Chapter 721: Giant Eagle Attack 2

Ceng Quan, in charge of territories 11–18 in Northern District One, used the chat channel for territories 1–10 to send out a call: "I am Ceng Quan, captain of the fourth hazard-investigation squad. While Captain Tan Junjie is out on a mission, I am temporarily acting as hazard-investigation captain for Northern District One. Is anyone from Territory One, Territory Seven, or Territory Eight present?"

"Territory One's temporary proxy, Yin Jie, is here."

"Territory Seven's proxy, Ji Li, is here."

"Territory Eight's proxy, Zhou Zhaoping, is here."

"Great, all proxies." Tang Huai, busy setting up protective measures for the farm fields and insect sheds, didn't even have time to log in and complain, muttering to himself as the people from the other territories listened attentively.

Ceng Quan quickly reported the situation: "Two giant eagles are driving over a dozen medium evolved eagles and over a thousand small birds, forming a small bird tide, and are flying toward Northern District One's territories from Mountain Fifty-One. Please report whether your territory's surface-to-air defensive weapons are usable, and whether you agree to cooperate with the investigation squads to resist the bird tide."

Once a bird tide forms, the birds act as if they've lost their minds and forgotten fear, attacking the target from the air like a tide, with tremendous destructive power. The territories cover too vast an area, and aerial defenses are insufficient, so every ounce of strength must be mobilized for defense and counterattack.

Azure Dragon squad member Yin Jie reported: "Territory One and Mountain Forty-Nine have a total of six shoulder-fired rocket launchers, operational, agreed."

Ji Li reported: "Territory Seven has one laser cannon and two shoulder-fired rocket launchers, operational, agreed."

Zhou Zhaoping reported: "Territory Eight has two shoulder-fired rocket launchers, operational, agreed."

"Received, thank you all, please prepare your defenses as quickly as possible. Lords and proxies, protect the farm fields on the premise of ensuring your own safety. If you need assistance, please call the investigation squads in this group."

Inside Territory Two, Tang Huai, holding a wooden tray of insects, snorted: "The Azure Dragon squad copied Sufeng's entire stockpile, so now their back's gone stiff—six rocket launchers sitting in their territory."

Sufeng squad members immediately cursed in agreement: "Exactly! What a bunch of bastards they are—fuck, that Yang Jin has plucked us bald!"

Tang Huai snorted coldly: "Cut the 'us' and 'we' shit with me. I've already left the squad, I'm not one of you."

Inside Territory Three, Boss Yang stood nervously at the chicken coop door, staring at the eastern sky. The five members of the Hu Zi Feng squad took their positions along the farm field, ready for battle.

Inside Territory Four, Zhao Ze, hugging an old musket, listened to everyone's weapon reports and muttered softly: "I wonder if Xia Qing from Territory Three carried off their rocket launchers? When is she coming back…"

Inside Territory Five, Yuan Yan led over a dozen people guarding the edge of the greenhouse. Besides a few old muskets, they also had slingshots and stones. Qi Fu was leading over a dozen people spraying the greenhouse with pest- and bird-repellent.

Inside Territory Six, Kuang Qingwei, who was spraying pesticide, felt quite reassured: "Third Brother's territory still has rocket launchers? I thought they only had the laser cannon."

Inside Territory Ten, the three members of the Shi family each held a gun, lying in a bunker and staring at the southeast sky, stained blue-black by smoke.

Inside Territory Eleven, Lord Huo Lei stood between two greenhouses, carrying over a hundred crossbow bolts on his back, an oversized crossbow in his hands, his eyes full of excitement.

Inside Territory Fourteen, the farm field where the grass was taller than the seedlings was empty.

Inside Territory Fifteen, Yue Haiying instructed Tan Qi and Jiang Ying to keep their doors and windows shut tight, and not to leave the house no matter what happened outside.

Five minutes later, Ceng Quan posted the latest announcement in the lord channel: "All lords, the flock is expected to reach the airspace above the territories in two minutes. Territory Seven, aim the laser cannon at the giant eagles; Territory One and Territory Eight, aim at the evolved eagles. Wait for the firing order. If the flock doesn't descend, no territory is to open fire."

"Territory Seven, received."

"Territory One, received."

"Territory Eight, received."

Jiang Ying, curled up in a corner of the wall, gripped her firewood knife tight and stared wide-eyed at the window whose curtain had been drawn. Her ears were filled with nothing but her own rapid breathing.

Within a hundred mu around here, there were only her and Tan Qi. They couldn't hear the footsteps or shouts of soldiers and squads running back and forth outside. Even though the house was sturdy, Jiang Ying was still engulfed by a tremendous sense of fear and helplessness.

The high-risk wild paulownia clearing work on Mountain Fifty-One was still proceeding at full tilt.

Watching the flock descend from high altitude toward Northern District One's territories, Xia Qing's heart sank along with it. She ordered herself to stay calm, flung the aerial roots she'd just pulled onto the canopy, went over to help He Wu and the others lift the next fruit-laden canopy, and searched for the aerial roots connecting this canopy.

A few minutes later, Tan Junjie walked over and quietly discussed with her: "The bird tide has already begun attacking the territories. The two giant eagles driving the tide are very cunning—they've kept their altitude above 4,000 meters, beyond the laser cannon's range in Territory Seven. Can you get on the helicopter and snipe the giant eagles from the air?"

Tan Junjie had heard Luo Pei brag many times and knew Xia Qing's range was close to two thousand meters, enough to instantly kill the machine gunners on today's two helicopters, which was why he'd come to discuss it with her.

"I can." Xia Qing agreed without hesitation. Although she'd never boarded a helicopter, she had practiced aerial shooting dozens of times on a single-soldier flight device, preparing precisely for this moment.

Shooting from inside a helicopter is easier than from a single-soldier flight device.

The small helicopter circling to drive off birds rapidly descended and lowered a rope ladder. Xia Qing, sniper rifle on her back, climbed up the helicopter, only to discover that the pilot flying it had a shock of flamboyant red hair.

This was Jiang Ting, a visually evolved pilot who often flew missions spraying pesticides and herbicides.

Xia Qing often saw her from a distance on the ground, so she was a familiar stranger. She took the initiative to greet them: "Hello, I'm Xia Qing, lord of Territory Three. I've been ordered up to carry out the mission to snipe the giant eagles."

Jiang Ting, flying the helicopter, didn't turn around: "I'm Jiang Ting, pilot of the helicopter brigade. Miss Xia, please fasten your seatbelt and prepare for sniping."

"Okay." Xia Qing immediately fastened her seatbelt, flexed her fingers to loosen her arms, and prepared for sniping. She'd just pulled out dozens of aerial roots and needed a moment to recover.

After the small helicopter lifted off and headed toward the territories, another medium helicopter followed along.

The man in the co-pilot seat turned around and briefed Xia Qing: "Miss Xia, I'm Lu Zhengke, machine gunner of the helicopter brigade. One of those two giant eagles up ahead led a flock to attack the Eastern Territories last month, and its companion was killed by us. This giant eagle is highly intelligent and is also a speed evolver. It knows how to use cloud cover to evade and attack helicopters. Last time, with the help of Captain Luo from the Azure Dragon squad, we lost one helicopter before we could kill its companion."

"It has a very keen sense of distance and can accurately gauge a helicopter's effective range. We can't get within 1,500 meters of this giant eagle—we can only try to get as close as possible."