsome Wolf Brother, are you using the things in the bag to trade for the big mirror?"