Chapter 559: This Is My Lord's Territory!

When several fierce beasts stampede in the same direction, the resulting beast tide is far more terrifying than floodwaters bursting a dam.

In the ten years of natural disasters, Xia Qing had experienced dozens of beast tides, big and small, but this one struck her as the most shocking. Because this time, between her and the beast tide stood only a "wall" built of stone, earth, and sandbags.

More than a hundred meters beyond this wall, countless beasts, large and small, were running from west to east. If they turned and charged, this wall would vanish in an instant.

The search-and-clear team from North Sector One and the reinforcing combat squads stood behind just such a wall, guarding the territory humans had carved out with such hardship behind them.

Xia Qing once again felt a surge of deep respect for Tan Junjie, the commander in charge of responding to the beast tide in North Sector One.

Tan Junjie stood here, stubbornly holding back the gradually approaching beast tide, keeping the territory's emergency floodlights burning for a full eight minutes. This allowed the snipers inside the territory to use the light to kill the evolved bats carrying explosives, and allowed Seeing Xin Yu to calmly direct reconnaissance birds to find and eliminate the invaders who were controlling the evolved bats to bomb the territory.

According to the original beast tide diversion plan, this beast tide should have been heading 5 kilometers away from North Sector One's territory. Within eight minutes, the beast tide had moved 4.9 kilometers north.

The danger and psychological pressure faced by Tan Junjie and the other search-and-clear team members could well be imagined.

They're coming!

"Evolved leopards and wolves are coming."

Xia Qing's inner thought and Luo Pei's voice rang out at the same moment—two high-level visual evolvers had simultaneously spotted the "rear guard" fierce beasts of this beast tide.

Herbivorous beasts were sprinting desperately ahead, with dozens of evolved wolves and evolved leopards in hot pursuit behind them. When the distance drew closer, Xia Qing's pupils suddenly trembled.

Among this wolf pack were actually over a dozen giant wolves, and the silver-gray giant wolf bringing up the rear was even taller than the handsome giant wolf from Mountain Sixty.

How could a wolf pack like this have collectively lost control?

No, they hadn't lost control. They were driving the herbivores, not like truly out-of-control beasts that retain only the instinct to hunt and kill.

These wolves and leopards from deep within the Evolution Forest—if they hadn't lost control, why were they driving the beast herd to charge the human territory?

Xia Qing raised her sniper rifle. She had no confidence she could take down beasts of this caliber in one shot. If one bullet failed to kill them, this pack of fierce beasts would charge straight through and take human lives.

But she wasn't panicked at all, because Hui Three Base's top sniper, Luo Pei, was standing right beside her. What she couldn't do, Luo Pei absolutely could.

"Everyone on the southern line, until you hear me give the attack order, you absolutely must not fire or launch shells." Luo Pei, appointed by Tan Junjie as the person in charge of defending against the beast tide at the southern isolation belt, issued the order calmly.

Compared to the average evolver Tan Junjie, Luo Pei—who spent years carrying out dangerous missions—was far more familiar with how fierce beasts attacked.

Everyone held their breath, silently praying this pack of fierce beasts wouldn't attack the territory and would simply run past.

"Awooo—wuu—"

The tallest evolved wolf in the pack actually stopped after reaching the southern edge of the territory. It leaped onto a tall boulder and howled at the sky.

The evolved wolves and evolved leopards that had been charging forward all came to a halt, turning north in unison to face the human territory, baring their fangs.

Damn it! The worst-case scenario had appeared!

The meaning of this angry howl was crystal clear—the king of this wolf pack was ordering the wolves to prepare for battle. Xia Qing steadied her breathing, pressed her eye to the sniper rifle, and placed her finger on the trigger, waiting for Luo Pei's order.

"All…"

"Awooo————wuu————"

Luo Pei had just uttered a single word when a longer, more majestic wolf howl came from the north.

Xia Qing's eyes suddenly lit up. She raised her hand and gripped Luo Pei's arm just as he was about to give the attack order. When he looked at her, she first pointed behind them, then raised her hand and made a notch shape above her own left ear.

Luo Pei understood what Xia Qing meant: the one howling behind them was the lead wolf with a notch missing from its left ear. He changed his order: "Everyone stay hidden in place, don't show your heads, don't launch an attack."

"Awooo—wuu————" The giant wolf driving the beast tide howled again, answering the howl of its kin from the northern mountain.

"Awooo————wuu————" The Queen answered with majestic authority.

"Awooo————wuu————" Broken-Waist Wolf followed the Queen closely.

"Awooo—wuu————" That should be the call of Handsome Giant Wolf.

The Queen, Broken-Waist Wolf, and Handsome Giant Wolf—three wolves had actually appeared at the same time.

"Awooo—wuu—wuu—" That was the call of that idiot Broken-Leg Wolf.

"Awooo—wuu—" That was the call of the Sick Wolf inside Third Territory.

These familiar wolf howls made Xia Qing's blood boil. The Queen, leading her subordinates, was standing on Mountain Fifty, declaring to this passing wolf pack to the south: This is my lord's territory!

Seeing Xin Yu announced over the walkie-talkie, "Captain Tan, at least forty wolves have appeared on the third peak of Mountain Fifty."

Tan Junjie responded, "Copy that. Don't let the reconnaissance birds clash with the wolf pack."

"Understood."

The main body of the beast tide had already run far off, and the trembling of the earth had lessened, but the howls from the two packs of fierce beasts facing off were right in their ears.

Luo Pei lightly bumped Xia Qing with his arm. Xia Qing, who had been staring at the wolf pack, turned her head and gave Luo Pei a slight nod. Xia Qing, who regularly dealt with wolf packs, could tell that the Queen's pack had gained the upper hand, and the passing wolves to the south of the territory no longer had any intention of attacking.

Five minutes later, the passing wolf pack stopped howling and went after the beast tide that had already gone far away.

Fifteen minutes later, Luo Pei reported to Tan Junjie, "Captain Tan, the beast tide has passed through."

Tan Junjie calmly ordered, "Members of the combat squads who came to reinforce, please continue guarding the southern isolation belt. Search-and-clear teams, immediately return to your assigned territory sectors to capture invaders, treat the wounded, and put out fires."

"Copy that."

"Copy that."

With so many eyes around, Xia Qing ran back with Luo Pei's squad, with no communication between them. After separating from Luo Pei's squad, Xia Qing used the lord channel to ask, "Brother Yue, I'm back. Where do you need support?"

Yue Haiying replied, "All invaders have been eliminated. Return to Third Territory to rest."

"Copy that." After Xia Qing returned to Third Territory, she first ran to the northern buffer forest to meet up with Wolf Lao Er.

The Sick Wolf saw Xia Qing return and bounded over happily, rubbing its body against her leg. Xia Qing rubbed Wolf Lao Er's neck, told it to go home first, and she went to the small hut by the farmland to meet up with Beard Feng's squad.

Xia Qing had just reached the doorway when Chen Cheng, who had been resting inside, rushed over and fired off questions: "Sister Qing, the ones howling on Mountain Fifty were the Queen and her pack, right? The wolves to the south of the territory were scared off by the Queen, right? How many wolves were in that pack? From the sound of it, there were quite a few."

Xia Qing answered, "It was the Queen and her pack. The wolf pack to the south had over forty wolves, plus several evolved leopards."

Beard Feng was surprised, "Evolved wolves and evolved leopards have formed an alliance?"

"Even if they haven't formed an alliance, they've reached some kind of cooperative relationship. Because when that wolf pack stopped, the evolved leopards stopped too, preparing to launch an attack on the territory." Xia Qing paused for a few seconds, then shared her observation: "That wolf pack hadn't gone mad and feral, otherwise they wouldn't have been driven off by the howls of the wolf pack led by the Queen."

Chen Cheng was puzzled, "Then why were they slaughtering and chasing prey on such a large scale, forming a beast tide?"

Xia Qing offered her hypothesis, "I suspect something happened to that wolf pack's pups, because there were several nursing mother wolves in the pack."

Beard Feng's squad fell silent after hearing this.