Chapter 801: The Cub in Danger

The handsome giant wolf shook a few times but couldn't shake Xia Qing off, then fell silent for a few seconds before starting to run at full speed. Yang Jin, who had been holding his breath and ready to rescue, had complicated feelings as he sped up to keep up.

The search team—consisting of one wolf and two people—headed west through Mountain No. 49, then ran southwest along the outer perimeter of the old regiment station on Mountain No. 48 for over twenty minutes before stopping.

The handsome giant wolf shook its body, signaling Zhang Shiyi to roll off its back quickly.

Xia Qing jumped to the ground and stretched her sore legs a few times, then smoothed the fur on the handsome giant wolf's back while asking in a lowered voice, "Thanks for your hard work, Giant Wolf Bro. Giant Wolf Bro, where is that human?"

"In a mountain crevice over there, and they've set up a tent." Yang Jin, who had rich combat experience in the evolved forest, had already spotted the target and pointed it out to Xia Qing. "But it doesn't look like just one person—it's a mission squad. This should be the Silver Moon Squad that took on the mission for this area after the Calamity Rain. Wait for me to confirm first."

Yang Jin found a shaded spot, took out his phone, and contacted the mission squad.

Xia Qing heard the earnest reply from the other side: "Yes… it's just the eight of us at the foot of the second peak of Mountain No. 48… we haven't spotted any wanderers, but two hours ago, just as it was getting dark, we ran into a patrolling soldier… right, a Level-4 digital desert camouflage protective suit outdoors, about 185 cm tall… he returned to the old regiment station. Jin-ge, we didn't provoke the wolf pack, we really don't know why they were howling."

"The wolf pack is hunting. If you stay in the cave and don't come out, you won't be in danger." Yang Jin hung up the phone, walked out, and glanced at the giant wolf on Xia Qing's left side. "That soldier patrolling the mountain alone is very likely the defector from Territory No. 7. What do we do now?"

Had the wolf pack already evolved to such an intelligent level as a whole, or had this giant wolf that Xia Qing said was handsome just gotten lucky like a blind cat catching a dead mouse?

"Let me ask." Xia Qing communicated with the handsome giant wolf again in a reasonable, gentle, soft-spoken manner for a while.

The handsome giant wolf tilted its head back and howled, exchanging a few lines with the wolves on the nearby hilltops, then made a motion as if about to run.

Without a second word, Xia Qing climbed onto the handsome giant wolf's back. "Giant Wolf Bro is amazing, thanks for your hard work, Handsome Wolf Bro."

"I…"

Before Yang Jin, who had mustered his courage, could finish speaking, the handsome giant wolf had already sped up and, carrying the weak human it couldn't shake off on its back, ran southwest.

Yang Jin shut his mouth and sped up to keep up.

One person and one wolf ran for over thirty li and entered Mountain No. 47. Xia Qing could be certain that this was already within the territory of the western wolf pack.

When the handsome giant wolf stopped, panting heavily with its tongue lolling out, Xia Qing hurriedly gave it a big bottle of pollution-free spring water, fed it several large handfuls of freeze-dried treats, and helped smooth its fur.

While tending to the handsome giant wolf, Xia Qing discussed with Yang Jin, who was also breathing somewhat heavily, "The western wolf pack has a very bad relationship with humans. The defector's purpose in coming here is definitely not simple."

Yang Jin shared the same thought as Xia Qing. "He might have realized the wolf pack was tracking him, so he fled into the western wolf pack's territory to hide. You stay here. I'll go with the giant wolf and speed up to catch him, then come back for you?"

"Okay." Xia Qing gestured and communicated with the handsome giant wolf, telling it that the human might be harmful to the wolf pack, and asking it to team up with Yang Jin to catch that human.

Without the "burden" of Xia Qing, the handsome giant wolf and Yang Jin's pursuit speed directly doubled, vanishing in the blink of an eye.

Standing alone in the unfamiliar, pitch-black evolved forest, Xia Qing felt that the handsome giant wolf was indeed not as considerate as the head wolf and the broken-waist wolf. If it had been either of them, they would have at least sent a wolf over to ensure her safety before going after the enemy.

Even sending a weasel would have been fine. This desolate, pitch-black wilderness had two aggressive Calamity-evolved plants not far away, and from the sound of it, there also seemed to be snakes slithering about.

Xia Qing immediately climbed a tall cypress tree, pressed tightly against the trunk holding her gun, activated all four abilities, and watched for any movement in the surroundings.

She stayed like that for six whole hours. When the eastern sky began to whiten, Xia Qing saw Yang Jin carrying a person back and finally breathed a sigh of relief—caught him!

The mountain wind all night hadn't been blown in vain!

The handsome giant wolf really was the most handsome and reliable wolf in the entire universe!

Yang Jin carrying a person also looked incredibly cool, pleasing to the eye no matter how you looked at him!

Yang Jin, who was carrying the defector over, was momentarily dazed by Xia Qing's smiling face. He barely managed to regain his senses and, in a hoarse, exhausted voice, laughed and discussed with her, "Qing-jie, on account of me helping you catch this defector, can you lower the compensation a bit?"

What?!

The smile on Xia Qing's face, just as Yang Jin had predicted, became even brighter.

"Please, Captain Yang, get three points straight: First, this defector was caught through the cooperation of the handsome giant wolf, you, and me; second, catching this defector cannot make up for the losses already caused on Mountain No. 50, so we still have to handle things according to the employment agreement we signed at the time; third, this is the person Ji Li wants to catch, so we should go talk to him about the reward. You're tired too, put the person down, and I'll pack him up and carry him back."

Business is business, friendship is friendship. Xia Qing could tell Yang Jin was already very tired, so she reached out to take the person he was carrying.

Yang Jin obediently handed the person over to Xia Qing. "Do we interrogate this person first, or hand him straight over to Ji Li?"

This is someone from Hui Yi Military, and the order he received likely came from Ji Li's superior. Xia Qing didn't want to wade into murky waters. "Do you want to interrogate him?"

Yang Jin shared the same thought as Xia Qing. "I don't want to. I'll just give Ji Li a call directly, and I'll handle the price negotiation?"

"Okay." Go ahead and do your thing, get as much as you can. Xia Qing took out binding straps and, very professionally, tied up the defector—who had his mouth sealed with tape and was already unconscious—into a rice dumpling shape, slung him on her back, and returned to the territory.

Although it was already getting light, this place was, after all, the extremely dangerous evolved forest with no path to walk on after the Calamity Rain.

The handsome giant wolf had covered the distance in less than an hour, but Xia Qing and Yang Jin, traveling on foot, took a full three hours to return to Mountain No. 49.

Yang Jin stayed at Mountain No. 49. Xia Qing entered the Northern Zone-1 territory through the north gate. Ji Li, who had been waiting inside the north gate, took the rice-dumpling-shaped person from Xia Qing's back, held him in his hand, solemnly thanked her, and then returned to Territory No. 7.

After Xia Qing scanned her face to return to her own territory, she took out her phone to contact Zhang Shi and Hu Ningsheng in the hidden valley, and also posted a message in the Northern Alliance chat group that Tang Huai had set up: The fugitive from Mountain No. 50 has been caught, everyone can act normally.

After the message was sent, Xia Qing quickly received a neat row of thumbs-up emoji stickers. Even Seeing Xin Yu, who had never spoken in the group before, gave a thumbs-up along with everyone else.

Immediately after, Tang Huai privately sent Xia Qing a string of questions.

Xia Qing didn't reply to Tang Huai. She dragged her tired legs home, fed the chickens and insects, took a shower, and fell asleep as soon as she lay down on the bed.

When Sheep Boss, carrying a basket in its mouth, was huffily searching everywhere for insects in the buffer forest, the red squirrel jumped onto Xia Qing's windowsill, rubbed its little paws, swayed its big tail, peered into the room for a while, and when Xia Qing didn't open the window to feed it, it could only run to the northern buffer forest to look for food.

Not long after the red squirrel mother left, a little red squirrel with tufts of fur growing on its ears jumped onto Xia Qing's windowsill, only to be startled by its own reflection on the glass, puffing up its fur and fleeing with a squeak.

Xia Qing inside the room heard the cry of the baby red squirrel, got up, opened the window, and looked outside. Seeing that the baby red squirrels had started moving around, she yawned, closed the window, and went back to sleep.

The hole hiding a human and a little squirrel piqued the strong interest of the baby red squirrel hiding on a tree branch. Its two little eyes were wide as saucers as it observed carefully.

A kite hawk flying at low altitude entered Territory No. 3, silently weaving through the gaps in the branches. After approaching the big tree where the baby red squirrel was hiding, it suddenly accelerated, grabbed this delicious prey, and took flight.

"Squeak—"

The baby red squirrel let out a sharp, panicked cry for help. The red squirrel foraging in the buffer forest, upon discovering its baby had been seized by a predator, let out a desperate shriek.