Chapter 720: Giant Eagles Attack

While the territory was bustling with activity, the head wolf and the broken-backed wolf who had been evacuating inside Mountain No. 51 heard a familiar voice, looked up and saw Xia Qing, then turned back and carried their basket the other way.

On the soft cotton padding inside the basket, one fluffy cub was already fast asleep on its back, while the other had its front paws hooked over the basket's edge, tilting its little head up and staring with a pair of glistening, rich-gold eyes at something in the sky it had never seen before — something making a tremendous noise.

Seeing that thing descend rapidly, the little wolf cub's eyes went even rounder.

Flying above the small valley and looking down at the chaos below, Xia Qing immediately understood why Tan Junjie had stopped using shells and asked her to come support them.

Because many of the fruits on the wild paulownia tree had already turned red, and any further shelling would send seeds flying everywhere, making cleanup much harder later on.

After swatting away a bird that tried to peck her, Xia Qing guided her personal flyer down and landed precisely beside Tan Junjie. "Captain Tan."

Tan Junjie immediately gave the order, "Xia Qing, go join He Wu's group on that side and clear the aerial roots. Stop them from continuing to feed energy to the canopy and ripening the fruit."

He Wu was a member of another inspection squad from Northern District One. Though they hadn't met often, Xia Qing knew him.

"Understood." Xia Qing saw several chainsaws on the ground with their blades already shattered, and listening to the clang-clang of everyone chopping wood, she understood just how tough this tree's aerial roots were to cut.

Of today's task squad, only six were Strength Evolvers. Guan Tong had the highest level and was currently the main force clearing the aerial roots — at this moment he was gripping an arm-thick aerial root with both hands and hauling upward with all his might. Not far away, He Wu, a Level-3 Strength Evolver from the inspection squad, was working together with another Strength Evolver to pull up an arm-thick aerial root.

For aerial roots thicker than an arm, the current method was for non-Strength Evolvers to saw through them with chainsaws that hadn't broken yet.

Another group of personnel circled in the air, coordinating with small helicopters that sprayed chemicals — some were reapplying scent-isolation agents, others were driving away the gathering birds to keep them from landing and pecking at the already ripe wild paulownia fruit.

Xia Qing hurried to He Wu's side. "Brother He, you two find the aerial roots, I'll pull them."

The bombed-out valley was littered with rubble everywhere, and the collapsed canopy covered the aerial roots, but it was still easy enough to find where the roots still connected to the soil. Because the canopy was still being supplied with nutrients, the vines were still trembling and the fruit was still turning red.

"Got it." The two men, breathing hard, immediately released the arm-thick aerial root, and watched as Xia Qing bent down, gripped the root with both hands and pulled upward — like pulling up a scallion, she yanked the root out, shook the soil from its rootlets, and flung it onto the canopy.

That… just pulled it out?

He Wu and his companion's eyes went wide and their hearts raced — so this is what a high-level Strength Evolver can do, so cool!

Su Ming, who was driving away the flock of birds, shouted at the top of his lungs, "Sister Qing is mighty, Sister Qing is the best!"

After dealing with that aerial root, Xia Qing took a few quick steps, grabbed a branch heavy with red fruit, and yanked hard — revealing an aerial root thicker than her thigh. Gripping it with both hands and pulling upward, in less than five seconds she had the root out, shook the soil from it, and tossed it onto the canopy.

This time, not just He Wu — everyone was stunned.

A thigh-thick aerial root that Level-5 Strength Evolver Guan Tong couldn't pull out, that took several people working in shifts with chainsaws and machetes to deal with — but Level-6 Strength Evolver Xia Qing bent down and finished it in one go!

Between Level 6 and Level 5, there really is a chasm.

Xia Qing brushed the dirt from her hands and pointed at the aerial roots as she spoke to He Wu and the other man. "Brother He, anything you two can't pull — everything below this thickness, leave it all to me."

"Got it!"

"Understood!"

Seeing Xia Qing's combat power, everyone felt that these aerial roots in the valley were nothing at all — no wonder Captain Tan had called in the Level-3 Lord Xia Qing.

Xia Qing's joining them doubled the speed of clearing the aerial roots.

"Screech—"

A piercing eagle cry rang out. The mother leopard on the Chinese yew immediately led her two cubs into the bushes, while the broken-backed wolf on Shanfeng retreated a meter inward with the basket in her mouth and lowered her head to lick the startled little cub inside.

Xia Qing, who was in the middle of pulling up aerial roots, looked up, glanced at the two enormous evolved eagles circling high overhead, then lowered her head and continued her task.

Evolved eagles were fierce and ferocious, but with only two of them they couldn't make any real trouble. The two helicopters circling above Mountain No. 51 both carried snipers — the moment those eagles dared to descend, the snipers could take them out.

The only thing to worry about now was those two giant eagles shifting targets and leading the flock of birds to attack the Northern District One territory. So Xia Qing had to finish pulling up the aerial roots as fast as possible and hurry back to protect her territory.

After the support squads arrived on scene, they immediately began, under Tan Junjie's command, to clear open ground, drag away the canopy sections that had already been cut down, douse them with oil, and burn them.

Once thick smoke rose, the birds converging on the valley from all directions began to thin out. Unfortunately, today a west wind was blowing — after the smoke rose, it drifted westward, and the flock began to scatter eastward toward Northern District One.

The giant eagles circling high above followed the flock and turned east. In the territory, loudspeakers and walkie-talkies blared nonstop warnings; everyone in the territory took shelter in buildings or underground bunkers; inspection squad members sprinted along the territory's corridors to reach their defensive positions and aimed their guns at the sky.

On the top floor of the tallest building in Territory Seven, a laser cannon slowly rose, its silvery barrel also aimed at the sky.

The broken-backed wolf on the peak of Mountain No. 51 quickly led the two cubs away from the danger zone. Last year when the flock of birds attacked the human territory, the weapons the humans used made a piercing thunderous noise — the two cubs had still been too young to endure a sound like that.

After the broken-backed wolf had run far away, the head wolf swiftly leapt onto the mountaintop, threw back its head, and let out a long, majestic howl: "Aooo — woooo — aoo aoo — woooo —"

The Queen!

Xia Qing immediately straightened up and looked toward the southern peak.

What's going on — why are there wolves here? Weren't we told there are no wolves in this area? Close to a hundred task force members stopped, looking around with tense expressions.

Xia Qing turned to Tan Junjie, saw him looking at her, and gave him a slight nod.

Tan Junjie announced over the walkie-talkie to all task force members, "Everyone, do not fire on the wolves on the southern peak. They won't attack us. Speed up — we have to have this valley cleared within two hours."

"Aooo — woooo —"

The head wolf's howling continued.

Xia Qing could tell the head wolf wasn't gathering its packmates — it was sternly warning them. As for what it was warning about, Xia Qing neither knew nor had time to figure out.

She had to finish clearing the aerial roots and get back to her territory as fast as possible — not only because her territory had twelve greenhouses and nearly a hundred chickens that needed her protection, but also because her companions were in the territory too.

Ram Boss was a herbivore and very insecure. With Xia Qing not in the territory, hearing the giant eagles' cries would definitely make him very uneasy.