Chapter 583: Change

Xia Qing took sterile gloves from her backpack and put them on, quickly dragging the monkey corpses together into a pile, not even leaving behind the scattered arms and legs.

During this process, Xia Qing carefully examined every monkey, confirming that the troop leader with the scar on its left brow ridge was not among them.

The leader wasn't dead, so the monkey troop's chance of making a comeback was very high.

Xia Qing pressed her lips together, quickly cut open a few monkeys' abdomens, found the lungs with the most obvious contrast, and explained to Broken-Waist Wolf and Sick Wolf using gestures and demonstrations.

"Broken-Waist, Wolf Lao Er, look here. This monkey is infected with a microorganism called Advanced Evolution Aspergillus. Its lungs already have nodules and masses—this is called 'pathological change.'"

Xia Qing pointed at the lungs of an uninfected monkey and continued her explanation. "This monkey's lungs aren't infected, so its lungs show no pathological change."

How did Xia Qing know all this?

Well, of course… she just learned it from her idol and was passing it on right away.

Sick Wolf glanced at the monkeys' innards a few times, then kept staring at a few fierce, furious wolves in the western wolf pack. Its mission today was to protect Xia Qing together with Handsome Giant Wolf.

Broken-Waist Wolf stood beside Xia Qing, solemnly studying the lung lobes of the two monkeys.

Listening to the wolves' low growls, Xia Qing reached out and touched Broken-Waist Wolf's abdomen, continuing her explanation. "If you eat this diseased lung, here—your lungs will also develop pathological changes. You'll have trouble breathing, your resistance will drop, you'll lose fur, and you won't be handsome anymore. So, animals that are sick can't be eaten. Got it?"

Broken-Waist Wolf ignored Xia Qing's hand on its abdomen and stared very solemnly at the monkeys' already diseased lungs.

Xia Qing cut out the lung lobes of the sick monkeys, sealed them in bags, then placed them inside a box—this had to be brought back and handed to her idol.

After taking samples, Xia Qing quickly cleared a firebreak, poured on oil, and set the monkey corpses ablaze, thoroughly destroying the Advanced Evolution fungi they carried.

The large-scale disinfection work in this area would be completed by the helicopter the base sent out tomorrow. The agent the helicopter would spray had to wait until she delivered the lung samples to Territory Seven tonight before it could be determined.

Fear of fire is an animal's instinct. The wolf pack grew restless again, howling angrily; even the northern wolf pack began to shift uneasily and retreat. Only Broken-Waist Wolf and Sick Wolf, who were used to fire, remained calm.

After confirming the fire wouldn't spread, Xia Qing took a packet of pills from her backpack and had Broken-Waist Wolf call over the northern wolf pack members who'd fought today to take the antifungal medicine.

These pills were something Xia Qing had traded with her idol for. Because they only knew the fungus species but weren't sure of its evolutionary level, just to be safe, her idol had given her pills capable of killing superbugs of the same type. Xia Qing had paid a hefty price.

However, this "hefty price" was nothing compared to the three hundred thousand Yishi.

After Broken-Waist Wolf, Sick Wolf, and Handsome Giant Wolf cheerfully swallowed the pills, the northern wolf pack followed suit. Xia Qing took the opportunity to treat the wounds on any wolves with external injuries.

The western wolf pack?

She handed the bag containing sixty pills to Broken-Waist Wolf, signaling that it could return them to the western wolf pack.

Xia Qing had already counted earlier—the western wolf pack still had twenty-three wolves, and four leopards were hidden in the dense trees and behind the bushes.

These combat-capable wolves and leopards, plus the old and weak members of this group who hadn't shown themselves, sixty pills would be more than enough.

As for whether Broken-Waist Wolf would actually return them to the western wolf pack, and whether the western wolves would take them, Xia Qing couldn't control that, nor could she be bothered to.

Just as she had noticed quite a few wolves in the western pack were carrying injuries, but she wouldn't volunteer to treat them.

This pack of wolves was full of hatred toward humans. Xia Qing valued her life.

After confirming the Advanced Evolution fungi carried by the monkey corpses had been burned clean by the blaze, Xia Qing sprayed the agent she'd brought along, then used snow to bury the ashes and the monkeys' remains. "Broken-Waist, the microorganisms have been dealt with. We can go home now."

Broken-Waist Wolf signaled Xia Qing to climb onto a giant wolf's back, which carried her away.

Xia Qing looked back and saw that Handsome Giant Wolf and over twenty wolves from the northern pack hadn't followed, and the western wolf pack also stayed where it was. Dozens of pairs of wolf eyes glinted coldly in the winter wind.

Broken-Waist Wolf delivered Xia Qing and Sick Wolf to Mountain Fifty-Two before leaving. Xia Qing stretched her sore thighs, sent a message to Zhang San and Yang Jin to report she was safe, then took Sick Wolf across Mountain Forty-Nine and returned to her own territory.

After disinfecting and washing up, Xia Qing lay in her warm bed and reflected on everything that had happened that day. She could only describe it with two words: unreal.

She yawned, closed her eyes, and went to sleep.

She slept, but the lab in Territory Seven remained bright as day. Zhang San, wearing a mask and glasses, was working with three researchers, studying the diseased monkey lung lobes Xia Qing had brought back.

In the inner-city office of Hui San Safe Zone, Tang Zhengrong, his face dark, slammed his phone onto the floor and panted heavily.

In the secret room of the Sufeng Combat Team, Tang Zhengsu opened a combination case, packing a thick stack of points cards and bundles of precious supplies into a handbag.

In the interrogation room of the Safe Zone, Zhou Xun, sitting in the interrogation chair, shifted uneasily, then mustered the courage to lay out his condition. "I can provide evidence, but you must guarantee my safety."

In another interrogation room, Chen Dongyang of the Dongyang Combat Team firmly denied it. "I never ordered any member of my team to slaughter wolf cubs."

The investigator from the Red One Investigation Team produced a photograph. "Do you recognize this person?"

"I do. Yang Xingjiang, the third combatant of the Jiang Xiong Combat Team. He…" Chen Dongyang's pupils trembled as he thought of Xue Jinchang from his own team, who was on good terms with Yang Xingjiang…

"Six were arrested, four are still locked up. Only Chen Dongyang and Yang Shanshan were released." Xu Juan sat in the reception room beside the farmland of Territory Three, sipping tea as she told Xia Qing about the situation in the Safe Zone. "No matter what I asked him, he wouldn't say a word. I feel something big must have happened."

Xu Juan had rushed to find Xia Qing this time because she'd sensed the wind was wrong, but she couldn't find anything out in the Safe Zone, so she wanted to come to this territory to gather information.

This was the area that had suffered the heaviest casualties in the last beast tide.

Xia Qing asked, "Which four people from the Dongyang Combat Team were arrested?"

After Xu Juan named the four, Xia Qing asked, "What about Xue Jinchang?"

Xu Juan shook her head. "He went out on a mission before the beast tide and hasn't come back yet. His chances don't look good—maybe he got cornered and bitten to death by the wolf pack."

Xia Qing took a bite of pumpkin cake. "Xue Jinchang and Yang Xingjiang, the third combatant of the Jiang Xiong Combat Team, seem to be on pretty good terms."

"Right. They knew each other before the Catastrophe. After the Jiang Xiong Combat Team got into trouble, Xue Jinchang even pulled strings trying to rescue Yang Xingjiang and get him to join Dongyang Combat." Xu Juan, seeing how Xia Qing was acting, knew she must have gotten hold of some information. She leaned in and asked quietly, "What's the situation?"

Xia Qing said softly, "The reason the western wolf pack launched the beast tide might be because someone invaded their territory and brutally killed wolf cubs. There's no evidence yet, so don't spread it around, Sister Juan. You can't tell Chen Dongyang either."

Xu Juan's slender brows drew tight. Invading the territory of evolved beasts and brutally killing their cubs to provoke a war between beasts and humans was a serious crime. If Xue Jinchang really did it, the Dongyang Combat Team would be dragged down and ruined by him.