Chapter 539: Lessons in Curiosity

Once she’d finished wiping away her tracks and returned home, she skinned and gutted the rabbits, placing their still-warm innards in a basin. Crippled Wolf always got first dibs on the hot, fresh offal. When the rabbit was cooked, she’d pack one up for the road and leave the other for the resident “chef,” Xia Qing. That, in fact, was Xia Qing’s main motivation to keep working so hard.

Sadly, the two rabbits today were a Green Lantern and a Yellow Lantern. Knowing this wolf’s habits, he’d definitely bring the Green Lantern back as an offering to the Queen, leaving the Yellow Lantern for Xia Qing. But Xia Qing’s body was overloaded with Devastation Element and she was still in recovery from the antidote. She needed to avoid—or at least limit—Yellow Lantern foods as much as she could.

So she set the Green Lantern rabbit to roast in the fireplace and popped the Yellow Lantern one straight into the fridge to freeze.

After finishing the offal, Crippled Wolf trotted inside, washed his paws, dried them off on the straw, and noticed that only one rabbit was roasting. He didn’t complain.

Crippled Wolf went upstairs and fetched his dedicated laptop from his personal cabinet, carried it down in a small basket, and nudged Xia Qing—who was still tending the roast—to play him a video.

This clever Brain-Evolved Wolf loved watching science videos about evolution and microbes. After rewatching his favorite more than twenty times, he seemed to have memorized all the content and started asking Xia Qing for something new.

Obliging, Xia Qing made him a special folder with a lineup of videos about microbes, sorted from beginner to advanced, so Crippled Wolf could steadily level up his knowledge.

Every time he watched, his wolfish face grew dead serious, like a star student hanging on every word. Xia Qing had no idea how much he had actually learned, but his eagerness to study dragged her right along for the ride.

If even a wolf worked this hard, what excuse did she have? She was supposed to be more evolved than him. If she slacked off, in a year or two, maybe she wouldn’t even qualify as a middleman anymore.

Why not?

Because, if this wolf picked up enough knowledge and realized he couldn’t communicate with the so-called ‘dimwit’ Xia Qing, there was a good chance he’d just bypass her completely and strike deals with Zhang San over at Territory Seven.

That would be a crushing loss for Xia Qing.

She fished out her phone to capture a short video of Crippled Wolf focused on studying, then flipped the roasting rabbit in the fireplace and fetched a bag of dried toon seeds from the underground grain storage.

She poured the toon seeds onto a woven basket, took a seat next to Crippled Wolf, and started rolling them between her hands to remove the skins and debris—catching a bit of the video in the process.

The sound of her hands rolling seeds wasn’t loud, but Crippled Wolf still turned and glanced at her.

“Is it bothering you? I can work somewhere else.” Xia Qing picked up the little basket and moved away, but kept her ears tuned to the voiceover in the video.

“Awooo.”

About ten minutes later, Crippled Wolf let out a soft woof.

Xia Qing looked up and saw him tapping the laptop screen with his paw, eyes locked on her, all seriousness.

She recognized that move instantly: this Brain-Evolved Wolf needed help—something in the video had stumped him.

Xia Qing put down the basket and pointed at the waterborne microbe magnified on the screen, “This one?”

Crippled Wolf tilted his head, eyes thoughtful as he looked at her.

“Not this one,” Xia Qing said. She’d spent enough time with him to read his cues.

If not that, it had to be something earlier in the video. She’d been listening and didn’t think the first part was all that tough, but she hit pause, scrolled back, and sat beside Crippled Wolf to review.

On screen, a researcher scooped a tube of water sample from the pond, brought it to the lab, then placed a drop on a slide, positioning it under a microscope to observe the microbes within.

Crippled Wolf raised his paw and pointed to the microscope on screen, then turned to look at Xia Qing.

So that’s what sparked his curiosity—the gadget used to study water droplets.

Xia Qing mimed her explanation. “That’s called a microscope. It makes tiny things we can’t see with our eyes big enough to see. What’s shown on the screen is just how water droplets look magnified through a microscope.”

Crippled Wolf fixed his gaze on the paused screen, pondering, then glanced at Xia Qing again. Clearly, he still didn’t get it.

Scientific gadgets like these were complicated. It made sense that a wolf from the Evolved Forest couldn’t quite grasp it. She didn’t have a microscope, but she did have something similar—a magnifying glass.

So, Xia Qing ran upstairs and brought one down, ready to demonstrate the concept of ‘magnification’ for Crippled Wolf herself.

“Check it out. This is a toon seed—pretty tiny.” She placed one of the cleaned seeds on the table for him to see up close, then covered it with the magnifying glass. “Broken Back, look through here—notice how huge the seed gets from this side?”

Crippled Wolf and Xia Qing pressed their heads together to peer through the lens. When he saw the enormous seed looming inside the transparent glass, his eyes went wide in shock.

His expression was just too expressive. Xia Qing couldn’t help but ruffle his fur, then walked him through the magnifying glass trick a few more times. Soon, he was crouched by the low table, alternating his gaze between the screen, the glass, and his own reflection with a look of deep contemplation.

When Xia Qing left to flip the rabbit in the fireplace, Crippled Wolf lost interest in the laptop and only had eyes for the magnifying glass on the table.

By the time Xia Qing finished cleaning the toon seeds and started fanning out the bits of chaff, Crippled Wolf was still fixated on the glass and the seeds.

A little later, he finally reached out with a cautious paw, gently nudging the magnifying glass. Xia Qing let him be, content to watch him explore on his own.

When she poured a half bowl of Pure Spring Water and set the cleaned toon seeds to soak, Crippled Wolf gave up on the glass and wandered off to check out the windowpane.

Even though the Pure Spring Water spring had dried up, Xia Qing had enough stored in the pantry to last a month. When that ran out, if the spring still didn’t come back, she’d have to start drinking filtered Hot Spring Water.

That Hot Spring Water was safe for drinking at Green Lantern standards, but it still didn’t quite measure up to the Pure Spring Water in Xia Qing’s own territory.

Still, ever since she discovered the hot spring, Xia Qing had felt much more at ease. As long as it existed, it could act as the ultimate safeguard for her precious springwater reserves.

After soaking the seeds, Xia Qing saw Crippled Wolf coming and going through the security door. When he was outside, he’d peer in through the window; once inside, he’d peer out, always with the glass in the way.