Chapter 656: Tracking the Mang Snake

Following the mountain's fissures, walking a full loop from west to east and from top to bottom, Xia Qing found no more Mang Snakes.

She entered the hidden valley through the mountain stream entrance on the southeast side, patrolled the valley together with Li Kai, and only after confirming it was safe did she walk to the tent and ask in a low voice, "Is Dazi alright?"

When Xia Qing came in, Dazi was sleeping in the tent, and he was still sleeping now — this was very unusual.

Li Kai said quietly, "The pain was unbearable this morning, so he took two painkillers and fell asleep."

Xia Qing took the supplies and medicines she had brought out of her backpack and handed them to Li Kai. "Does this happen to him often?"

Li Kai shook his head. "This is the first time I've seen him in pain like this — worse than during the Mang Rain period."

The Mang Snake suddenly appeared this morning, and Dazi, who had been poisoned by the synthesized Mang toxin, was also in terrible pain — could there be some connection between the two?

Xia Qing instructed Li Kai not to leave the valley, then took the three Mang Snakes they had caught in the hidden valley and left, continuing to search the other areas.

It wasn't until two hours later that Xia Qing discovered the sixth fire-red Mang Snake of Mountain Fifty, in a small stream flowing down from the peak.

This stretch of mountain had many reddish shrubs and weeds, and if Xia Qing hadn't possessed her evolved magnetic-sense ability, she might easily have mistaken this little snake drifting with the water for a grass stalk that had fallen into the stream.

Camouflage — perfect!

Xia Qing immediately took out her phone, recorded a few seconds of video, and sent it to her idol, asking how to handle this little snake.

Zhang San gave a direct order: Follow it, see where it goes, and stay hidden. The other five snakes are to be handed over to the Azure Dragon escort team members and sent back to Territory Seven.

Xia Qing's magnetic-sense range for this red Mang Snake was five meters, so she could hang back some distance while tracking without losing it. Still, "Third Brother, what if the Mang Snake gets attacked or eaten?"

Zhang San replied, "Then catch the predator. If it wasn't a case of accidental ingestion, then a predator that can eat a Mang Snake and not die from the poison has extremely high research value."

"Understood." Xia Qing put down her phone, kicked away two evolved rats that lunged at her legs, contacted the Azure Dragon team member watching the other two Mang Snakes, and had him come over to collect the snakes.

The stream where Xia Qing had found the Mang Snake was located on the southeast side of the Third Peak of Mountain Fifty. This area hadn't been affected by the poison gas shells — the vegetation was dense, the wildlife abundant, and danger lurked everywhere. Even Xia Qing, a four-system Evolver with excellent equipment, had to be extremely cautious moving around here alone.

When she saw that the stream, after entering the valley, didn't flow south toward the human territories but instead flowed north toward deeper, denser evolved forest, Xia Qing prepared herself: if an emergency she couldn't handle arose, she would immediately take the single-person flight device out of her backpack, step onto it, and fly away.

The Mang Snake in the stream? Taken out.

Relying on her keen hearing, vision, and magnetic sense, Xia Qing avoided danger after danger, following the Mang Snake in the stream as it wound through the Fourth Peak of Mountain Fifty and into Mountain Fifty-Three.

The water flow here was relatively gentle, so Xia Qing stopped and drank a tube of premium nutrient solution.

The premium nutrient solution made from her own spinach had long been used up; the one she was taking now was obtained on credit from Yang Jin.

Although the nutrient solution she got on credit was better quality than what could be bought outside and slightly cheaper too, as soon as she thought that Yang Jin's spinach seeds had originally been exchanged with hers, Xia Qing felt that this nutrient solution tasted far worse than the kind she pressed herself.

When the stream grew wide and swift, the Mang Snake continued to drift forward with the current like a grass stalk, and Xia Qing decided to apply to catch the snake and withdraw.

Although she was a four-system Evolver, she had no experience operating alone in the depths of the evolved forest, so she chickened out.

"Keep following it." Commander Zhang San issued the order. "Following the stream's flow, in one hour you'll meet up with Yang Jin. Follow Yang Jin's orders — he knows when to withdraw."

"Copy that." Xia Qing hung up the phone, cut down a half-meter-long color-changing lizard that lunged at her, applied more insect repellent to her body, and continued forward.

Although she was wearing a special protective suit and insects couldn't actually harm her, being swarmed by large numbers of insects was still very dangerous. Not only would it block her vision and interfere with her hearing, it would also attract the attention of raptors in the sky.

"Third Brother, I can complete this mission alone. Let Xia Qing pilot the single-person flight device back to the territory to carry out other tasks." Yang Jin, on the other side of Wang Dashan, made this suggestion to Disaster-Control Commander Zhang San.

Zhang San rejected it outright. "Xia Qing is the primary executor of the observation mission. You're responsible for assisting her and protecting her safety. If an emergency arises, withdraw immediately."

Possessing magnetic sense, advanced vision, and advanced hearing, and having earned the trust of the wolf pack, Xia Qing was the best executor selected by the commander.

"Copy that." Yang Jin accepted the order and continued forward.

A little over an hour later, Xia Qing met up with Yang Jin at the confluence of two streams, and felt much more at ease.

Seeing Xia Qing, covered in grime all over, walking toward him, Yang Jin immediately asked, "Were you attacked? Are you hurt?"

"I'm not hurt. I just ran into two evolved man-eating crocodiles and got covered in mud. You keep an eye on the Mang Snake for now — I'll wash up." Xia Qing used clean stream water to quickly rinse the mud off her protective suit, then caught up and took responsibility for rear guard.

With Yang Jin clearing the way ahead, Xia Qing's journey became much easier. After the outer surface of her protective suit had dried a bit, she took out the remaining half bottle of insect repellent and sprayed it on herself.

After she finished spraying the front of her body, Yang Jin turned sideways. "Go to the front — I'll spray your back."

"Thanks, spray it all over." Xia Qing handed the repellent to Yang Jin, walked to the front, and watched the three Mang Snakes in the water — two green and one red.

After Yang Jin finished spraying Xia Qing, he put the empty bottle straight into the side pocket of his own backpack. "I'll clear the way ahead. Third Brother said you're the primary executor of this mission; my job is to protect your safety."

Since it was Third Brother's order, Xia Qing didn't bother with false politeness and followed behind Yang Jin to catch her breath. Although she had taken the premium nutrient solution, her nerves had been on edge for the past several hours, and she was somewhat mentally fatigued.

Half an hour later, the three little snakes actually moved in unison upstream, heading toward the valley to the west. Xia Qing asked, "Captain Yang, this is Mountain Fifty-Five, right?"

Yang Jin nodded. "Looks like they're almost at their destination."

After walking forward a stretch, Xia Qing sensed that the large tree ahead, which appeared harmless, was actually a very powerful Mang-evolved plant with unknown attack methods. Just as she was about to warn Yang Jin, he had already stopped. "There's danger ahead. Let's get to the other side of the stream — follow me."

"Okay." After Yang Jin jumped to the other side of the stream, Xia Qing jumped over too. She suspected Yang Jin was also a magnetic-sense Evolver, which was how he could detect the presence of the Mang-evolved plant.

However, she didn't ask anything. After catching her breath, she suggested, "Captain Yang, let me take point."

She wasn't discussing it with Yang Jin — she was directly ordering him to fall back. No matter how many people were in the team, as long as the main force members were present, the rules required them to take turns leading the way.

Xia Qing was now main force, not a regular Evolver who just carried packs and supplies and needed to be protected.

"Alright." Yang Jin stepped aside and let Xia Qing blaze the trail ahead.

The three little snakes moved upstream much more slowly than they had drifted down, so the two people's pace wasn't fast either.

At half past four in the afternoon, the three little snakes swam into a small pool, about sixty or seventy square meters in area, formed by the impact of a tall waterfall.

The moment she got close to the pool, Xia Qing sensed something was wrong. In this vicinity, there were at least twenty Mang Snakes!