Chapter 1147: Heading into Migratory Bird Season

The document Principal Yang Runian of the Ninth Central School gave Xia Qing was a notice issued by the Huaguo Ministry of Education.

The Ministry of Education proposed that the basic schools of each base hold a "Scientists Enter the Campus" activity to boost students' interest in learning, scientific literacy, and innovative spirit.

Xia Qing finished reading it calmly, looked up at Yang Runian, and waited for him to continue.

The disasters of Year Eleven of the Calamity took billions of lives and left many of the survivors physically disabled, disfigured, or sickly.

Soothing the wounded soldiers' emotions, boosting the troops' morale, and maintaining the military's combat effectiveness were Yang Runian's core duties; this awareness had seeped into his very bones. So when he first saw Xia Qing's face, which seemed to have nerve damage, Yang Runian felt no pressure at all—his first instinct was simply to figure out how to lift her spirits.

But now, facing that same face, Yang Runian felt pressure. The pressure came from Xia Qing's now-famous declaration: "I'm a sniper. I like to be straightforward. I hate beating around the bush."

Yang Runian was used to starting his work by talking about the big picture first—unifying thinking and correcting attitudes before discussing implementation. But in front of Xia Qing's face, he chose to get straight to the point: "Could you bring this up with Third Brother when he's in a good mood? If possible, I'd like to invite an expert from the Number Seven Territory team to come to the school and give a lecture or experimental demonstration for the students. If Third Brother's team experts are all too busy, I'll find another way."

The Ministry of Education's document had to be implemented, but Northern Zone One was too far from the Safe Zone, making it extremely difficult to invite scientists from the Safe Zone to give lectures. That was why Yang Runian was discussing this with Xia Qing.

Although the entire territory was full of farmers, the Number Seven Territory had plenty of scientists to spare.

The reason Yang Runian was troubling Xia Qing was that the Base Commander had issued an order: without his permission, no department of Hui-Three Base could go to Number Seven Territory to disturb the big shots.

Among all the base's civil servants, only one person didn't have to follow this order—the top sniper sitting in front of Yang Runian who liked to be straightforward.

Fifteen minutes later, the document was sitting on the desk of the big shot, whose face was full of impatience.

Xia Qing noticed that after her idol read the document, his expression actually softened. Originally she had planned to ask Zhang Tao to drop by the school, because Zhang Tao was the technical advisor of the Ninth Center, and going to a school inside the Ninth Center was just a short walk for her.

But now Xia Qing tried to read her idol's mind and changed her plan: "Would Third Brother be interested in dropping by the school for a face-to-face chat with the kids?"

Over the years, her idol's movements had been restricted, and he spent ninety percent of his time in the lab. Since digging bamboo shoots and sweet potatoes excited him, chatting with the kids probably would too.

Zhang San snorted, "What's there to chat about?"

Hearing that tone, Xia Qing confirmed her idol was really tempted, and said with a smile, "Indeed there's nothing much to chat about. Third Brother can just treat it as getting some fresh air and meeting the new humans born after the Calamity. Lu Fangchun and Wang Bo, who received treatment here in July, as well as Tan Qi and Ye Shiyi, are all studying at the school."

The children who grew up and were born during the Calamity faced environments, survival conditions, and education that were vastly different from before the Calamity. But seeing them still made people feel the power of hope and the tremendous vitality of life.

Zhang San, sunk into the soft chair, really did want to meet Zhang Ten's daughter. He asked listlessly, "When are you going out to shoot birds?"

Xia Qing replied, "The first batch of migratory birds arrives tomorrow. I'm in charge of the night shift, Brother Luo takes the day shift. I head out tomorrow evening at six and return the day after tomorrow at six. I'll go two days in a row, and decide later whether to continue based on the situation."

The half-month-long migratory bird season was the season when migratory birds migrated, and also a feast for predators. The predatory beasts in the Evolution Forest seized this opportunity to stockpile the fat they needed to survive the winter, and humans also hunted large numbers of passing migratory birds to store meat.

In addition, migratory bird season was an important moment to showcase the abilities of each base's top snipers.

Hui-Three Base Commander and Luo Pei both called Xia Qing in turn, explaining to her the importance of flexing muscles during this period.

After Luo Pei was poisoned, his visual ability and range were impaired; his effective range had dropped to 2,000 meters, which was already a semi-open secret. This range was now lower than the top snipers of Hui-One, Hui-Five, and Hui-Six, which bordered Hui-Three.

The terrain, magnetic fields, and other environmental conditions in the Evolution Forest were extremely complex, limiting the auxiliary role of technological equipment. Therefore, top snipers with extremely strong mobility and immunity to magnetic interference played an extremely important role in Evolution Forest combat.

Only with top snipers stationed at the base could those scumbags who wanted to sneak into Hui-Three's Evolution Forest to poach, steal-pick, and steal-dig be deterred.

Now that Hui-One and Hui-Three had fallen out, top snipers from other bases were unwilling to accept Hui-Three Base's employment at this sensitive moment. So now Xia Qing needed to step forward and step up, to let all bases see clearly that besides Luo Pei, Hui-Three had another top sniper whose skills surpassed his master's.

Of course, Xia Qing wasn't going for free. Her pay for one night's mission was 10,000 credits, and no matter how many bullets she used, the base would cover it.

Zhang San was a little surprised, "Your sniping ability has already surpassed Luo Pei's?"

Although he wasn't a sniper, Zhang San also knew that sniping at night was harder than during the day, for three reasons:

First, although high-definition night-vision goggles helped, visibility at night was still much worse than during the day. Moreover, once dew and fog reached a certain concentration, they would interfere with optical equipment and increase sniping difficulty. Second, due to the lack of sunlight's heating effect on air currents, wind speed changes at night were more complex, which also increased sniping difficulty. Third, nighttime temperatures in September dropped significantly, causing uneven cooling of the barrel and trajectory deviation, requiring recalibration.

Therefore, Xia Qing's sniping ability on night watch must be stronger than Luo Pei's.

Hui-Three Base Commander Qi Zhongye must have had extreme confidence in Xia Qing's marksmanship to arrange it this way.

In front of her idol, Xia Qing didn't hold back: "My current effective range is 2,100 meters. Brother Luo's is 2,000."

Surpassing Luo Pei's range by a hundred meters—shouldn't that be something to be happy about? Why did this guy have such a pained expression?

Zhang San pressed his forehead, not wanting to guess Xia Qing's thoughts: "Go handle your own business. I'll find time to have Zheng Chen and Zhang Jingwu accompany me to the school for a visit—as Zhang San."

"Understood. Thanks for the trouble, Third Brother. I'll keep an eye on things at the school and make sure they don't reveal your true identity to the students."

After finishing this matter, Xia Qing got down to business: "Third Brother, the snake skin I sent over has been soaked, right?"

"It's soaked. Go ask Zhang Song for it."

"Okay…"

If the python skin was to be asked from Zhang Song, then who should she ask for the giant bee's feces? She had already passed the assessment and could ferment feces in the lab.

Zhang San saw through it at a glance: "Go find Daya!"

"Okay Third Brother, thanks Third Brother!"