Chapter 602: A Snow-White Weasel in Trouble

In less than half an hour, Xia Qing and her two wolf companions reached the midway point of the Third Peak on Hill Fifty. The yellow weasel darted into a crack in the mountain and disappeared, while Xia Qing stood outside the cave entrance, gasping for breath.

So, that balding little weasel really lives near the Hidden Valley. But why did it bring her all the way out here? Could its den have been flooded? Did it need help moving its stash?

Xia Qing glanced at the wheezing Er Gou beside her, tongues lolling as they tried to catch their breath. Before she could ask anything, a skittering sound came from inside the crevice.

Moments later, the soaked, balding yellow weasel poked its head out of the stone crack.

Xia Qing had just opened her mouth to call out when her eyes went wide and her jaw dropped.

Damn—what kind of animal is this? Crawling out right after the yellow weasel was a creature just like it, but with snow-white fur and only its eyes and whiskers tinged black.

Was that still a weasel?

Aren’t weasels supposed to be brown? Even if their fur varies, shouldn’t it be somewhere from pale sandy to dark yellow-brown? This one looked like a weasel but wore a flawless white coat. Could it be some kind of weasel evolution?

And it’s… absurdly cute!

The white-furred creature saw the towering human at the entrance and instantly shrank back into the hole.

“Chirp! Chirp chirp…”

The balding yellow weasel at the crack started calling anxiously in a low voice. Er Gou padded to the entrance, sniffed the hole, then let out two soft whimpers. Only then did a faint, weak squeak come from within.

Xia Qing crouched to look less intimidating. She waited a tense two minutes before the snow-white animal finally twitched its ears and whiskers, then crept out bit by bit. It rolled onto the cold muddy ground, and instantly its pristine fur turned clay yellow. Now, at least, it and the balding yellow weasel looked like the same species.

She noticed its belly was swollen—was it about to give birth, or had it eaten something bad?

No wonder the balding weasel rushed to her for help. Even the Queen herself couldn’t fix this. Xia Qing kept calm and asked, “Er, baldy, what’s up with the little white one?”

“Chik! Chik chik chik!” The balding yellow weasel frantically climbed all over Xia Qing and her facemask, showering her in mud. Xia Qing didn’t even dare twitch.

She was genuinely afraid—that the balding weasel might release its toxic gas.

Er Gou sniffed the white-furred animal on the ground, then gently picked it up in his jaws and tore off down the mountain. The balding weasel chased after, leaping onto Er Gou’s back, and Xia Qing sprinted after them.

As she ran, she dialed her idol. This was a real emergency.

Whatever was wrong with this white-furred animal had clearly gone far beyond Xia Qing’s half-baked skills at bone-setting, bandaging and stitching up wounds.

Her idol, Zhang San, woken up by Xia Qing’s urgent call, was left speechless for a good long while after he heard what she wanted.

Xia Qing slipped and fell while running—sliding a good ten meters downhill before catching onto a tree. With her left hand she wiped mud off her facemask, silently thankful for using her Bluetooth headphones. Otherwise, her phone would be a mudball. “Third Brother, what should I do now?”

Er Gou, on seeing Xia Qing fall, immediately dropped his muddy bundle and rushed up to check on her.

“Chik! Chik chik!” The balding weasel stood guard over its white-furred companion, bouncing with increasing anxiety.

Zhang San asked in a chilling tone, “What was that sound just now?”

Xia Qing stood, gestured to Er Gou that she was fine and they could keep moving, then reported back to her idol, “Road’s slippery up here. I took a spill. So, what now, Third Brother?”

“I don’t want to see any of this—call Zhang He and get her to take a look!” Zhang San cursed, then hung up right there.

Oddly, hearing that made Xia Qing feel a little more at ease.

If he was telling Zhang He to handle it, not coming himself, the white animal probably wasn’t in any real danger.

Xia Qing instantly used voice control to call up researcher Zhang He from Territory Seven and explained the situation over the phone.

Unlike the groggy, cranky Zhang San, Zhang He sounded clear and calm. “From what you described, it’s probably a weasel with a genetic defect or mutation causing albinism. The problem sounds like dystocia. Do your best to bring it in quickly, and don’t squeeze its abdomen. Is the albino weasel also an evolved fighter? Is its power releasing neurotoxic gas like the yellow one?”

Xia Qing panted as she ran. “No idea—this’s the first I’ve seen one like this.”

Zhang He offered, “If the animal’s come to you for help, it’s urgent. You might need to perform a C-section right away. Did you bring any oral sedative?”

“Yeah, the same pale blue one I swapped with Ji Li.”

Zhang He immediately gave instructions on dosing. “That’ll work. Estimate the albino’s weight and give it 4mg of sedative per kilogram. That way, it’ll be ready for surgery as soon as you get here.”

“Copy, Sister He.” Xia Qing hung up, then called to Er Gou up ahead. “Er, hold on a sec!”

Er Gou stopped obediently, waiting for Xia Qing to catch up.

She dashed up, stripped off her protective gloves, pulled a pair of disposable sterile gloves from her backpack and slipped them on. She pulled out a spring scale and a syringe of sedative. “Hand me the little white one.”

Er Gou complied, giving her the albino weasel. The poor thing, already sick and dragged halfway down the mountain in Er Gou’s jaws, could barely struggle.

Xia Qing quickly wiped off its fur, weighed it, and administered the oral sedative with a syringe. Then she motioned to the balding yellow weasel perched on Er Gou’s back. “Hey, baldy, you need some sedative too.”

This toxic gas-spewing weasel had to be sedated, or Zhang He would never dare operate with it around.

Otherwise—even if her idol didn’t kill her, Yan Long would probably freeze her with just a glance.

Seeing the balding weasel reluctant, Xia Qing urged, “Er Gou, get the baldy over here for his medicine!”

“Wuuuuu—”

After Er Gou let out a low, commanding growl, the balding weasel trembled up to Xia Qing. She grabbed it—no time to worry about the smell—and dosed it too. Then she stuffed it into the front pocket of her protective suit, slipped the albino into another pocket, and, once back in their territory, sent Er Gou home. Xia Qing herself took both weasels past Territory Seven’s guards and followed Huo Zhun straight to the operating room.

Wearing three masks stacked under a protective facemask, Zhang He quickly accepted the filthy little creature. After cleaning and assessing it, she reported to ‘family’ Xia Qing: “It really is dystocia. There are eight pups in its belly, and it’s too risky to try a natural delivery. We need to do a C-section immediately.”

Xia Qing didn’t hesitate. “Go ahead with the surgery, Zhang Jie. Thank you.”

Zhang He nodded and headed back into the operating room.

Caked in mud, Xia Qing didn’t want to dirty a chair so she stood at the door, pulled out a dry towel from her backpack, and fished the sedated balding weasel from her pocket to start wiping the mud off its fur.

From the side, Huo Zhun asked with curiosity, “So this is the evolved weasel that gassed Yan Long unconscious?”