Chapter 1121: Showdown at the Lake: Wolves, Bears, and Serpents

The gentle magnetic field of the Evolution Element washed over her, its rhythm tangled with wild heartbeats and a surge of anger. For Xia Qing, it felt achingly familiar.

“Stay calm, Queen! I’ll go catch those snakes!”

Xia Qing pulled the protective mask over her head, tightened the straps, grabbed her long blade, and slung the submachine gun from her side.

“Rat-a-tat-tat—”

The clash was about to erupt. Now wasn’t the time to spare ammunition. Xia Qing fired in a sweeping arc, mowing down every white snake slithering onto the shore.

Some members broke the unspoken rules, striking before the Alpha and Bear King gave the command. In an instant, they slaughtered the prized prey that had made it to land. Both the Wolf Pack and Bear Pack grew restless.

The Alpha snapped to attention first, leaping into the valley with the Handsome Huge Wolf to block Xia Qing’s path. Facing off against the Bear Pack, the Alpha locked eyes with the Bear King, a silent battle already underway.

With both kings confronting each other, wolves and bears fell silent, each side coiling to strike.

Xia Qing hefted a big bag and sprinted to the lake’s edge. Before the vultures and other animals could land, she stuffed all sixteen white snake corpses—each over three meters long—into the bag, tying it tight to keep their scent and the Evolutionary Synthetic Element from setting the packs off even more.

She couldn’t spare a thought for the red Devastation Snakes slithering away, crackling with aggressive magnetic force.

Once the bag was cinched, Xia Qing holstered her submachine gun and drew her sniper rifle, taking aim at six giant pythons poking their heads over four meters above the water—fifteen hundred meters away. Without hesitation, she pulled the trigger.

“Bang!”

The leftmost python’s head exploded. Its massive body crashed down into the lake, sending up a wall of spray.

“Hiss—”

The five remaining pythons reared back in fury, black forked tongues darting as they let out a menacing warning. Even the dueling Alpha and Bear King stopped, turning their gaze toward the lake.

After dropping one python, Xia Qing swung her rifle to target the familiar python on the right—the Black Loach, notorious for its escape from Python Pond of Hill Fifty-Five. Her voice was ice-cold. “Get lost! Or I’ll drop you on the spot, skin you, and make your hide into a protective suit for Handsome Huge Wolf.”

The Black Loach hissed but then locked eyes with Xia Qing. Its tongue vanished, and slowly it sank beneath the surface.

With one python killed and another fleeing, the Alpha threw back its head and howled long and loud. The Wolf Pack surged with renewed spirit, their howls echoing one after another.

Meanwhile, the Bear Pack tensed, eyes locked on the remaining giant pythons and the tiny human at the lake’s edge. None dared move.

But the other four pythons stood their ground while more white snakes, tangled with Devastation Snakes, began swimming for shore. Xia Qing jerked her aim skyward and squeezed the trigger again.

“Bang!”

A circling vulture was hit mid-flight, plunging straight down onto the largest python—the one with piercing golden vertical pupils.

Lowering her rifle, Xia Qing glared at this massive python and roared, “Scram!”

The golden-eyed giant python, along with the other three, slid beneath the water. The white snakes entangled with Devastation Snakes followed, and at last Python Lake fell quiet once more.

“Awoooo—” The excited howl of the Lame Wolf rang in Xia Qing’s ears.

“Roooaaaar—!”

The Bear King answered with a roar, and the whole Bear Pack responded in kind.

Seeing Xia Qing and the Alpha holding the line, the Crippled Wolf howled, gathered four wolves, and dashed for the western front as backup.

The roar of bears and howl of wolves reached the helicopter idling atop Hill Fifty-Nine, where Zhang Hongda, worried about Xia Qing, said, “Huo, the wolves and bears are at each other’s throats. Shouldn’t we contact Sister Qing?”

If they could reach her, fine. But if they couldn’t, something must have gone wrong, and backup was needed right away. Even an ace sniper like Xia Qing could get trapped if the Bear Pack surrounded her.

“No need.”

Having seen situations like this before, Huo Zhun kept his eyes on the flocks of birds taking flight over the battle zone. He stayed relaxed. “This is the most critical moment in the fight. We’re humans—if we rush in, we might throw everything off and trigger chaos we can’t control.”

“But Sister Qing already fired her gun. The bears must know humans have joined in.” Zhang Hongda was confused.

“She’s different.” Huo Zhun, who’d witnessed the standoffs between bears and wolves four months ago, was sure—in the eyes of the Bear Pack, Xia Qing’s real identity wasn’t a human, but a member of the Northern Wolf Pack.

As strange as it sounded, those were the facts.

The howls of nearly thirty Evolved Wolves and Evolved Grizzlies bounced through the valley, right between Hills Sixty and Sixty-One.

Xia Qing darted off with a small pouch, racing snake eagles and honey badgers to snatch up Devastation Snakes.

Those things were mostly poisonous and barely edible. Snake eagles or honey badgers would probably be done for if they ate any.

The pale-faced, monks-masked Little Monkey bounded over and climbed onto Xia Qing’s shoulder, hugging her neck tightly.

“Don’t be scared, Goofball. It’s all over now.”

Xia Qing’s head rang from the deafening noise. She lifted her left hand, clad in snakeskin gloves, and gently brushed Goofball’s furry arm. Good thing her protective mask covered her neck—otherwise, with Goofball hanging on like that, her face would be beet red. “You’re one of the Bear Pack’s top fighters. How are you such a scaredy-cat?”

Goofball just stared blankly, refusing to let go of Xia Qing.

After checking there were no more Devastation Snakes nearby, Xia Qing finally straightened, took a glance at the arm-mounted toxin detector—which still read as normal—and looked over at the dueling wolves and bears.

These two noisy gangs were giving her a splitting headache.

The first to stop howling was the Lame Wolf. It hopped over to Xia Qing, pawing at her protective suit, begging for a snack.

After Xia Qing handed it a piece of jerky and sent it off, Er ambled over, rubbing its giant head against her.

She used the chance to check Er’s body for injuries. Finding none, she squeezed a tube of nutrient shake into its mouth.

Goofball hopped down from Xia Qing’s neck and padded over to the snake-filled bags, eyes wide with longing. “Eeh—”

Both sacks of snakes belonged to Xia Qing—it was up to her to dole out the spoils.

“You want some snake, Goofball?” Xia Qing asked.

Goofball’s dull eyes lit up right away.

Once the white snakes were dead, the Evolution Element’s magnetic field dispersed. No more torrents of Evolutionary Synthetic Element leaking out.

Time to test her theory.

Xia Qing untied the bag, pulled out a piece of snake meat to check for Devastation Element, confirmed it was the Green Lantern variety, and handed it to Goofball. “Eat up.”

Goofball immediately chomped down on the tasty treat, then scampered into a leafy tree, hiding while he ate.

Just as Xia Qing expected, the whole Wolf Pack and Bear Pack fell silent, eyes locked on the two big bags by her side. The Cub’s hungry gaze was so intense you’d think it would start drooling any second.

Going by the naming convention for Devastation Snakes, these white snakes loaded with Evolutionary Synthetic Element ought to be called Evolution Snakes.

Just now, the wolves and bears had howled with excitement because Evolution Snakes—Green Lanterns—were top-tier food.

“Grrr~”

The Cub let out a low growl. Goofball poked his head from the canopy, shot the Cub a look, then leaped across the river, carrying his meat. He shared it with the Cub.

When she saw that the two grizzly leaders made no move to stop the Cub from eating the snake meat Goofball brought back, Xia Qing’s theory was confirmed.

Between the Bear Pack, Wolf Pack, and Snake Pack, it wasn’t about alliances or rivalries. Wolves and bears fought over food; snakes fought to seize territory for the winter.