Chapter 605: Raising Two Kinds of

Her shout carried up to Gao Po, and Ram Boss, who had been staring at the green lantern's big Chinese toon tree, immediately kicked up its hooves and ran home. The shout reached the sheep pen, and the two weasels, still not fully over the anesthetic, shuddered at the same time. Sick Wolf stuck its head back in and sniffed the two weasels and the little ones that were still nursing.

Xia Qing opened the security door again and called out toward the sheep pen, "Lao Er, time to eat."

Sick Wolf immediately turned and left the sheep pen, heading back to the house to eat.

After a hearty breakfast, Ram Boss hurried off again to Gao Po to guard its precious toon tree. Sick Wolf didn't go back to the sheep pen to watch over the weasel family, but picked up the little basket and went to catch bugs for its fish.

Xia Qing poured the dishwater into the small basin used for mixing the chickens' feed, grabbed a handful of cornmeal, and mixed it together with alfalfa and a few large centipedes she had caught during her morning patrol of the territory, before trudging through the mud to the greenhouse to feed the chickens.

In just one night, the temperature had climbed back above freezing, and the whole territory was damp and wet. The green lantern chickens raised in the greenhouse could be moved back to the spacious coop for free-range half-raising.

But Xia Qing didn't dare to, because the sheep pen next to the coop housed a litter of weasels that specialized in eating chickens. Even if she wanted to move the chickens back, she'd have to wait until the weasels had moved out.

After feeding the green lantern chickens, Xia Qing went to the snake box, pulled a centipede nearly twenty centimeters long from the beast-skin pouch at her waist, opened the lid of the snake box, and tried to stuff the centipede inside.

This box held over a dozen green lantern and yellow lantern vegetable snakes, plus one small emerald-green snake Xia Qing had caught in Valley Two of District Three. Although Xia Qing now raised chickens and rabbits, and occasionally received prey from the wolf pack, she had always kept these snakes well fed.

Because this was meat.

After enduring the long, heart-burning, throat-parching hunger, Xia Qing would never give up on any kind of food she could get her hands on.

But the moment she opened the snake box, a flash of green shot out from inside, straight at her eyes.

Xia Qing clamped the lid of the snake box shut with her left hand to keep the other snakes from escaping, pinched the little green snake's head with her right hand, and at the same time raised her left foot to step on the large centipede that had fallen to the ground and was trying to flee.

Then Xia Qing first picked up the centipede on the ground and tossed it, along with the other large centipedes and insects from her pouch, into the snake box to feed the snakes, before carefully examining the small emerald snake coiled around her hand.

Based on the information on her laptop, Xia Qing could now confirm the species of this snake—a venomous snake of the genus Trimeresurus, family Viperidae.

The records stated that since the catastrophe, over sixty species of Trimeresurus venomous snakes had been discovered. The one Xia Qing held in her hand was a snake of the genus Trimeresurus.

Judging how dangerous a venomous snake is mainly depends on three indicators: toxicity, venom yield, and aggressiveness.

The Trimeresurus she had caught had neither strong toxicity nor a large venom yield. Although it had chosen its ambush timing well, it lacked speed and strength, so its aggressiveness wasn't high either.

Her preliminary judgment was that this was a beautiful-looking but not particularly dangerous Trimeresurus venomous snake. However, this snake always gave Xia Qing a feeling that it was somehow different.

Xia Qing, who possessed the magnetic-sense ability to perceive changes in plant magnetic fields, was experiencing for the first time this "it's somehow different" feeling toward an animal.

As for what exactly was different, Xia Qing couldn't say.

Xia Qing casually tucked the little snake into the pouch at her waist, deciding to wait until Seeing Xin Yu came out of Territory Seven and have her take a careful look.

Seeing Xin Yu, who had just returned from discussing cooperation at Territory Seven, was intercepted by her ally Xia Qing before entering Territory Three. Seeing the little snake Xia Qing produced, her first reaction was: "It's very pretty."

This was also one of the reasons Xia Qing had caught the little snake. "Besides being pretty, it knows how to attack a person's vital spot. Could it be a brain-domain evolved snake?"

Reptiles cannot use facial muscle movements to convey emotion, so Xia Qing couldn't use her usual method—reading facial expressions—to judge whether it was a brain-domain evolved creature. She could only draw the conclusion that it might be a brain-domain evolved creature based on its abnormal behavior.

Seeing Xin Yu was a magnetic-sense evolved person who could perceive changes in animal magnetic fields. Xia Qing had sought her out precisely to have her use magnetic sense to determine whether the little snake was brain-domain evolved.

If this snake was a brain-domain evolved creature, Xia Qing would definitely raise it well. It might come in handy someday.

After carefully sensing the little snake, Seeing Xin Yu shook her head. "Its magnetic field changes aren't any more intense than those of its kind. If you want to confirm, you can send it to Territory Seven and ask Third Brother to test it with instruments."

If even Seeing Xin Yu couldn't detect a difference, it was most likely not a brain-domain evolved creature. Xia Qing tucked the little snake back into the pouch at her waist. "Third Brother has important matters to attend to. I won't trouble him with such a small thing."

The truth was: a few hours earlier, Xia Qing had woken her idol over a weasel and gotten scolded; if she showed up today carrying a snake, she was afraid her idol would chase her out directly.

Seeing Xin Yu asked about the matter she was most concerned about. "Did you take down the insulation shed outside the swallow's nest? The weather's warming up, and Jasmine won't even stay in the greenhouse anymore."

"I took it down right after breakfast. The swallows are flying around catching bugs right now." Xia Qing explained to Seeing Xin Yu why it wasn't convenient to take her home. "The evolved weasel from the third peak of Mountain Fifty is in my sheep pen right now. If you go over, you'll probably scare it, and if it releases its toxic gas, all the dry firewood and hay in the sheep pen will be ruined."

Hearing that the weasel was in the sheep pen, Seeing Xin Yu immediately gave up the idea. Zhou Zhaoping's miserable state after smelling the stench was still vivid in her memory.

After inquiring about the relay construction arrangements, Xia Qing took the excited Seeing Xin Yu to the northern buffer forest to see the red squirrel. The little fellow had gone off somewhere, and there wasn't a sound in the tree hollow right now.

Seeing Xin Yu guessed, "It's breeding season now. The red squirrel might have gone off to look for a mate."

Although Blue Star's creatures had undergone a great evolution, the reproduction of Blue Star's wild animals still strictly followed natural laws. Only at certain times when breeding conditions were met, stimulated by hormones and regulated by the nervous system, would they mate and reproduce.

Spring is the breeding season. Not only wolves and weasels, but also the wild boar in Territory One and the red squirrel living in the tree hollow would go out to seek mates and reproduce.

"It's sure to find a mate it likes this year, because right now its fur is bright and glossy, and it's fat as a ball. You can tell at a glance it's a rich one among squirrels." Xia Qing showed Seeing Xin Yu the video she'd taken of the red squirrel wagging its tail and rubbing its little paws.

Seeing Xin Yu watched it carefully and asked, "Is it male or female?"

Xia Qing answered, "Female."

"You're now raising two kinds of animals with 'squirrel' in their names. Who knows, you might really attract a cat." Seeing Xin Yu finished speaking and smiled.

Red squirrel, weasel—both have the character "squirrel" in their names…

Xia Qing thought of this and couldn't help sighing. "Let's not have it come. If a cat comes, there'll definitely be a fight. Just like Third Brother said, I have no fate with cats."