Chapter 1166: Plans and Negotiations Before the Patrol

On the evening of September 29, while having dinner, Xia Qing received a call from Base Director Qi Zhongye.

He first asked about preparations in Section One of the North and the Ninth Center for the upcoming migratory bird season. After commending Xia Qing’s performance, he got to the point: “So, you’re planning to team up with Yang Jin for the patrol mission to Mountain Nineteen?”

Xia Qing…

Was Yang Jin really this blunt with the Base Director, even calling him an Iron Rooster?

“Yang Jin didn’t actually say it. I guessed.” Qi Zhongye sounded amused. “For clearing out the Phantom Squad, you were the main contributor. How about you get thirty percent of the spoils?”

Just as she thought—thirty percent. Xia Qing kept her calm. “That’s fine. Thank you, Director.”

“Really, I should be thanking you. You’ve been buying your own ammo for training, right?”

Xia Qing felt her appetite piqued, but her voice stayed steady. “Yes.”

Altogether—with guns and ammo—she’d spent nearly two million credits by now.

Qi Zhongye’s voice was gentle. “According to the Phantom Squad’s confessions, there should be a stash of Scavenger supplies hidden somewhere in the Mountain Nineteen region. While you’re on patrol, keep an eye out. If you find them, bring them back and trade them for more ammo. Keep building your sniper skills. If you ever run into trouble, just call me directly.”

“Got it. Thank you, Director.”

After the call, Xia Qing sighed with feeling. “Hey, Broken Back, did you hear that? If you want to be a real leader, act like one! Right now, you’re the Wolf Pack’s number two. Don’t be stingy. There were hundreds of ducks in Wolf Valley—you couldn’t catch a single one, and you wouldn’t let me catch any, either. Now they’re all gone, and you didn’t get even a feather!”

Crippled Wolf, still struggling with writing double-digit numbers, didn’t react. Alpha was busy checking out the new Snake Skin Protective Suit, and Old Goat was all fired up riding the generator bike. Only Er, who was watching Xia Qing closely, looked up at her and broke into laughter.

Xia Qing ruffled Er’s head, praised Old Goat, then headed upstairs for her tenth medicinal bath.

She’d picked tomorrow night for the Mountain Nineteen mission for one reason—she wanted to partner up with the Lucky Wolf himself, Handsome Huge Wolf.

So, she had two missions tonight: first, soak in the medicinal bath; second, convince Alpha to send Handsome Huge Wolf with her on this run.

There was no point discussing it with Crippled Wolf or Handsome Huge Wolf. One was a notorious cheapskate, and the other just liked to play dumb.

When Xia Qing finished her bath and gingerly made her way downstairs to the first-floor bathroom, she found Alpha already soaking in the medicine with Old Goat. Xia Qing did her best to sit at the edge of the bath barrel, shivering while she opened the small medical kit, pulled out a pack of ice-cold medicine and emptied it into the bath.

With Ji Li and Yan Long’s Squad gone from Territory Seven, Zhang San now had much more freedom—no need to be secretive when preparing medicine for Xia Qing.

Now, every medicinal bath Xia Qing took was custom-mixed by Zhang San according to her condition after each previous bath. Oddly enough, the pain from the bath hadn’t lessened with her growing strength—it just hurt more each time.

Still, Xia Qing took this pain gladly.

If she hadn’t soaked in those baths before, she never would’ve dared to shoulder the sniper rifle’s massive recoil in that last fight with Phantom Squad on Mountain Nineteen—much less wield it like a submachine gun.

To help the animals get more out of their medicinal baths, Xia Qing and Crippled Wolf had run CT scans and drawn blood from the main Wolf Pack members and Old Goat, sending the samples to Territory Seven for Idol to customize additional herbs for each one’s condition.

These added medicinal herbs didn’t come cheap, either—not that Xia Qing had to worry about it. Crippled Wolf, as usual, footed the bill.

Fifteen minutes after Xia Qing emptied the medicine into the water, the effects hit—Old Goat couldn’t sit still anymore, bleating in his usual high-pitched voice for Xia Qing to let him out.

“Hang in there, Old Goat. Just a little longer and you’ll be fine.” Even a sheep used to brawling and hard labor needed tougher muscles, bones, and joints.

After coaxing Old Goat, Xia Qing scooped the nearly fainted Little Fei Mao out of the medicine basin. Leaning against the wall, she glanced at Alpha, now shaking from his whiskers down, and pleaded, “Your Majesty, could you let Big Wolf come with me tomorrow night? I’m just too slow; I need his help.”

“If you don’t mind sending him, I’ll take that as a yes…”

Before she knew it, Xia Qing had dosed off. Little Fei Mao sprawled in the towel on her lap, just as deeply asleep.

Out in the hall, Big Squirrel—who’d been anxiously hoping to scrounge a free meal—heard the silence, realized Little Fei Mao was done yelping, and promptly returned to prying at the trapped chestnut in the rock crevice.

A while back, Xia Qing had left that chestnut behind while sun-drying them. Big Squirrel had spotted it the night before, but its paws were just too small and weak to dig the thing out.

“Time’s up! Wolf bath shift!~~~”

Right on cue, the alarm clock in the living room went off. Xia Qing forced her eyes open and had Er pull Old Goat from the bath. Then she tucked Little Fei Mao into her pocket and rinsed off the medicine from Alpha.

Once Alpha staggered out of the bathroom, Handsome Huge Wolf walked in and hopped right into the barrel.

Xia Qing grabbed a slightly bigger pack of medicine from the box of ice, dropped it in the bath, and, while rubbing Old Goat’s fur dry, told Handsome Huge Wolf, “Big Wolf, you’re coming out with me for a job tomorrow night. Alpha already agreed.”

Handsome Huge Wolf slowly sank into the water until all that was left above the surface was his big, black nose.

This time, Xia Qing stayed in the bathroom, using the alarm clock to remind her to add the proper medicine as each wolf came in for their turn.

After prepping Old Goat, Er, and Little Wolf for their baths, Xia Qing dragged herself back to the living room. Before drifting off on the sofa, she gave Alpha one last reminder: “Your Majesty, have Big Wolf come by tomorrow night with Broken Back. I really need his help…”

Just as she’d hoped, at seven the next evening, Handsome Huge Wolf—wearing his signature frosty look—showed up at Hill Forty-Nine with Crippled Wolf in tow. To Xia Qing’s surprise, they’d also brought along Brown Huge Wolf, his sister Little Wolf’s Little Sister, plus Lame Wolf’s Little Sister, and Four-Eyes, the young one from Black Wolf.

All five wolves were sporting Snake Skin Protective Suits. Crippled Wolf’s suit was standard issue, but the other four had theirs specially tailored by Huo Lei, Huo Zhun, and Jiang Ying, who’d put in late hours to get them finished.

Four-Eyes from Black Wolf was about the same size as Little Wolf, so his protective suit fit perfectly. Xia Qing praised the four wolves for looking very dashing before asking, “Broken Back, so Big Guy, Little Wolf’s Little Sister, and Four-Eyes are coming with us too?”

Crippled Wolf bared his little, adorable fangs in response.

Xia Qing stressed, “Let’s be clear: you’re coming to check on Scarface Wolf’s wound sutures with me. Only Big Wolf will join me for the other mission. So, only he gets a share of any spoils—just ten percent, no extras for the others.”

Crippled Wolf shut his mouth and looked at Brown Huge Wolf beside him.

Xia Qing caught on. “Big Wolf alone can handle it. But if Big Guy joins too, they can split fifteen percent and that’s as high as I’ll go. Otherwise, I’ll just team up with Yang Jin—the guy’s a Speed Evolver and can carry me as fast as Alpha herself.”