Chapter 28: The Perils and Bonds of Evolving Companions

After the great evolution on Blue Star, animals typically evolved much more rapidly than humans. Many species that once posed no threat to people suddenly became dangerously unpredictable.

In the chaotic early days of this evolution, countless humans were attacked or accidentally injured by their own pets. This created intense strain and even hostility between people and animals. Many pets were abandoned or killed as a result.

When humans realized that evolved animals could become formidable allies in battle, taking their pets back proved much harder than they’d imagined.

First, after the great evolution, humans—once dominant over all other species—lost their means of controlling animals, especially highly evolved ones. Second, people no longer had the food or safe space needed to care for them. So, in the ten years since the apocalypse, only a rare few have been able to keep pets.

The remaining pets fell into two camps. Some were ordinary evolved animals who still depended on humans. Others were highly evolved pets, another story entirely.

Relationships between ordinary pets and their owners didn’t change much from before the disaster. For highly evolved pets, though, everything depended on their owner’s strength. Either the owner was strong enough to dominate the animal, forcing it to submit, or they forged a partnership—striking a deal or forming a genuine bond.

Xia Qing and Boss Sheep were the latter—they were true partners. Xia Qing couldn’t help but wonder what kind of relationship Zhang San had with his evolved cat.

Cats aren’t like dogs. Even after being domesticated for more than three thousand years, they’ve never been truly tamed.

It wasn’t just Xia Qing. The other lords were equally curious, all subtly listening in.

Zhang San stayed as lazy as ever, his slow drawl making it sound like he was stroking his cat as he spoke. “What level it is has nothing to do with you, meat-monger. Bring my antidote back tomorrow. After that, I’m never trading with Plot Two again.”

No matter how Tang Huai tried to explain that the mutton had been fresh when it left his hands, Zhang San never replied again. He’d clearly shut his device off.

Xia Qing had no time to pet Boss Sheep. She took out the protective suit she’d traded from Plot Two and checked it over carefully by the firelight. Only when she was sure it was undamaged did she breathe easy.

Three days later, when Huzi dropped by with sweet potato seedlings, he took the initiative and asked, “Did you clear out all the mice in your territory, Qing-jie?”

Xia Qing nodded. “I cleared them out twice, so it should be fine now. Haven’t seen any more digging up seeds these past couple days.”

“Glad to hear it.” Huzi noticed Xia Qing only had eyes for the seedlings, barely sparing him a glance. Realizing any extra conversation wasn’t welcome, he left a bit downcast.

Without looking back, Xia Qing took her sweet potato vines and headed straight home.

After so many encounters, she’d caught on that Huzi had feelings for her. But she felt nothing for him and dealt with the whole thing cleanly.

Tan Junjie’s tips on planting sweet potatoes recommended sandy, well-drained, fertile soil. Xia Qing wasn’t sure how to judge fertility, so she chose a sandy plot near the reservoir, on one of the higher rises.

Since the sweet potato seedlings’ roots came bare, she soaked them in mountain spring water for half an hour before planting. After drenching them with more spring water, Xia Qing sat at the field’s edge, gazing lovingly at two neat rows of short sprouts.

Boss Sheep returned from grazing on the hillside, ambled over and sniffed the seedlings. Then, without hesitation, he moved to take a bite. Xia Qing instantly grabbed his horn and sternly warned, “No way. Absolutely not. These are off limits.”

Boss Sheep narrowed his eyes, shook his head free of her grip, then pawed at the ground with his hind legs, ready to pick a fight.

Xia Qing just raised an eyebrow. “Looking for a fight? Sure!”

While he was still busy showing off, Xia Qing quickly sprayed a wide circle around the sweet potato vines—using her special three-in-one tree sap to repel bugs, birds, and, crucially, sheep.

“Maa!” Boss Sheep was furious. He stamped his hooves and charged straight at Xia Qing.

She led Boss Sheep away from the field, set aside her sprayer, then stood ready to face him head-on.

“Bang!”

When a Strength Evolver and an evolved strength sheep collided at full force, the impact shook the nearby trees. Unsurprisingly, Xia Qing—outmatched in raw power—was sent flying.

But while in midair, she twisted mid-spin, landed solidly on both feet, and charged back in. Dodging those lethal horns, she caught hold of his spiraling antlers, shouting, “Get out of here!”

“Bang!”

Boss Sheep still hadn’t learned. After crashing hard into the ground, he rolled upright and butted heads with Xia Qing once more. This time she went flying, but then it was Boss Sheep’s turn to get tossed. Back and forth they went.

Before long, the two of them had left a fifty-meter patch of chaos behind.

“And stay gone!” For the who-knows-how-many-th time, Xia Qing seized Boss Sheep’s horns and yanked—except this time, things didn’t go as planned.

Boss Sheep used his back hooves to dig in, shifting his weight just in time and landing two hard kicks to Xia Qing’s chest and stomach. She let go and dodged with all her might, but still got caught by a hoof and knocked down.

Boss Sheep, already preparing to charge again, haltingly raised his head and squinted at Xia Qing sprawled on the ground.

It didn’t even hurt that much, but Xia Qing made a show of it, swapping her protective mask for a look of utter misery. “I give up. You win, Boss. I surrender.”

Pleased, Boss Sheep turned and strode back up the hill.

What now? Hydration break. Xia Qing fell in behind him—they both wanted a drink.

After gulping down mountain spring water, they settled on a rock to rest. Boss Sheep looked drowsy and content. Xia Qing, still grinning, couldn’t hide her joy. Every few days, going all out wrestling with Boss Sheep left her both exhilarated and stronger for it. Boss Sheep was improving too.

In a world where everything on Blue Star kept evolving, growing stronger was the only way to survive—and to get anything you wanted out of life.

Standing up, Xia Qing stretched and gazed down over her territory.

Just days ago, more than two thousand acres of fields had been buried in a jumble of mutant weeds. Xia Qing couldn’t put her relief into words.

Hold on!

Xia Qing squinted at the farmland where she’d sown the seeds. That unmistakable green—neat rows—mung beans had sprouted! Letting out a cheer, she sprinted down the hill.

Boss Sheep was startled by her shout, jumped up, saw where she was headed, then flopped back down to chew his cud.

She’d planted wheat, mung beans, and cotton all at the same time. But the mung beans were first to break the surface. Looking closer, Xia Qing noticed the seeds soaked in spring water sprouted better than those soaked in filtered water.

Those pale, delicate shoots bursting from the soil filled her with delight. Xia Qing could’ve watched them for hours.

After the mung beans sprouted, so did the wheat and cotton. Once no new seedlings appeared, Xia Qing counted carefully and confirmed her findings: seeds soaked in spring water really did have a higher germination rate than those soaked in filtered water.

Germination rates for seeds soaked in filtered water hovered around 40 percent, just like the radio had reported. But the seeds soaked in spring water shot up to an impressive 60 percent!