Chapter 1673: Striking First!

Watching Tang Huai bustle about as he invited the one person and two dogs onto the vehicle, then drove off at an unusually steady, un-flashy speed, Xia Qing turned around and got back into the off-road vehicle, immediately calling her idol. "Third Brother, can the three injections you had Tenth Sister give Pian Hu still be detected?"

The second batch of experts has the same itinerary as the first — they won't go to the southern experimental zone to 'discover' Pian Hu until the fifth day of the inspection.

After hearing about Blue Blood's attempt to recruit Wu Chengyu, even though there was no evidence, Xia Qing's intuition told her that there might be a connection between Wu Chengyu's cancer and Pian Hu's poisoning.

It's very likely that Blue Blood's people first used the highly specific gene-targeted poison on beasts to perfect the technique, then used an even harder-to-trace targeted poison to poison experts of Wu Chengyu's caliber, forcing them into a corner where they had no choice but to board Blue Blood's pirate ship.

The causes of cancer are extremely complex; even experts may struggle to confirm whether Wu Chengyu's cancer was caused by poisoning. But once the fact that someone used targeted poison on beasts deep in the Evolution Forest gets out, someone will definitely connect Wu Chengyu's cancer with Pian Hu's poisoning and analyze them together.

Once such suspicion exists, the likelihood of Blue Blood recruiting Wu Chengyu, or using the same tactics to recruit other experts, drops significantly.

If the truth really is as Xia Qing suspects, the people who killed Pian Hu to cover it up may already be on their way! Xia Qing has to get Pian Hu protected before these people make their move.

What if Xia Qing's guess is wrong? Pian Hu definitely needs to be moved — moving it a few days earlier or later makes no difference.

The only thing that needs to be confirmed now is whether the injections Zhang Shi gave Pian Hu can still be detected when it's moved today.

Hearing Xia Qing's tone, Zhang San didn't ask why she was asking and gave her the precise timing. "The injections were for pain relief and reducing gastrointestinal discomfort — it takes 48 hours for them to be completely metabolized and expelled from the body."

The injections were given yesterday morning, and the earliest Pian Hu can be 'discovered' is tomorrow afternoon. These next 26 hours are especially critical.

Xia Qing quickly revised the plan. "Alright, Third Brother, we need to move the experts' visit to the southern experimental zone up to tomorrow at 2 p. m., and transfer Pian Hu to Mountain Fifty as soon as possible. Whoever's coming to kill it, or the tamed beast they sent, may have already set out. When you get the call from the southern experimental zone later, ping me on the Lord Channel — I need to make a couple of calls first."

"Alright." Zhang San responded, without any objection.

Xia Qing hung up, parked the car in the yard, went inside, first pulled Zhang Shi into the Blue Star Lords Alliance group, then started a video call.

After the avatars of Broken-Waist Wolf, Zhang Shi, the Northern Wolf King, and the former Southern Wolf King turned into video windows one after another, Xia Qing spoke with a solemn expression. "Your Majesty, Fourth, Broken-Waist, Tenth Sister, the situation has changed…"

After ending the group video call, Xia Qing immediately contacted Xie Yu. "Captain Xie, I've got an urgent mission over here…"

After ending the call with Xie Yu, Xia Qing hauled a wooden crate, a few leaves of green-light cabbage, and a strip of roasted green-light pork out of the basement.

After giving the cabbage leaves to Sheep Boss and Little Feimao, and handing the roasted meat to Wolf Lao Er, Xia Qing opened the wooden crate. The smell of rust-preventive oil and gunpowder quickly filled the room.

Lao Er stared at Xia Qing with a solemn expression, while Sheep Boss and Little Feimao showed no reaction, burying their heads in their food.

Xia Qing quickly loaded bullets into the magazine while speaking gently to her three companions. "Boss, Lao Er, Little Feimao, I have to go on a mission and won't be back until tomorrow. I'm leaving the territory in your hands…"

The smell of gunpowder filled the room, while outside the window the heavy snow covering the entire territory and the northern Evolution Forest whirled wildly in the wind.

The Northern Wolf King, his belly visibly swollen, stood on the third peak of Mountain Fifty-Five and let out a majestic howl. Members of the northern wolf pack scattered across various locations raised their heads one after another, responding in turn.

The howling reached Mountain Sixty. The handsome giant wolf, who had just knocked down the broken-legged wolf and the scarred wolf, raised his head and let out a long howl.

On Mountain Sixty-One, Xiong Wang, who had been sleeping, heard the wolf pack's howling, crawled out of his warm cave, and roared toward Mountain Sixty.

The handsome giant wolf ignored Xiong Wang. After gathering his companions per the lead wolf's orders, he led them in a sprint toward Xiang Xinanfang. Xiong Wang, standing upright in the wind and snow, watched the wolf pack leave and roared toward the northwest.

Roars rose one after another throughout Xiong Qun's territory. Daigua, who had been perched on a big tree in front of a camera playing dumb, gave a startled shudder and immediately hid in the dense foliage with Ergua beside him.

The monkeys vanished, and the surveillance feed in the observation room of Northern Zone One, Territory Seven went still, displaying the words "Device Standby." The experts watching the monkeys were reluctant to stop and asked, "Director Song, what does this mean?"

Zhang Song explained, "The wireless infrared-triggered monitoring camera lost its target and automatically entered standby mode. Experts, please step into the greenhouse to see the high-quality crops we've cultivated."

Zhu Xin, an animal research expert from Guiwu, wasn't interested in crops and pressed further. "Director Song, doesn't your monitoring camera have audio recording capability?"

Zhang Song nodded apologetically. "Our research funding is limited, so we can only afford basic equipment. This way, please."

The experts: …

A silver-gray figure sprinted through the wind and snow on Mountain Forty in the western Evolution Forest, climbed to the highest peak, and let out a stern, long howl.

The howl reached a hidden cave below, where a reddish-brown-furred mother giant wolf curled her body, hiding three cubs less than two days old beneath her thick fur.

"Aoo!!!"

A young, powerful, mottled tiger sprinted through Mountain Thirty-One's domain, landed on a massive granite boulder, and roared toward a sheer granite cliff face with earth-shaking force.

Inside the cave in the granite cliff, the emaciated former Tiger King stood up and walked toward the cave entrance.

"Aoo— wuu————"

On Mountain Twenty-One in the southern Evolution Forest, a black-gray evolution wolf with a notch missing from its left ear let out an angry howl. Members of the southern wolf pack responded in turn, quickly gathering.

Half a minute later, the lords of Northern Zone One, who had been listening to Tang Huai gush about how adorable the evolution border collie was, heard the cold voice of the big shot come through the walkie-talkie: "Shut up."

After Tang Huai fell silent, the channel went dead quiet. The big shot spoke again. "Xia Qing, get over here immediately."

Hearing that the big shot was looking for Xia Qing, a group of people in the greenhouse of Territory Eleven immediately rolled up their sleeves, ready to PK.

"Copy that."

Xia Qing, already prepared, responded, put her heavy backpack into the off-road vehicle, floored the accelerator, and only stopped when she reached the wild grass wall, which was leaning every which way under the weight of snow.

She jumped out, carried Sheep Boss from the passenger seat and Wolf Lao Er from the back seat down from the car, then pulled Little Feimao from her pocket, set him on Lao Er's back, and sternly stopped him from burrowing back into her pocket.

This trip's outcome is uncertain — Xia Qing can't take the non-combat-capable Little Feimao into danger.

After waving at Jingkuan, who was clearing snow off the greenhouse in the distance, Xia Qing drove out of her territory. Before she even reached Territory Seven, the base leader's call came through.