Chapter 275: The Wolf’s Gift and the Pasture’s Promise

Staring at the bulging pockets on its suit, Xia Qing rubbed her hands in excitement. “What’s inside? Can I take it out?”

“Woof.” Crippled Wolf let out a cheerful sound, clearly in a good mood.

Xia Qing unzipped the pocket on the left side of Crippled Wolf’s protective suit and pulled out several herbs, roots and all. They were caked in mud, impossible to identify. But Old Goat rushed over, sniffed at them with those big sparkly eyes and started acting cute in front of Xia Qing.

“Baa~~~”

Old Goat wanted a taste.

If a Brain-Evolved Wolf had made a special trip to fetch these and Old Goat vouched for them, they had to be valuable. Xia Qing, fired up, stashed the herbs away and warned Old Goat, “These are from Crippled Wolf. It belongs to him. Unless he agrees, you can’t touch them.”

“Baa~~~” But Old Goat didn’t care. He rubbed against Xia Qing’s leg, pleading in that nasal, squeaky voice.

Left with no choice, Xia Qing broke off a tiny piece of compressed ration to appease Old Goat. Then she unzipped the right pocket of Crippled Wolf’s suit and reached inside. The moment her hand touched what was inside, she nearly jumped with excitement. The feel, the color, the weight—it was identical to the raw material Luo Pei gave her for making Yi Stone Protectors!

With trembling hands, Xia Qing pulled out a handful of pebbles and some dirt. Then she fished out a walnut-sized, unrefined Yi Stone.

She squeezed the damp stone tightly, her voice shaking, “C-Crippled Wolf, cool wolf buddy—did you bring this for me?”

This time, Crippled Wolf said nothing. It padded over to the bathroom door, turned around and calmly looked at Xia Qing.

“Want a bath? I get it! Coming!” Xia Qing immediately caught on. She set the Yi Stone and herbs aside and scampered over, turned on the shower and adjusted the temperature, giving Crippled Wolf a good wash to remove the mud. Then she took off his protective suit.

With the suit off, Crippled Wolf glanced at his fur, all mussed from being squashed by the suit. To Xia Qing’s surprise, he raised one front paw and placed it on Old Goat’s special bath bucket.

“Want a soak? No problem, cool wolf buddy, just a sec!” Xia Qing didn’t hesitate. She slid Old Goat’s tub over and began to fill it with water. Honestly, if Crippled Wolf wanted to dry himself with her duvet at this point, she wouldn’t so much as blink—she owed him for that Yi Stone in the living room.

Crippled Wolf was bigger than Old Goat, but he still fit inside. Clearly, he loved soaking—head tilted back, eyes half-closed, looking utterly content.

While he bathed, Xia Qing scrubbed his dirty protective suit and shoes, hung them to dry, then hurried to the living room. She packed away the Yi Stone and the materials for the Yi Stone Protector into a sealable bag and began to carefully examine Crippled Wolf’s muddy bundle of herbs.

She cross-checked the herbs with photos she’d saved on her phone of the various evolution plants she’d seen on the mission board. To her delight, she actually recognized one: Advanced Evolution Tian Kui.

The mission sheet said this herb’s root was used for medicine. In the Safe Zone, a single plant sold for 3,000 points—a fair price. Xia Qing was more than satisfied.

She heard noises from the bathroom and went to open the door. Crippled Wolf was already out, shaking off excess water from his fur.

Once he was mostly finished, Xia Qing promptly dried him with an old bedsheet, then asked, “Hey, cool wolf buddy, are those herbs and the Yi Stone for me? Is there something you want in exchange?”

Crippled Wolf shook the water from his fur and glanced up at his suit hanging on the wall.

Xia Qing caught on. “You want that suit?”

Crippled Wolf paused, then padded out to the tatami area. He pressed one large paw on top of Er Gou’s paw, then looked back at Xia Qing.

She gestured and tried to confirm, “So, you want to swap the herbs and Yi Stone for both your protective suits—the one you and Er Gou are wearing?”

“Woof.” Crippled Wolf barked approvingly, practically praising Xia Qing for catching on so quickly.

Xia Qing held back a grin, nodded solemnly and picked up the herbs and Yi Stone. “The items you brought can be exchanged for these two protective suits. From now on, the suits are yours and these herbs and the Yi Stone are mine.”

Crippled Wolf agreed and Xia Qing was over the moon.

She immediately separated the muddy bundle of herbs and laid them out carefully on a sealable bag spread across the table. She called out, “Old Goat, come sniff and pick which one you want to eat.”

Old Goat trotted right over and unerringly chose the second herb from the left. It looked pretty ordinary and Xia Qing had no idea what it was called. She pinched off a leaf, rinsed it clean and fed it to Old Goat. Then she took a photo of the plant and sent it to Zhang San. “Old Goat, Er Gou, you two watch the Territory, I’m heading to bed. Cool wolf buddy, thanks for your hard work—take a good rest.”

“Baa.” Old Goat, having eaten the leaf, responded with a contented bleat.

Er Gou wagged his tail to show he understood. Crippled Wolf watched Xia Qing climb the stairs, then finally lay down on the tatami and closed his eyes to rest.

Xia Qing had barely reached her bedroom when her Idol called.

“Xia Qing, aside from the second plant, I want the other five. Bundle price: twenty-one thousand points, deal?”

“Deal.” Zhang San always offered fair prices and Xia Qing never haggled. She asked what the herb Old Goat liked—but Idol didn’t—as called.

Zhang San sounded delighted with the haul. “That one’s Evolution Flat-Head Icegrass. It’s a drought-resistant evolved plant, used to feed livestock before. Now, Lancheng Base uses it as a main ingredient for compressed rations.”

Xia Qing figured Crippled Wolf must have known how much Old Goat meant to her and mixed this particular grass in with the others. She asked, “Big Bro San, can we grow this grass on our Territory?”

Zhang San was in a great mood, so he was extra helpful. “Sure. I’ll put together a Growing Manual and have Ji Li bring it to you. These herbs and the frogs you sent, minus the twenty-three Advanced Evolution Black Gardenias you traded today—that’s sixteen thousand two hundred points left to spend. Anything you need?”

Xia Qing picked out a few common medicines and a special insect-and-fungus repellent shampoo for Old Goat. Zhang San reminded her, “Your medicine will be ready soon. While you’re taking it, avoid any skin color changes—set aside a transition period.”

It wouldn’t make sense for her red skin to vanish overnight, so Xia Qing had to plan a gradual ‘fading’ period.

After handing the herbs to Ji Li and receiving the Evolution Flat-Head Icegrass Growing Manual, Xia Qing read it thoroughly and felt reassured. It was a kind of pasture grass, not hard to cultivate. The grass Crippled Wolf had brought had already sprouted a seed head, but the seeds weren’t mature yet. In time, Xia Qing could follow Crippled Wolf to collect mature seeds and plant them in the Territory next year, adding variety to Old Goat’s meals.

As for the plant already dug up, it couldn’t possibly be wasted. Xia Qing planted it in a pot, watered it with pure spring water and put it by the strawberry seedlings under the indoor sunlight.

Strawberries were resilient—one plant from spring had already produced eight new runners. At this rate, by next year, she’d have over seventy seedlings. If all went well, by the year after, Xia Qing would finally achieve strawberry freedom.

That night, Xia Qing even smiled in her dreams.