Chapter 65: Unexpected Alliances

Xia Qing was left baffled by Boss Sheep’s antics. She flipped her basket lid over to catch the dried bamboo shoots Boss Sheep had brought over. “Boss, are you planning to trade this with Third Brother?”

“Baa.”

Boss Sheep let out an urgent bleat, snatched up the basket, and started north.

Xia Qing hurried after him. “Don’t yell like that, you’ll draw wolves. We agreed to meet under the road sign on the south side of the territory to make the trade. You’ve got it all wrong, it’s dangerous up there.”

But Boss Sheep stubbornly kept heading north. Xia Qing frowned, her voice low. “Boss, what are you trying to do?”

Sensing Xia Qing’s mood, Boss Sheep circled back and nudged her gently, signaling with his eyes for her to follow.

Staring at Boss Sheep acting so out of character, Xia Qing’s mind flashed with a terrible guess. “You’re taking food to find a wolf—planning to fight? What kind of relationship do you have with that wolf?”

Boss Sheep continued climbing up the hillside, with Xia Qing trailing behind, her mind swirling with confusion.

Aside from eating or being eaten, what other relationship could sheep and wolves possibly have?

Was it even possible?

Given how clingy Boss Sheep usually was, Xia Qing guessed he’d had companions before he met her. Seeing his behavior now, could it be… he and that wolf are actually… companions?

If a wolf and a sheep could be friends, then Blue Star after the evolution was downright insane.

If the lead wolf and Boss Sheep really were partners—and she was Boss Sheep’s partner too…

Did that mean she might get along with wolves—or even trade supplies with them?

She’d love to get her hands on a few Greenlight chickens, ducks, or geese. Fresh eggs, real meat—yes, please!

The more she thought about it, the less likely it seemed, but she couldn’t help hoping for that tiny chance. She whispered to Boss Sheep, “Boss, are you actually friends with the wolf? That’s pretty amazing! If you’re bringing a gift, dried yellow bamboo shoots don’t feel special enough. We’ve still got green-glow bamboo shoots and bamboo rat jerky back home. Want me to fetch some? Wolves eat meat, right?”

Boss Sheep ignored her completely, pushing up the slope toward the barrier between Territory Three and the Boar Breeding Center.

“Hey, isn’t that Boss Sheep? What’s he doing all the way out here? And what’s he got in his mouth?”

Hearing Hu Zifeng’s voice, Xia Qing sped up and entered the barrier. “Captain Hu, Boss Sheep heard the wild boars screaming and insisted on coming to check it out.”

Hu Zifeng was grateful for his protective mask—it hid his jaw practically hitting the floor. “Boss Sheep gets along well with the boars in the valley?”

She couldn’t exactly say his real connection was with the wolf that killed those boars, so Xia Qing played it vague: “I just found out too. Sorry to trouble you, Captain Hu.”

“Not at all.” Hu Zifeng stared at the soaked dried bamboo shoots on the basket lid, looking completely puzzled.

A sheep visiting boars and even bringing gifts…

Are regular evolved sheep actually this smart? Has Boss Sheep evolved more than just strength—maybe his brain too?

Or are those wild boars brain-evolved animals too?

Xia Qing’s nerves were shot as she watched Boss Sheep slip through the barrier and stop at the edge of the Breeding Center fence.

Boss Sheep set the basket down and started calling out, “Baa—baa—”

Listening to his enthusiastic bleating, Xia Qing wanted nothing more than to bop him over the head and drag him home.

This area had already been checked—no wolves around—so Hu Zifeng wasn’t too worried by Boss Sheep’s noisy calls. Instead, he grew more intrigued than ever. This was the smartest evolved sheep he’d ever seen. “Is he calling the wild boars?”

Xia Qing couldn’t even watch. “Maybe…”

“The Breeding Center got hit by wolves. The boars are all locked up now.” Hu Zifeng glanced at the determined Boss Sheep, then surprised himself by offering, “Want me to have someone take his present in? No guarantee it’ll reach the boars, though.”

Xia Qing managed a straight face as she lied. “Thanks, Captain Hu, but things must be a mess in there right now. No need to trouble anyone more. Boss Sheep just wanted to show he cares—even if the boars don’t get the gift, it’s the thought that counts.”

Hu Zifeng paused and then suggested, “Since the present’s been delivered, Miss Xia, how about heading back? Even if there aren’t wolves here now, Boss Sheep still draws too much attention.”

She didn’t want him stealing the spotlight either. Walking over, Xia Qing set the dried bamboo shoots on the ground and did her best to reason with the stubborn sheep. “The gift’s right here—if your friend shows up, they’ll find it. Let’s head home, okay?”

Of course, Boss Sheep wasn’t budging. He kept calling for his friends. Finally, Xia Qing grabbed the basket with one hand and tucked him under her arm, called out a goodbye to Hu Zifeng, and marched back to their territory.

Maybe it was because the present was dropped off, or maybe he gave up after all that bleating, but Boss Sheep didn’t stir up any more trouble on the way downhill. He went straight to grazing. Xia Qing took two pounds of Greenlight vegetables to meet the burly man Zhang San had sent, trading them for thirty pounds of concentrated deodorizer and a bottle of spray.

No matter how much she suspected Boss Sheep’s connection with wolves, Xia Qing had learned through a decade of disasters to plan for the worst. Even if the pack leader and Boss Sheep got along, it didn’t mean wolves were harmless—or that the others wouldn’t see Boss Sheep as food.

She took out the sprayer and, following Zhang San’s handwritten instructions, mixed the concentrated deodorizer just right. The stuff had no smell at all, already an improvement over the deodorizer sold by the Safe Zone.

If it’s made by Zhang San, you know it’s good.

The instructions said it was harmless to humans and evolved sheep, so once she’d finished mixing, Xia Qing started spraying the inside of her house. Boss Sheep might not hang indoors much and liked to take the occasional bath anyway, so Xia Qing couldn’t smell any sheep scent. But she wasn’t a Scent Evolver—just because she couldn’t smell anything didn’t mean the wolves couldn’t.

She kept spraying until nightfall, covering the entire territory before finally stumbling home. Too tired to move, she gnawed on a bit of compressed rations. Still, she kept her promise to Boss Sheep and made his favorite special feed.

Afterward, Xia Qing found herself totally consumed by the thought that Boss Sheep’s friend might just be a wolf. She barely listened to the radio, and the lord’s channel might as well have not existed.

The next morning at the crack of dawn, Boss Sheep showed up again, basket in mouth. Xia Qing loaded him up with a small bag of green-glow bamboo shoot jerky and a bag of green-glow bamboo rat meat, personally escorted him to the outside of the Boar Breeding Center’s iron fence, and asked Hu Zifeng’s squad to keep an eye on him. Then she headed home to patrol for snakes, bugs, and rats.

On her rounds, Xia Qing was delighted to find that more than half the insects that used to cluster around the vegetable garden’s fence had disappeared. She never expected Zhang San’s deodorizer to work this well—she’d better stock up on a few more buckets just in case.

“Well, would you look at that—isn’t that Qing-jie’s sheep? How did he get out again!” The Inspection Team happened to pass by the Boar Breeding Center as Boss Sheep was standing outside the fence, leaving Su Ming’s jaw practically unhinged.

Hearing all the humans shouting nearby, Boss Sheep pulled the basket close and narrowed his eyes, looking ready to fight at any second.

Su Ming spotted what was inside the basket and his eyes got even wider. “No way, what’s Boss Sheep doing? Da Jiang, what’s going on here?”

Da Jiang from Hu Zifeng’s squad snapped a salute to Tan Junjie before answering Su Ming, “This sheep is visiting his wild boar friend who’s locked up in the Breeding Center. He’ll head back to Territory Three in a minute.”

Honestly, even the ever-cool Tan Junjie looked shocked.

Su Ming stared, “Are you for real?”

Da Jiang shrugged. Honestly, you don’t believe it, but neither do I. The facts are right here—it’s not even the first time he’s come.

Tan Junjie asked Da Jiang, “Has Captain Yang made it back yet?”

“Not yet.”

Tan Junjie nodded and led the team on. Behind them, Su Ming was still in a daze, stumbling over his own feet.