Chapter 564: How About a Strawberry to Cheer You Up?

Xia Qing didn't say yes or no outright, but first asked for the specifics. "Yue-ge, in last night's battle in the eastern territory, which side attacked first?"

Yue Haiying answered, "Same as here on our end. The wolf pack's alpha howled, ordering the wolves to attack, and the humans fought back. Once the fighting started, extremely fast golden leopards coordinated with the wolves to ambush the human snipers and artillerymen."

If the wolves had attacked first, then there was no doubt about it. "Last night, among the beasts driving the beast tide, I saw at least six wolves and leopards that were nursing. They came out too and were the first to attack the humans. There's only one explanation: someone entered the wolves' and leopards' territory and killed their newborn cubs this year using extremely cruel methods."

If the cubs had merely been captured by humans, the wolves' and leopards' primary goal would have been to track them down and take them back, and their actions wouldn't have been this frenzied.

The hatred from cubs being tortured to death can't be resolved just by getting a few intermediary wolves involved.

If the alpha wolf and Broken-Waist Wolf's cubs were tortured and killed by humans, then even if every other wolf pack, bear, and leopard in the Evolution Forest got involved, the alpha wolf and Broken-Waist Wolf might temporarily lie low under the circumstances, but they would absolutely never give up on revenge.

Just like how they lost to the Bear-Python Alliance last July, and waited until late October to seize the opportunity swiftly, accurately, and ruthlessly, successfully taking their revenge and reclaiming their territory.

Xia Qing proposed the only solution she could think of. "Yue-ge, I think if we want to defuse this grudge now, there's only one thing we can try: first track down the scumbags who tortured and killed the wolf cubs and leopard cubs, throw them in front of the wolves and leopards, and then negotiate with the wolf pack on how to resolve this. If the wolves' and leopards' rage still can't be quelled, then we can only fight to the end."

"Actually, even if the evolved animals' fury is quelled and they're willing to return to a state of non-provocation with humans, will the relatives and teammates of the fifty-plus people who were wounded and killed in last night's battle be willing to reconcile? Who can guarantee that when they encounter wolves and leopards in the Evolution Forest later, they'll be able to hold back their grief and anger and not seek revenge for their loved ones?"

The wounds left by this battle won't be so easy to heal.

A human base with thousands of evolvers and large quantities of advanced weapons, going up against a few dozen wolves and leopards—the humans would definitely win in the end.

But, based on Xia Qing's observations, the alpha wolf of that pack is also a brain-domain evolver, so it's very likely that in some future storm, it will suddenly launch an attack on humans.

In the fourth year of the Calamity, a gathering area in the Bai Si base with over ten thousand people was wiped out by a bear pack led by a brain-domain evolved bear.

The wolf-leopard alliance in the western Evolution Forest might not be able to breach the copper walls and iron barriers of the human base's safe zone, but they can definitely destroy the territories humans have opened up outside the safe zone, driving humans back behind the walls once more.

"If I were still in the military with a weapon, I'd definitely form a team and request to fight, track down the maggots who triggered the beast tide, and skin them alive!"

Yue Haiying, who had been working hard to curb his fiery temper since his retirement with an amputated arm, was having trouble holding back his anger. He paused for a few seconds before getting down to business with Xia Qing. "Old Tan and Luo Pei have both been busy these past couple of days, so there's something I need to tell you: to avoid provoking those Liehu lunatics any further, Luo Pei took credit for shooting the high-level evolved intruder last night. For the next few months, you'd better not leave this territory, and don't go to the safe zone either. If you need to buy any supplies, you can have someone purchase them for you and deliver them here."

Xia Qing nodded. "Don't worry, Yue-ge. I came out here to farm, and there's not a single field in the safe zone that belongs to me, so I definitely won't go back. Our rice seeds are about to be delivered, so right now the most urgent thing for us is raising the seedlings."

Looking at the perfectly serious Xia Qing, Yue Haiying finally understood where the proud yet helpless expression Luo Pei had when mentioning Xia Qing last night had come from.

After a year of rapid growth, Xia Qing, who had previously been only a level-four strength evolver capable of doing manual labor, had become a level-six strength evolver, entering the ranks of high-level evolvers.

Her marksmanship had advanced to the point where she could snipe high-level speed evolvers from long range. She had also allied with top-tier big shot Zhang San, and could mobilize dozens of evolved wolves to fight for her.

With her current abilities and connections—both human and wolf—no matter whether she joined the military or a combat team, she would become a key cultivation target and live a more relaxed, comfortable life than now.

But this human powerhouse, who already possessed the ability to summon wind and rain, still chose to stay in the poorly-connected, peril-ridden territory farming.

Farming had always been the most important thing in her eyes.

Having such an alliance leader for the territory alliance made member Yue Haiying feel exceptionally grounded.

After half a year of farming, he could understand why Xia Qing had made this choice: even in the Calamity years, when disasters were frequent and farming was fraught with difficulties, dealing with the land was still easier and less troublesome than dealing with people.

Yue Haiying nodded vigorously. "Right, we're all farmers. The most important thing right now is raising seedlings and planting rice. How big were the losses in your territory last night? Do you need us to come over and lend a hand?"

Xia Qing shook her head. "No need, I was pretty lucky. Last night I only lost one greenhouse, I can handle it myself. Yue-ge, there wasn't a single sound from the neighboring territory last night?"

Ever since learning that the person living in Territory Fourteen had a grudge with Xia Qing, Yue Haiying had been paying extra attention to the neighbor's movements. "He hasn't made any move. Two hours ago, he refused the inspection team's request to enter his territory to check the losses on the lord channel. His voice sounded the same as before, so he probably wasn't injured."

Yan Meng of Territory Fourteen hadn't planted any overwintering crops at all, and the place he lived in was just a broken shipping container. No one would be interested in his territory, so there wouldn't be any intruders, and it was even less possible he'd suffered losses or been injured last night.

Xia Qing left Territory Fifteen and returned to her own territory. She had just taken out her key to open the south gate when she heard the sound of a car. After she entered the territory, she heard heart-wrenching crying coming from the direction of the inspection team's dormitory.

The families of the fallen team members had arrived.

Xia Qing walked heavily into the planting greenhouse, took off her protective mask, sat down by the field, and called out to Sheep Boss, who was busy eating in the alfalfa vegetable bed. "Boss."

Sheep Boss, with grass dangling from its mouth, raised its head.

"Hu Zi, who assembled our generator bikes for us, was killed."

Sheep Boss could tell Xia Qing was sad. It quickly stuffed the grass leaves into its mouth, trotted over to the strawberry patch surrounded by thorns, and looked at Xia Qing with its sparkling, big bright eyes. The meaning was crystal clear:

Not happy? Have a strawberry to cheer yourself up?

Sorrow and joy can't even be shared between humans, so Sheep Boss was even less likely to understand her complex emotions at this moment. Xia Qing leaned her head against the wall. "The strawberries aren't ripe yet. We have to wait until they're red before we can pick them, then Boss, Lao Er, and I will eat them together."

Seeing that Xia Qing refused to eat strawberries, Sheep Boss turned back to the vegetable bed and continued eating.