Chapter 966: Seeds That Have Lost Their Vitality

Inside the sheep shed of Territory Three, Zhang Song was using the equipment Xia Qing had helped her carry in to check Old Wolf's physical condition.

Xia Qing asked from the side, "Song Ge, can you accurately determine this wolf's age?"

Zhang Song replied, "After the great biological evolution of Blue Star, even animals of the same species will show different physiological traits depending on their degree of evolution. Humanity's research on various evolved creatures—especially evolved beasts on the prohibited-proactive-provocation list—is still at an early stage. So methods like external features, blood tests, examining cranial suture fusion, and checking the closure of the canine pulp cavity can no longer accurately determine a wolf's age."

"As far as I know, the only method now is bone ring analysis—that is, taking a small slice from the wolf's bone and observing its growth rings under a microscope to determine its age."

Xia Qing shook her head. "Then forget it."

Zhang Song smiled and continued using the handheld X-ray machine to examine this thin, weak wolf's body.

As a zoological researcher, personally touching an evolved beast made Zhang Song unable to contain his excitement.

If he told anyone, his former colleagues at Red Eleven would never believe it: he had only been in Hui Territory Three for a year and a half, yet the wolf in front of him was already the sixth evolved wolf he had touched!

Besides these six, he had also run blood tests on three wolves infected with parasites and five pregnant wolves! The antimicrobial agent Hui Six now uses against superbugs was something he had helped Third Brother develop!

Zhang Song quietly took a breath, suppressing his overly excited emotions. He had to rein himself in—last time he was careless and lost the chance to observe Little Monkey up close. If Xia Qing noticed something off about him again, Third Brother would replace him.

He wasn't the only evolved-animal researcher in Territory Seven.

After controlling his emotions and facial expression, Zhang Song raised his head and reported the examination results to Xia Qing. "This wolf's main issues are infection by evolved liver flukes and ear mites…"

After describing Old Wolf's conditions and the medications needed, Zhang Song reminded her of the precautions. "A massive parasite attack has severely weakened its resistance. Just like that parasitized female wolf last year, it can't eat raw meat for the next two months, and should drink filtered water as much as possible…"

After going over the care requirements, Zhang Song asked in a casual tone, "Qing-jie, will this wolf return to the pack after it's cured?"

When she woke up this morning and found that Wolf Lao Er had already left with the pack, Xia Qing had a vague feeling. She felt Wolf Lao Er had entrusted this old wolf to her, and that after treatment it would stay in the territory permanently.

But she would never tell such a guess to Zhang Song, whose eyes lit up at the sight of any evolved animal. She only gave a blank-faced response.

Zhang Song felt regretful, but he didn't say more and instead asked about the other patients. "How are the wolf with the injured front leg and the wolf cub doing?"

Xia Qing replied, "Those two wolves aren't in the territory, but both are recovering well."

Not in the territory—where did they go? Back into the Evolution Forest like Little Monkey?

Knowing better than to press, Zhang Song asked Xia Qing to help him carry the examination equipment out of Territory Three. "Qing-jie, I'll have Zheng Chen deliver the medicine to you later."

After seeing Zhang Song and Zheng Chen off, Xia Qing pretended not to hear the footsteps quickly leaving Territory Two, locked the south gate, and returned to the territory.

Tang Lu, who had hurried out, looked at the locked gate of Territory Three, then went back inside to the simple air-conditioned room near the wild-grass wall. She sat before a small mirror, combing her long hair, waiting for Zheng Chen to come deliver medicine to Xia Qing in Territory Three.

But she waited until nearly noon, and Zheng Chen never appeared again!

Meanwhile, Xia Qing had long since gotten the medication from the north gate of Territory Three and administered it to Old Wolf at home.

At this moment, she was negotiating with a clever wolf that was pretending nothing had happened.

"You broke my hair dryer, so you need to compensate me with this whole big bag of pecans."

Broken-Waist Wolf placed its stiff, crippled leg on the still-wriggling bag and stared at Xia Qing. This bag of bugs—it had caught them with great difficulty all the way from Mountain Forty-Nine!

"No, a bag of bugs can't be exchanged for a hair dryer. A hair dryer is an electrical appliance."

Broken-Waist Wolf thought it over for a moment, then ignored Xia Qing, going around her to head home and enjoy the air conditioning.

Xia Qing dumped the bugs straight into the fish pond, picked some vegetables, and went home. She cooked while continuing to negotiate with Broken-Waist Wolf.

In the end, Broken-Waist Wolf reluctantly agreed to compensate Xia Qing with a bag of pecans for her loss, then carried the hair dryer in its mouth to its basket—claiming the item as its own.

Xia Qing…

Wow, impressive!

At noon, thanks to Old Wolf, Broken-Waist Wolf also got to eat boiled meat and boiled eggs. To accommodate Old Wolf's severely worn teeth, Xia Qing cut the meat into small pieces. Broken-Waist Wolf ate happily, and Old Wolf ate with its head down the entire time.

After Xia Qing gave it medicine, the wolf felt more comfortable and urgently needed to replenish its nutrition.

In the afternoon, Xia Qing began replacing the arched supports, ridge beams, and side beams of the greenhouses.

This was a major project. Apart from the two steel-framed greenhouses, the remaining thirteen sheds all needed replacement. So Xia Qing hired the eight members of Beard Feng's squad, who had just returned from a mission, to come do the work.

Hiring people from Territories Fifteen and Seventeen to work cost five points per person per day; hiring Beard Feng's squad cost five times that.

But Xia Qing didn't feel it was a waste, because compared to the territory's safety, a few hundred points were trivial—she knew very well which mattered more.

Besides Beard Feng's squad, Xia Qing didn't want more people to know what was growing in her greenhouses or how well they were doing.

It took three days to replace all thirteen wooden-structured greenhouses in Territory Three with high-hardness, high-toughness Red-Leaf bamboo strip supports. Not only did the safety rating of the greenhouses jump two grades, their service life also increased.

After seeing Beard Feng's squad off, Xia Qing stood on the hillside, gazing at the completely renewed greenhouses in her territory, feeling wonderfully pleased—when she received a call from Yang Jin.

Yang Jin was coming over to deliver supplies and, while he was at it, take away a leaf of the Cangwu Grass.

After Yang Jin arrived, Xia Qing accepted three large boxes of specialty foods from Lan Five's Green Light, paid the exact amount for the goods and the purchasing fee, and asked, "Captain Yang, did something happen at Lan Five's Sea of Death?"

Yang Jin nodded heavily. "The three Cangwu Grass seeds I planted beside the spring have all lost their vitality. We still haven't figured out what caused it."

To better hide the pollution-free spring water and Cangwu Grass in Territory Three, Yang Jin had taken the six seeds produced when the Cangwu Grass in Territory Three flowered and planted them near the pollution-free spring at the Sea of Death in Lan Five Base.

When Yang Jin went to fetch water this time, he discovered that all the seeds he had planted had died.

Xia Qing asked, "How did you test the seeds' vitality?"

Yang Jin took out his phone and showed Xia Qing a video. "Look, these seeds look unchanged on the outside, but they've already softened."

In the video, Yang Jin poked a seed encased in a pale white shell with a small wooden stick; the shell broke, and a colorless, transparent liquid seeped out from inside.