Chapter 1552: The Fallen Fire Phoenix

The hand gripping the glass went bone-white at the knuckles from the force, the veins on the back of the hand slowly turning a dangerous shade of red, but her voice remained calm as she asked, "Was it you who leaked Huo Ting's squad's whereabouts to Xia Qing?"

Qu Fangzhou reiterated his position once more, "As vice-captain of the Blaze Squad, I have never done a single thing against the Blaze Squad's interests. The ones who spotted them should have been the tamed birds from Territory Eight."

Fire Phoenix didn't believe it, her voice cold enough to drip icicles, "Huo Ting's squad was moving through dense forest; there's no way tamed birds could have spotted them."

Qu Fangzhou offered a reasonable deduction, "They probably ran into evolved wolves on their way and clashed with them, which drew the tamed birds' attention."

Fire Phoenix took a deep breath, hung up, switched phones, and continued her questioning, "Who went out to intercept them? Xia Qing?"

Qu Fangzhou answered, "As of now, we haven't received detailed intel from the interception squad. It's reasonable to assume Xia Qing is among them."

No intel received? Fire Phoenix laughed coldly, "The fighting ended over two hours ago. How could you possibly not have intel?"

Qu Fangzhou reminded her, "Captain, the moles we planted in Northern Sector One and inside the Azure Dragon Squad—six of them have already been purged. The three moles still unexposed are all at the bottom level of the territory or squad; they can't access high-level intel or transmit it outward in time."

Fire Phoenix could no longer contain her fury and smashed the glass onto the ground, shattering it to pieces.

The sound carried out of the cave. On the surface, the old wolf's ears swiveled, and the sound-wave curve on the screen in front of Xie Yu visibly trembled.

Qu Fangzhou reminded her, "Captain, you're currently inside the Evolution Forest. Making abnormal noise could attract the attention of evolved animals with sharp hearing."

"Hah!"

Fire Phoenix stood up and crushed the glass shards underfoot with her protective boots, the screeching sound making the scalps of the two Blaze intel operatives beside Qu Fangzhou prickle.

"Qu, drop that fake, disgusting face of yours! Huo Ting and his people are experienced—they wouldn't have startled a wolf pack on the move. You leaked their whereabouts on purpose, didn't you? Just to cut off any chance of me cooperating with Professor Fu Tianfeng and force me into working with Blue Blood? Dream on! I'd rather blow myself to bits than partner with Blue Blood!"

Fire Phoenix's roar traveled not only through electromagnetic waves into Qu Fangzhou's ears, but also into the ears of the three Azure Dragon Squad captains and the former South Wolf King, Fourth.

Qu Fangzhou calmly reminded her, "Captain, even if you succeed today in killing Xia Qing, blowing up Northern Sector One, and abducting the descendant of the regeneration ability evolver you suspect—stripping Professor Fu Tianfeng of his foothold on that land—he still won't choose to cooperate with you. He'll hand you over to the authorities. Then you'll become a bargaining chip in a multi-party game. No matter how they divide the spoils, your end will be the same: confined and placed under tight surveillance."

Fire Phoenix's heavy breathing traveled through electromagnetic waves into Qu Fangzhou's ears, fully exposing her emotional turmoil.

After laying out to Fire Phoenix why her deduction didn't hold, Qu Fangzhou went on to rebut her second point, "You won't kill yourself, because you're a rare ability evolver with a lifespan of over a hundred years—your future still holds infinite possibilities. And your personality makes it impossible for you to live as a human wanderer cut off from the world, the way Shi Jiaran does. So cooperating with Blue Blood is the best choice available to you right now."

"Smack!"

Fire Phoenix could take no more and smashed her phone, her ragged breathing echoing through the cave.

Xie Yu took out his phone, about to use text to communicate the situation with Yang Jin's side, when Yang Jin's voice came through the walkie-talkie, "Fourth Brother, move away from where Deng Yufeng is hiding; Xie Yu, take down Deng Yufeng."

"Woof." The old wolf led the wolf pack in retreating and responded to Yang Jin through the walkie-talkie.

Xie Yu tapped his protective mask lightly in acknowledgment, then uncapped the vial and released a powerful anesthetic through the ventilation hole of the secret chamber into the underground room where Deng Yufeng was hiding.

Based on the sound, Deng Yufeng was hiding in an underground chamber at least forty meters below the surface, with several pinhole cameras hidden in the surrounding trees—any unusual movement would be detected by Fire Phoenix.

Her hiding spot was extremely well chosen. If it weren't for the Blaze's keen-nosed Tibetan Mastiff recognizing Fire Phoenix's scent, Xie Yu's group could have walked past the outside a dozen times and still never have discovered the Fire Phoenix hiding underground.

Once her location was found and it was confirmed she was hiding alone in the cave, things became easy.

While Fire Phoenix was on the phone with Qu Fangzhou, Xie Yu—who was skilled in network and communications tech—hacked the local surveillance system and moved within a hundred meters of Fire Phoenix in a straight line.

The colorless, odorless powerful anesthetic the boss had prepared quickly evaporated into the air and entered the underground chamber through the ventilation holes.

The moment Fire Phoenix, standing in the chamber, felt dizzy, she looked at the surveillance screen showing nothing abnormal and was seized by a great sense of panic. But the hand she raised didn't press the self-destruct button on her chest; instead, it pressed the alarm button on her left wristwatch.

"Bzzt—bzzt—"

As Fire Phoenix collapsed, the chamber's early-warning system finally sounded, alerting her that her communications had been cut off. But by then, Fire Phoenix could no longer hear anything.

After confirming Fire Phoenix was unconscious, Xie Yu immediately ordered, "Dive into the underground chamber passage and break open the stone door!"

"Yes, sir!" The members of Xie Yu's squad who had already changed into diving suits slipped through the broken ice hole into the underground river—the only passage leading to the chamber where Fire Phoenix was hiding.

How did Xie Yu know? Of course, the captain of this mission squad told him!

How did the captain know? Of course, the local lord told him!

Who is the local lord? An evolved wolf!

Who is the captain of the mission squad? Another evolved wolf!

Having changed into his diving suit, Xie Yu couldn't help getting excited again.

"Boss, the opening is here!"

After Xie Yu advanced through the pitch-black underground river for three minutes and surfaced, the advanced-smell evolver squad member who had entered the underground river first had already found the entrance to the stone cave where Fire Phoenix was hiding, his voice equally thrilled.

After quickly examining the structure of the sturdy iron door, Xie Yu calmly ordered, "Use hydraulic minimally invasive demolition to break the door—quickly!"

"Got it." As the team members prepared quickly, someone asked in a low voice, "Boss, will the noise from breaking the door be noticed by Huo Zhen's squad?"

That was the Blaze's number-one squad in overall combat strength—both their weaponry and individual combat ability were top-tier.

Xie Yu quickly used his instrument to pick the breach point and signaled the team to start here, "In principle, no. Even if they hear it, they can't get here. Here—quickly!"

Yang Jin and Luo Pei had already led their teams and locked down the positions of every member of Huo Zhen's squad. In terms of combat power, Yang Jin's and Luo Pei's squads might not be able to beat Huo Zhen's squad, but today, they didn't need to fight at all.

Because Huo Zhen's squad would soon be killing themselves.