Chapter 197: A Favor Owed, A Debt to Settle

The Alpha Wolf ignored Xia Qing, its eyes locked on the mouth of the valley. Xia Qing first caught the sound of dry leaves and twigs crunching underfoot, then saw Yan Long stepping out of the trees.

With Yan Long’s skills, she shouldn’t have made such a racket. Clearly, she walked this way on purpose, wanting the Wolf Pack and Xia Qing to notice her arrival.

“Yan-jie, over here.” Xia Qing waved to Yan Long, then turned to the Alpha Wolf. “Your Majesty, this human is my companion. She’s here to help move the wooden boards.”

Yan Long and the Alpha Wolf sized each other up for a few seconds until the Alpha Wolf took the lead, crouching atop the cave. The other three wolves retreated, grouping behind their leader.

Only then did Yan Long enter the valley. She walked straight up to Xia Qing, her back to the Wolf Pack, and quietly updated her. “The North Barrier’s blocked. I spoke with Luo Pei—we’ll have to cut through Mountain 49.”

Yan Long had no idea that Area Three of Mountain 49 was Xia Qing’s territory. That must be why she’d gone to Luo Pei for clearance.

“Alright.” Xia Qing covered the three wolves on the wooden board with an old grass-green bed sheet. She and Yan Long hauled the wolves away, together shifting more than five hundred pounds through Area Three of the Evolver Forest on Mountain 49.

This stretch of Evolver Forest belonged to Xia Qing. She knew every safe path, so she led the way up front. Yan Long, aware that Xia Qing often helped Hu Zifeng’s squad clear the forest, wasn’t surprised by how familiar she was with the place.

The two finally lugged the wolves to the door of the operating room in Territory Seven. Zhang San’s two assistants took over, carrying the wolves inside. Xia Qing thanked Yan Long. “Thanks for your help, Yan-jie. You go ahead—I’ll wait here.”

“It’s no trouble.” Yan Long dragged over two chairs, and the two women sat side by side in the corridor. Neither said much—together they just listened in silence to the sounds coming from the operating room.

Back in the monitoring room of Territory Seven, Huo Zhun watched the two short-haired women—one in red, one in brown—on the security screen. He clicked his tongue in admiration. “She can stay so calm sitting next to Yan Long? That girl’s nerves are made of steel.”

Ji Li, gently stroking a tabby little kitten, offered a reminder. “Xia Qing’s never seen Yan Long fight. To her, Yan Long’s no different from any other woman.”

Huo Zhun stroked his own chin. “You think she knows who our lord is?”

Ji Li shook her head. “She doesn’t. If she did, she wouldn’t be acting like this.”

Huo Zhun chuckled. “If you’re lucky enough to be in a group chat with Lord Zhang, or to have Territories Three, Four, Five, Six, or Ten, you’re blessed for life. So many people are dying to get in.”

Ji Li gave a snort. “Get in? And end up like Li Si? No thanks.”

Li Si’s name made Huo Zhun perk up. “Shouldn’t we take a spin with our lord over to Territory Nine soon?”

Ji Li answered, “The Blazing Fire Unit just paid a huge fine. Li Si will be back soon. The lord will definitely wait for his return before heading out.”

Of course. The lord would never miss a good show. Huo Zhun leaned back in his chair with a sigh. “There’s one person you never want to cross—Lord Zhang.”

His mind is sharper than a needle’s point.

An hour and a half later, the door to the operating room opened. Zhang San came out, peeling off his gloves and mask.

Xia Qing was startled. Her idol, already thin and pale, looked even gaunter than when he’d worked on the brain-evolved wolf. He’d lost nearly all the flesh on his face, with dark circles under his eyes and weariness written all over him. The sight was downright alarming.

Good thing Xia Qing didn’t idolize him for his looks. Otherwise, the second he took off his mask, she might have become an ex-fan on the spot.

But why did her idol look so haggard? Where on earth had he been these past couple weeks? Xia Qing didn’t dare ask. She meekly followed him into the medicine room crammed with jars and bottles.

Zhang San was in bad shape, his voice barely above a whisper, but his movements were just as graceful as last time. “The wolf with the broken leg healed up nicely—I’ve removed the splint. No more need to worry about it. The one with the back injury’s coming along too. I changed its brace. Bring it back for a checkup in twenty days. The one with the parasite damage needs three months of medicine at least—its insides took a real hit.”

Thanks to her sharp hearing, Xia Qing caught the hint of cheer in his voice when he said, “three months.”

Why would her idol perk up at three months? Simple! It meant the wolf needed three months to recover, which meant three more months of Greenlight meat for him!

That made Xia Qing happy too. She immediately poured out her worship like a river in flood. “Third Brother, you’re a maestro! You don’t just do surgery, you can even nurse internal injuries! That’s incredible!”

How did he manage to learn so many skills in only thirty or forty years? Maybe he was a high-level Brain-Evolved creature? But if he really was that powerful, he shouldn’t look this exhausted.

Zhang San gave a cold snort. “Nice words won’t get you a discount. Every point for diagnosis and medicine—no exceptions.”

Xia Qing straightened in her seat. “Of course! If Third Brother’s treating my wolves himself, every point is well spent.”

Zhang San gave a satisfied grunt and set twelve medicine bottles of all shapes and sizes on the desk in front of Xia Qing.

Supplies were scarce during the years of disaster. Most people had long since switched to little vacuum bags for medicine. Zhang San, though, always used glass bottles. His medicine room was packed with clear glass jars of every size and shape, and the medicine he prescribed for Xia Qing came in glass bottles—each with a messily handwritten label stuck to it.

So extravagant! But Xia Qing didn’t mind—in fact, she liked it. Once the medicine was gone, she could keep the bottles for other uses. They were pleasing to the eye.

Zhang San gave some final instructions. “This transparent bottle’s the one you asked for. The rest are for the wolves—follow the labels.”

Xia Qing thanked him sincerely. “Thanks, Third Brother.”

Zhang San, barely staying upright against the shelf, muttered, “Medicine plus the checkup—sixty thousand points.”

Sixty… thousand? What kind of medicine cost that much?!

Zhang San jabbed his chisel-sharp chin in Xia Qing’s direction. “The one you’re holding is the priciest—ten thousand points. After that, the wolf remedy for digestion.”

Xia Qing was speechless.

Before she could even say she was broke and wanted to pay with food, Zhang San pulled out a thick stack of paper from the shelf and handed it to her.

As soon as she saw the images on the paper, Yan Long’s usually serious face lit up with surprise.

Zhang San shot a look at Yan Long before turning back to Xia Qing. “I know you’re broke. No way you can pay the medical bill with points. Take these photos to the Wolf Pack and have them find the two herbs pictured here. Whole plants—roots and all—the fresher, the better.”

Really, that huge stack only had two kinds of herbs? Xia Qing flipped through and understood why. Each herb was shown in its seedling stage, mature stage, flowering stage, fruiting stage—there were close-ups from above, below, and eye-level. Some even included transparent root shots and pics of their real habitat, to make it clear what they looked like and where they grew.

One of the herbs actually grew underwater, with snakes and other evolved aquatic creatures swimming all around. None of them looked the least bit friendly.

Could the Wolf Pack really dig up a water plant?

Wasn’t Third Brother overestimating this ragtag bunch of wolves, old, sick, and wounded as they were? Most of their territory had been stolen by pythons or bears.

Xia Qing tried to bargain with her idol. “Third Brother, you thought of everything! With these pictures, if those herbs grow anywhere the wolves roam, they should find them. But whether they can actually get them out—or how long that’ll take—I can’t promise.”