Chapter 711: Blowing Up the Trees

Mountain Fifty-One is pure evolution forest, with no paths through it. In the two-person squad, the more experienced Xia Qing led the way and cleared a path at the front, while Xin Yu at the rear used magnetic sense to detect dangers around them.

Here the mountains are high and the forests dense; even with cameras fixed on tamed birds flying at high altitude, animals lurking in the thickets or beneath rock walls cannot be captured. So walking through dense forest cannot rely on the cameras mounted on tamed birds.

Having the eagle-owl carry the raven on its back to fly at high altitude is meant to spot the movements of beast packs in the area, so response strategies can be prepared in advance.

Why not let the tamed birds fly at low altitude?

Because all raptors are territorial. If the eagle-owl flew at low altitude in the evolution forest, it would very likely arouse the vigilance and hostility of large raptors holding this territory — such as big eagles and vultures — and be struck down by them.

Besides large raptors, there is one medium-sized raptor that poses a threat to the eagle-owl: the eagle-owl's natural enemy, the peregrine falcon. The peregrine falcon flies faster, and its beak and talons are harder. It is adept at using dense vegetation to conceal itself, ambushing eagle-owls and other birds flying at low altitude.

"A large animal is hidden inside the rock wall sixty meters to the front-left. It feels like a large predator, and it has hunting intent." Xin Yu relayed through her earpiece-type radio to Xia Qing what she had detected with her magnetic sense.

There was a waterfall here, so Xia Qing could not pick up faint sounds by hearing, but Xin Yu's magnetic sense — her ability to detect magnetic-field fluctuations of large animals — was unaffected by noise.

Xia Qing immediately turned to look at the rock wall about sixty meters away, quickly found the animal lurking inside, took aim with her gun, bristling with killing intent. "It's a leopard. It's watching us. Let me try to scare it off."

The leopard, crouched within the rock wall and almost perfectly concealed, locked eyes with Xia Qing.

Xin Yu, with her back to Xia Qing, sensed the change. "Its hostility is fading."

Sure enough, a few seconds later the leopard slowly retreated. Xia Qing only lowered her gun after it had gone far away, then continued forward along the game trail. Using her magnetic sense, she led Xin Yu past one hostile evolved plant after another, until they reached a massive boulder.

Then the two split their tasks.

Xin Yu directed the tamed birds to lower their flight altitude to scout the nearby evolution forest and search for wild paulownia. Xia Qing was responsible for following the two tamed birds with her sniper rifle, taking down any dangers that might pounce on them at any moment.

Hostile evolved wild paulownia are clearly distinguishable in appearance from ordinary wild paulownia — their branches grow snake-like curves.

After Xia Qing had shot down two peregrine falcons and one golden eagle, Xin Yu finally closed her notebook and ordered the raven and the eagle-owl to gain altitude. "Within a radius of fifteen hundred meters there are no large hostile wild paulownia. Shall I take point for the stretch to the next observation point?"

Before setting out on the mission, the two had already circled the area they would sweep today.

Xia Qing nodded. "Alright. First beat the shrubs to drive away the venomous insects before moving forward. You handle what's ahead; small animals on the left, right, and behind don't need to be flagged — I'll deal with them."

"Understood."

Because Xin Yu's public identity is that of an "ordinary person," whether back in Hui-Two Safe Zone or now within the territory of Northern Zone One, she rarely had the chance to go deep into the evolution forest. But that did not mean her combat ability was low. Before the Catastrophe began, Xin Yu's parents had hired her professional martial-arts instructors, and in the years since the Catastrophe, her training had never stopped.

From the way she gripped her blade and swung it to clear the path, Xia Qing could tell she had received professional training.

Although she had been professionally trained, Xin Yu was not a physical-type Evolver, so her pace clearing the path was much slower than Xia Qing's. But she was not flustered at all, beating aside small animals in front as she advanced while also slashing away obstructing vines.

Going further forward, they were getting farther from human territory, the path grew harder, and wild animals grew more numerous.

Half an hour later, Xia Qing reminded her, "We've left the coverage range of the last observation point."

"Got it."

Hearing that Xin Yu's voice had grown rougher, Xia Qing asked, "Want me to take point?"

"I can hold on for another fifteen minutes." Xin Yu gripped her machete with both hands, flicked aside a many-legged reptile as long as an arm that refused to get out of the way in front of her, then saw the many vines tightly wound around the machete, and pressed on.

Xia Qing finished off a leech-like soft-bodied creature that recklessly flung itself at her, raised her arm to check the airborne-toxin detector strapped there, and told Xin Yu to change direction. "Twenty meters to the left, there's a hostile evolved plant — non-toxic-gas type. Let's go take a look."

"The left side is a valley. It should be inside the valley." Xin Yu turned and continued clearing the path.

When the two reached the top of the valley and looked down, they found today's first hostile evolved wild paulownia. Its dozens of vines hung downward, motionless, seeming to have no offensive power at all. But the tall black pine six meters to its left, whose needles had already turned yellow and withered, and the more than twenty trees to its right and in front, snapped clean in half, all proclaimed the paulownia's destructive power to Xia Qing and Xin Yu.

If hostile evolved wild paulownia are not cleared, the damage they do to the evolution forest is enormous.

Xia Qing made her judgment. "This paulownia is only fifteen meters tall — it should have evolved during this year's first hostile rain."

In other words, this was not the mission target they were looking for today; they still had to press on.

After noting the latitude and longitude of this tree, Xia Qing took point at the front, heading toward the observation point within this area.

After reaching the observation point, Xin Yu called the two high-flying birds down and began scanning this area.

Within a radius of fifteen hundred meters, there were actually six wild paulownia — but none of them were the target they were looking for today. After recording their bearings, Xin Yu asked, "Blow them up?"

Xia Qing was the squad leader; every action today had to follow her command.

Xia Qing nodded. "Alright. Stay safe."

"Understood." Xin Yu took a shockproof case containing explosives from her pack, had Molly grab a small pack of explosives, and directed it to place the charge on the first hostile evolved wild paulownia. Xia Qing followed Molly closely with her sniper rifle, eliminating any potential dangers.

Although she knew that, true to the nature of hostile wild paulownia, there would certainly be no large animals around it, Xia Qing did not dare relax in the slightest. Because Molly was an important companion of Xin Yu's, and protecting its safety was one of Xia Qing's tasks today.

"Ribbit-ribbit, don't touch the vines, down, to the left, good, set the charge down." Under Xin Yu's direction, it threaded through vine after vine and accurately placed the bomb at the base of the hostile wild paulownia's stump. Of all Xin Yu's tamed birds, only the raven Molly could perform such a precise operation, because its brain-region evolution was the most advanced.

After the six bombs were placed, Xin Yu and Xia Qing withdrew from the area, far from the blast points, and only after ordering both tamed birds to fly to high altitude did they detonate all six bombs simultaneously.

"Boom—"

The violent explosion thundered, shaking the mountain forest. Countless birds fled in panic, and six hostile wild paulownia crashed to the ground, losing their ability to attack.

"How can there be an explosion on Mountain Fifty-One? Captain Tan, what's the situation over there?"

Inside Northern Zone One's Territory Two, Tang Huai, who was leading people in pulling weeds, immediately pressed the radio button and asked loudly.

Xia Qing's trip to Mountain Fifty-One had been reported to Tan Junjie. "A mission squad is carrying out an operation on Mountain Fifty-One. It will not affect the safety of the territory."

"Which squad is that, and what mission needs explosives?" Tang Huai scratched his head and ears, extremely curious.