Chapter 132: Digging a Hole

Chapter 132: Chapter 132: Digging a Hole

Sometime after midnight, the chickens woke Xiaqing.

The wolves had taken over the sheep pen she’d prepared for the chickens, so Xiaqing had no choice but to move the birds into the house she shared with Sheep Leader. She laid down a board, covered it with a rainproof cloth, and placed them in the first-floor tool room.

The chickens were over a month old and couldn’t crow yet, but with seventeen of them squeezed together, their constant chirping and pecking at the cage was still incredibly loud for someone with Auditory Evolution.

Startled awake, Xiaqing fumbled for her phone. She squinted at the screen—it was just after four in the morning.

’It isn’t even light out. What the hell are they making a racket for!’ Xiaqing took a deep breath, rolled over, and pulled the blanket over her head to go back to sleep.

But before she could fall back asleep, the noise traps outside the courtyard began to ring. DING DING... DANG DANG. She didn’t have to guess. ’It must be the wolves.’

’Seriously, doesn’t anyone get tired?’

With her hair a messy bedhead, Xiaqing climbed out of bed, got dressed, and went downstairs to open the security door. Before she could even speak, the Head Wolf leaped into the courtyard with two of its packmates, four rabbits clamped in their jaws.

Three rabbits were for the wolves, and one was for her.

Any annoyance Xiaqing felt evaporated. With a pleasant expression, she picked up the freshly killed rabbit, which was still twitching, and thanked the Head Wolf. "Thank you for the rabbit, Queen. I appreciate your hard work."

The Head Wolf gazed at Xiaqing with its golden eyes, seemingly quite satisfied with her attitude.

’Just as expected of Sheep Leader’s friend, she loves to be praised,’ Xiaqing thought, pressing her advantage. "Queen, when you bring food tomorrow, could you possibly bring me a live rabbit? What I mean is..."

Xiaqing showed the bleeding wound on the rabbit’s neck to the Head Wolf, explaining in a soft, gentle voice, "One without a wound here—one that’s still breathing and can eat grass. Thank you, Queen. I appreciate your hard work."

The Head Wolf narrowed its eyes and glanced at the rabbit, then turned and entered the sheep pen. A moment later, it emerged, dragging the Brain Domain Evolution Wolf by the scruff of its neck. It pulled the injured wolf in front of the other two rabbits, tore open the hide of one for it, and then licked the fur on the injured wolf’s neck and head before looking back at Xiaqing.

Xiaqing understood immediately. "Don’t worry, Queen. I’ll take excellent care of these two patients for you."

After the Head Wolf leaped away and vanished, Xiaqing carried the heavy rabbit inside. While the two injured wolves ate, she quickly cleaned the sheep pen, sprayed it with antiseptic, and laid down fresh straw mats, determined to make her two wolf-patients as comfortable as possible.

After cleaning the sheep pen, Xiaqing went back inside and asked Sheep Leader, who was lounging on the tatami mat, "Sheep Leader, your friend came by. Aren’t you going to go out and see her?"

Sheep Leader’s head, resting on its sheep-ergonomic pillow, didn’t move an inch. Its half-lidded eyes didn’t even flicker; it seemed to be dreaming.

Xiaqing paid it no more mind. She switched on the kitchen light and began to process the rabbit.

Bleed it, test it. Green Light. This was standard operating procedure for the Wolf Queen—nothing to be surprised about.

This large rabbit was even heavier than yesterday’s White Egret, weighing a full sixteen pounds. Xiaqing sliced off the meat and seasoned it with chili powder, ground bay leaves, and Sichuan peppercorn powder from her flour mill, along with salt, minced garlic, ginger, and scallions...

In short, she threw in every seasoning she had on hand. Then she added more salt, poured in some white spirits and soy sauce to marinate it for two hours, and finally placed the strips in her dehydrator to make jerky.

Xiaqing pulled out her recipe collection and found one for braised rabbit ribs. Although she was missing three of the spices it called for—star anise, cinnamon bark, and black cardamom—she could still make do.

First, she washed the rabbit carcass and blanched it in boiling water. Next, she added Sichuan peppercorns, two dried chili peppers, and four bay leaves to a pot of fresh water and brought it to a boil. She then placed the blanched rabbit carcass into the pot, seasoned it with salt, white spirits, and soy sauce, covered the lid, and after bringing it to a boil again, reduced the heat to simmer for two hours.

After turning the heat down to low, Xiaqing checked the time. It was just five o’clock. The sun hadn’t risen, but the eastern sky was already beginning to lighten.

Xiaqing mixed some wheat bran into the chicken feed, then carried the noisy, clattering cage outside. Sheep Leader followed her out of the house.

"Off to get some breakfast, Sheep Leader? The dew hasn’t even dried yet," Xiaqing asked casually, then turned to wish her two honored guests good morning. They had already finished eating and were resting back in the sheep pen.

"All full? You two rest up. I’m going to put the chickens in the coop, and then I’ll be back to clean the yard and patrol the territory. Don’t forget to drink your water. I put some Anti-inflammatory medicine in it; it’ll be good for you."

Although the broken-leg wolf didn’t bare its teeth, it still glared viciously at Xiaqing. Broken Waist, the Brain Domain Evolution Wolf, calmly gazed past Xiaqing at Sheep Leader, its expression unreadable.

Xiaqing hadn’t expected a response. She put the chickens in their coop, topped up their food and water, then returned to clean the bloodstains off the ground before setting out to patrol her territory.

To her surprise, Sheep Leader was still following her. Xiaqing smiled. "Sheep Leader, I really think you can understand me. Why else would you be following me on patrol today, after I told you I was feeling down yesterday?"

When Xiaqing paused, Sheep Leader grew impatient and nudged her with his head, urging her to move on.

Xiaqing didn’t ask any more questions and happily resumed her patrol.

Today, the main work of her patrol, besides catching bugs and checking her various traps and for tracks to determine if any humans or large animals had trespassed, included another important task for Xiaqing: inspecting the spot she had selected to dig a cave.

She had chosen a spot in the southern part of the western shelterbelt. The area was more rock than soil and had no tall trees. This meant that even if trees were to become corrupted during a Harmful Rain, their root systems wouldn’t destroy the cave.

Furthermore, the location was a good distance from the spring, so digging a cave would have the least possible impact on it.

Finally, a cave dug here would have its entrance concealed by a large boulder and some shrubs. Even if the people from Territory No. 4 climbed the trees in their territory to spy on the Third Territory with binoculars, they wouldn’t be able to discover the cave here.

Time to get to work.

Xiaqing tossed Sheep Leader a piece of a ration bar and had him take the basket of bugs to feed the fish. Then, she used her knife to hack down the shrubs, cleared away the soil and rubble, and started digging her cave.

"Digging" was a generous term; it was more like prying out rocks and hauling away dirt.

She didn’t need to store a large amount of food, so the cave didn’t have to be huge. In just over an hour, Xiaqing, a Strength Evolution Person, had carved out a cave roughly six and a half feet high and ten feet deep with its entrance facing east. The cave floor sloped slightly upward, which would prevent flooding and allow any water that collected inside to drain out.

A little over ten feet wasn’t deep enough, but the stew was ready. Xiaqing shouldered her shovel and headed home to eat.

The rabbit meat was very fresh, but she had added too much salt, making the flavor a bit strong. Nevertheless, Xiaqing ate all of it.

Green Light food was low in Harmful Elements and beneficial for both her development and evolution; none of it could be wasted.

Xiaqing didn’t throw the bones away, either. She cleaned them and sealed them in a bag. Once the jerky was finished, she would dehydrate the bones, then use a stone pestle to grind them into bone meal for the chickens. She had a book on raising chickens that said they needed diverse nutrients, disease prevention, and disinfection to stay healthy.

Xiaqing couldn’t do much about disease prevention, so she could only do her best to supplement the chickens’ nutrition.

After eating and cleaning up, Xiaqing called out to the two injured wolves and went back to digging her cave.

She didn’t dig straight back. Instead, she followed the structure of the rock, making an L-shaped turn. The total length now exceeded twenty-three feet. The bend would help control the temperature and humidity inside.

Once the cave was finished, Xiaqing went home to wash the dirt off her body, then came back to measure the temperature and humidity inside.