Chapter 62: The Sheep Leader Who Wants to Carry a Wolf

Chapter 62: Chapter 62: The Sheep Leader Who Wants to Carry a Wolf

’I can’t let the Sheep Leader make a sound and give us away.’ Xiaqing slipped through the fine-mesh protective netting covering the vegetable garden. She picked a Yellow Light cucumber, washed it with spring water, and gave it to the Sheep Leader, letting it gnaw on the cucumber on the slope to calm its nerves. Xiaqing, on the other hand, activated her abilities to their fullest, gripping her gun to guard the territory.

Soon, Xiaqing received a call from Hu Zifeng.

"Miss Xia, you heard the wild boars, didn’t you? Have any Evolutionary Animals broken into your territory?"

Xiaqing replied, "I heard the horrifying squeals from the Wild Boar Breeding Center. So far, no intruders have been found in the Third Territory. Captain Hu, do you know what’s happening?"

On the surface, Xiaqing was just a Strength Evolver, so of course, she couldn’t tell Hu Zifeng what she had seen and heard from the top of a tree inside the Wild Boar Breeding Center.

Hu Zifeng answered, "We’re not sure yet. Miss Xia, please try not to leave your territory. We already have six people in the northern area of No.1 Territory. If any wild boars run into the Third Territory, or if any other dangerous situations arise, contact us immediately. We can be there within two minutes."

Xiaqing thanked him and hung up. Seeing that the Sheep Leader had finished its cucumber and was nudging its head toward her, she picked another one, broke it in half, and ate one half herself. She used the other half to lure the Sheep Leader down the slope.

’Wolves have appeared at the breeding center next door. It’s best if the Sheep Leader doesn’t wander around in the Buffer Forest.’ Xiaqing used the cucumber to pacify the Sheep Leader, then brought out the water bicycle for it to replenish the fishpond. As for herself, she grabbed her assault rifle, slingshot, and machete, and began to patrol her territory, bristling with killing intent. Even though she was armed, Xiaqing didn’t dare underestimate the wolves that had attacked the Wild Boar Breeding Center.

After the great evolution of Blue Star’s lifeforms, it wasn’t just humans who experienced brain domain evolution, leading to higher intelligence; Brain Domain Evolvers also appeared among animals. This was one of the main reasons why, after nearly ten years of fighting against Evolutionary Biology, the vast majority of humans could only cower within the Safe Zones.

In the past ten years, the most powerful brain-evolved animals Xiaqing had ever encountered were wolves.

The process of Hui San Base clearing the Evolution Forests around the Safe Zone to expand the range of human activity was a process of fighting with Evolutionary Biology for territory. During this process, humans encountered numerous dangers from Evolutionary Bacteria, highly venomous Evolved Insects, and weaponized, aggressive flora and fauna, but the most ferocious opposition came from the Evolution Wolf Groups.

In the ninth year of the Natural Disasters, during a mission to clear an Evolution Forest fifty kilometers north of the Safe Zone, the team Xiaqing was with encountered over twenty wolves head-on. The team leader mistook the Wolf Group’s retreat as a sign of fear. Ignoring Xiaqing’s vehement protests, he treated the Evolutionary Wolves as prey, infuriating the pack.

Over the next six hours, Xiaqing witnessed firsthand how the Wolf Group, under the Wolf King’s command, scattered the human team and annihilated them one by one, leaving only her and one of the team’s core members alive.

As external logistics personnel, Xiaqing naturally didn’t participate in the mission to hunt the Wolf Group. When the conflict broke out, she had climbed a large tree to hide.

Although evolved wolves couldn’t climb trees, the Strength Evolvers in the Wolf Group, with their powerful jaws, brought down the one-meter-diameter tree the core team member had climbed in less than ten minutes. The large tree fell toward the one Xiaqing was hiding in. That core member escaped to Xiaqing’s tree and tried to throw her down to the wolves to buy herself a chance to live.

The result, of course, was that Xiaqing threw that person out of the tree instead.

After the Wolf Group killed the last team member, the Head Wolf stood on a large rock nearby, staring at Xiaqing. The other wolves stood under the tree, silently awaiting the Head Wolf’s command to attack.

Xiaqing gripped her weapon, her eyes locked on the Head Wolf, as four escape routes and more than ten ways to die flashed through her mind. To her surprise, the Head Wolf didn’t order the pack to continue the attack.

After completely destroying the weapons carried by the human corpses, the Wolf Group departed. Based on the Head Wolf’s gaze and command abilities alone, Xiaqing confirmed it was a Brain Domain Evolver.

Xiaqing waited in the tree for nearly ten hours before the search and rescue team dispatched from the Safe Zone arrived.

After that incident, Xiaqing never went on missions with any team other than the Green Dragon Team, specifically to avoid fighting Evolution Wolf Groups. She didn’t want to be killed by wolves only to have them urinate on her head as a final insult.

Xiaqing was indeed terrified of the combat prowess of an Evolution Wolf Group, but she hadn’t despaired or given up the fight when she faced a pack alone last time, and she certainly wouldn’t now. Because this was her territory.

After patrolling for over an hour without finding anything unusual, Xiaqing didn’t let her guard down in the slightest. Wolves excelled at psychological warfare and ambushes, launching fatal attacks the moment their enemies relaxed.

Just then, Xiaqing heard another howl of utter despair from a wild boar at the breeding center, followed by another a few seconds later. She had just rushed up the High Slope of the North Buffer Forest, gun in hand, when she heard a long, drawn-out wolf howl.

"AWOOO—"

’That sound...’

As an Auditory Evolver, Xiaqing was all too familiar with that howl. It was the cry of the Head Wolf from the pack that had annihilated a team of over twenty people right in front of her in the ninth year of the Natural Disasters! ’This isn’t a wolf pack I can handle alone.’ Just as Xiaqing was about to call Hu Zifeng, she heard the Sheep Leader’s urgent bleating.

"BAA— BAA—"

The Sheep Leader, who had been pedaling the water bicycle at the bottom of the slope, charged up with a speed Xiaqing had never seen before.

Xiaqing immediately dashed down, wishing she could tie the Sheep Leader’s mouth shut. ’Wolves are here and you’re still bleating your head off? Are you trying to get us killed?’

"Leader, don’t be scared, I’ll protect—"

Xiaqing ran toward the Sheep Leader, but she couldn’t even touch a strand of its wool, let alone cover its mouth. The Sheep Leader actually dodged her, bleating as it charged toward the Wild Boar Breeding Center.

"Leader, stop! Stop!" Xiaqing chased after it with all her might, finally managing to grab its spiral horns just a moment before it crashed into the breeding center’s wire mesh wall. She cursed under her breath, "I said stop, dammit!"

The Sheep Leader thrashed its head, trying to break free from Xiaqing’s grip, but she knew all its moves. Giving it no chance, she pulled out a rope, tied it up securely, then hoisted it onto her shoulders and ran back.

Rushing home, Xiaqing threw the struggling Sheep Leader on the ground and sat beside it, panting.

Worried the Sheep Leader was suffocating, Xiaqing had just loosened the rope around its mouth when it opened its maw to howl again.

Xiaqing clamped one hand over the sheep’s mouth and slapped it with the other, scolding, "Are you fucking tired of living? You just have to attract the wolves to tear you to pieces? Do you know who that is? That’s the Wolf King! A single one of them could take down a whole crowd of us!"

The Sheep Leader didn’t listen at all and struggled desperately.

Xiaqing had to resort to her trump card. She pulled a pack of compressed rations from a pocket of her Protective Suit, tore open the sealed packaging, broke off a small piece, and stuffed it into the Sheep Leader’s mouth. She then coaxed it in a soft, gentle voice, "It’s true you’re the leader of our territory, but you can’t just run off to fight wolves. No matter how strong you are, you’re still a herbivore, and wolves are carnivores. You have flat teeth; they have fangs. You have flat hooves; they have sharp claws. They’re your natural predator. Wild boars are tougher than you, right? Three of them have already been killed in just this short time. Come on, Leader, don’t make a fuss. If you’re good, you’ll get treats. I’ll make you something delicious tonight."

The Sheep Leader quickly swallowed the compressed rations in its mouth, then stretched its neck and opened its mouth to howl again.

Xiaqing stuffed its mouth with more rations and gave it another slap. "You fucking try me! Make one more sound and I’ll throw you out to feed the Wolf King myself!"

"BUZZ— BUZZ—"

Her phone vibrated. Pinching the sheep’s mouth shut, Xiaqing answered, "Captain Hu."

"The Evolutionary Wolf attacked the boars at the breeding center and then escaped into the Evolution Forest. Captain Yang has already led a team in pursuit. I’m leading a team with Captain Tan’s group to guard the perimeter of the Wild Boar Breeding Center. Miss Xia, if anything happens in your territory, contact me anytime."

"Understood. Thank you for your hard work, Captain Hu." Xiaqing pressed for details about the wolves. "How many wolves were there this time?"

Hu Zifeng replied, "We’re not sure how many are hiding in the Evolution Forest yet. We can only confirm that a single wolf broke into the breeding center."

’Impossible that it’s just one.’ Xiaqing offered a very valuable piece of information. "From the wolf’s howl, it sounded a lot like the leader of the pack that wiped out the main squad of the Wind and Cloud Team last May. It’s a Brain Domain Evolution Wolf, extremely difficult to deal with."

Of course, Hu Zifeng knew about the incident where the Wind and Cloud Team, ranked twenty-fifth in Hui San Base, was annihilated by a wolf pack. "Thank you for the warning, Miss Xia. I’ll report it to the boss immediately."

After hanging up with Hu Zifeng, Xiaqing took another call from Tan Junjie. Only then did she let go of the Sheep Leader’s mouth and stuff a little more food into it. "You hear that? If you want to take on wolves, you need skills like Yang. You’re not cut out for it."