Chapter 284: Evolved Raven

Mountain Fifty is on the east side of Mountain Forty-Nine, and Mountain Fifty-Two is on the north side of Mountain Forty-Nine, not far from the territory. Xin Yu offered the trade terms, "Ten jin of yellow-light chestnuts, two jin of green-light pine nuts."

"Deal." Xia Qing had no time to haggle and nodded immediately.

"Come in." Xin Yu led Xia Qing into a small room not far inside Territory Eight's territory marker, took out a stack of leaves and grass twine from a drawer against the wall, and said, "You wrap the wolf dung into small bundles with the leaves, I'll go get the equipment."

"Okay." Xia Qing kept to the rules, didn't look around, and sat by the rough, cracked wooden table to quickly portion out the wolf dung.

Xin Yu went alone and came back with two birds, one big and one small.

The big one was an evolved White-bellied Sea Eagle that Xia Qing knew well — the more majestic it looked soaring in the sky, the more ridiculous it looked walking on the ground. If Xia Qing hadn't accidentally gotten used to keeping a straight face in the territory, she really might not have been able to hold it in.

The small one was an evolved raven, perched on Xin Yu's shoulder, its color every bit as dark as Xia Qing's black-feathered rooster. Noticing Xia Qing looking at it, the raven lifted its wings and greeted her in a very clear, distinctly bird-like voice, "Hello."

Xin Yu calmly introduced it to Xia Qing, "This is my companion, Molli."

Xia Qing took two seconds to assess and realized this was a brain-evolved bird. Since it was Xin Yu's companion and could talk, Xia Qing raised her hand to greet it, "Hello, Molli. I'm Xia Qing from Territory Three."

"Good, very good." The raven was delighted and hopped around the small room. The evolved White-bellied Sea Eagle didn't go inside; it stood at the door preening its brown feathers.

Xin Yu wasn't one for many words. Once inside, she packed the wolf-dung leaf bundles Xia Qing had wrapped into a backpack and strapped it onto the White-bellied Sea Eagle.

The backpack's color matched the feathers on the eagle's back — fine craftsmanship, top-grade materials, a completely different class from the satchel Xia Qing had made for Old Goat.

But the function was the same.

After the wolf dung was packed in, Xin Yu turned on the cameras on the White-bellied Sea Eagle and the raven, patted both birds on the head, and said gently, "Go."

The White-bellied Sea Eagle flapped its wings and, carrying the wolf dung and the raven, soared into the sky, vanishing in the blink of an eye.

Xin Yu opened a laptop and gestured for Xia Qing to come look.

This laptop was connected to the cameras on both birds. Watching Mountain Forty-Nine flash by on the screen, Xia Qing confirmed that the sea eagle was a speed-evolved one.

"Molli, descend."

After the White-bellied Sea Eagle flew past Mountain Forty-Nine, Xin Yu gave the order through the walkie-talkie. The mountains and trees on the computer screen zoomed in, and Xia Qing quickly spotted the wolf-hunting squad in the valley between Mountain Forty-Nine and Mountain Fifty.

From this angle, the humans were just little black dots, and the two evolved dogs leading the way were actually the easiest to identify.

Molli skillfully directed her tamed beast to avoid the squad, then the massive White-bellied Sea Eagle landed in a big tree on Mountain Fifty, and the raven, clutching the grass-leaf bundles, scattered the wolf dung according to Xin Yu's orders.

Through the raven's camera, Xia Qing caught a glimpse of an evolved grizzly bear flashing past on the screen, quickly typed on her phone, and showed it to Xin Yu.

Xin Yu glanced at it and ordered the raven, "Molli, fly back and drop the stuff into the bear's den."

Seeing the raven accurately and skillfully find the bear's cave without any guidance from Xin Yu, Xia Qing knew this wasn't Molli's first time here.

After scattering all the wolf dung, the raven returned to the White-bellied Sea Eagle's back. The eagle took off, and the two birds moved to another spot to continue scattering.

Until all the wolf dung was scattered and the two birds took off on their way back to the territory, Xia Qing heard the frantic barking of the wolf-hunting squad's evolved dogs.

The barking was very clear, and Xia Qing's heart clenched. When the White-bellied Sea Eagle flew higher, she saw the wolf-hunting squad enter Mountain Fifty from the valley without chasing the eagle, and only then did she feel a little more at ease.

The wolf-hunting squad was led by the wolf dung toward the third peak of Mountain Fifty — the territory of the evolved bears — and the danger to the wolf pack was reduced by more than half. If the wolf-hunting squad encountered the evolved bears, they'd have to abort this trip and pull out of the Evolution Forest as fast as possible, and the crisis for the wolf pack would be resolved.

They dared to go into the Evolution Forest to hunt the evolved wolf that had escaped from the Azure Dragon Squad because they'd deduced that wolf had submitted to humans for some time, lost its wolf pride, and carried human scent on it. A wolf like that would be rejected by the pack and forced to survive alone in the Evolution Forest.

No matter how strong a lone wolf was, over twenty people could catch it.

But against a solitary evolved bear, they wouldn't dare provoke it lightly. Because deep in this Evolution Forest, there were brain-evolved bears — two of them, in fact.

Their gear was decent, but it couldn't handle a bear pack led by brain-evolved bears.

After the two birds safely returned to Territory Eight, Xia Qing stood up to take her leave, "Thank you. I'll go get the supplies and bring them over to you."

"Have the inspection team deliver them." After saying that, Xin Yu reminded Xia Qing, "I don't want anyone else to know I have tamed birds."

"Right, right." The raven landed on Xin Yu's shoulder and chimed in agreement.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." These birds were Xin Yu's companions, their status equal to Old Goat in Xia Qing's own eyes. She was already deeply grateful that Xin Yu was willing to help — how could she possibly let Territory Eight fall into danger for helping her?

Xin Yu took out her phone, "Let's exchange contact info. Once you get the wolf back, we'll talk about cooperating again."

Xia Qing added Xin Yu's contact and explained her relationship with the evolved wolf, "That wolf was recuperating in my territory. It doesn't fully obey my commands, and it might not come back."

Xin Yu nodded and said nothing more.

On her way back along the isolation belt, Xia Qing ran into the inspection team on patrol. Hu Zi waved his arm happily, "Sister Qing!"

Before Xia Qing could respond, she heard the roar of an evolved bear coming from Mountain Fifty. The wolf-hunting squad had run into the evolved bears!

"Xia Qing, return to the territory immediately." Tan Junjie looked dead serious and immediately opened the walkie-talkie to warn everyone in the territory to be cautious about going outside.

Xia Qing ran quickly along the isolation belt back to her own territory. Old Goat saw her and came charging up, bleating.

Chen Zheng, following behind, explained, "The first day you went to Mountain Fifty to gather pine nuts, there were bear roars too. Old Goat stayed home that time and didn't come out, but this time its reaction is really strong."

Xia Qing rubbed Old Goat, who was pressing close seeking protection, "That time there was a wolf at home. Do you think there's any difference between this bear roar and last time?"

Chen Zheng nodded, "Last time the sound was clearer."

Last time there were two bears, and they were standing above the halfway point of the mountain, so the roar carried farther and sounded clearer. But the difference Xia Qing heard wasn't about the volume — it was the emotion contained in the bear's roar.