Chapter 1632: The Northern Wolf Pack's Guest Appearance Fee

When Xia Qing and Zhang Song finalized the expedition itinerary last night, Zhang Song told her that Liang Wen and Jiang Cheng would definitely leave the group to survey the summit of Mountain No. 50.

Jiang Cheng only needed to look at the terrain, so no special arrangements were required. Liang Wen's targets were tigers, wolves, and bears in the evolved forest, so Xia Qing had to make some preparations in advance.

The north face of the Third Peak of Mountain No. 50, which had not been polluted by toxic gas, and the low-altitude evolved forest further north had very dense vegetation and served as habitat for herbivores like wild boar, rabbits, pheasants, and musk deer. So if Liang Wen observed from the summit for over an hour between 10 a. m. and 2 p. m., she should be able to spot large predators; otherwise it wouldn't make sense.

Any large predators appearing in this area would all be members of the Northern Wolf Pack.

Before the expedition entered Northern Zone One territory, Xia Qing negotiated with the two leaders of the Northern Wolf Pack for the pack's safety, asking them to avoid the helicopters and humans on the ground. Even the security work at the bamboo rat shed on the Third Peak of Mountain No. 49 was reassigned to humans from the Azure Dragon Squad.

To ensure Liang Wen would see plausible large predators from the summit, Xia Qing called the Northern Wolf King and asked it to send one or two ordinary evolved wolves to Mountain No. 49 for a "guest appearance."

Why not just call one of the shrewd wolves from the Northern Wolf Pack directly? Of course, to save points.

As luck would have it, a certain shrewd wolf who should have been out patrolling its territory was lazing in its den instead of working. After hearing Xia Qing's request, this fellow immediately stretched out a big paw.

After some haggling, Xia Qing managed to cut the mission reward from 500 points down to 200 points, hiring Broken-Waist Wolf to send an ordinary wolf from the Northern Wolf Pack to the foot of the Fourth Peak of Mountain No. 50 to perform a rabbit-catching show for the experts!

Now that the experts had come down the mountain and the performance was over, a certain shrewd wolf immediately sent Xia Qing a meme, just to remind her not to forget to pay the points!

Although these 200 points were allocated from the Mountain No. 50 experimental zone's budget, the biggest financial backer of Territory Seven was her!

At 12:45 p. m., the Mountain No. 50 experimental zone survey concluded successfully. The exhausted but excited experts took a helicopter back to Northern Zone One territory.

Jiang Cheng and Liang Wen, who had failed to rejoin the group on time, safely returned to Northern Zone One territory at 3:55 p. m. under the protection of the Territory Alliance squad, cheerfully paying the 5,000-point employment fee.

After paying the 500-point fee to their agent Xia Qing, who had helped them take the mission, the task squad's reward for the day was 4,500 points. This mission had no ammunition consumption or casualties; after deducting 130 points for fuel, the remaining 4,370 points would be distributed according to mission contribution.

Shi Du, who received 350 points, ran back to Territory Ten and grinningly handed the points card to his mother. Zhu Li, who received the same amount, ran back to Territory Six and saw her husband walking out of the kitchen carrying steaming rice noodle rolls, and shrieked with excitement.

Back at Territory Twelve, Tang Huai immediately returned to the soundproof room and called Xia Qing to report the mission. "Sister Qing, we brought them back safely."

Xia Qing had decided yesterday to have Tang Huai form a team for the mission and serve as the local guide to answer Liang Wen and Jiang Cheng's questions.

First was education and professional knowledge. In basic field skills like outdoor surveying, using a geological compass, and recording stratigraphic information, Tang Huai, who studied archaeology, and Jiang Cheng, who studied hydrogeology, shared a great deal of common ground, so Tang Huai could understand Jiang Cheng's questions and answer them.

Second, Tang Huai didn't know the true relationship between Xia Qing and the Northern Wolf Pack, so sending him to communicate with the two brain-domain evolution experts wouldn't leak any secrets.

Inside the greenhouse at Territory Three, Xia Qing asked, "Did the mission go smoothly?"

Tang Huai immediately reported eagerly, "Smoothly. The familiar route we took up and down the mountain was the patrol path; we didn't fall once. The seven times we stopped along the way were all at the two experts' initiative to observe animal tracks or rocks on the ground. Sister Qing, do we have another mission like this tomorrow?"

Tang Huai didn't lack points; what he wanted was a sense of participation.

Xia Qing replied, "The weather will be bad tomorrow, so no outdoor missions will be scheduled. We'll make arrangements later based on the weather. If any experts request to leave the group for fieldwork at that time, I'll contact you again."

"Got it, I'm on standby twenty-four seven!" Tang Huai hung up the phone and started howling excitedly in the family group chat. Tang Ning listened to one voice message before kicking him out of the group.

Xia Qing called her idol, briefly reported the day's situation leading the team out, and offered her guess: "Among the experts who went to Mountain No. 50 today, no Class C magnetic-sense evolver has been found so far. Yao Yuanxing is most likely an auditory evolver, between levels five-and-a-half and six-and-a-half."

Zhang San, who was examining samples, paused and asked, "Reasoning?"

While Zhang San and Xia Qing analyzed the abilities of the Red One investigation team members, the Blue Blood Alliance's Ninth Intelligence Group was analyzing newly acquired intelligence from Hui Three's Northern Zone One.

"Hui Three, Mountain No. 50, Third Peak valley: 70 meters long, 25-33 meters wide, 3-13 meters high. The hot spring water quality is as shown in the image…"

The water quality test results Zhang Xun had shown to experts including Jiang Cheng that morning were clearly displayed on the screen. Although no one had taken photos at the time, for brain-domain evolvers, memorizing a page of data posed no difficulty at all.

Group leader Qu Fangzhou ordered, "Pull up the water sample test results Han Yanqian obtained from Xia Qing's territory for Red One University."

"Yes, sir." The team member quickly pulled up the test results and displayed them on the big screen.

Li Yanuo, vice group leader of the Ninth Intelligence Group and intelligence analysis expert for the Blue Blood Alliance, spoke up: "The calcium and zinc element content in the Territory Three water sample is higher than in the valley's hot spring water; the increment should come from stabilizers in the PVC pipes of the automatic irrigation system."

The intelligence analyst from Liehuo in the group continued the analysis: "The microorganisms in the Territory Three water sample should be biofilm growing in moist environments like pipes, storage tanks, and drippers. Analyzing these incremental elements, the equipment in the Territory Three laboratory isn't second-hand; just this irrigation system alone cost over 30,000 points."

"Hui Three's top sniper, Xia Qing, truly is willing to invest in cultivating high-quality crops. Once Jiang Cheng confirms that the Mountain No. 50 hot spring is a polluted-free water source that has been damaged, it will rule out the possibility of an unpolluted spring existing within Territory Three."

Unlike Qu Fangzhou's stern and severe demeanor, Vice Group Leader Li Yanuo sat casually with a gentle expression: "We can now reasonably infer that Fu Tianfeng pushed Xia Qing and her territory into the open mainly to monopolize this high-quality water source at Mountain No. 50 and cultivate precious herbs in the valley. Xia Qing and the members of the Hui Three Territory Alliance she founded frequently enter and exit Mountain No. 50 to haul hot spring water back for daily drinking and irrigating important crops in the territory."

Qu Fangzhou continued his analysis: "Han Yanqian entered Territory Three to forcibly take samples, damaging the high-yi element spinach Xia Qing was cultivating, which greatly displeased the now-stronger Xia Qing. So Fu Tianfeng had no choice but to change his strategy and expose the hot spring."

"Fu Tianfeng's team, Xia Qing's Territory Alliance, the Azure Dragon Squad, and Tang Zhengpo's group have already formed a community of shared interests. The development and utilization of the hot spring after its exposure is still controlled by this community of shared interests. Therefore, exposing the hot spring benefits all parties and is a reasonable decision. What I'm most interested in now is who the first batch of residents in the Mountain No. 50 hot spring valley will be." Vice Group Leader Li Yanuo instructed her team members, "Pull up the information on Shi Jiaran's family."