Chapter 1631: Your Friend Broken Waist Sent a Sticker

Xia Qing protected the survey team as they entered the laboratory beneath the Second Peak, observing the precious image archives of the red invasive grass that had caused a sensation in academic circles last year for its ability to remediate soil contaminated by leftover chemical weapons, while the Territory Alliance mission squad, protecting two experts, reached the summit of the Third Peak of Mountain Fifty.

The two experts, thoroughly jostled, steadied themselves against the rocks for a few seconds once their feet touched the ground, then immediately began their survey. Level-6 speed evolver Di Ming and Level-5 speed evolver Zhang Hongda were responsible for close protection of the two experts, guarding against them being blown away by the cold wind or losing their footing from being too absorbed in their work.

The other members of the mission squad, apart from Shi Du, split into two groups and took up positions on the outer perimeter of the two experts to carry out the defense mission.

Shi Du sat leaning against the leeward side, rapidly adjusting his condition.

Carrying an expert weighing over a hundred jin up the mountain was no real burden for a Level-5.5 strength evolver; Shi Du's exhaustion was mainly caused by psychological factors.

As an unaffiliated logistics staffer like Xia Qing, Shi Du had previously carried ordinary supplies, corpses, or wounded personnel on missions. But this time, he was carrying a living, famous scholar who could fracture a bone from the slightest bump, so Shi Du took every step with extra care.

Staying tense while doing nothing at all is already extremely draining on stamina and energy, let alone having to carry an expert up a snow mountain. If Shi Du hadn't signed up for the Azure Dragon Squad's training camp last winter, he might not have been able to keep up with the squad's pace today.

Captain Yan Long ordered Huo Zhun to fall back and help restore Shi Du's combat capability as quickly as possible, then ordered Zhu Li's defensive position to shift left and Tang Huai to pull back.

Zhu Li, the gunslinger adjusting her breathing, stood at Yan Long's right side in the upwind position, using her Level-4.5 hearing evolution ability to filter out abnormal sounds in the wind—a skill she had paid to refine at the Azure Dragon Squad's training camp last year.

Having already adjusted his condition, Tang Huai retreated to the central position; this team member, who had the highest education and was best at socializing, had one more task—answering the experts' questions.

While Jiang Cheng surveyed the geological conditions, Liang Wen also took out his binoculars and telephoto camera to observe the densely vegetated area in the northern part of the Third Peak.

The more he looked, the more Liang Wen admired Fu Tianfeng and envied Song Mingqing.

Danger and opportunity coexist; the variety and quantity of animals in this evolved forest far exceeded those in evolved forests near neighboring human safe zones.

At the end of Year Nine of the Calamity, top domestic experts in medicine and surgery, Fu Tianfeng, missed four consecutive major international and domestic online conferences, triggering panic and heated discussion within the field.

After learning he had left the formal research track to establish a personal research institute on the edge of the Divine Grass Shelf Forest Area, public opinion and attitudes toward him varied.

Institutions and individuals closely tied to Huiyi Research Institute, those who found Fu Tianfeng disagreeable, and those who wanted him to join their own teams all secretly threw obstacles in his path.

Those waiting to see him fall flat on his face and return to the safe zone chose to stand by and watch when, during the difficult startup period of Fu Tianfeng's research institute, he proposed exchanging agents and patented technology for scarce resources.

Those in urgent need of Fu Tianfeng's abilities to boost their personal or team strength seized the opportunity to establish cooperative relationships with this notoriously unapproachable big shot.

Researchers unable to obtain more opportunities at their original research platforms and seeking a bigger breakthrough sent applications to Fu Tianfeng, hoping to join his team.

After learning that Huiyi's breeding research expert Tao Sui'an and Red Eleven's primate research expert Song Mingqing had both joined Fu Tianfeng's research institute, Liang Wen also wrote an application. But due to various objective reasons, he never sent the application to the big shot's inbox, missing the best opportunity to become researcher Zhang Liang of Territory Seven.

After this survey concludes, the number of people wanting to join Fu Tianfeng's research institute will definitely grow exponentially. Liang Wen felt immensely fortunate that in Year Ten of the Calamity, when the big shot Fu Tianfeng personally called him and proposed exchanging three precious herbs from Bai Liu, he had agreed, allowing him to lie comfortably on the big shot's whitelist.

More than ten minutes later, Liang Wen spotted an animal that shouldn't have appeared here, and asked the guide who had just finished answering Jiang Cheng's questions, "Mr. Tang, when was the first time a honey badger was observed in this mountain area?"

Hearing "honey badger," the members of the Territory Alliance squad all thought at the same time of that cool, arrogant, domineering flat-headed boss in Zone Three of Mountain Forty-Nine.

Tang Huai walked over to Liang Wen and humbly asked, "Our base has no related reports, but when our team comes to operate in this mountain area, we often run into honey badgers. Professor Liang, is the honey badger considered a large fierce beast?"

Liang Wen explained, "It belongs to the medium-sized mustelid family. The research reports from the evolved forests in northern Hui Three indeed don't mention honey badgers. May I ask the purpose of your entering that mountain area? How many honey badgers have you seen around here?"

Tang Huai answered truthfully, "We go there to hunt, gather edible plants, or look for herbs. Honey badgers always appear alone, so I'm not sure exactly how many there are. We don't hunt honey badgers, because honey badgers eat venomous snakes, which reduces the danger level of the evolved forest."

Accurately distinguishing subtle morphological differences between individuals of the same species is indeed difficult for non-specialists. Liang Wen raised his binoculars again and observed for over ten minutes, but still couldn't spot the target fierce beast, so he continued chatting with Tang Huai, "Mr. Tang, when you go out on missions, have you ever seen large fierce beasts here?"

Tang Huai replied, "Last winter we were digging kudzu roots in the valley below and ran into a leopard that was hunting wild boar."

Liang Wen continued asking, "Never encountered wolves or bears?"

Tang Huai shook his head, "No. Before it was polluted by the Blaze Squad, this was evolved bear territory. When our team came here, the bears had already abandoned this area."

The Territory Alliance members had worried about evolved bears returning to reclaim the territory while working in the hidden valley last year. Later they discovered this place was also under the protection of the Divine Wolf, and only then did everyone feel at ease.

The four from Territory Eleven and Zhang Hongda from Territory Fifteen, who knew the inside story, pretended they knew nothing.

Liang Wen pressed, "The bears withdrew from this territory because a hunting team from Territory Two had a conflict with the bears here in the autumn of Year Ten of the Calamity, right?"

The Territory Alliance members……

Tang Huai, former agent of Territory Two, replied, "That should be it."

Liang Wen continued pressing, "That conflict didn't trigger any subsequent clashes between human territory and the bear group. What do you think the reason was?"

Tang Huai, who, with Sufeng disbanded, could only pin all the blame on Blaze, answered, "It should be because the gas bombs destroyed this mountain area, making the bears feel there was nothing worth fighting for here."

Liang Wen nodded, and over twenty minutes later, he finally spotted his target, "Wolf!"

"Where?" Tang Huai was even more excited than Liang Wen.

"Over there, a gray wolf, waiting for a chance to hunt." Liang Wen handed the binoculars to Tang Huai and continued asking, "Mr. Tang, are you very interested in wolf packs?"

Tang Huai responded, "I used to keep dogs."

Wolves also belong to the canid family. Liang Wen was about to continue his questioning when Jiang Cheng, having finished surveying the terrain, asked, "Professor Liang, how much longer do you need?"

Liang Wen had just spotted his target and was reluctant to leave, "Can we stay another 30 minutes?"

"Sure." Jiang Cheng turned and asked, "Captain Yan, can I go over there to take a look?"

Yan Long refused decisively, "The two of you are moving as a team; the straight-line distance must not exceed five meters, otherwise my squad cannot guarantee your safety."

Jiang Cheng……

Fifty minutes later, the Territory Alliance squad finally escorted the two experts down the mountain.

Fifty-five minutes later, an evolved wolf hidden at the summit of the Fourth Peak of Mountain Fifty turned around, took a phone from its hazmat suit pocket, skillfully unlocked it with its big nose, then wiped its paws clean on a rock, and tapped the screen with its claws: beep beep beep.

Xia Qing, who was on a mission, received a voice announcement through her Bluetooth earpiece: Your friend Broken Waist has sent a sticker.

Xia Qing, wearing a protective mask, looked up toward the mission squad descending the mountain.