Chapter 1261: Stirring Up the Fierce Beasts Across the Entire Evolution Forest

Zhang San immediately ordered, "Deploy ten squads of eight, conduct a zone-by-zone sweep search of the perimeter of the sinkhole; deploy twelve squads equipped with snipers, issue them No. 6 bird-lure agent, lure and capture birds within the No. 5 lockdown zone — any that have lost control, eliminate immediately; any that haven't, cage them for ten hours to screen for infection."

"Copy that."

"Xin Yu, what's the approximate range of the vultures' hunting area here?"

Inside the helicopter cabin, Xin Yu — who knew bird behavior best — answered in her characteristically cool, clear voice, "Centered on the nest, the vultures' foraging area covers a fifty-kilometer radius; if they can't find food within that range, they'll expand it, but that rarely happens."

Because the vegetation in this evolution forest was dense and food was plentiful.

"Tang Heng, dispatch four reconnaissance aircraft to search for vulture nests within a fifty-kilometer radius of the sinkhole. Any dead or weakened vultures found, recover the bodies immediately; any normal vultures found, track and monitor them."

"Copy that."

Zhang San ordered again, "Helicopter, take off immediately. Move the command post to the edge of the No. 5 lockdown zone."

The No. 5 lockdown zone was the worst-hit area; the commander should have gone to the scene to direct disaster relief, but the current commander was Zhang San, whose safety mattered more than the disaster across this entire evolution forest.

Zhang Jingwu looked at Xia Qing standing behind Zhang San, hoping she would try to talk him out of it. On this helicopter, the only one who could and dared to talk the boss out of something was Xia Qing — but he found that Xia Qing had no objection whatsoever to the boss's order.

Seeing Xia Qing's attitude, Zhang Jingwu felt somewhat reassured. Although this was the territory of the southern wolf pack, he had an inexplicable feeling that Xia Qing was on familiar terms with the wolves here too.

The helicopter slowly landed within Mountain Zone 28. Zhang San ordered, "Xia Qing, take one person with you to the high ground above the sinkhole; you're responsible for protecting the sinkhole and the surrounding disaster-relief personnel. Yang Jin, in the capacity of deputy commander, go to Mountain Zone 26 to direct disaster relief."

"Yes!"

Zhang San pressed the walkie-talkie and continued issuing orders, "Luo Pei."

Hearing the commander call, inside Shed No. 4 of Mountain Zone 26, the special supervisory officer — whose eyes were covered by a black protective visor — turned and looked up at the camera.

"You pick two Hui-1 military squads and two Hui-1 combat teams, take the helicopter that's ferrying Yang Jin over, hurry to Liehuo Mountain, protect the inspection team as they conduct a thorough inspection of Liehuo's damaged warehouse, and maintain contact with Yang Jin and Wang Rujiang at all times. Which squads and teams are you picking?"

No one was better suited for this mission than Luo Pei, because many of Hui-1's military platoon and squad leaders were soldiers he had trained. And the people he picked this time were certainly all those who had a grudge against Liehuo.

Luo Pei also had a grudge against Liehuo. Setting aside the grievances between combat teams, last year he had been poisoned by the Qian-synthesis toxin Liehuo had supplied to Sufeng. Although the Azure Dragon combat team had searched everywhere for an antidote for him, and had also exchanged a large quantity of uncontaminated spring water with Xia Qing to help detoxify him, his body and evolutionary abilities were still damaged.

It wasn't until a few days ago that Xia Qing obtained new medicinal powder, and Zhang San was finally able to compound a potion that could restore his abilities to their peak.

Having received her mission, Xia Qing walked out of the command room together with Yang Jin, called Peng Jian, and headed to their assignment location.

Her idol hadn't said it explicitly just now, but Xia Qing understood her mission perfectly. She needed to reach an area with no surveillance monitoring as quickly as possible to communicate with the wolf pack, and tell them not to attack the disaster-relief personnel.

Yang Jin's mission, on the other hand, was to pry open Wang Rujiang's mouth, and remotely assist Luo Pei in prying open Liehuo's poison depot.

When the Fire Phoenix left Tent No. 4 of Mountain Zone 26, she must have said something to Wang Rujiang or made some threatening gesture, because after the Fire Phoenix left, Wang Rujiang's soul seemed to have been drained out of him.

Yang Jin was well-informed, a top-notch negotiator, and also the brigade commander of the Azure Dragon combat team — sending him to persuade Wang Rujiang was the most appropriate choice.

Xia Qing, carrying a sniper rifle, brushed past squad after squad carrying out disaster-relief missions as she climbed to the best sniping position atop the sinkhole. Once there, she immediately placed a video call to Old Four.

The reason she didn't use a walkie-talkie was that the one she'd equipped for Old Four wasn't high-end enough — the distance between the one person and one wolf had already exceeded the walkie-talkie's communication range.

"Old Four, which mountain are you on now? Mountain 22? Okay. I'm here at the big pit in Hui-1's Mountain Zone 28. Look, this is called a sinkhole…"

Peng Jian, who was protecting Xia Qing, watched her video-calling an evolved wolf and once again felt an overwhelming sense of unreality. Because even knowing it was real, Peng Jian still couldn't imagine at all what a wolf holding a phone and making a video call looked like.

After making sure Old Four understood where she was, Xia Qing told it some heavy news: "Old Four, we found one of your missing companions here. It's already dead."

This was the fifth dead companion Xia Qing had told Old Four about today.

The old wolf on the screen showed an inexpressible sorrow. Xia Qing felt no better either, but at this moment any words would be pallid, so Xia Qing gestured and got straight to the point.

"Old Four, the body of your companion was gnawed on by rodents and vultures, and the toxin has already spread. The humans need to carry out a thorough disinfection of this sinkhole area, to keep the toxin from spreading further, and to keep more wolves and small animals from being poisoned and dying. Old Four, don't let Lord Cui Yan attack us, can you do that?"

This place was already very close to Mountain 29, the core territory of the wolf pack. Large numbers of humans, helicopters, and drones operating here would disturb the wolves.

Old Four slowly bared its fangs; a muddy paw appeared on the screen, and then the call was hung up.

The straight-line distance between Hui-3's Mountain 22 and Hui-1's Mountain 28 exceeded 20 li, and there was also the noise of helicopters here, so Xia Qing couldn't hear what was happening on Mountain 22 — but Xia Qing knew Old Four must be howling in grief.

Because Xia Qing, with her evolved hearing, amid the roar of helicopters, accurately picked up the howling of wolves coming from Mountain Zone 29. From that howling, she clearly distinguished Lord Cui Yan's furious howl and the already-hoarse yelping of Scarface the young wolf.

This attack by Liehuo had caused the deaths of three adult wolves and two half-grown wolves in the southern wolf pack, leaving only 35 members. The fury of the southern wolf pack — Xia Qing heard it clearly and felt it as her own.

It wasn't only Xia Qing who heard the fury and grief of the southern wolf pack. The Blind Tiger, whose stamina had mostly recovered after taking the medicine, also heard it. This fierce tiger rushed to the highest peak of Hui-3's Mountain 36 and roared toward Mountain 22.

The tiger's roar shook the mountains and forests; birds and beasts fled in panic.

Members of the western tiger pack, hearing the Blind Tiger's howl, quickly gathered on Mountain 36 and roared in unison. The hyena pack in Hui-3's southern evolution forest, the wolf pack in the western evolution forest, the tiger pack in Hui-1's northwest, the wolf pack in the southwest, and the bear pack in the east began howling one after another.

The roars of the fierce beasts carried to the territory of the northern wolf pack. The lead wolf standing on the mountaintop also raised its head and let out a long, drawn-out howl.

The giant bear of Mountain 61 climbed up the snow mountain, stood upright, and roared furiously toward the southwest. Three giant eagles from the raptor territory in the northwest of the wolf and bear domains spread their wings and took flight, screeching as they circled above their territory.