Chapter 658: Summoning the Wolf

"An unpolluted water source."

Seeing Xia Qing's look that said 'just as I expected,' Yang Jin couldn't help but laugh.

Although half his face was hidden behind a protective mask, his eyes, and the way they crinkled when he smiled, were still very striking.

"The alpha wolf knows about the unpolluted spring on Mountain 49, but only released a herd of wild boars and one sheep here. I guessed that within the core territory of the wolf pack, there must be a drinking water source of decent quality. This core territory, I speculated at the time, was Mountain 55."

Yang Jin watched the movement at the bottom of the pool, explaining in detail to Xia Qing what had happened last year. "The wolf pack discovered my intention and used the action of hunting two wild boars to show their attitude: if humans entered Mountain 55, they would invade human territory, even kill humans, so I had to give up."

So that's why the Broken-Waist Wolf entered the wild boar breeding center to hunt two large wild boars — it all makes sense now!

Xia Qing asked, "After the wolf pack was defeated, you never brought a team back to investigate?"

Yang Jin shook his head. "After the northern wolf pack was defeated, they went to your territory and established a friendly relationship with you. You and I are also allies, so I suspended the exploration mission. Later, Brother Luo's poison started acting up again, and I focused all my energy on finding an antidote. I unexpectedly discovered an unpolluted spring in Lan City, and your relationship with the wolf pack also kept getting better, so I never restarted the mission."

"Facts have proven my choice was correct. During the last beast tide, the northern wolf pack, because of you, came out and protected our territory."

Holding the snake-catching net and staring at the stream, Xia Qing proposed a possibility. "In a hidden valley pool on Mountain 50, I discovered broken Yi Stones. This shows that the evolved bears have already mastered the method of using Yi Stones to purify water sources. Among the evolved wolves, there are also brain-domain evolvers, so they should have mastered this skill too, which means there might not be an unpolluted spring here."

Yang Jin looked at Xia Qing with expressive eyes. "Do you think Yi Stones might be produced here, which is why it became territory contested by wolves, bears, and snakes?"

Looking at that expression, the Iron Rooster wants to cooperate with me to mine my handsome wolf brother's Use Yishi deposit?

no, no, no.

If there really are Yi Stones here, the share I'd get from cooperating with the Iron Rooster to mine them would definitely not be as cost-effective as exchanging supplies with the wolf pack for Yi Stones.

Xia Qing scooped up a green Qiang Snake swimming upstream before answering seriously, "Maybe. But the risk of mining is very high, because before the great battle last July, this should have been one of the wolf pack's permanent residences. Because, if the wolf pack had been living entirely on Mountain 60 before, the alpha wolf and the Broken-Waist Wolf definitely wouldn't have been raising wild boars on Mountain 49."

The straight-line distance from Mountain 49 to Mountain 60 is sixty li, and the mountain path winds and twists, making the journey even longer. Two smart brain-domain evolved wolves raising wild boars on Mountain 49 means their previous residence wasn't far from Mountain 49.

Mountain 55 is just right. At the wolf pack's speed, running from here to Mountain 49 would only take a few minutes.

Yang Jin confirmed Xia Qing's judgment was correct. "Teacher Tan said this mountain used to be the wolf pack's territory."

Tan Junjie had previously been stationed at the old group headquarters in the flat valley on the west side of Mountain 49, so he had a relatively good understanding of the distribution of evolved forest creatures in this area.

Xia Qing stared at the stream, continuing to speculate. "After the wolf pack was defeated, they left this mountain and haven't taken it back yet, which proves there must be something here they fear. And with the wolf pack's current strength, they still can't defeat this presence."

Xia Qing took a deep breath. "Based on my understanding of the wolf pack, they definitely haven't given up on this mountain. Right now there must be a wolf nearby watching. So, if you want to prospect here, after dealing with the presence the wolf pack fears, you'll still have to defeat the wolf pack. If you don't believe me…"

Here it comes!

Xia Qing, who had detected a Qiang Snake approaching through magnetic sense, stopped, turned her head to look at the waterfall, and her eyes instantly widened.

Damn it, there's actually a Qiang Snake jumping down from above along the waterfall!

Before Xia Qing could open her mouth, Yang Jin had already rushed over and grabbed that fiery-red Qiang Snake, then used the stone wall for leverage to jump back, landing steadily beside Xia Qing.

That speed…

Xia Qing, a non-speed evolver, couldn't be bothered to say the word "envious." She asked directly, "Captain Yang, did you evolve a magnetic sense ability?"

Yang Jin put the snake into a bag, neither admitting nor denying. "Anyone who has led teams on missions in the evolved forest long-term and lived until now has a certain perception of danger, and can make deployments in advance based on this perception to avoid risks. I'm not sure if this counts as magnetic sense, because I've never tested it."

"Even if it is, my level of perception should be considered ordinary, not enough to be called a magnetic sense evolver. For example, a creature like the Qiang Snake, which has a very high danger rating but isn't very strong in combat, I can't sense it."

After explaining his situation in detail, Yang Jin asked about Xia Qing's. "It was because you suddenly looked up just now that I saw this Qiang Snake. At what distance can you sense the presence of a Qiang Snake?"

He wasn't asking whether Xia Qing had evolved a magnetic sense ability, but directly asking about her level of magnetic sense ability.

Since he'd asked so clearly, it would be too fake for Xia Qing to deny it. "I hadn't encountered live Qiang Snakes before. I only confirmed I had this ability this morning on Mountain 49. My sensing range is only five meters."

"Five meters is already very impressive. No wonder Third Brother insisted you take on this mission."

The stream formed by the pool's overflow was three meters away from where the waterfall flowed down, so a five-meter detection range was sufficient. Yang Jin discussed with Xia Qing, "From now on, you use magnetic sense to detect Qiang Snakes, and I'll catch them? This is a good opportunity to train your new ability."

"Thank you, Captain Yang." Xia Qing stopped pretending she was catching Qiang Snakes with her eyes and began focusing on using magnetic sense to detect their presence.

After the two cooperated to catch three Qiang Snakes, the sky gradually darkened, and the difficulty of catching Qiang Snakes increased.

Xia Qing very deftly took out a fishing net from her backpack, made two large net bags, and cooperated with Yang Jin to block both the stream and the waterfall. Even if more Qiang Snakes came, they would fall into the fishing net and be unable to enter the small pool.

Seeing Yang Jin give her a thumbs-up, Xia Qing stated the fact calmly. "In my previous teams on missions, my role was the outsourced logistics person responsible for these miscellaneous tasks."

Yang Jin opened his mouth, then swallowed back what he wanted to say. Since they no longer needed to keep constant watch, it was time to find a place to rest.

The two went above the waterfall, found a tall, clean rock, and set up the tent on it. This location allowed them to see the waterfall, monitor the pool and the outflowing stream, and defend against python sneak attacks from high ground — the best resting spot.

"Get your individual flight device ready. If an emergency occurs, fly toward the territory immediately. I'll rendezvous with you at the landing point you choose."

After arranging the retreat plan, Yang Jin told Xia Qing to go into the tent to rest first while he went to patrol the surroundings.

Xia Qing hadn't eaten all day, nor had she relieved herself, and really did need to go into the tent to rest. Not only that, she also needed to contact Boss Sheep, tell it she couldn't return tonight, and coax it into guarding the house.

Twenty minutes later, they switched. Yang Jin went into the tent to rest.

After a simple dinner, the two set the night watch schedule for the evening.

Yang Jin, on the first watch, stood outside the tent staring down at the small pool below, monitoring the surroundings, and asked, "Earlier you said if I wanted to prospect here, what would happen if I didn't believe you?"

Xia Qing, resting on the inflatable mattress inside the tent, answered, "What I wanted to say then was that the wolf pack definitely hasn't given up on Mountain 55, and there's definitely a wolf watching nearby. If you don't believe me, I can call the wolves over to show you."