Chapter 1586: Retreat

"Swoosh—"

The furious crows hadn't lost their reason. White-Eye Crow led its companions in dodging the fake bird that attacked its own kind, weaving through the forest, and soon called in a powerful neighbor—a giant eagle with a wingspan exceeding six meters.

The giant eagle soared high in the sky, crying majestically. Xia Qing stared at the big bird for a few seconds, then exhaled in relief.

Good, this one was real.

Inside the helicopter parked in a sheltered spot at the edge of Mountain Domain 87, Er Yong gripped his gun and stared at the giant eagle circling overhead, so tense he didn't dare take a single deep breath.

"…Before Qing-jie cut the signal, she said she'd found a weapon that fires laser beams. We're currently out of contact." Hu Zifeng was reporting the latest situation to Brigade Commander Yang Jin.

Yang Jin hadn't expected that when Xia Qing led the team over to beat the grass and startle the snake, she'd hit the snake's body with one stick. "You two hold position where you are. Even if attacked by raptors, do not fight back. Whatever you do, don't provoke the raptors, or Xia Qing's squad will be in even greater danger."

Hu Zifeng replied, "Boss, Qing-jie said that if raptors attack, Er Yong and I should fly the helicopter toward Lan Five Base, loop around in a big circle, then fly back to Northern Zone One territory."

Yang Jin was silent for two seconds. "Carry out Xia Qing's orders."

"Copy that." Hu Zifeng paused, holding back the words asking the brigade commander to send people to support them.

Xia Qing always knew exactly how far to go. Since she hadn't called for support, the Azure Dragon Battle Team couldn't take it upon themselves to send out a squad.

Hu Zifeng took a deep breath, gripped his gun, and stared at the giant eagle circling overhead. His mission was to protect this helicopter, which was tied to two giant eagle claws!

If the helicopter got damaged by the giant eagle, Qing-jie probably wouldn't do anything to him and Er Yong, but the Northern Head Wolf and the Broken-Waist Wolf would definitely curse them up and down, then slap a "unreliable, can't cooperate" label on the two of them.

"Swoosh—"

The giant eagle spread its wings, gliding over the helicopter's parking spot, circling above the Sichuan pepper tree. White-Eye Crow took off from the Evolution Forest, rocketing toward the giant eagle like a cannon shell.

Seeing that White-Eye Crow wasn't going to fight the giant eagle but was instead circling and flying alongside it, Xia Qing, hidden beneath a temporary shelter, exhaled in relief and began carefully examining the tree branch that Huo Zhun had chopped off.

Half of the branch's cross-section showed the tree's growth rings; the other half revealed tangled colored cables and metal conduits, with a thick optical fiber still flickering faintly in the center.

Her idol, who stood at the very top of the universe's pyramid, had been absolutely right—there really were cables inside this tree.

Xia Qing had examined it carefully earlier and found no trace of bark having been reattached. But with the broken end, observation was much easier. Xia Qing spotted the cut lines in the bark at a glance.

This technique was clearly the work of the same group as the one who'd cut open the bark of the giant trees in Hui One's northern giant tree forest to hollow out tree hollows.

So it was Lie Huo's people who'd cut grooves in the trees to lay optical fiber? Their suddenly exposing an important weapon to attack Crow Jasmine—the more she thought about it, the less sense it made.

Xia Qing quickly pulled herself back together, stopped thinking about it, and focused on covering Huo Zhun's retreat. When Huo Zhun drew close, Xia Qing detected… the gentle magnetic field of Yi Elements!

"Done! Here, Qing-jie." Huo Zhun returned, handing Xia Qing the palm-sized Sichuan pepper branch he'd snatched back.

"Good." Xia Qing took it, glanced down at the air detector strapped to her arm that could detect Yi synthetic elements, and said, "The gas released by the Sichuan pepper branch contains Yi-9. This is a Yi-evolved great tree with extremely high medicinal value."

Wang Man, with her back to Xia Qing, spoke up. "A stimulant?"

"Correct." Xia Qing quickly sealed the Sichuan pepper branch, whose Yi element magnetic field was growing weaker, and placed it into a sample box, giving a brief explanation. "Small doses calm the nerves, used to treat PTSD or counter hallucinations; medium doses significantly boost reaction speed and neural transmission, acting as a stimulant—it's one of the raw materials for compounding Yi element stimulant fluid; large doses cause neural overload, leading to coma or brain death."

Huo Zhun, who was impossibly laid-back in every situation, sighed in admiration. "How does Qing-jie know everything? She's seriously amazing!"

Wu Lianmin, with his back to Xia Qing, chimed in, "Yeah!"

Xia Qing, who had taken a beating to her pride in front of a group of brain-domain evolvers, kept a straight face and began deploying the next phase of arrangements. "The giant eagle has left. We've been stopped here for an hour now—time to pull out. Everyone, raise your soft shields. Brother Huo takes rear guard, Man-jie takes the left flank, Min-ge takes the right flank, I'll take point. Full speed, retreat the way we came! Guagua, come back."

Huh?

Hearing the order to retreat, Wang Man and the other two were all stunned. The enemy was right in front of them and they were just… pulling out? What about that tree? And the bionic bird on the ground—weren't they taking that either?

"Yes ma'am!" Huo Zhun was the first to react. He shouldered his pack, picked up his soft shield, and stood behind Xia Qing. Xia Qing left a signal jammer on the spot, waited for Crow Jasmine—who was furiously pecking at the fake bird's feathers under the Sichuan pepper tree—to return and land on her shoulder, then the whole team retreated together.

"Caw—"

White-Eye Crow was still circling in the sky, letting out furious cries. Its brain-domain evolution level must have been fairly high; it had judged that the humans who came meant no harm, so it didn't stop this human squad from leaving.

"Caw, caw…" Hearing White-Eye Crow's calls, Crow Jasmine, perched on Xia Qing's shoulder, muttered curses under her breath.

"Captain Hu, can you hear me?" After leaving the signal-jamming zone, Xia Qing contacted Hu Zifeng through her earpiece radio.

Hu Zifeng answered immediately, "Loud and clear!"

Xia Qing replied calmly, "Copy. Take off immediately and use the mounted gun to strafe the top of that mountain peak four hundred meters southwest of our position. There may be a sniper lying in wait there. Don't drop your altitude below 2,200 meters."

They hadn't been ambushed on the way out—maybe there was no one here, or maybe the other side just hadn't found the right moment to strike yet. As a sniper herself, Xia Qing knew exactly where a sniper would set up in terrain like this.

On the way back, the four-person-one-bird squad had to pass near those two mountain peaks over three hundred meters high to the southwest, entering the engagement range of mid-level snipers and above. Since the local lord had no intention of attacking them, Xia Qing would do it a favor and sweep the area clean!

"Copy that!" Hu Zifeng immediately ordered Er Yong to take off and head for the edge of the northern raptors' territory—Mountain 86.

After the helicopter lifted off, Hu Zifeng, manning the mounted gun, quickly locked onto Xia Qing's position. "Target peak spotted. Opening fire!"

"Rat-a-tat-tat—"

Dense gunfire rang out. The snow on the mountaintop was blasted into a cloud of white by the bullets. Xia Qing immediately led the team to pick up speed. After swiftly passing through the danger zone, they climbed the high peak, boarded the aircraft, and headed home.

Back on the helicopter, Xia Qing first reported safety to her idol, then called Yang Jin, briefly briefed him on the situation here, and asked, "I left a jammer on-site. There are very likely people hiding here. What do we do next? Do you take over, or should I report up to base?"

Yang Jin, sitting inside the military helicopter, replied, "I've already reported to the base commander. The military has dispatched two helicopters; I'll lead the team over. Can you let Jasmine act as our go-between bird? That way we can avoid conflict with the local bird flocks."

Xia Qing hadn't expected Yang Jin to move this fast. "Sure. We'll wait for you above the target area."