Chapter 1415: The Fire Phoenix Who Refuses to See Reason

"…Based on the intelligence above, the following three points can be confirmed:"

Short-haired and gaunt, Qu Fangzhou reported through the camera to Deng Yufeng, who sat on the blood-red sofa, and to Liao Wendong behind the desk beside her, "First, Xia Qing can mobilize evolved wolves and evolved tigers to participate in resisting beast tides and capturing human squads, which shows her control over evolved beasts has improved; second, Xia Qing's sniping skills are now no weaker than Luo Pei at his peak, which has earned her the favor of Hui-3 Base Commander, who has listed her as a key cultivation target; third, some disagreements have appeared between Professor Fu Tianfeng and Xia Qing, presumably related to Zhang Han's forced intrusion into the laboratory within Xia Qing's territory. However, these disagreements are not enough to cause a rupture in their cooperative relationship."

After finishing the intelligence analysis, hearing no response from the Fire Phoenix, Qu Fangzhou proactively asked, "Captain, shall I continue reporting on the unpolluted water source held by the Azure Dragon Squad and the Mad Sand Squad?"

"Good." The Fire Phoenix, staring at the PPT content, nodded and slowly uttered a single word.

Qu Fangzhou flipped the PPT to the next page, displaying a map with the locations of unpolluted springs within the Sea of Death circled, and began his report.

"The water source held by Azure Dragon and Mad Sand is located on a 453-square-meter island in the eastern waters of the Sea of Death, under the jurisdiction of Lan-5 Base. The spring water quality…"

Qu Fangzhou displayed overhead views of the island one by one, continuing his report, "Last March, after Yang Jin purchased two thousand liters of unpolluted spring water from Liehuo Mountain, his whereabouts were unknown for over ten days. I suspect he led a team to Lan-5 during that period, found this unpolluted water source within the Sea of Death, and secretly transported Luo Pei to Lan-5 for detoxification…"

"After Luo Pei's detoxification, the Azure Dragon Squad began purchasing fuel from Lan-5 Oil Company, transporting it back to Hui-3 to resell. The hidden purpose is suspected to be transporting unpolluted spring water. After the Azure Dragon Squad purchased a helicopter this year, they go to Lan-5 Base at least twice a month, and the supplies transported back should include unpolluted spring water."

Liehuo's combat strength has been damaged, its overall strength has declined, resources are tight, and the intelligence-gathering network is no longer as effective as before. Qu Fangzhou analyzes with limited intelligence, so more "possibly," "should be," and other imprecise statements appear in his report.

"The cordyceps fungus used by Professor Fu Tianfeng's team to produce the Jiangqi Agent should be cultivated by the Azure Dragon Squad using the unpolluted spring water they transported back. The location where they cultivate the cordyceps fungus has not yet been found. I recently obtained information from Hui-3 Base officials that Hui-3's X-2 high-yi element spinach mother plant was also discovered beside a spring in the Sea of Death…"

"Although the Azure Dragon Squad is very cautious, people frequently entering and exiting the several-hundred-square-meter island in the Sea of Death still attracted the attention of Lan-5 Base officials and squads. So the Azure Dragon Squad was forced to cooperate with the Mad Sand Squad, jointly sharing the development rights to that water source. The specific cooperation details cannot be obtained. To prevent Mad Sand Squad Captain Wu Cangsong from cooperating with you, Yang Jin is having Luo Pei actively contact Zhang San, hoping Zhang San will step in to treat Wu Cangsong's daughter."

After finishing the intelligence report, Qu Fangzhou made his analysis, "Based on the intelligence above and the current situation, we should abandon the investigation of Hui-3 Territory Three and instead cooperate with Mad Sand to fill our squad's gap in unpolluted spring water."

Cooperating with the Mad Sand Squad means drawing the Fire Phoenix's blood to exchange for spring water. Liao Wendong, sitting beside the Fire Phoenix, lowered his head to look at the key points he had recorded, quietly waiting for the captain to make her choice.

The Fire Phoenix stared at the island with its not-particularly-dense vegetation in the Sea of Death on the screen for half a minute, then spoke with conviction, "The Sea of Death has complex geological conditions, and the water contains too many harmful microorganisms, so the spring water quality on the island is not high. Based on my understanding of Yang Jin and Xie Yu, they wouldn't leave high-quality spring water unused and instead risk exploiting low-quality spring water. Therefore, the water used for Luo Pei's detoxification must be the high-quality unpolluted spring water from Territory Three."

Hearing that the captain was still stubbornly refusing to see reason, Liao Wendong no longer cared about being afraid, "Even if Territory Three has unpolluted spring water, and even if her spring water was used for Luo Pei's detoxification, we can't do anything to her right now. Xia Qing was able to develop from an ordinary construction worker to her current height in just two short years, which shows that fortune stands on her side. So after our squad goes against her, one misfortune follows another. If we keep fighting her, we'll really only be able to tie explosive packs to our bodies and go find our enemies for revenge."

Qu Fangzhou on the other end of the screen also offered her view, "'Fortune' is a fatalistic concept with no scientific basis. But Xia Qing, a multi-system advanced evolver, now holds the advantage of timing, terrain, popular support, and even beast support. Qi Zhongye and Professor Fu Tianfeng value her highly. We cannot obtain substantive support from the upper levels now. Continuing to waste energy and resources on Xia Qing is a very irrational decision."

Liao Wen nodded, agreeing with Qu Fangzhou's view. After Shan Ying's first attempt to send people to kill Xia Qing failed, he and Qu Fangzhou disagreed with sending more people to deal with Xia Qing, but Shan Ying refused to stop, and the Fire Phoenix tacitly approved her actions, which led step by step to the current passive situation.

Separated by a screen, Qu Fangzhou was not afraid of the brooding Fire Phoenix and stated it directly, "To obtain the unpolluted spring water within Xia Qing's territory, either we need solid evidence to threaten her—this path has been proven unworkable—or we need to gain her trust, cooperate with her, or directly exchange for spring water. But due to our multiple decision-making errors, our relationship with Xia Qing has already become rigid, and we cannot gain her trust in the short term. Therefore, our only remaining options for cooperation are the officials and the Mad Sand Squad."

"Captain, our unpolluted spring water reserves are only enough for one month. If we cannot obtain sufficient spring water, not only will your body have problems, but the combat strength of multiple modified squad members will also drop significantly. By then, we might not even be able to hold our position in the safe zone."

Cooperating with officials to obtain spring water, whether choosing Hui-1, Hui-2, or Hui-5, carries greater risk and more restrictive conditions than cooperating with Mad Sand.

After a full two minutes of silence, the Fire Phoenix finally spoke hoarsely, "Wendong, begin making contact with the Mad Sand Squad and see how much spring water we can get; Sister Qu, how is the investigation at Hui-5 Research Institute going?"

Qu Fangzhou reported, "Because of us, Hui-5 Research Institute just lost a researcher. I am searching again for a cooperative partner and cannot obtain substantive investigation progress before the new year. On the Hui-3 side, we've lost another covert line and urgently need to add points to discover new information-gathering channels."

The Fire Phoenix nodded. After closing the video conference, she leaned back on the sofa, stared at the mottled ceiling, and murmured, "The first time I saw Xia Qing, I knew I couldn't cooperate with her, because she's the same type as Professor Fu Tianfeng…"

The captain suddenly revealed such a vulnerable side in front of him, and Liao Wendong felt a creeping sense of horror. He didn't dare to move, listening silently.

The Fire Phoenix seemed to fall into reminiscence, and after a long while gave the order, "Qu Fangzhou has long since not been of one mind with us. The intelligence she provides now cannot be fully trusted. Contact Fu Shusong, have him slowly take over the existing information channels from Qu Fangzhou's hands, and have him continue to keep a close eye on Xia Qing—there will definitely be surprises. You can start with Territory Four and the Hu Zifeng squad that frequently enters and exits Territory Three, slowly infiltrating, don't alert the enemy."

Liao Wendong acknowledged and asked, "Captain, should we still contact Mad Sand?"

The Fire Phoenix nodded, "Contact them. Before finding better-quality spring water, use theirs to get by. Once you figure out the cooperation details between Azure Dragon and Mad Sand, kick Azure Dragon out, win over Mad Sand, and occupy that water source."

"Yes."