Chapter 954: Ye Yang and Little Eleven 2

"Plucker, Little Whitey, are you there?"

"Plucker, Little Whitey, are you there?"

"……"

Xia Qing and Little Eleven squatted halfway up the third peak of Mountain Fifty, outside the den of a family of weasels. After chanting for over a minute, the plucked weasel finally came to the den entrance and warily stared at Little Eleven.

Little Eleven's big eyes were full of excitement, because she had taken food to the hidden valley and called out at the weasels' den entrance many, many times, yet never once managed to lure a weasel out.

Auntie Qing is really amazing!

Xia Qing took a pack of freshly made freeze-dried treats from her pocket, tore open the packaging, and placed it at the plucked weasel's den entrance. "Plucker, I was too busy yesterday and didn't even get to say hello. This is a batch of jerky I just processed—give it a try and see how it tastes."

The plucked weasel lifted its nose to sniff, then quickly dragged the bag of freeze-dried treats inside. Xia Qing took three eggs from her backpack and stuffed them into the den as well. "Plucker, these are for you all too. Thank you for you and Little Whitey helping me guard the hidden valley."

It had been a while since she'd seen Little Whitey and the little weasels, and Xia Qing missed them quite a bit.

Seeing Xia Qing leave right after delivering the food, Little Eleven stood up too, chased after her, and asked, "Why doesn't Auntie Qing call the weasels out to play for a while?"

Xia Qing patiently explained, "Under such intense sunlight, weasels' ability to distinguish their surroundings decreases, so they prefer to be active at dusk and evening. Also, we're more than ten times their size, which makes them nervous."

Little Eleven gazed up at Xia Qing in admiration. "Auntie Qing knows so much! Did you learn all this in school?"

Under Zhang Shi's guidance, this child had become much more talkative than before. Xia Qing didn't want to dampen her enthusiasm for communicating with people, so she patiently answered, "A small part was learned in school, but most of it I picked up on my own from books, videos, and by following the others in the squad during missions."

"Mama and I saw the school in the Ninth Center from the top of the first peak of Mountain Fifty—so many human children playing inside." Little Eleven swiftly caught a centipede and stuffed it into a small lidded basket. "Auntie Qing, what do they learn in school?"

While searching for bugs, Xia Qing explained in language the child could understand, "Mainly they learn writing, arithmetic, and knowledge for dealing with disasters. They also learn drawing and music."

Xia Qing didn't ask Little Eleven whether she wanted to go to school, because her mother was an extremely rare and precious recovery-type evolver who had been in hiding for six years and was still a key target being searched for. Although Xia Qing had never asked Zhang Shi, the fact that Little Eleven had not a single scar on her face, neck, arms, or hands strongly suggested she was also a recovery-type evolver. If she went to school and her ability was discovered, the lightest consequence would be lifelong restriction of her freedom; the worst would be being locked in a lightless underground lab like her mother, becoming a precious experimental subject.

"Auntie Qing, look at that little squirrel on the tree—isn't it pretty?" Little Eleven asked in a hushed voice.

Xia Qing tilted her head and looked up, spotting a snow-ground squirrel on the pine tree, and also answered in a hushed voice, "I also think the snow-ground squirrel is the prettiest of the squirrels we have around here. It has the biggest eyes, a nose that doesn't stick out much, small ears, and a round little head."

Unlike the broken-waist wolves, who focused on whether the fur was thick and fluffy and smooth, as a human, Xia Qing judged an animal's prettiness mainly by its features.

"Mm!" Little Eleven's eyes sparkled with cheer. "I used to have a little mouse, and it was really pretty too. Uncle Ye Yang is so strange—he thinks every little animal looks the same."

Xia Qing didn't ask what had happened to that little mouse, and while catching bugs she answered, "I used to feel the same way, that all little animals of the same kind looked alike, because back then I was very busy and had no time to observe them carefully. Uncle Ye Yang used to be a soldier—he had to defend the base and the people, so he didn't have time to observe little animals carefully either."

Little Eleven understood. "Then once he's better, I'll take him out to observe little animals."

Ye Yang had suffered lumbar damage, with limited mobility in his lower body, and recovering to the point of walking through the Evolution Forest on his own two legs was nearly impossible. Xia Qing didn't explain this to a five-year-old child and continued catching bugs.

"Shh, shh—"

Xia Qing heard the sound of a large animal brushing through grass as it walked, coming from the Evolution Forest ahead. Surveillance equipment had been installed near the high-danger zone of the third peak of Mountain Fifty-Five, but the area where she and Little Eleven were did not fall within surveillance range. The vegetation here was dense, so large animal activity was perfectly normal.

Because the distance was too great, Little Eleven didn't hear the beast's sounds and continued happily catching bugs back-to-back with Xia Qing. Xia Qing, without changing her expression, kept catching bugs while listening to the movements in the Evolution Forest.

When the beast was only about twenty meters from them, Little Eleven heard the movement and immediately pressed against Xia Qing's back. "Auntie Qing, there's a beast."

Although this little girl wasn't an auditory evolver, her hearing was quite good. Xia Qing lowered her voice, "Let's stand up together. Don't be scared—let's first see what kind of animal it is."

A few seconds later, a brown-gray evolution wolf poked its big head out of the grass and stared at Xia Qing.

The hand Xia Qing had pressed against her holster immediately relaxed. "Broken-Leg? Long time no see! What are you doing all the way over here?"

Broken-Leg Wolf stood still in the grass, cautiously staring at Little Eleven behind Xia Qing. Xia Qing pulled Little Eleven out. "This is my friend, Little Eleven."

Although she knew Xia Qing was very strong, Little Eleven was still extremely nervous being this close to an evolution wolf. She fixed her eyes on the wolf's claws, ready to scramble up the big tree beside her the moment it charged.

Broken-Leg Wolf assessed Little Eleven's combat ability, glanced at Xia Qing, then withdrew back into the dense vegetation and continued on its way.

Judging by the direction, it was probably going to find Plucker or Little Whitey.

Logically speaking, if a wolf pack wanted to find the weasel family, a few howls would do the trick, so Broken-Leg Wolf making a special trip was somewhat unusual.

Because they couldn't communicate verbally, Xia Qing had no way of knowing what it wanted. After she and Little Eleven caught enough bugs for the green-light peanuts, Xia Qing took her back to the valley, then went to the medium-danger zone to help Zhao Ze and the others with their work. It wasn't until noon that she returned to the valley for a meal.

After being pulled by Little Eleven, who had been waiting by the door, into the tent set aside for meals, Xia Qing saw a pot of braised spare ribs, a pot of pork bone and corn soup, a large plate of stir-fried shredded potato with vinegar, and a pot of sautéed eggplant on the stone table, with steamed buns as the staple.

Xia Qing smelled the aroma of the dishes the moment she took off her mask. "Smells amazing!"

Ye Yang, holding a spatula, beamed. "Sister Zhang brought back quality white sugar from Territory Seven, so I was finally able to make authentic braised spare ribs. Sister Qing, eat plenty."

"I've never smelled such fragrant food either!" The wounded soldier sitting in a wheelchair nearby, with only a left arm and a right leg, pulled out a wooden stump beside him and warmly invited Xia Qing. "Sister Qing, please sit."

Zhang Shi adjusted her glasses and smiled gently.

"Brother Ye's cooking skills are truly beyond compare." After eating her fill, Xia Qing really wanted to haul Ye Yang—whose cooking was even better than Er Yong's—back to her own territory and pay a fortune to hire him as her personal cook.

Ye Yang explained, "I served in the cookhouse for three years before the Catastrophe. After the Catastrophe, I gained evolution abilities and was assigned to a combat squad."

Xia Qing had heard from Yu Shou that Ye Yang was a Level Five Stamina and Level Four Vision evolver, but she hadn't known he had once served in the cookhouse—no wonder his food was so delicious.

After the meal, Zhang Shi invited Xia Qing into her small wooden cabin and asked in a lowered voice, "Ye Yang has an older brother whose whereabouts have been unknown since the Catastrophe. I want to send Eleven back to Territory Fifteen with him under the name of Ye Yang's niece, and have her enroll in the elementary school at the Ninth Center in September. Would this meet the enrollment requirements?"