Chapter 368: The Third Medicinal Bath

Chapter 368: Chapter 368: The Third Medicinal Bath

Lu Yuhui’s construction team was fast. In just two days, they had erected the wire mesh fence on the southern side of the Third Territory. Meanwhile, the thorn wall in the southern part of Territory No. 4, which connected to Xiaqing’s fence, was also mostly complete, effectively separating the Third Territory from the Second Territory.

Xiaqing gave the fence a push. After confirming that it could withstand one or two Level 3 Strength Evolvers or a couple of Evolved Wild Boars without taking substantial damage, she felt much more at ease. She went to discuss it with Hu Zifeng. "Captain Hu, some wolves will be passing through the valley into the Third Territory tonight. Please let everyone know."

Hu Zifeng was surprised. "The injured wolf isn’t staying in the Wolf Cave tonight?"

After Xiaqing installed a wooden door on the abandoned mountain cave at the Wild Boar Breeding Center, it had been renamed the Wolf Cave. Of course, it wasn’t Xiaqing who came up with the name, but Hu Zifeng’s team, who were extremely curious about the Wolf Group’s behavior.

Xiaqing explained, "The wolf with the leg injury will stay in the Wolf Cave to recuperate. The Head Wolf might enter the territory tonight."

Hu Zifeng nodded. "Has the wound on the Head Wolf’s leg healed?"

"It’s healed."

That was precisely why Xiaqing had specifically mentioned she’d be taking a medicinal bath tonight when she delivered medicine to the Wolf Cave earlier today. She’d told the Head Wolf directly.

’Whether the Head Wolf shows up is its own business.’

Xiaqing had to be on watch guarding the territory at three in the morning, so she moved her dinner and bath time forward.

After heating the water in the bathtub to 40 degrees, Xiaqing took out the packet of medicine from Da Ya. She poured the contents for her third bath into the tub and stirred until it was evenly mixed.

Da Ya had delivered four packets of medicine this time, each labeled with which bath it was for. Xiaqing had asked and learned that the formula wasn’t the same each time. The later the bath, the greater the potency of the medicine.

’No wonder the second bath didn’t feel much more comfortable than the first. This one is even more painful than the second.’

An hour later, a trembling Xiaqing climbed out of the bathtub. She had clawed its rim into a jagged pattern. She unfastened the clamp at the bottom of the tub.

Carrying the medicinal water between floors was too much work, so Xiaqing had connected the upstairs and downstairs tubs with a hose. After she was done, the used medicine would flow down into the Sheep Leader’s tub in the bathroom below.

Only after hearing the water flowing did Xiaqing manage to shiver her way into her clothes. She practically crawled downstairs and found that the Head Wolf had arrived. It was lying on the tatami mat in the first-floor living room with the Sick Wolf and the Sheep Leader.

Xiaqing greeted the Head Wolf and went into the bathroom. She used a heating rod to warm up the medicinal liquid, then weakly called to her companion, "Leader, come take your medicinal bath."

’The medicine is limited, and the earlier you soak, the better the effect. The Sheep Leader is my most trusted companion, so of course he goes before the two wolves.’

The Sheep Leader knew the benefits of the medicinal bath, but even with Xiaqing’s coaxing, he couldn’t last a full hour. He climbed out after forty-five minutes.

After the Sheep Leader finished, the Head Wolf entered the bathroom without needing Xiaqing to call its turn. It stepped onto a small wooden stool and climbed into the tub.

In less than half an hour, the Head Wolf’s body began to tremble.

’This medicine is for treating skin tissue and bone damage.’ Xiaqing had discovered during her first bath that the more severe the injury to a part of the body, the more it hurt during the soak.

At the forty-minute mark, the Queen, her legs covered in sutured scars, could no longer maintain her majestic Head Wolf image. She opened her mouth and let out a low, mournful howl.

Leaning against the tub, her own body aching as drowsiness washed over her, Xiaqing didn’t dare approach an Evolutionary Wolf on the verge of collapse. She tried to soothe it with her words. "The medicine is repairing the damaged skin on your legs. You have to endure it, Queen, no matter how much it hurts... Get through this, and you’ll reach a whole new level."

At fifty minutes, the Head Wolf began to sink. Xiaqing, her own mind groggy, reached out to support its neck, keeping the medicinal water from getting in its mouth. "Just hold on for the time it takes to eat a rabbit, Queen," she encouraged softly. "Then you can get out."

Once Xiaqing was supporting it, the Head Wolf, which had been fighting to stay up, let its head loll to the side and went still. Xiaqing, who could normally carry hundreds of pounds of supplies with ease since her Strength Evolution, now found the wolf’s head in her hands to be incredibly heavy.

After struggling to drag the Head Wolf out of the water, Xiaqing heated the medicinal bath again and let the Sick Wolf get in for its soak.

The Head Wolf was in much worse shape after its bath than the Sheep Leader had been. When the Sheep Leader got out, he had just shaken the medicine from his coat, let Xiaqing give him a quick wipe-down, and then left. The Head Wolf, however, was now semi-conscious, so the equally exhausted Xiaqing had no choice but to dry it herself.

After toweling it dry, Xiaqing could barely keep her eyes open. She had to call for her companion. "Leader, are you feeling any better? Can you come drag your friend out of here? It’s too damp in this room; she’ll catch a cold if she lies here."

The Sheep Leader trotted over, his pace much slower than usual. Xiaqing had forgotten her compressed rations and had no energy to go get them. She grabbed a bedsheet and held it out to her companion. "Leader, bite here. Drag your friend into the living room."

The Sheep Leader squinted for a few seconds before actually lowering his head to bite the sheet. With some effort, he dragged the Head Wolf out of the bathroom.

By the time she finished with the Sick Wolf’s bath, the pain in her body had subsided, but she was so sleepy she couldn’t keep her eyes open. Xiaqing crawled on all fours back to the second floor and collapsed at her bedroom door.

CLOP, CLOP, CLOP—

The Sheep Leader, having dragged the Sick Wolf out of the bathroom, came upstairs.

The lights on the second floor were out. The Strength Evolution Sheep, whose night vision was poor, squinted at the heap on the floor that was Xiaqing for a moment. Then it entered the living room and lay down beside its companion.

THUD.

A heavy sheep’s head, crowned with two large horns, dropped onto the wooden floor. Xiaqing opened her eyes to see a ball of white fur beside her, then instantly fell back asleep.

At 2:50 a.m., the alarm went off.

Lying on the wooden floor, Xiaqing silenced the phone alarm in her pocket and stroked the Sheep Leader’s thick, smooth wool. ℴ

’Honestly, I’m envious,’ she thought. ’If I could grow a thick coat like this to stay warm, I’d be able to get more food in the winter. My chances of survival would increase dramatically.’

’Even though humans have evolved, our ability to survive in the Evolution Forest is still far worse than that of the evolved animals.’

’But humans have clever minds. As long as humanity stands united—or at least, most of us do—we can definitely withstand the Natural Disasters and become the masters of Blue Star once more.’

Xiaqing got up quietly. Feeling refreshed and light, she put on her protective gear, raised a hand in greeting to the two wolves on the first floor, and pushed the door open, stepping out into the night.

When she reached the southern border of the Third Territory, Xiaqing listened intently. She noticed that the Second Territory was very quiet tonight. It seemed the brothers Tang Huai and Tang Heng had arranged accommodations for the refugees ahead of time; the ones who had arrived yesterday were no longer causing a commotion over housing. The number of team members patrolling the corridor had also been reduced.

Xiaqing greeted Su Ming and Hu Zi, then continued her patrol.

「In Territory No. 12.」

Tang Huai, his eyes bloodshot, sat by the bed. He looked at his father, who lay pale from blood loss, and his own face was filled with guilt.

’I’m so useless.’ He was already thirty and still couldn’t get his act together. He could only watch helplessly as his father, his hair graying at the temples, went off to take such risks.