Chapter 1080: Unexpected Discoveries at the Waterfall

“Your Majesty, let’s take a break here.”

On the way back to the territory, after running for half an hour, then handing her backpack off to Black Wolf and riding on the back of Handsome Huge Wolf for another half hour, Xia Qing finally picked up on the Evolution Element magnetic field she’d found here last time and called for a stop.

When Alpha came to a halt, Handsome Huge Wolf shook himself hard, flinging Xia Qing to the ground before strolling off to rest in the shade. Crippled Wolf and Black Wolf climbed to higher ground to stand guard, while Alpha led Little Wolf’s little sister down to the clear pond beneath the waterfall, enjoying both the cool water and a good wash to get rid of the ash stuck to their fur.

Xia Qing unbuckled her backpack from Black Wolf’s back and set it down beside Crippled Wolf, letting him keep watch. Then, Black Blade in hand, she started searching for the source of the gentle magnetic field among the evolved beings in the area.

She tracked the strongest part of the magnetic field to a patch of sparse, brown moss growing on some rocks at the bottom of the pond beneath the falls. Xia Qing struck one of the stones and found it was just an ordinary rock, mostly silicon dioxide.

Crippled Wolf, on lookout, glanced back at the dirty Xia Qing standing in the water, already distracted by rocks before she even cleaned her own fur. He watched her, thoughtful.

If the rocks were normal, then the only thing giving off that gentle field had to be the tiny aquatic grass clinging to the stones. Xia Qing fished out a small rock and peered closely at the grass.

With her years of farming experience, Xia Qing could tell this water grass was probably really particular about water quality and environment. If she tried to collect a sample and take it to Territory Seven, its roots would likely tear off the stones and the plant would probably die along the way.

So, Xia Qing snapped a photo and sent it to her Idol, asking if he’d ever seen a plant that could release this sort of Evolution Element magnetic field.

Idol video-called back almost instantly, which made Xia Qing realize this grass might be something valuable. She couldn’t help beaming. “Third Brother!”

On the phone screen, Zhang San looked at the charcoal-smeared Xia Qing—a stark contrast to the vibrant Evolution Forest behind her—and rolled his eyes. “Where’d you climb a smokestack to drop off gifts this time?”

No matter how dirty she looked, Xia Qing’s grin was undaunted. “I went on a mission to Mount Twenty-Six with the pack. On the way back, I found this plant releasing a magnetic field on Mount Twenty-Two. Third Brother, do you know what it is?”

Lately, every conversation with Xia Qing made Zhang San feel like something short-circuited in his brain; her so-called ‘human language’ got harder and harder to follow. He rubbed his forehead and skipped the chit-chat. “Just turn the camera around.”

“Alright.” Xia Qing immediately switched the camera to the water grass.

Over the roar of the waterfall, Xia Qing raised her voice. “Third Brother, look! This grass grows underwater beneath the falls, rooted on river stones or the stone walls about 0.3 to 2 meters deep. The current here is swift, and the Devastation Element content is 4.3 per mille—no radioactive material present…”

After cleaning up his own kid’s fur, Alpha took the little one to relieve Crippled Wolf and Black Wolf, freeing them to wash their protective suits and fur.

Overheated and miserable, Black Wolf leapt into the cool stream, while Crippled Wolf, still layered in a filthy protective suit, walked over to Xia Qing’s side and watched the plain little grass growing underwater.

“Judging by its growth pattern and environment, this should be an evolved form of river moss. Before the calamity, habitat destruction made these plants rare and listed as endangered. Since the disaster, as the natural world recovers, river moss has been spotted in many southern Evolution Forests, but no cases of evolved varieties yet. Did you bring the Section Six sampling tubes?”

Xia Qing walked toward her backpack, camera aimed at the ground to keep the pack out of view. “Had to leave in a hurry, didn’t bring Section Six, but I packed Section Four.”

“Section Four uses soft tubing, so it’s not impact-resistant…” Zhang San paused, spotting a foam container with six eggs in the video feed and feeling a whole new headache coming on.

Wanting no part of the discussion on why Xia Qing brought eggs on a mission to the Evolution Forest, he shifted straight to sampling. “Alright, find a small stone with the moss still growing on it, fill your Section Four tube with both the plant and water, and use the foam to carve a slot for the test tube. Bring back water and rock samples too.”

Xia Qing put away her phone, took out a Section Four tube, a Section One water sample tube, and a medium sample bag, then headed back to the falls for her samples.

Crippled Wolf eyed the white foam box holding the eggs, deep in thought.

When Xia Qing returned with her samples, she found three new holes in the egg foam container. Nearby, Crippled Wolf—covered in soot—grinned wide and proud.

Xia Qing grinned back. “Crippled, you really are one of Blue Star’s most brilliant wolves.”

Crippled Wolf bared four snowy white, razor-sharp fangs in reply.

Xia Qing widened the holes Crippled Wolf had gouged out and slid in the Section Four test tube holding the river moss. Patiently, she explained, “We took three types of samples, but only the stone with the grass needs protection from being jostled…”

After securing her samples, Xia Qing was about to put away the egg tray when Crippled Wolf pinned it with a paw and glanced at his little wolf cub.

Xia Qing’s eyes lit up at once. “Handsome Crippled Wolf, do you want Little Wolf’s little sister to have one of my delicious Green Lantern Eggs? Those aren’t cheap…”

Xia Qing had left the territory before dawn and by the time she returned, the sun was already vanishing behind the mountains to the west—the sky was nearly dark.

She thanked Chang Li, Da Jiang, and Xiao Jiang for watching her territory all day, then contacted Idol again to hand over the two types of plants emitting Evolution Element magnetic fields, plus one meat bug sample, to Zheng Chen. With a quick circuit of the territory, Xia Qing grabbed a few vegetables and headed home.

After a blissfully hot shower and a change into clean clothes, Xia Qing made dinner while listening to the news. She and Old Goat and Er were halfway through their meal when the table let out a series of “beep” sounds—one, two, three in quick succession.

This alert frequency was all too familiar—Xia Qing didn’t even need to look to know who was at the door.

After this guy finished playing with Section Three’s northern gate, then came to mess with her operating-room-style front door, Xia Qing lost her patience. “Crippled! Can’t you settle down for once? All this door opening and closing—you’re letting bugs fly in!”

Crippled Wolf, happily playing, stopped and glanced back at the screen door behind him.

“Right, the screen keeps most bugs out, but what if some mutant poisonous insect gets small enough to slip through the mesh? Even if not, all this door-play is letting hot air in and running up the electric bill.”

Crippled Wolf stopped messing with the doors and went in to drop the protective suits he and Alpha had bagged up next to Xia Qing’s backpack. The suits were filthy and only Xia Qing knew how to clean them.

Then Crippled Wolf turned on the TV, cranked the air conditioner, and started studying. As soon as Xia Qing finished eating and did the dishes, Crippled Wolf dragged her massive backpack over to the couch, hinting for her to open it and start dividing up supplies.

Xia Qing could only sigh.

Alright then.

She dried her hands, pulled on her protective gloves, and opened the pack, taking out two oversized bags. The moment she tore open the packaging, Wolfdog Number Two raised his head from the hammock chair, eyes alert and dead serious.

The scent of blood drifting from the bags instantly put him on guard.

Old Goat smelled the blood too, but only paused his cud-chewing for two seconds.

“It’s fine, Er, don’t worry, keep watching TV. It’s just supplies from this trip, nothing dangerous.” Xia Qing reassured Er as she opened the second bag.

But the smell could still attract enemies, so Er wasn’t convinced—he nudged the front door open and slipped out to patrol the territory.