Chapter 1036: Predator and Prey in the Evolved Forest

“Move it, Big Wolf, faster! The tiger’s gaining on us!”

In no time, Xia Qing was covered in bloody gashes from the Evolved Wolves. The crazed Evolved Tiger, its eyes burning red, was completely out of control, its only goal to tear apart its target. In a frenzy, it pushed its strength past the pack of five Huge Wolves to chase down the Western Wolf King. Two massive, razor-sharp front paws lunged for the human clinging to the Western Wolf King’s back.

At that critical moment, Xia Qing, crouched on the Western Wolf King’s back and gripping its fur, used her legs to leap up and grab the tiger’s thick forelimb. With a nimble flip, she swung herself onto the tiger’s back, locking her legs tightly around the Evolved Tiger’s neck.

Given the choice between her gun, knife, or bare fists and feet, Xia Qing went with the last. After all, this was one of the Mind-Evolved Beasts of the Western Evolved Forest in Hui Three—killing it would cost her more than she’d gain.

As she clamped her legs around the Evolved Tiger, Xia Qing seized its ear with her left hand and smashed her right fist—using sixty percent of her strength—down on the king mark stamped on its head.

Xia Qing wasn’t fast, but her punches packed enough power. If she hadn’t held back, one punch might have left a hole in the tiger’s head.

“Bang!”

“Raaawrr—!”

The tiger, nearly out of control, no longer felt pain. With a furious roar, it shook itself and whipped its head around, desperate to crush the human riding it.

“Bang!”

Xia Qing put seventy percent strength into her next punch, slamming it down even harder.

Unlike the six Huge Wolves from the Western Wolf Pack still watching, the Northern Wolf King charged straight at the Evolved Tiger, slammed it to the ground, and snapped at its throat.

“Don’t bite, Queen,” Xia Qing called out, wrapping her arm around the Northern Wolf King’s neck even though one leg was pinned beneath her. “The meds are kicking in—the tiger’s about to go down.”

Soothing capsules are a special medication to calm out-of-control emotions caused by the Devastation Element. Take one and drowsiness sets in within minutes, all strength sapped, easing depression and agitation while lowering the risk of physical injury from a rampage.

Back in the tenth spring of the apocalypse, Xia Qing knocked out Old Goat in five minutes flat with just one soothing capsule when he lost control.

She dared to ride this Evolved Tiger’s neck because three minutes ago, she’d already stuffed five capsules down its throat. That much would be more than enough to bring it down.

Alpha noticed the Evolved Tiger had stopped moving, shook Xia Qing’s hand off, and signaled for her to hurry up and follow.

“Coming! Queen, send two wolves to guard this tiger and keep it from getting eaten by other crazed beasts.” Xia Qing freed her leg from under the tiger’s neck, grabbed an oversized bag at her waist, and wrapped this eight-hundred-pound beast up tight. She dragged it under a thick, healthy tree, then turned to scramble back onto the Western Wolf King’s back.

“Woo—”

Snarling, the Western Wolf King jumped out of reach, baring its fangs—still furious after Xia Qing yanked its fur and kicked it twice.

Forget it—if he won’t let her ride, she won’t push her luck!

Xia Qing turned on her heel, ignoring the crazed swarm of insects and snakes lunging for her, and sprinted after the Northern Wolf King up ahead.

Five minutes later, the Northern Wolf King threw a look back at her.

The Devastation Rain triggered by the explosion was fading, and Xia Qing’s footsteps could now be picked up by the enemy.

She instantly lightened her steps and caught up, belly-crawling next to her partner. Glancing ahead, she spotted the seventh Scavenger crawling away on a giant lizard, barely six hundred meters deep in the Evolved Forest.

Leave it to the Queen—she’d somehow brought Xia Qing all the way around to head off this squad’s last survivor!

Xia Qing unslung her sniper rifle, quickly took aim, and pulled the trigger.

“Bang!”

Her bullet struck the escaping Scavenger right in the neck, sending him sprawling onto a patch of Devastation Grass. Startled, the giant lizard bolted into the thick undergrowth.

Gasping, Xia Qing slung her rifle across her back and dashed with Alpha to a thick, sheltering tree. She wiped her hands with a disinfectant wipe, unzipped the bag at her waist, and fished out the small medical kit Idol had packed for her. Reading the labels, she quickly found the right injectable, tore open a fresh syringe, and drew up a dose.

“Don’t be afraid, Queen. This is an antidote. The blue-skinned human you bit was poisonous, so you need an injection right away.”

A wolf’s best weapons are its teeth and claws. Since Alpha bit down to kill the enemy sniper, he needed the antidote as soon as possible.

Alpha took one look at the needle and stood still, waiting.

Xia Qing tugged down the wolf’s protective suit a little, parted the thick fur at its neck, gave the shot, and pulled the suit snugly back into place.

“Queen, you’re amazing! One more blue-skinned human got his leg blown out and ran into the Evolved Forest over there. Is that part of the Western Wolf Pack’s territory, or does it belong to the tiger? Can we chase him down for the kill?”

Alpha turned and let out two long howls at the Western Wolf King who had followed them, then looked at Xia Qing.

The Evolved Forest was crawling with more and more dangerous Devastation Evolution plants. Xia Qing ignored the stabbing pain in her forehead, yanked the attacking vines off her, and tossed them aside. She stepped toward the snarling Western Wolf King and said softly, “Big Wolf, I only pressed down on you to fight the Evolved Tiger—sorry about that.”

“Woo—” The Western Wolf King’s bloodlust was off the charts. It let out another furious howl, then stormed off, not even bothering to hide its bad mood—its temper was even worse than the Handsome Huge Wolf’s.

And just like that, as the Wolf King left, the two Huge Wolves who had followed also took off behind him.

“Queen, that guy’s got a terrible attitude. After we helped clear out his territory today, we have to make sure Crippled Wolf gets us a few extra Yi Stones as payment! He’s still wearing my Yi Stone Necklace, and I want Crippled Back to get it back for me.”

Alpha fixed Xia Qing with a serious stare.

“…This is the Evolved Tiger’s territory.”

“That valley where we fought is right on the border between the Western Wolf Pack and the tiger’s lands.”

After getting her answer, Xia Qing sighed, quickly bagged up the Scavenger she’d shot, and set it atop a huge boulder. “That tiger’s got an even worse temper—not someone you can bargain with. Alright, let’s track down that wounded blue-skinned human.”

The stench of corpses is a decent way to mask human scent, but it’s even stronger than human smell and way easier to track. With Alpha locked onto it—even in the middle of Devastation Rain—they’d have no trouble finding the trail. Not to mention, the quarry was hurt and bleeding, and he wouldn’t get far.

What really slowed the hunt was Xia Qing herself—running on two legs instead of four.

Half an hour later, Xia Qing called out, “Stop here, Queen.”

On the ground just outside a thick stretch of Devastation Grass—tall as a man—there was a string of footprints.

The prints were clear on the right, scattered on the left—sure signs the shot Scavenger had left them on purpose. After all, anyone who’d survived in the Evolved Forest for years couldn’t have left such an obvious trail by accident.

This Scavenger Squad had killed six soldiers with a trap in Hui Six ten days ago, and now there were still wild boar trapped in the valley.

Before they clashed, one squad member—whose job was to spread insects—had been whittling down hardwood poles in the cave.

Which meant those poles were a go-to weapon for the squad, and odds were good there was another trap lurking up ahead in the dense Devastation Grass.

The third wave of Devastation Rain had stopped. Raindrops pattered down from the leaves and grass, and after listening closely and scanning the area, Xia Qing decided it was time to call for backup.