Chapter 434: Two Evolved Eagle Owls

Xu Pin had been in Sufeng for so many years that he'd inevitably picked up Tang Zhengsu's bad habit of cursing the moment he opened his mouth. "Stop fucking putting on airs and spouting this bullshit at me. You just think I'm the one who poisoned Brother Luo, and you want to use this chance to kick me when I'm down! I'll say it one last time: I had nothing to do with Luo Pei's poisoning."

"You and I do have a grudge, but I wouldn't lay a hand on Brother Luo. First, because he was my instructor for over two years. Second, because poisoning Brother Luo and weakening Hui-Three Base's overall combat strength wouldn't do me any good. You think you're so smart, but you can't even tell you've fallen for someone else's divide-and-conquer scheme."

"Whether you're involved or not is no longer up to you to decide. The snake venom component in the synthetic Qiang poison I found on those two refugees is a perfect match for the poison Brother Luo was hit with." Yang Jin finished speaking and hung up the phone directly.

Xu Pin listened to Yang Jin's words, his expression shifting rapidly.

The directions of Blue Star's great biological evolution vary enormously; the toxins contained in Qiang snakes evolved in different natural environments differ markedly. Even Qiang snakes of the same species evolved in the same region don't have completely identical toxins.

If Qiang snake toxins with completely identical components are measured from different poisoned individuals, there are only two possibilities: either the toxins come from the same Qiang snake, or they come from different venomous snakes reproduced through fission from the same parent body.

Since Blue Star's great biological evolution, animals that reproduce through parental fission are still mainly single-celled organisms; to date, no snake has ever been discovered reproducing this way.

So it can be taken as a given that Qiang snake toxins with completely identical components come from the same Qiang snake.

After Xu Pin had accidentally caught a Qiang snake last spring, he used one-third of its toxin to make synthetic Qiang poison and kill Luo Pei. The remaining two-thirds he handed over to the Blaze Squad to prove he'd found the Qiang snake's territory and to propose cooperating with Blaze to develop uses for the Qiang snake.

He never expected Blaze to take the Qiang snake venom he'd sent over and use it on the evolved bears of Mountain Fifty, catching him completely off guard.

Fire Phoenix is a man who keeps his word—this must have been done by Shan Ying behind Fire Phoenix's back!

Shan Ying is a research fanatic. Whatever her purpose in doing this, she's put Xu Pin on a dead-end road:

If Yang Jin hands the Qiang snake venom he found over to Tan Junjie, Xu Pin didn't know what punishment Blaze and Sufeng would face, but he was certain he'd be kicked out of the Sufeng Squad by Tang Zhengsu and become a target for everyone.

"Quick, pick up the pace."

After giving the order, Xu Pin immediately used his phone to contact his trusted squad members.

If he couldn't kill Yang Jin tonight, he'd have no choice but to take his people and supplies and run, switching to a different base to start over.

This is already the tenth year of the catastrophe, social order is slowly recovering, the various bases have established contact with each other, and starting over under a new identity is far too difficult. So the best solution is still to blow Yang Jin up and destroy the evidence.

As dusk fell, Yang Jin led his team at speed over Mountain Fifty-Two. The Sufeng interception squad avoided the surveillance range of Mountain Forty-Nine and lay in ambush on the route Yang Jin had to take coming out of Mountain Fifty-Two.

After the sun set, two spotted doves carrying monitors flew back to Territory Two one after another, and a night heron took off from Territory Two.

The scout reported, "Captain, Territory Nine released an eagle owl. Judging by its flight speed, it should be an evolved bird."

The night heron Sufeng had sent out was within the hunting range of the evolved eagle owl. Tang Zhengsu immediately called Shan Ying, but the voice that came through was that of Assistant Xiao Liu from Territory Nine.

"Hello, this is Hui-Three Territory Nine. I'm Territory Nine's assistant, Xiao Liu. May I ask who's calling?"

Tang Zhengsu's face darkened. "I'm Tang Zhengsu. Put Shan Ying on."

Assistant Xiao Liu's standard customer-service tone left nothing to fault, yet was inexplicably infuriating. "Captain Tang, I'm terribly sorry. Our Captain Shan is in the lab and refuses to be disturbed. Would you like me to transfer you to Captain Liao, or to our territory's lord?"

Blaze's vice-captain Liao Wen was far away on Blaze Mountain—telling him about this was fucking useless!

Tang Zhengsu swallowed his temper and chose Li Si. He soon heard a cold voice from the phone: "Captain Tang, please speak."

Tang Zhengsu asked, "Fourth Sister, may I ask why Territory Nine sent out a trained evolved eagle owl?"

Li Si answered, "To observe the nighttime activity patterns of animals inside the Evolution Forest."

I…

Tang Zhengsu swallowed the profanity and discussed cooperation with Li Si. "We just sent out a night heron to track Yang Jin's trail. Please have the eagle owl assist in the search, Fourth Sister. You know that if Yang Jin hands the evidence over to the investigation team, it'll be bad for both of us."

"That's not my department." Li Si hung up directly.

"Fuck!" Tang Zhengsu slammed the phone hard onto the ground, shattering it to pieces.

The factory gates of Territory Eight opened, and a cargo truck drove out, heading to Territory Twenty to make a delivery. To make it back before dark, the truck moved fast, kicking up dust all the way.

An evolved eagle owl with perfect camouflage in the dust dropped from the truck's undercarriage onto the road and swiftly flew into the wild grass of the Evolution Forest. Strapped to its back was a bulging backpack the same color as its feathers. A small jet-black head poked out of the backpack, looking around.

"Boom! Boom boom!"

Several violent explosions rang out at the foot of Mountain Fifty-Two. Tang Zhou and Wang Liang leapt rapidly between trees, dodging long-range sniper fire.

The snipers' attack also revealed their hiding spots. Yang Jin darted through the smoke of the explosions like lightning, taking out one sniper after another.

"Squaaawk—"

A scream from the scout night heron rang out in the monitoring room of Territory Two, and the transmitted image began to shake violently.

The scout immediately reported, "Captain, our night heron's been captured!"

The scout captain looked at Tang Zhengsu, not daring to give the order, because this night heron was a night-reconnaissance bird the Sufeng Squad had only managed to train after great difficulty.

Tang Zhengsu, a cigarette dangling from his lips, had bloodshot eyes. "Detonate!"

"Yes, sir." The scout pressed the button. After a bang, the monitor screen went black, and the people in the recon room didn't even dare breathe loudly, afraid the captain would vent his fury on them.

At this moment, everyone missed Tang Huai and Tang Heng terribly. If those two were here—especially Tang Huai, who couldn't read faces and had a foul mouth—he'd definitely become Tang Zhengsu's punching bag.

Yang Jin had already engaged Xu Pin, and Tang Zhengsu didn't dare rashly contact him by walkie-talkie or phone. He could only wait, forcing himself to be patient.

In Territory Three, Xia Qing stood on the attic, listening intently to the sounds coming from the northern Evolution Forest.

In Territory Nine, Shan Ying walked out of the lab. After hearing Xiao Liu's report, she immediately ordered, "Send the eagle owl over to take a look."

"Yes, ma'am." The Blaze Squad's scout immediately directed the eagle owl to change course and head for the site of the explosion.