Chapter 786: The Wolfdog Returns

After thanking the four Evolvers who had come from Territory No. 8 to help, and handing off the tasks of Territory No. 9, Xia Qing returned to her own territory to find that Beard Feng's squad had already opened the rainproof covers on all the greenhouses, letting the crops inside get some air and breeze.

The rainproof cover over the small fish pond had also been pulled back, and the small fry that had survived the first Calamity Rain were biting and eating the corpses of their kind that hadn't made it.

Inside a hidden valley on Mountain No. 50, Ye Yang, sitting in a wheelchair, instructed Hu Ningsheng, "Keep an eye on your phone. Once you confirm the Calamity Elements have recovered to normal levels, immediately put the Yishi away."

Yishi is a precious new material ore with a limited service life; we must maximize its value.

The disfigured Hu Ningsheng laughed, his tone relaxed, "Sister Qing said she rented these Yishi for three full days, that's 72 hours, and told us to put them away right on schedule. I've set an alarm, six-thirty tomorrow morning. By then the Calamity Element content in the air will definitely have dropped a lot from now, and the quality of the crops in the valley shouldn't decline."

Ye Yang leaned back in his chair, bathed in the sunlight pouring into the valley, and laughed freely as well, "With a shrewd alliance leader like Sister Qing, our alliance is bound to get better and better."

"That's for sure!"

Zhang Shi, on the left side of the cave, also stood in the pillar of light, letting the sun drive the dampness from her body. Just thinking that her kin had once stood here sunbathing and gazing up at this strip of sky made her feel a deep sense of peace.

She felt a strong sense of belonging to this valley that her kin had opened up.

Her kin all died here?

During the Calamity years, a family whose bodies remained intact, dying together and being buried together, was a blessing.

In a while, she would find a chance to move her kin's remains out of Territory No. 3 and bury them on Mountain No. 50.

The traitor who had fled deep into the Evolution Forest had vanished without a trace. After Yan Long helped Zhang Heqing eliminate the spreading medium-danger red Calamity Grass, he left a squad to protect the researchers, and taking a few people, escorted the two researchers Zhang Dazhou and Zhang Xiaozhou, along with Territory No. 7's security guard Gao Yanbin, away from Mountain No. 50. On returning to Territory No. 7, he glanced up at the mountainside.

Zhang Song, who was wearing an airtight protective suit and waddling like a clumsy duck, came over and asked through his earpiece walkie-talkie, "Captain Yan, something's up?"

Yan Long shook his head, hoisted Zhang Song onto his shoulder, and hurried down the mountain.

Further north, birds and beasts began to leave the crevices of Mountain No. 55 one after another. Hungry carnivores seized the chance to prey on the herbivores that had just weathered the Calamity together, while equally hungry herbivores pulled out their ultimate survival tricks and fled desperately.

On a stone platform inside the mountain crack, two little leopards were gnawing on a half-grown wild boar, while a honey badger stood below the platform, licking the pig blood that dripped down. The mother leopard, sprawled on the platform panting heavily, waited until her cubs were full before she began wolfing down her own meal.

After licking for a while and finding it unsatisfying, and unable to climb onto the stone platform, the little honey badger could only follow the scent, huffing and puffing out of the mountain crack, tumbling down beside Python Pool, and fixing its eyes on the giant crocodile carcass being fought over and pecked at by countless scavenging birds.

Further north, an Evolution Wolf wearing a snakeskin protective suit, carrying a fawn in its mouth as it crossed Mountain No. 58, encountered an Evolution Wolfdog, also wearing a snakeskin protective suit, running from north to south.

The Evolution Wolf set the fawn down, and the two sniffed each other, then the wolf picked up its prey and continued on its way. The wolfdog also sped up, running along the familiar game trail.

On the sunny slope of Mountain No. 61, two brown bear cubs weighing several dozen jin lay sleeping soundly beneath a clump of strangely shaped shrubs, basking in the sun.

In Northern Zone One, Territory No. 3. Xia Qing, who was lying on the bay window in the second-floor living room sunbathing alongside Sheep Boss and snoring away, suddenly heard a "beep."

This was the alert sound that played whenever someone entered or exited through the north gate of Territory No. 3 or the north gate of the Northern Zone One iron-net wall.

Had the members of Beard Feng's squad, who had already left Territory No. 3, come back?

"Beep."

Another alert—looks like she really had to go see who it was.

As Xia Qing rolled over to reach for her phone, she accidentally kicked her sleeping companion, who kicked her off the bay window with one hoof.

After Xia Qing lay on the ground and squinted to read her phone screen, she sat up with a jolt and began tapping rapidly at the screen.

After confirming she hadn't misread, Xia Qing jumped up, slipped on her shoes, opened the back window of the second-floor living room, jumped out, and sprinted north through the Calamity Grass.

Sheep Boss raised its big head to glance at the back window, then lay flat and went back to sleep.

On the Gao Po of the northern buffer forest, Wolf Lao Er caught Xia Qing's scent and heard her running, so it sped up and charged toward her.

"Lao Er!!!"

Xia Qing threw her arms around the wolfdog, whose protective suit was covered in grass leaves. "Lao Er!!!"

Lao Er wagged its tail, leaving a few damp wolf hairs on Xia Qing's messy, jet-black short hair.

"Lao Er!!!"

"Awoo."

"You're back!!!"

"Awoo."

Xia Qing swatted away a leech that had launched itself at her, then cupped Lao Er's damp head. "Where's your protective mask?"

Wolf Lao Er grinned, smiling happily.

Xia Qing, whose eyes were welling with tears, also smiled. "I was planning to finish clearing the Calamity Grass in the territory and then go to Mountain No. 60 to visit you. I didn't expect you'd run over first. Lao Er, you've lost weight—haven't you been eating properly lately?"

Wolf Lao Er kept its mouth open in a grin, smiling happily.

Xia Qing plucked the rotting grass leaves from its head, swatted away two locusts and three blue damselflies, and said, "I didn't have time to put on my protective mask. How about we run back home?"

Lao Er naturally had no objections, and the person and wolf ran quickly back home.

After helping Lao Er out of its protective suit and watching it gulp down pollution-free spring water, Xia Qing's heart ached again. "Lao Er, I'll boil you two eggs and half a rabbit for lunch, with some spinach leaves. How about you eat lunch before you go?"

Wolf Lao Er raised its head and grinned at Xia Qing. The way the water droplets hanging on Mao Mao's fur around its mouth dripped down made Xia Qing think it was utterly adorable.

"If the wolf pack doesn't have anything going on, how about Lao Er stays for two days before going back?"

The wolfdog's grin grew even wider.

Xia Qing couldn't help leaning over again and wrapping her arms around its neck. Though thinner, Lao Er was still alive and well—that was wonderful.

"Clip-clop, clip-clop."

Sheep Boss came down the stairs. Unlike Xia Qing's frenzy, the two animals calmly sniffed each other. Then Sheep Boss climbed into its hanging chair and deliberately swung with great amplitude, as if showing off.

Xia Qing took a soft, thick grass mat out of the small room north of the kitchen, padded it inside her hanging chair, then picked up Lao Er and gently set it inside.

"Lao Er, this one's yours. You've come all this way and must be tired. Lie here and rest. I'll go gather eggs and make us something to eat."

Lao Er wasn't unfamiliar with hanging chairs, but the swaying, off-the-ground feeling was new to it. Out of trust in Xia Qing, it quickly relaxed and obediently lay down in the chair.

Xia Qing went upstairs, took a shower, changed into a clean set of clothes, and came back downstairs to see Sheep Boss and Wolf Lao Er each lying in their own hanging chair. A deep sense of contentment welled up inside her.

Happiness, she thought, should look exactly like this.