Chapter 985: Hill 45 Bird Valley

"Ding-ling-ling—"

At half past five in the morning, Xia Qing, who had just finished her fifth medicinal bath and was deep asleep, heard the crisp iron bell and immediately opened her eyes. She scrambled off the sofa and dashed barefoot to the door. "Your Majesty, are you leaving?"

That bell was hung on the handsome giant wolf last night by Xia Qing after she set an alarm and waited for it to finish its bath. She was afraid the fellow would speak up and run off in the morning while she was still sleeping.

Good thing she hung it on!

The lead wolf turned its head and looked quietly at Xia Qing, asking what she wanted.

Xia Qing slipped on her slippers and ran out, standing beside the handsome giant wolf wearing the bell. "Your Majesty, I'm going to the western Evolution Forest to pick a kind of bean fruit. Big Brother Giant Wolf agreed last night to come with me."

The lead wolf glanced at the handsome giant wolf, then led the pack away. The Broken-Waist Wolf looked at Xia Qing, then at the handsome giant wolf, thoughtful.

Xia Qing asked, "Broken-Waist, you want to come pick beans with me too?"

The Broken-Waist Wolf immediately turned and ran off.

The handsome giant wolf shook its neck, heard the annoying wolf's bell again, and opened its mouth to reveal fangs white as bone and longer than Xia Qing's fingers.

Xia Qing immediately took the bell off, stuffed a piece of delicious Green Lantern pork jerky into its mouth to shut it up, and asked in a gentle voice, "Big Brother Giant Wolf, you ate one nutrient solution, three eggs, and a whole basin of jerky from me last night, and you promised to come pick beans with me today. Did you forget after your bath?"

The handsome giant wolf swallowed the jerky expressionlessly and shook off Xia Qing's paw.

"Okay, I get it. Big Brother Giant Wolf, wait for me to put on my protective suit and we'll head out! Thank you, Big Brother Giant Wolf!" Seeing she'd gotten what she wanted, Xia Qing rushed back inside, pulled on her protective suit, grabbed the backpack she'd prepared long ago, and dashed back out in less than two minutes. "Big Brother Giant Wolf, let's go!"

The handsome giant wolf didn't even look at Xia Qing—one leap and it was gone. Without its jumping ability, Xia Qing sprinted toward the main gate while shouting, "Fourth Brother, I'm leaving the house to you."

"Boss, I'm leaving the territory to you. I'm going out to get you all something good to eat."

The old wolf, who had woken up after its medicinal bath, stood up on the house ruins, stretched lazily, and felt power surging through its whole body. It raised its head and opened its mouth, then suddenly remembered howling wasn't allowed here, and listlessly flopped back down onto the grass.

"Baa." The Sheep Boss, who was eating in the forage shed, heard its little brother's shout and happily answered.

Xia Qing burst out the north gate and into Section Three of Hill 49, but couldn't see any sign of the handsome giant wolf. Without hesitation, she ran west.

When she passed through Hill 49 into Hill 48, Xia Qing was panting hard, her speed cut in half. After dodging attacks from various flora and fauna and climbing over another ridge, Xia Qing stepped on what looked like a sturdy log, intending to use it to vault over the ravine ahead—but her right foot sank into the already rotten wood.

That step of hers blew open an Evolution Scorpion's nest.

"Click-click!"

A thirty-centimeter-long Evolution Black Scorpion raised its stinger and charged at Xia Qing. The hard plates on its body scraped against each other, making clear clicking sounds. Judging by the countless baby scorpions clinging to it, this was a mother scorpion that had just given birth.

Xia Qing quickly pulled her leg back to dodge. Although her protective suit was high-grade, there was no need to take on that gleaming, sharp, curved stinger at the scorpion's tail head-on.

However, Xia Qing didn't let go of the thirty-odd scorpions, each over ten centimeters long, that had already crawled onto her and around her. These scorpions could sell for 40 points each—since they'd climbed onto her, they were hers now.

The old her would definitely have wiped out that thirty-centimeter-long Evolution Scorpion worth 200 points along with its whole brood, but the current her wouldn't do that.

Because that scorpion might be the scorpion king of this area. In her idol's words, that scorpion was a link in the ecological chain of this Evolution Forest—remove it, and who knew what chain reaction might follow.

Leave it be, and there'll be a steady supply of scorpions here. That's called sustainable development.

After catching a beast-hide bag full of scorpions, Xia Qing climbed over another ridge and stood in the dense, damp forest, gasping for breath.

She couldn't run anymore—she was waiting for the handsome giant wolf to come carry her.

Half a minute later, a giant wolf with silver-gray fur and ice-blue eyes walked out of the Evolution Forest beside her, looking coldly at the useless Xia Qing.

"Big Brother Giant Wolf… I really can't run anymore…" Xia Qing pulled out a thick cotton seat cushion while panting, climbed onto the wolf's back, sat down properly, hugged the handsome giant wolf's neck, and pointed out the direction.

"Thanks, Big Brother Giant Wolf. You're the handsomest, best wolf around here. This way!"

The handsome giant wolf shook its neck and began running at full speed.

Forty minutes later, the human and wolf arrived at the valley Zhang Ten had mentioned. Seeing the scene before her, Xia Qing overturned her earlier hypothesis.

She had originally assumed these soybeans were planted by Zhang Ten, but on the few large trees in the valley, tens of thousands of unknown birds were chirping noisily. From the bird droppings covering the trees and ground, it was clear these birds had lived here a long time—Zhang Ten couldn't possibly have come to a place like this to plant beans.

If she wasn't mistaken, this should be Bird Valley within the Hill 45 territory of the western Evolution Forest. There were Brain Domain Evolution Birds here—a place even large predators like wolves and leopards didn't want to enter, and an area Seeing Xin Yu had forbidden her tame birds from going into.

In the ninth year of the Catastrophe, three mission squads came to this mountain territory on a gathering task. Because they entered the birds' core territory, they were attacked by the flock and suffered over half casualties.

Having already come all this way, Xia Qing certainly didn't want to go back empty-handed. She lowered her voice and asked, "Big Brother Giant Wolf, do you have any connections with the birds in the valley?"

The handsome giant wolf, panting with its tongue out, heard nothing.

The attitude was obvious. Xia Qing scanned the valley with her eyes, and based on the terrain Zhang Ten had described, quickly locked onto the patch of soybeans with yellowed leaves.

Judging by the leaf color and the growth of the bean plants, there was a ninety percent chance they were Green Lantern. Xia Qing didn't know whether these soybeans had grown from seeds scattered by helicopter or had been growing here for many years, nor did she know what attack methods these soybeans had.

To find out, she'd have to go over and look herself.

Hiding in the dense shrubs, Xia Qing first checked her air toxin detector. After confirming there was no poison gas, she quickly chopped down two thorny shrubs whose color closely matched the valley's vegetation, added wire, and wove them into a sturdy shelter resembling a tortoise shell.

Then she handed her backpack to the handsome giant wolf and gave it a pack of Green Lantern jerky. "Big Brother Giant Wolf, watch my pack for me. I'm going down to pick those fruits, and once I'm done we'll head back."

The handsome giant wolf bared its fangs in a silent snarl.

"Big Brother Giant Wolf, I run too slowly and my combat power is too low—I can't cross fifty miles of Evolution Forest alone. I'm counting on you. When we get back I'll make you delicious roasted rabbit meat, okay?"

Having smoothed the handsome giant wolf's fur, Xia Qing began looking for a way into the valley.