Chapter 682: Aggressive Qi-Evolved Bamboo

Xia Qing led the team forward another three hundred meters, when Liangzi's voice came over the walkie-talkie again: "An evolved raptor with a wingspan of about four meters is circling in a small area overhead."

An evolved raptor starting to circle in a small area means it has spotted prey and is preparing to attack.

A raptor with a four-meter wingspan could snatch Tan Qi away without any trouble.

Xia Qing ordered, "Brother Yue, defend against the raptor. Tan Qi, stay close to Brother Yue. The team keeps moving."

"Copy."

Tan Qi responded to the captain's order as calmly as she could, quickly closing the gap between herself and Uncle Yue. Shi Du also drew closer to his mother.

After circling twice in the air, the raptor folded its wings and dove. Its target was a honey badger three hundred meters west of the human team, in a flat stretch with no large trees for cover.

That honey badger wasn't a speed Evolver—by the time it realized it had been spotted, it was already too late.

After being seized by the raptor, the honey badger let out a shriek, twisted its body, and bit savagely into the leg of the stinking bird holding it.

Just as the raptor—whether hawk or vulture—gripped the honey badger and spread its wings to lift off, a golden leopard hidden in the dense forest suddenly shot out, pinned it down, and sank its teeth into its neck.

The raptor screeched, released the honey badger, and tried to drive the golden leopard off with its talons and wings.

The honey badger, spared from death, didn't run. Grumbling, it circled the fighting raptor and leopard once, then bit savagely into the thigh of the bird that had just grabbed it.

After confirming the raptor couldn't escape, the golden leopard dragged it into the dense forest. Of course, the honey badger, still fiercely biting the bird's leg, was dragged in along with it.

Soon, carrion birds began gathering overhead.

Seeing the raptor had landed and never taken off again, Xia Qing knew it had become the golden leopard's prey. This area was safe for now, so she ordered the team to keep moving.

At nine in the morning, the human gathering team finally reached the target bamboo forest.

This large bamboo forest belongs half to Mountain Forty-Nine and half to Mountain Fifty-Two. The team's mission area today is the bamboo forest belonging to Mountain Fifty-Two.

Thanks to the people in the Qi Snake Order safe zone who gave up the northern evolved forest, the territorial lords here had the chance to come out and dig bamboo shoots.

Once inside the bamboo forest, the birds overhead no longer posed a threat to the humans. The dangers here mainly came from snakes, rodents, and aggressive plants.

Xia Qing ordered the team to rest for fifteen minutes in the cleared area, with Yue Haiying and Liangzi standing guard. She began patrolling the target bamboo forest to clear out dangers.

The main targets for clearing were Qi Snakes and other kinds of venomous snakes, as well as evolved bamboo rats. After one circuit, Xia Qing had caught over thirty venomous snakes. She found no Qi Snakes, nor any trace of evolved bamboo rats.

The bamboo rat population had decreased, probably because when the Azure Dragon Squad caught the edible bamboo rats in the forest to raise in captivity, they had scared away the local bamboo rat colonies.

When she reached the northeast of the bamboo forest, Xia Qing used her magnetic sense to detect an aggressive Qi-evolved bamboo.

Last year, she had come to this bamboo forest twice with Beard Feng's team to dig shoots. Back then, there were no aggressive Qi-evolved plants here.

The evolved forest truly changes with every passing moment.

Xia Qing holstered her gun, gripped her machete with both hands, and advanced slowly, keeping an eye on the airborne toxin detector strapped to her arm.

She quickly locked onto her target and stopped two meters in front of the plant. This bamboo was on the tender side in color—it must be a new shoot that had shot up this year—but it was already over ten meters tall.

The airborne toxin detector showed a green light, indicating the air here contained no toxins.

There were no breaks in the nearby bamboo stalks, meaning this bamboo's aggressive method wasn't shooting bamboo-leaf darts.

There was no dirt or insects stuck to the stalks or leaves, meaning it hadn't evolved any sticky substance to form a symbiotic relationship with some small insect-eating creature.

The soil here was loose, as if it had just been turned over, with hardly any grass growing, and no rustling sounds of insect activity nearby. From this she judged that this bamboo's method of attack likely involved roots in the soil.

Xia Qing tossed a small stone at the trunk. Its magnetic field didn't fluctuate much, and there were only a few small snakes on the tree—ones she could handle.

So she pressed the walkie-talkie button and announced, "An aggressive Qi-evolved bamboo found in the northeast of the bamboo forest. Clearing begins in one minute. Team, raise your iron umbrellas. Guard against bamboo-leaf and bamboo-root attacks."

"Copy." Vice-captain Yue Haiying immediately directed the team members to take cover.

When the one minute was up, Captain Xia Qing raised her machete and charged straight at the aggressive Qi-evolved bamboo, swinging with sixty percent of her strength.

"Clang!"

The moment the machete struck the bamboo stalk, Xia Qing realized this was a hardness-evolved bamboo. But even hardened, it couldn't withstand a sharp woodcutting blade wielded by a Level-6 strength Evolver.

Xia Qing pulled her blade back to dodge the fine roots stabbing up from the soil, then swung with her full strength, delivering a vicious follow-up chop.

"Clang!"

"Crack—snap!"

The hardness-evolved, Qi-evolved bamboo had its above-soil portion chopped off by Xia Qing in two strokes. A mass of fibrous roots stabbed up from the soil, but no new shoots sprouted from the cut stump.

That attack method was far too childish. Xia Qing sheathed her machete, took out a pickaxe, extended the telescoping steel handle, dug out the main root of this bamboo, shook off the soil, and tossed it onto the bamboo stalk.

The fibrous roots on the main root burst open, like a snake grown with steel spines. Though it showed no sign of wilting, its magnetic field gradually weakened and vanished.

After collecting samples of the bamboo root, soil, and bamboo leaves, Xia Qing pressed the walkie-talkie to report the situation, then continued her patrol.

By the time she regrouped with the team members, the rest period was over.

The bamboo forest within Mountain Fifty-Two's territory was divided into three zones. The ten-person team split into groups to search for edible bamboo shoots by zone.

Xia Qing, Qi Fu, Yuan Yan, and Tan Qi formed one group; Liangzi, Shi's mother, and Shi Du one group; Yue Haiying, Yu Shou, and Lord Huo Lei one group.

Over the past year, Shi Du and Yuan Yan had obtained sufficient natural food within the territory, and their Evolved abilities had improved. Shi Du had risen from a Level-4 strength Evolver to Level 5, and Yuan Yan from Level 2 to Level 3.5.

Shi's mother, possibly because of her age, remained at Level 2.5 in strength evolution, with no further improvement.

Qi Fu hadn't improved either, still at Level 3. This might be because his Evolved ability had been triggered by infection with the super-evolution fungus, and couldn't be enhanced by eating large amounts of nutritious natural food.

To avoid drawing attention, the lords whose abilities had improved didn't publicize it either. They kept a low profile farming, quietly following Xia Qing to boost their combat strength and make money.

"There's one here that hasn't poked through!" Although Qi Fu had the lowest strength-evolution level in the team, he was very good at finding shoots. By looking at the soil and stamping the ground with his foot, he could spot tender shoots buried underground.

"Qi element content 7‰, yellow light." After testing the shoot's quality, Qi Fu announced happily, "This shoot weighs at least thirty jin. Wife, come dig this one up."

"Pfft."

Yuan Yan hurried over but hadn't even started moving when she heard a noise above her head. She looked up and saw a snake that Xia Qing had chopped in two with her long blade falling down. She jumped in fright. "Qi Snake?"