Chapter 196: Just How Many Subordinates Do You Have

Chapter 196: Chapter 196: Just How Many Subordinates Do You Have

After inspecting her territory, Xiaqing picked two fresh cucumbers and broke off a piece for the Sheep Leader, who was busy feeding large insects to the fish. "Good work, Leader. Our fish have only survived because you work so hard catching bugs to feed them. Have some cucumber to wet your whistle."

The Sheep Leader, which didn’t eat fish, immediately opened its mouth, bit down, and began crunching on the cucumber. Although it could go in and out of the greenhouse door, all the plants it loved to eat were fenced off by Xiaqing with thorns. So, if the Sheep Leader wanted to eat anything inside, it needed Xiaqing’s help to pick it.

Cucumbers were one of the Sheep Leader’s favorite foods.

Seeing the Sick Wolf staring at the cucumber in her hand, Xiaqing broke off a small piece and placed it on a rock in front of the wolf. She didn’t dare feed it by hand, because no matter how weak this thing was, it was still an Evolutionary Wolf.

"It’s raw. Can you eat it?"

The Sick Wolf lowered its head, sniffed it, and surprisingly, began to eat.

Xiaqing had seen the Sick Wolf gnaw on raw White-haired Chicken Shit Vine before, so she wasn’t worried about it eating a cucumber. She picked up her small basket and headed home. "I’m going home to cook. You two wander around the territory, but don’t go near the edges."

When the Black Feathered Rooster saw Xiaqing return with the small basket, it immediately led its subordinates in a charge toward her, squawking loudly from behind the wire fence.

After the Sick Wolf became mobile enough, it started helping the Sheep Leader catch insects. As a result, they had caught more than usual over the past few days. The small basket still contained over thirty Evolved grasshoppers, crickets, and mantises. Combined with the bugs Xiaqing had caught or dug up during her patrol, there were enough not only to feed the snakes in the Snake Box until they were full but also to share some with the poultry.

After feeding some of the Evolved Insects to the chicks and goslings, Xiaqing carried the rest home to feed the snakes.

After dumping the basket of Evolved Insects into the Snake Box, Xiaqing took out the Harmful Element Detector to test the eight snakes she had caught today. The snakes varied in size, and two of them were Evolved. One was very fast, while the other’s Evolutionary Ability was unknown. Xiaqing could only tell it was different from an ordinary snake by its movements.

Of the eight snakes, only the small one with the unknown Evolutionary Ability was edible. Xiaqing put it in the Snake Box and left the others in the bag, waiting for Zhong Tao to come by at noon to trade them for points.

Zhong Tao and Zheng Kui’s supply truck came once every three days. Last night, Zhong Tao had contacted Xiaqing, wanting to buy a batch of her homegrown vegetables. Xiaqing agreed and asked Zhong Tao to bring her five bags of worm castings and some daily necessities.

With her territory producing more and more vegetables, the volume of trade between Xiaqing and Zhong Tao had increased. Xiaqing used all these officially-recorded points to trade for daily necessities.

Xiaqing, who never neglected herself, had already switched to new pure-cotton bedsheets and underwear. Her toothpaste and skincare products were also two notches better than before. The carbon-ink pen she now used was no longer the cheap kind that required a few shakes after every few words just to get the ink flowing.

The last time Zhong Tao visited, he had even brought a catalog to pitch the latest trendy jewelry from the Safe Zone to Xiaqing. She had zero interest in these little trinkets that cost thousands of points but had no practical use.

’Wear it to look pretty, to please others and myself?’

Before the Natural Disaster, the teenage Xiaqing had liked inexpensive, pretty trinkets, but now, she had no use for them.

’Bracelets and rings? I spend most of the day wearing protective gloves. If I bought them, they’d just sit at home.’

’Pretty hairpins and clips? I have short hair now, so I can’t use them. It’s not that I couldn’t stick one on my head, but it would get in the way when I wear my Protective Helmet. If one fell off and obstructed my vision during a fight, it could be fatal.’

’A necklace? I’m already wearing a Yi Stone worth tens of thousands of points around my neck. Living in the Harmful Element-filled atmosphere of Blue Star after the Natural Disaster, what necklace could possibly be better than a Yi Stone Necklace?’

After eating her fill of two leavened flatbreads stuffed with dried meat jerky, Xiaqing gave the Sick Wolf an anesthetic.

At 8:40, Xiaqing put the Sick Wolf into a large sealed bag, stuffed it into her backpack, and shouldered the thick wooden plank she had used to carry the wolf to Territory No. 7 last time. She explained to the Head Wolf and the Sheep Leader, who were both staring at her, "I have to take the Sick Wolf and the two injured wolves from the cave for a check-up. I’ll definitely be back before noon. Leader, you guard the territory. Queen, are you coming with me?"

Follow behind a human? Unthinkable. The Queen leaped onto the ruins south of the courtyard, and with another bound, vanished from sight.

Once it was gone, Xiaqing, carrying the wolf on her back, started walking and said to the Sheep Leader beside her, "Leader, neither of us are Speed Evolvers, but if we train like our lives depend on it with our current methods, we can push our physical abilities to the limit and reach the level of a Level 4 Speed Evolver. When that happens, we’ll be fast and strong. Ganging up on the Queen won’t be just a dream! And with my masterful shooting skills, maybe I can even crush Yang Jin of the Green Dragon Team!"

"Baa."

The Sheep Leader gave a short, perfunctory bleat and trotted off to eat some grass, clearly having no interest in the topic Xiaqing had brought up.

Xiaqing also focused, using her full abilities to monitor her surroundings as she moved quickly and stealthily toward the abandoned cave in Zone 3.

She called out the two injured wolves, had them drink a potion, and then placed the two anesthetized wolves and the Sick Wolf together on the thick plank. Just as she was about to lift the plank and head out of the valley to meet the people dispatched from Territory No. 7, she received a call from Yan Long.

"People from No. 6 Territory are active in the North Buffer Forest. You can’t take the Northern Isolation Zone anymore. Where are you? I’ll come meet you."

Surprised that Yan Long was coming to pick her up personally, Xiaqing immediately replied, "I’m in the valley of the Wild Boar Breeding Center. Sister Yan, wait for me in the isolation zone north of the valley. I’ll be there in five minutes."

After the Wild Boar Breeding Center was abandoned, this valley was incorporated into Zone Three of Mountain 49. It officially became part of the Green Dragon Team’s practical training base, but in reality, it was part of Xiaqing’s private Evolution Forest.

That was why when Tan Junjie led his inspection team on patrols, they no longer passed through the isolation zone north of the Wild Boar Breeding Center valley. Instead, they took the isolation zone north of the Buffer Forest between Territory No. 4 and Territory No.5.

The isolation zone north of the Wild Boar Breeding Center had been abandoned, just like the one in Xiaqing’s own territory that separated the high slope from the low slope. However, Xiaqing still regularly sprayed medicinal powder and cleared the weeds there, so it hadn’t been completely swallowed by wild grass and shrubs.

"No need. Wait for me at the cave entrance." Yan Long hung up as soon as she finished speaking.

Xiaqing had heard Hu Zifeng’s team mention how formidable Yan Long was in combat. Hearing that she didn’t need to be met halfway, Xiaqing didn’t make any unnecessary moves and simply leaned against a rock to wait quietly.

Before she heard any sign of Yan Long, the Head Wolf appeared with three other wolves. Two of them stood in front of the wooden plank holding the other wolves, while the Head Wolf and the third one stood atop the cave, its gaudy gold eyes glaring murderously into the distance.

The two wolves by the plank, one black and one brown, were both ones Xiaqing had never seen before. She asked in surprise, "Queen, just how many subordinates do you have?"