Chapter 1558: Jackpot!

In the last two meals of Year Eleven of the Catastrophe, Xia Qing ate alone, because Seeing Xin Yu had been called away by Xie Yu to discuss luring and killing Yu Dongming.

The Azure Dragon Squad, on Mountain Thirty-Three, silently took out Deng Yufeng and the first main combat squad of the Blaze Squad that was protecting her—whose internal combat power was off the charts.

Why say "silently"?

First, the Azure Dragon Squad didn't fire a single shot or draw a single blade; second, on Mountain Thirty-Three, not even a tree branch was snapped, let alone a tree—they went in and out along beast trails, and the footprints had already been cleaned up; third, they killed eleven people whose combat power was off the charts, and not a single fierce beast in that territory made a sound!

To anyone, this would seem impossible, but the Azure Dragon Squad did it. Because they have Blue Star's strongest support: human bigshot Zhang San and evolved wolf bigshot Lao Si.

After getting the equipment from Deng Yufeng and the Blaze Squad's first team, the Azure Dragon Squad could do a lot more—like what Xie Yu is doing right now.

Although Seeing Xin Yu didn't know the Azure Dragon Squad had killed the Fire Phoenix and the Blaze Squad's first team, when she heard Xie Yu say there was a seventy percent chance of secretly luring Yu Dongming out of the safe zone, she immediately returned from Territory Three to Territory Eight to make preparations.

If possible, Seeing Xin Yu didn't want Yu Dongming to live into Year Twelve of the Catastrophe. After killing Yu Dongming, she could spend the next hundred years celebrating over meals with Xia Qing!

Although Xia Qing had no one to keep her company at dinner, she had sheep, wolf dogs, a squirrel, and a handsome giant wolf who came over for a medicinal bath—the house was lively and bustling.

After dinner, Xia Qing, as usual, ran laps around the territory with Wolf Lao Er, then went home, finished her regular training items, and added extra practice on punching speed.

Tonight, Yan Long will return to the Northern Zone One territory with Yang Jin and the others. Knowing her temper, tomorrow morning she'll definitely check whether Tan Qi and I have improved or stayed stuck in the same place over the past half year. Xia Qing didn't want to get beaten too badly tomorrow.

"Buzz—"

Hearing her work phone ring, Xia Qing stopped punching and looked—and saw an unexpected name: Duan Ziyang, captain of the Aurora Squad, ranked second in Hui Three Base.

Duan Ziyang's weary, hoarse voice carried a hint of excitement. "Sister Qing, I just got back from the front line and saw the bomb your team dropped during the battle blocking invaders in Northern Zone One—it was like a little sun, that was seriously awesome!"

As the second squad of Hui Three Base, the Aurora Squad also had to carry out the defense mission of the Red Mangrove Protection Belt. The Azure Dragon Squad was responsible for the most dangerous section, and the Aurora Squad for the second most dangerous.

An hour ago, Xia Qing had edited and submitted to Hui Three Base official the video of her leading the team to block the invader squad in the Western Evolution Forest in the early hours of today, so Duan Ziyang could openly ask Xia Qing about the incendiary bomb.

Seeing the incendiary bomb's power, nobody didn't like it. Half an hour ago, the base commander also called Xia Qing.

Xia Qing's reply to Duan Ziyang was still the same line she'd used with the base commander: "Because we discovered the invaders were carrying large backpacks and used gas bombs to take down six wolves in the Western Evolution Forest, we were worried they'd use poison gas to attack the territory, so we applied for one air incendiary bomb."

Only applied for one, already used; you want one, apply for it yourself; who did you apply to? Sorry, that's classified.

Duan Ziyang laughed. "Alright, I get it. I just love Sister Qing's straightforward temper—talking business with you is so satisfying. Sister Qing, in another three hours it'll be Year Twelve of the Catastrophe. Hope we get to work together again in the new year."

"Sure." When Xia Qing was in the safe zone, she'd gone on missions with the Aurora Squad—the kind of large-scale missions to clear the Evolution Forest near the safe zone, organized officially with over a hundred participants. Xia Qing had been assigned to the Aurora Squad's group, and Duan Ziyang was the group leader.

At that time Xia Qing was only a Level Four strength evolver, wearing a patched protective suit and carrying a patched backpack. She'd thought the Aurora captain wouldn't even notice her, but unexpectedly, he remembered.

After Xia Qing became a top sniper, when Duan Ziyang called to invite her to join the Aurora Squad, he used that joint mission they'd been on to get closer.

Although the Azure Dragon Squad and the Aurora Squad were competitors, and although Aurora Squad's Baldy Zhou was mouthy and annoying, Xia Qing's impression of Duan Ziyang was still decent. If needed, she didn't mind going on missions with him.

Duan Ziyang's call seemed to flip some switch. Over the next stretch of time, Xia Qing received over a dozen messages and calls one after another, all using New Year greetings as a pretext to trade for incendiary bombs.

Xia Qing simply tossed the constantly buzzing work phone aside and used it as a distraction source for focus training.

At eleven at night, Yan Long and the Broken-Waist Squad, and Lao Si and Yang Jin's Squad, returned to Mountain Forty-Nine one after the other. Xia Qing handed the territory over to Beard Feng's Squad and rushed off to inventory the supplies.

The first to be inventoried were the supplies brought back by the Broken-Waist Wolf and Yan Long's Squad.

This batch of seized supplies had a total value of 5.67 million credits. Xia Qing got twenty percent, the Broken-Waist Wolf forty percent, and Yan Long and Watching Huo Zhun's group forty percent.

The Broken-Waist Wolf was still the same as ever—only wanted credits. When the clock struck the end of Year Eleven of the Catastrophe, this rich wolf's personal credit total was infinitely close to 15 million!

After dividing the supplies, Watching Huo Zhun and Wu Lianmin returned to Territory Eleven for the New Year. Yan Long, who left last, discussed with Xia Qing: "In a few days, our squad's Electric Ray will be sent to Territory Eleven. I want to use these credits to ask Third Brother to treat her injuries. Does Sister Qing have the latest batch of Injury-Reducing Agent? I'd like to trade for one dose."

Electric Ray was a Jiaolong Special Forces member who retired in the same batch as Wu Lianmin and the others. The reason she retired was that a giant octopus had hurled a boulder from the sea, smashing her lower leg and foot, causing a comminuted fracture and loss of combat ability.

After Electric Ray was injured, she had surgery at the Gui Five Base inner-city hospital, and the surgery was considered successful. But a successful surgery was only the first step of a long march—the follow-up rehabilitation was crucial, and even determined the final outcome of how well her leg and foot functions would recover.

In the Catastrophe years, short on doctors and medicine, quality resources simply wouldn't be tilted toward a wounded veteran who couldn't fully recover. Yan Long had come to Northern Zone One for vacation this time, made a fortune with Watching Huo Zhun and the others, so she wanted to use these credits to trade Electric Ray a chance to stand and walk again.

"Yes, Sister Yan, I'll bring it to you tomorrow." Hearing Yan Long call her "Sister," Xia Qing's whole body ached.

"Thanks, I'll pay you credits at the price." After finishing the trade, Yan Long instructed, "We'll meet at your territory's north gate at seven tomorrow morning, then head to Mountain Forty-Nine, Area Eight, for joint training."

After speaking, Yan Long looked at Yang Jin.

Yang Jin immediately replied, "Sister Yan can train as long as she wants, no venue fee."

Nonsense! Yan Long challenged, "You and Luo Pei come too."

Yang Jin immediately nodded. "Sure, we'll be there on time. Brother Luo said long ago that once he recovered he wanted to have a match with you."

Luo Pei…

Xia Qing!!!

After Yan Long left, Xia Qing, Yang Jin, Luo Pei, Lao Si, and the Broken-Waist Wolf together inventoried the supplies Yang Jin's Squad had brought back from Mountain Thirty-Three.

As she inventoried, Xia Qing's grin stretched almost to the back of her head.