Chapter 1405: Unexpected Harvest

After leaving the cave where the wolf pack had been hiding from the Calamity Snow, Xia Qing didn't rush to the rendezvous point. Instead, she walked forward along the valley for a stretch and stopped beside a small pond whose surface had already frozen over.

When she had passed through here earlier with the old wolf, Xia Qing had used her magnetic-sense evolution ability to pick up a fairly distinct, gentle magnetic field.

The sniping mission was complete, and the wolf pack was out of danger. Estimating the time, she figured Er Yong would need another twenty minutes to finish sampling and return, so Xia Qing decided to dig up this Yi-element creature that could emit a gentle magnetic field during the Calamity Snow period, bring it back to Territory Seven, and trade it for some delicious green vegetables to bring home for the boss.

The Evolution Forest was a world of ice and snow, making it impossible to gather fresh green-light plant leaves. The vegetables at Center Nine had all been tasted by the boss, and only the new varieties cultivated in the standardized greenhouses of Territory Seven could give Sheep Boss a fresh taste. Forgive Xia Qing for going out on missions during this dangerous period and entrusting the territory to him for protection.

Xia Qing stood quietly in the wind and snow, eyes closed, concentrating on sensing. She quickly confirmed the core location of the magnetic field: about two meters below the frozen water's surface, the same spot she had passed earlier.

This creature might be the rhizome of a plant growing in the mud at the bottom of the pond, a frog hibernating at the bottom, or fish gathered at the bottom in a near-dormant state.

Once the pond's surface freezes, the water temperature beneath the ice stabilizes at around 4°C, forming a relatively constant-temperature "shelter" in the water.

Xia Qing had dug out many such shelters during winter collection missions with her team in the nine years before the Calamity.

To dig out such a shelter, you either dig a deep pit or trench beside it to drain the pond's water first, or you directly pry open the ice cover and use a net to scoop, or have someone put on a diving suit and jump in to feel around.

Xia Qing wasn't a strong swimmer—she was the one responsible for digging pits—but this pond couldn't be drained that way. Because, relying on her excellent hearing evolution ability, Xia Qing confirmed that this pond was connected to the stream beside it, so the water inside couldn't be fully drained.

Xia Qing pulled a folding pry bar from her backpack, straightened it, tightened it, then broke through the ice and pried off the ice layer, which was only two centimeters thick. Then she lowered the net meant for catching Yi Snakes into the water and scooped hard.

With the target already locked by her magnetic-sense evolution ability, every scoop hit true.

Xia Qing lifted the net a short way up, shook it a few times in the pond water to knock off the mud and sand, and discovered that the creature emitting the Yi-element magnetic field was actually a bullfrog weighing over four jin.

Over four jin exceeded the weight of an ordinary bullfrog, making it an evolved one among bullfrogs. If it weren't the hibernation season, Xia Qing definitely couldn't have caught it with a net.

She couldn't pull the bullfrog straight out into the air now. The temperature was too low, and even though this bullfrog was an evolved one, it could very likely die from frostbite or suffocation from dehydration.

Xia Qing first took out a small temperature-controlled transport box with an adjustable-temperature battery from her backpack, turned it on and set the temperature to 4°C, then stuffed the transport box into an insulated bag made of three layers: thickened aluminum film, polymer insulating pearl cotton, and a waterproof outer layer.

After preparing the container, Xia Qing took out a thickened plastic bag, dipped it into the water to fill it with an appropriate amount of water, then reached into the water, grabbed the hibernating bullfrog, and stuffed it into the bag so it wouldn't be exposed to the bitter cold air. Then Xia Qing lifted the bag out of the water, quickly stuffed it into the transport box, closed the lid, sealed the insulated bag, and packed it into her backpack.

This bullfrog fit perfectly into the space in Xia Qing's backpack where she kept her pollution-free spring water. Very good, very complete—Xia Qing could almost see the kindly smile on her idol's face.

After packing up her tools and shouldering her backpack, Xia Qing turned and waved goodbye to the seven wolves watching her from inside the cave, then left the valley and headed to the rendezvous point. After Er Yong returned, the two of them went back together to Hui One, Mountain Twenty-Six.

Although the mission was over, the helicopter was still parked over there, so Xia Qing had to go back.

When the two of them reached the vicinity of the Mountain Twenty-Six command post, they happened to run into Yang Jin, who was hurrying back. Yang Jin also spotted Xia Qing and quickened his pace to meet her.

As he walked, he made a clearly audible "squeak, squeak." This wasn't the sound of protective boots crunching snow, but the sound made when the dark brown bloodstains and mud on his protective suit, frozen by the low temperature, shifted with his movement—a sound unique to the bitter cold.

The protective suit of the commander who had led the Third Disaster-Elimination Echelon to annihilate the beast tide could no longer be recognized for its original camouflage pattern.

In the eyes of humans struggling on the edge of survival and death during the Calamity years, cleanliness is meaningless; strength is the supreme aesthetic. So in everyone's view, Yang Jin, covered in grime, was just as breathtakingly handsome as Xia Qing with her sniper rifle on her back.

Yang Jin strode up to Xia Qing and Er Yong. "Sister Qing, did you get the sample?"

Xia Qing nodded. She could tell Yang Jin's voice was hoarser than when he had left the territory that morning. That was normal, because he hadn't rested since yesterday afternoon.

After confirming Xia Qing was in good shape, Yang Jin discussed with her, "The helicopter can't take off yet. After you clean your protective suit, head to the 'Preliminary Weapon Maintenance' tent over there to maintain your sniper rifle, then go rest for a bit in the commander's tent?"

The beast tide had been eliminated. If it weren't for the current period of extremely high atmospheric Calamity-element content, Hui Three's disaster-elimination personnel would already be using helicopters to transport the harvested beast hides and prey back.

Now, they could only wait. Apart from the logistics team members cleaning the prey and the sentries on duty, everyone else returned to their tents to rest and reorganize.

Xia Qing's protective suit was still relatively clean, so she finished before Yang Jin in the tent dedicated to cleaning and disinfecting the outer protective suit, and entered the adjacent Preliminary Weapon Maintenance tent, where the temperature was below zero, to first de-ice her sniper rifle.

For a sniper, the sniper rifle is a soulmate that achieves absolute rapport after a thousand calibrations and ten thousand refinements. After every battle, snipers maintain their rifles with great care, ensuring this soulmate is in peak condition.

The four disaster-resistance team members in the tent, who were maintaining their blades or guns, saw Xia Qing come in and immediately stood up in unison.

"Sister Qing."

"Sister Qing."

After the members of the Azure Dragon Squad greeted her, two members of the End Road Squad and one military soldier also followed suit.

Xia Qing's outstanding combat achievements today had already spread, and seeing her in person now, everyone was very excited.

Xia Qing nodded and greeted everyone, picked an empty spot to sit down, took out a dry soft-bristle brush, and brushed away the accumulated snow and floating ice from the rifle's surface and from the gaps in the ejection port, magazine well, and safety mechanism.

She was so focused that the four people in the tent didn't dare speak and disturb her, but they all secretly watched her every move. Some stared at her gun-maintenance technique, while others watched her herself.

A male evolver from the End Road Squad kept sneaking glances at Xia Qing. It was a rare chance to see this newly-elevated top-tier sniper up close—so her eyes were this pretty, and her eyelashes this thick and this long…

Being in the same tent with three strangers carrying weapons put Xia Qing's vigilance at its highest, so she naturally noticed these people observing her.

This environment made Xia Qing feel very insecure. She sped up, finished the preliminary maintenance of her rifle, and left the tent.

Her helicopter was parked over thirty meters away. The cabin door was open, and a dozen or so disaster-elimination personnel were carrying animal carcasses inside.

Today's harvest was abundant, and every transport tool had to be utilized to get the relatively intact animal carcasses back as quickly as possible.

Unable to return to the helicopter, Xia Qing ducked into the double-layered tent next door labeled "Commander's Rest Area." The commander was busy, so this place was the quietest and safest.

The double-layered tent, set up on the leeward side with its outer and inner layers separated, had good insulation. So although there was no heating equipment inside, the temperature in the tent could reach a cool-but-not-cold 3°C.

It wasn't that Hui Three Base and the Azure Dragon Squad were stingy and refused to equip front-line disaster-resistance team members with heating equipment. Rather, based on physiology, physics, and tactical needs, keeping disaster-resistance team members in a "cool" environment allowed them to recover efficiently while remaining combat-ready.

In this state, the team members in the tent could fully gear up and re-enter combat within 1-2 minutes at any time.

Tents with higher temperatures certainly existed, but those were for personnel who were injured, lost combat ability, and couldn't be sent back to the safe zone in time. Every disaster-resistance team member didn't want to rest in there.

After entering the tent, Xia Qing took off her outer protective suit, folded it, and set it aside. She took out a lint-free cloth and special gun oil and continued maintaining her sniper rifle.

After Yang Jin disinfected his protective suit, he first went to the command tent to finish his work, then returned to the commander's tent. When he unzipped the inner tent and saw Xia Qing sitting quietly inside, cleaning her rifle, a deep sense of satisfaction welled up in his heart.

After jointly repelling the beast tide, they could rest in the same tent with all four limbs intact.

How wonderful.