Chapter 66: Trading with a Wolf?

After finishing her inspection of the territory, Xia Qing went to the wall outside the Wild Boar Breeding Center to greet Dajiang, led Sheep Boss home, then timed her arrival to head to the second floor of the basement in the abandoned village on the southwest side of Territory Three to learn shooting.

Today was Xia Qing's first day formally learning from Luo Pei, so she very properly brought two cucumbers and two strawberries as a master-acceptance gift.

Thank heavens, thank the earth—her strawberries had finally ripened, two of them. These were the best food she could currently offer. Sending out one's finest food after the catastrophe was the greatest show of sincerity.

Fully focused on learning, time flew by. After spending two hours repeatedly disassembling the sniper rifle and familiarizing herself with its structure, today's lesson ended. Luo Pei washed the machine oil off his hands, full of anticipation. "I haven't had fresh strawberries this year yet. The ones you grew must taste better than what the Safe Zone Planting Center cultivates."

It wasn't her skill—it was her cheating cultivation tool. Xia Qing felt secretly pleased inside, but humble on the surface. "I haven't tasted them myself, so I can't guarantee the flavor, but the qiang element content in the strawberry seedlings has already dropped to 0.3 parts per thousand. The taste shouldn't be too bad."

The lower the qiang element content, the better the fruit tastes. Luo Pei hadn't expected the strawberries' qiang element to be so low. "Then it's not 'shouldn't be'—it's definitely good."

The two returned to the first floor of the basement and found Yang Jin already sitting in the living room drinking tea. On the table sat a plate with two green cucumbers and two bright red strawberries. Red against green, in this white-toned room, it really caught the eye.

Seeing Luo Pei's completely unsurprised expression, Xia Qing felt a chill of fear. Earlier in the soundproof room she had practiced too intently and hadn't noticed any movement outside. If the visitor had been an enemy, her body would already be cold by now.

After exchanging greetings, the three sat around the table to drink tea.

Luo Pei asked Yang Jin, "Didn't catch it?"

Xia Qing wasn't at all surprised that Yang Jin had failed, because it was a wolf.

Yang Jin explained, "It's a wolf with dual evolution in brain domain and speed. It ran into Mountain Fifty-Five, so I didn't keep chasing."

North of Territory Three was Mountain Forty-Nine, north of Mountain Forty-Nine was Mountain Fifty-Two, and northeast of Mountain Fifty-Two was Mountain Fifty-Five—that was already deep in the Evolution Forest. Yang Jin's choice to give up chasing the wolf was very wise.

Luo Pei asked, "That wolf is very fast?"

"Speed is about the same as mine. It has rich combat experience, knows how to dodge bullets, and is very familiar with the Evolution Forest." Yang Jin looked at Xia Qing. "It's grey-brown, with a notch on the outside of its left ear."

Xia Qing answered immediately, "The wolf that wiped out the Fengyun Squad last year was brown, but it also had a notch on the outside of its left ear, and it was very fast too."

"It's probably the same one. Wolves shed their fur, so color differences are normal." Luo Pei asked Yang Jin again, "Only one wolf?"

Yang Jin confirmed, "Only one. Zhang San's guess is very credible—the wild boars in the valley are most likely food it's raising."

Xia Qing asked, "Captain Yang, will that wolf come back?"

Yang Jin shook his head. "Hard to judge, but even if it does come again, it won't pose a major threat to the territory."

Xia Qing confirmed with Yang Jin, "You mean it's already had its revenge, so it won't come back to provoke us?"

After years of fighting, a certain tacit understanding had formed between humans and the evolved wolf packs. As long as one side didn't actively provoke, the other wouldn't launch a real attack. This farmland had already been cleared clean—no large herbivores left—so the wolf had nothing to fight over.

"Exactly what you think."

Yang Jin, who hadn't slept for a day and a night, had bloodshot eyes, but when he smiled he was still devastatingly handsome…

Xia Qing turned her gaze away to stare at the strawberries, but Yang Jin's smile only grew more obvious. Luo Pei watched them with a smile and said nothing.

Xia Qing voiced her greatest worry. "The spring in my territory—I don't know if it matters to the wolf."

Luo Pei reminded Xia Qing, "The evolved wolf might not know the spring exists."

Xia Qing shook her head. "My sheep probably knows the wolf that hunts the wild boars, and they might even be on good terms. So I suspect that wolf knows the spring exists."

Yang Jin divided the strawberries and cucumbers into three equal portions, placed them on three small white porcelain dishes, and handed them to Xia Qing and Luo Pei. "So your sheep wasn't bringing food to visit the wild boars, but to visit the wolf?"

Luo Pei was shocked. "Xia Qing, is your sheep a brain-domain evolved animal?"

By unspoken agreement, neither Luo Pei nor Xia Qing mentioned Sheep Boss's name in front of Yang Jin, although Yang Jin certainly already knew.

Xia Qing didn't understand why Luo Pei was asking this and shook her head. "I've never seen other evolved sheep, but I don't think mine is that smart."

After the evolution of Blue Star's creatures, many animals became smarter—for example, those that could speak human language, like hill mynas and parrots that seemed possessed; monkeys that could use machine guns and crossbows; wolves that could team up for coordinated battles…

Sheep Boss wasn't even in the same league as these types of smart evolved animals.

Luo Pei ate a refreshing slice of cucumber before explaining to Xia Qing. "Brain-domain evolution also comes in many types. Take humans, for example—the brain-domain evolution types discovered so far include intelligence, observation, memory, thinking, and emotion-capture abilities. So your sheep not being smart doesn't mean it isn't a brain-domain evolver."

Brain-domain evolvers were all treated as special talents and recruited by research institutes. So Xia Qing rarely had contact with brain-domain evolvers and didn't know brain-domain evolution was divided into so many types.

After hearing Luo Pei's explanation, Xia Qing formed a new judgment. "Wherever I hide things, it remembers. Simple tasks I do a few times and it learns them. So could it be memory and observation evolution? But why did Luo-ge immediately think my sheep might be a brain-domain evolved animal just because it might know the wolf?"

Luo Pei smiled and gestured for her to taste the strawberry. "Eat while we talk—the smell is too tempting."

"Mm." Xia Qing picked up a thumb-sized strawberry and took a bite. Her taste buds were instantly awakened by the slightly sour, sweet fragrance, and she was so happy she wanted to cry. "Delicious! Captain Yang, Luo-ge, hurry and try them."

Just looking at her expression, one could tell they were delicious. Luo Pei was mentally prepared when he bit into the strawberry, but was still amazed by its pure flavor. "Truly delicious—the taste is far better than any I've had before. A-Jin, where did you get these strawberry seedlings?"

Yang Jin finished tasting the strawberry and explained matter-of-factly, "Traded from the Planting Center. The points weren't high either—I just got lucky and caught them at the right time."

Top-grade Green Light strawberries—how could that possibly be just luck?

Yeah, right! Like I believe you!

Luo Pei gave Yang Jin, who was focused on tasting the strawberry, a meaningful glance, then turned to praise Xia Qing, who was completely immersed in the happiness the strawberry brought. "To grow strawberries this well, you must have put in a lot of effort."