Chapter 606: The Hunted Experimental Subject

Xin Yu couldn't help laughing out loud, "If you don't have kittens, you still have wolf cubs, yellow weasel cubs, and squirrel cubs you can raise."

When she wasn't smiling, she looked very cool and aloof, but when she smiled she seemed very cute, like a very proud cat suddenly acting coquettishly — the contrast was enormous.

Xia Qing smiled and shook her head, "There won't be wolf cubs. Before wolf cubs can hunt on their own, the pack definitely won't let them leave the core territory to come out and take risks."

Xia Qing was absolutely certain about this point.

Previously, Xia Qing had also fantasized about petting wolf cubs, but after the western wolf pack's cubs were killed by humans, Xia Qing gave up that idea entirely.

With the lesson of the western wolf pack fresh in mind, the northern wolf pack would protect their cubs even more tightly. Unless a problem arose that the pack couldn't solve on their own, the lead wolf and the Broken-Waist Wolf would definitely not bring their cubs to appear before Xia Qing, or let Xia Qing go to Mountain Sixty.

Another point was that the Chonglian was about to build iron-net walls around this territory, and when the time came there would be many people and prying eyes, which would make the wolves uneasy. During the construction of the iron-net walls, the Broken-Waist Wolf probably wouldn't even come over to learn new knowledge or order takeout.

Xin Yu nodded and asked, "Can I go see the yellow mealworms you raise?"

Xin Yu raised birds, so of course she also raised nutritious yellow mealworms.

At this moment the sick wolf was guarding the yellow weasel in the sheep shed, Sheep Boss was guarding the big catalpa tree on Gao Po, and the greenhouse could be entered and exited freely, so Xia Qing took Xin Yu straight over to look.

After carefully examining the condition of Xia Qing's yellow mealworms, Xin Yu asked for guidance, "These yellow mealworms are very healthy — what do you feed them?"

"Vegetable leaves, wheat bran, potato skins, sweet potato skins, and pumpkin skins." In short, whatever Xia Qing ate that day determined what scraps the animals she raised would eat.

Xin Yu lowered her voice again and asked, "When you mix the wheat bran, do you use the filtered hot spring water?"

Xia Qing nodded.

Previously, she had always used the unpolluted spring water to feed the animals within the territory. After the unpolluted spring water ran dry, she began using the filtered spring water from the Hidden Valley, "You can try it too. Third Brother says drinking this kind of water is better than distilled water."

Xin Yu was an alliance member, so of course she also had the qualification to go to the Hidden Valley to fetch water. It was just that she hadn't been interested in the hot spring water before, so she hadn't sent anyone to fetch it. Now, seeing that Xia Qing could raise worms quite well under such crude conditions, Xin Yu was tempted, "Let me know next time you go fetch water, I'll send someone to go along."

Xia Qing directly gave Xin Yu a key to the Xiong Dong iron gate and carefully reminded her of the precautions, "Recently the yellow weasel isn't in the valley. Go during a safe time when it's not easy for people to spot you, and keep it confidential."

Xin Yu didn't stand on ceremony with Xia Qing. She took the valley key and proposed exchanging fifty yellow mealworms with Xia Qing, "From now on we can regularly exchange worms. This way, after the adults mate they can lay healthier eggs, and the stability will be higher too."

Xia Qing naturally agreed, gave Xin Yu two pots of strawberries, and only then saw her off the territory.

Not long after Xin Yu left, Xia Qing gathered the territory alliance members and convened an alliance meeting in the Number Five territory basement.

At today's meeting, territories Seven and Eight were once again absent. The one who came from territory Six to attend was Kuang Qingwei, who had lost a good deal of weight.

This winter, Kuang Qingwei's luck had been bad. First, when he went to the Evolution Forest to gather food, the sap of an evolved tree burned through his protective suit and took a chunk of meat off his right arm. Then, on the night of the beast tide, he was slashed across the back by an employee within his own territory. If Zhu Li hadn't had a massive burst at the critical moment to protect him, and if the allies hadn't rushed over in time to send him to territory Seven, Kuang Qingwei's life would have been over long ago.

Even at the brink of death, he hadn't been able to awaken an evolution ability. Although an ordinary person's injuries healed much more slowly than an evolver's, with Zhang San's special-effect medicine, his external wounds would be fully healed in another half month and wouldn't delay the spring plowing.

Having survived so many disasters without missing an arm or a leg, Kuang Qingwei was already very content. Right now his mind was entirely occupied with how to earn points to exchange for equipment and build his territory as secure as a fortress.

Once everyone had arrived, Xia Qing raised the first agenda item of the day, "The Territory Management Department has approved the Chonglian's application. After the Chonglian people arrive, whether we go to Mountain Fifty or stay within the territory, we must be much more careful in what we say and do. The Chonglian security team is very strong — among them there are definitely auditory evolvers, and there may also be magnetic-sense evolvers or brain-domain evolvers who are good at observing subtle changes in facial expressions."

Brain power everyone knew about, but magnetic sense was an ability that hadn't been made public. Among the allies present, Xia Qing had only explained this ability in detail to Qi Fu and his wife, and now the time had come to make it public.

Of course, even without her telling him, Yue Haiying would also know. Because he was often together with Luo Pei and Tan Junjie, his information was also very well-informed.

After introducing the magnetic-sense evolution ability to everyone, Xia Qing reminded the allies, "So when you encounter outsiders, try to keep your emotions stable. Otherwise, brain-domain evolvers can judge from your facial expressions, and magnetic-sense evolvers can judge from your magnetic field changes, whether you harbor ill intent or are lying."

Apart from Yue Haiying, who already knew about the existence of magnetic sense, the other members were all shocked. Qi Fu and his wife also put on the same look of surprise as everyone else.

Disguise was one of the basic survival skills of the disaster years.

Kuang Qingwei, who had just suffered a setback, was very excited, "If I had magnetic-sense ability, I'd start hiring workers right away. The moment a candidate stood in front of me, I wouldn't need them to say a word — I could tell whether they were lying or harboring ill intent!"

Xia Qing silently added in her heart: that was exactly how Xin Yu had handled the recruitment of refugees at territory Eight last year.

Zhao Ze, however, felt terror, "Magnetic fields are triggered by the weak electrical currents within living organisms. If the magnetic-sense ability is very powerful, and the observed person's emotional fluctuations are very intense, then could an advanced magnetic-sense evolver actually hear what the other person is thinking based on the changes in their magnetic field?!"

Qi Fu also felt that magnetic sense was a double-edged sword, "If you could sense the emotions and thoughts of those around you, that person probably wouldn't want to leave the house, and wouldn't want to deal with people either. And, I reckon no one would want to be around a magnetic-sense evolver either."

Yuan Yan, who could sense changes in plant magnetic fields, nodded along, agreeing with her husband's view.

Being around a magnetic-sense evolver felt far too insecure, because everyone had secrets they didn't want others to know.

Shi Du also agreed with Qi Fu's view, "I remember there was a brain-computer interface technology before the disaster that could directly operate computers with the mind. I feel a magnetic-sense evolver's ability is pretty much the same as brain-computer interface technology."

Xia Qing could understand everyone's fear of this ability. After she learned of Xin Yu's ability, she had also worried about this issue and had specifically looked up information to learn about this area of knowledge, "Brain-computer interfaces work by monitoring the neural signals issued by the brain to achieve control of external devices. Even now, the most precise equipment cannot accurately read the specific thought content of a human brain — a magnetic-sense evolver is even less capable of it."

Just as everyone's expressions had begun to relax a little, Yue Haiying lashed them again.

"Research before the disaster was strictly limited by relevant laws and regulations to conform to the requirements of human ethics and morality. Now, oversight has long existed in name only, and human experimentation has become so cruel and brutal as to exceed everyone's imagination. If any of us evolves a magnetic-sense ability, absolutely do not speak of it. Otherwise, you will immediately become a hunted experimental subject."