Chapter 519: Wolf Den

After the personal flyer is fully fueled, its maximum single-flight range is 30 li. The place where Xia Qing landed should still be over a dozen li from where the wolf pack lives, and she decided to walk that distance. First, her fuel was limited; second, she was afraid that flying any closer would startle the wolf pack or Xiong Qun.

Xia Qing had just landed and stowed her personal flyer when, after waiting a few minutes, Broken-Waist Wolf and Sick Wolf caught up.

Sick Wolf, panting out hot breath, happily circled Xia Qing twice, while Broken-Waist Wolf stared thoughtfully at Xia Qing's feet.

Xia Qing rubbed Sick Wolf's head, patted her backpack happily, and explained to Broken-Waist Wolf, "Broken-Waist, are you looking for my flyer? I've put it in my backpack. You two rest a while, then we'll keep going."

Wolves are animals extremely well-suited to running. Before they evolved, they could already sustain a speed of 120 li per hour for 20 minutes. So when it comes to long-distance running, wolves can even outpace the cheetah—the sprint champion with explosive speed.

Evolved wolves run even faster, so even though Xia Qing flew 30 li in ten minutes, she only arrived a few minutes ahead of the two wolves.

If Sick Wolf weren't with her, Broken-Waist Wolf, with its elasticity evolution, would have caught up to Xia Qing in even less time at full speed. If it were Speed-Evolved Head Wolf, it would probably have arrived before Xia Qing.

But an evolved wolf running 30 li at high speed will tire, while a human using a flying tool won't—that's the greatness of technological invention.

When Broken-Waist Wolf, lying on a rock, stared at the backpack for the third time, Xia Qing laughed, "Broken-Waist, want the flyer?"

Broken-Waist Wolf stared at Xia Qing thoughtfully for a while, then walked over and pawed at Xia Qing's backpack.

Xia Qing thought it was looking for the flyer, but unexpectedly, Broken-Waist Wolf found inside the backpack the pills it had traded for with a Yishi stone.

After finding the pills, Broken-Waist Wolf turned sideways, signaling Zhang Shiyi to tuck the pills into the side pocket of its protective suit.

Xia Qing, who had delivered the goods right to their door, couldn't figure out Broken-Waist Wolf's thought process, but she still satisfied the big shot's request, stuffed the pills in for it, and they set out again.

When they were almost at Mountain 60, Broken-Waist Wolf sped ahead and ran on first, while Sick Wolf stayed with Xia Qing and walked slowly.

For Sick Wolf it was slow, but for Xia Qing, who hadn't fully recovered, this was already her fastest speed in the evolution forest covered by killing snow.

Before the person and the wolf had reached the foot of the mountain, Xia Qing heard Head Wolf's long howl:

"Aoo—woo—"

Xia Qing could understand what that howl meant: Head Wolf was summoning the pack.

Summoning them to do what? Come home and take their medicine!

When Xia Qing reached the foot of Mountain 60, she saw dozens of wolves standing on rocks of varying heights, staring at her; some even growled. Xia Qing didn't dare walk any farther and looked up at Head Wolf, who was standing on the highest rock.

Head Wolf leaped down and landed steadily in front of Xia Qing, then circled her once. Xia Qing noticed the growling immediately quieted down considerably, though it didn't disappear entirely.

It wasn't until Handsome Giant Wolf leaped down and stood behind Head Wolf that the growling on the mountain vanished completely.

"Queen, my lord, Giant Wolf bro." Xia Qing greeted them and explained her purpose: "Broken-Waist asked me to come deliver pills and a mirror for it."

Head Wolf led Xia Qing up the mountain, into the cave where she had treated the wolves' wounds last time. Broken-Waist Wolf walked over, signaled Xia Qing to take the pills out of its protective suit's pocket, and explained to Head Wolf, "This is the deworming medicine Sick Wolf once took. Taking it can kill several common parasites and worm eggs in the body and expel them, just like what was said in last night's video. One pill per wolf, twice a year."

Broken-Waist Wolf pawed at the bag holding the pills, and Xia Qing understood. She took out the small food bowl she had brought from her backpack, opened the pill packaging, and placed one pill in the bowl.

Both Head Wolf and Broken-Waist Wolf stepped forward to sniff it, and then Broken-Waist Wolf ate the pill.

Xia Qing put in another pill—this time it was for Head Wolf, and then for Handsome Giant Wolf.

After that, a scene straight out of fantasy began: Xia Qing placed the pills one by one, and one wolf after another walked in to take the medicine and then walked out.

One wolf walked in to take medicine but was bitten and driven out by Broken-Waist Wolf. Xia Qing wasn't sure whether that wolf had already taken its pill or simply wasn't qualified to.

In all, a total of 83 wolves came in to take medicine. The last few were clearly the pack's weaklings—their fur sparse, their bodies thin and frail, heads lowered and tails tucked, walking slowly. Moreover, these wolves hadn't entered from outside the cave; they had come out from inside it.

Sick Wolf walked up to one thin, frail wolf, and the two sniffed each other, very affectionate in manner.

The appearance of this wolf reminded Xia Qing of the scene when she first met Sick Wolf—this one was also sick. Its tail and hind legs were smeared with feces, its coat was shedding severely, and it was shivering from the cold.

It was very likely that it wouldn't survive this winter.

Xia Qing, who had taken a walnut-sized Yishi stone from the wolf pack and come over to deliver medicine, pointed at this thin, frail wolf and explained the situation to Head Wolf and Broken-Waist Wolf: "It's sick; just one pill won't cure it."

Broken-Waist Wolf stared at Xia Qing thoughtfully for a while, then fixed its eyes on the backpack she had brought.

"I can try, but I can't guarantee I can cure it." Xia Qing opened her backpack, took out the medicine kit, applied medicine to this thin, frail wolf to kill the bacteria on its body surface and in its ears, then took out the pollution-free spring water she carried with her, along with oral bactericidal and anti-inflammatory medicine, and let it and the other few sick, weak wolves drink some.

As for whether these wolves could make it through this winter after taking the medicine, no one could guarantee.

Wolves like these definitely couldn't hunt. The only reason they had survived until now was surely because the pack had shared food with them. Sharing food with the weak, allowing them to live in the relatively warm interior of the cave, and giving them a share of the medicine traded for with Yishi stones—all of this fit perfectly with Xia Qing's understanding of the wolf pack.

The wolf pack is a very warm-hearted group; in protecting the old, weak, sick, and disabled members of the group, they do no worse than humans.

Xia Qing stood up, pointed at the mirror packed in the long cardboard box, and asked Broken-Waist Wolf, "Broken-Waist, where do you want this big mirror placed?"

Broken-Waist Wolf tilted its head, led Xia Qing up the mountain for quite a long stretch, past several caves, before finally reaching Broken-Waist Wolf's den.

This cave wasn't very large; a layer of soft dry grass was spread across the floor. And then, inside this cave, Xia Qing discovered her quilt…

Xia Qing silently looked at it for two seconds, opened the cardboard box, took out the mirror, and fixed it in a position that definitely couldn't be spotted from outside the cave, lest a helicopter fly overhead and be drawn to the reflecting mirror inside this cave and come over to investigate.

After securing the mirror, Xia Qing pointed at the cardboard box and the EPS foam inside and told Broken-Waist Wolf, "Broken-Waist, can I leave these for you too?"

Broken-Waist Wolf bared its lips, revealing its snow-white little fang tips.

Xia Qing smiled too, "I have to go; if I don't leave now, I won't make it back before dark."

When Xia Qing followed Broken-Waist Wolf down the mountain, she found that the gray-brown giant wolf that had once gone to her house for a medicinal bath had actually followed them down.

When they reached the foot of the mountain and Xia Qing figured out that Broken-Waist Wolf wanted the gray-brown giant wolf to carry her back, she told Head Wolf and Broken-Waist Wolf that she had a flyer and could fly over the most difficult stretch, but Broken-Waist Wolf still insisted that Xia Qing go back with the gray-brown giant wolf.

Xia Qing was silent for a while before she understood why Broken-Waist Wolf had made her hand over the pills on the way here.