Chapter 457: Shooting Down a Scout Bird

"Boss, Xia Qing and the three wolves have left Zone Three and entered Zone Four." In the surveillance room, Hu Zifeng spotted Xia Qing and the wolves on camera and immediately reported to Yang Jin.

Yang Jin, who was on the phone with Xie Yu, looked up and saw Xia Qing and the three wolves running on the monitor. Xia Qing still couldn't keep up with the wolves' speed, so the lead wolf wasn't running at full speed—it would run a stretch, then turn back to check on Xia Qing, clearly waiting for her.

The other two wolves, one ahead of Xia Qing and one behind, also slowed their pace to accommodate her. Clearly, Xia Qing was being protected by the wolf pack as they advanced; the wolves had already accepted her as a companion. Yang Jin smiled and began considering ways to cooperate with Xia Qing's "squad."

Seeing the boss's expression, Hu Zifeng, who was petting a cat, froze, his eyes slowly widening—he seemed to have discovered something extraordinary!

"Meow~"

The evolved狸花猫 Little Lao Wu perched on Hu Zifeng's shoulder stared at the screen and let out a low cry.

"Is Lao Wu hungry?" Hu Zifeng immediately pulled out the yellow-light bamboo rat jerky he always kept on hand and handed it to Little Lao Wu.

After the Azure Dragon Squad occupied Mountain 49, they caught sixteen yellow-light evolved bamboo rats and four green-light evolved bamboo rats from the bamboo forest and fenced off an area on the mountain to raise them.

Bamboo rats breed quickly; a female produces 3-4 litters a year, with 3 to 8 pups per litter, and each rat can grow to 5-10 jin. They are one of the main animals raised by the safe-zone breeding center.

But the bamboo rats found on Mountain 49 had insufficient resistance to the Devour element. From spring until now, the Devour element content in three green-light bamboo rats had increased, turning them yellow-light, and half the yellow-light bamboo rats had turned red-light. Therefore, yellow-light bamboo rat meat was currently the best food Hu Zifeng could provide for Little Lao Wu.

Little Lao Wu took the jerky in its mouth, jumped onto the table, and while eating, searched for which screen Xia Qing and the wolves had moved to, then trotted over with the jerky still in its mouth and continued watching.

"Wolf Lao Er, stop."

Seeing they were about to leave Mountain 49, Xia Qing called the sick wolf to a halt, catching her breath as she carefully surveyed the valley, Mountain 50, and the sky.

The three wolves hid with Xia Qing behind dense bushes, observing the situation ahead.

There was a crow in the sky above the pine forest on the halfway slope of the Third Peak of Mountain 50; its flight path was clearly not that of a normal bird. And the Third Peak was exactly where Xia Qing needed to go.

After catching her breath, Xia Qing called Xin Yu, Hu Zifeng, and Tan Junjie in turn to confirm the crow wasn't a scout bird from Territory Eight, Territory One, or the inspection team. She then ordered the three wolves to stay hidden and wait, while she walked out of Mountain 49 alone.

Xia Qing crossed the valley toward the Second Peak of Mountain 50, pretending to search for herbs in the evolved forest while keeping constant watch on the crow's movements above the Third Peak. Judging by its flight altitude and position, the bird appeared to be scouting the area near Xiong Dong.

Soon, the bird spotted Xia Qing and flew toward her in a wide arc from the Third Peak, getting closer and closer.

One thousand meters… five hundred meters… two hundred meters—that's enough!

Xia Qing, who had been crouching on the ground pretending to dig herbs, swiftly raised her rifle. "Bang!"

"Boom!"

The killed crow fell less than three meters before exploding mid-air; blood and flesh rained down, and feathers swirled in the wind. The massive explosion and shockwave not only left Xia Qing's ears ringing but also startled a large flock of forest birds into flight. The explosives carried by this scout bird were at least three times more powerful than those on the scout birds sent by Territory Two.

This was probably a scout bird from Territory Nine—no wonder Tang Zhengsu was so certain that Territory Nine had used a scout bird to bomb Xu Pin to death.

"Shit!"

In the Territory Nine surveillance room, Jiang Fuqiang, the scout captain left behind by Shan Ying to carry out the mission, slammed the table hard. Pointing at the trembling screen showing the final image transmitted by the scout bird, he demanded, "This looks like a woman. When did the Azure Dragon Squad get such a skilled female sniper? Who is this?"

Assistant Xiao Liu pushed her glasses up. "Can't tell."

Jiang Fuqiang, already furious, exploded at Xiao Liu, "You've been in this territory for a year and you don't even recognize everyone?!"

Xiao Liu wiped the spittle Jiang Fuqiang had sprayed on her face, tilted her head up slightly. The glare on her lenses hid her gaze. "I'm a lab assistant. As long as I know the efficacy and usage of every potion in the lab, that's enough. Would you like me to check the potions' efficacy?"

Jiang Fuqiang immediately backed down. "You go on with your work. I'll ask someone else."

Xiao Liu slipped her hand into her lab coat pocket and resumed her customer-service tone. "The 'Evolved Forest Safety Regulations' state that scout birds may not approach and observe non-team personnel without permission. Otherwise, non-team personnel may regard them as a threat and destroy them on sight. I'm just a lab assistant who rarely goes to the evolved forest, so I don't know how close counts as 'approaching to observe.' Captain Jiang should know perfectly well, right?"

Jiang Fuqiang gritted his teeth. "Two hundred meters."

"Two hundred meters, huh—the '195.83 meters' text on the screen just now really was a bit small. You really can't read it clearly without glasses." Xiao Liu meaningfully pushed her glasses up, turned with her hand in her pocket, and left the surveillance room. "That person came from Mountain 49. Captain Jiang should think about how to compensate the Azure Dragon Squad for their losses."

Knowing Yang Jin's rotten personality, he'll definitely demand Fiery Fire compensate him for bullets, sniper rifle wear-and-tear, and lost work time! Jiang Fuqiang irritably grabbed his hair.

A scout team member who had zoomed in for a closer look reported, "Captain, this is a CM82 heavy sniper rifle. Based on what we've gathered, only two people in this territory own a CM82: Luo Pei of the Azure Dragon Squad and Xia Qing, the lord of Territory Three."

Jiang Fuqiang immediately let go of his hair and beamed. "Xia Qing must have left the territory through the North Gate to hunt and gather on Mountain 50. She definitely brought the wolves with her. Notify the beast-catching team immediately. Once we catch the wolves, we'll set out right away and return to Liehuo Mountain!"

"Yes, sir."

Second Peak of Mountain 50.

Xia Qing put away her rifle, confirmed there were no people or scout birds monitoring the area, and gave a whistle. The three wolves hidden behind the bushes on Mountain 49 quickly ran over and reunited with her.

Without Xia Qing needing to say anything, the wolf pack knew they had to move through the dense forest to avoid the scout birds in the sky.

Arriving at the foot of the Third Peak, Xia Qing called the sick wolf to a halt. "Wolf Lao Er, there are aggressive vines and evolved giant lizards ahead. I'll take the lead."

Although the giant lizards should have entered hibernation, the vines were still aggressive. Xia Qing didn't want to waste bullets and energy hacking through them on the way.

Before Xia Qing could even reach the front of the group to act as point, the lead wolf had already darted past the vines in a few bounds and stood imposingly staring at the pond.

Xia Qing…

"Excellent! Her Majesty is mighty. We're not hunting lizards today, so don't get any closer to the pond. Giant lizard meat doesn't taste good, and the skin is useless."

Three wolves and one person passed safely through the aggressive vine zone. Unlike Xia Qing's tension, the broken-waist wolf actually had the leisure to catch a rabbit and hand it to Xia Qing.