Chapter 550: The Most Perfect Choice for a Mountain-Guarding Wolf

Xia Qing stared at the Broken-Waist Wolf for a few seconds and figured it out: this clever brain-evolved wolf had no interest in the magnifying glass.

Then what supplies did she want to trade with the Broken-Waist Wolf?

Looking at the Broken-Waist Wolf's dead-serious expression, Xia Qing put the magnifying glass away and tried to negotiate nicely. "Broken-Waist, what do you want?"

The Broken-Waist Wolf continued to stare at Xia Qing with that dead-serious look, giving no sign at all.

Xia Qing thought it over for a few seconds, then gestured as she negotiated with the wolf. "You've got something important to do right now? How about this—you send a wolf to guard the valley for me first, and when you figure out what you want to trade for, just let me know. Deal?"

The Broken-Waist Wolf seemed to understand. It bared its little fang tips at Xia Qing as a token gesture, then turned and left her home, ran up the north buffer forest, leapt over the wire-net wall in one bound, and left Territory Three.

Looks like it really was busy. Was the queen about to give birth, or had some abnormal behavior among the wolves in the western evolved forest drawn the attention of Mountain Wolf Pack Sixty?

The fact that the Broken-Waist Wolf was this busy and still came all the way here with the sick wolf moved Xia Qing deeply. After watching it leave, she asked the companions beside her, "Boss, Wolf Lao Er, do you think Broken-Waist got what I meant?"

Ram Boss chewed her cud with a blank expression, no reaction at all. The sick wolf seemed to sense the shift in Xia Qing's mood, nuzzled her with its body, and grinned at her with a happy smile.

Xia Qing smiled too. "Mm, it probably got it. Let's see what it does next. If it doesn't send a wolf, I'll go find Seeing Xin Yu and borrow a bird from her."

She rubbed the heads of Ram Boss and the sick wolf, then headed home with her two companions. "Come on, let's go home and eat! Wolf Lao Er worked hard today—I'll cook you meat porridge with an egg. Boss worked hard generating electricity today—I'll make you the fresh Chinese toon shoots."

At the mention of Chinese toon shoots, Ram Boss immediately popped open her big Kazilan-style sheep eyes and sidled up to Xia Qing. "Baa~~~"

It had been ages since Xia Qing had heard Ram Boss's signature squeaky bleat. She flicked the greedy sheep on the head. "Let's go, I'll make it for you when we get back."

"Baa~~~"

"Aoo—" the sick wolf copied Ram Boss too, letting out a low, happy, gentle sound.

"Beep, beep, beep."

Before the food was ready, Xia Qing heard her phone ping. She pulled it out and saw it was an alert from a surveillance camera on Mountain Fifty.

She opened the Mountain Fifty feed, stared at her phone for a few seconds, then asked through the camera, "Broken-Waist, you sent Plucked-Fur to guard the valley?"

Under the camera by the door of Xiong Dong, the Broken-Waist Wolf grinned and bared its little fang tips, with a timid yellow weasel cowering behind it.

Xia Qing laughed. "Broken-Waist, you really know how to pick a wolf! Sending Plucked-Fur to guard the valley is absolutely perfect! Broken-Waist, you're the smartest evolved wolf on the whole Blue Star, the evolved wolf standing at the very top of the Blue Star pyramid. Plucked-Fur, you've had a tough few days."

The Plucked-Fur weasel's whiskers trembled. It was small in size and courage, but its combat ability was absolutely top-tier—the perfect choice for guarding the mountain. With Plucked-Fur holding down the valley, Xia Qing didn't need to go borrow a bird from Seeing Xin Yu.

After saying goodbye to the Broken-Waist Wolf, Xia Qing happily told the two animal companions crouching by the kitchen door, "Broken-Waist sent Plucked-Fur to guard the valley, so we don't have to trade our precious green-light dried fruit with Seeing Xin Yu."

"What do you think I should get Broken-Waist as a thank-you gift? How about using the leftover cotton to make it a pink wolf den, with a few pearls decorating the edges?"

"The biggest beast tide last winter was triggered by a herd of wild boars, right?" Kuang Qingwei asked on the lord channel about beast-tide matters.

Qi Fu answered, "That boar-triggered beast tide should have happened in late January or early February. I remember it wasn't this cold back then."

"Seems about right," Shi Zhong also chimed in.

When a beast tide hit, Youjidi Sect sent evolved ones and the army to handle it, so it didn't affect ordinary civilians inside the safe zone much. The lords still scraping out a living inside the safe zone at the time hadn't bothered to remember the exact date.

Xia Qing, who had taken part in that safe-zone wall defense mission, remembered. She pressed the button. "That beast tide Brother Qing mentioned happened on February 3rd of Year Ten of the Catastrophe. It was triggered by a herd of out-of-control wild boars in the evolved forest south of the safe zone."

The evolved forests near the safe zone had been scoured countless times by evolved-one gathering squads; every edible green-light plant inside had been dug out. Herbivores living in those forests near the safe zone couldn't find quality food and had no choice but to eat red-light plants, causing the harmful element levels in their bodies to climb out of control.

When herbivores lost control, it directly caused the carnivores in the same area to lose control too. That's why late January through early February every year was when large-animal beast tides hit most often. And when you traced these tides back to their root cause, it was human over-harvesting.

So the base management called on the squads going out to gather not to dig out every green-light plant in the evolved forest, to leave some food for the herbivores. But the squads that actually followed the call were few and far between.

Because the evolved forest was public—if you didn't dig and gather, someone else would just take it all anyway.

"So this one's only eleven days early, not that early. But how come so many wolves and leopards deep in the western evolved forest suddenly lost control? Something major must have happened in that area, right?" Kuang Qingwei was very worried. He asked, "How are the vegetables in everyone's greenhouse doing?"

"Not great. I've only cut one batch of yellow chives on my end—it's been too cold this year." Qi Fu sighed.

Shi Zhong was sighing too. "Mine aren't doing well either. I was planning to sell vegetables to recoup some costs and buy fertilizer and fungicide in the spring."

When an Alliance member specifically mentioned yellow chives, that was the Alliance's code for calling an Alliance meeting. This time Qi Fu had proposed it, and Xia Qing happened to have the same plan, so she pressed the walkie-talkie button. "My yellow chives are the same—not even enough for me to eat."

Hearing Xia Qing's voice, Qi Fu immediately felt reassured. "I've still got some. Xia Qing, if you want some, come over and cut some."

"Sure," Xia Qing agreed.

Zhao Ze, who had been on edge inside Territory Ten, immediately jumped up. The meeting was finally about to start!

Before the Alliance meeting time had even arrived, Tan Junjie took the initiative to contact Xia Qing by phone and arranged to meet her at the north gate of Territory Three to discuss things.

To Xia Qing's surprise, the first thing Tan Junjie brought up was compensation from the Blaze Squad. "Blaze has agreed to pay 2 million credits to restore the ecology of Mountain Fifty. The credits will go to Zhang San's account."

Xia Qing was shocked. "That much?!"

Tan Junjie explained, "Yang Jin negotiated it with Blaze's captain."

Xia Qing nodded. Having Iron Rooster on her side felt a hundred times better than doing business with him!