Chapter 279: The Gold Chain and the Wolf Howl

Xia Qing naturally didn't dare provoke them lightly, but the meat of evolved geese was delicious. If it were a flock of only twenty or thirty geese, Xia Qing would have opened fire without hesitation, but with several hundred she didn't dare make a move.

What Xia Qing didn't dare, someone else did.

Zhang San, who hadn't spoken in the lord channel for over ten days, spoke up. "Territory One, are you going to catch these two flocks of geese?"

"Catch." The person stationed at Territory One replied clearly. "If we hunt down any Green Lantern Geese, we'll send them over to you, Third Brother."

"Many thanks. I'll trade with you at ten percent above the Safe Zone price—however many you put out, I'll take that many." Zhang San was thoroughly satisfied.

Xia Qing let out a soft breath. She wanted to eat them too. She hoped a few might escape the Blue Dragon Squad's hunting zone and fly over her territory, and happen to be edible ones at that.

The one who had just replied to Zhang San was Tang Zhou, the enhanced-jumper of the Blue Dragon Squad. His squad ranked fifth within the Blue Dragon Squad—four places higher than Beard Feng's squad—and their combat strength was formidable.

Not long after gunshots rang out from the northern part of Mountain Forty-Nine, Tang Zhou posted an announcement. "A flock of about two hundred evolved geese wasn't attracted by the fishmeal and is flying over Mountain Forty-Nine."

"Copy." Tan Junjie announced calmly. "Evolved geese aren't afraid of the evolved raptors' kites or bear roars. Release the wolf howls immediately and turn the volume to maximum."

"Aoo—"

"Aoo—"

The wolf howls had just started playing through the loudspeakers of various territories when Xia Qing immediately called a halt. "Everyone stop, stop right now! That's the howl of a wolf that's been imprisoned and tortured—it has absolutely no deterrent effect on evolved geese."

The moment Xia Qing's order went out, the wolf howls in Territories Three, Four, Five, Six, and Ten stopped simultaneously. Half a minute later, the wolf howls in Territories Eleven through Twenty-Eight to the south also stopped.

Kites were useless, wolf howls were useless. Zhao Ze asked in panic, "Xia Qing, what do we do?"

Xia Qing stayed very calm and was the first to ask Zhang San, "Third Brother, are you catching these geese?"

Although Zhang San was picky about his food, he could tell what mattered. "Not catching. My territory has already been sprayed with bird-repellent, so the geese won't land. Do as you please."

"Copy." Xia Qing immediately contacted Beard Feng. "Captain Hu, can you play the wolf-howl bird-repellent recording the Blue Dragon Squad made?"

Beard Feng immediately understood what Xia Qing meant. "Sure, right away."

After finishing with Beard Feng, Xia Qing immediately took off her protective mask, patted the Broken-Waist wolf beside her—which had turned solemn-faced the moment it heard the wolf howl—and held up the second string of pink pearl necklace in front of it. "Handsome wolf brother Broken-Waist, howl a few times to drive the geese away, and I'll give you this necklace."

The Broken-Waist wolf, already wearing a string of pink-white pearls around its neck, continued to stare solemnly at the loudspeaker hanging on the big tree by the reservoir, as if it hadn't heard Xia Qing speak.

Xia Qing immediately switched props, pulling out a big, flashy gold chain from her protective suit. "Broken-Waist, look—doesn't this look a lot like the color of the Queen's eyes? The Queen would definitely like it. Howl a few times to drive the geese away, and I'll give you this necklace."

The Broken-Waist wolf stared at the gold chain for a few moments, then stood up, tilted its head back, and howled,

"Aoo—woo—"

"Aoo—woo—"

The moment Broken-Waist howled, the Broken-Leg wolf and the Black Wolf in Zone Three of Mountain Forty-Nine immediately charged into Gao Po of Territory Three and howled alongside it; the Sick Wolf also raised its head and howled.

The geese were indeed formidable in the air, but once they landed they were no match for a wolf pack.

The howls of the four evolved wolves made the geese—exhausted from two or three days of flight and preparing to land—beat their wings upward, abandon their rest and feeding, and keep flying onward in search of a suitable resting area.

After this flock of geese flew off, the lord channel fell silent for a moment before Kuang Qingwei spoke first.

"The wolf howls from the loudspeaker really aren't quite the same as the Blue Dragon Squad's wolf howls. I got swindled. Xia Qing, thanks to your reminder. Captain Hu, thanks to you too. It's my fault for not checking properly when I stocked them. Anyone who bought loudspeakers from me, I'll refund ten points per speaker."

Zhao Ze immediately chimed in. "Not Brother Qing's fault. I played the wolf howls from the loudspeaker before, and they sounded pretty scary. I never expected they couldn't scare the geese. Lucky Xia Qing picked up on it."

Xia Qing explained, "I've run into wolf packs a few times, so I could tell the sound was off."

Using loudspeakers to play fierce-beast sounds to drive off birds and beasts was a method the Safe Zone had used for years, and it had never caused problems. So Xia Qing had been careless—she hadn't checked the fierce-beast calls recorded inside one by one, only giving the wolf pack advance notice so they wouldn't be startled by the wolf howls from the loudspeakers.

Fortunately Broken-Waist was here and could howl to scare off the geese; otherwise Xia Qing's carelessness would have caused serious losses.

Tang Huai raised a question. "Hey, Hu, just how many tamed wolf beasts do you people actually have?"

Beard Feng stared him straight in the eye and brazenly lied. "One. The howls were a recording."

The hearing-enhanced person Tang Huai flew into a rage. "Like hell I'd believe your nonsense!"

"Don't mention shoes—even if you believe in feet, it has nothing to do with me." Beard Feng shot back.

The hearing-enhanced person Tang Huai flew into a rage. "You son of a bitch, lying through your teeth with a straight face—asking for a beating, are you? If you've got the guts, let me go to Mountain Forty-Nine and inspect. I don't believe you people only have one wolf!"

Seeing the lord channel was about to become a battlefield for the two of them again, Tan Junjie sternly called a halt. "This is an emergency. Please keep the lord channel quiet."

Inside Territory Two, Tang Huai threw down his walkie-talkie and cursed. "Damn it, this crappy mission—one moment I have to play dumb and howl randomly, the next I'm cursing this one and snapping at that one. I really can't take it for one more day. I'm about to go crazy!"

Tang Heng comforted his older brother. "Anyone with eyes can tell what's going on. Brother, just endure a little longer. Once our territory's wheat has a good harvest, we'll leave."

When does the wheat ripen? Late May, early June! That's still damn near half a year away! Tang Huai forced himself to stay calm and sent his younger brother away. "A real wolf howl and a recording are completely different. I'm not the only one who can tell. We can't keep this hidden—it has to be reported. You go patrol the territory first. I'll make a call to the higher-ups."

After Tang Heng left, Tang Huai buried his head and let out a silent, low growl for a while before dialing Xu Pin's number.

On Gao Po of Territory Three, the Broken-Leg wolf and the Black Wolf lay on the ground gnawing on the big chunks of jerky Xia Qing had given them. The solemn-faced Broken-Waist wolf gestured for Xia Qing to stuff the gold chain into the pocket of its protective suit.

Xia Qing immediately stuffed it in, then negotiated with it. "Handsome wolf brother, how about sending Broken-Leg and Black Wolf back first? You all staying here together is too conspicuous."

After receiving something it liked, Broken-Waist was very easy to deal with. It let the two wolves withdraw first, leaving only the Sick Wolf beside Xia Qing gnawing on jerky.

Seeing the two wolves withdraw, Xiao Jiang immediately offered Broken-Waist praise. "This brother here, your howl is absolutely terrifying. You must be a very impressive figure in the wolf pack, right? My respects, my respects."

Chen Cheng also babbled on with praise. "This brother's protective suit is really nice. These shoes let the claws poke through, so running over rocky ground won't hurt the paw pads…"

The solemn-faced Broken-Waist wolf noticed two weapon-carrying humans trying to approach it, turned its head, bared its gleaming white fangs at them, and let out a low growl.