Chapter 448: How to Keep an Evolved Sheep Entertained

Lame Wolf, still recovering from her injuries, followed the Alpha and tore out of Hill Forty-Nine like the wind, heading back to Hill Sixty-One.

All that was left in Wolf Valley now was Xia Qing… and a massive herd of wild boars!

Xia Qing found herself daydreaming about eighteen different ways to cook wild boar as she buried herself in gathering fallen leaves.

She hauled the leaves back to her territory, mixed in Compost Starter swapped from Idol, then dumped it all into the insulated trench and packed it down. Finally she covered the whole thing with yellow clay and ground cover, finishing a ten-meter-long lettuce-field protection trench.

Once that fifty-meter trench was filled, Xia Qing went back to Section Three, Valley One, to scoop up wild boar manure.

This job was nothing new for Xia Qing—she’d done it plenty back when she was out on missions.

And wild boars had a strong sense of territory too. Chased here by the Wolf Pack, they split into three groups and marked their bounds with urine. Each herd had a fixed spot to do their business, so even without Scent Evolution Xia Qing quickly located all the wild boar latrines.

Staring at the one-meter-high piles of manure in Valley One, Xia Qing felt two things—relieved she didn’t have Scent Evolution, and grateful for winter, since the muck wouldn’t attract evolved bugs.

She carted back all three giant heaps of wild boar dung and the wolf dung at the Wolf Den to her own territory, dumping everything into the insulation trench outside the breeding greenhouse, along with dead leaves and Compost Starter for fermentation.

Her hope was that the combined stench of wolf and wild boar might scare off any small predators looking to sneak in and rip the greenhouse film or steal her chickens and fish.

Of course, this was just a backup. The true guardians of the breeding greenhouse were Er Gou, pest repellents, Deodorizer, camera, Xia Qing herself, and Old Goat.

Ranked by how much they actually protected, it’d go just like that—from strongest to weakest.

Er Gou loved eggs and was crazy about fish, so he took his guardian duties ultra seriously. Xia Qing didn’t even have to tell him; every day he’d make rounds through the greenhouse, ready to check out any sign of disturbance, rain or shine, day or night.

Old Goat didn’t eat meat. Unless he was bored and wanted to strut in just to spook the chickens and remind everyone he ran the place, he hardly set foot in the breeding greenhouse.

The herbivore chief much preferred the planting greenhouse.

On the second day after Xia Qing moved strawberries and mint into the greenhouse, she noticed a few mint leaves missing. The culprit—Old Goat—sat there on his haunches, poker-faced, contentedly chewing.

Eating grass is just a sheep’s thing. Xia Qing didn’t mind him snacking, only worried he’d rip plants out by the roots if he got careless. So, she fenced off all the planting beds with thorny bushes and shrubs—Goat-proofing.

Er Gou kept up his patrols, feeding fish and chickens. Xia Qing was busy as ever—gardening, cooking, training—so of course, Old Goat couldn’t just laze around either.

During her lunch break, Xia Qing installed the pedal-powered generator bike Tiger had sent over in the first floor living room.

Both the power-generator bike and the water-pumping bike worked by putting special equipment on the rear wheel.

The water bike drove a pump to lift water from low to high ground by converting pedal motion straight into kinetic energy.

But the generator bike had a generator made of stator and rotor attached to the back wheel. When you pedaled, the rotor spun, spinning the coils on the stator, triggering electromagnetic induction and changing pedal energy into electricity, which then got stored in a battery.

Once it was all set up, Xia Qing climbed on and gave it a try. She found it took about the same effort as the water bike—Old Goat would probably love it.

The thing about the water bike was you could watch water surge up as you pedaled. The generator bike had nothing so visible, though, which might make Old Goat get bored halfway through if he felt no sense of accomplishment.

So naturally, Xia Qing tinkered around and rigged up a lightbulb on the generator bike. Pedal and the bulb glows; stop and the light goes out.

When Old Goat came home for lunch, Xia Qing put on a show, slowly pedaling the generator and admiring the glowing bulb up front. “Old Goat, look at this! This bike’s amazing—one spin and the light comes on! Look how pretty it is, isn’t this bulb beautiful…?”

Old Goat knew this sort of thing inside out. He scraped his hooves clean, trotted over, and showed off his spiral horns to Xia Qing.

“Wanna try it, Old Goat? All right, it’s all yours!” Xia Qing pretended to be reluctant as she hopped off and stood aside.

Old Goat hopped right on, head held high, and pedaled like crazy.

Xia Qing clapped her hands and showered him with praise. “Old Goat, you’re incredible! I never thought you’d pedal so fast. Er, look at that bulb—isn’t it way brighter when he rides than with me?”

No matter what Xia Qing said, Er Gou would squat nearby, mouth open in a big canine grin, totally egging them on.

Old Goat half-closed his eyes at Xia Qing, hinting she should lay it on even thicker.

“Old Goat, you’re really a genius, aren’t you? Picked it up just like that, didn’t need me to teach you anything. You have to be the smartest, most stylish evolved sheep on Blue Star! You’ve just set another milestone for all sheep. No wonder the Queen became your friend—you’re just that good…”

After a round of compliments left her mouth dry, Xia Qing sipped some mint tea and cut a deal. “You keep playing, Old Goat. I’ll cook up something tasty for you and Er. When you’ve had enough riding, let’s eat. Sound good?”

Old Goat, full of pride, deigned to give Xia Qing one dismissive glance.

“Aye aye, understood! Food coming up right away!” Xia Qing bounced off to the kitchen, slicing pumpkin for the sheep and wolf, soaking toon sprouts, and unwinding with some soft music saved on her phone.

Lately the cold weather and weak sunlight meant the solar panels barely made enough power, so Xia Qing had been scrimping on electricity. But now that Old Goat was in marathon generator mode, no need to hold back.

For lunch, Xia Qing ate wild boar rib stew with sweet potatoes, Er Gou dined on boiled wild pork and pumpkin, and Old Goat’s spread was the fanciest of all: cabbage leaves, pumpkin, chopped corn, and Compressed Ration.

“Old Goat, you’re unstoppable!” Xia Qing placed the feed bowl in front of him, honestly amazed. In just one lunchtime he’d already charged up thirty percent of a standard battery—a rate that made the roof’s solar panels look like a joke!

With Old Goat around, who needs solar panels or a diesel generator? He’s the real deal—clean, efficient, and the ultimate source of renewable energy. He just munches grass and cranks out—

“Bzzz.”

Xia Qing heard her phone buzz and checked—it was a message from Tang Huai:

“Tang Zhengsu has left the territory and returned to the Safe Zone! My leg’s much better now. Need an extra pair of hands to dig insulation trenches? I’ll work for free.”

“Bzzz.”

Her phone buzzed again. This one was from Hu Zifeng:

“Tang Zhengrong has already led the main team back to the Safe Zone. Territory Two is under Zhou Xun for now. Squad Four’s Dan Ying will leave in two days. Watch yourself around there until then.”

Xia Qing replied, got it, then asked: “But isn’t Dan Ying’s mission unfinished? Why’s she leaving so soon?”

Hu Zifeng answered: “Blazing Fire Squad’s cash cow—the high Evolution Element spinach seeds—got stolen. Dan Ying, as deputy captain and head of farming, has to rush back and take care of things.”

“Stolen, huh?”

Heh.

Xia Qing popped a juicy bite of rib in her mouth, closed her eyes, and savored the music of pure happiness those ribs played across her tongue.