Chapter 972: Territory Three's Lao Si

Seeing Xia Qing drive back, the old wolf immediately pulled its head back into the weeds. Was this move because it understood that staring at the chicken coop and drooling was wrong, or because after "waking up" it found an unusual smell on its own body and felt uneasy?

To be safe, Xia Qing decided to re-educate this wolf. After parking the car in the garage, she stood in the yard and called the old wolf over with a stern voice and a beckoning finger, "Lao Si, come here!"

Xia Qing had already confirmed with the Broken-Waist Wolf that this old wolf did not belong to the Northern Wolf Pack, nor would it join the Northern Wolf Pack after being healed. So, the likelihood of it staying in Territory Three was very high. For easier communication, Xia Qing named it "Lao Si."

Why not call it Lao San? Because Xia Qing was afraid her idol would freak out if she found out.

The Broken-Waist Wolf, who was inside studying the CT machine, was startled by Xia Qing and limped to the window to look outside.

The old wolf in the weeds cautiously poked its head out, saw Xia Qing staring at it, and quickly pulled back in.

Good, its body really is much better. From now on, it can't eat for free.

Xia Qing composed herself, pointed at the ground in front of her, and repeated, "Lao Si, come in front of me."

After about ten seconds, the old wolf slowly walked down from the house ruins, stood in front of Xia Qing, and lowered its big head to look at the ants on the ground.

Xia Qing pointed at the chicken coop beside them and asked, "Lao Si wants to eat chicken?"

The old wolf's ears twitched, and it kept looking at the ants.

Xia Qing brought this clever fellow to the edge of the chicken coop, gestured as she reiterated the rules of Territory Three, "The chickens in here all belong to me, they are my prey. If you dare steal and eat my prey, I'll beat you up and chase you out of the territory! Woof—"

After the warning, Xia Qing added an authoritative wolf howl to make this old wolf understand the seriousness of stealing food. The Broken-Waist Wolf, after figuring out what Xia Qing was doing, lost interest and turned back to studying the CT machine.

Xia Qing brought the old wolf to the snake box, "The snakes in here belong to me, they are my prey. Dare to steal and eat them, I'll beat you! Woof—"

"The plants and bugs in the greenhouse, the fish in the pond all belong to me, they are my prey. Dare to steal and eat them, I'll beat you! Woof—"

"The squirrels in the trees also all belong to me. Dare to steal and eat the red squirrels..." Xia Qing radiated killing intent, "I'll kill you! Aoooo—woof—!!!"

Under Xia Qing's warning, the old wolf's head lowered even more. But its ears weren't flattened, nor was its tail tucked. From its attitude, Xia Qing could tell this was an evolved wolf that was very old and weak, but still very proud.

It must have been very powerful when it was younger, and its combat ability isn't weak even now. Because the red squirrel family and the red fox family are both very afraid of it. Ever since this old wolf came to Territory Three, the red fox family hasn't dared to come mooch medicine anymore.

Currently, among the animals in Territory Three, only Sheep Boss and the Broken-Waist Wolf aren't afraid of Lao Si. The Broken-Waist Wolf not being afraid is a given; Sheep Boss not being afraid is also a given, because its own combat ability isn't weak, and it's a companion of both the Broken-Waist Wolf and Xia Qing.

Xia Qing felt that this old wolf, when young and strong, might have been the wolf king of some territory. After it grew old and weak and lost to the new wolf king, it didn't want to submit to the new wolf king, so it left its territory and wandered alone to the edge territory of the Northern Wolf Pack, where it met the very loving wolf-dog Wolf Lao Er.

Xia Qing didn't want to forcefully press its head down and make this proud old wolf submit in front of her. As long as it recognizes whose territory this is and follows the territory's rules, that's fine. She slowed her speech and communicated with this old wolf, "If Lao Si wants to eat something, you can help me work in exchange."

Afraid it wouldn't understand, Xia Qing handed it a small basket and told it to hold it in its mouth, "Catch bugs and put them in the basket, and tonight I'll give Lao Si chicken and eggs to eat. Come, I'll teach Lao Si how to do it."

The old wolf held the basket in its mouth and followed Xia Qing outside.

Catching bugs across the more than seven thousand mu territory wasn't much of a difficult task. Xia Qing, an evolved being with both hearing and vision, quickly caught a few ground beetles, crickets, and centipedes, put them in the basket, and gestured to teach the old wolf how to complete this task.

"When Lao Si finds a bug, put it in the basket, like this."

The old wolf stared at the bugs in Xia Qing's basket that couldn't climb out for a while, then held its basket in its mouth and walked forward more than ten meters, using its claws to dig out a plump earthworm.

Then, it tipped the basket over, used its big claws to scrape the earthworm into the basket, turned to look at Xia Qing, its sparsely-furred face and pale yellow eyes full of the light of wisdom.

"Lao Si is amazing! Earthworms are bugs, and chickens love them, very good!" Xia Qing sincerely praised this clever old wolf, "Once Lao Si fills a basket, after we feed the chickens full, we'll eat eggs and chicken."

The old wolf quickly dug out an evolved bug pupa longer than a human finger from the soil, tipped the basket over again, scraped it in, and looked at Xia Qing.

This wolf had lived and evolved in the forest for many years, and should have been an animal very similar to chickens, digging bugs out of the soil to eat. That's why it knew to look for bugs in the soil and put them in the basket.

Xia Qing enthusiastically praised this both clever and experienced old wolf, "Lao Si is amazing. Right, chickens love the bugs Lao Si digs out of the soil. Lao Si, you are an evolved wolf standing at the top of Blue Star's chicken-raising pyramid!"

Besides being experienced, Xia Qing also discovered that this old wolf didn't like using its mouth to bite things, which might be because its teeth were uncomfortable. If there were too many bugs in its basket, tipping it over wouldn't scrape the bugs in, but pour the bugs inside out.

Xia Qing went home, found some bamboo boards and nails, and in a few bangs hammered a smooth slope onto the outside of its small basket, teaching it to use its claws to scrape the caught bugs onto the smooth bamboo slope, and then scrape them into the basket.

This brain-domain evolved old wolf learned very quickly.

So, one person and one wolf each carried a big basket, wandering around the territory catching bugs. The old wolf caught bugs in the soil and on the ground, Xia Qing caught bugs on the trees and grass leaves.

After filling the baskets, Xia Qing brought the old wolf home, taught it how to pour the bugs into the chicken trough, and watched more than seventy chickens of all sizes rush over, clucking as they scrambled to eat the bugs.

Then, Xia Qing saw clearly visible drool running down the corner of this old wolf's mouth.

Looks like it really wants to eat chicken.

Xia Qing smiled, "Lao Si is hungry? Come on, I'll go collect eggs and cook eggs and meat for you."

Xia Qing entered the chicken coop and collected the eleven eggs the flock had laid today.

Although there were seventy-five chickens in the coop, only 14 hens were laying eggs. The chicks hatched this year would have to wait until September at the earliest to lay eggs. Still, about ten eggs a day was enough for Xia Qing to eat.

After taking the eggs and educating the old wolf on the principle that you need chickens to have eggs, Xia Qing went back inside, boiled the eggs together with half a chicken from the fridge, let them cool to a suitable temperature, and then brought them out to the yard to feed the wolf.

"Eat up, this is Lao Si's reward for catching bugs to feed the chickens today."

After swallowing a shell-less egg in one bite, the old wolf also ate the eggshells Xia Qing had peeled off to the side, before burying its head in the chicken meat.

Xia Qing didn't correct the old wolf's eggshell-eating behavior. Animals or people who have gone hungry know that, let alone eggshells, even chicken feathers are edible.

After eating half a chicken, the old wolf looked at Xia Qing with its pale yellow eyes.

"Not full? Okay."

Xia Qing went inside, took out a jin of freeze-dried food, poured it into the old wolf's food bowl, watched it lick the bowl clean, then added pollution-free spring water for it, and only then went back inside to cook.

After eating its fill, the old wolf returned to the house ruins on the south side of Xia Qing's territory. Compared to the sheep pen, it preferred staying at a high place with an open view.

Where it liked to stay was its freedom, Xia Qing didn't interfere, and went back inside to cook.