Chapter 562: How Did You Get In?

Not one for many words, able to install solar panels, repair electrical appliances, and assemble power-generating and water-drawing bicycles, the twenty-three-year-old Tier-4 Strength Evolver Hu Zi, was dead.

Last night, when Xia Qing heard the patrol team members reporting casualties over the walkie-talkie, she already had a bad premonition.

Common combat-oriented evolution abilities include speed, jumping power, endurance, strength, flexibility, and the senses of smell, hearing, and sight. At the same tier, Strength Evolvers and Endurance Evolvers have weaker risk perception and evasion abilities than other types of Evolvers. Therefore, pure Strength Evolvers in combat squads or armies always serve as supplementary logistical force.

As a Strength Evolver, Xia Qing always participated in combat squad missions in the safety zone under the status of an external logistics member.

Hu Zi's marksmanship wasn't accurate enough, so Tan Junjie didn't assign him to the "combat frontline"—the South Quarantine Belt, but arranged for him to carry out patrol missions near Territory No. 7 and Territory No. 15.

Both territories had strong combat forces, so logically Hu Zi's mission danger level wasn't high. But unexpectedly, the first batch of humans invading from outside last night was a squad composed of high-level Evolvers.

Xia Qing clenched her fists, "Has his family been notified? Are Yuan Rui and the others alright?"

Xia Qing had traded supplies with Hu Zi plenty of times and had heard him mention his mother living in the safety zone. Hu Zi had a very good relationship with his mother. He worked diligently to craft all kinds of supplies the lords could use, trading them with the lords for natural food, all so he could send it back to the safety zone and let his mother eat better and have stronger physical resistance.

Cao Xianyun's tone was heavy, "Not yet notified. Old Yuan was with Hu Zi at the time. While pulling Hu Zi to dodge, he had his thigh stomped and crushed by the invading high-level Elasticity Evolver—a comminuted fracture. Hu Zi was stomped on the chest."

The teammate died too tragically. Su Ming, the youngest, couldn't help but shed tears again. When carrying out missions outside the safety zone, everyone had long been mentally prepared, but Hu Zi didn't die from a natural disaster—he died from a human-caused one. This was something Su Ming found hard to accept.

Humans are already living so hard. Wouldn't it be better to work together, each doing their part, to jointly create better living conditions?!

Hearing Cao Xianyun's words, Xia Qing only felt that she had let that Elasticity Evolver die too easily last night!

After inviting Su Ming and Cao Xianyun into the territory and avoiding the surveillance of Territory No. 2's people, Xia Qing asked in a low voice, "What did the squad medic say?"

"The squad medic said our medical conditions aren't sufficient. It's best to send Old Yuan to Territory No. 7 for surgery, then send him back to the base military hospital to recover. Our captain said to wait until he wakes up, then send Old Yuan over." Like everyone in this territory, Cao Xianyun had enormous confidence in Zhang San's medical skills, "As long as Third Brother is willing to take the case, Old Yuan will definitely recover."

Xia Qing nodded, "Definitely."

Su Ming sniffled, "Sister Qing, thanks to you."

If the wolf pack that was on good terms with Xia Qing hadn't stepped in, none of them would still have the chance to be standing. Because their mission was to guard the territory—when the beast tide's wolf pack charged in, they had to charge forward.

Cao Xianyun glanced at Su Ming, signaling him not to talk too much, then quietly told Xia Qing, "Sister Qing, don't worry, we don't know anything, and we won't say anything outside. How was the situation here last night?"

Xia Qing nodded, leading them toward Gao Po while briefing, "Here last night, four evolved bats invaded. Luckily we discovered it in time—only the greenhouse and cameras on Gao Po were blown up. No humans invaded, no casualties within the territory."

After the explosion, Xia Qing suffered temporary deafness from blast-induced tinnitus? An injury of this level was utterly trivial in the years of natural disasters.

After checking the damage to Territory No. 3, Cao Xianyun closed the notebook in her hand and submitted a request to Xia Qing, the administrator of Mountain No. 50, "We need to go to the base of the Second Peak of Mountain No. 50 to check on the beasts that were blown up while controlling the bats to bomb the territory."

"I'll go with you." Mountain No. 50 had been bombed. As the administrator, Xia Qing needed to go check the specific situation and report to Zhang San. While she was at it, she could drop off food and deworming medicine for the weasel guarding the valley.

After Xia Qing finished speaking, she handed Su Ming a black packaged bag, "Inside is ten jin of snake meat. Take it back to Yuan Rui."

High-tier Green-Light Python meat was too precious. Su Ming didn't dare accept it and turned to look at Cao Xianyun. Cao Xianyun took it, "Sister Qing, on behalf of Old Yuan, thank you."

The advantage of moving with the patrol team was being able to ride in the patrol vehicle, saving quite a bit of time on the road.

Upon arriving at the base of the Second Peak, there was no need to take out instruments to find the coordinates—everyone found the explosion site. Because many crows, vultures, and other carrion-eating birds had gathered there.

Seeing six humans walking over, the birds, unwilling to give up their food, either landed on trees not far away or circled at low altitude, conveniently dropping a few piles of droppings on the humans stealing their food and screeching to express their anger.

Su Ming stood at the edge of the large crater, somewhat incredulous, "How much explosives would it take to blast out a crater this deep? No wonder so much smoke rose last night, illuminating even the laser beams."

"Without using a lot of explosives, how could we take out these beasts in one fell swoop?" Cao Xianyun hated last night's invaders to death. After taking photos, she led the six team members to begin collecting the severed limbs and some burned unidentifiable fragments.

Xia Qing used the pretext of going to check the high-danger zone of the Third Peak to leave the team, arriving near Xiong Dong. After confirming there were no signs of the iron gate of Xiong Dong being pried open, she followed the wolf pack's tracks and discovered that the three people had been dragged down from the mountain by them.

As for why these three people had climbed the Third Peak, Xia Qing had some guesses: after the explosion, they confirmed the mission had failed, so they climbed toward the highest peak of Mountain No. 50.

The Third Peak of Mountain No. 50 towered into the clouds, with thick snow on the mountain. Climbing the Third Peak would not only let them evade detection by reconnaissance birds, but also call for a helicopter pickup.

They just hadn't expected the wolf pack to be on the Third Peak.

Xia Qing stopped climbing upward, opened the iron gate of Xiong Dong, and entered the hidden valley. Discovering that the stone crevice at the top of the valley had opened, her heart had just settled down, when she suddenly heard a rustling sound.

Xia Qing swiftly turned and took cover, aiming her gun at the source of the sound, holding her breath and waiting for the target to appear.

Upon seeing a pair of round little ears trembling as they poked out from the stone crevice, Xia Qing holstered her handgun and called out softly, "Plucker, how did you get in?"

The valley crevices had all been sealed with fine wire mesh. Could this guy have damaged the wire mesh? Xia Qing quickly checked around, and within the area in sight, found no holes in the wire mesh.

Plucker the weasel pressed its two little paws on the stone, trembling as it revealed its smiling little head, looking at Xia Qing.

It was Xia Qing who had personally asked Broken-Waist Wolf to send a wolf to help guard Xiong Dong and this valley.

Plucker the weasel was sent over by Broken-Waist Wolf. Was it the wolf's fault for appearing in the valley? Not at all!

Xia Qing took out the insulated bag from her backpack, pulled out a fragrant chicken leg roasted that morning, and placed it on the stone, "Plucker, this is the roasted chicken leg that even the Queen loves to eat that I brought for you. Try it and see if it suits your taste?"