Chapter 182: Sick Wolf’s Critical Condition

Chapter 182: Chapter 182: Sick Wolf’s Critical Condition

The emaciated Sick Wolf showed no interest in the snake. After eating the evolved giant grasshopper, it lapped up a few mouthfuls of spring water and shakily lay back down on the dry grass.

Xiaqing was about to get back to her chores when she saw the wolf emerge again, shakily stumbling toward the burning animal latrine.

’Does it have to go again?’

"There’s a fire over there, don’t go—"

"VOMIT..."

Before Xiaqing could finish, the Sick Wolf retched and threw up the three grasshoppers it had just eaten. There were thread-like parasites in the pale yellow bile.

’Those were Yellow Light grasshoppers, though. Why did it still throw them up?’

Xiaqing rushed forward to steady the Sick Wolf’s frail, collapsing body and carried it back to the sheep pen. "Wait here. I’ll get you some medicine. You’ll feel a little better after you take it."

She had already given it the medicine from Territory Land No. 7. In its current state, the Sick Wolf desperately needed an energy boost. Xiaqing turned and ran out.

Guan Tong and Liangzi, who were patrolling the Third Territory, saw Xiaqing running toward them and quickly called out, "Sister Qing?"

"It’s nothing. I’m just going to grab some vegetable leaves."

Watching Xiaqing sprint toward the vegetable greenhouse by the reservoir, Liangzi remarked, "Sister Qing seems to have gotten faster."

Guan Tong nodded. "She definitely has. She’s not going to pick more spinach leaves, is she?"

Liangzi shook his head. "I doubt it. The spinach has been picked bare. She’s probably getting sweet potato leaves or pumpkin flowers. Didn’t Kuang Qingwei’s wife say fried pumpkin flowers are pretty good?"

But Xiaqing was, in fact, going for the spinach leaves.

The spinach leaves on the terraces with high Yi Element content couldn’t be picked again. With the situation so urgent, Xiaqing could only resort to picking from the patch of spinach seedlings she was growing to trade with Zhang San.

Xiaqing had planted three hundred spinach seeds here, and two hundred of them had sprouted. She had promised to save half the leaves from this patch for Zhang San, and since she didn’t know when he would be back, she hadn’t touched any of these two hundred plants.

Today, in order to save the wolf, she would only pick leaves from thirty of the plants, which shouldn’t violate the terms of their deal.

After picking the spinach leaves, Xiaqing ran home, immediately juiced them, added the medicine, and used a syringe to administer the mixture to the Sick Wolf. The wolf was so weak that Xiaqing only dared to give it half the dose she would give Sheep Leader. Then, she carefully rubbed its belly. "This is good medicine that will give you a quick energy boost. You’re purging the parasites right now. Just get through the next two days and push them all out, and you’ll be okay."

Although the Sick Wolf was lying flat with faint breaths, it thankfully didn’t throw up the spinach juice. Half an hour later, after confirming it was asleep, Xiaqing sprayed Insect Repellent around the sheep pen and went to check on Sheep Leader’s progress irrigating the fields.

Sheep Leader was full of vigor and had already finished irrigating two more greenhouse plots. Guan Tong had already blocked the channels to the finished plots, and the water being drawn by the water wheel was now flowing to the next greenhouses that needed watering.

Xiaqing was pleased. She gave two small spinach leaves to Sheep Leader, who was furiously pedaling the bike. "Boss, your wolf friend isn’t doing so well. I gave it some spinach juice, but I can’t tell if it’s sleeping or unconscious. It’s really worrying."

Xiaqing was the one feeling worried. Sheep Leader, munching on spinach leaves, was in high spirits, pedaling so fast its feet were a blur as the water gushed out with a WHOOSH.

Chatting with it for a bit improved Xiaqing’s mood. She went to inspect her terraced fields and found the seedlings were starting to wilt from lack of water. They had to be watered today.

Xiaqing went to her shed, grabbed a water tank, and started drawing water from the reservoir to water the terraces.

Seeing this, Guan Tong immediately ran over to help. "Sister Qing, your arm hasn’t healed yet! Let me do this."

"Alright."

Xiaqing’s arm really hadn’t healed, so she didn’t stand on ceremony with Guan Tong. "Alright. Water all the terraces on the High Slope except for the spinach one. I’ll give you two pounds of Green Light vegetables as payment."

Green Light vegetables started at fifty points a pound. Although the ones Xiaqing grew were often misshapen, they tasted incredible. If taken to the Safe Zone to trade, a pound could sell for at least eighty points, meaning two pounds were worth one hundred and sixty points.

One hundred and sixty points just for hauling water up the hillside to irrigate eleven small terraces. For a Strength Evolver, this was an amazing deal!

Guan Tong immediately puffed out his chest and agreed. "Thanks, Sister Qing! I’ll even water the terraces on the lower slope!"

"Deal." Xiaqing beamed; she appreciated someone so sharp. "Don’t water the third and fourth terraces on the low slope. When you’re done with all the rest, I’ll give you three and a half pounds of Green Light vegetables. Pick whatever you like."

Hu Zifeng’s team spent a lot of time in Xiaqing’s territory, so they knew exactly what she grew. Yang Jin had issued a strict order: any food Hu Zifeng’s team took from Xiaqing’s territory was for their own or their families’ consumption only, and could not be traded with anyone. Anyone who violated this order would be expelled from the Green Dragon Team.

This was why Xiaqing could trade with Hu Zifeng’s team without any worries.

After Xiaqing left, Guan Tong, grinning from ear to ear as he carried the water tank, went to negotiate with the Visual Evolver, Peng Jian. "Brother Jian, can you help watch over my section of the sky? Give me a shout if anything happens. I’ll give you one Green Light cucumber, how about it?"

Watching an extra patch of sky was nothing for a Visual Evolver, but Peng Jian just found the guy’s goofy expression annoying. He held up two fingers. "Two tomatoes."

Xiaqing’s Green Light tomatoes were exceptionally delicious. Guan Tong really didn’t want to part with them, but he gritted his teeth and haggled, "One and a half!"

Peng Jian agreed instantly. "Deal!"

...

’How come I feel like I got fleeced...’ Guan Tong was dazed for a few seconds, but then he put the tomato and a half out of his mind. Because besides that, he still had over three pounds coming to him!

Green Light vegetables!

The Green Dragon Team ranked second among all the teams in Hui San Base, so its members never went hungry. However, that just meant they had enough to get by. As for delicious, fresh Green Light food, even frontline combatants like Guan Tong and Peng Jian only got to eat it a few times a month.

Peng Jian watched Guan Tong run off, his gaze filled with envy and jealousy. He was jealous that Guan Tong was a Strength Evolver, and hated that he himself wasn’t.

Before taking on the mission to protect the Third Territory, Guan Tong, the Strength Evolver, had been the weakest member of Hu Zifeng’s team. But here in Xiaqing’s territory, Strength Evolution was the most valuable type. Other types of Evolvers who wanted to work for food couldn’t be of much help.

Why couldn’t they help?

The four-hundred-pound water tanks in the Third Territory—could they carry those?

The hoe Xiaqing used for weeding weighed ten pounds. Sure, they could lift it, but holding a ten-pound hoe, how much weeding could they get done in half a day?

Even if they brought over the lighter hoes made for non-Strength Evolvers from No. 1 Territory, the two of them working together weren’t even as fast as Xiaqing working alone. How could they have the nerve to offer "help"?

Liangzi, the Level 6 Hearing Evolved Person, muttered into his walkie-talkie, "Sister Qing’s fields don’t even have bugs in the soil. Otherwise, I could be digging them up for vegetables like Tang Huai does."

Peng Jian scoffed. "We can trade for soil insecticide back at No. 1 Territory. You think Sister Qing can’t?"

Zhang San’s favorite food was the Green Light Spinach from the Third Territory. Even if Xiaqing’s current crop wasn’t ready yet, the Green Light prey she sent to Territory Land No. 7 a few days ago was enough to trade with Zhang San for who knows how much soil insecticide.

With Sheep Leader irrigating the fields, Guan Tong watering the terraces, and Peng Jian’s group guarding the skies against birds, Xiaqing had nothing left to do. She decided to go home to rest and nurse her injury.

When she got home, she found several buzzing, evolved flies had gotten into the sheep pen. They were circling the Sick Wolf, and a few had even landed on its body. The Sick Wolf was so weak, it didn’t even have the strength to swish its tail to drive them away.