Chapter 1163: Defend the Territory

When Xia Qing could see black dots appearing in the northern sky, Li Xuanyu's voice came through her earpiece walkie-talkie: "The flock has reached the airspace above Mountain 49, flying altitude 3,500 meters above the peak."

3,500 meters—beyond the attack range of the territory's human snipers and ordinary weapons. The spot-billed ducks had dragged the giant raptors along—were they trying to get humans to deal with these two raptors? Do spot-billed ducks really have that high an IQ?

Battle-experienced Yang Jin immediately ordered, "Mustache Feng, increase altitude vertically by 2,000 meters."

"Copy!" Mustache Feng immediately pulled the helicopter up.

A dozen seconds later, Xia Qing heard the birds' piercing cries she'd just heard through her earpiece, saw feathers drifting down from the sky, and finally saw clearly how the spot-billed ducks were tangling with raptors whose wingspans were over ten times their size.

Saying "tangling" wasn't quite right. The flock of spot-billed ducks had formed a wave-shaped dense defensive formation, attacking the raptors with high-frequency "ga-ga" sound waves. At the same time, over a dozen ducks in the flock that were clearly twice the size and noticeably much faster than the rest kept trying to use their not-very-sharp beaks to tear at the flight feathers on the two raptors' wings, leading the flock in a fighting retreat.

Flight feathers, also known as remiges—lose a few and a bird can no longer maintain balance in the air; lose a large number and it will plummet from the sky. Those two raptors were agile too, dodging the ducks' attacks while pursuing them.

Clearly, these two raptors had been enraged by prey that dared to fight back, which was why they'd chased all the way across the wolves' territory to the airspace above the human territory. They'd flown here partly because of the wind direction, and partly because this was the spot-billed ducks' migration route to begin with.

Li Xuanyu reported again, "The spot-billed ducks' altitude has dropped to 3,000 meters. Based on direction, their target is the reservoir in Territory Three."

Spot-billed ducks can dive underwater for dozens of seconds to evade predators.

Xia Qing aimed at the fastest, largest, loudest-calling spot-billed duck, waiting for Yang Jin's command.

North of the Territory Three reservoir, inside the buffer forest, were her two breeding greenhouses.

In the pond beside the reservoir, she raised Green Lantern spring fish.

South of the reservoir were two greenhouses and two large sheds. One greenhouse raised Green Lantern mealworms and grew Green Lantern sweet potatoes; another was full of flowering Green Lantern plants and housed Green Lantern bees. Of the two large sheds, one was propagating fig cuttings and the other was planted with cotton.

All of these were vital supplies Xia Qing depended on to survive—she absolutely could not let these birds destroy them!

"Aoo—woo—" Wolf Lao Er in Territory Three had also spotted the flock and threw back his head in an angry howl.

Yang Jin ordered calmly, "Mustache Feng, fly at full speed to above the Territory Three reservoir, drop altitude to 1,300 meters, intercept the flock. Territory Seven, ground snipers, hold fire for now."

"Copy." Mustache Feng pushed the helicopter to top speed, arriving above Territory Three ahead of the flock, hovering over the reservoir. All four snipers raised their weapons and aimed at the birds.

Yang Jin ordered, "Snipers and machine gunners in the helicopter: wait for my attack command. Xia Qing, take out those three fastest evolved spot-billed ducks. Cao Ping, eliminate the two raptors. Everyone else, fire by zone."

"Copy." Xia Qing replied calmly. At this distance, sniping evolved spot-billed ducks was harder than the raptors. She was the top sniper—of course she had to take on the toughest sniping task.

"Copy." Cao Ping, Yang Jin's squad's senior sniper, replied, his muzzle aimed at the raptors.

"Copy." The other snipers and machine gunners replied, bullets chambered, awaiting the attack command.

Li Xuanyu reported, "The flock's descent speed is increasing. Target changed to the pond in Zone Three of Mountain 49."

Perhaps the helicopter, perhaps the wolves' howling in Territory Three, had made the flock change direction.

There were no fields or houses near the Zone Three pond on Mountain 49, but Yang Jin wasn't sure whether that pond contained animals or equipment that might be harmed if the birds crashed into it. He asked, "Sister Qing?"

Xia Qing replied, "Let them crash down."

Yang Jin ordered, "Snipers and machine gunners, standby. Helicopter, hold current altitude."

"Ga-ga—"

The lead spot-billed duck let out a loud, differently-pitched cry, folded its wings, and dove like an arrow straight toward the bright pond below. The flock followed suit, folding their wings and plunging straight down.

The two raptors pursued relentlessly, diving down after them.

Wolf Lao Er in Territory Three leaped over the wire fence, charged to the pond at Wolf Valley, blocked the wolf den, and howled furiously, calling for his packmates. The two evolved wolves recuperating inside the den also ran out, spread into formation, and howled together.

The evolved wolves on Mountain 52 heard their packmates' cries and immediately joined in howling. The wolf pack that had been running on the ground, keeping pace with the flock's direction, sped up and charged toward Mountain 49.

The pond, less than five mu in area, was blown into a boiling frenzy by over four hundred spot-billed ducks. The wild boars and small animals in the valley fled in panic.

Little Flat-Top, who had been sleeping, twisted awake, rolled into the valley without hesitation, stood at the pond's edge baring his little teeth, and together with the three evolved forest wolves roared at the two giant raptors perched in the big tree.

Xia Qing on the helicopter suggested, "Captain Yang, before the raptors attack into the territory, we'd better not initiate."

"Understood." What came next was a battle between the wolf pack and the raptors.

Li Xuanyu, in charge of reconnaissance, reported, "Eight wolves from the northern pack have charged into Zone Six of Mountain 49."

Xia Qing shifted her gaze to watch the wolf pack sprinting through the evolved forest.

To humans, Mountain 49 belonged to the Azure Dragon Squad; to the wolves, Mountain 49 was their outer territory. Birds squabbling and fighting in the sky was none of their business, but once the flock landed in the wolves' territory, they became the wolves' prey. For raptors to hunt here was to steal the wolves' prey.

This—was a declaration of war against the wolf pack!

The lead wolf, first to reach the battlefield, leaped into the valley and went straight for the largest invading raptor in the big tree. Handsome Giant Wolf, Broken-Waist Wolf, Black Wolf, Broken-Leg Wolf, Broken-Leg Girl and other main force wolves followed closely behind.

The two raptors let out high-frequency shrieks like metal scraping glass, spread their wings and took off, dodging the wolves' attack.

The lead wolf landed, threw back his head and howled furiously. The dozen-plus wolves that had followed landed and joined the lead wolf in howling, defending their territory.

Nearby birds and beasts scattered. The spot-billed ducks stayed motionless underwater. The human territory fell silent.

At a moment like this, the helicopter's roar might be taken as humans provoking both the raptors and the wolves. The consequence of angering both sides was them stopping their fight to attack humans together—this had happened several times before.

The Azure Dragon team members looked at Yang Jin, waiting for his order to retreat.

Xia Qing, holding her rifle, requested, "Captain Yang, can the helicopter climb to the same altitude as the raptors?"

"Affirmative. Mustache Feng."

"Copy!"

"Holy—!"

Tang Huai in Territory Two cried out in shock, "Raptors versus fierce beasts in a standoff—what is the Azure Dragon Squad doing? Joining the fight?"

Wu Lianmin, guarding the edge of Territory Twenty, frowned. "Yang Jin's not on the helicopter?"

Di Ming, guarding the passage outside Territory Twenty-Three with Huo Zhun, asked, "Hammer?"

Even if Yang Jin were on the helicopter, his word wouldn't count, because the battlefield was in Zone Three of Mountain 49—that's Xia Qing's turf. That helicopter tied to bird claws belongs to Xia Qing, and the wolf pack is our ally!

But Huo Zhun could only play dumb right now. "Huh? I don't know…"