Chapter 436: Nightfall in Section Three

“Received.” Tan Junjie asked seriously, “Report your exact location.”

After Hu Zifeng accurately reported the coordinates, Tan Junjie replied, “Understood. Territory Two, report the gear Xu Pin took when he left, the number of squad members, their departure reason and current location.”

Zhou Xun, the temporary agent at Territory Two, sounded like he was about to cry. “Captain Xu left the territory two hours ago and we’ve lost contact since. The squad had thirteen people with him. I don’t have authority to check what gear they took or their mission.”

At the foot of Second Peak on Hill Fifty-Two, a deep pit was blasted open by explosives dropped by Xin Yu. Smoke still clung to the crater as Yang Jin stood at the edge taking a call, three tightly bound Evolvers at his feet, with more than thirty main Azure Dragon Squad members standing around him.

Yang Jin, still smelling of gunpowder, gave a wry grin. “They shot down Su Feng Squad’s drone as soon as they showed up, ambushed my teammates, then tried to snare me with grapple guns. Some rescue this turned out to be.”

On the other end, Fire Phoenix laughed brightly. “It was just a misunderstanding! My team got out of hand, Jin—don’t take it to heart. I’ll deal with them myself, make them apologize properly.”

Hu Zifeng reported over the walkie-talkie: “Boss, the Inspection Team will arrive on site in ten minutes, twenty people in all.”

“Alright,” Yang Jin replied, then said into the phone, “Mistake or not, the Inspection Team will get to the bottom of it.”

“Don’t!” Fire Phoenix immediately dropped the playful act, her tone turning sincere. “It’s on me for not managing my people well, Jin, don’t make me get chewed out by the Huicheng Base chief. Name your price?”

It was clear what Fire Phoenix was hinting—she had connections up top. Even if Yang Jin went through official channels, at most she’d get a slap on the wrist.

Yang Jin stated his price directly, “Five hundred High-Elevation Green Lantern Spinach Seeds.”

Fire Phoenix refused at once, “No way. I need those seeds to keep everyone fed up on the mountain.”

Yang Jin’s voice cooled. “Deng Yufeng, your people used Devastation Snake venom at Hui One to attack and provoke the Evolved Bear. When Xu Pin and I fought, an eagle owl dropped down to scout, then threw a bomb at me. Not even ten minutes later, one of your Blazing Fire Squad’s top speed evolvers rushed in to grab me. I recorded everything, clear as day. Since you’re turning down a private settlement…”

“Then I’ll have to report it to Red City Main Base,” he added, “After all, this involves Hui One’s top-ranked squad. Only the Red City Main Base can be trusted to handle this, not the local branch.” As Yang Jin spoke, he stomped on the broken leg of an elite evolver at his feet, letting Fire Phoenix hear the howl of pain.

“I recall this man, Ren Zhaoqi, he’s been with you for years now? Want to guess if he’ll hold up during an interrogation by Red One Base’s Brain Evolution experts?”

Fire Phoenix took a long drag from her Evolution Smoke, her voice steady. “Absolutely not the high-elevation seeds. I’ll give you uncontaminated spring water, weapons, rare medicinal herbs or mixtures, new material ore, even a Yi Stone. Last time when Luo Pei was poisoned, I was the only one who paid for the spring water to save his life.”

“Buzz.”

Inside Section Three, Xia Qing felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She immediately took it out and saw a message from Tang Huai:

“Xu Pin just got bombed to bits by the Blazing Fire Squad’s evolved owl. Serves him right.”

The sheer amount of information in Tang Huai’s message left Xia Qing quite pleased, but she didn’t reply. She knew he was the type to go wild if given attention and would keep flooding her inbox for hours.

Tonight, Xia Qing had something extremely important to deal with and couldn’t afford distractions.

“Beep.”

Just as Xia Qing was about to put her phone away, she heard an alert from the North Gate’s monitoring system: Crippled Wolf entered Section Three through the North Gate at 8:28 AM on November 19.

“Beep.”

Crippled Wolf exited Section Three through the North Gate at 8:28 AM on November 19.

“Beep.”

Lame Wolf entered Section Three through the North Gate at 8:29 AM on November 19.

“Beep.”

Crippled Wolf entered Section Three again through the North Gate at 8:29 AM on November 19.

Xia Qing was speechless. She pulled up the North Gate surveillance feed, about to shout at Crippled Wolf to stop playing with the door, only to see Crippled Wolf carrying his sister, following behind Queen, Alpha, and Black Wolf as they passed beneath the Toon Tree.

No doubt about it—Queen and Black Wolf had climbed the wall to get in.

The wolf pack was here in Section Three tonight because Xia Qing had notified them: they were all taking a medicinal bath. Lately, too much had happened and Xia Qing had been running on edge, completely exhausted, but couldn’t postpone the healing soak any further. Tonight was the optimal window.

Lame Wolf brought his sister along, both still wild-eyed, and the protective gear on her legs hadn’t come off yet—so she couldn’t join the bath. Xia Qing had already discussed this with Crippled Wolf.

The wolves had brought her over because the explosion earlier was so loud, they didn’t want to leave her alone back in the Wolf Den.

Sure enough, the stubby-legged wolf carried his sister into the yard and dumped her right in the Sheep Shed.

Lame Wolf’s sister let out a snarl at her brother, then sniffed the straw pile, fangs bared. The stubby-legged wolf didn’t bother arguing—he just started digging into the hay.

They’d obviously picked up the scent and blood of the Red Squirrel. Luckily Xia Qing had the foresight to swoop up the little guy from the alfalfa earlier and stash him in the cage upstairs.

After asking Alpha Wolf to restrain Lame Wolf, Xia Qing contacted Hu Zifeng. “Captain Hu, could you and your squad help keep watch over the territory tonight?”

Xia Qing wasn’t exactly eager to trouble Hu Zifeng’s squad, but after her medicinal bath she would be out of commission for hours. If anyone from Blazing Fire or Su Feng’s side used the chaos to sneak into Section Three, she and the wolves would be doomed.

Hu Zifeng was startled. “Er Yong just told me the wolf pack entered your territory—are you all heading out tonight?”

Xia Qing explained, “No, we’re staying home. I’ve got important things to handle tonight, can’t leave. That’s why I’m asking for your help.”

…What exactly were Xia Qing and a bunch of wolves planning at home? Processing python meat? He kind of wanted to join in…

Without prying, Hu Zifeng, as Section Three Security Captain, agreed right away. “We’ll bring eight people into Section Three in ten minutes. Two will stay on monitoring duty.”

“Thank you,” Xia Qing said, ending the call. Watching on her phone as Hu Zifeng led his squad inside, she immediately started her fifth medicinal bath.

The pain was as fierce as ever, but Xia Qing didn’t make a sound. She focused on one thought: Get stronger.

Defend the territory. Survive.

When the hour was up, Xia Qing forced herself upright despite the pain. She let the medicinal liquid flow through a plastic tube into a new oversized bath barrel downstairs—roomy enough for two evolved animals at once. Steadying herself, she added two buckets of spring water to the bath, then called Old Goat and Er Gou in together.

Bathing two animals at once cut the six-hour soak down to three hours—she could finally rest sooner. She’d even checked with Zhang San to be sure this would work.

But Er Gou didn’t follow Xia Qing’s directions to bathe with Old Goat—instead, he turned to look at Alpha Wolf. Alpha, sprawled atop the tatami, glanced right back at Xia Qing.

Lounging by the bathroom door, Xia Qing didn’t mind. “Queen can pick who bathes first—it’s all the same to me.”

Then Xia Qing watched as Alpha climbed into the bath to soak with Old Goat.

Xia Qing leaned against the bathroom door, eyelids heavy from exhaustion, and kept time for them.

Twenty-five minutes in, Old Goat started getting restless and tried to leave. But before Xia Qing could say a word, Alpha shot him a look that made him settle right down.

In a weak but gentle voice, Xia Qing crooned, “Queen, you’re incredible. Old Goat listens to you best. If you weren’t around, I couldn’t control him at all. We’re both too weak—if we don’t get stronger, neither of us will stand a chance. You don’t want Sister Yan tossing you out again, right?”

Soaking side by side with Queen, Old Goat—unprecedentedly—stayed in for the full hour. Xia Qing showered him with praise as she ladled warm water from the basin over him, rinsing off the medicinal liquid.

As for Queen?

She needed no rinsing. She just shook the water off herself, let Xia Qing give her a quick wipe, then strolled off to rest on the tatami.

No surprise, next up for the bath were Lame Wolf and Black Wolf. Crippled Wolf kept watch, while Er Gou was left for last since his fighting power was the weakest.

By the time Er Gou and Crippled Wolf finished their bath and dried off, it was almost one in the morning.

Just as Xia Qing was about to crawl into bed, she noticed Alpha and Black Wolf’s ears twitch in unison from their spot on the tatami. At the exact same moment, both lifted their heads and bared their fangs toward the door.

Xia Qing felt a chill run through her as she saw it.