Chapter 1154: I Will Pay the Funeral Expenses and Family Compensation

"Thanks, Sister Qing!"

Zhu Zhenming didn't see how Xia Qing drove the wolves away, nor did he have the mind to watch where the wolves went. His full attention was on the top-tier sniper lying motionless ahead with blood streaming from his neck. After thanking her, Zhu Zhenming immediately dragged his injured leg over to the enemy sniper, bound both his arms, then flipped the man over, removed his protective mask, and checked his breathing. "It's really a Phantom! He's still breathing—hope we can save him!"

Zhu Zhenming quickly injected him with an anesthetic, rescuing him while phoning the military headquarters to send a helicopter and medics immediately, then asked Xia Qing, "Sister Qing, do you have any special medicine?"

Capturing a live top-tier sniper alive is worth far more than a dead one. Xia Qing took out a syringe and a special hemostatic agent she had traded with her idol from her satchel, and went over to help Zhu Zhenming rescue the Phantom.

Then Xia Qing stood up, glanced at Xie Yun down the hillside rescuing other wounded, and walked over to Tangzhou to help him dress his wounds.

Zhu Zhenming, who was bandaging his own leg wound, asked curiously, "Sister Qing, which of those two evolved wolves just now was called Old Four?"

Xia Qing answered calmly, "The wolf that once recuperated in my territory was called Old Four. I thought it had come."

Tangzhou, who had been given a gag order by his captain not to leak any information related to Territory Three to anyone outside the squad, helped Xia Qing smooth things over. "Sister Qing was so worried she got confused. Your territory is over three hundred li from here—an old wolf couldn't have run that far. Those two wolves just wanted to kill the Phantom; pinning down Brother Zhu was only to stop you from going to save the Phantom."

"It must have been that half-grown wolf's lack of experience that left the Phantom with a breath of life." Zhu Zhenming quickly bandaged his own leg wound and pressed the walkie-talkie button. "All squads, report your casualties."

In this battle, Hui Three's thirteen-person squad paid the price of two dead and five wounded to kill nine invaders and capture four alive.

Half an hour later, Xia Qing took a military helicopter back to the bird-hunting spot on Mountain Six in southern Hui Three to continue the migratory-bird sniping mission.

At six the next morning, Luo Pei arrived by helicopter at the mission site. When he relieved Xia Qing, he patted her left shoulder with relief. "Go back and rest properly. You don't need to come tonight."

According to plan, Xia Qing still needed to come tonight to carry out the bird-hunting mission. Thinking Luo Pei was worried about her injury, she volunteered, "Brother Luo, I'm fine. I'll come back tonight."

Luo Pei smiled. "Your not coming is a greater deterrent than your coming."

Hui Three's top-tier sniper Xia Qing's reputation had already spread. If she didn't come out on a mission tonight, she might appear anywhere, sniping invaders who snuck into the Hui Three base. This would make those with ulterior motives even more afraid to act rashly.

Xia Qing understood, and boarded the helicopter with Zhang Ling, flying opposite the migratory birds back to the northern District One territory.

Xiao Pingtou, who had gone to Mountain Sixty to exterminate snakes, hadn't returned yet. Xia Qing quietly passed through the territory she entered by swiping open the gate at Mountain Forty-Nine, District Three, went around the wild-grass wall, and saw smoke from the kitchen chimney by the farmland on the hillside below, mingling with the morning mist, painting the unique flavor of an autumn morning.

Although flocks of migratory birds flew overhead, and although raptors circled above continuously, Xia Qing, looking at this scene, still felt the peace and tranquility unique to her territory.

"Rat-a-tat-tat—"

Ram Boss, who had been guarding under the big Chinese toon tree, caught the scent of his little sister returning and charged over furiously. Wolf Lao Er arrived first despite starting later, came to Xia Qing's side, lifted his nose to sniff, and his gaze fell on her glove.

Wolf Lao Er's nose was really too sharp.

"Yes, I ran into Old Four in the Evolution Forest. Its body has recovered well." Xia Qing patted Wolf Lao Er's dew-dampened head, reached into the side pocket of her backpack and pulled out a handful of green-light grass just cut from Mountain Forty-Nine, District Three, and happily held it out to Ram Boss's mouth. "Boss! Quick, try this—it's the high-quality food I found for you!"

Ram Boss shook off Xia Qing's dirty hand patting his head, bit into the fresh grass, and started eating.

"Did you two sleep under the big Chinese toon tree last night?" Xia Qing, holding the grass, walked downhill with her two damp companions.

Boss only ate, Lao Er only grinned, neither answering Xia Qing's question. Xia Qing didn't need them to answer, because their damp heads and dirty protective suits had already told her the answer.

It was migratory bird season. Xia Qing wasn't in the territory last night. Ram Boss, who had a strong sense of territory, couldn't protect too large an area, so he chose to protect his big Chinese toon tree. Wolf Lao Er had been told by Xia Qing to protect the home, protect the injured wolf in the wolf den, and protect Boss, so he would certainly stay with Boss in the buffer forest.

Walking down the hillside, Xia Qing first went to check the green-light bees in the flower shed, then went to the breeding shed to feed the black-maned geese and mealworms, before patrolling the sheds all the way to the outside of the meeting-room kitchen, where she smelled meat cooking and saw Captain Yang, wearing an apron, cooking.

What Yang Jin saw, on the other hand, was Xia Qing in a protective suit, carrying a sniper rifle on her back, holding a handful of grass in her hand, with a grass-eating ram behind her and a wolf roaring at him in front of her.

Although Xia Qing's face was calm, Yang Jin still sensed something different about her, and understood why she was like this. However, now was not the time to discuss these matters. "I plucked a handful of celery from your territory. Breakfast will be ready in another half hour. Sister Qing, go back and wash up first, and we'll talk while we eat?"

Xia Qing nodded, took her two companions home, went upstairs to shower and change, made breakfast for her two companions, then went to feed the chickens and cattle, before hurrying to the small house by the farmland.

Yang Jin brought a large plate of golden-brown stuffed pancakes to the table. "At dawn I hunted a flock of wild geese on Mountain Forty-Nine, picked a green-light one and made celery-and-meat stuffed pancakes. Sister Qing, try them and see how they taste?"

"Let me first boil these eggs, and here's some tea soup I made—you can pour hot water over it to drink." Xia Qing boiled the four eggs she'd brought, poured hot water over the tea soup, set it in front of Yang Jin, and began to apologize. "I shouldn't have taken matters into my own hands last night and demanded that the Tangzhou squad go on the mission with me. How much are the medical bills for the wounded, the funeral expenses for the dead, and the family compensation? I'll pay for them."

If she hadn't made the request, the base commander wouldn't have sent the Tangzhou squad to intercept the invaders. The squad's mid-tier sniper Sun Si and another member wouldn't have died, and the four Tangzhou members wouldn't have been wounded.

The Blue Dragon Squad, ranked fifth in overall combat power within the battle team, had lost six members killed and wounded in one stroke. Of course Xia Qing had to apologize and compensate Captain Yang Jin.

When Yang Jin heard Tangzhou's casualty report, he guessed Xia Qing would feel bad. That's why, after nearly twenty hours on the mission, he had come over to cook, wanting to chat with Xia Qing over a meal.

In these years of natural disaster, everyone had brushed past death countless times, and had personally witnessed countless deaths. Xia Qing was indeed very strong, but this time was different.

This was Xia Qing's first mission as a top-tier sniper. Although the invading thirteen-person squad had all been caught—they had even captured the Phantom alive—the cost of seven casualties still made Xia Qing's heart ache.

As the battle team's captain, Yang Jin was all too familiar with this feeling. Although he knew that Xia Qing, who had survived alone for years and long since grown used to toughing everything out on her own, would digest this negative emotion quickly, he still couldn't bear it.

He had rich experience in this area; he could give Xia Qing psychological counseling.