Chapter 301: Return of the Lame Wolf

With none of the right time, place or allies on her side, Xia Qing made a quick call—time to retreat. She’d wait until tomorrow, gather her teammates, then come back for testing and harvesting.

But as Xia Qing started climbing up, the crows and Evolved Hawks waiting for their feast decided they wouldn’t just sit by. They swooped down, wings flapping and beaks snapping, forcing Xia Qing back towards the torreya tree.

Positioned on a slick, sloped hill, Xia Qing gripped the climbing rope with her left hand and drew her gun with her right.

“Pfft.”

The suppressed gunshot wasn’t loud, but it was deadly precise—one clean shot took out the lead Evolved Crow.

With a flick, Xia Qing spun her handgun around, but now the leader of the Evolved Hawks had already dodged into the trees. That kind of movement—that had to be a Speed Evolution animal.

Once the flock was driven off, Xia Qing tugged the rope and scrambled upward fast. But then she heard a sharp tapping.

She looked up and couldn’t help cursing out loud.

A crow, hiding behind the tree where her climbing rope was tied, pecked at the rope. Only its glossy black tail feathers twitched in view, completely out of reach for Xia Qing’s weapon.

That kind of craftiness—had to be a Brain Evolution crow.

Damn it!

This was seriously weird. In just half a year of farming, Xia Qing had seen more Brain Evolution beasts than in all ten years of missions before!

She had to climb up before the crow snapped the rope—or things were going to get ugly!

As Xia Qing scrambled upward, she spotted a familiar streak of red darting between the bushes, racing toward the big tree at the top. Instantly alert, she pointed her gun straight at the tree.

Sure enough, in a blur as fast as lightning, the Red Squirrel launched itself just as Xia Qing expected, ramming the Brain Evolution crow away from the climbing rope’s cover!

“Bang!”

The Brain Evolution crow, suddenly exposed on the branches, got its head blown clean off by Xia Qing’s sniper shot. Moving lightning-fast, Xia Qing clambered up to the top of the slope, then took up position above, sniping at the Evolved Hawks and crows darting and fleeing through the forest below.

Just moments ago, she’d been a meal for these mutated animals. Now, she was turning this bloody feast into a hunt of her own.

Another crow leaping between branches got tangled by a vine with faint purple leaves. Bit by bit, it was being dragged down to the ground. That vine was the second predator at the table today.

The rest of the crows panicked. They shot out from the woods only to be picked off one by one by Xia Qing.

Hunt, over.

Xia Qing locked onto the vine’s location—a second hunter—and tucked its appearance into memory. Then she went looking for the Red Squirrel, but the little guy was timid and super quick. It had vanished without a trace.

Reloading her pistol and packing away the climbing rope, Xia Qing was just about to leave when she heard something from fifty meters to the north.

Swish, swish, pat, pat… That was the sound of a big animal muscling through the wet undergrowth, shaking droplets loose. No clacking hooves on rocks—definitely a predator.

Instantly tense, Xia Qing strained her ears. Then she caught a series of familiar, steady, rhythmic sounds.

Only one kind of big beast made that kind of sound—wolves wearing shoes! Xia Qing’s heart leapt as she whispered, “Crippled one? Er Gou?”

“Woo…”

Pat, pat, pat…

Half a minute later, a wolf’s head, wet with dew, poked through the bushes. Its rusty clear eyes gazed right at Xia Qing.

It was Er Gou, the sick wolf who’d left the Territory at dawn two days ago. He’d made it back!

Wiping raindrops off her protective mask, Xia Qing beamed. “Er Gou!”

The sick wolf stepped from the brush, sidled over to Xia Qing, and rubbed its protective suit—muddy and stuck with grass bits—against Xia Qing’s equally filthy getup.

Ruffling its head, Xia Qing asked, “Where’ve you been these last two days? What’d you find to eat? Your stomach okay?”

The wolf nosed at Xia Qing’s jacket pocket.

“Hungry, huh?” Xia Qing fished out a chunk of jerky, tore open the bag, and handed it over.

The wolf swallowed it whole.

A quick check of its belly proved it—empty and sunken. Looked like it hadn’t eaten much at all since leaving.

Without hesitation, Xia Qing pulled out that day’s ration of premium nutrient shake. “Fresh this morning, lucky you. Open wide.”

Mouth stretched, pink tongue flashing, jaws full of sharp fangs. Er Gou didn’t waste a drop of the fresh spinach juice Xia Qing squeezed in. Then he nudged her backpack again.

“Thirsty too?”

Xia Qing set her backpack down, poured water from her bottle into a small storage pouch, and the wolf lapped up half a bottle in no time.

Now fed and watered with premium nutrients and pure spring water, the once ragged Er Gou perked right up, tail wagging to show he was back to full strength.

With her friend returned, Xia Qing decided to go one more round, testing the torreya tree for toxin elements. The flock was gone, her partner was back—she had two of the three: place and people. That was enough to act.

She secured the climbing rope to the tree again, sprayed her companion down with insect repellent, and gave instructions. “Er Gou, stand guard here, okay? Don’t let any animal mess with the rope. I’ll check one tree and maybe grab some food.”

Er Gou rubbed against Xia Qing’s leg, then parked himself by the tree for sentry duty.

Gripping the rope, Xia Qing quickly rappelled back down. This time, with no hawks, crows or squirrels to mess with her, only a couple rats and snakes lurking in holes kept an eye out.

Carefully dodging those purple vines, Xia Qing reached the base of the torreya, squeezed sap from its leaves and tested—green light. Not one to waste the chance, she picked all the three-year nuts she could find from the tree before heading back up.

Back on the slope, she twisted around and showed Er Gou her bulging backpack. “See? Torreya nuts, a whole bag of ’em!”

She sealed up the nut-filled bag with a heat sealer and, seeing Er Gou still a bit on edge, soothed him, “Don’t worry, that’s just the smell of anesthetic. It’s safe unless you get it right on you. Let’s go home—Old Goat’s been missing you like crazy.”

What about those hawk and crow corpses? Still scattered over the hillside—way too tricky to collect. But with a bag this full of torreya nuts, Xia Qing could call this trip a huge win.

When she set out it was just her, obsessed with thoughts of revenge. But heading home with a friend lifted all that weight. She began filling Er Gou in on everything she’d been through in three days. “Lucky you didn’t come back yesterday or you’d have run into the Jiang Xiong Squad—they’ve got two Evolved Dogs. You’re still not fully healed, might not have been able to win that fight.”

Er Gou just followed silently behind her—it was impossible to tell if he understood a word.

Chen Cheng from Hu Zifeng’s squad spotted the wolf trailing Xia Qing and paused, wide-eyed. “Sister Qing, uh…who’s that?”

Xia Qing cut it short. “Yeah, Er Gou’s back. Thanks for your help earlier.”

“No trouble.” After last time, when he accidentally patted the wrong end of the wolf, Chen Cheng was careful not to get too close to the seemingly calm beast by Xia Qing’s side. Anything might set it off again.

Once Chen Cheng left, Xia Qing and Er Gou crossed out of the Buffer Forest—and Old Goat came bounding over at top speed.

Seeing the wolf home again, Old Goat was more excited than anyone. He nuzzled Er Gou like crazy, his white fur ending up caked in mud.

Originally Xia Qing had planned to just wash the wolf. Now she had to scrub the goat too.

She didn’t mind one bit.

Honestly, even if the Queen, Lame Wolf and Crippled Wolf all came rolling home covered in filth—she’d wash every single one sparkly clean!