Chapter 870: The Truth Behind Xia Qing’s Wolves

The Fire Phoenix organization was massive and operated with remarkable efficiency.

It took just seven days for Qu Fangzhou to dig up every detail about Xia Qing.

“Xia Qing, 26 years old. Officially, she’s a dual-path evolutionist: Level 6 in strength, but there’s no public data on her vision evolution. Based on her sniping skills, I estimate it’s at least Level 7. Her mother died in the insect disaster during the fourth year after the Cataclysm. I couldn’t find out if she was an evolutionist. Her father was a Level 4 strength evolutionist, killed in the beast tide after Devastation Snow in year five.”

“After her father died, Xia Qing used her Level 4 evolutionist status to move into the regular evolutionist dorms in Hui Three, sharing a room with Feng Wen, a Level 3 scent evolutionist. With help from Zhang Yong, an ordinary person her father once rescued, she joined Hui Three’s construction team…”

Once the detailed info was laid out, Qu Fangzhou began her analysis. “There are two takeaways here: First, Xia Qing was already close with Azure Dragon Squad before leaving the Safe Zone. Second, the ‘Yan Ning’ who helped Yang Jin hunt down Tang Zhengsu was Xia Qing herself.”

She paused for a few seconds. When all three people at the table turned her way, Qu Fangzhou delivered her biggest conclusion. “Xia Qing cooperated with Azure Dragon Squad because she shares a common enemy with Qinglong—the death of her father is linked to Tang Zhengsu. As for why the Azure Dragon Squad agreed to work with her, I believe Xia Qing is hiding another evolution: beast taming.”

Dan Ying shot to her feet, challenging Qu Fangzhou’s claim. “No one has ever had the beast taming evolution!”

Fire Phoenix cast a cold glance at Dan Ying, silencing her, then motioned for Qu Fangzhou to continue.

“In May of year nine after the Cataclysm, Xia Qing joined a twelve-person task force to collect resources in the Evolved Forest outside Hui Three Safe Zone. They encountered a pack of evolved wolves. When the team provoked the pack, everyone but Xia Qing was killed—despite her having the worst weapons and gear, she escaped unharmed.”

“February, year ten after the Cataclysm, not long after settling in her territory, Xia Qing caught a strength-evolved sheep. She called it a crazy, ill-tempered animal, but she’s used it for labor ever since—and she still keeps it.”

“July of year ten, Xia Qing claimed she found an evolved wolf near death after a parasite attack while searching the Evolved Forest. Whether she actually found it is unclear, but after trading medicine with Fu Tianfeng and saving the wolf, she step-by-step tamed the entire pack in Hui Three’s northern perimeter—dozens of adult wolves.”

Dan Ying couldn’t keep her mouth shut. “Okay, maybe she tamed one wolf, but not a whole pack. Packs can only be controlled by drugs.”

Qu Fangzhou’s expression remained unreadable as she went on. “On January 24th this year, over a dozen wolves from Hui Three’s north appeared. Their howls stopped the Western Wolf Pack from triggering a beast tide, preventing them from invading Section One of the north. The Western Wolf Pack kept going east instead, clashing with humans in the eastern territory.”

“On the night of May 20th, wolves howled in Xia Qing’s territory, triggering answering calls from packs atop several nearby mountains. That same night, Yang Jin captured Ji Li’s deserter hiding deep in the Evolved Forest.”

“Putting these two facts together, it’s clear: the northern Hui Three wolf pack’s actions meet the baseline criteria for primary domestication.”

Dan Ying simmered with frustration, refusing to back down. “At most, this means Xia Qing tamed one or two influential wolves in the pack, not the whole group.”

Qu Fangzhou stayed focused. “Since last autumn, Tang Huai, acting as Territory Two’s agent, secretly traded six sets of protective dog suits. Huo Lei, the Level 4 strength evolutionist who taught Xia Qing blacksmithing, made six more suits from hardness-evolved python skin last winter. None of the twelve went on the market. Odds are, Xia Qing used them to arm the evolved wolf pack.”

“On May 24th, Hui Six sent a helicopter into the northern Evolved Forest to hunt for bears. They were spotted by Azure Dragon Squad patrollers, sparking a conflict between the wolves and the bear pack. During the fight, a giant bear crushed a poacher—proof the bears caught on to the poaching. But these powerful bears didn’t attack the lightly defended human territory just twenty or so miles away. Dan Ying, as an animal behavior expert, how do you explain that?”

“But these powerful giant bears didn’t attack the lightly defended Section One up north, despite it being just twenty-some miles away. Dan Ying, since you’re our animal behavior expert, care to explain?”

Dan Ying wouldn’t give in. “Maybe the giant bears had their brains evolved. They’re waiting for Devastation Rain to attack for the best effect.”

Qu Fangzhou pressed on. “On the night of May 26th, there was a sudden reversal rain, pounding wind, and hail that left Section One’s territory battered. It was a perfect chance for the bear pack to strike back at humans, but they never attacked.”

Finishing her points, Qu Fangzhou ignored Dan Ying’s rising hostility and kept analyzing.

“As a high-level evolutionist with three advanced paths, Xia Qing didn’t go after her father’s killer right away. Instead, she joined the construction team and worked grueling jobs alongside the toughest men at the bottom of society for over five years. We all know what kinds of bad habits those guys have; I don’t need to say more. If nothing else, it proves Xia Qing has nerves of steel and stamina to match.”

“Her real goal is to survive and farm her territory—unless war or disaster strikes, she’s not going to change course. Captain, there’s no need for us to become the ‘man-made disaster’ that drives Xia Qing to unleash dozens of evolved wolves in a beast tide against us. At minimum, we keep out of each other’s business. Ideally, we stay on good terms.”

Liao Wendong added, “Fu Tianfeng went toe-to-toe with us to defend Xia Qing—very out of character for him. Shows how much he values her, most likely because she tamed those northern wolves.”

Beast taming… three evolutions… Fire Phoenix raised her hand and tossed the test tube, now collecting more and more sediment, to Dan Ying.

Dan Ying scrambled to catch it like it was a treasure. “Captain, if we put news of her beast taming skills out there, tons of people would be interested…”

Liao Wendong cut her off, voice sharp with anger. “And then what? Xia Qing gets snatched, Fu Tianfeng loses it, dumps a bunch of budget medicine on the market, and sinks our squad’s business overnight. What, do you want hundreds of us scraping by as bodyguards, selling pure spring water and blood?”

Clutching the vial of blood, Dan Ying mumbled, “Fu Tianfeng has no proof we did it. Like with Hui Six’s recent bear hunt—even if they suspect us, who could pin it on us?”

Liao Wendong snorted. “Go explain to Fu Tianfeng yourself, see if he’ll let it slide!”

Qu Fangzhou calmly reasoned, “I could list twenty cases showing Fu Tianfeng’s ruled by emotion, not logic. If anything happens to Xia Qing, he’ll go berserk for sure. So unless our research blows his away, nothing can happen to her.”

“Want to put Xia Qing on the operating table? Wait until your research outpaces Fu Tianfeng’s. Otherwise, it’ll be you lying there instead.” Fire Phoenix’s warning to Dan Ying was icy cold. Sure, she wanted Xia Qing dead too, but she was much more rational—she could see the big picture and knew how to prioritize.

Dan Ying’s face went ghostly pale.

All this bickering between the Fire Phoenix team’s leaders? Meanwhile, the lord of Section Three, Xia Qing, could only stare speechless at the flustered Red Fox in front of her.

Seriously? The iron mesh wall she built for a whopping 250,000 credits had, so far, only managed to block one animal:

Flathead!