Chapter 1125: Walking with Beasts

Just before noon, Xia Qing finally left Territory No. 7 and returned to her own territory. After locking the Yi Snake in her refrigerator, she swiftly fed the Green Lantern cattle and Green Lantern chickens, used a tasty compressed ration to coax Sheep Lao Da into guarding the house, and gave Wolf Lao Er a pack of Green Lantern freeze-dried food to keep him settled in Wolf Valley. Only then did she hastily eat some jerky, drink a nutrient solution, and head out with Huo Zhun and Zhang Hongda to the helicopter parking area.

The territory? Hand it over to Chang Li and the Beard Feng squad.

The two wolves receiving treatment at Territory No. 7? Once treatment is complete, Er Yong from the Beard Feng squad will deliver them to Wolf Valley and hand them over to Lao Er. Among the Beard Feng squad members, Er Yong is the one Lao Er dislikes the least, while Sheep Lao Da equally dislikes every single member of the Beard Feng squad.

Seeing Xia Qing disembark from the helicopter with three wolves, while Huo Zhun returned alone with a big pack on his back and a suitcase in hand, he actually felt a bit unaccustomed. After cheerfully greeting her, he piloted the helicopter toward Mountain No. 59.

Zhang Hongda reported the disaster-elimination mission arrangements to Xia Qing. "Sister Qing, Third Brother assigned three magnetic-sense Evolvers and thirty-five security staff from Center No. 9, along with six investigation team members and Evolvers from within the territory—Tan Qi, Tang Huai, Zhu Li, Shi Du, Yuan Yan, Dead Man Jie and Mingzi from Territory No. 11, and She Xing from Territory No. 25. They've formed ten mission squads to hunt Yi Snakes in the evolved forest around the territory. Scroll down."

The Level 9.5 visual Evolver Xia Qing looked down through the porthole and spotted a six-person squad by the reflective river. From that altitude she couldn't tell who was carrying out the mission below, but she could check through the phone group. "Down there is Dead Man Jie and Tang Huai's squad. This disaster response involves activity outside the territory, and walkie-talkie communication is limited, so Third Brother set up a phone contact group. Third Brother and Captain Tan don't know you two are on a mission with me. I'll pull you both in now."

Xia Qing had just pulled Huo Zhun and Zhang Hongda into the disaster-elimination group when a message popped up.

Tang Huai: @Beard Feng, you lunatic, what are you doing flying the helicopter?

Beard Feng replied quickly: Whatever you're doing, that's what the helicopter's doing.

Tang Huai, who was on a mission in the Mountain No. 50 area, snorted twice and typed another line: @Xin Yu, why is your sea eagle out?

To everyone's surprise, Xin Yu also replied: Whatever you're doing, that's what my sea eagle's doing.

"Got it, thanks Sister Qing." Zhang Hongda, sitting in the co-pilot seat and watching the helicopter's instrument-panel radar display, turned to report to Xia Qing, only to see a smile actually on her face.

This was only the second time in over a year he had seen Xia Qing smile. Zhang Hongda was dazed for a moment before steadying himself and reporting, "Sister Qing, that Belted Sea Eagle on the left side of the helicopter, wearing protective gear with a raven perched on its back—is that the tamed bird from Territory No. 8? Its flight direction seems to match ours."

Xia Qing's composure returned. "The two of them are on the same mission as me, so the direction is the same."

Zhang Hongda nodded. "Xinyu Sect sent the raven out on the mission too—probably to control the Belted Sea Eagle, right? That raven's evolution level is very high."

Next time he met Xin Yu, Zhang Hongda wanted to ask whether this raven had any offspring and whether they could be traded.

Xin Yu had entered the hidden valley of Mountain No. 50 more than once to fetch water and check on crop growth. After Zhang Hongda's health improved, he took on the task of guarding the valley. The first time he opened the stone gate for Xin Yu, she saw his pus-swollen face and, though briefly showing some surprise, quickly composed herself and nodded to him in thanks.

Later, the two exchanged a few words. Zhang Hongda felt that Xin Yu didn't have the arrogance of the Yu family from the Chonglian Group—she simply didn't enjoy socializing and was just quiet.

Huo Zhun, piloting the helicopter, spoke up. "That raven has a very strong territorial sense. For the past two days it's been perched on a big tree in Territory No. 8, watching the four new people who appeared in my territory."

Zhang Hongda asked curiously, "After observing, did it take any further action?"

"Yes. It doesn't like Wang Damin—whenever it sees him approaching the Territory No. 8 side, it lets out a piercing cry and even poops at him. And it's afraid of Dead Man Jie—when it sees her approaching, it hides deep in the dense foliage."

Zhang Hongda……

Xia Qing……

After the helicopter landed on Mountain No. 59, Xia Qing told Huo Zhun and Zhang Hongda not to wait for her and to fly the helicopter straight back to the territory, while she headed at full speed toward Mountain No. 60.

Seeing that clever raven fly from the Belted Sea Eagle's back onto Xia Qing's shoulder, Zhang Hongda felt envious.

Xia Qing hadn't taken out any food or scent attractant the raven liked, yet the raven was willing to get close to her—meaning it trusted and liked Sister Qing. If Xin Yu was willing to trade tamed birds externally, Xia Qing would definitely be ranked ahead of him.

However, he pulled out his phone and glanced at the messages in the group, and couldn't help laughing. Though he couldn't compare to Xia Qing, he was sure he could rank ahead of Tang Huai.

Xia Qing passed through the area guarded by four wolves and arrived at the southern part of the Mountain No. 60 zone, on a hill located between the wolf pack's western front and the valley's main battlefield. She opened her suitcase, installed the roughly 80-jin micro base station, then asked a wolf from the Broken-Waist Wolf's group that had come to watch to guard the base station. Only then did she return to the valley between Mountain No. 60 and Mountain No. 61 to contact Idol and Xin Yu.

After confirming that her location and the raven in the sky were both within the micro base station's coverage, Xia Qing had Xin Yu use the camera to monitor the western front of Mountain No. 60 and share the real-time feed with Zhang San, who would pick which animals to track and observe.

She and the wolf pack's main combat force held the main battlefield, waiting for the python to attack again so they could capture Yi Snakes.

At autumn midday the sun was still scorching. The lake's surface and the rocks on the ground were heated by it. Snakes lurked at the lake bottom, in marshes, and in thickets, while the wolf pack and Xiong Qun rested in the shade.

Xia Qing leaned against a rock, treating minor wounds on the valley's main combat wolves. Although wolves living in the evolved forest had much stronger resistance than humans who frequently wore protective gear, untreated wounds could still become infected with evolved bacteria and lead to serious consequences.

Xia Qing sent Idol a Yi Snake weighing over forty jin. Idol very generously stuffed her medicine box full, and Xia Qing was willing to use a little of the medicine to treat the wolf pack members.

After Xia Qing finished treating the wolves' wounds, the lead wolf raised its head and howled a few times. Five injured wolves left the valley and swapped out the five adult wolves on the western front—including Broken-Leg Girl and the giant wolf Big Guy—bringing them into the valley's main battlefield.

Xia Qing began examining these five wolves one by one, treating their wounds.

On the east bank of the river channel, the brain-domain Evolver Xiong Wang, lying in the shade, had been quietly watching Xia Qing's interaction with the wolf pack.

An hour and a half later, when Xia Qing was dozing off leaning against Big Guy, Daigua ran to the river channel where it entered the lake and shouted at Xia Qing from afar, "Ah—"

Xia Qing opened her eyes, looked at Daigua's little belly, and raised her voice slightly to ask, "Daigua thirsty, want water?"

"Oh!" Daigua let out a happy cry.

Xia Qing, wearing her protective mask, jumped off the rock and went to the river channel. Daigua immediately crossed over to her side. When Xia Qing took out a folding plastic bowl from her backpack and poured in some pollution-free spring water, Daigua held the bowl and drank it all, then gazed at Xia Qing with eager eyes.

Xia Qing poured more water to let it drink its fill, then straightened the little green hat and shorts on its head, and checked through its thick fur for parasites.

That greedy little bear looked like a slovenly creature. Daigua had been hanging around with it for so long that parasites might have crawled from the little bear onto Daigua. After confirming Daigua was fairly clean, Xia Qing sprayed some anti-parasite medicine on it.

The Broken-Waist Wolf stared at the little green hat on Daigua's head, thoughtful. Xiong Wang and the Wolf King, who had been quietly watching Xia Qing and Daigua interact, both flicked their ears at the same time and turned their heads toward the lake surface.

On the lake surface about 2000 meters from the valley, a giant python with deep green scales dotted with a few black spots and golden vertical pupils slowly rose up.

The python group's third invasion was about to begin.