Chapter 988: Trading Losses, Muddy Roads, and Smiling Wolves

Crippled Wolf yawned and closed his eyes, settling in for a nap. Xia Qing kept busy, testing soybean sprouts and trimming bean pods. After twenty minutes the rain stopped. The big black bird on the tree spread its wings and flew back to Bird Valley. The wolf inside the cave twitched an ear but just went back to sleep.

Forty minutes later, Xia Qing finished examining all the soybeans gathered from the valley: 26 stalks of Green Lantern, 22 Yellow Lantern, and 3 Red Lantern beans.

This was a seriously impressive haul!

All Green Lantern soybeans were set aside for seed, so next summer she could harvest over half an acre of Green Lantern beans. Half of the Yellow Lantern beans she’d trade to Idol, the rest she’d keep for herself. Idol could probably eat some Yellow Lantern food now that he had allergy medicine. Red Lantern was inedible for people, but it made good chicken feed.

She’d also bring the Green Lantern soybean sprouts back—Old Goat’s favorite snack. And if she ran into a rabbit, she’d catch one as a reward for Number Four, who’d been working hard catching bugs. Number Four had a nasty temper; if he didn’t get a gift, Xia Qing worried he’d just nab a rabbit from their own territory as a treat.

Xia Qing sorted today’s loot into bags, but as she started packing it all up, she felt like something was missing. Staring at her backpack for a few seconds, she remembered—quickly unzipped the side pocket and pulled out the animal hide sack for scorpions. The scorpions she’d caught that morning were all squished flat!

No wonder none of the scorpions had made a sound the whole time.

She set the animal hide sack aside and opened her backpack to check the rest of her valuable supplies.

The small medical kit and sample box were both shockproof, so the medicine and test tubes inside were safe. But the freeze-dried meat in her bag had been crushed to crumbs, and all four Green Lantern eggs she planned to trade were broken—even with EPS foam for protection. Thank goodness she always used separate bags for everything or egg yolk would be everywhere. Luckily she kept weapons on her—otherwise, with how rough things got, the grenades might’ve gone off just from being bumped around.

Fuming, Xia Qing glared at Crippled Wolf. “Did Handsome Huge Wolf take my backpack into a fight?”

Crippled Wolf grinned wide, baring his tiny, sharp fangs.

…

So they really did get in a fight. No wonder both shoulder straps had snapped. Xia Qing opened the bag of eggs, pulled out the foam, and held it in front of Crippled Wolf. “You eat the eggs. They’re all Green Lantern ones. No sense letting good food go to waste.”

Crippled Wolf gave them a sniff and started gobbling.

Xia Qing pulled out her needle and thread, a patch of animal hide, and some glue. While she stitched the strap, she asked, “So Handsome Huge Wolf got in a fight—was it with you?”

“So it was you, huh? Did you win?…Or did you lose?”

“…Or nobody won? Was it a tie?”

That didn’t sound right—Handsome Huge Wolf was bigger, stronger, and tougher. He should’ve had the edge over Crippled Wolf. Xia Qing thought for a moment. “Did you jump up into a tree so Handsome Huge Wolf couldn’t reach you? That’s why he got so mad?”

Crippled Wolf beamed, all four fangs on full display. He looked absurdly pleased.

Xia Qing was speechless.

“Crippled, you’re too clever for your own good. Handsome Huge Wolf was so mad, he chewed through my shoulder strap—those things cost 500 credits each. You even broke my eggs! Since we’re old friends, I’ll count the loss at 100 credits per egg. That sack of 36 scorpions? All dead, so that’s 1,440 credits gone. So I lost a total of 2,340 credits. You two really should make it up to me.”

Crippled Wolf stopped grinning and looked very serious.

“Don’t want to pay up?” Xia Qing finished mending her strap and flashed a bright smile. “If you don’t want to compensate me with Yi Stone, hickory nuts, or medicinal herbs, then you’ll have to escort me home. It’s dangerous in the Evolved Forest after the rain—I can’t walk back alone.”

“If you walk me home I’ll let you play with the microscope with me. Deal?”

Crippled Wolf considered this for a while, then finally bared his fangs again—though he wasn’t exactly thrilled about it.

After setting out at five-thirty that morning, Xia Qing had teamed up with Handsome Huge Wolf to gather soybeans. But in the end, she trudged back through the muddy Evolved Forest with Crippled Wolf by her side. It was nearly noon before she made it into her own territory.

It had rained in the Forty-Ninth Mountain area too, and the wind was fierce. An entire acre of Section Four’s freshly irrigated corn got blown down. Xia Qing and Old Goat had been watering their corn fields just a couple of days ago. Good thing she’d swapped in a sturdy red-leaved bamboo frame for the greenhouse, and luckily Hu Zifeng’s Squad—the ones watching over her land—were quick to pull down the rain covers in time. Her corn was still standing.

The corn had already started jointing and would be tasseling soon. If you force broken stalks back up while the ground’s wet, you could snap them at the stem and do more harm than good. Best to wait until things dry out, then mound up soil at their base to keep them upright.

Even with a second round of mounding, yields would still drop. That’s why Zhao Ze kept griping in the Lords’ channel about the weather being out to get them.

Listening to Zhao Ze’s complaints, Xia Qing felt her credits for hiring Hu Zifeng’s Squad were well worth it. If her crops went down, she’d lose way more than Section Four ever could. Of the fifteen greenhouses she managed, only half of one was Yellow Lantern corn—everything else was Green Lantern crops.

First thing back, Xia Qing washed the rain-soaked soybean sprouts with clean water—reminding Old Goat to dry them out before snacking. They were Green Lantern beans, but there was a pretty nasty, aggressive plant growing in Bird Valley, so it was safer to wash everything first.

Next, Xia Qing grabbed a Green Lantern snake from her bag as a prize for Number Four, who’d fattened up all the chickens and fish. “I wanted to catch you a rabbit, but with these steep mountains and tangled woods, the rabbits were too quick for me.”

Elder Wolf didn’t take the snake Xia Qing offered. He just stared at the big male wolf coming inside with two wild rabbits in his jaws.

Xia Qing explained, “Crippled Wolf’s faster than I am—he caught those rabbits himself. They’ll be roasted and brought back for the Queen, Little Wolf, and Little Wolf’s little sister.”

“I’ll roast the snake with the rabbit, so it soaks up the flavor. Then you can have it, Number Four.” Xia Qing finished her explanation, then went inside to wash up. While she was cleaning the rabbits and snake, she heard a ‘beep’ from the northern gate.

She glanced over and saw Number Four had left the territory—probably off to catch more bugs in Section Three of Hill Forty-Nine.

Once she’d cleaned the rabbits and snake and placed them in the oven, Xia Qing waved to Old Goat, busy munching on soybean leaves, then headed up with Crippled Wolf to the second-floor lab. There they used the microscope to check out samples—spring water, bugs, leaves, pebbles—anything that caught the wolf’s curiosity.

Xia Qing cleared out the south room next to her own and rewired it, brushed the walls with anti-pest, anti-moisture putty, then moved in the portable CT unit, Evolution Element Detector, microscope, and bookshelf. At Crippled Wolf’s request, she hauled in his storage rack, laptop, and generator bike so he’d have a whole wall to himself.

So this lab was now for both Xia Qing and Crippled Wolf to share.

Once the rabbits and snake were roasted, Crippled Wolf stopped peering into the microscope at all those bugs, packed up the cooked rabbits, and carried them back to Hill Fifty-Five.

After seeing Crippled Wolf off, Xia Qing went to the northern gate of Section Three to cheer on Old Goat—right as Elder Wolf strolled in with two fat rabbits in his jaws!

Flathead caught the rich scent of rabbit blood and instantly changed course, swaying his head as he dashed toward Elder Wolf with his prize.