Chapter 453: A Soak With Wolves and Peanuts

For this Green Lantern peanut collection run, Xia Qing decided not to team up with anyone from Territory One or Territory Seven.

Teaming up with them would mean giving away at least forty percent of the edible peanuts she found. If the patch Red Squirrel discovered on Hill Fifty turned out to have barely any peanuts, after months shadowing that squirrel, Xia Qing might not end up with more than a palmful herself.

So, she figured the only way to keep the whole peanut haul was working with the Wolf Pack, since wolves didn’t eat peanuts.

Today was November 29th—which meant it was medicinal bath day. If the Alpha could understand her last message correctly, it would bring the pack down from Hill Sixty-One tonight, guided by the moon’s phase. After their bath tonight, the wolves would head back at dawn, and Xia Qing could tag along to Hill Fifty and collect those peanuts.

Perfect!

She’d double-checked with Yang Jin: the two Brain-Evolved Bears on Hill Fifty had gone back to Hill Sixty and hadn’t returned. So, there were no bears there now, and even if she teamed up with the wolves, they wouldn’t get noticed and end up the targets of the Brain-Evolved Bear’s revenge.

The route she’d take with the Pack to harvest peanuts cut through the canyon of Hill Forty-Nine and then a not-so-wide valley into Hill Fifty, staying well out of Territory Nine’s surveillance range.

Even if someone from Territory Nine sent surveillance birds to tail her, with her level nine Vision Evolution and sharpshooting skills, she could take out every bird long before it spotted the wolves.

Send as many as they want. She’d drop every last one!

Before nightfall, Xia Qing strapped on her sprayer and methodically coated the entire overgrown grass barrier with repellent pesticide—for small reptiles—twice.

This was the same pesticide she exchanged from her Idol after mutated water rats invaded. One spray lasted a month, unless it rained or snowed, then she had to reapply. Last night brought a short sleet, just enough for her to play it safe and give the territory one more round.

After spraying, Xia Qing asked Hu Zifeng to send people to guard the territory. Tonight was another night when her and the wolves’ fighting power would be at its lowest.

Dusk had fallen and the Wolf Pack still hadn’t arrived. Not one to sit around waiting, Xia Qing finished dinner and went upstairs to fill the bath barrel with pure spring water, heated it up, poured in the medicinal mixture, and stirred.

Standing on the stairs, Xia Qing called out to her two housemates. “Old Goat, Er, I’m off to take a bath—you two have the place tonight.”

Er Gou, sprawled on the tatami on the first floor, lifted his head. He looked so reliable right then.

Old Goat, pedaling away at the exercise bike, gave Xia Qing a sideways squint. No mistaking what that meant.

For the tireless Old Goat who generated all their electricity, Xia Qing didn’t hold back on the flattery. She sent compliments flooding at him like a tidal wave. “Oh wow, Old Goat, you look so cool riding that bike! I’ve never seen such a stylish evolved sheep. You’re the most handsome, most creative sheep on Blue Star! You’re standing on top of the world’s pyramid. You shine so bright you dazzle everyone…”

Only after Old Goat was thoroughly satisfied did Xia Qing head into the second-floor bathroom.

Fifteen minutes in, Xia Qing felt like she was getting acupuncture all over. This level of pain, though, she could still handle.

By the twenty-fifth minute, the medicine soaked through her skin into the bone, and that’s when the real pain hit. Determined to absorb as much as possible, she shivered in the bath and tried distracting herself with happy memories.

“Beep.”

“Beep.”

“Beep.”

…

Her phone kept blaring alarm warnings from its spot on the bamboo rack, but with no alerts coming through the walkie-talkie from Hu Zifeng’s squad, Xia Qing didn’t have to check to know who it was: Crippled Wolf—who loved to mess with doors—had arrived.

Sure enough, the Brain-Evolved Alpha could use the shape of the moon to judge the right time for the medicinal bath. Its memory and attention to detail had become remarkable.

“Beep beep. Beep beep.”

Next, the security camera caught an intruder and sent a warning to her phone. Xia Qing just kept soaking with her eyes closed—no need to check, either. The “intruder” always turned out to be Crippled Wolf or one of its pals. Nothing to worry about.

But where Xia Qing was calm, Jing Kuan, who was guarding Section Three, was floored. He whispered into the walkie-talkie, “Are those…wolves?”

“Keep it down, Kuan, they’re looking this way,” Chen Cheng warned quietly. “Nobody so much as points a gun at the wolves. That’s dangerous.”

Jing Kuan muttered, “You’re louder than I am.”

“Relax,” said Xiao Jiang. “Sister Qing told us as long as we don’t make the first move, the wolves won’t hurt anyone while they’re in Section Three.”

Chen Cheng muttered, “So…if we just lie here like this, the wolves should recognize we’re people, right?”

Everyone else…silent.

“Creak—”

Downstairs, the door opened. Soaking upstairs, Xia Qing perked her ears to listen.

Whoosh—

Old Goat was putting on quite the performance. The exercise bike’s lifted rear wheel spun so fast she could hear the wind all the way upstairs.

“Splash—”

“Awooo—”

One wolf had knocked over the water basin set by the door, sending water sloshing across the floor and earning a menacing growl from Crippled Wolf.

With Crippled Wolf on watch, Xia Qing felt at ease, sank her head into the water, and kept soaking.

When her phone alarm finally went off, marking a full hour, Xia Qing opened the bath’s water valve. The medicated water drained through its hose to the big tub downstairs while she braced herself against the pain to reach for her clothes on the bamboo rack.

It was turning cold, so Xia Qing added another warm layer.

Humans had gotten a little more resistant to the cold since they’d evolved, but with winters dropping at least ten degrees and no such thing as central heating anymore, surviving got much tougher. Most homes couldn’t keep warm, and a lot of work still had to be done outside—even in the Evolved Forest—through the bitter cold.

Xia Qing’s winter wear was composed of three layers, starting with a quick-dry shirt closest to the skin.

Quick-dry shirts fit snug and are thin, but their real strength is helping your sweat evaporate. Since Xia Qing stayed active and trained every day, she sweated a lot, and if she skipped this layer for a regular shirt, she’d get soaked through. Once she stopped moving, hypothermia set in fast.

Those early disaster years saw plenty of people wrapped up in thick clothes, yet still getting frostbitten or worse. The reason? No quick-dry base layer. They’d sweat and couldn’t get inside somewhere warm, so their bodies went hypothermic.

The second was the insulating layer—fleece, down, or cotton—that kept in the heat. As a high-level evolver, Xia Qing was tougher than most, so unless things dipped below minus thirty Celsius, fleece was all she needed.

This year, through Kuang Qingwei, she’d bought two full sets of thin and thick fleece and one down outfit. Plus, with credits, she’d commissioned a handmade cotton set from Madam Shi. Four winter outfits in total.

So even if this was shaping up to be the coldest winter since the disaster, it was, for Xia Qing, the warmest one yet.

The final, outermost layer was her protective suit—winter style. It didn’t insulate so much as shield against wind, water, snags, and any surprise attacks from evolved animals.

She kept the place well-insulated, so inside she just wore her quick-dry shirt and loungewear. For any trips outside, she’d pull on the lighter fleece and suit up.

After finally regaining some strength, she leaned on the railing and made her way downstairs, only to spot six wolves gathered in the brightly lit living room.

The Alpha, Black Wolf, and Er Gou sprawled on the tatami, giving each other meaningful looks. Who knew what secret messages passed between those eyes?

Crippled Wolf and Lame Wolf, the squabbling siblings, stood by the bike, watching Old Goat spin the pedals.

And the reason the whole first floor was so well lit? The lightbulb hooked up to the exercise bike. Surrounded by wolves, Old Goat held his head high, pedaling furiously—he looked like he’d finally made it to the top of the world.

Seeing all this, Xia Qing realized she’d need a sturdier bike soon, because at this rate, Old Goat was going to pedal this one to pieces.