Chapter 717: The Law of Territories

A territory is the vital ground where animals secure their food. Most creatures—from tiny squirrels to wolves, bears, and eagles—are fiercely territorial. They defend their domains through calls, scent markings, or physical boundaries.

Territories often overlap between different animals. Take Section Three of Hill Forty-Nine, for example. To humans, it belongs to the Azure Dragon Squad. Squirrels divide it into a dozen patches, each with its own squirrel master. To the wolves, it’s the realm of the Northern Wolf Pack… Section Three is the same—Old Goat claims it, but so does Xia Qing.

Among solitary animals of the same species, each territory is strictly marked in a way only they can recognize. If an outsider trespasses and gets caught stealing food, a fight is sure to break out.

When animals—of the same or different species with similar diets—target the same territory, strength decides who wins. If a wolf, leopard, fox, and lynx all want the same ground, only sheer might settles the score.

Should food grow scarce in the heart of their territory, animals will venture out to less marked or unclaimed edges, searching for something to eat. These outer strips are called common hunting grounds.

Mountain 51 is one such shared hunting area for large predators. No single big hunter actually lives or raises young here, so everyone comes to hunt as they please. But if any animal tries to lock down this domain and drive others away, they’re turning a public hunting ground into their own core territory.

Will it work?

If they’re tough enough, sure.

But if they’re not strong enough, it won’t happen.

When crowds of people swarm into Mountain 51, blasting, digging, and burning trees, the herbivores and small predators might complain but can only run for their lives. The big predators, however, will step up and challenge humans for control.

After the big clash between humans from Hui Three Base and the Western Wolf Pack, Huaguo’s top authority issued a national notice. It stressed the importance of peaceful coexistence between humans and Evolved Forest creatures. Bases are now required to follow strict rules: never provoke, hunt, or abuse large beasts, to avoid unnecessary conflict and casualties.

That’s why, before humans take any big action in Mountain 51, they first need to figure out who really ‘runs’ that mountain.

“There are leopards on Mountain 51, but the true power lies with the Northern Wolf Pack.”

Last year, Xia Qing led a team to dig up soil and cut thornwood on Mountain 51, but they only moved around the edge closest to human territory—an ownerless patch. In the past few days, though, she and Xin Yu ventured deeper, blasting trees, and found out who commands the heart of this mountain. Only Lame Wolf showed up to check them out while they worked.

After revealing the answer, Xia Qing assured them, “Don’t worry, Captain Tan. No evolved wolves will step in to stop humans from clearing wild tung trees.”

When Xia Qing returned, Su Ming whispered to Cao Xianyun, “Now that Sister Qing can direct the Northern Wolf Pack, our place is safer than ever. Once the case in Territory Nine wraps up and that space opens up, we’ve got to snatch this territory for ourselves!”

“Direct the Northern Wolf Pack?” Xia Qing shook her head—she knew she wasn’t nearly that capable.

After making her rounds, Xia Qing returned home, only to find the little pullet with pneumonia, kept in a cardboard box, had died. No wonder her idol insisted on raising chicks for a month before trading them—breeding a brood during a disaster year is almost impossible.

She burned the chick’s body, thoroughly disinfected the chicken house, and then went over the whole yard for good measure. While carrying her sprayer along the east wall, she was delighted to spot that the Green Lantern jujube pits she’d planted nearly a month ago had finally sprouted.

Only six out of thirty-nine had taken root, but Xia Qing was thrilled anyway.

Once these seedlings grew up, she’d have a row of bug-eating trees in her yard—and the place would be cleaner and much more livable.

After Liangzi from Hu Zifeng’s Squad arrived, Xia Qing warned him to watch out for birds of prey circling overhead. She made sure none of the winged hunters ripped through the insect net covering her chicken yard to snatch her precious birds. Then, she left her territory to meet with the Northern Wolf Pack for business.

Entering Section Three of Hill Forty-Nine, Xia Qing hadn’t gone far when she saw the Honey Badger barreling toward her, teeth bared and strutting like it owned the place—a look that just begged for a smack.

Now, Section Three of Hill Forty-Nine had another new overlord—Flathead the Honey Badger.

Xia Qing was happy to have Flathead move in since its diet consisted mainly of snakes, rats, and other pests. Old Goat still rushed out every day to exchange blows, but he didn’t really mind Flathead. If he did, Flathead wouldn’t still be alive. Red Squirrel and the snakes were fed up with Flathead but being its prey, all they could do was dodge and bear it.

And the wild boars down in the valley? Flathead once got in a brawl with them and was almost beaten to death. Xia Qing had to carry him to safety, and since then, he never ventured back down.

From this, Xia Qing figured Flathead was no fool—he remembered clearly which animals to avoid and what areas were off limits. He knew Xia Qing and Old Goat wouldn’t really hurt him, so he kept pestering them.

When the little rascal flew at her, Xia Qing was more than ready. She vaulted right over his head and sprinted off at top speed.

With his prey escaping, the Honey Badger was furious and spun around to chase after her.

“Where’s Sister Qing going in such a hurry?” In the monitoring room, Chen Cheng set down his dumbbell, staring at the screen as Xia Qing dashed past. Even Little Five the tabby cat, who’d been napping on top of the filing cabinet, cracked open an eye.

Xia Qing was fast—within a second or two, she’d slipped out of one camera’s view and appeared on another screen. Little Five’s head tracked her every move, then he yawned and went right back to sleep.

A few minutes later, Chen Cheng had a new discovery. “Isn’t that Sister Qing’s honey badger? Is it chasing her now?”

Peng Jian chimed in, “I was chased by that little guy in Section Three yesterday. He’s not that quick but his nose is insanely sharp. I had to circle around several times before I finally shook him.”

As the two chatted, a shadow flashed past their faces. Chen Cheng immediately rushed out. “Little Five, where are you going?”

“Where else? Gotta be going after the honey badger for a fight. He’s no match though.” Peng Jian grabbed the phone. “Boss, Little Five’s gone to fight Sister Qing’s honey badger.”

Out in Territory One’s fields, Hu Zifeng took off running. “Where is it? You keep eyes on them, I’m on my way!”

Unaware of Little Five’s mission, Xia Qing sprinted from Hill Forty-Nine all the way to a tall peak on Hill Fifty-Two. Cupping her hands, she let out a wolf’s howl.

“Awooooo—!”

“Awooo—wooo—wooo—!”