Chapter 1128: Feast After Victory

After every victory comes a grand feast.

This time, with the Wolf Pack and Bear Pack having hunted down over sixty Devastation Snakes during the invasion, there was no need for order. Every wolf and every bear in the valley stuffed themselves as much as they pleased. Even Monkey got a chunk of Devastation Snake as long as its own body, gnawing away until its belly grew round.

Once Xin Yu had confirmed contact with Gua Gua the raven and Little Jade the sea eagle, Xia Qing, Section Four’s fighter, leapt into the valley. She quickly picked out four relatively intact Devastation Snakes, sealed them in bags, and glanced at the four wounded wolves who were still eating despite bleeding. She gave each injured wolf a quick spray of pesticide on their wounds, planning to patch them up after they’d had their fill—they couldn’t miss out on what might be the nutrient-rich meal of the year.

Next, as Xia Qing was testing the Devastation Element content of three mid-sized pythons, the Bear King suddenly rose from its meal and tossed a snake in front of her.

The wolves looked up for just a second, then went right back to eating, especially the evolved wolves who’d just joined from the western front—they were stuffing their faces the hardest.

Xia Qing only hesitated for a moment before bending to pick up the fifty-pound snake, swinging it in her hands and calling out to the massive bear across from her. “Bear Bro, are you giving me this white snake because I shot those two pythons and saved your friend? Alright, I’ll take it!”

After Xia Qing accepted the snake, the Bear King ignored her and went straight back to eating.

Once the wolves in the valley were full, they carried the leftover snakes away to feed others in the pack. The Crippled Wolf dragged two Devastation Snakes to Xia Qing, nudged at her backpack to find some bags, and urged her to seal them up and send them back to Section Three for storage in its double-door fridge.

This was top-quality meat that could boost their power—no way they’d let the freeloaders waiting for leftovers have it. Whatever they couldn’t finish now, they’d store away for later.

With all the Devastation Snakes eaten or carried away, the wolves abandoned the battlefield. Right away, small carnivorous mammals and birds that had been waiting on the valley’s edge rushed in, snapping up the leftover meat they’d been eyeing, flapping their wings and running as fast as they could.

Stuffed and satisfied, the wolves and bears lazily watched the chaos unfold. Xia Qing, who hadn’t eaten and barely had time to rest, piled the two pythons and three mid-sized snakes into a mountain of meat, then quietly approached Alpha, who was lounging on a rock. “My Queen, may I have these snakes?” she whispered.

As Section Four’s top fighter and the hero who’d repelled the Snake Pack, Xia Qing had certainly earned her reward. Besides, the wolves were already full. Knowing Alpha’s temper, she doubted he’d say no.

She kept her voice down to avoid a certain stingy wolf overhearing.

Alpha lounged on the rock, lazily gazing at the mountain of meat that stood taller than Xia Qing.

Crippled Wolf, who’d been grooming his fur by the river, jumped over at once, sniffed the pile of snakes and then put his paw squarely on the first giant python Xia Qing had killed, staring at her with grave seriousness.

This python had a Devastation Element content as high as 12‰, but its skin, flesh and bones had all evolved to a high level of hardness. Crippled Wolf wasn’t stupid—he knew this snake’s hide was perfect for making protective suits.

Xia Qing got straight to business with the clever wolf: “Handsome Wolf, you want to use this snake’s skin to make suits for Little Wolf and his sister, right?”

Crippled Wolf bared his bloodstained fangs in a sly smile.

“Of course! I won’t even charge you for the work. I’ll make two protective suits for Little Wolf and his sister from this python’s skin—the rest of the hide is mine.”

Crippled Wolf still looked deadly serious as he lifted a massive paw, stretching out all five toes as far as they would go.

Matching his serious tone, Xia Qing pressed down on the dewclaw of his left front paw. “Four suits. One for Big Wolf, too. The rest of the skin is mine.”

A wolf’s front paw has four main toes for running, walking, and attacking, and a slightly higher, sometimes ground-touching or even non-touching inner toe called the dewclaw.

Xia Qing’s notebook had video footage saying that the dewclaw was a vestigial evolutionary feature, like a human tailbone, with little practical use. But Crippled Wolf’s dewclaw was nimble—she’d seen him use it to grasp branches for balance when jumping into trees plenty of times. Clearly, the old research was out of date.

Crippled Wolf stared at his own paw, covered by the snakeskin glove, for several seconds before baring his fangs again.

With a bright smile, Xia Qing confirmed the deal, then brought up her next request: “Handsome Wolf, can I get Huo Zhun and Hu Zifeng to fly the helicopter over? There’s no way I can carry all these snakes by myself.”

Both giant pythons were Yellow Lanterns. Of the three mid-sized pythons, one was Yellow Lantern and two were Red Lanterns. Xia Qing wouldn’t eat any of this meat, and neither would the wolves, but once it was skinned and shipped back to the territory, it’d fetch a good price.

The giant pythons and mid-sized pythons weren’t the same species, but they were all hefty. Each of the two fourteen-meter giants weighed nearly a ton, and even the three seven-meter midsize pythons were five or six hundred pounds each. Even with her Strength Evolution, if Xia Qing had to carry all this from Hill Fifty-Nine to the helicopter on her own, she’d be half dead from exhaustion.

And hauling is just half the trouble. She probably wouldn’t have made it back to the chopper before the Snake Pack launched a fourth attack. Both Devastation Snakes hunted by Crippled Wolf were males—she’d have to catch a female as well.

Crippled Wolf clamped his jaws shut, looking deadly serious. Absolutely not!

Hill Sixty was the Wolf Pack’s core territory. Aside from Xia Qing, Crippled Wolf wasn’t letting anyone else enter.

But Xia Qing had expected this, so she named her real condition instead: “Can Big Guy and Er help me carry the snakes to Hill Fifty-Nine? Handsome Wolf, if I’m stuck hauling meat by myself and a python attacks again, I won’t be able to shoot and defend us.”

Crippled Wolf thought it over and finally grinned in agreement.

“Thank you, Handsome Wolf. You really are the best of all wolves on Blue Star’s pyramid! I’ll call Huo Zhun and Zhang Hongda now to meet at Hill Fifty-Nine.” Xia Qing quickly made contact and started tying up the pythons, getting help from the wolves to haul them over.

Every wolf in the valley had to help move the snakes, apart from Alpha, Crippled Wolf and the wounded ones. As a six-and-a-half rank Strength Evolution fighter, Xia Qing was still the main workhorse. Even then, today’s haul was incredible—she had to make two trips with help from nine wolves just to move it all.

As Xia Qing picked up a mid-sized python and prepared to leave the valley, the Bear King moved again from across the river.

“Smack!”

A python Xia Qing had shot, which had died in the Bear Pack’s territory on the river’s east bank, was slapped hard by the Bear King’s paw and sent flying toward her. The python was so massive that the Bear King couldn’t throw the whole thing, so part of it landed in the water, splashing a huge spray.

Alpha, resting atop the Royal Platform, glanced over but quickly turned away to keep watching the lake.

Xia Qing wiped water from her protective mask, hauled the python ashore and ignored the giant bear at the Bear King’s side, who was snarling and slapping rocks at her. She kept her gaze steady on the Bear King and asked, “Bear Bro, are you giving me this one too? Want to trade for something?”

Maybe the Bear King didn’t understand human speech. After tossing the python, he ignored Xia Qing entirely and stared at the lake.

“Alright, thank you, Bear Bro. I’ll take it.” During the Calamity Years, food was scarce. Only a fool would turn down free meat, no matter the quality. Xia Qing quickly tied up the snake, slung it over her shoulders, and left the valley with the wolves.

She dragged the giant python and two mid-sized pythons she couldn’t carry to Alpha and asked him to guard them for her temporarily.

As Xia Qing was about to leave, Goofball, belly still bulging, immediately grabbed at a random snake and hurried after her. Xia Qing didn’t stop him—after all, if the little guy overate, a run around the hill was the perfect workout.