Chapter 611: The Strange Big Chinese Toon Tree

It wasn't just Sheep Boss ramming the tree—Sick Wolf was also swatting at something with its paws. Though dusk had already fallen, the visually evolved Xia Qing could still see clearly: countless insects were flying in from all directions toward the big Chinese toon tree.

It turned out that while she had been staring at the helicopter, the big Chinese toon tree had quietly sprouted. The insects must have been drawn by the special fragrance of the toon buds, coming to feed.

Sheep Boss was ramming the toon tree to knock these insects down from it; what Sick Wolf was swatting with its paws were precisely the insects knocked off by Sheep Boss.

Xia Qing, who possessed magnetic-sense evolution ability, sensed something different about the big Chinese toon tree. This difference was very unlike the magnetic field emitted by dangerous evolved plants—it was another kind of wrongness, a feeling that couldn't be described in words.

Without a word, Xia Qing turned and ran down the slope, drew a sprayer-full of water from the reservoir, poured the agent in, stirred it quickly, then charged back up Gao Po. "Boss, Lao Er, you two fall back—let me handle this!"

Sick Wolf immediately backed off, but Sheep Boss, as if gone mad, kept up its thump-thump ramming against the big Chinese toon tree. Sheep Boss's state clearly showed it was being affected by the gas the toon tree was giving off.

Xia Qing immediately raised her arm to check the air toxin detector and discovered that an "unknown gas" existed in the air here, one whose danger level could not be displayed.

In other words, there was a gas here that even her idol Zhang San didn't recognize—the toxin detector produced by Territory Seven couldn't confirm whether it was harmful to humans.

Is the big Chinese toon tree important? Yes.

But Sheep Boss is more important.

Xia Qing immediately set down the sprayer, found a sturdy thick rope, tightly bound the frantically bleating Sheep Boss, hoisted it up and placed it on the upwind side, then warned Sick Wolf not to approach before she began spraying the big Chinese toon tree with the agent.

The agent produced by Territory Seven was still effective against these insects Xia Qing didn't recognize.

In less than half a minute, the insects that had been gnawing on the toon buds or mating rained down, losing mobility. The insects still streaming in were also affected by the spray and dared not land on the sprayed branches and tender buds.

But the tree was too big—one sprayer-tank of water couldn't possibly cover the whole tree. Seeing the unsprayed parts still thick with insects, Xia Qing was so anxious she wanted to go thump-thump ramming the tree herself to knock these stinkbugs down.

Wrong!

This emotion was wrong!

The gas released by the big Chinese toon tree didn't just affect Sheep Boss—it was affecting her too!

In other words, this gas could penetrate the filter cartridges in the protective masks humans wore. Moreover, it couldn't be driven off by the yi-stone Xia Qing wore.

The big Chinese toon tree was important, but her own safety was more important.

Xia Qing suppressed the rising tide of irritability, hoisted Sheep Boss onto her shoulders, called Sick Wolf, and fled Gao Po together, running all the way home to escape the big Chinese toon tree's domain.

Xia Qing had Sheep Boss and Sick Wolf stay in the yard while she went inside, changed into a fully sealed protective suit, picked up a water tank weighing several dozen jin, and rushed back to Gao Po again.

A gas protective suit completely isolates the human body from the outside world. Once worn, a person breathes through an independent air supply built into the suit's internal breathing apparatus, fearless of harmful gases in the external environment—except for gases corrosive to the protective suit itself.

Clearly, the gas produced by the big Chinese toon tree was not corrosive.

The toon tree was sprouting at a speed visible to the naked eye, and insects kept flying in, drawn by the scent. Xia Qing, wearing the fully sealed protective suit and carrying the sprayer on her back, sprayed the big Chinese toon tree up and down.

"Territory Three, do you need an investigation team to assist?" Tan Junjie's inquiry came through the walkie-talkie.

Tang Huai also asked, "Xia Qing, why is your evolved sheep bleating like that?"

Xia Qing, pressing down an inexplicable, unresolvable irritability and anxiety, took a moment to press the walkie-talkie button and replied calmly, "The evolved sheep in Territory Three went berserk from the helicopter noise. No assistance needed."

Tan Junjie responded seriously, "Copy that."

Tang Huai didn't understand, "Huh? How could a helicopter make your evolved sheep go berserk?"

Xia Qing was busy spraying and had no time for Tang Huai. Her "boyfriend" Hu Zifeng came online and started firing back, "Why couldn't it? Last time you guys were banging on food bowls in Territory Four, that made the evolved sheep go berserk too."

Tang Huai ignored the madman. Right now he only cared about Sheep Boss's condition. "Xia Qing, could your evolved sheep have been hit by that ultrasonic attack last year and been left with aftereffects? Why don't you send it to Territory Seven and let Third Brother take a look?"

Before Hu Zifeng could say anything, Zhang San came online with a sinister tone, "I'm not a vet. One more word out of you and I'll turn you into a beast on the spot."

Tang Huai, who had been crouching behind the northern wasteland grass wall in Territory Nine eavesdropping, immediately shut his mouth. The channel went silent.

Half an hour later, Sheep Boss finally stopped bleating.

An hour later, night had fully fallen and the temperature had quickly dropped below zero. At last no more insects came flying to gnaw on the Chinese toon buds. Xia Qing carefully sprayed the big Chinese toon tree three more times, then stood guard for several more minutes. After confirming no more insects were coming, she went home to check on her two companions.

The bound Sheep Boss lay pitifully all over in the yard.

Xia Qing untied the rope from Sheep Boss, massaged its sore legs from being bound with one hand, and pulled out her phone with the other to open the surveillance camera in the sheep pen.

The plucked-fur weasel and the albino weasel both stood inside the cardboard box, shielding their young beneath them, while Sick Wolf quietly kept watch beside the box.

The chaos triggered by the big Chinese toon tree ultimately caused no major damage.

Xia Qing unzipped the fully sealed protective suit and exposed her head. Because the emergency had been so sudden, she hadn't had time to put on a wig before changing into the suit. Her messy short hair was soaked with sweat and stuck to her scalp, looking as bedraggled as a drowned wolf.

She went inside, grabbed an absorbent towel, briskly rubbed her short hair into a frizzy lion's mane, and asked, "Boss, feeling any better?"

"Baa~_~_~"

The feeble bleat Sheep Boss let out from the ground sounded even more aggrieved than the last time it and Xia Qing had been beaten up by Yan Long, when the head wolf came to back it up.

Xia Qing's heart ached at the sound. She immediately tossed down the towel to massage its legs. "Was the rope too tight? Did it hurt you? Let me rub it for you. Does your head hurt?"

"Baa~_~_" Sheep Boss continued to sound aggrieved.

After massaging Sheep Boss's legs for a while, Xia Qing asked, "Does Boss want to eat some Chinese toon buds?"

Sheep Boss's eyes immediately widened. "Baaa~~~"

"Alright, Boss wait here. I'll go pick some for your dinner." Xia Qing, whose emotions were still in an unstable state, finished putting on the fully sealed protective suit, took a basket, returned to Gao Po, climbed the big Chinese toon tree, and broke off a big handful of Chinese toon buds that had already grown wildly to thumb-length.

Although the biological agents produced by Territory Seven were only effective against specific species and posed no danger to Sheep Boss, Xia Qing was still very careful. She first soaked the Chinese toon buds for fifteen minutes in unpolluted spring water with salt, and only fed them to Sheep Boss after washing them clean.

With delicious food in front of it, Sheep Boss's legs stopped hurting and it forgot all about feeling wronged. It stood by the basin and buried its head in the food.

Xia Qing also brought out two pieces of jerky from inside for Sick Wolf to tide it over. She herself chewed on a piece of jerky while taking out her phone to contact her idol.