Chapter 374: Night of Training and Promises

After making a round across the territory Xia Qing once again found herself by the northern gate atop the high slope. The sight of that infuriating Brain-Evolved Wolf, who’d slipped in and out of the gate countless times, now sitting there deep in thought made her eyelid twitch.

“Crippled wolves like you? We’re not swapping this one,” she said flatly.

Crippled Wolf turned to look at Xia Qing, a thoughtful expression on its face.

Xia Qing remained firm. “No trades. I’m taking a medicinal bath tonight. If you and the Queen want in, you’re welcome to join us.”

It was already odd enough for a Wolf Den to have a wooden door. If they went ahead and installed an automatic one too—that’d be beyond ridiculous. It would be the mother of all oddities, the ultimate in absurdity.

That chance to soak in the bath was something Crippled Wolf had bartered for with a Yi Stone. Xia Qing kept to her side of the deal and gave them the invitation. Whether they showed up or not, that was up to them.

Since she needed to visit Luo Pei tomorrow to learn marksmanship, Xia Qing decided to get her bath in early and head to bed sooner for a change.

It wasn’t even fully dark yet. Xia Qing had finished dinner and readied her medicinal bath. Crippled Wolf and Alpha still hadn’t shown up, so she didn’t bother waiting. She instructed Old Goat and Er Gou to watch the door and guard the territory, then slipped into the aching warmth of the bath while listening to the evening news on her radio.

“Due to subsidence of the earth’s crust, our country’s Gui San Base in the southeast is now unfit for human habitation…”

The moment she caught a report about Gui San, Xia Qing immediately poked her head out of the steaming water, tuning in intently.

“…At present, all 1.6 million residents of Gui San Base have been relocated and properly resettled nearby.”

At the start of the year, when the census was reported, Gui San had over 2.5 million people. Now only a little over 1.6 million had been safely moved. Which meant that, between January and now, over 900,000 people from Gui San had lost their lives.

Nine hundred thousand gone… Xia Qing sank her head beneath the medicinal bath again. Suddenly, the burning sensation of the herbs burrowing into her skin didn’t seem so hard to endure anymore.

Once the news and weather ended, a hand—with bulging veins—shot out from the bathwater and grabbed the edge of the barrel. Xia Qing slowly stood up from the tub.

“Ding.”

The phone beside her chimed. Eyes bloodshot, Xia Qing glanced toward the glowing screen.

Crippled Wolf entered Section Three through the north gate at 8:02 pm on November 9th.

Xia Qing’s trembling lips curled into a smile.

After rinsing off, she threw on her clothes and headed downstairs, only to find Alpha and Crippled Wolf already there.

The system only notified her about Crippled Wolf passing through the main gate, which meant Alpha must have jumped the wall again. Xia Qing greeted the two wolves, then waved a hand, calling her companion over. “Old Goat, go hit the bath.”

Old Goat, mid-chew, paused for a moment before resentfully plodding toward the bathroom.

Xia Qing told the Wolf Pack to keep an eye on things outside while she took the radio and joined Old Goat in the bath, timing the soak while also reviewing how to construct a greenhouse for growing vegetables.

The broadcast from Qi Fu said pretty much the same as what she already knew. Xia Qing decided to build three thick earthen walls, line the outside with broken bricks, and top it with a layer of cement for wind and rain protection.

When Old Goat couldn’t take the pain anymore, Xia Qing comforted him with soft words and swapped him out for Alpha, then Crippled Wolf, then finally Er Gou.

By the time all the animals were done, it was nearly midnight. Xia Qing dragged herself upstairs and collapsed onto a blanket laid over the stair landing, falling fast asleep.

Next morning, Xia Qing woke fully recharged and set off for Hill Forty-Nine in Section Three to meet up with Luo Pei.

Seeing Luo Pei’s complexion looking healthy—no sign of weight loss or dullness in his eyes—Xia Qing relaxed completely. She chatted with him as they headed up the hill together. “Luo, have you finished planting your wheat?”

Luo Pei, leading the way, chuckled. “You never stop thinking about growing things, huh? Yeah, we got our hands on some top-quality seed and planted 150 acres of wheat and 50 acres of rapeseed. Do you have enough seed yourself?”

Xia Qing nodded, having planted two and a half acres of wheat. “Plenty. I managed to get some good seed too. Next summer, when we harvest, let’s test the Qiang and Yi element levels in our wheat. If yours comes out better, I’ll trade forty catties with you.”

Her Idol had told her: seeds she’d traded for couldn’t be exchanged, but wheat grown from them could be swapped freely.

“Deal,” Luo Pei agreed without asking where Xia Qing got her seed, only countering with, “If your crop’s better, however much you want to swap, we’ll take all you offer.”

“Great!” Xia Qing said. The two of them chatted about crops and greenhouses as they made their way to a huge boulder halfway up the slope.

Luo Pei laid out the day’s lesson. “To hit a fast-moving target accurately at range, you have to learn to predict its direction and where it’ll end up. In ten minutes, a squad will start live-fire training about 500 meters ahead. There’ll be Level Four and Level Five Speed Evolvers among them. Once they get going, I’ll walk you through how to read their movements and anticipate their path.”

“Understood.” Xia Qing’s tone turned solemn. This was a skill she desperately needed, especially since her old enemy was a high-level Speed Evolver.

“First, scan your surroundings fast. Figure out where someone could set foot next. Once your target enters firing range, you have to track every move—read their body language, predict where they’ll land next. Your bullet has to leave the barrel before they even make it there, or you’ll never hit them.”

“Any conscious action guided by the brain involves observation, analysis and a decision. To predict someone’s next step, you have to judge their intentions as soon as they look your way…”

As the drill kicked off in the distance, Luo Pei began demonstrating how to anticipate each target’s movement.

“Left One—he can only move forward, left or up; see how his head lifts? Up!” Luo Pei’s rifle was trained on the spot the target would step next, but the Speed Evolver dodged at the last moment, noticing the laser sight’s red dot.

Luo Pei called it again, dead on. “Left-front—only way out! Bang!”

The quick-moving Evolver was tagged and froze on the spot, looking drained. The snipers today were just too sharp; he’d barely moved before he’d been ‘shot in the weak point.’ That round was over.

“Fourth from the right—back, right, it’s right.” Luo Pei zeroed in on the second Speed Evolver’s landing spot with the sniper rifle—‘kill.’ He called, “Continue!”

The tagged Speed Evolver pleaded over the walkie-talkie, “Luo, let me hang on a bit longer, can you?”

“Less whining, more action. If you get shot within two minutes again, you’ll have to do extra drills.”

The trainees howled in protest as their pace quickened and Luo Pei

kept coaching Xia Qing on how to predict every move.

Xia Qing’s gaze and rifle snapped from target to target at Luo Pei’s instruction, trying to lock onto moving figures. After two hours of training, she managed to hit just one.

Live-fire drill over, Luo Pei wrapped up the lesson. “I checked my Vision Evolution rank yesterday—I’m a Level Nine now, same as you. If I can do it, you can too, with practice. There’s always training on the mountain. Take sniper duty, start at 200 meters. Once you’re more accurate, stretch that distance. This winter, I want you landing shots on Level Six or below Speed Evolvers at 1,500 meters. Then, you’ll be a qualified long-range sniper.”

“Yes, sir!” Xia Qing knew what a rare chance this was, and her answer rang out loud and clear.