Chapter 1476: Xin Yu's Meme

Just as Xin Yu fantasized about blowing up Yu Dongming every minute, Xia Qing wished she could put a bullet into Deng Yufeng right then and send her to meet King Yama.

Deng Yufeng, who had escaped from Zhong Tao's underground laboratory, had changed her skin color by taking drugs, so people gave her the nickname "Fire Phoenix." But to Xia Qing, this person was not a phoenix—she was a bone-burrowing maggot.

So when she heard that Xin Yu wanted to cooperate with the Azure Dragon Squad to take the chance to eliminate Yu Wenchuang and Yu Dongming, Xia Qing was even more eager than she was.

The Azure Dragon Squad's boss Yang Jin had led a team to protect the mangrove forest, and the second boss Luo Pei was attending an agricultural trade fair at Bai Yi's base; neither was suitable for discussing cooperation. So Xia Qing sent Yang Jin a message, and after getting his agreement, she placed a video call to the Azure Dragon Squad's third boss Xie Yu, who was stationed in the Hui-3 safe zone.

To discuss cooperation, of course a video call was more appropriate.

Seeing Xia Qing and Xin Yu appear shoulder to shoulder on the same phone screen, Xie Yu, who was in the Azure Dragon Squad's office at their base and wasn't wearing his hat, spoke first, greeting them with a brilliant smile: "Sister Qing, Miss Xin, long time no see."

Xia Qing nodded expressionlessly. "Brother Xie, sorry for disturbing you so late."

Xin Yu had long known that Xie Yu wasn't bald, but knowing it and seeing it with her own eyes were two completely different things. Xin Yu, who was always aloof in front of others, wrote her shock plainly across her face.

The publicly appearing brain-domain evolver Xie Yu always wore a bucket hat. According to the information Xin Yu had obtained, his hats came in three colors: charcoal black, deep-sea navy, and asphalt gray. The common feature of these three colors was that they could absorb light, swallow up detail, and create a sense of gravity.

Xie Yu usually pulled the brim down very low, so people could only see his vampire-like ghastly-pale lower face. When this brain-domain evolver slowly raised his head and revealed the eyes hidden in the darkness, it made people involuntarily meet his gaze.

The first time Xin Yu saw Xie Yu at the Heavy Alliance, the moment she met his eyes, a bone-chilling fear rose in her. Xie Yu's pitch-black eyes seemed to instantly pierce through the layers of careful disguise she had built, staring straight at the secrets and weaknesses she most wanted to hide.

Even though Xie Yu hadn't released any sharp magnetic field at the time, Xin Yu still developed a near-instinctive fear of this person, instinctively wanting to avoid his gaze and put distance between them. So before the call connected, Xin Yu had already done plenty of mental preparation.

But she hadn't expected that the Xie Yu on her laptop screen had actually taken off the bucket hat that seemed welded to his head.

The number-one squad of Hui-3, the brain-domain squad captain who was like an abyss devourer, making people hold their breath just seeing him—in an instant turned into the kind of good-tempered senior who, before the Cataclysm, carried the clean scent of sunshine and laundry on his body, sweated it out on the basketball court, and smiled brightly.

The change in Xin Yu's expression was thrown into especially sharp relief by Xia Qing's utterly expressionless face.

Xie Yu apologized sincerely. "Miss Xin, I'm sorry. I took off my hat to show my sincerity about cooperating. I didn't expect to scare you again, just like the year before last."

Xin Yu quickly steadied her emotions and apologized in turn. "It's me being ignorant. Squad Captain Xie, just call me Xin Yu."

Xie Yu changed the form of address with a brilliant smile. "Sister Xin. Once Brother Luo and Brother Jin finish what they're busy with, it'll be my turn for leave at the territory. I'll definitely come visit you then. Sister Xin and Sister Qing, don't find me annoying."

Xin Yu, face perfectly aloof: has already started finding him annoying.

Xia Qing nodded and got straight to the point. "Brother Xie, Captain Yang told you, right? Xin Yu is looking for you because she wants to discuss cooperation…"

After exchanging the information each side had and laying out their respective goals, Xin Yu quickly reached a cooperation with the Azure Dragon Squad:

Through her channels, Xin Yu would leak two pieces of information to Yu Dongming. First, that the recovery factor extracted from the blood of recovery-type evolvers could raise the success rate of the evolution-ability inducer the Heavy Alliance was developing; second, that Fire Phoenix was trading blood with Quicksand in exchange for spring water.

"No matter what supplies Liehuo is currently using to trade for the unpolluted spring water in the Heavy Alliance Group's hands, after getting these two pieces of information, Yu Dongming will definitely demand that Liehuo add one more item to the trade: Fire Phoenix's blood. Fire Phoenix's greatest fear is becoming a lab subject again. As more and more of her blood is sold, her psychological defenses will grow weaker and weaker, until they collapse completely."

Xie Yu paused for a few seconds and asked Xia Qing, "Sister Qing, if Fire Phoenix throws herself at Third Brother and offers her blood as the price for his protection, will Third Brother agree?"

The blood of a recovery-type evolver was a temptation no researcher—or rather, no person—could refuse. Once Fire Phoenix was cornered and had to find herself a shelter, the top researcher Zhang San, who in the eleventh year of the Cataclysm still remarkably possessed a sense of law and morality, would become her first target.

If Zhang San agreed, Fire Phoenix could enter Territory Seven to find a chance to be reborn in blood again, and the plan the Azure Dragon Squad had been laying out for a year would fall apart completely.

Hearing Xie Yu ask this, Xia Qing's first reaction, expressionless as she was, was: Could it be that Brother Luo and Yang Jin hadn't told Xie Yu that Zhang Shi in the hidden valley was Shi Jiaran?

The top brain-domain evolver Xie Yu added in time, "With enough recovery factor in hand, Third Brother could absolutely achieve a major research breakthrough in a short time."

The meaning of those words was that he already knew about Zhang San's cooperation with Shi Jiaran.

Xia Qing nodded, didn't answer the question on her idol's behalf, but directly, in her capacity as the Alliance of Territories' leader, gave her promise: "When the time comes, I'll propose at the alliance meeting that Fire Phoenix not be allowed to enter the Northern Zone One territories."

Doesn't Fire Phoenix call herself a toxic person, threatening people with self-detonation at the drop of a hat? Whether she dares to blow herself up or not, Xia Qing would not allow her to set foot through the gate of the Northern Zone One territories and threaten the safety of this land.

Under the light, Xie Yu's smile was even more brilliant than his golden curls. "Great, Sister Qing, that really fires me up! Third Brother's refusal will cut off the last straw Fire Phoenix has in her hand. Even if she's a centipede with a hundred legs, she'll still freeze to death this winter!"

The way Xie Yu said it—was it that Fire Phoenix dying this winter meant his spring was about to come? Xia Qing fell silent.

Xie Yu looked at Xin Yu on the screen and made his promise. "Sister Xin, contact me again once your plan takes shape. The Azure Dragon Squad will give you our full support."

Xin Yu was unusually crisp. "Squad Captain Xie, do you have time tomorrow night from eight to eight-thirty?"

Xie Yu nodded. "Yes."

"Good. Uncle Ping will come visit you then, Squad Captain Xie, to nail down the details of the plan with you." After ending the call, Xin Yu, whose head was full of the plan, heard her phone go "beep."

Xia Qing had actually turned the shocked expression she'd made when seeing Xie Yu into a meme—and added text to it!

Xin Yu tossed her phone aside and reached out with her claws to scratch the fellow beside her, who was wearing a mischievous grin.