Chapter 554: Explosion

"Xia Qing, tonight's battle definitely won't be easy. Want to hire a few more people? Considering we've worked together many times, I'll give you a fifteen percent discount." Iron Rooster Yang Jin took the initiative to call, asking if Xia Qing wanted to trade.

Xia Qing, who was making an incubator for the green lantern bugs, asked calmly, "What would you like to trade?"

Yang Jin was very easy to talk to. "Green lantern python meat or green lantern pecans are both fine. Just give me whatever you think is appropriate."

……

What a smooth talker!

Xia Qing asked, "How many people can I hire?"

Yang Jin replied, "We originally had six combat-ready members, but Tang Huaigang hired four, so only two are left."

The Green Dragon Squad had so many people, yet only six combat-ready members could be sent out to earn points this time. Xia Qing raised tonight's battle danger level again. "If you agree to let me pay with points, I'll hire both of the remaining two."

In the Green Dragon base office inside the safe zone, Yang Jin leaned back in his chair, a smile in his eyes. "If you pay with points, there won't be a discount."

"Fine." After settling the hiring price with Yang Jin for the Green Dragon Squad members, Xia Qing asked, "Will the base send troops to provide support?"

"Tonight there are battles breaking out everywhere—no one can be spared. Brother Luo ran into an ambush by an unknown squad on his way back with his team and probably won't make it back to the territory in time. So the base commander lightened the Green Dragon Squad's defense mission, which is why I could pull some team members back to defend." Yang Jin gave Xia Qing a detailed briefing on the latest news before hanging up.

Xie Yu, who had just pushed the door open, teased his good brother with a smile. "I thought you'd give Sister Qing a few reminders, tell her to stay safe."

Yang Jin shot his good brother a look. "She's already prepared. She doesn't need me to remind her."

Xie Yu complained, "Since you know she's prepared, why are you still putting on that dead expression?"

Knowing is knowing, worrying is worrying. Yang Jin shot his good brother another look and changed the subject. "What did the base commander say?"

Xie Yu sat at the edge of the desk. "Blazing Fire and Hui-1 Base's hidden agents have almost all come out of hiding this time. Tonight is definitely going to be a brutal fight. I'm going to move with the troops. You lead the team to resist the beast tide, and watch out for other squads shooting you in the back."

Yang Jin nodded. "Tang Zhengrong's attitude is still unclear?"

Xie Yu sneered. "He must have some leverage held by Chen Dianming."

Chen Dianming is the vice base commander of Hui-1, and his relationship with the Blazing Fire Squad is very close. Xie Yu saying this means Tang Zhengrong will stand on Blazing Fire's side this time.

Yang Jin pressed his cigarette butt into the ashtray.

"Attention all territories, attention all territories: the beast tide will begin crossing the evolved forest in the southern part of the territory in one hour. Members within the territory who do not have defense assignments, please return indoors. Do not move around within the territory, to avoid attacks from evolved raptors."

Tan Junjie's solemn voice sounded over the lord channel, opening the curtain on the great melee of January 24th, Year 11 of the Heavenly Calamity.

After issuing the announcement on the lord channel, Tan Junjie's voice sounded again in the earpiece-style walkie-talkie Xia Qing was wearing: "Now beginning communication quality test. All patrol team members, please reply upon receipt."

After the patrol team members replied in turn, Xia Qing replied: "Territory Three, Xia Qing, received."

"Territory One, Tang Zhou, received."

"Territory Eight, Seeing Xin Yu, received."

Only then did Xia Qing learn that Seeing Xin Yu and Tang Zhou had also been summoned by Tan Junjie and had joined the territory defense task group.

Hearing that Tang Zhou had already returned to the territory, Xia Qing felt a bit more at ease, because Tang Zhou was the Green Dragon Squad's combat strength second only to Yang Jin, Xie Yu, and Luo Pei. With him holding down the fort, Territory One's safety factor was greatly increased.

"Now beginning communication quality test. All alliance members, please reply upon receipt." From the other earpiece-style walkie-talkie Xia Qing was wearing came Yue Haiying's equally solemn and steady voice.

Because the lord walkie-talkies had limited communication range, to ensure smooth communication between territory alliance members, Yue Haiying had issued each territory two military-grade earpiece-style walkie-talkies.

Xia Qing pressed the walkie-talkie button. "Territory Three, Xia Qing, received."

Hu Zifeng also pressed the button. "Territory Three, Hu Zifeng, received."

Hu Zifeng's squad's mission was to protect Xia Qing and Territory Three, so today he was Territory Three's combat strength.

After all alliance members had replied, the two Green Dragon Squad members Xia Qing had just hired also replied that they had received.

Yue Haiying issued the order: "All members confirmed online. Please keep your walkie-talkies clear and unobstructed, and do not broadcast irrelevant information on the walkie-talkies. Everyone, the territory defense battle begins now."

The moment Yue Haiying finished speaking, Xia Qing received a dispatch from Tan Junjie: "Raptors will reach the airspace above the territory in three minutes. Snipers, please note. Territory Seven, please note. Seeing Xin Yu, release the scout bird."

"Received." Xia Qing, up in the big pine tree on the high slope of Territory Three, raised her sniper rifle, gazed southwest, and spoke gently to Wolf Lao Er standing beneath the tree. "From now on, if you hear anything unusual, give me a warning."

Beneath the big tree, Wolf Lao Er, wearing a snakeskin protective suit, looked up at Xia Qing. Only after Xia Qing lowered her head did it face south, sniffing at something with its nose.

"Right, the beast tide is coming. The earth is trembling." After responding to her companion, Xia Qing saw the jade-belted sea eagle taking off from Territory Seven, and the corner of her mouth couldn't help but twitch.

Seeing Xin Yu had actually put protective clothing on her tamed bird……

The small black dots in the air chasing the beast tide's direction of travel quickly grew larger. A few raptors broke away from the main group, entered the airspace above the human territories, and began to circle, looking for food.

Two evolved eagles dove downward and were shot down by snipers deployed in the southern part of Northern Zone One. Another speed-evolved eagle rushed quickly toward Territory 20 and was shot down by a sniper on Mount 49.

Seeing Xin Yu's cold voice sounded in the walkie-talkie. "The raptors in the northern evolved forest are beginning to take off. The first batch of raptors is expected to reach the airspace above the territory in three minutes."

"The raptors flying in from the north are our squad's responsibility." Hu Zifeng announced over the alliance channel.

"Received." Yue Haiying replied.

Xia Qing, who had the strongest sniping ability in Territory Three, continued to keep a close eye on the raptors flying in from the southwest, and pulled the trigger for the first time.

"Bang."

A speed-evolved black kite that had suddenly dove from high altitude toward Territory 11 was hit by Xia Qing and fell vertically.

An hour later, the sky began to grow dark. Zhao Ze couldn't help but ask over the lord channel, "Captain Tan, the beast tide hasn't passed yet?"

After more than ten seconds, Tan Junjie finally responded solemnly, "The main beast tide force has not yet arrived. Lords, please do not leave your rooms. Stay hidden."

Doesn't that mean the main force will pass through the evolved forest south of the territory at night?

Zhao Ze, holding a musket and hiding inside the greenhouse, took a deep breath.

Yue Haiying issued an announcement over the lord channel. "Don't let your guard down. The real crisis will come after the sky is completely dark, or even in the latter half of the night."

Tonight was overcast, the cloud layer blocking the stars and moon, and visibility was very low. Xia Qing held her breath, about to

But darkness had its advantage too—namely, the number of raptors following the beast tide waiting to scavenge had decreased, and the patrol team's sniper group had basically completed its mission.

Although two snipers from the patrol team had been reassigned, the addition of Xia Qing, Hu Zifeng, Tang Zhou, and others allowed the mission to snipe the raptors to be completed smoothly.

Xia Qing held her breath, quickly took off her protective mask and put on night-vision goggles, lowered her head to speak to Wolf Lao Er beneath the tree, and asked softly, "Wolf Lao Er, are you tired? If you're tired, just lie down and rest for a while."

Hearing Xia Qing call it, Wolf Lao Er raised its head and was just about to crack a smile, when suddenly its body tensed, its tail went rigid, and it let out a low growl into the air.

Xia Qing immediately looked up, searching for the target.

But through the low-light night-vision goggles, Xia Qing couldn't spot the target at all.

At night, with no sound, aerial targets that night-vision goggles—which rely on capturing faint light and infrared—could not detect...

Xia Qing's eyes went wide at once. She immediately leapt down from the big tree, dropped to one knee beside the Sick Wolf, matched its line of sight, used her keen hearing to catch the shifts in the wind, locked onto the general direction of the moving target, and quickly squeezed the trigger.

"Bang, bang, bang."

"Boom—"

After the three shots, the target Xia Qing had hit exploded.