Chapter 681: The Leopard and Flathead Bro

After leaving the territory, the ten-person squad formed a single-file column and headed north. As captain, Xia Qing walked at the very front, Liangzi brought up the rear, and Yue Haiying stayed in the middle covering both flanks.

Tan Qi, on her first official mission, walked just ahead of Yue Haiying, her small face taut as she watched the surroundings, constantly reminding herself that even a centipede or a grasshopper could not be taken lightly, because any of them might be an Evolver capable of killing.

Yue Haiying could see Tan Qi's tension. If she marched to the bamboo grove in this state, even without danger or combat along the way, her stamina would be drained by more than half.

Still, he didn't lecture Tan Qi the way he would a raw recruit. Tan Junjie and Yan Long had already taught the little girl everything she needed to learn; from here on, she had to discover her shortcomings through real combat and improve bit by bit.

A ten-year-old child — before the Cataclysm, she was an elementary schooler who needed her parents to drive her to school. During the Cataclysm years, survival skills became a required course children began learning as soon as they came to understand things. The earlier one mastered survival skills, the greater the chance of surviving a sudden disaster.

The ten set out at seven in the morning, heading north along the valley between Mountain Forty-Nine and Mountain Fifty. The first half of the route — from the territory to the Third Peak of Mountain Fifty — had a vehicle road cut when the firebreak was built the year before. Though the surface was now overgrown with wild grass and saplings, the danger level was not high.

Xia Qing used the sharp machete Lord Huo Lei had just given her to hack a path at the front. Wild grass, vines, brambles, saplings — one slash split them in two, clearing a road for the humans.

The reason for cutting a passage was that in the afternoon the squad would have to carry the bamboo shoots back along this same route. If the path wasn't cleared now, small animals hiding in the corridor on the return trip would raise the defensive burden on the squad's guards and make the load-bearers more nervous, slowing the squad's pace.

If they couldn't make it back to the territory before dark, there would be trouble.

After passing the Third Peak of Mountain Fifty, the road became rough and rugged, and the difficulty of cutting the path increased. Shi Du requested permission, "Sister Qing, may I take a turn cutting the path?"

Since entering the territory, Shi Du had been eating better, his physical condition had improved, and his Strength Evolution had risen from Level 4 to Level 4.5 — making him the squad's second-strongest Strength Evolver after Xia Qing, capable of taking on more tasks.

"Alright." Xia Qing handed the machete to Shi Du and instructed, "Follow the animal trail, avoid the big trees."

"Understood." Shi Du happily took the machete and began cutting the path at the front.

"Ten o'clock, about thirty meters — large animal." Past the Third Peak, animals in the Evolution Forest had grown more numerous. Liangzi, guarding the rear, reported the situation to Xia Qing, "Probably a leopard or a wolf."

Wolves and leopards were both large predatory beasts in the Evolution Forest, but when the lords of Northern Zone One heard of these two animals, their feelings were the exact opposite:

Leopard — danger; wolf — Xia Qing's friend, guardian spirit.

Of course, everyone hoped it was the latter.

Xia Qing had also heard the movement. She knew wolves too well — just by the sound and the area it was hiding in, she knew it wasn't a wolf. "Most likely a leopard. Squad, advance as normal. Liangzi, keep tracking the leopard's movements and report at any time."

"Copy."

Liangzi acknowledged, Shi Du kept cutting the path, and they pushed forward.

Tan Qi gripped her handgun and fixed her eyes on the movement to the left. Leopards were born kings of speed, and after evolving, no one could match them. As a Speed Evolver, Tan Qi paid particular attention to this animal — she wanted to see with her own eyes a creature faster than even top-tier Speed Evolver Yang Jin.

Nervous? Yes. Afraid? No — because the captain was calm and had ordered the team to keep moving, which meant the leopard posed no threat.

Liangzi continued reporting the leopard's movements. "The leopard is following us forward, still about thirty meters out. A medium-sized animal has appeared in the Evolution Forest on the right — by the sound, it should be a badger."

Xia Qing immediately gave the order, "Everyone stay alert. If the badger charges, get out of its way at once."

Badgers were omnivorous small-to-medium animals, belonging to the same Mustelidae family as weasels, and their gas-attack ability was not to be underestimated.

The reason Xia Qing told her members to dodge was that these animals held grudges like no other — and the worst of them all was the honey badger, known as "Flathead Bro."

To describe the honey badger as "indifferent to life and death, ready to throw down at the slightest provocation" was the most fitting phrase imaginable. Xia Qing knew this from deep personal experience.

This animal had white fur on the top of its head and back, with the rest of its body black, and a pair of small, shiny black eyes — at first glance, almost a little cute.

Back then, the path-cutter in Xia Qing's gathering squad had spotted a honey badger and wanted to hack it to death and bring it back.

They hadn't expected the little fellow to have thick, slippery hide — it escaped. After getting away, it secretly followed the squad for a whole day. The squad members treated it as a bit of fun and paid it no mind. But when they were heading back that evening, the honey badger darted out and bit through the foot of the team member who had kicked it.

Although the honey badger was killed by the squad's guards, the team member whose foot had been bitten ended up having the limb amputated due to an Evolution Fungus infection, losing half a leg.

From then on, whenever Xia Qing encountered a badger in the Evolution Forest, she avoided provoking it whenever possible. Even now that her marksmanship had improved and she could land a single killing shot, she still rarely fired at Flathead Bro among the badgers.

Because the damn things actually moved around in groups. Kill one, and a whole pack of grudge-holding Flatheads would hold it against you.

Every time she encountered an animal that shouldn't have appeared in this particular stretch of Evolution Forest, Xia Qing had to give a silent thanks to the humans who had created the "zoo."

Thanks to them for gathering animals from all over Blue Star into one small zoo, greatly enriching the variety of creatures in the Evolution Forest after the Cataclysm!

"Shh—"

"Defend!"

The moment a faint rustle of leaves came from the left side, Xia Qing issued the order and took aim with her sniper rifle.

The mission squad instantly shifted from a single column into a triangle formation. Xia Qing, Liangzi, and Yue Haiying took the three points, facing outward ready to counterattack, while little Tan Qi and Shi Mu — the weakest in defense — were in the very center.

"Hiss—"

At the sight of the leopard, Tan Qi couldn't help sucking in a cold breath. Just as her schoolteachers had described, the leopard's camouflage was terrifyingly effective. If the captain hadn't given the order, Tan Qi wouldn't have noticed that it had been this close all along.

Xia Qing's barrel was trained on this leopard she had crossed paths with once before, waiting for it to make its choice. If it attacked, Xia Qing would fire — at this distance she was confident she could drop it with one shot. If it retreated, the human squad would keep moving.

The leopard, crouched behind the bushes, locked eyes with Xia Qing for a full ten seconds before slowly withdrawing.

Liangzi sent out a report, "The leopard has pulled back to over forty meters. The badger is less than ten meters from us, at two o'clock."

Xia Qing lowered the sniper rifle. "Keep moving. Shi Du, rejoin the formation. I'll take point."

"Copy."

Xia Qing took the machete and began cutting toward the left. They had already passed Mountain Forty-Nine and entered the range of Mountain Fifty-Two. Heading east for about a thousand meters would bring them to the bamboo grove.

The reason for turning left early was to avoid the badger. Through a gap in the brush, Xia Qing had caught sight of the honey badger's signature cool, arrogant snow-white flat-top haircut and its defiant little eyes.