Chapter 1256: Destroying Fierce Fire Mountain

The hurried footsteps had faded, but the atmosphere in the conference room remained taut. Xie Ping had been on speakerphone just now, so everyone present had heard clearly what had happened.

A bald attendee was about to speak when another phone rang in the conference room.

This time it was Gao Jian, the newly appointed deputy base commander and the highest-ranking leader of Hui-1's military department.

Zhang San knew Hui-1's situation very well. He knew that although Xie Ping was the base commander, she was in charge of civil affairs, not military matters.

Zhang San issued orders one by one, mobilizing over three hundred members of Hui-1's special ops and combat teams to take part in the disaster relief.

After Gao Jian left the conference room, the bald man who had wanted to speak earlier immediately opened his mouth. "Base Commander, Professor Fu Tianfeng is definitely trying to use this opportunity to weaken Hui-1 Base's strength again."

The former deputy director of Hui City Research Institute, Fu Tianfeng, now the commander of Hui-3 No. 7 Territory, Zhang San, rarely appeared in public or spoke, but every time he did, something major happened.

The time before last he appeared, he exposed Hui-1's underground experimental projects to the light of day, leading to a massive shake-up of senior officials at Hui City Main Base and Hui-1 Base.

His last public appearance, he reported to Red City Main Base that Hui-1 Base's Peng Yuancai had escaped from prison and continued committing crimes of conducting illegal experiments, leading to Peng Yuancai's execution by death penalty, and the downfall of more than twenty officials including Hui-1 Base Commander Chen Dianming and Research Institute Deputy Director Kang Lian.

Now that he's appeared as commander this time, how big a storm will he stir up, how many officials will he topple, how many positions will be vacated?

Everyone in the conference room had their own thoughts and could no longer sit still.

Another person, gauging the expression on the main base commander's face, spoke up. "Minister Wang, you exaggerate. Professor Fu has already made it clear that the crisis was triggered by the mishandling of the toxic gas leak at Fierce Fire Mountain, and he has requested that the commander from the last disaster relief operation report for duty. So his target this time is very clear."

"Director Zhang is right. Fu Tianfeng strongly advocates reducing the impact of human activity on the Evolution Forest and maintaining its ecological balance. He doesn't want to magnify this incident. His main goal is to stop the toxin from spreading through the Evolution Forest as quickly as possible and preserve the ecological balance."

"..."

After the conference room had been in an uproar for over ten minutes, the main base commander spoke again. "Who was the disaster relief commander for the Fierce Fire Mountain toxic gas leak incident on October 24?"

The secretary standing behind him immediately answered, "It was Fierce Fire Squad researcher and plant genetic engineering specialist Wang Rujiang."

Wang Rujiang? Heard of him, seems to be from some research institute in Hui City. Who he is doesn't matter. What matters now is how to handle this incident.

Someone put forward a suggestion. "Base Commander, I think we can seize this opportunity to have Hui-1 Base cooperate once again with Professor Fu's research team, and invite him to serve as technical consultant for Hui-1 Pharmaceutical Factory."

"Right! Let Hui-1 actively cooperate with the disaster relief, invite Professor Fu's research team back, and give them the best research conditions and ample funding!"

As the atmosphere in the conference room grew more and more heated, Xia Qing, who had just finished her mission in Mountain Zone 22 and was heading to rendezvous with Zhang Song, received a call from her idol and was so startled she nearly fell off the giant wolf's back.

"Third Brother, why did you come personally?!"

Zhang San asked coldly, "If I don't come, who takes charge of on-site command? Yang Jin, or you standing behind his back?"

Her idol thought far too highly of her. Xia Qing really hadn't planned to step up herself.

"The people who used the poison were caught? Who were they?"

"Six people in total, all eliminated. Yang Jin confirmed they were all members of the Fierce Fire Squad."

If Fierce Fire were in its prime, it definitely wouldn't have sent its own squad members to carry out a mission like this. Now only four blue-skinned wanderers remain, having vanished without a trace. The Fierce Fire Squad, far weaker than before, couldn't rely on outside help, so they had to act themselves.

Or perhaps Fierce Fire thought their plan was extremely airtight: use a gas Xia Qing didn't recognize to confuse the evolution wolves, then fire poisoned needles. The poisoned evolution wolves would die and be discovered by humans, which could be perfectly blamed on the aftermath of the toxic gas leak. That's why they sent their own people.

Zhang San, aboard the helicopter, asked coldly, "Killed them all?"

"Third Brother, they were intruders who broke into the southern wolf pack's territory and poisoned its members. If we hadn't killed them, it would have triggered an even bigger conflict."

Xia Qing had wanted to keep one alive for interrogation, but the old wolf was adamant. The distant ones Xia Qing sniped, the close ones it took on itself. Not one left alive.

Only after killing this group of humans did the old wolf agree to follow Xia Qing's next arrangements.

"The poisoned needle cartridges are on their bodies—solid evidence. The wolf pack is currently guarding the corpses, waiting for you to send people to 'discover' them. So whether these six live or die doesn't affect the big picture. Fierce Fire must be punished by law this time. I've fitted the old wolf with an earpiece-type walkie-talkie. From now on, all members of the southern wolf pack will obey the commander's orders."

"Third Brother, this time we must completely destroy Fierce Fire Mountain and drive the Fierce Fire Squad back to the safe zone. Also, can we get the southern wolf pack's territory from Hui-1 and incorporate it into Hui-3 Base?"

Otherwise, after this incident, the southern wolf pack's situation would become even more dangerous.

Zhang San didn't respond, and directly gave the order. "You command the wolf pack. Rendezvous with Zhang Song within sixteen minutes, get on the helicopter, and pretend you came here with me."

"Copy that."

Xia Qing's close-combat ability couldn't compare with the special ops soldiers protecting Zhang San, but this was the wolf pack's territory. Only when Xia Qing was with Zhang San would the wolf pack not identify him as an enemy.

The news that Fu Tianfeng had taken up the post of cross-base disaster relief commander and was personally heading to the disaster site quickly spread through both bases. Most people were thrilled, a very few were uneasy.

On Fierce Fire Mountain, the three Fierce Fire squad captains, including Fire Phoenix, barely let go of their phones, and every member of Fierce Fire Mountain was busy as a top.

"Still can't reach them? Where was their last location?"

A team member answered, "Mountain 22, Peak 3, in the territory of that gray-eyed old wolf. The northern wolf pack's wolf king is gathering members—it's likely they've already discovered the evolution wolves that died from the poison."

Fire Phoenix ordered coldly, "Detonate the explosives on them."

"Copy that."

"Copy that, one moment."

Liao Wendong looked up at Fire Phoenix. "Captain, Fu Tianfeng has ordered the disaster relief commander from the 24th toxic gas leak to bring the disaster relief report and arrive at Hui-1 Mountain 26 within one hour. The Research Institute's investigation team will reach our location within twenty minutes to survey the toxic gas leak. They'll be carrying monitoring equipment and will transmit the survey footage to Fu Tianfeng in real time."

Fire Phoenix looked at the other vice-captain.

Qu Fangzhou hung up the phone and quickly analyzed the information already in hand. "The main base's disaster prevention deployment meeting hasn't ended yet. The six people we've contacted are all passing the buck. Based on the text information they've provided, we can initially confirm two points: first, Hui-3 has already reached a deep cooperation with Fu Tianfeng, which is why the Hui-3 base commander is fully supporting Fu Tianfeng's actions; second, Hui City Main Base and Hui-1 will fully cooperate with Fu Tianfeng's disaster relief and push our squad to the front line to take the brunt. Third, Fu Tianfeng's main purpose in transferring Wang Rujiang isn't disaster relief—he wants to get information related to us from him. Captain, our best option right now is: fully cooperate with the commander's disaster relief, get first-hand disaster relief intelligence, and shut Wang Rujiang's mouth."

Listening to a research lunatic and going against Hui City Main Base—Qi Zhongye, this base commander, won't last many more days either.

Fire Phoenix drank a black potion, stood up unhurriedly. "You two keep an eye on the investigation team the Research Institute sends. I'll take Wang Rujiang to see Fu Tianfeng."

?? Thanks to readers Susan, Lu Cong Jin Ye Bai, Shan Lan~, October's Waxing Crescent Moon, 心事如蓮V, 4851 for their tips to this book; thanks to reader 汀蘭岸芷 for the tips to Third Brother, Her Majesty, and Fourth Brother; thanks to reader 6455 for the tips to Wolf Lao Er, Fourth Brother, and Handsome Wolf Bro; thanks to everyone for your subscriptions, votes, and comments.

? (End of this chapter)