Chapter 1948: The Raven with a Collar

Broken-Waist Wolf nodded, raised a paw to exit the video conference first and then leave the group, then with a single leap left the cave, landing on the mountaintop in less than half a minute, and raised its head to let out a long, majestic howl.

The Northern Wolf Pack's Second-in-Command ordered Northern Wolf Pack members who heard the howl to patrol the territory and report any anomalies immediately.

Soon, howls rose one after another from various places within the Northern Wolf Pack's territory.

The Northern Wolf King swiped open the surgical-room-style mountain gate, left the pup-rearing cave, quickly leapt to the highest peak of Mountain 55, and raised its head to let out an even more majestic howl toward Xiang Xinanfang.

The Wolf King's howl reached Mountain 48, and the two silver-gray giant wolves that had been fighting immediately separated. The slightly smaller one shook the muddy water and leaf fragments off its body, raised its head, and let out a long howl toward the northeast.

After responding to the Wolf King's command, the silver-gray giant wolf began running toward the northeast.

The other, slightly larger silver-gray giant wolf lifted its nose to sniff the air, then raised its head to let out a long, majestic howl.

Western Wolf Pack members heard the Wolf King's howl and raised their heads to respond.

Then, the Western Wolf King raced at extreme speed due west, returning to the Western Wolf Pack's core territory—Mountain Domain 40.

Hearing her mate's howl, a reddish-brown female giant wolf poked out of a hidden pup-rearing cave in Mountain Domain 40 and patrolled the core territory at extreme speed.

Mountain 50, Fourth Peak—the Northern Wolf Pack's territory.

Hearing the wolf pack's warning howl, Scarface Wolf, which had just delivered prey to Piece-Tiger, and its father simultaneously raised their heads, sniffing the air.

There was no abnormal scent in the air, so Scarface Wolf turned and ran toward the clinic cave beneath the Fourth Peak.

Before it could reach the cave entrance, the Northern Wolf Pack's Little Wolf Brother came running out from inside, carrying the scent of disinfectant all over its body. The two sub-adult wolves exchanged scents, then one headed north and the other south, and began running.

Scarface Wolf returned to Piece-Tiger, which was eating meat, and called out with "aww-woo, aww-woo."

Hungry Piece-Tiger ignored it and continued tearing into the prey in big bites.

After Scarface Wolf called out two more times, it followed its father, turning to race west and return to the Southern Wolf Pack's territory.

After the two wolves left, Piece-Tiger finally picked up its prey in its mouth and strolled leisurely into the mountain crevice, returning to its recuperation area to continue eating.

Mountain 50, Third Peak halfway up the slope—Weng Xuan, the Second Platoon Leader of the Old Regiment Headquarters stationed in the experimental zone, reported to Xia Qing: "The experimental zone has not been invaded. 31-1 is in good condition. No anomalies have occurred in the valley. Do we need to send researchers to the danger zone to collect samples?"

Xia Qing, the Mountain 50 administrator who had triggered the wolf howls, replied, "First check the video surveillance. Collect samples and report only if anomalies are found."

"Copy that."

After Weng Xuan hung up the phone, Xia Qing pressed the walkie-talkie button. "Brother Qi, no anomalies found in the experimental zone. You may continue cutting bamboo and timber. Do not leave the 20-meter perimeter around the bamboo grove. Contact me immediately if you spot anything abnormal."

"Copy that."

Hearing Xia Qing's words, not only Qi Fu, who was leading the bamboo-cutting team, breathed a sigh of relief, but so did Hearing Zhu Li with the machine gun and Tang Huai with the sniper rifle.

Eastern Evolution Forest, Mountain Domain 13.

Black Wolf King, Missing-Ear Wolf, and Mastiff One were running swiftly through a shallow stream. After withdrawing from the Eastern Wild Dog territory, Black Wolf King returned to Hui-1 Eastern Evolution Forest, while Missing-Ear Wolf and Mastiff One returned to Hui-3 Southern Evolution Forest.

The pitch-black old wolf? It was carrying the injured wild dog along another waterway, racing toward Mountain 14—the location of the wild dog's corpse.

Running by stepping on stones in the stream leaves no tracks or scent, making it the safest route.

The old wolf, which had been sprinting, suddenly stopped, flicked its tail once, then darted into the dense forest beside the stream with the wild dog.

Half a minute later, a pitch-black raven flew to a large tree above the wolf and dog, folded its wings to steady itself, and peered down at the pair below.

The pinhole camera on the communication collar around its neck captured footage of the wolf and dog feeding and transmitted it to the large screen in the laboratory.

An assistant researcher from the Canine Re-domestication Research Group reported: "This is Wild Dog Group East's Dog No. 3, a mid-level speed-evolved Caucasian Shepherd, 4 years old, a descendant of the wild dog group's former leader. Over the past six months, it has challenged Experimental Subject No. 4 three times. After failing the third challenge, it left the wild dog group. Based on behavioral assessment, its brain evolution level is higher than that of other dogs, but it has not reached the first-level brain evolution standard."

Then the assistant researcher's page-turning pen pointed at the black wolf: "There is no information on this black wolf in the database. It is presumed to be a member of the Hui-1 Eastern Wolf Pack. The fact that these two animals are feeding together indicates they have formed a cooperative foraging partnership."

Another member of the research group spoke up: "The possibility is high. The Hui-1 Eastern Wolf Pack has a large number of black wolves. After large tracts of evolution forest were burned, many black wolves migrated outward in search of new territory."

The team leader spoke: "Continue advancing."

"Yes." The researcher responsible for communicating with the domesticated raven pressed a control button.

"Buzz—"

The raven perched on a large tree in Mountain Domain 13 of the Hui-3 Eastern Evolution Forest felt a slight vibration from the collar on its neck, spread its wings, and continued flying forward.

The team leader ordered: "Play the three-second footage of Wild Dog No. 3 and the black wolf captured before the raven took off, at 0.1x speed."

"Yes."

The assistant researcher replayed the footage twice at slow speed, and another researcher made an assessment: "Wild Dog No. 3 has grown accustomed to the buzzing sound of the raven's collar and showed no reaction to it. The black wolf heard it for the first time, so its ears visibly twitched. However, it did not release its prey to look around, indicating it does not consider this sound a threat. In summary, this should be an ordinary black wolf that has never had contact with humans."

The team leader nodded: "Continue following the raven's perspective."

Hui-3 Eastern Evolution Forest, Mountain Domain 13.

After confirming the domesticated raven had flown far away, the black-skinned old wolf released its prey and shrank under a rock, pulled a mobile phone from the wolf belly-bag hidden beneath the rock, and quickly sent a message in the Blue Star Alliance group, specifically @-ing Xia Qing and Missing-Ear Wolf.

After receiving the message, Xia Qing immediately edited it into a format humans could understand and posted it in the temporary chat group that Broken-Waist Wolf had already left: @everyone, Fourth has discovered a high-level domesticated raven wearing a communication collar, appearing between Mountain Domains 13 and 14 of the Eastern Evolution Forest, heading toward the location of the wild dog corpse.

Zhang San quickly came online: @Yang Jin, notify Xie Yu's squad to pretend they can't see the raven and deliberately leak the intel that it was the No. 7 Territory Research Institute that discovered the wild dog's forepaw anomaly through video footage and applied to recover the corpse. Can Xie Yu's squad track that raven while ensuring they aren't exposed?

Yang Jin: No, we can't. Our domesticated birds are mid-level. If I notify all squad members on missions in the evolution forest to watch for ravens flying overhead, the information will leak.

Xia Qing: Third Brother, let me ask Fourth and see if it can track the raven?

Zhang San……

Yang Jin……