Chapter 722: Shoot to Kill and Escape

Xia Qing knew about the bird flock attack on Hui Three's eastern territory last month—she had even watched the video Xu Juan sent her.

The northern territory sits along the route where large numbers of migratory birds fly south, so in September the passing flocks need extra attention; the eastern territory, on the other hand, lies along the route where the birds fly north, making March the most dangerous time.

Last month, four giant vultures chasing northward-migrating birds clashed with the eastern territory, leaving over twenty casualties and three giant vultures dead.

The conflict started when a territory shot a wild goose flying over it—there was no right or wrong side in this clash.

Because from the humans' point of view, plump prey flying over their territory is fair game to shoot down. But from the giant vultures' point of view, the prey they were tracking was theirs, and the humans killing the goose was stealing their catch.

When views can't be reconciled, whoever is stronger is in the right.

So when people in the territory ran out from cover to retrieve the prey, the giant vultures grabbed them and carried them into the air, tearing them in two.

That extremely bloody scene happened to be recorded—watching through a screen, even Xia Qing found it unbearable.

The personnel inside the territory who witnessed the scene firsthand began attacking the giant vultures in revenge, but they hadn't expected there to be three giant vultures tracking the goose flock!

If Luo Pei hadn't been on a nearby mission and rushed over to support them, the territory's casualties would have been far worse.

After the conflict, the eastern territory's patrol captain, who had only taken office a little over a month ago, was dismissed. The previous eastern territory patrol captain had sacrificed himself fighting a western wolf pack to protect the territory.

Giant evolved monkey-eating vultures aren't just the aerial overlords of the evolved forest—they're also extremely vengeful animals. Once you clash with them, you must kill every last one, or the escaped vultures will sooner or later return for revenge.

So the Hui Three mission hall posted a bounty for this giant vulture, with the reward set in points.

Luo Pei left the territory this time to lead a team to track down and kill that escaped giant vulture.

Who would have thought it would come here to wreak havoc on Luo Pei's territory and run right into them.

Should she take these points or not? Of course she should—of course she should!

Xia Qing opened the window to feel the wind direction and speed outside. Air currents at over four thousand meters are more stable than those at ground level, but patches of cloud and mist do interfere with visibility.

Soon, Xia Qing proposed her battle plan: "Under these conditions, my sniper rifle's effective range is 1,800 meters. I'll fire when I'm about 1,500 meters from the vulture and roughly fifty meters above its flight altitude, taking out the smart one first. Once the other vulture is within 1,800 meters, I'll kill it too."

Xia Qing's current effective range is over 1,900 meters—she underreported by a hundred-plus meters not out of modesty but for self-preservation, a habit she picked up from Luo Pei.

"Worthy of being Luo Pei's disciple—to think her range actually reaches 1,800 meters!" Lu Zhengke gave Xia Qing a thumbs-up, used the radio to contact the other helicopter, and coordinated them to work together and draw the vultures' attention.

Jiang Ting caught a quick glimpse of Xia Qing resting with her eyes closed in the window's reflection and gently reminded her, "Miss Xia, we're about 1,800 meters from the target."

"Good."

Xia Qing stood up and took her position at the sniper port on top of the helicopter, watching ahead at the giant monkey-eating vulture gliding between the clouds with dark-brown wings spread wide, its wingspan over six meters.

With her excellent eyesight, Xia Qing saw the contempt in the vulture's eyes clearly.

Fine, it has wings and flies fast—but damn, it's also a brain-domain evolver!

They're all living beings on Blue Star, so why does this thing get to evolve so fast?

"1,700 meters."

"1,600 meters."

"Phew—"

When the distance to the helicopter closed to 1,600 meters, the giant vulture let out a long cry and beat its wings to pull away—Xia Qing thought she could hear contempt and mockery in its call.

Its sense of distance was indeed excellent, and it was cautious. But it wasn't cautious enough!

"Bang bang bang!"

Xia Qing anticipated the brain-domain evolved vulture's movements and sealed off its escape with three shots—one bullet pierced straight through the vulture's head, a mist of blood bloomed in the air, and the vulture's massive body plummeted straight down.

"Phew—"

After its companion was hit and fell, the other giant vulture let out a long cry and flew into the thick clouds, vanishing. The bird flock that had been driven by the vultures to attack the territory began to scatter in panic.

"Hit!" Lu Zhengke cheered.

"Awesome!" Jiang Ting was thrilled too and immediately turned to pursue the other vulture.

Helicopters are faster than giant vultures in straight-line speed, but the vultures are more agile in the air.

Jiang Ting discussed with Xia Qing: "If we let this vulture escape, it may very well come back for revenge during the second Rain of Thorns. We've got two helicopters today—why not chase it down and box it in, and finish it off?"

The reason the vulture escaped last time was that one of the helicopters had been destroyed by the vultures, leaving only one, and the two vultures had fled in different directions, so they could only pursue one.

Today was different—there was only one target, they had two helicopters, and they were equipped with a top-tier sniper!

"Agreed." Xia Qing's territory lay right beneath this airspace, so of course she wanted this hidden threat eliminated.

Jiang Ting beamed. "Great, I'll report to Captain Tan and we begin pursuit."

Lu Zhengke in the co-pilot seat also entered combat mode: "Reported, Helicopter Three contacted, electronic scanning radar activated, tracking target."

The helicopter was extremely loud, so Xia Qing couldn't locate the target by sound and had to rely on sight and co-pilot Lu Zhengke's reports.

"Target locked. Target at ten o'clock, 5,000 meters, altitude 7,000 meters, approaching the evolved monkey-eating vulture's flight altitude limit."

"Helicopter Three, speed up and cut off the vulture's descent path."

"4,000 meters to target."

"3,000 meters to target."

"Target turning to five o'clock, adjusting pursuit."

Five o'clock? First ten o'clock, then five o'clock...

A map unfolded in Xia Qing's mind, and her eyes narrowed—this should be near Mountain Fifty-Eight. Where is this vulture heading?

"Target suddenly accelerating—it's a high-level speed evolver!"

"Target dodged Helicopter Three's block and plunged into the evolved forest—target lost! Damn it!"

Watching the prize slip away right before his eyes, Lu Zhengke couldn't help cursing.

Radar detects and tracks targets by receiving reflected electromagnetic waves. The dense trees and foliage in the evolved forest strongly absorb and scatter radar waves, increasing clutter and making the target's return signal blurry or even disappear.

In other words, as long as the giant vulture hides in the evolved forest, the helicopter's electronic scanning radar can't detect it.

Lu Zhengke discussed with Jiang Ting: "The vulture can't run fast on two legs—how about strafing with the machine gun?"

Before Jiang Ting could answer, Xia Qing asked through her earpiece radio: "Is that Mountain Sixty below us?"