Chapter 62: The Sheep Boss Who Wants to Fight Wolves
Xia Qing must not let the Sheep Boss make any noise that might alert the wolf pack. She crawled through a small hole in the protective net covering the vegetable garden, picked a yellow cucumber, washed it with spring water, and gave it to the Sheep Boss, letting it graze on the cucumber on the hillside to calm its nerves. Meanwhile, Xia Qing went full throttle, gripping her gun to guard her territory.
Soon, Xia Qing received a call from Hu Zifeng.
"Miss Xia, did you hear the sound of wild boars? Has an evolved animal intruded into your territory?"
Xia Qing replied, "I heard the terrifying cries of the wild boars from the breeding center. No intruders have been detected in Territory No. 3 for the time being. Does Captain Hu know what happened?"
On the surface, Xia Qing was merely a strength-type evolver, so she naturally could not disclose to Hu Zifeng the details of what she had seen and heard after climbing the trees to observe the breeding center.
Hu Zifeng replied, "It is currently unclear. Miss Xia, please try not to leave your territory. We have already sent six people to the northern area of Territory No. 1. If any wild boars run into Territory No. 3 or if any other dangerous situations arise, please contact us immediately. We can arrive within two minutes."
Xia Qing thanked him and hung up. Seeing that the Sheep Boss had finished its cucumber and was nudging its head toward her, she picked another one, broke it in half, ate one half herself, and used the other to lead the Sheep Boss down the hillside.
Wolves had appeared in the neighboring breeding center; it was best if the Sheep Boss stayed away from the buffer forest. Using the cucumber to steady the Sheep Boss, Xia Qing brought out the water bicycle to let it add water to the fish pond. She herself armed herself with an assault rifle, a slingshot, and a machete, patrolling her territory with a murderous aura. Despite having weapons, Xia Qing did not dare to underestimate the wolves attacking the wild boar breeding center in the slightest.
After the Great Evolution of Planet Blue, not only did high-intelligence brain-domain evolvers appear among humans, but a small number of brain-domain evolvers also appeared among animals. This was one of the primary reasons why, after nearly ten years of fighting evolved creatures, the vast majority of humans were still forced to huddle within safe zones.
In these ten years, the most powerful brain-domain evolved animal Xia Qing had ever encountered was the wolf.
The process of the Huisan Base clearing the evolved forests around the safe zones to expand the human living area was essentially a struggle for territory against evolved creatures. During this process, humans encountered many dangers, including evolved fungi, highly toxic evolved insects, and aggressive evolved flora and fauna, but the most violent confrontations came from evolved wolf packs.
In the ninth year of the Cataclysm, during a mission to clear an evolved forest fifty kilometers north of the safe zone, the squad Xia Qing was following had a direct encounter with over twenty wolves. The squad leader misidentified the wolves' retreat as fear of humans. Ignoring Xia Qing's desperate attempts to stop him, he treated the evolved wolves as hunting targets, which enraged the pack.
For the next six hours, Xia Qing witnessed firsthand how the wolf pack, under the command of the Alpha, dispersed the human squad and slaughtered them one by one, leaving only her and one main member of the squad.
As an external logistics member, Xia Qing was not involved in the wolf hunting mission. When the conflict broke out, she had climbed a large tree to hide.
While the non-elastic evolvers among the wolves could not climb trees, the ones with bite-force and strength evolution could topple a large tree in less than ten minutes—the very tree the main squad member had climbed, which had a diameter of over one meter. As the tree fell toward the tree where Xia Qing was hiding, that squad member fled to her tree and tried to throw her down to feed the wolves just to buy himself a chance at survival.
The result, of course, was that Xia Qing threw him down the tree instead.
After the pack killed the last squad member, the Alpha stood on a large rock not far away, staring at Xia Qing. The pack stood beneath the tree, quietly waiting for the Alpha's command to attack. Judging by the Alpha's expression and command capabilities, Xia Qing was certain it was a brain-domain evolver.
She gripped her weapons tightly, staring intently at the Alpha, while her mind rapidly flashed through four escape routes and a dozen ways to die. Even without the other wolves acting, a single elastic-type wolf capable of leaping several meters could kill her twice in a single minute!
To Xia Qing's surprise, the Alpha did not order the pack to attack her. After completely destroying the weapons carried by the human corpses, the pack withdrew.
Xia Qing stayed in the tree for nearly ten hours before the search and rescue team sent from the safe zone arrived.
After that incident, Xia Qing never joined any missions outside of the Azure Dragon Squad, specifically to avoid combat with evolved wolf packs. She had no desire to be bitten to death by wolves only to have them urinate on her head as an insult.
Xia Qing indeed feared the combat power of evolved wolf packs, but she hadn't given up fighting 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 did not relax in the slightest. Wolves were masters of psychological warfare and ambushes; they would launch lethal attacks when the enemy let their guard down.
Just then, Xia Qing heard another despondent wail from the wild boar breeding center, followed by another a few seconds later. Just as she gripped her gun and rushed toward the high slope of the northern buffer forest, she heard a long, drawn-out wolf howl.
"Awoooo—"
That sound...
As an auditory evolver, Xia Qing was too familiar with that howl. It was the cry of the Alpha from the pack that had annihilated the twenty-person squad right in front of her in the ninth year of the Cataclysm! This pack was not something she could handle alone. Just as Xia Qing was about to call Hu Zifeng, she heard the Sheep Boss's urgent calling.
"Baaa— Baaa—"
The Sheep Boss, which had been treading the waterwheel below the hillside, rushed up at a speed Xia Qing had never seen before.
Xia Qing immediately rushed down, wishing she could instantly gag the Sheep Boss. *The wolves are coming and you're still bleating loudly? Are you looking for death?*
"Boss, don't be afraid, I'll protect—"
Xia Qing rushed toward the Sheep Boss, but forget about covering its mouth—she couldn't even touch a single strand of its wool. The Sheep Boss actually bypassed her, bleating as it charged toward the direction of the wild boar breeding center.
"Boss, stop! Stop right now!" Xia Qing chased after it with all her might. She finally managed to grab its spiral horns firmly just a moment before it slammed into the iron fence of the breeding center, cursing under her breath, "Stop right damn there!"
The Sheep Boss shook its head, trying to break free from Xia Qing's grip, but Xia Qing had long since figured out its tricks. She gave it no chance, pulled out a rope to tie it up tightly, hoisted it onto her shoulders, and ran back.
Once home, Xia Qing threw the struggling Sheep Boss onto the ground and sat beside it, panting.
Fearing the Sheep Boss might hold it in, Xia Qing had just loosened the rope covering its mouth when it actually tried to let out another howl.
Xia Qing covered the sheep's mouth with one hand and slapped it with the other, scolding, "Do you have a death wish? Do you insist on attracting wolves to tear you apart? Do you know who that is? That's the Alpha! One of them could take on a whole pack like us!"
The Sheep Boss ignored her completely, struggling desperately.
Xia Qing had no choice but to use her ultimate weapon. She pulled a pack of compressed rations from her protective suit pocket, tore open the seal, broke off a small piece, stuffed it into the Sheep Boss's mouth, and coaxed it in a soft, gentle voice, "It's true that you're the boss of our territory, but you can't go out there trying to fight wolves. No matter how great you are, you're a herbivore and wolves are carnivores. You have flat teeth and they have fangs; you have flat hooves and they have sharp claws. They are built to counter you. The wild boars are stronger than you, right? Three of them have already been bitten to death in just a short while. Don't make a scene, Boss. If you behave, there will be good food. I'll make you something delicious tonight."
The Sheep Boss quickly swallowed the compressed ration and stretched its neck, opening its mouth to howl again.
Xia Qing stuffed more rations into its mouth and gave it a slap. "You try making another sound and see what happens! One more cry and I'll throw you straight out to feed the Alpha!"
*Buzz— buzz—*
The phone vibrated. Xia Qing held the sheep's mouth shut and answered, "Captain Hu."
"After attacking the wild boars in the breeding center, the evolved wolves fled into the evolved forest. Captain Yang has already led men to pursue them. I am leading my team to guard the perimeter of the breeding center along with Captain Tan's team. If anything happens in your territory, Miss Xia, contact me immediately."
"Understood. Thank you for your hard work, Captain Hu." Xia Qing pressed for details about the pack, "How many wolves came this time?"
Hu Zifeng replied, "It is currently unclear how many are hiding in the evolved forest. We can only confirm that only one entered the breeding center."
It was impossible for there to be only one. Xia Qing provided a very valuable clue: "From the sound of the howl, it sounded very much like the leader of the pack that wiped out the main squad of the Fengyun Squad last May. It is a brain-domain evolved wolf; it is extremely difficult to deal with."
Hu Zifeng was certainly aware of the incident where the Fengyun Squad, ranked twenty-fifth in the Huisan Base, was annihilated by a wolf pack. "Thank you for the warning, Miss Xia. I will report this to the Boss immediately."
After hanging up with Hu Zifeng, Xia Qing answered an inquiry call from Tan Junjie before finally letting go of the Sheep Boss's mouth and stuffing a bit more food into it. "Did you hear that? If you want to fight wolves, you need the skills of a Boss like Yang. Someone like you won't cut it."