Chapter 237: A Helper or a Wild Heart

Seeing Xia Qing so stunned made Zhang San’s mood even better. “I’ll have someone put together a recipe for you later. This time, your medical bills will be deducted right from the points earned for the herbs collected from the wolves.”

“Thank you, Brother San.” Xia Qing nodded, then asked Zhang San, “Do you have any kind of spray or potion I can use to keep the insects in the Evolver Forest away? I plan to circle around the forest’s outskirts for a few kilometers tomorrow.”

Ji Li, hauling the fridge and escorting Xia Qing back to Territory Three, saw her holding the wolfdog in silence. He assumed she was still wondering about the animal. “During the first two years after the disaster, a lot of domestic dogs were forced into the Evolver Forest and became wild. For survival, plenty of them joined up with wolf packs. After all, they’re close relatives.”

Cradling the wolfdog, Xia Qing sighed. “This wolf wagged its tail at me so many times that I thought it had some kind of gene mutation. Turns out its bloodline has awakened.”

Bloodline awakening?

After a while, Ji Li reminded her, “It wags its tail at you because it likes you and wants to win your favor. Wolfdogs are fierce like wolves but loyal like dogs. Most evolved military dogs come from wolfdog lines, but those have grown up alongside humans, so they’re dependent on people. This one you’re holding was raised with the pack in the Evolver Forest—the wolf instincts outweigh the dog. If you can tame it, it’ll be a loyal partner and a real asset. But if not, it’ll just leave you and go back to the forest. Just…don’t be too harsh. Wolves hold grudges. Even if this wolfdog is weak now, its packmates are strong.”

Too harsh? Xia Qing looked down, meeting the wolf’s clear eyes. “I took supplies from the wolves and helped heal them. I never planned to tame it. Once it’s healthy, it can stay or go as it pleases—I won’t interfere.”

It’s not that Xia Qing doesn’t want to keep Number Two, the attentive and watchful wolf, but that depends on its own choice. If it doesn’t want to stay, she’d never dare force it—otherwise the alpha wolf could easily kill her a hundred times over.

Ji Li saw how touched Xia Qing seemed about the wolf pack and assumed she wanted to tame them all and keep them as helpers. He hadn’t expected her answer.

After a long pause, Ji Li said quietly, “That’s probably for the best.”

Humans are clever and greedy. When the final red downpour of the third Xiang Rain started this year, chaos erupted on the edge of the Safe Zone. Many pretended to have lost their minds, using the opportunity to rob others of their survival goods. The methods were unbelievably brutal.

During this Xiang Rain, casualties from the infighting far outstripped those from the calamity itself. Yet, every death got counted as one more victim of the disaster.

This was humanity’s new calamity after order collapsed.

After returning to Territory Three, Xia Qing left the two wolves in the sheep shed under the alpha wolf’s watch. She then hauled the fridge upstairs and set it down right beside the Yi Element Tester.

There was no deeper reason—it just happened to be where the outlet and wiring were, so she didn’t need to string new cables.

The fridge was brand new, with a chilled compartment and a freezer, total capacity three hundred liters. Its design was about the same as pre-disaster fridges, but it was plain, had no logo, lacked finesse and the outer shell was thick—easy to tell it was made after the world changed.

According to the manual, the fridge used one kilowatt-hour each day. Down in the cellar, her two temperature and humidity control units burned five kilowatt-hours daily in this weather. On top of that, she still needed to charge her phone, radio, and walkie-talkie, as well as keep the lights and kettle running. Thankfully, she had eight solar panels. Without them, she’d never be able to power all this equipment.

Still, if it rained for days, even with eight panels she wouldn’t have enough electricity for everything. She’d have to rely on her diesel generator to make up the difference.

If it weren’t for the pollution-free spring and Greenlight spinach in her territory, Xia Qing would never have dared bring in so many appliances.

It really was extravagant.

After plugging in the fridge and watching the temperature drop, Xia Qing took a small piece of Yi Stone out of its protective shell and set it inside the fridge. That way, the fridge could now shield against the Xiang element and become truly useful.

When the Xiang levels in the air returned to normal, Xia Qing collected the Yi Stones from the sweet potato field, Greenlight rice paddy, chicken coop, and the necklaces of both injured wolves. She stored them all back in their protective shells. Only the one in the Greenlight spinach field stayed put, still releasing Yi element to safeguard her most vital crop.

Both she, Boss Sheep, and the sick wolf still carried their own stones—Xia Qing never shortchanged herself, or the only companions she had. The sick wolf, so weak, needed extra protection.

After the fridge cooled down, Xia Qing brought up fresh rabbit meat from the basement storage and stuffed it in the freezer. Then she put the sick wolf’s probiotics and capsules, along with the Wolf with the Spinal Injury’s ointment, into the cooling compartment. Even after all that, the fridge felt empty, so she added a few bottles of spring water—once they were cold, she’d have ice water to drink.

Nothing beats chugging a bottle of ice water after a hot day’s work. It cools you down inside and out.

Now that she had another key appliance, Xia Qing hummed a cheerful tune as she headed down the stairs. After saying hi to the alpha wolf and Boss Sheep, she got busy prepping for tomorrow’s chestnut picking.

Since Yan Long wasn’t free, Xia Qing didn’t bother trying anyone else.

Unlike in the Safe Zone, you can’t go post a quest at the admin hall if you need a team in the territory. Among the people she could call, there were five Scent Evolvers in all, but only two were high-level: Yan Long and Chang Li.

Why only high-level evolvers? Because the Evolved Squirrel is smart—every day it rubs all sorts of stuff on itself, so by now the scent of tracking potion on its fur is almost gone.

She’d already asked Chen Zheng, a level-five Scent Evolver, to try tracing it, but he couldn’t follow the Evolved Squirrel’s scent anymore. Now that Yan Long was busy, and Chang Li—who was a level-nine Scent Evolver—was the team medic and couldn’t join, Xia Qing would just go herself.

She’d already used the squirrel’s tracker to roughly pinpoint the chestnut tree’s location, and it was still within Plot Forty-Nine Area Three.

In other words, the chestnut tree was in her private training ground, so Xia Qing simply made the chestnut harvest her next field project.

The Evolver Forest was dangerous after the last Xiang Rain, but with Xia Qing’s current gear and skills, the worst that could happen was going home empty-handed—she was confident she could stay safe.

Back when Xia Qing used to go out on missions, she’d seen chestnut trees in the Evolver Forest. Some were only five or six meters tall, others over ten meters. The chestnuts grew inside spiky balls, and some of the trees were aggressive.

Back then, Xia Qing worked extra support—after the squad cleared the way, her job was to use a bamboo pole to knock down the chestnut balls as quickly as possible, then stuff them in a sack and haul them back to the Safe Zone.

No need to prepare a pole—there’s never a shortage of sticks in the woods. Better remember to bring that potion she just traded from Zhang San, and sharpen the long-handled shears—who knows when she’ll need them…

“Bzzzzz—”

The phone buzzed. Just as she was reviewing her gear list, Xia Qing glanced at the caller and immediately picked up. “Captain Tan?”

“Qing-jie, it’s Jiang Hu. I borrowed the captain’s phone to call you.”

It was Huzi on the line. Xia Qing asked, “Ready to go gather pine nuts?”

Not long ago, Huzi had asked Xia Qing to collect Greenlight pinecones on Mountain 50 after the Xiang Rain. Xia Qing had been keeping an eye on the timing.

“Not exactly,” Huzi apologized, “The Safe Zone is low on manpower—they need us there until the end of the month. I’ll tell you the spot. You can go with someone else if you like.”

Every year from late September to early October, flocks of evolved migratory birds pass over Hui San Base, some even attacking the Safe Zone Planting Center. The beasts and birds they draw in also hunt humans. To collect pine nuts safely, you have to do it before all that starts.

Xia Qing noted down the spot Huzi gave her. “When we’ve finished collecting the pine nuts, I’ll set aside your share.”

By the usual rules, whoever discovers a resource gets ten percent. If you guide others there too, you get at least twenty percent.