Chapter 1020: Shock at the Pool

The Plunder Rain season is about to arrive, and Territory Three still has a great deal of preparation to do. The response plans for Center Nine and Mountain Fifty also need Xia Qing to review—she has no time to waste.

Xia Qing opened her backpack and took out a cube-shaped underwater robot half a meter on each side. She hooked a rope clasp onto the ring at the top of the robot, lowered it into the water, and watched the underwater situation through the display screen connected to the robot's camera.

Last autumn, Xia Qing had already seen Zhang Song use this device to search for the water rats that Territory Nine had sent into Territory Three's reservoir. Last night she had carefully read the manual again, and after a minute or two of stumbling effort, she was able to operate the robot to survey the underwater conditions.

The underwater robot's lights illuminated the dark, deep pool water. The small and medium aquatic creatures in the pool and the water plants on the pool walls slid past the display screen one after another. The Head Wolf, the Broken-Waist Wolf, and Xia Qing all watched intently.

Underwater was a world the evolved wolves had never seen before—this was probably why the two wolves were watching so intently.

The reason Xia Qing was watching so carefully was that the Broken-Waist Wolf had already given her all the water plants from this pool. Through the camera, she was searching for valuable medicinal herbs to gather later and exchange for points.

The Head Wolf and the Broken-Waist Wolf stood on Xia Qing's left and right, watching the screen. Little Wolf Brother and Little Wolf Sister from the Head Wolf's family lay on the rock above. Little Wolf Brother stared solemnly at the coils of rope being pulled into the water, while Little Wolf Sister lay on her back with all four paws in the air, sunning her fluffy, soft little belly.

"Queen, Broken-Waist, look—the passage between the pool and the underground river is right here."

Xia Qing pressed the button on the controller to make the underwater robot stop in the water. Then she pointed at the cave that appeared on the display screen and read the data above it: "Depth 28.24 meters, passage nearly circular, diameter close to 2.5 meters. A giant python or a giant crocodile could pass through smoothly."

The Head Wolf stared at the passage entrance illuminated by the robot's light, with no end in sight. Slowly baring its fangs, it let out a low growl. It seemed to be recalling something unpleasant.

Xia Qing wasn't startled, but Little Wolf Brother, who had been lying on the rock, immediately shrank back. Little Wolf Sister quickly flipped over and stood up, pretending to stare very seriously at the water surface.

"28.24 meters—that's about as high as from here to that rock. This pool is way too deep." Xia Qing gestured as she communicated with the two wolves. "Today I'll first block the big cave at the bottom of the pool, so the giant pythons and giant crocodiles can't burrow through the underground river into this pool. After the Plunder Rain season, I'll come back and keep filling it in."

The Broken-Waist Wolf bared its teeth, showing off its little fang tips, indicating agreement.

"Alright, let's get to work!"

Xia Qing carefully observed the terrain at the bottom of the pool and selected an underwater channel where the rocks, once dropped into the water, would definitely roll to the entrance of the underground river passage. She then extended this channel above the water surface and picked out several nearly circular rocks a little over two meters in diameter.

She first hacked away the trees blocking the way with a few loud chops, then took out a hammer to knock off the sharp corners of the rocks. Finally, it was time to pry the rocks loose and roll them into the pool.

This kind of work, Xia Qing was very familiar with!

She quickly pried at the base of the rock, and with a sudden heave, under the watchful eyes of a pack of wolves big and small, sent the rock thundering down into the pool.

When the boulder smashed into the water surface and sent up a huge splash, the wolf pack actually let out cheers—this was a scene Xia Qing had never witnessed when she was filling the Python Pool.

Xia Qing guessed that when the python group seized Mountain Fifty-Five last year, they might have crawled out from here.

After rolling three more rocks down, Xia Qing put the underwater robot back into the water once more, and together with the two leaders of the wolf pack, confirmed that the rocks had already blocked the lower half of the funnel-shaped underground river passage.

Blocked like this, even if a giant python came, it would have to work hard for a long while before it could open the passage. The commotion would definitely alert the wolf pack and give them time to prepare for battle.

After the Head Wolf understood, it raised its head and let out a long, mournful howl, and the wolf pack joined in. Xia Qing guessed they were probably mourning the companions who had died in last July's territory battle.

In such a solemn occasion, Xia Qing didn't join in the fun by howling along. She set up a tent, changed into a diving suit, and jumped into the pool.

She wanted to dig up the mature medicinal herbs she had just discovered first, then continue filling the pool.

After Xia Qing jumped into the water, Little Wolf Brother on the rock jumped down and ran to the tent, sniffing here and there.

Soon, the five half-grown wolves on the hillside all jumped down to study Xia Qing's tent together. The Head Wolf, Broken-Leg Sister, and the brown-gray mother giant wolf watched quietly, not stopping the little ones.

Ten minutes later, when Xia Qing surfaced to catch her breath, the little wolves immediately hid. Only after she dove back underwater did they resume studying the tent.

Clever Little Wolf Brother quickly found the key point, and with his nimble paw hooked the zipper pull, opening the tent!

The little wolves were just about to cheer when the learned Broken-Waist Wolf jumped over and zipped the tent back up. Inside were Xia Qing's backpack and equipment—the little wolves couldn't be allowed to play with them.

When Xia Qing surfaced for the fifth time, she placed a bag of dripping wet medicinal herbs by the pool's edge, asked the Broken-Waist Wolf to guard them for her, took a deep breath, and dove back into the pool.

On the pool wall at a depth of 15 meters underwater, there was a protruding boulder. After carefully examining it, Xia Qing determined that prying this boulder loose would cause the pool wall to collapse and fill up the funnel-shaped pool bottom. By then, even if that black loach from the Python Pool came and worked day and night for two days straight, it still wouldn't be able to dig the passage open.

At fifteen meters underwater, the human body would bear a pressure of 2.5 atmospheres, and the water temperature at this depth was more than ten degrees lower than the surface water. Prying the rock loose was far more difficult than on shore.

Xia Qing worked hard for ten minutes before she managed to pry open a half-meter-wide crack. Just as she was about to surface for air, she suddenly felt a distinct rush of water against her back.

A large aquatic creature was charging at her at high speed!

The results of Yanlong's devil training and countless practice sessions in Territory Three's reservoir revealed themselves at this moment.

Xia Qing spun around extremely fast and saw a giant crocodile, limbs tucked in, using its tail to paddle, rushing toward her at high speed.

If caught in that terrifyingly powerful jaws of the giant crocodile, she'd either die or be crippled.

Xia Qing had never beaten a crocodile of this level. But without the slightest fear, she charged forward, nimbly dodging the crocodile's jaws. The black short blade in her right hand stabbed hard into the crocodile's lower jaw for leverage, while her left fist slammed hard into the spot just below its lower jaw.

"Bam!"

"Bam bam!"

When the crocodile's head was punched upward, Xia Qing flipped in the water and delivered two more vicious kicks.

She used every ounce of her strength, but still couldn't knock the crocodile out.

The bright red blood and pain enraged this giant crocodile of unknown length. It suddenly turned around and whipped its tail viciously toward Xia Qing. Xia Qing used the swirling vortex of the disturbed pool water to swim and dodge the attack.

A crocodile that uses its tail to whip its prey isn't a normal crocodile; and one that can lurk for an hour in a pool that's been smashed to pieces, waiting for the right moment to launch a sneak attack, isn't an ordinary crocodile either.

Xia Qing, whose breath-holding was about to reach its limit, was absolutely certain—she had encountered a brain-domain evolved giant crocodile.

The timing it chose for its sneak attack was indeed good, but it had misjudged its opponent's strength!

When the crocodile lunged to bite again, Xia Qing accurately hurled a hand grenade specially made by a friend and waterproofed, straight into the back of the crocodile's throat.

I'm not Yanlong—I don't care about martial virtue. Since I can't knock you out or stab through you, I'll just blow you to hell!