Chapter 738: A Day’s Work, A Wolf’s Lesson

Every time Xia Qing came home after spending half a day working the fields, she felt especially fulfilled. Safe and content.

She loved to work. Loved watching the crops in the fields grow a little each day. Loved picking her homegrown veggies and collecting the eggs from her own chickens. Then, turning everything she harvested into food to store away.

No amount of credits could buy her this kind of satisfaction.

The memory of hunger was etched deep. If she didn’t have grain set aside, if crops couldn’t keep growing strong and steady, Xia Qing couldn’t feel secure. When trouble hit, even a pile of points cards couldn’t fill your belly!

So even with healthy dividends now coming in from the pharmaceutical factory and her cordyceps fungus business, Xia Qing still worked the land with the same care and seriousness as before.

She had to protect her territory. Protect each and every field. That’s why she’d asked her Idol to prepare a batch of nutrient source in advance to share with her allies.

The aggressive wild tung trees would definitely cause trouble during the second Devastation Rain. If the territories nearby couldn’t hold out, hers would suffer too. Only by working together could they all hope for a harvest and survival.

Of course, it wasn’t enough for just her group of lords to work hard. The entire Base had to keep running smoothly, supplying the landowners with the pesticides, quality seeds and protection they needed for the fields.

Even the animals in the surrounding Evolved Forest had to do their part. Her key allies—the Wolf Pack—were powerful, making the entire territory safer.

In three days, she’d be heading into the forest for field training with Yan Long and Tan Qi. She’d be wiped out—so tired that not even the Handsome Huge Wolf could carry her home, and she’d have no energy left to feed the wolves their meds.

The antiparasitic pills in Territory Seven were taken every six months. The Northern Wolf Pack had their last dose last November. It was time for their first round of the year.

If neither Crippled Wolf nor Alpha came to find her tonight or tomorrow, Xia Qing planned to use the personal flight equipment—the one with bird feet attachments—to make a trip to Hill Sixty.

Turns out, her luck was in. The next evening, Crippled Wolf, long unseen, showed up at Section Three with two Black-Maned Geese in his jaws.

Red Squirrel, who’d been gathering food in the Buffer Forest, heard movement and bolted for home at lightning speed, darting straight into the sheep shed.

Crippled Wolf glanced at the fleeing Red Squirrel, then turned to keep playing with the door.

It wasn’t until Xia Qing rushed over to greet him and picked up the game, that Crippled Wolf finally ran home too.

After stepping through the gate, Crippled Wolf sniffed the air, caught a familiar scent and walked straight to something new since his last visit—a rabbit hutch.

Xia Qing saw him checking out the hutch and explained, “I’ve got two baby rabbits in there. Once they’re grown, we’ll have even more. Prey—totally edible—just like the chickens I raise.”

Crippled Wolf seemed to get it but didn’t look all that impressed. Still, he didn’t argue.

After he’d cleaned the mud from his paws and come inside, a new thing in the living room—a hammock chair—caught his attention.

Old Goat immediately hopped off the generator bike and trotted over to lounge in the hammock chair. Xia Qing’s wild tung tree vine chair was sturdy enough that even a three-hundred-pound Evolved Sheep could swing in it without a single creak.

Crippled Wolf’s gaze drifted from Old Goat to the iron support pole holding up the hammock. Both wolf eyes started shining.

After checking both geese and finding they were Green Lanterns, Xia Qing decided to gift one to her Idol, who was all skin and bones. But before heading out, she decided to roast the other.

She wasn’t surprised to see Crippled Wolf lounging in the hammock. He was different from Alpha; Alpha never cared much about human stuff, while Crippled Wolf was endlessly curious and eager to learn about anything human.

“Crippled, do you like my hammock chair?” she asked, watching him draped across it. He bared his snowy, adorable little fangs in a wolfish grin.

Xia Qing grinned back. “If you like it, stay put as long as you want.”

It was already late April, but the weather had been lousy lately. It even rained for a while that afternoon. Indoors the temperature was just above ten degrees, so Xia Qing lit the fireplace. It warmed the house and kept the damp away.

Once the firewood was crackling, Xia Qing hung a plucked, gutted goose—still weighing over nine pounds—inside the fireplace to roast. Then she and Crippled Wolf chatted over the hammock chair.

“Crippled, I’m heading out for a bit. You eat the organs in the basin, but don’t mess with the fire or you’ll singe your fur.”

Crippled Wolf was clever and had good taste but was also vain—he loved that coat. Anytime Xia Qing said something was bad for his fur, he’d steer clear, no question.

She left with her mind at ease. After saying goodbye to Old Goat, she brought the sealed Black-Maned Goose to the Section Three Northern Gate right on time and handed it to Ji Li.

After rinsing the mud from her protective boots outside the door, Xia Qing went inside. Crippled Wolf had polished off every bit of organ in the basin. Instead of playing with the hammock, he now sat by a little table, which held her open laptop.

The computer was on, but Crippled Wolf couldn’t work the mouse with his sharp claws, so the laptop had settled into standby. Bubbles of every color drifted across the screen, changing shades as they slowly moved around.

When Xia Qing returned, Crippled Wolf looked back at her and she instantly understood his message: You’re finally back—come play me a video, I need to study.

Life during the disaster years wasn’t easy to begin with. After a day’s labor, Xia Qing still came home only to be kept on her toes by a Brain-Evolved Wolf who loved to cram his head with knowledge. She couldn’t help but laugh. She flipped the roasting goose, then set up a video for his lesson.

Since there was something she needed to discuss today, Xia Qing gave him no choice and played the video about preventing infections by evolved microorganisms.

Crippled Wolf didn’t mind. He sat neatly on a straw mat, eyes glued to the screen, learning with perfect seriousness.

He’d watched this video plenty of times before and didn’t need Xia Qing’s explanations to follow. Still, she sat beside him and paused at the part about taking antiparasitic pills regularly.

As soon as Crippled Wolf turned his head, she pulled the antiparasitic pills from the drawer and pointed back and forth from the pills to the medicine shown on the video, explaining: it was time for the whole Wolf Pack to take their meds again.

Crippled Wolf quickly caught on, flashed those cute little teeth in acknowledgment, and waved at her to keep the video rolling.

Xia Qing just stared…

She swore under her breath—sometimes she really wanted to clobber that wolf!

Black-Maned Geese were a lot bigger than rabbits or chickens, so roasting took longer. After watching the infection-prevention video yet again, Crippled Wolf motioned for Xia Qing to pack the roast goose for him; it was time to head back to Hill Sixty.

What? We’re not done talking—why’s he in a rush to leave now?

Xia Qing packed up the goose and handed it to him with absolute seriousness: “Crippled, the whole pack needs deworming. Tomorrow, when the sun’s up to here”—she gestured—”come fetch me. I’ll go and give every wolf in your pack their medicine. Every single one.”

Tomorrow, she’d finally get to see Er and the Queen’s cubs. Xia Qing could barely contain her excitement.