Chapter 62: Standoff at the Edge: Wolves in the Shadows

Whatever happened, Boss Sheep couldn’t make a sound and alert anyone. Xia Qing slipped inside the fine mesh netting over the vegetable garden, picked a yellow cucumber, washed it with spring water and handed it to Boss Sheep to nibble on the hillside and calm its nerves. Meanwhile, Xia Qing went on high alert, gun in hand guarding the territory.

Before long, Xia Qing’s phone rang. It was a call from Hu Zifeng.

“Miss Xia, did you hear the wild boar noises? Any signs of evolved animals breaching your territory?”

Xia Qing replied, “I heard the bone-chilling squeals from the Wild Boar Breeding Center, but no intruders spotted in Territory Three for now. Captain Hu, do you know what’s going on?”

Outwardly, Xia Qing only had strength enhancement. So she couldn’t tell Hu Zifeng how she’d actually climbed a tree to listen and see what was happening inside the Wild Boar Breeding Center.

Hu Zifeng answered, “We’re not sure yet. Miss Xia, please stay on your territory if possible. We’ve got a team of six at the northern part of Plot One. If any wild boar gets into Territory Three—or there’s any other danger—contact us right away. We can be there in two minutes.”

Xia Qing thanked him and hung up. She saw Boss Sheep had finished munching its cucumber and was nudging close to her, so she picked another cucumber, split it in half, ate one piece herself and used the other to lure Boss Sheep down the hillside.

Wolves had shown up at the Breeding Center next door. Boss Sheep was better off out of the Buffer Forest. Xia Qing calmed Boss Sheep with the cucumber, hauled out the water pedal-bike and sent it to add water to the fish pond. She armed herself with a submachine gun, slingshot and machete, radiating killing intent as she patrolled the territory. She had weapons, sure, but when it came to the wolves attacking the Breeding Center, Xia Qing wasn’t about to take them lightly.

Ever since Blue Star’s mass evolution, not only had some humans developed Brain-Evolved abilities—even the animals had evolved their own. That’s one reason after nearly ten years, most people still had to huddle inside Safe Zones.

Of all the brain-evolved animals Xia Qing had seen in the last decade, the wolves were the most dangerous.

The Hui San Base’s efforts to clear Evolver Forests around the Safe Zone and expand human territory were basically a drawn-out turf war with the evolved creatures. Along the way, people faced dangers like evolved fungi, venomous insects, Xiangified mutant plants—but the fiercest opposition always came from the evolved wolf packs.

In Year Nine of the Cataclysm, on a mission to clear an evolver forest fifty kilometers north of the Safe Zone, Xia Qing’s squad ran into over twenty wolves head-on. The squad leader mistook the wolves’ retreat for fear of humans and, despite Xia Qing’s protests, went after them. He turned those evolved wolves into the prey and made the pack furious.

For the next six hours, Xia Qing watched firsthand as the wolves, following the commands of their leader, split up the human squad and hunted them down one by one—until only she and one main squad member remained.

Xia Qing was just there as backup logistics, so of course she wasn’t in on the wolf-hunting. When the conflict broke out, she scrambled up a tall tree to hide.

The evolved wolves couldn’t climb, but it didn’t matter. One of the pack—gifted with jaw strength and enhanced power—brought down the thick, meter-wide tree that the remaining squad member had climbed. When it toppled into Xia Qing’s tree, the other survivor tried to kick Xia Qing out of her perch, hoping to sacrifice her to the wolves and save his own skin.

Of course, Xia Qing ended up tossing that guy out instead.

After the wolves finished off the final squad member, the pack leader stood on a big boulder and stared straight at Xia Qing. The others gathered below the tree, quietly waiting for its command.

Xia Qing gripped her weapon and stared back at the wolf king, her mind racing through four escape plans and a dozen different ways to die. What surprised her was—the wolf king didn’t give the order to attack.

After destroying the fallen humans’ weapons, the wolves simply left. With just a look and its commanding presence, Xia Qing knew the alpha was a true Brain-Evolved wolf.

She stayed in the tree nearly ten hours before the Safe Zone’s rescue team found her.

After that time, Xia Qing never took missions with squads outside the Azure Dragon Unit. She wanted no part of fighting wolf packs again. It wasn’t just dying by wolf bite—she couldn’t handle having her corpse humiliated by getting pissed on by wolves afterward.

Xia Qing truly feared going up against wolf packs. But last time, she hadn’t given up—she never stopped fighting, even when she was alone against a dozen. And this time, she wouldn’t either. This was her territory.

After patrolling more than an hour and finding nothing strange, Xia Qing stayed just as vigilant. Wolves specialized in psychological warfare and ambushes; they’d always strike when the enemy finally relaxed.

At that moment, another wild boar’s hopeless scream rang out from the Breeding Center. Seconds later, another. Xia Qing grabbed her gun and dashed up the northern highland of the Buffer Forest—just as a long wolf howl echoed through the air.

“Awoooo—oooo—”

This sound…

As a Hearing Evolver, Xia Qing knew that howl all too well—it was the wolf king’s call, from the very same pack that wiped out a twenty-member squad right before her eyes in Year Nine. This was a pack she couldn’t handle alone. She was reaching for her phone to call Hu Zifeng when Boss Sheep’s urgent cry cut through.

“Baa—baa—!”

Down the hillside, Boss Sheep was pumping the waterwheel—and suddenly bolted up the slope at a speed Xia Qing had never seen before.

Xia Qing raced down chasing after it, wishing she could just tie Boss Sheep’s mouth shut. If the wolves were coming, the last thing she needed was it bleating loudly and giving away their position.

“Boss, don’t be scared—I’ll protect—”

Xia Qing rushed to intercept Boss Sheep, but she didn’t even manage to touch its wool—it darted around her, bleating, and charged toward the Wild Boar Breeding Center.

“Stop! Stop right there!” Xia Qing sprinted after it, and just before it could slam into the Breeding Center’s iron mesh wall, she grabbed hold of its spiral horn and hissed, “You better stop right now!”

Boss Sheep shook its head, trying to break free, but Xia Qing knew all its tricks and didn’t give it a chance. She pulled out a rope, tied it up tight and hoisted it over her shoulder to carry it home.

Back home, she tossed the thrashing Boss Sheep onto the ground and slumped down beside it, trying to catch her breath.

Worried it might suffocate, Xia Qing loosened the rope around its mouth—just in time for Boss Sheep to try and let out another bellow.

Xia Qing slapped a hand over its mouth and snapped, “Are you trying to get yourself killed? You want the wolves to tear you up, huh? Do you even know who that is out there? That’s the wolf king! One of them could take out a whole group like us!”

Boss Sheep wouldn’t listen—just kept struggling.

Xia Qing had no choice but to go all out. She fished a pack of compressed rations from her protective suit, tore it open, broke off a little chunk and shoved it in Boss Sheep’s mouth, coaxing softly, “Sure, you’re the boss of our territory, but you can’t go up against wolves. You’re a herbivore—they’re carnivores. You’ve got flat teeth, they’ve got fangs. You’ve got hooves, theirs are claws. They’re made to take you down. Even wild boars are stronger, and in no time three of them have already been killed. So chill out, big guy—there’s food, I’ll make you a treat tonight, okay?”

Boss Sheep swallowed the bit of compressed rations in one gulp and stretched its neck, about to start bleating again.

Xia Qing plugged its mouth with more rations and smacked it. “Try making another sound and I’ll toss you out there for the wolf king, you hear me?”

“Bzz—bzz—”

Her phone vibrated. Xia Qing held Boss Sheep’s mouth shut as she answered, “Captain Hu.”

“The evolved wolves attacked the wild boars at the Breeding Center, then retreated into the Evolver Forest. Captain Yang’s taking a team to hunt them down. I’m with Captain Tan and the others outside the Breeding Center. If anything happens near your territory, contact me immediately.”

“Thanks for the update, Captain Hu.” Xia Qing couldn’t help asking, “How many wolves showed up this time?”

Hu Zifeng replied, “Not sure how many are hiding in the Evolver Forest, but only one made it into the Breeding Center.”

Xia Qing knew there had to be more. She offered up an important clue: “Judging by that howl, I’d say it’s the same wolf king that wiped out the Fengyun Unit’s main squad last May. It’s a brain-evolved wolf—extremely dangerous.”

Hu Zifeng was definitely aware of the fate that befell the Fengyun Unit, ranked twenty-fifth at Hui San Base. “Thanks for the heads-up, Miss Xia. I’ll report it to the boss right away.”

After Hu Zifeng hung up, Xia Qing picked up another call from Tan Junjie. She finally let go of Boss Sheep’s mouth and tossed it another bit of rations. “See? If you want to take on wolves, you’d better have skills like Yang Boss. You? Not a chance.”