Chapter 1160: Eggs, Deals, and the Top of the Food Chain

Even though Xia Qing was always going on about the “top of the pyramid,” it had just been a catchphrase to her—until now. Standing in her cozy little living room, she watched the Brain-Evolved Wolf, perched at the low table with a pencil strapped to its right paw, scribbling numbers onto a grid notebook with deadly seriousness. For the first time, Xia Qing realized this really might be a wolf standing atop Blue Star’s food chain—a creature so unique, its place in the planet’s evolutionary history deserved its own chapter.

This was a wolf learning human civilization—and soon, it would be able to use written words to communicate its thoughts about the world to people. That alone was historic.

This moment had to be recorded for posterity!

Xia Qing whipped out her phone and snapped shots from every angle, then scooted in next to the Crippled Wolf for a selfie. She knew herself well: someone as ordinary as her would only ever get her face in Blue Star’s evolution history by sneaking into photos with a true legend.

But the Crippled Wolf, hard at work, pushed her aside with its left paw, making it clear she was in the way.

Satisfied after finally getting a photo with its huge paw, Xia Qing stood and said, “Do your best, Broken Back! I’m heading out to make my rounds. When I get back, I’ll bring you a cucumber.”

Migration season nights were never quiet. Flocks of birds kept thundering overhead. Territory Lords chattered over the walkie-talkies, trading encouragement and warnings not to fall asleep, all in the name of guarding the fields. Officially, Xia Qing was out on patrol tonight, so she stayed silent, listened to the chatter, checked her phone for updates, and once sure everything was fine, made her circuit of the territory. She then slipped out the North Gate and headed to Wolf Valley to check on Er.

Since Xia Qing was home tonight, Old Goat didn’t need Er to watch over her and had bolted off to Wolf Valley to protect the two wounded wolves still recovering there. Xia Qing dosed the injured wolves with medicine, brushed Er’s fur for a while, and as she was leaving Wolf Valley to head home, her sharp hearing picked up the sound of a small animal darting through the Evolved Forest behind her.

That sound…

Xia Qing stopped, turned, and peered back through her night vision goggles into the Evolved Forest. She focused on a rock where the noise had gone silent and called out softly, “Baldy, is that you?”

“White Weasel?”

“Baldy?”

She called several times. Finally, a tiny head, smaller than the Balding Weasel’s, poked out from behind the rock—round little ears quivering as it stared at her.

“Baldy (Weasel Cub), what are you doing here?” Xia Qing’s voice was gentle. This little guy had actually crossed all the way from Hill Fifty into her territory—he must have had a good reason. She waited patiently, letting the Brain-Evolved Cub make its intentions clear.

The little weasel cub stared at Xia Qing for a few seconds, then ducked behind the rock again—only to poke its head back out, this time with a snake clamped in its jaws.

Xia Qing let out a breath, then fished an egg from the foam padding in her backpack and gestured with it as she tried to communicate. “Baldy, are you offering this snake for an egg?”

The cub’s head instantly pushed further out at the sight of the egg. As Xia Qing got a better look at the snake, her eyes went wide. Damn, the little furball had actually caught a Devastation Snake!

Should a Devastation Snake show up on Hill Forty-Nine, by protocol they’d have to launch emergency disaster procedures. But this was migration season—the Inspection Team, the Ninth Center, each territory—everyone was already running themselves ragged, barely keeping up with the birds around the clock. No one had the manpower or energy to comb the mountains for a Devastation Snake that had gone into hiding for winter…

Sensing Xia Qing’s change in mood, the little cub instantly ducked back into hiding.

She took a moment to steady herself, then spoke calmly to the Brain-Evolved Cub. “Baldy, you found a Devastation Snake? Brilliant work—you really are a weasel at the very top of Blue Star’s pyramid. I’ll give you this egg—can I take the snake?”

It wasn’t that Xia Qing didn’t want to give it an extra egg, it’s just—this little guy’s mouth was tiny, and he was so skittish. If she took out two eggs, he couldn’t carry both and would only get more nervous. As a descendant of the Venom-Evolved Weasel, Xia Qing had to be extra careful not to spook him.

“Baldy, are you still there?”

“Baldy…?”

Only after several calls did the little one finally poke its trembling head out again, snake still clenched in its mouth.

“This egg is yours now.” Xia Qing placed the egg on the ground, stepped back five meters, and let her arms hang loosely by her sides. She waited, calm and patient.

The cub locked eyes on the egg, then Xia Qing, back and forth for half a minute before making its move. It darted out, dropped the snake, stretched its mouth as wide as possible, and raced off with the egg.

“You can always come back and make this kind of trade if you catch another snake,” Xia Qing called, striding over to carefully collect the dead snake from the ground. She checked the bulge on its head—thankfully, still intact—then breathed a deep sigh of relief and dialed Hu Zifeng’s number.

Once she’d confirmed Liangzi was handling Hill Forty-Nine’s surveillance room tonight, Xia Qing called him to check the cameras. Then she contacted Zhang Jingwu in Territory Seven, asking him to monitor the Hill Fifty danger zone. Only after all that did she finally dial the Idol.

The Devastation Snake was an extremely dangerous creature. According to protocol, if one popped up on Hill Forty-Nine, the only person qualified to direct disaster response in Section One of the North was the Senior Expert—so she had to report straight away.

The call connected, and Zhang San’s voice came in hot with irritation: “This better be important.”

“It is.” Xia Qing quickly outlined the Devastation Snake situation. When the Idol stayed silent for three seconds, she pressed on, “According to the surveillance records for Hill Forty-Nine and the danger zone in Hill Fifty, this Devastation Snake was actually discovered by the Little Weasel north of Hill Fifty’s Third Peak and carried all the way into Section Six then over to Section Three of Hill Forty-Nine. Second Peak north of Hill Fifty is already five miles from our territory. Third Brother, what do you think—a disaster response wouldn’t be necessary, right?”

In Territory Seven’s lab—lit bright as day—Zhang San, who’d watched Xia Qing chase off two wolves with eggs on video just two hours ago, massaged his forehead and snapped, “You seriously carry eggs on patrol at night?”

Total coincidence. “No, I was coming by to check on the injured wolves in Wolf Valley, so I brought a few.”

She’d brought four eggs—three for the wolves, and the last was meant for Flathead. That morning, she’d found signs the Honey Badger had been under a tree while passing through Section Three, so she’d grabbed an extra egg just in case.

Eggs on missions. Eggs for the wolves. Trading eggs for snakes with weasels. And even bringing eggs when she came looking for him!

Who would have guessed that trading Green Lantern Chicken for spinach would lead to all this? Zhang San hung up without another word, not wanting to hear Xia Qing’s voice another second.

A hang-up from the Idol was as good as an approval—no disaster response required. Relieved, Xia Qing had only walked a few steps back when a familiar panting broke the night behind her.

She turned to see Flathead, now nearly twice his original size, barreling toward her, grinning with a mouthful of little teeth. Out of eggs, Xia Qing whipped a packet of freeze-dried Yellow Lantern meat out of her pocket, tore it open, tossed it to him, and made a sprint back to her territory.