Chapter 116

Chapter 117: You Really Look Like a Wolf Trafficker…

That idea was absurd, and she knew it.

The System noticed where she was staring and sighed: [Hey, you are not planning to…]

She thought it through aloud: “If I do not do a cesarean, then there is only that method left, right?”

When she delivered her family’s fierce dog, she had just pulled the pups out by hand.

The System groaned: [Please do not be ridiculous.]

In the end, Qian Qi chose the simpler option for her: the cesarean. She picked up the long knife, measured a line over the wolf’s belly, and warned: “It will hurt. Please bear with it. I do not have anesthesia.”

Seeing her raise the blade, the Moon Silver Wolf tensed at once. It endured the pain and, for the sake of its babies, forced itself to stand. It exhaled a puff of icy air and fixed her with a guarded stare.

It did not dare to attack. It had little strength left. It had barely eaten in half a month. Even one full-power strike might break itself. If it died, the pups inside might suffocate.

She soothed it as she stepped in: “Do not be nervous,” then dove and pinned it to the ground, trying to operate by force.

But the wolf, panicking for its children, went wild. It finally slashed at her head with a sharp claw.

She twisted aside and snapped: “Do not move!” She pressed on the belly, trying to cut where the pups were, but the thrashing legs ruined every angle. She was small, and four wolf legs were a lot to control.

After too long, her temper flared, and she made the wolf still the simple way.

She knocked it out with a single punch and scolded as she set her blade: “I told you not to move. Why won’t you listen?”

She cut. Hot red blood flowed along the long incision, streaking over the beautiful silver fur like a sea of red plum petals spilling across white snow. It was beautiful and a little sickening.

She spread the cut with both hands and saw seven or eight wolf pups inside. Their eyes were shut, their limbs flailed, and their silver fur was wet. They looked both pitiful and pretty.

She blinked in surprise and asked herself: “Why do they already have fur?” When she helped deliver her family dog, the pups came out pink and soft, with no hair.

Curious, she pulled the pups out quickly. When she reached for the last one, she froze and stared at her palm.

Wet as it was, her hand held a few bits of broken eggshell.

She squinted, thinking: [???]

She muttered: “What is this? Why is there eggshell here?”

She felt around again and scooped out a handful of white shell. Looking closely, she noticed every pup had some shell stuck to its fur. The shell was close in color to their coats, so she had missed it earlier.

She shook her head: “What in the world…”

She really wanted to ask the System, but the wolf had already lost a lot of blood, so she sprinkled Hemostatic Potion first.

After the wound sealed, she finally asked: “System, why is there eggshell in its belly?”

The System answered cheerfully: [Because it lays eggs.]

She gaped: “Wolves are mammals.”

Then she caught herself. These were Magibeasts. Mammal or not did not mean much here. Still, she pointed at the pups and pressed on: “But if they lay eggs, why were there no Magibeast eggs?”

The System’s tone turned businesslike: [Dear user, that answer costs 300,000.]

She checked her Light-Brain balance, winced, and thought: [I have only 3.74.] Suddenly, it felt wise not to be too curious.

With a long sigh, she set the wet, blind pups on the mother’s thick side. Then she dragged the mother wolf by the forelegs, step by heavy step, back to the little hut on the plain.

The mother wolf woke with a pounding head.

When she realized her belly was flat and empty, she let out a mournful howl: “Awooo.”

It was her fault. She had failed to protect her children.

Heart breaking, she struggled to get up to find Qian Qi, the thief or killer of her pups, and die together with her.

But she had no strength. She toppled back with a thump that rattled the half-built hut. The planks shivered like an earthquake.

Outside, Qian Qi was feeding a pup. She hurried in with the little one in her arms and met the mother wolf’s cold, killing blue eyes.

The mother wolf growled at once, low and warning.

Qian Qi took one step back and said calmly: “Warning you now, all your babies are in my hands. If you dare to bring down my house, well, I cannot promise what I will do.”

The System went quiet, thinking: [……] Then it muttered to itself: [What kind of scoundrel says something like that…]

The mother wolf seemed to realize the enemy could crush her pups with one squeeze, so she curled up and did not move. Her eyes softened when they fell on the pup in Qian Qi’s arms, but when they lifted to Qian Qi, they went hard and wary again.

Qian Qi did not mind. As long as the mother did not break her hut, she was willing to be kind and spare its life.

She set the pup into the mother’s embrace and then gave a cheeky whistle. Seven bouncy pups tumbled in from outside.

Compared to the slightly thin one with the mother, the other seven were strong and healthy. After only half a day, they could open their eyes, chew meat, and drink milk on their own.

Thinking it over, Qian Qi guessed the scrawny one was the egg-born pup, because there had not been much shell inside the mother. If you pieced the fragments together, they might make only one egg.

She also considered another guess: maybe the others had better timing, so they ate their own shells and got strong, and the last one developed slower and had not eaten its shell yet. But if the answer were that simple, the System would not ask for 300,000.

She turned to a pickling vat. Inside lay the carcass of a Three-headed Thunder Lion she had picked up on the way home, cut into parts, with the richest meat and organs saved.

The mother wolf had been unconscious for three days. During that time, Qian Qi fed the pups meat and juiced Magiplants to mix with Magibeast meat blood for the mother to regain strength.

She coughed once, thinking: [I also tried milking the mother a bit, cough.]

She set fresh Magibeast meat into seven plates and clapped her hands to call the pups.

At her call, they bounced over on chubby short legs and bumped against her before happily eating. They already treated her like their mother.

She rubbed her chin and said with a sigh: “Little wolf pups are easier to tame.”

She clicked her tongue, adding with regret: “It is a pity they do not understand Beast Contracts yet, or I would trick all of them into signing.”

The System was speechless: [……]

Then it grumbled: [Hey, you really look like a wolf trafficker when you talk like that…]