Chapter 583: Field of Wolves and Fire

Xia Qing pulled out a pair of antimicrobial gloves from her backpack, slipped them on and quickly dragged the monkey corpses into a pile, making sure to gather every stray limb.

As she worked, Xia Qing carefully inspected each monkey, double-checking that the troop leader with the scar over its left brow bone wasn’t among the dead.

The leader was still alive. That meant the monkey troop could very well come back for revenge.

Xia Qing pressed her lips together, then swiftly sliced open several monkey bellies. She singled out the lungs with the most obvious difference and started demonstrating to Crippled Wolf and Er Gou.

“Broken Back, Er, check this out. This monkey’s infected with a microbe called advanced evolved aspergillus. See these lumps and nodules in the lungs? That’s what we call ‘lesions.'”

She pointed at a healthy monkey’s lungs and explained, “This one’s not infected, its lungs are normal—no lesions.”

How did Xia Qing know all this?

Well, she’d just learned it from her Idol not long ago and was now putting it to use.

Er Gou glanced at the exposed organs for a moment, but then kept his eyes fixed on the fierce, angry wolves in the western pack. His job today was protecting Xia Qing alongside Handsome Huge Wolf.

Crippled Wolf stood next to Xia Qing, seriously examining the two monkey lungs laid out before him.

With the wolves growling low in the background Xia Qing reached over to Crippled Wolf’s belly, continuing, “If you eat diseased lungs like these, your own lungs will get sick too. You’ll have trouble breathing, your resistance will drop, your fur will fall out, and you’ll lose your looks. So never eat sick animals, got it?”

Crippled Wolf ignored Xia Qing’s hand resting on his stomach, staring intently at the diseased monkey lungs.

Xia Qing cut out the infected monkey lungs, sealed them in a bag and then put them in a box. She’d need to take them back for Idol.

Once the samples were taken, Xia Qing quickly cleaned up the firebreak, poured oil over the monkey corpses, and set them on fire to fully destroy any traces of the advanced evolved fungus.

Tomorrow, the base would send a helicopter to thoroughly disinfect the entire area. But the specific pesticide to spray couldn’t be decided until she delivered the lung samples to Territory Seven tonight.

Animals fear fire by instinct. The wolf packs got restless and started howling, even the northern wolves backed away. Only Crippled Wolf and Er Gou, both used to fire, stayed calm.

After confirming the fire wouldn’t spread, Xia Qing took out a bottle of antiparasitic pills and asked Crippled Wolf to call over the northern wolves who’d fought today so they could all take a dose.

These pills were something Xia Qing had traded from her Idol. The exact type and evolution level of the fungus was still unknown, so just in case, Idol had given her a pill strong enough to kill super fungi—and Xia Qing had paid a hefty price for them.

Still, that ‘hefty price’ was nothing compared to the three hundred thousand credits she’d once paid for a Yi Stone.

After Crippled Wolf, Er Gou and Handsome Huge Wolf cheerfully swallowed the pills, the northern wolves followed suit. Xia Qing also tended the wounds of any wolf who’d gotten hurt.

The western wolves?

She handed the bag of sixty pills to Crippled Wolf, signaling that he could return them to the western pack.

Earlier, Xia Qing had counted—there were twenty-three wolves in the western pack, and four leopards hidden in the dense trees and shrubs.

With these battle-ready wolves and leopards, plus the elderly and young who hadn’t shown themselves, sixty pills was more than enough.

As for whether Crippled Wolf would actually return the pills and whether the western wolves would even take them, Xia Qing neither cared nor could do anything about it.

It was like how she’d noticed the wounds on those wolves—she wasn’t about to offer them any first aid.

This pack hated humans. Xia Qing valued her life too much to get involved.

Once she was sure the bodies and the fungus were thoroughly incinerated, Xia Qing sprayed the area with some more pesticide, then buried the ashes and bones with snow. “Crippled, the microorganisms are all dealt with. We can go home now.”

Crippled Wolf nudged her toward the back of a huge wolf, offering her a ride home.

Xia Qing glanced back. Handsome Huge Wolf and over twenty northern wolves weren’t following her. The western pack was also staying put. Dozens of wolf eyes glittered coldly in the frigid wind.

Crippled Wolf dropped Xia Qing and Er Gou off at Hill Fifty-Two, then left. Xia Qing stretched her aching legs, messaged Zhang San and Yang Jin to let them know she was safe, and crossed Hill Forty-Nine with Er Gou to head back to her own territory.

After disinfecting and cleaning up, Xia Qing cuddled up in her warm bed, thinking about the day. Only one word came to mind: surreal.

She yawned and drifted off to sleep.

While Xia Qing slept, the lab in Territory Seven was still ablaze with light. Zhang San, wearing a mask and glasses, was working with three researchers to examine the diseased monkey lungs she’d brought back.

In the inner city office of Hui Three Safe Zone, Tang Zhengrong slammed his phone on the floor, seething with anger as he gasped for breath.

Inside the Sufeng Squad’s secret room, Tang Zhengsu unlocked a code box and stuffed a thick stack of points cards and precious supplies into a tote bag.

In the interrogation room of the Safe Zone, Zhou Xun shifted uneasily in the chair, finally mustering up the courage to bargain, “I can give you evidence, but you have to guarantee my safety.”

In another interrogation room, Chen Dongyang from Dongyang Squad flatly denied, “I never ordered anyone from my squad to slaughter those wolf pups.”

A Red One Investigation Team interrogator flashed a photo. “Do you recognize this man?”

“Yeah. That’s Yang Xingjiang, third in strength for Jiang Xiong Squad.” Chen Dongyang’s pupils shrank as he remembered Xue Jinchang from his squad was close with Yang Xingjiang.

“Six got caught, four are still locked up. Only Chen Dongyang and Yang Shanshan were let out.” Xu Juan sat in the lounge by Section Three’s fields, sipping tea while filling Xia Qing in on Safe Zone affairs. “I asked him about everything, but he wouldn’t say a word. I just know something big is brewing.”

Xu Juan had rushed over to Xia Qing because she sensed something was off. She couldn’t dig up anything in the Safe Zone, so she came to this territory to fish for news.

This had been the hardest-hit area during the last beast tide.

“Which four people from Dongyang Squad got caught?” Xia Qing asked.

After Xu Juan gave her the four names, Xia Qing pressed on. “What about Xue Jinchang?”

Xu Juan shook her head. “He went out on a mission before the beast tide and still hasn’t returned. Chances are slim he’s coming back. Maybe the wolves got him.”

Xia Qing munched on a piece of pumpkin cake. “Xue Jinchang and Jiang Xiong Squad’s Yang Xingjiang seemed pretty close.”

“Yeah. They knew each other before the Cataclysm. After Jiang Xiong Squad landed in trouble, Xue Jinchang even tried pulling strings to get Yang Xingjiang out so he could join Dongyang Squad.” Xu Juan leaned in, voice low, sensing Xia Qing knew more than she was letting on. “So, what’s really going on?”

Xia Qing whispered, “The reason the western wolves started the beast tide might be because someone invaded their territory and killed off their wolf pups. There’s no solid proof yet, so don’t spread this around, and keep it from Chen Dongyang too.”

Xu Juan frowned, her slender brows knit tight. Invading the territory of evolved beasts, killing their young and provoking war with humans—that was a serious crime. If Xue Jinchang really did it, Dongyang Squad would be dragged into ruin.