Chapter 1682: The Giant Python Hibernating Beneath the Rock Wall of Mountain Thirty-One

On January 26, Year 12 of the Calamity, a mission squad from Radiance Three Base unexpectedly discovered in the Evolution Forest an evolved tiger, 31-1, that had been poisoned with the Qiang-18 toxin, and activated the emergency disaster-containment protocol.

The containment zone included 31-1's living territory, as well as the areas it had passed through and the cave where it had hidden after being defeated and driven out of its territory this morning.

Of the 233 personnel participating in the on-site containment, including Tang Huai there were 13 snipers in total, of whom 4 received the order to lock onto Huang Ju. These four, plus a technician dedicated to aerial surveillance, established a dedicated comms channel and kept Huang Ju under tight watch.

While Huang Ju believed that he had, during the containment sampling process, stealthily cut the toxin-laden resin from the large pine tree and concealed it on his person without anyone noticing, the surveillance footage of him cutting the toxin source was clearly recorded by the cameras.

Zhang San did not order the immediate arrest of Huang Ju, the moving toxin source, because he wanted to follow this vine to find a bigger melon.

When Huang Ju followed Aurora Squad Three out of the valley beneath the granite rock wall and was about to walk out of Xia Qing's firing range, her walkie-talkie crackled with a situation report from a technician of Special Ops Squad One: "Dongzi, the target is about to enter your firing range, nine o'clock direction."

"Copy." Gu Dong, the senior sniper of Special Ops Squad One, immediately adjusted his position and reported, "Target locked."

"Copy." The technician aboard the Lei Sha aircraft spoke with Xia Qing, "Territory Alliance team, rest in place for thirty minutes, keep the channel clear."

"Copy." Xia Qing and her two companions simultaneously turned off the cameras on their protective masks and hurried to rest.

Xia Qing temporarily handed her sniper rifle to Huo Zhun for safekeeping, then took the opportunity of using the temporary restroom set up inside the tiger's den to send Zhang Shi a message: I'm at the innermost side of the outer cave of the tiger's den, can Ten-Sis sense my magnetic field?

Right next to the temporary restroom tent was the already-blocked passage to the inner cave, which concealed medical equipment and supplies.

The stones used to block this passage were ones Xia Qing had selected on the very day she sent Zhang Shi over, and placed in advance at the passage's exit.

Yesterday, Zhang San's team tested the samples the broken-waist wolf had collected from this cave, confirming that the piece-tiger had moved into this cave no more than ten days ago, and the cave where the piece-tiger had long resided was more than seventy meters higher than this one!

Xia Qing guessed that the piece-tiger had abandoned the higher cave because its body, ravaged by the Qiang-18 toxin, had grown increasingly weak, making the climb to that cave feel too strenuous.

Today, the team sampling the evolved tiger's hair, shed claws, and dander inside this cave was Xie Yu's squad, which was responsible for the security mission in this area.

Based on the latest test results, Zhang San confirmed that this cave's danger rating was not high, then dispatched the containment squad to thoroughly clean and disinfect the place, requisitioning it as a surveillance and sniper position.

The disinfection personnel did not discover the passage blocked with stones, not only because Zhang Shi, having hidden in the Evolution Forest for many years, knew very well how to minimize the traces and scent she left in her hiding area, but also because Xia Qing had left a few stones at the passage entrance in advance that Zhang Shi could move with a crowbar, and had given her three tubes of special-effect quick-setting gel.

This quick-setting gel is a piece of hardcore tech developed during the Calamity years, used for creating cover in the Evolution Forest.

Depending on the area where the cover is located, the material of the quick-setting gel differs. Xia Qing paid a hefty price to buy seven different-material quick-setting gels from Yang Jin.

On the very night Zhang Shi moved into the cave, Xia Qing tested the composition of the rock walls here and left her a quick-setting gel whose composition was almost identical to the rock walls, to be used for sealing stone crevices and preventing the cave's scent from leaking out.

Even so, Xia Qing did not dare underestimate the investigative ability of Xie Yu, a high-level brain-domain evolver.

She had informed Xie Yu in advance that there was an inner cave deep in the tiger's den, inside which were several testing instruments she had transported there a few days earlier, and had asked Xie Yu, after entering the cave, to confirm whether the cave entrance Xia Qing had blocked was sealed tight. If not, to have Xie Yu apply some more gel.

This gel was something Xia Qing had traded with Yang Jin, so of course Xie Yu had it too.

Qi Zhongye, the commander of Radiance Three Base, Xie Yu, Yan Long, and Gao Ying already knew that Zhang San had tested and confirmed the piece-tiger's Qiang poisoning yesterday, and also knew that what it had been poisoned with was a highly species-specific gene-targeted trigger toxin that posed no threat to the ecological environment.

Therefore, Xie Yu had an extremely good acceptance of the fact that Xia Qing had already hidden testing instruments in the tiger cave. Since Xia Qing could communicate with wolf packs, of course she could also communicate with tiger packs; placing a few instruments inside an evolved tiger's cave was perfectly normal.

Xie Yu really wanted to tell Xia Qing: this kind of physical labor didn't need to be done by Xia Qing personally in the future, he could completely do it for her!

After receiving Xia Qing's message, Zhang Shi, who was hiding inside the cliff face, immediately replied: Can't sense it, this place is more than 150 meters from everyone, very safe.

Staring at "150" for a few seconds, Xia Qing finally replied: Okay. Until the containment protocol ends, you enter silent mode, we'll make contact again after that.

After thoroughly deleting the chat history with Zhang Shi, Xia Qing left the restroom, lay down inside the tent Huo Zhun had set up, and rested with her eyes closed.

As for how Zhang Shi had gotten from that small cave inside to a location more than 150 meters away from everyone, Xia Qing could guess.

Zhang Shi possessed rich survival experience in the Evolution Forest; after moving into Mountain Territory Thirty-One, she must have conducted an in-depth exploration of the surrounding environment and found a more concealed, safer hiding spot. Without this ability, Zhang Shi could never have safely hidden in the Evolution Forest with Little Eleven for five years.

What Xia Qing cared about was the number "150 meters."

She had previously assumed that the sensing range of Class-C magnetoception evolvers was all 100 meters. Because Xu Pin, Xin Yu, Little Eleven, and Wang Shunkang all had this sensing range. Now it seemed Class-C magnetoception abilities also varied in strength; Zhang Shi was a high-level Class-C magnetoception evolver, while the others counted as beginner or intermediate magnetoception evolvers.

A dual-system evolver with both high-level Class-C magnetoception and high-level recovery—truly… heaven-defying, Xia Qing curled up the corners of her mouth, emptied her mind, and entered a state of deep relaxation.

Zhang Shi, whom Xia Qing had judged to have heaven-defying abilities, at this moment did not feel the least bit heaven-defying herself.

Because… in the cave ten meters below the rock crevice where she, Ye Yiyi, and the black-tailed wolf were hiding, the giant python that had originally been in a state of deep sleep had been woken up by the noise from the containment personnel and helicopters outside!

How did Zhang Shi know the giant python had woken? Because the python's magnetic field, which had originally been low-frequency, prolonged, and even, like a silent river, now showed obvious fluctuations.

The reason Zhang Shi had chosen this rock crevice as her hiding place was that she had set her sights on it being the giant python's territory; this "neighbor" could serve as a bodyguard for the three of them, warding off intrusions by some cold-tolerant small animals, and the python's fishy stench could also mask the scent of humans and evolved wolves, evading detection by scent evolvers outside.

Zhang Shi's combat ability was not high; the old her would definitely not have dared to choose such a hiding spot. But things were different now—she was now a formal employee of Territory Three, and although according to the agreement, she could not carry weapons when on assignment in tiger and wolf territories, her big boss had given her plenty of protective gear and medicines.

These medicines were all personally formulated by the big-shot humans standing at the top of the pyramid, which gave Zhang Shi an extremely high sense of security.

So even though the giant python below had woken up, Zhang Shi did not experience much emotional fluctuation. She carefully moved the sleeping little Ye Yiyi to the side of the black-tailed wolf, which had tucked its tail in tightly, gripped an anesthetic in her own hand, and used her magnetoception to lock onto the "river" below, whose flow speed had increased, and which was over 10 meters long.

As long as the magnetic field fluctuations of this "river" became violent, Zhang Shi would immediately release the airborne anesthetic and knock it out!