Chapter 1613: J3 from Hui-7 Research Institute

"Qing-jie, we've made contact with the safe zone and turned over the images of that intruding helicopter. The official satellite search couldn't locate it either!" After Xia Qing returned to the helicopter, Dajiang reported the latest situation to her.

"Normal." Under the influence of the two Qi-Yi elements, Blue Star's electromagnetic field has become more complex—especially deep in the Shencao Frame forest region, where the magnetic field was already chaotic. Tracking a helicopter built with new materials, fully camouflaged, flying low and slow, is extremely difficult. Xia Qing continued her analysis, "A helicopter with such high performance is mostly official."

Besides official sources, there is one other group that might possess equipment of this caliber—the Blue Blood Alliance. The Blue Blood Alliance has a secret underground company—Qu Fangzhou Industries. No one knows where it is located, but its technology and products are all top-tier.

Dajiang nodded, "Right, only the official side would be this sneaky, not wanting to make a big fuss. If it were the Blue Blood Alliance or another battle squad's helicopter, they'd definitely seize this rare chance to blow ours up."

Xia Qing responded—that was exactly why she had ruled out the helicopter belonging to the Blue Blood Alliance. Blowing up this helicopter would be like clipping the wings of the Azure Dragon Squad, limiting its operational range.

Jingkuan continued his report, "The base dispatched a large military helicopter to handle patrol missions along the edges of the northern Xiong Qun territory, northern Gaoshan territory, and northern raptor territory. The base commander gave special instructions: from now on, whenever Qing-jie leaves the territory, she must be accompanied by at least one full heavy combat squad. If we can't assemble enough people on our end, we can call the base commander's office directly to request reinforcements."

Compared to the northern evolution forest being invaded, Hui-3 Base Commander cared more about Xia Qing's safety.

"Good." Xia Qing took off her protective mask and put on a dry-hair cap. She was wearing protective gear that could withstand temperatures of minus twenty or thirty degrees, but the temperature inside the Hot Spring Lake basin was above 10 degrees, so staying in there too long made her break out in a sweat.

This trip was worth the sweat. Because Xia Qing had sold goods worth over sixteen thousand points, and collected an IOU for 3,680 points.

Dajiang's mouth split into a grin—every time Xia Qing brought more people on mountain patrols, his chances of coming along increased. Jingkuan shot a look at the idiot beside him and asked, "Qing-jie, how should we report that golden snub-nosed monkey?"

Xia Qing asked, "No video, right?"

Dajiang, who was in charge of monitoring and recording, jumped in, "Only the part where you fired two shots to drop the golden snub-nosed monkey. After that, the two of us flew the helicopter to search for the intruder, so nothing afterward was recorded."

Xia Qing nodded, "Then report it as a domesticated golden snub-nosed monkey carried off by a raptor."

Otherwise, whether alive or dead, this domesticated beast should have been brought back and turned in. The base needs to analyze the collar's construction and quality, and the monkey's characteristics and bloodline to trace its origin.

"Understood." Jingkuan responded and focused on piloting the helicopter back to the territory.

The less experienced Dajiang couldn't hold back and pressed, "Qing-jie, that golden snub-nosed monkey is a domesticated beast—can it actually survive in the evolution forest?"

A domesticated beast raised in a cage, with no wild survival experience, would find it very hard to adapt to the brutal and fierce survival competition inside the evolution forest.

Xia Qing nodded, "That golden snub-nosed monkey is a speed evolver, able to quickly evade predators. As long as it can find food, it can survive."

Unlike Xia Qing's optimism, Zhang Song was deeply worried, "I recognize this golden snub-nosed monkey. It was born in June of the tenth year of the Calamity at the golden snub-nosed monkey research center of Hui-7 Research Institute—a high-grade speed and mid-grade cranial evolver, designation J3. It has no wild survival experience; in a wild environment, it could very likely die from eating toxic food by mistake."

Even if J3 were lucky enough to avoid attacks and toxic food, the drastic drop in diet and living environment quality would weaken its resistance, leaving it unable to withstand the excess Qi-Yi elements during this year's first Qi-Yi rain… The more Zhang Song thought about it, the more worried he became, his brows furrowing despite himself.

Xia Qing had no doubt about primate research expert Zhang Song's ability and asked, "Song-ge, has this golden snub-nosed monkey always been at Hui-7 Research Institute? Or was it leased or traded to some other institution by them?"

"It was still at the institute as of last October; I don't know what happened after that." After speaking, Zhang Song looked solemnly at Zhang San, waiting for his orders.

Golden snub-nosed monkeys do generally score higher than macaques in interspecies conflict frequency, spontaneous aggression threshold, and group tolerance. But for Hui-7 Research Institute to use this as a reason to abandon positive behavioral shaping research on highly aggressive macaques and instead use illegal means to "domesticate" golden snub-nosed monkeys—this completely violates the ethical bottom line of primate research and must be severely sanctioned.

The golden snub-nosed monkey colony inside Hui-7 Research Institute must be protected with concrete and effective measures as soon as possible. Otherwise, Hui-7 is very likely to repeat Hui-6's mistakes.

These are calamity years of moral decay and chaotic order—basic human rights cannot be guaranteed, let alone the legal protection of animals. If researchers from other institutions discovered this matter, they would very likely sweep the snow from their own doorstep to avoid offending the forces backing this research.

But Zhang Song firmly believed Zhang San was different from those people—this was the main reason he had left his original research institution and resolutely joined Zhang San's team.

Zhang San still wore his lazy look, "Write up a report, attach the overhead aerial images and video, and add the blood sample test results Xia Qing brought back to confirm this golden snub-nosed monkey's origin. Give it to me tomorrow."

"Yes!" Zhang Song answered crisply, then made a request to Xia Qing, "Next time Qing-jie goes to Basin 67, may I come along to observe this golden snub-nosed monkey's living environment up close?"

Xia Qing looked at her idol, letting him decide. Because Zhang Song was a researcher from Territory Seven, not Territory Three.

Zhang San replied lazily, "If you don't find him in the way, you can take him along."

Zhang Song sprang to his feet, laying his heart bare, "Qing-jie can rest assured—once we're out, I will absolutely obey orders and follow your every command! I can pay out of my own pocket to hire Watching Huo Zhun or other speed or elasticity evolvers to carry me. I won't delay Qing-jie's schedule, and I won't need Qing-jie to spare any attention for my safety."

Zhang He, who had just as shamelessly tagged along to attend the meeting like Zhang Song, also chimed in, "Teacher, junior sister—my physical fitness is the best in our entire research institute. I can absolutely meet the standard Zhang Song proposed."

After returning to Territory Seven, Zhang He was in charge of the Yi-Snake research project. She had long wanted to go to the Yi-Snake's native habitat for a field investigation.

Xia Qing……

Since when did I become your junior sister? How come I didn't know?

Zhang San was generous with praise for his beloved student, "Zhang He's operational ability is indeed above Zhang Song's."

Zhang Song was in tears; Zhang He smiled. Xia Qing understood and politely nodded to the two of them, "If there's a mission that requires researchers to go out, I'll contact San-ge in advance."

Whoever the idol thinks suitable, that's who is suitable.

Zhang San nodded, then assigned Zhang Song and Zhang He a pile of tasks, shooing these two who were always trying to run off back to the lab, then signaled Zhang Shiyi for Xia Qing to play the other videos she had recorded.

After watching, Zhang San was very disdainful, "Before you leave, go find Daya and get a high-definition camera for your protective mask."

"……"

"It's free!"