Chapter 844: Filling Python Pond

Crippled Wolf seemed to understand and flashed Xia Qing a toothy, adorable grin, showing off its snow-white little fangs.

Queen looked as proud as ever, while Crippled Wolf was getting more and more crafty with bargaining. Even wolves are hard to deal with these days—getting them to pay up won’t be easy anymore.

Xia Qing quickly picked up the two soaking wet Yi Stones, each worth 700,000 credits. She moved slowly, just to show the proper respect for the Yi Stones. “No problem, of course. I’ll get right to work and fill Python Pond as soon as possible. With a hazard this big, it’s got to be taken care of for good!”

If the pond couldn’t be filled today, she’d try again tomorrow. If not then, the day after. She’d finish whenever she finished.

After packing away the Yi Stones, Xia Qing looked at Alpha and White Weasel. “Queen, White Weasel, is it alright if I take the medicinal herbs?”

White Weasel set the herbs down and scampered off to a further boulder, watching Xia Qing from afar. Xia Qing reached into her backpack, pulled out two hard-boiled eggs, and placed them, bag and all, on the boulder. “These eggs are to trade for one stalk of herbs. I’ll bring more eggs to Hill Fifty next time for the remaining two stalks.”

White Weasel didn’t mind. He grabbed the bag and ran off.

Crippled Wolf watched White Weasel depart, then glanced at the herbs in Xia Qing’s hands, looking thoughtful.

Grinning from ear to ear, Xia Qing packed up the herbs and snapped a photo to send to her Idol.

Zhang San called at once, his voice so kind it almost fell apart at the seams. “The roots and leaves of these three herb stalks might be incomplete, but they’re enough—very good, very timely.”

Getting such praise from her Idol, Xia Qing felt as if all the cicadas chirping in her ears blossomed into fireworks. “Glad I didn’t hold you up! Should I bring them over to you this evening?”

She still had to fill Python Pond for the Wolf Pack—no way she could leave right now.

Zhang San asked, “Is there any way to get them here sooner?”

“Sure. I’ll ask someone to make the delivery—should reach the south gate of Territory Seven within an hour and hand it to Ji Li.” After hanging up, Xia Qing contacted Zhang Hongda and sent him her location, asking him to come by.

Zhang Hongda and Tan Qi were the only Speed Evolvers in the Alliance. If a fellow ally could handle something, Xia Qing wasn’t about to trouble anyone from the Azure Dragon Squad.

Level Five Speed Evolver Zhang Hongda made it to the spot in less than twenty minutes. When he arrived, he saw Xia Qing standing on the beast trail with a small crocodile, mouth tied shut, dangling from her hand. He didn’t even need to ask—he knew the crocodile was his payment for the errand. Zhang Hongda wanted to say that Xia Qing had saved his life, and he’d do anything for her, rewards or not.

But he stayed quiet—Xia Qing’s expression showed she meant business and wasn’t open to negotiation.

Xia Qing handed him both the crocodile and the herbs. “Do me a favor and get these to Ji Li at Territory Seven as soon as possible. The red lantern crocodile is your runner’s fee for this trip.”

Xia Qing always paid for favors. A live red lantern crocodile was worth twenty-five credits a kilo. Using this eight or nine-kilo crocodile to hire a Three-Element Evolver as an errand runner was fair.

Zhang Hongda accepted the herbs. “Sister Qing, isn’t the crocodile food for the giant python?”

Xia Qing gave a brief answer. “Not anymore. Now it’s food for the Wolf Pack, so I can snag a few.”

Only then did Zhang Hongda take the crocodile. Just this morning, when he’d gone to support Section Fifty-Three with Territory One’s Speed Evolver, he’d gotten a clear sense of Xia Qing’s connection with the Northern Wolf Pack.

If the crocodiles belonged to the Wolf Pack, then that really meant they were Xia Qing’s.

After sending off the medicinal herbs, Xia Qing headed back to Second Peak of Hill Fifty-Five, pondering how to fill the pond.

She couldn’t use the boulders near Python Pond, and Alpha wouldn’t let her blast the mountain to fill the pond, either. The only option was to pry rocks from higher up and let them roll straight into the pond. This was really Zhao Ze’s specialty, but since the Wolf Pack wouldn’t allow her to get help from other humans, she’d have to climb up and find the right spot herself.

Second Peak of Hill Fifty-Five was the second-highest summit in the whole stretch from Hill Forty-Nine to Sixty-One, only a few dozen meters shy of the Bear Pack’s main peak on Hill Sixty-One.

At the foot of this mountain sprawled a wide expanse of swamp with several ponds. Python Pond was just one among them. Xia Qing, whose hearing was poor but eyesight sharp, quickly spotted a target boulder—one that jutted from the rock wall over a hundred meters above the pond. Pointing it out, she asked, “Queen, can I use that boulder to fill the pond below?”

Alpha, trailing Xia Qing as always, looked serious.

No? Why not?!

Xia Qing tried to think like a wolf. She got it. “Is that boulder good for sunbathing and keeping an eye on everything? Is it your favorite spot?”

For the first time ever, the usually haughty Alpha cracked a big wide grin in front of Xia Qing.

Xia Qing grinned back. “It must be roasting up there in the summer, right? Tomorrow I’ll bring my saw and make a tatami-like platform up there for you, just like Old Goat’s. We can fix it right on the boulder. Sound good?”

True to form, Alpha looked even happier and leaned over to Xia Qing affectionately.

Catching on, Xia Qing took off her protective mask and bumped heads with Alpha. When Alpha nudged her with his nose, she gently tapped his nose back.

It was the first time Xia Qing and Alpha had ever been so close. Her heart was full of a happiness she couldn’t quite describe, and she could sense Alpha’s joy too.

This was Alpha’s territory; maybe he’d even grown up here. The mountain might look ordinary to humans, but it was his home. That boulder might have been his childhood playground.

Xia Qing kept searching, pointing up at another hillside behind the rock wall. “Queen, what about those stones up there?”

This time, Alpha raised no objection.

“Got it! Time to get to work!” Xia Qing pulled out her shovel and crowbar, and started in on the pond.

Step one: clear out the small rocks getting in the way under her chosen boulders.

Step two: clear away over a dozen big trees growing along the boulders’ path so that nothing would block or redirect the rolling stones at the crucial moment. These cut trees would be perfect for a new tatami for Queen.

Step three: clear the supports under the giant rocks so they could roll downhill.

With just six boulders from the western hillside, she could easily block the underwater passage from Python Pond. Not even a giant python could move them.

Sounds simple with only three steps, but each one would take a lot of time. Today, Xia Qing aimed to finish only the first step. Tomorrow, she’d bring a chainsaw for the next two.

As Xia Qing got to work with a resounding clang, a dozen wolf heads popped up around the mountain slopes, with several little fuzzy wolf cubs peeking from the highest point.

After watching for a while, the Wolf Pack lost interest—some stretched out in the sun, some stood guard, some went off hunting.

Six wolf cubs, just three or four months old, kept playing under the watchful eyes of five adults. Only one little cub with dazzling golden eyes stayed put on its rock, never taking its gaze off the human below.

Crippled Wolf leapt up next to the cub, giving its head a lick. Then he plucked another cub from a scuffle and pinned it beside the first, telling it to watch and learn. To be a proper Evolved Wolf, a pup had to know how to hunt—and recognize the tricks other animals used in the Evolved Forest.

The cub with amber eyes and lighter fur couldn’t break free of dad’s giant paw, but wasn’t interested in the slow-moving human, either. Before long, it dozed off with its eyes closed.

When Xia Qing finally pried free a two-meter square boulder and sent it tumbling faster and faster down the slope, the little cub with golden eyes watched in awe. So did all the other cubs, who lined up at the edge and stared down.

With a huge splash, the boulder crashed into Python Pond, sending up a towering spray. A few cubs bared their fangs, two or even four at a time, and let out what they thought were fierce roars.

Those noises were enough to spook any creatures below—hearing them could mean danger was coming.

Before any of the adults could react, the golden-eyed cub stood up and growled softly at its siblings.

It managed to show just one tiny fang—because the other one on its upper jaw had already fallen out, making room for its adult teeth. It didn’t look all that intimidating, but the other cubs instantly fell silent—they all feared this little one.

With her hearing loss, Xia Qing couldn’t catch the cubs’ commotion. She hid behind a big tree, doing her best to avoid being spotted by the huge black python poking its head out of Python Pond.