Chapter 1038: A Fragile Truce Beneath the Devastation Rain

Xia Qing retreated to the deepest corner of the cave, putting as much distance as possible between herself and the Wolf Pack. She crouched down with her back to them, examining the Evolved Tiger’s wounds, making it clear she meant no harm.

If the Western Wolf Pack still refused to drink, Xia Qing planned to pour what remained of the Northern Wolf King’s medicinal mixture—every last drop—down the throat of the helpless tiger. She wasn’t about to let any go to waste.

The Alpha was already used to eating what Xia Qing prepared. He went over, lapped up some water, then glanced at the Western Wolf King.

With a murderous glare, the Western Wolf King fixed his eyes on Xia Qing for a long moment before stepping forward. He sniffed the basin carefully, then opened wide and drank in big gulps.

“Awooo—”

Seeing that the Western Wolf King had guzzled half the basin in one go, the Northern Wolf King let out a deep, thunderous roar. The sound echoed off the valley walls, pounding against Xia Qing and the Wolf Pack’s hearts.

The Western Wolf King raised his massive head, drops of medicine dripping from his mouth. He locked eyes with the Northern Wolf King. After a tense standoff, he finally understood and stepped aside, looking to his companions. One after another, the five Huge Wolves came forward for a drink. The last one even licked the basin clean.

Hearing that familiar sound, Xia Qing glanced back, meeting the black Huge Wolf’s eyes while it was busy licking the basin.

The black Huge Wolf bristled and instantly jumped back beside its companions, baring gleaming white fangs at Xia Qing.

Very interesting. This scarred female Huge Wolf with golden eyes was obviously a foodie. Maybe one day they could work together.

Xia Qing pointed at the Western Wolf King’s neck. “Hey, Big Brother Wolf, that Yi Stone Necklace you’re wearing is mine. Remember to return it after the Devastation Rain.”

The Western Wolf King shot Xia Qing a venomous look, shook out his thick fur, and led his pack out of the cave.

Devastation Rain was about to start.

Since she couldn’t get her Yi Stone Necklace back, Xia Qing pulled a Yi Stone Protector from her backpack, opened it, and took out another necklace to hang around the Evolved Tiger’s neck.

The poor thing was barely hanging on. With the Devastation Rain coming, it needed the Yi Stone’s protection too.

Xia Qing quickly disinfected the big guy’s wounds and gave it a shot of antibiotics. Then she set up a tent, carried it inside, then crawled out and discussed with the Alpha, “Queen can rest here for a while. I’m going to collect today’s spoils.”

When the Alpha didn’t object, Xia Qing called her Idol to confirm she didn’t need to bring the squad’s bodies back. Once she got the okay, she dashed out.

Treating the Evolved Tiger’s wounds was urgent but cleaning up enemy corpses and supplies scattered throughout the valley was even more so. If a scavenger showed up and dragged a body off, it’d be a real headache.

Xia Qing split the corpses and gear into two sacks and hauled them back. The loot went inside the cave while the bag of bodies was tied tight and left by the entrance. She’d wait until Hu Zifeng’s Squad brought the last two corpses, then they could photograph everything together before burning the remains.

One Scavenger had been blown to pieces by Xia Qing’s grenades, but the head was still intact. With the photos and their sidearms, Xia Qing could claim her bounty from the Hui One Base.

How much was the bounty?

Xia Qing was way too busy to look it up online. Even if she had time later, her first priority was to contact Chen Cheng, who was watching over her territory, to make sure her land and friends were all right.

She piled up the three backpacks, ten satchels, heaps of weapons, and protective suits looted from the Scavenger Squad, all together with the five massive backpacks from this three-meter-high, two-meter-wide, and ten-meter-deep cave, plus two sacks squirming with insects.

Her Idol was quite interested in the bugs and wanted her to bring them back. The rest of the gear would be split between the Alpha and Xia Qing as their spoils.

When Hu Zifeng’s squad brought back the Scavenger Xia Qing had wounded, she’d divvy up his gear so Hu Zifeng’s Squad got half, according to contribution.

The rest of the loot was split between her and the Alpha. Xia Qing pointed at the pile and asked, “Queen, this is what those seven blue-skinned humans had. Take your pick. Whatever you don’t want, I’ll keep.”

The Alpha gave the stinky bags a quick glance, then pointedly turned his head away in disgust.

Teaming up with Queen was way better than joining Yang Jin’s stingy brother’s pack!

Xia Qing grinned. “If Queen doesn’t want any, then I’ll keep all these bags as my reward for this mission. Thank you, Queen. I’ll disinfect you first.”

The Alpha wore a protective suit, but his head had gotten drenched by the Devastation Rain. He needed to be dried off and dusted with pesticide to disinfect.

Xia Qing cleaned the Alpha’s fur thoroughly, then disinfected her own protective suit. Only then did she crawl inside the tent, remove her protective mask, put on a regular mask, and start tending to the Evolved Tiger’s wounds.

After a close inspection, Xia Qing found a deep, fifteen-centimeter-long gash on the outside of the tiger’s right hind leg. Judging by the wound’s shape and depth, it was likely caused by a human’s arrow—over five days old, now red and festering.

Because the tiger had appeared up on the mountain, both Xia Qing and the Scavenger Squad leader below hadn’t noticed the injury.

That wound was probably why the Evolved Tiger was so weak, its Devastation Element spiking and going haywire during the Devastation Rain.

The human who hurt it must have worn a protective suit just like Xia Qing and was about her size. No wonder the tiger had been so furious when it saw her—ignoring the Wolf Pack and its own injuries, it charged straight for her in a frenzy, desperate for vengeance.

That kind of madness probably meant it knew it couldn’t survive this Devastation Rain.

“Those big eyes, and such terrible aim.” Xia Qing sighed and set to work treating its wounds.

This tiger was tough, its skin thick and muscles dense. The injuries looked bad but none reached the bone, so treating them wouldn’t be too hard.

Xia Qing shaved away fur around a dozen wounds. For shallow ones, she cleaned them up, applied medicine, and sealed them with waterproof patches. The deeper wounds were cleaned, stitched, medicated, and patched as well.

The old wound on the hind leg was trickier. After shaving, she washed it with saline, cleared out pus and dead tissue, let the fluid drain, then covered it with anti-inflammatory and hemostatic medicine.

A wound like this would need a fresh sterile dressing every day or two, and had to be kept clean, dry, and free from bumps or friction to prevent reinfection.

Even with injuries, this beast had gone toe-to-toe with seven Evolved Wolves. Once healed, it’d be even stronger. But since it saw Xia Qing as an enemy, there’s no way she’d risk coming back to change its bandages during the Devastation Rain—much less bring it into her own territory.

So Xia Qing only planned to treat it this one time. Whether it survived or not was up to fate.

Still, she really wanted it to live, so she added a powerful antibiotic injection to fight infection.

She used all her best medicine from Territory Seven. As long as the tiger stayed put for these few days and didn’t run out to catch Evolution Bacteria, and the leg wound didn’t get worse, these outer wounds should heal up quickly.

With the surface injuries taken care of, it was time to tackle the internal damage.

Testing showed that this nearly berserk Evolved Tiger’s Devastation Element Content had shot up to a staggering 35‰!