Chapter 284: The Deal at Territory Eight

Hill Fifty sits to the east of Hill Forty-Nine, while Hill Fifty-Two lies to its north—neither one is far from the territory. Xin Yu quickly offered her terms: “Ten jin of yellow-lamp chestnuts and two jin of green-lamp pine nuts.”

“Deal,” Xia Qing agreed without hesitation. She didn’t have time to bargain.

“Come on in.” Xin Yu led Xia Qing into a small hut not far from the Territory Eight sign. She dug out a stack of leaves and some braided grass from a drawer by the wall. “Wrap the wolf dung into small bundles using these leaves and tie them up. I’ll go get the gear.”

“Alright.” Xia Qing stuck to the rules, didn’t let her eyes wander, and sat at the rough, cracked wooden table to quickly bundle up the wolf dung.

Xin Yu had left alone, but when she returned, she brought back two birds—one big, one small.

The big one was the evolved ribbon-tailed sea eagle, a bird Xia Qing knew well. It looked majestic soaring in the sky, but the way it waddled around on land was downright comical. If Xia Qing hadn’t gotten used to keeping a straight face in the territory, she would’ve been hard-pressed not to laugh.

The smaller bird was an evolved raven perched calmly on Xin Yu’s shoulder. Its glossy feathers matched Xia Qing’s black-feathered rooster for shine. Sensing Xia Qing’s gaze, the raven lifted its wings and greeted her in a crisp, distinctly birdlike voice. “Hello.”

Xin Yu nodded and introduced them coolly. “This is my companion, Jasmine.”

It only took Xia Qing a moment to realize this was a brain-evolved bird. Since it was Xin Yu’s companion and could speak, Xia Qing raised her hand in greeting. “Nice to meet you, Jasmine. I’m Xia Qing from Section Three.”

“Good, good!” The raven was delighted and hopped around the little hut. The evolved ribbon-tailed sea eagle stayed by the door, preening its brown feathers.

Xin Yu wasn’t the chatty type. As soon as she entered, she packed the leaf-wrapped wolf dung into a backpack, then fastened it securely to the sea eagle.

The backpack matched the sea eagle’s back feathers perfectly—meticulously made with quality materials. It was in a whole different league from the simple pouch Xia Qing had made for Old Goat.

Still, both had the same purpose.

Once the wolf dung was loaded, Xin Yu switched on the cameras strapped to the sea eagle and the raven. She gave each bird a gentle stroke and spoke softly. “Off you go.”

With a powerful beat of its wings, the sea eagle soared into the sky, carrying the wolf dung and the raven. In an instant, both birds disappeared from view.

Xin Yu opened her laptop and waved Xia Qing over to watch together.

This laptop was connected to the cameras mounted on both birds. Watching the landscape of Hill Forty-Nine flash by on screen, Xia Qing finally confirmed—the sea eagle had definitely evolved for speed.

“Jasmine, descend.”

Once the sea eagle flew over Hill Forty-Nine, Xin Yu gave the order through the walkie-talkie. The mountains and trees filled the computer screen, and soon Xia Qing spotted the wolf-tracking squad moving through the valley between Hill Forty-Nine and Hill Fifty.

From this angle, the humans were just tiny dark dots. The two evolved canine scouts leading the way were actually the easiest to recognize.

Jasmine skillfully guided her tamed beast away from the squad. The big sea eagle landed in a tall tree on Hill Fifty. The raven then grabbed a bundle of grass-wrapped dung and, following Xin Yu’s instructions, scattered the wolf dung.

Through the raven’s camera, Xia Qing caught a glimpse of an evolved grizzly flashing past the image. She quickly typed on her phone and showed the message to Xin Yu.

Xin Yu glanced over and directed the raven. “Jasmine, fly back and drop the rest into the bear’s den.”

The fact that Jasmine could pinpoint the bear’s cave without guidance told Xia Qing that this wasn’t Jasmine’s first trip here.

When all the wolf dung was scattered, the raven returned to perch on the sea eagle’s back. The sea eagle took off again, the two birds moving on to the next drop point.

They continued until all the wolf dung was scattered. As the birds began heading back toward the territory, Xia Qing heard the wolf-tracking squad’s evolved dogs barking wildly.

The barking was so clear that Xia Qing felt her heart clench. When the sea eagle climbed higher, Xia Qing saw the squad leave the valley and move into Hill Fifty. They weren’t chasing after the birds, so she finally relaxed a little.

Now that the tracking squad had been lured to the third peak of Hill Fifty—the evolved grizzly’s turf—the threat to the wolf pack dropped by more than half. If the squad ran into the grizzly, they’d have to cut their trip short and retreat from the Evolved Forest right away, ending the crisis for the wolf pack.

The reason they even dared search the Evolved Forest for wolves that had escaped from the Azure Dragon Squad was because they assumed those wolves had spent time close to humans, lost their wild pride, and picked up human scents. Wolves like that would be shunned by the pack and forced to survive alone.

No matter how strong a lone wolf might be, a group of twenty humans could still catch it.

But if they ran into a solitary evolved grizzly, that was a whole other story. Deep in this forest there were not one but two brain-evolved bears.

The squad had decent gear, true—but it was no match against a bear pack led by a brain-evolved grizzly.

When both birds returned safely to Territory Eight, Xia Qing stood to take her leave. “Thanks. I’ll go pick up the supplies and have them delivered over.”

“Have the inspection team bring them,” Xin Yu replied, then reminded her, “I don’t want anyone else to know I have trained birds.”

“Right, right!” The raven landed on Xin Yu’s shoulder, eagerly chiming in.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell a soul.” To Xia Qing, these birds were just like Old Goat—trusted companions. The fact that Xin Yu was willing to help at all was more gratitude than Xia Qing could express. She’d never put Territory Eight at risk just to help herself.

Xin Yu pulled out her phone. “Let’s swap contact info. When you find the wolf, we’ll talk about further cooperation.”

Xia Qing added Xin Yu’s contact and clarified her relationship with the evolved wolf. “That wolf was recovering in my territory. It doesn’t completely follow my orders, so there’s a chance it might not come back.”

Xin Yu nodded and said nothing more.

On her way back along the perimeter, Xia Qing bumped into the patrolling inspection team. Tiger spotted her and waved his arms. “Qing-jie!”

Before Xia Qing could reply, the roar of an evolved grizzly echoed from Hill Fifty. The wolf-tracking squad had run into the bear!

“Xia Qing, get back to the territory—now.” Tan Junjie’s face was grim as he grabbed the walkie-talkie to warn everyone to watch themselves when leaving.

Xia Qing dashed back along the border to her territory, where Old Goat raced up to meet her, bleating in alarm.

Chen Zheng, coming up behind, explained, “The first day you went to Hill Fifty to gather pine nuts, we heard a bear roar too. That time, Old Goat stayed home, but now he’s really worked up.”

Xia Qing rubbed Old Goat, who was pressed tight against her for protection. “Last time we had a wolf here at home. What do you think, was the bear’s roar different this time?”

Chen Zheng nodded. “It was clearer last time.”

Last time, there were two bears, and they were higher up the mountain, so their roars carried farther and sounded sharper. But what Xia Qing noticed most wasn’t the volume but the emotion behind that roar.