Under no circumstances should the eldest sheep make a sound and alert the area. Xia Qing slipped through the fine-mesh protective netting covering the vegetable garden, picked a yellow cucumber, washed it with spring water, and gave it to the eldest sheep so it could nibble on it on the hillside to calm its nerves. Xia Qing then activated her full abilities, gripping her gun and guarding the territory.
Soon, Xia Qing received a call from Hu Zifeng.
"Miss Xia, did you hear the wild boars calling? Have any evolved animals broken into your territory?"
Xia Qing replied, "I heard the eerie cries of wild boars from the wild boar breeding center. No intruders have been found in Territory Number Three yet. Does Captain Hu know what happened?"
On the surface, Xia Qing was merely a power-evolved individual, so she naturally couldn't tell Hu Zifeng about what she had heard and seen inside the wild boar breeding center while climbing the tree.
Hu Zifeng replied, "It's unclear at the moment. Miss Xia, please try not to leave the territory. Six of us have already reached the northern area of Territory One. If any wild boars wander into Territory Three or there are other dangerous situations, please contact us immediately. We'll be there within two minutes."
Xia Qing thanked him and hung up. Seeing that the eldest sheep had finished its cucumber and nuzzled its head towards her, she picked another cucumber, broke it in half, ate one half herself, and used the other half to lure the eldest sheep down the hillside.
Wolves had appeared at the neighboring breeding center, so the eldest sheep was best off staying away from the buffer zone. Xia Qing used the cucumber to keep the eldest sheep calm, then carried out a water bicycle to refill the fishpond. She herself, armed with a submachine gun, slingshot, and machete, patrolled the territory menacingly. Although armed, Xia Qing dared not underestimate the wolves that had attacked the wild boar breeding center.
After the great evolution of life on Blue Star, not only did higher-intelligence brain evolution appear among humans, but brain-evolving individuals also emerged among animals. This is one of the main reasons why, despite nearly a decade of conflict between humanity and evolved creatures, the vast majority of humans are still confined to safe zones.
In these ten years, the most aggressive evolved animal with the most powerful brain regions that Xia Qing has ever encountered is the wolf.
The process of clearing the evolved forest surrounding the safe zone at the Hui San Base to expand the human activity area is essentially a struggle for territory with evolved creatures. During this process, humans encounter numerous dangers, including evolved fungi, highly venomous evolved insects, and destructive and aggressive plants, but the fiercest confrontation comes from evolved wolf packs.
In the ninth year of the natural disaster, during a mission to clear an evolved forest fifty kilometers north of the safe zone, Xia Qing's team encountered more than twenty wolves head-on. The team leader mistook the wolves' retreat for fear of humans and, ignoring Xia Qing's strong objections, preyed on the evolved wolves, enraging them.
For the next six hours, Xia Qing witnessed firsthand how the wolf pack, under the command of the alpha wolf, scattered and killed the human team piecemeal, leaving only her and one other core member of the team.
As an unofficial support staff member, Xia Qing naturally wouldn't participate in the wolf hunt. When the conflict broke out, she climbed a large tree for cover.
Although the evolved wolves couldn't climb trees, the bite force and strength of the evolved members of the pack brought them down in less than ten minutes. The main force member had climbed a tree over a meter in diameter. The tree fell towards the tree where Xia Qing was hiding. The main force member fled to the tree where Xia Qing was, intending to throw her down to feed the wolves and buy himself a chance to survive.
Of course, Xia Qing threw him down.
After killing the last member of the pack, the alpha wolf stood on a large rock not far away, watching Xia Qing. The rest of the pack stood below, silently awaiting the alpha's command to attack.
Xia Qing gripped her weapon tightly, staring intently at the alpha wolf, her mind racing through four ways to escape and more than a dozen ways to die. To her surprise, the alpha wolf didn't order the pack to continue attacking her.
After thoroughly destroying the weapons carried by the human corpse, the pack retreated. Based on the alpha wolf's gaze and command abilities, Xia Qing confirmed it was a brain-evolved individual.
Xia Qing stayed in the tree for nearly ten hours before the search and rescue team from the safe zone arrived.
After that incident, Xia Qing didn't go on missions with any teams other than the Azure Dragon Team, precisely to avoid fighting the evolved wolf pack. She didn't want to be bitten to death by wolves and then subjected to their humiliation and urination.
Xia Qing was indeed afraid of the evolved wolf pack's fighting power, but she hadn't given up in despair when facing a pack alone last time, and she certainly wouldn't this time. Because this was her territory.
After patrolling for over an hour without finding anything unusual, Xia Qing didn't relax her guard. Wolves are masters of psychological warfare and ambush; they launch deadly attacks when their enemies are off guard.
Just then, Xia Qing heard a wild boar's desperate howl coming from the wild boar breeding center, followed by another a few seconds later. She had just rushed up the high slope of the northern buffer forest with her gun in hand when she heard a long, drawn-out wolf howl.
"Awooo—"
That sound…
Xia Qing, the auditory evolver, was all too familiar with this wolf howl. It was the howl of the alpha wolf from the pack that had wiped out a team of over twenty people right before her eyes in the ninth year of the Cataclysm! This pack of wolves was not one she could handle alone. Just as Xia Qing was about to call Hu Zifeng, she heard the urgent call of the alpha sheep.
"Baa—Baa—"
The alpha sheep, who was operating the waterwheel at the bottom of the hillside, rushed up at a speed Xia Qing had never seen before.
Xia Qing immediately rushed down, wishing she could immediately gag the alpha sheep. The wolf was coming, and you were still howling loudly—were you asking for death?
"Don't be afraid, alpha, I'll protect you…"
Xia Qing went to meet the alpha sheep, but she couldn't even touch a single wool, let alone cover its mouth. Because the alpha sheep actually bypassed her, bleating as it charged towards the wild boar breeding center.
"Stop, boss! Stop right now!" Xia Qing chased after it with all her might, finally managing to grab its spiral horns just before it crashed into the breeding center's wire mesh wall. She hissed, "Stop right there, you bastard!"
The boss sheep shook its head, trying to break free, but Xia Qing had figured it out. She didn't give it a chance, pulling out a rope and binding it tightly before hoisting it up and running back.
Back home, Xia Qing threw the struggling sheep to the ground and sat down beside it, panting.
Afraid the sheep would suffocate, Xia Qing loosened the rope binding its mouth, but it suddenly let out a howl.
Xia Qing covered the sheep's mouth with one hand and slapped it with the other, yelling, "Are you out of your mind? Do you want to attract wolves and tear you apart? Do you know who that is? That's the wolf king! One of them could beat a whole pack of us!"
The boss sheep wouldn't listen and struggled desperately.
Xia Qing had no choice but to resort to her ultimate weapon. She pulled a packet of compressed rations from her protective suit pocket, tore open the sealed packaging, broke off a small piece, and stuffed it into the eldest sheep's mouth, coaxing it softly, "You are the leader of our territory, that's true, but you can't go and fight wolves. No matter how strong you are, you're still a herbivore; wolves eat meat. You have flat teeth, they have tusks; you have flat hooves, they have sharp claws—they're specifically designed to prey on you. Wild boars are stronger than you, right? Three have already been killed in such a short time. Don't make a fuss, leader. If you don't, you'll get something good to eat. I'll cook something delicious for you tonight."
The eldest sheep quickly swallowed the compressed rations, stretched its neck, and opened its mouth to howl again.
Xia Qing stuffed another ration into its mouth and slapped it. "You dare howl again? One more sound and I'll throw you out to feed the wolf king!"
"Buzz—Buzz—"
The phone vibrated. Xia Qing answered, still holding the sheep's muzzle. "Captain Hu."
"The evolved wolf attacked the wild boars at the breeding center and escaped into the Evolution Forest. Captain Yang has already led a team to hunt it down. I'm leading a team with Captain Tan and the others, guarding the perimeter of the wild boar breeding center. Contact me immediately if there are any developments within Miss Xia's territory."
"Okay, thank you, Captain Hu." Xia pressed for details about the wolf pack. "How many wolves came this time?"
Hu Zifeng replied, "We don't know how many are hiding in the Evolution Forest yet. We can only confirm that only one broke into the breeding center."
It couldn't be just one. Xia Qing offered a very valuable clue, "The wolf's howl sounds very much like the leader of the pack that wiped out the main force of the Fengyun Battle Team last May. It's a Brain-Evolved Wolf, extremely difficult to deal with." Hu Zifeng was of course aware that the Fengyun team, ranked 25th in the Hui San base, had been wiped out by a pack of wolves. "Thank you for the reminder, Miss Xia. I'll report it to the boss right away."
After hanging up with Hu Zifeng, Xia Qing answered Tan Junjie's inquiry call before releasing Yang Laoda's mouth and feeding it some more food. "Did you hear that? To fight wolves, you need to have the skills of Yang Laoda. You're not good enough."