Chapter 199: A Wolf Went Mad

Chapter 199: Chapter 199: A Wolf Went Mad

Although her territory was ranked second to last, Xiaqing was very satisfied. Considering it was just her and the Sheep Leader in the Third Territory, clearing eight acres and planting them reasonably well was an achievement.

As long as she cultivated these few acres well, the grain and vegetables they produced would be more than enough for her. She planned to slow her pace of clearing land, opening just two new acres each year for the foreseeable future. This would meet the base’s requirement for Lords, which was to expand their cultivated area for edible plants by at least two acres annually for the first five years.

Of course, Xiaqing would continue to clear and patrol the uncultivated areas daily. She would never allow small animals like wild rabbits, rats, or Weasels to occupy her territory and threaten her farmland.

Weeding was delicate work, and tiring work.

The hoeing depth had to be controlled, between two and four centimeters. Too shallow, and you couldn’t get the roots of the weeds; too deep, and you’d damage the seedlings. A weak or unsteady hand could easily sever or strike a young plant.

The seedlings of edible plants were incredibly delicate. A weed might survive being hoed, but a seedling could die from just a small scrape.

Unlike Zhao Ze and Kuang Qingwei, who complained endlessly, Xiaqing was growing to love weeding. It was excellent practice for controlling the precision of her Strength, and afterward, looking out at the clean, freshly tilled soil, she felt an inexplicable sense of satisfaction.

As a Strength Evolver, she had an unparalleled advantage in farming over ordinary people and other types of Evolvers.

Others needed two hands to wield a single hoe; Xiaqing held one in each hand. Their hoes were twenty to thirty centimeters wide; hers were forty. While others could weed one acre in a full day at most, Xiaqing could do it in half a day.

So, weeding over six acres of land was no problem at all for Xiaqing, especially now that the wounds between her thumbs and index fingers had healed.

She used hoes she had modified herself. The crops were planted in rows forty-five centimeters apart. With a hoe in each hand, she could walk the path between two crop rows, controlling the depth and angle perfectly. In a single pass from one end of the greenhouse to the other, she would have weeded two entire rows.

The Sick Wolf, the anesthetic having worn off, slowly ambled over to the shade of a tree by the fields, following the Sheep Leader.

After weeding the long rows, Xiaqing would then clear the weeds between the individual plants within each row. With that, one greenhouse would be finished. After finishing the mung bean greenhouse, Xiaqing went to the shade to drink some water and rest.

The weather was hot, and working inside a greenhouse covered with insect netting made it even hotter. Xiaqing wore only a pair of comfortable, breathable blue trousers, a white long-sleeved T-shirt, and a wide-brimmed straw hat she had woven herself.

Reaching the shade, Xiaqing took off her gloves and straw hat and grabbed her water bottle for a drink. To her left sat the snow-white Sheep Leader, and to the Sheep Leader’s left lay the Sick Wolf, its brownish-yellow fur dark along its back.

The Sick Wolf was staring at Xiaqing. Unlike the Head Wolf’s arrogance, the contemplative air of the wolf with the brain domain evolution injury, or the ferocity of the broken leg wolf, the Sick Wolf’s eyes were different. Now that it could see again after nearly being blinded by Evolution Grass Seeds, its rust-colored eyes held a clarity that didn’t belong to an evolved predator.

’It’s probably because I cared for it day and night while it was blind,’ Xiaqing thought, ’pulling it back from the brink of death. That must be why its eyes hold no trace of vigilance or defensiveness.’

That look, combined with its gaunt face, made it seem... strangely dog-like. It was precisely this look and temperament that suddenly made Xiaqing feel that perhaps she could maintain a long-term friendly relationship with this frail Old Wolf.

Xiaqing took a few more gulps of water, then leaned against the tree trunk to confer with the Sick Wolf. "You’ll be recovering in my territory for another three months. It’s awkward to just keep calling you ’wolf,’ so how about I give you a name? What about Wolf the Second?"

In the Third Territory, she was the Lord. After her came the Sheep Leader, so the wolf would be the Second.

The Sick Wolf tilted its head with a dumb, cute look that was much more pleasant than the Sheep Leader’s usual punchable face. When Xiaqing returned from the terraces with a Green Light cucumber, she found the Sheep Leader’s expression had changed. Its big, adorable sheep eyes were practically sparkling, while Wolf the Second remained stone-faced, appearing far more solemn than the Sheep Leader.

Xiaqing rinsed the cucumber with spring water. She took the larger half for herself, gave the smaller half to the Sheep Leader, and offered a small piece to Wolf the Second. "Eat up," she said.

Under the blue sky and white clouds, in the shade of the tree, the human, sheep, and wolf all crunched on cucumber together. Meanwhile, in the North Buffer Forest, a fiery red figure hid behind a branch, rubbing its little paws as it stared at the peanut field inside the netted greenhouse on the High Slope.

The Sheep Leader was the fastest eater. After finishing its piece, it turned to look at Xiaqing. Popping the last of her cucumber in her mouth, Xiaqing stood up. "Alright, back to work."

The Sheep Leader turned to look at its friend, the Sick Wolf. Although the wolf ate slowly, it had been given the smallest piece and was also finished. Still hungry, the Sheep Leader got up to graze on some pasture grass. The Sick Wolf followed for a couple of steps, then lay back down in the shade, its gaze fixed on Xiaqing as she worked in the field.

The next task was weeding the cornfield. The corn stalks were already a meter tall, but to Xiaqing, who stood over 1.7 meters, they only came up to about her thighs. She moved steadily, pulling a hoe in each hand.

As she made her way from one end of the row to the other, Xiaqing received a call from Hu Zifeng.

"Xiaqing, get to the abandoned cave in Zone 3, fast! There’s a wolf going crazy. If you can’t stop it, we’ll have to use our weapons."

’Gone crazy? Which one?’

’The Su Feng Team hasn’t left the area yet. If they find out there are wolves on Mountain No. 49, they’ll definitely blow this whole thing out of proportion.’

"I’m on my way," Xiaqing said. She dropped her hoes and sprinted back to the cabin by the fields, threw on her Protective Suit and Protective Mask, and charged north.

"BAA—" Seeing Xiaqing run, the Sheep Leader came running from the pasture. The Sick Wolf also got to its feet to follow.

"Leader! Second! Guard the territory! I’ll be back soon!" Xiaqing shouted as she ran.

"BAA—"

The Sheep Leader bleated in response and stopped. The Sick Wolf, however, continued to follow the path Xiaqing had taken, walking slowly northward along the river that flowed from the valley to the reservoir.

The Sheep Leader followed for a short distance. When it realized the Sick Wolf was about to leave the Third Territory and enter the Northern Isolation Zone, it hurried forward and used its head to block the wolf and herd it back.

Xiaqing raced along the riverbed and into the valley of the Wild Boar Breeding Center without pausing for breath. There, she saw a brownish-gray Evolutionary Wolf leap over twenty meters in a single WHOOSH. Crushed rocks tumbled down the hillside where it had landed, falling into the pond at the bottom of the valley with a huge SPLASH.

Xiaqing stared, dumbfounded. ’Did that guy just clear that distance with momentum from running so fast, or has its jumping ability evolved?’

’Either way, I can’t let it keep running wild.’ Xiaqing growled, "Broken-legs! You better settle down right now!" 𝘧𝓇ℯℴ𝓂

That was right. This brownish-gray Evolutionary Wolf, leaping about frantically, was none other than the broken leg wolf the Wolf Group had carried into the Third Territory a month ago, both of its hind legs shattered.

WHOOSH— The brownish-gray Evolutionary Wolf leaped toward Xiaqing, staring at her with vicious eyes.