Chapter 173: A Night of Fury and Alliance

Xia Qing forced down her anger, clipped the grenade back onto her belt, and held out her left hand to Boss Sheep. “Boss, I’ve already refused this deal. Give me the python.”

Boss Sheep let go and handed the heavy python to Xia Qing.

She grabbed it and, with a mighty swing, hurled the massive snake at the brain-evolved injured wolf.

The alpha wolf and two wolves who’d carried the snake over darted forward in a flash, shielding the injured wolves behind them and spreading out into a fan-shaped attack formation in front of Xia Qing.

“Bang!”

The snake was heavy and Xia Qing was strong—the impact punched a trench into the ground, sending dust swirling in the spotlight.

Since entering her territory, Xia Qing had never—never—been this furious.

She gripped her handgun so tight that her wound split open again, blood scenting the air. “What, you started this by provoking me and now you want to bribe me with a slab of meat? Who the hell do you think you’re disrespecting?”

“This worthless thing would fetch maybe 7,500 points at the Safe Zone at best. And for four days now, you lot have been guzzling medicine bought with my points!”

After chewing out the wolves, Xia Qing pointed at Boss Sheep, who was scraping its hooves and showing off its curled horns, clearly itching for a fight. She snapped, “Whose side are you on, huh? Get inside and go to sleep, or you won’t get a single bite of rations!”

The night was dim, so Boss Sheep couldn’t make out Xia Qing’s expression. But it could tell she was worked up. It stopped pawing the ground, lowered those flashy horns, and trotted over to stand by her side.

In front of the intimidating wolf pack, Boss Sheep chose to stand with her. That took the edge off Xia Qing’s temper, at least a little.

The rest—well, the rest of her anger was for the wolves to handle.

“Enough with the games! Between humans and wolves, you’re making a sheep with more guts than brains pick sides. Some friends you are! If you still want treatment, tuck your tails in and behave. If not, then get out—leave exactly the way you came!”

When she finished, Xia Qing slammed the security door shut with a bang, rattling the whole house. Seeing Boss Sheep looking up at her, she took out a chunk of rations and stuffed it into its pouch. “You’re hurt, sleep early.”

With compressed rations in its pouch, Boss Sheep trotted back to its pen, completely at ease.

Once back in her room, Xia Qing locked the door behind her. Both Boss Sheep and the wolves could open the security door—without her bedroom door locked, she just couldn’t relax.

After messaging Ji Li to say there would be no meat to trade today, Xia Qing switched on the light, took off her gloves, cleaned up the wound on her right hand, then collapsed into bed.

The tougher things get, the more you need to conserve strength and energy. It’s a survival rule proven by countless people who died in disasters.

The next morning, Xia Qing woke to find Boss Sheep was gone and the python was still in the ditch she’d made last night. The alpha wolf was nowhere to be seen. Two injured wolves and a sick wolf lay inside the sheep shed. Outside, fat mutated flies swarmed both the stinking Greenlight python and a bloody patch near the shed.

The wolf with the broken leg still looked at Xia Qing with wild, untamed eyes. The brain-evolved injured wolf was more cautious now.

And the sick wolf’s look? Both its eyes were nearly swollen shut—what kind of look could it even give?

Did it look pitiful, though?

Yeah, it did.

Did Xia Qing feel sorry for it?

Not in the slightest.

After ten years surviving disaster, Xia Qing had seen countless beings—human and animal—far more wretched than this wolf. She was no clay Buddha, barely able to keep herself alive, much less save the world.

Losing fifty pounds of Greenlight meat stung, but Xia Qing didn’t regret a thing.

When she was bullied in the Safe Zone, she had to swallow her anger and get revenge in secret. But here, in her own territory, why should she hold back?

She doused the python in diesel and set it alight. Any spoiled meat had to be destroyed right away—otherwise, it’d breed super-evolved bacteria or attract mutated raptors.

Once the python was handled, Xia Qing returned and headed to the cellar. Her chicks and goslings chirped around her feet as she checked the temperature and humidity readings. Not a single number was up to standard.

That meant her cooling and dehumidifying experiments had failed again. Managing storage room climate was even harder than she’d expected.

Xia Qing sighed, picked up her cage, and headed outside to release the chickens into the backyard. As she passed the sheep shed, she was surprised to see Boss Sheep calmly ruminating beside the frail, sick wolf.

Boss Sheep always stuck close to whoever was strongest—so maybe that wolf had been something fierce in the past?

It didn’t matter: no matter how mighty it once was, now it was at death’s door.

After checking the chicken enclosure and making sure the fencing was sound, Xia Qing let her poultry out and messaged Chang Li.

Chang Li soon arrived at Territory Three with two scent evolvers from Hu Zifeng’s squad. They got right to work cleaning up the scent trails.

Even though Xia Qing hadn’t confiscated the python from the wolves last night, since they’d dragged their prey inside her territory, their scent needed to be removed.

Once inside, Chen Zheng spotted Xia Qing loaded up: two guns at her hip, three knives, a belt of grenades. He didn’t find it strange—just a bit envious.

Today, Sufeng Squad was set to search nearby Territory Four. As the lord who’d refused them entry, Xia Qing needed to be ready for trouble.

Chen Zheng admired her strength—carrying all those weapons and always on guard.

Chen Cheng was curious about the wolves’ recent gifts. “Qing-jie, why have the wolves been bringing snakes these last two days?”

Last night, Hu Zifeng’s squad had already cleared the wolves’ trail outside Territory Three. Chen Cheng, a scent evolver, could tell the wolves had delivered a snake to Xia Qing.

Even Chang Li thought the wolves’ behavior was odd. “Wolves love organs and soft meat, but snakes have tough meat, fewer organs, and lots of bones. They’re not a favorite for wolves.”

If they don’t like it, why bring it to her?

Suddenly a thought struck Xia Qing: snakes are a lot like pangolins in some ways. Maybe the wolf pack noticed she liked pangolins and started bringing snakes in trade for medicine?

Honestly…

That might be it. Otherwise, why does she get a different menu than the injured wolves?

Realizing this, Xia Qing felt a weird mix of emotions.

Territory Three had barely finished its cleaning when the lord’s channel crackled to life with a message from Tang Huai. “Zhao Ze, you there?”

“Brother Huai, I’ve been waiting! What time do we start?” Zhao Ze answered eagerly—no doubt thinking about the wheat Sufeng Squad had promised.

Now that’s the attitude of a normal person. Xia Qing and Xin Yu were anything but! Tang Huai held the button. “There are a lot of territories to check today. Can we be at yours by six thirty?”

“Of course!” Zhao Ze agreed right away—all for the promise of wheat.

It was already six o’clock. Xia Qing and her team picked up the pace.

When the cleaning was done, Chang Li returned to Plot One. Hu Zifeng’s entire squad arrived—armed to the teeth—and took up positions along the giant wild grass wall separating Territory Three and Territory Four, a stretch over two kilometers long by the river.

Hu Zifeng told Xia Qing, “We’ll keep watch here. You take care of the animals inside your territory and keep in touch.”

Xia Qing left Hu Zifeng five grenades before heading back, picking up bundles of dried grass along the way to store in the two-story warehouse on the east side. Only then did she go to the sheep shed.

Everything inside—four animals—was just as she’d left it. Ignoring the wolf with the broken leg glaring at her and the bony wolf resting with its eyes closed, Xia Qing fixed on the brain-evolved wolf. “There’s human enemies in the territory next door. I have to lock up the sheep shed so you all can rest safely. Boss, you staying inside, or coming out?”

Seeing Boss Sheep still lounging and chewing its cud, Xia Qing simply shut the sheep shed door and went to the courtyard to weave straw mats under the sun.

With sheep, chickens, and even wolves to care for, her household burned through straw mats that soaked up moisture at an alarming rate.

At that moment, Hu Zifeng’s voice came through her earpiece:

“Xia Qing, Captain Tan and a six-person Sufeng Squad just arrived at the sign for Territory Four. Sufeng Squad entered, Captain Tan is waiting outside. No heavy weapons on the Sufeng group. Tang Huai’s leading. They’ve got a level six strength evolver, a level seven scent evolver, a level five speed evolver, a level five vision evolver, and one whose identity and abilities are unknown.”