Chapter 1109: Trouble on the Evolving Frontier

Xia Qing glanced at Crippled Wolf. “What do you think—will the Monkey Troop push into our territory? If you spot any monkeys sneaking in or see any blue-skinned scavengers, come get me right away.”

Xia Qing had no say—and honestly, no energy to care—about what chaos Fire Phoenix and those blue-skinned scavengers caused in Hui One’s evolved forest. But if any of them, humans or monkeys, dared lay their hands on resources in Hui Three’s northwest forest, there would be no mercy.

Crippled Wolf bared a tiny pointed fang in acknowledgment, then settled back to keep watching the recording.

The last video showed Xia Qing flying back by helicopter. When the Western Wolf King appeared on the snowy mountain, Xia Qing paused the footage and turned to Crippled Wolf. “Hey, look—your big brother, Huge Wolf, is still wearing my Yi Stone on his neck. Can you help me get it back?”

Crippled Wolf seemed to consider this, then hopped down from the sofa and padded over to the front door, raising one big paw.

Xia Qing answered without missing a beat. “The door you traded for has been delivered. Where should we install it—Hill Fifty-Five?”

That did it. Crippled Wolf flashed a toothy, delighted grin, nodded toward the roasted Green Lantern wild duck—telling Xia Qing it wanted it packed to go—then headed out from Section Three.

Xia Qing realized the roast duck was for the Queen. Now that Little Wolf and his little sister were grown, Crippled Wolf no longer needed to hunt for them, so this leftover Yellow Lantern roast duck was a present for her.

Crippled Wolf really was one particular wolf!

The wild ducks would be migrating later this month, so right now they were eating everything in sight to bulk up. They were fat and smelled absolutely delicious.

Roast duck never tasted as good once it was cold. Since she’d already eaten dinner, Xia Qing tore off the crackling skin and big chunks of meat, sharing half with Er while keeping the rest to dip into chili oil and vinegar.

Goofball waited at her side, eyes shining, while Little Fei Mao pawed and wagged his tail—both got some meat. Old Goat wasn’t a fan of roast, so Xia Qing handed him a crisp cucumber instead.

Qiang Zai? Well, he was still on a cleanse to deal with his digestion, so that meant no meat for now.

Xia Qing tossed the duck bones into the fridge for tomorrow—she’d use them to make duck broth noodle soup. Last winter, Xia Qing nearly lost control of her body thanks to poison and the Evolution Element stim shake, but by now, her health had recovered. A little Yellow Lantern food now and then wouldn’t do any harm.

After polishing off the roast, Xia Qing left Er in charge and grabbed her rifle, trekking up to the Hill Forty-Nine shooting range for her nightly training session.

Migration season was on the way, and Luo Pei would be testing her progress before the birds arrived. So any spare moment, Xia Qing headed straight for target practice.

Luo Pei set the bar high—2100 meters effective range, rain or shine, day or night, regardless of wind, humidity, or temperature.

If the wind picked up—especially unpredictable mountain gusts—hitting 2100 meters was no joke. Tonight’s wind hit level six, but visibility was good. Perfect for practice.

After three hours of burning through sniper rounds that cost a fortune, Xia Qing slung her heavy rifle over her shoulder and trudged down the mountain, broken-hearted. She’d have to keep working with Yang Jin.

Working with Yang Jin meant one thing: sniper rounds at half price. Given how much she trained, that would save her at least a million credits a year.

Back home, Xia Qing texted Yang Jin to report the massive fight between Number Four’s wolf pack and the Monkey Troop.

You couldn’t count on the wolves alone to keep the monkeys or scavengers at bay. Humans had to increase patrols and deal with hidden dangers promptly. Per their arrangement, this job was for the Military and Combat Team—not a farmer lord like Xia Qing.

Yang Jin was the captain of Hui Three’s First Combat Team, which made him the best person to talk to the military about this.

Not long after she sent the message, Yang Jin called. “Xiao Jing’s and the other captured scavengers’ interrogations confirmed the collared wolf and the three wolves in the cave at Mount Twenty-Six are from the same pack. Their territory covers Hui Three’s Hills Twenty-Two through Twenty-Six and Hui One’s Hills Twenty-Seven through Twenty-Nine. There’s some overlap with the scavengers’ own territory.”

Base boundaries and travel rules didn’t mean a thing to the animals in the evolved forest. It was normal for big animals to roam across the base lines.

Xia Qing pulled up the map to check out the territory Yang Jin mentioned. “Number Four’s wolves are in the southwestern part of Hui Three’s Western Wolf Pack’s territory. On January 28, the macaques carrying a high-level evolved aspergillus fungus invaded the Western Wolf Pack’s land. Later, they probably hit Number Four’s as well.”

“According to the scavengers, there were monkeys carrying a disease who raided the wolves, but right now there’s no way to be sure it was the same Monkey Troop.”

Yang Jin leaned back in his chair, stretching with a casual smile. “I’ll send you a picture of the Monkey Troop leader later. Next time you see Number Four, you can check with him. Tomorrow I’ll have people check those mountains, monitor the monkeys and wolves, and keep searching for scavengers. There are still at least twenty of them on the loose.”

Very few people actually knew Xia Qing could communicate with wolf packs—Yang Jin had given both Hu Zifeng’s squad and Chang Li strict orders to stay silent. If word got out, every department and combat team in the Base would lose it.

“Got it,” Xia Qing replied, just about to hang up when Yang Jin chimed in, “Sister Qing, when are we going to pick chestnuts?”

Yang Jin remembered she’d organized chestnut gathering on September 10 last year. Today was just the 4th, and as her boyfriend, he saw chestnut foraging as only natural.

But he was about to be disappointed.

“The hornet colonies in the chestnut grove have evolved again. Harvesting by hand is just too risky. I bought some mechanical harvesting gear from Territory Seven. I’ll install it tomorrow night. The mechanical arms can do the picking.”

Even so, Yang Jin was happy for her. “That’ll make things a lot easier after you install those arms! When will your territory’s lab get started?”

Xia Qing replied, “We dig the foundation tomorrow, then set up the supports the day after.”

Yang Jin took over without missing a beat. “I’ll come help dig tomorrow. How about we have hazel mushroom stew for dinner? I’ll bring the mushrooms, you bring the meat.”

Xia Qing paused. “Aren’t you really busy?”

“The Combat Team has a lot going on, but with 600 new recruits, no one’s swamped. Luo is away at Red Six Base, so I’ll be the one to evaluate this batch’s training. Luo specifically told me not to go easy on you.”

Xia Qing answered calmly and hung up.

The next day, Xia Qing invited Strength-Based Evolvers Qi Fu, Yuan Yan, Shi Du, Huo Zhun, and Yu Shou over to help. Along with Yang Jin, who came from the Safe Zone, they dug the foundation according to the construction blueprints.

The third day, Xia Qing brought over all the building materials from Territory Seven. With Da Ya supervising and all her allies pitching in, they worked for five days straight. Not only did they build five labs, but they also fixed the slope roads in the Northern Buffer Forest.

On the night everything was finished, Xia Qing provided the food, and Yang Jin, Er Yong, and Tang Huai whipped up a lavish dinner to thank everyone for their help.

Tang Huai brought a whole crate of Green Lantern beer, loudly challenging Yang Jin to a drinking contest. They both ended up drunk—Tang Heng carried Tang Huai back to Territory Two, while Yang Jin, red-faced and insistent he wasn’t drunk, stuck around.

Even after helping Xia Qing clean up, he decided it was too dangerous to walk home alone in his current state and headed straight for the bedroom, leaving Xia Qing to wonder if he’d really had that much to drink.