Chapter 723: The Very Useful Wild Paulownia Vine

Jiang Ting answered calmly, "It's the edge of Mountain Fifty-Eight. We haven't entered the Mountain Sixty territory yet."

Xia Qing suggested, "This is the core territory of the northern wolf pack. If we use the aircraft to strafe, we're very likely to accidentally hit an evolved wolf and provoke the northern pack's retaliation. I recommend we think it over carefully."

Lu Zhengke still felt they should kill it. "But if we let this giant eagle go, the trouble afterward won't be small either. Hearing us coming, the wolf pack should have already avoided this area."

Jiang Ting put forward a suggestion. "Report it up to Tan Junjie and let him decide."

Tan Junjie was the captain of this Mountain Fifty wild paulownia clearing mission. Now that the pursuit squad members' opinions had diverged, they needed to report the situation up to him. Moreover, he was also the battalion commander of the Northern Zone One territory sweep team, and was fairly familiar with the situation in the northern evolved forest, so it was most reasonable for him to make the decision.

"Alright." Lu Zhengke immediately called Tan Junjie. After briefing him on the situation, he paused, then handed the phone to Xia Qing. "Young Lady Xia, Captain Tan is looking for you."

Xia Qing took the phone and immediately heard Tan Junjie ask, "Xia Qing, what do you think?"

Xia Qing answered, "If our helicopter strafes the evolved forest below, the northern wolf pack will very likely see it as humans attacking their core territory, intending to harm the pack's cubs. I suggest the helicopter search from the air for twenty minutes, and if the giant eagle doesn't appear, we withdraw."

In this area, no one knew the wolf pack better than Xia Qing. Tan Junjie accepted her suggestion. "Good. After the two giant eagles withdrew, the bird tide has already been brought under control. Your territory suffered no losses, so don't worry."

Her territory had no losses, meaning other territories had losses. The first thing Xia Qing thought of was the giant eagle that had fallen after she shot it, wondering how it hadn't smashed some territory's greenhouse or house. But this wasn't something she could control. Xia Qing handed the phone back to Lu Zhengke.

Because the helicopter was very noisy, and Lu Zhengke wasn't a hearing-type evolver, he hadn't heard Tan Junjie's words clearly. But upon hearing Tan Junjie's order to withdraw, he immediately answered, "Received. I'll notify Helicopter Three right away. Search for twenty minutes, and if the giant eagle doesn't appear, return immediately."

After Lu Zhengke notified Helicopter Three, he searched for the giant eagle while asking loudly, "Young Lady Xia, I heard you're raising an evolved wolf in your territory?"

Xia Qing corrected him. "Last summer, I found an old wolf in the evolved forest that was infected by parasites and about to die. After spending several months healing it, it returned to the evolved forest."

Lu Zhengke was extremely regretful. "It left? What a pity."

"Not a pity." Jiang Ting endorsed Xia Qing's actions. "The wolf Young Lady Xia saved was very likely a member of the northern wolf pack. That's why, when the western wolf pack launched a beast tide this spring to attack the Northern Zone One territory, the northern wolf pack stepped forward to protect the human territory."

Lu Zhengke nodded. "That makes sense. That old wolf was probably a companion of the Divine Wolf. Young Lady Xia, have you ever seen the Divine Wolf?"

The Divine Wolf was what the people of the safe zone called the leader of the northern wolf pack. Xia Qing had certainly seen it — the head wolf had just been standing on the peak of Mountain Fifty, howling.

However, Xia Qing couldn't say so, nor dared she claim the credit Jiang Ting had attributed to her. "These two things aren't necessarily related."

While they were talking, the giant monkey-eating eagle used its two strong legs to stride out of the danger zone with absurdly comical steps. Just as it was about to push through the evolved forest, spread its wings, and return to its nest, a speed-type evolved wolf leapt down from a tree and pinned it under its paws, biting its neck.

Once the sovereign of the sky touched the ground, it was utterly unable to contend with an evolved wolf — let alone one that was the king of the northern wolf pack.

After the giant eagle was pinned down by the head wolf, the Broken-Waist Wolf walked out from the bushes and set a basket on the ground.

The basket tilted, and two cubs crawled out and ran to the giant eagle's side, letting out soft, high-pitched "aowu-aowu" cries. The giant eagle rolled its eyes, glaring viciously at the two sweet prey in front of it, but pinned down by the adult evolved wolf, it had no way to bite them.

The Broken-Waist Wolf fiercely swatted the giant eagle's head with a paw, calling the two cubs over to examine the eagle's sharp curved beak and talons, letting them understand these were the eagle's weapons.

The two helicopters searched the skies above Mountain Fifty-Eight for twenty minutes. Finding no giant eagle, they turned around and returned to Mountain Fifty-One to continue the wild paulownia clearing mission.

The round trip for the giant eagle killing mission took less than an hour and a half. The wild paulownia clearing mission in the Mountain Fifty-One valley was still ongoing. Xia Qing grabbed the rope and slid down from the helicopter, continuing to team up with He Wu and Yang Shanshan to clear the paulownia aerial roots.

Everyone in the valley knew Xia Qing had shot down a giant eagle, and the way they looked at her was different now.

After witnessing Xia Qing's tremendous power, they were surprised and envious, but did not feel worship or reverence. Because even an advanced strength evolver's overall combat power wasn't strong enough.

But now it was different.

The Northern Zone One sweep team members all knew Xia Qing had a sniper rifle and had studied sniping under Luo Pei, but they didn't know her skill level. Today, her ability to shoot down a giant eagle proved that Northern Zone One territory now possessed a top-tier sniper.

What is a top-tier sniper? The backbone of air defense, the guardian of the combat squad! With Xia Qing, their chances of survival had grown!

Xia Qing certainly knew dozens of pairs of eyes kept glancing her way, but she remained calm, pulling out the aerial roots one by one.

From ten to three, all the aerial roots in the valley were pulled out, and the main roots were dug up as well. Only eighteen people remained in the valley: thirteen responsible for shooting and driving away the hundred-plus birds in the sky that refused to disperse, and five burning the wild paulownia. The remaining squad members were divided into several groups and continued to clear wild paulownia in other areas.

Xia Qing flexed her sore, numb fingers a few times, walked over, and discussed with Tan Junjie. "Captain Tan, may I cut a few vines and take them back to my territory? This kind of vine has very high toughness and hardness — it's excellent timber."

Tan Junjie nodded. "You may. But you have to clean them thoroughly, can't take any seeds back, and after returning you must dry them completely in the sun before using them."

If the vines weren't dried thoroughly to cut off their vitality, they could very well take root again during the Harmful Rain and turn into high-risk, sprawling wild paulownia. But Xia Qing had always been careful in her work, and Tan Junjie trusted she could handle it properly.

"Understood. Thank you, Captain Tan."

Watching Xia Qing take her blade and go pick out vines, the Level Five strength evolver Guan Tong, who was resting while half-lying on a rock, confirmed that her strength evolution level had definitely increased.

After gathering a large bundle of vines, Xia Qing dragged them to the fire to roast. Roasting with fire could both burn off the wild paulownia seeds stuck to the vines and remove part of the vines' vitality — two birds with one stone.

"Sister Qing, let me help." Cao Xianyun, who was in charge of burning the wild paulownia, helped Xia Qing smoke-roast the vines. Soon, his eyes fell on Xia Qing's black beast-hide gloves.

"Sister Qing, are these gloves made of snake skin?"

Xia Qing nodded. "They're made from a hardness-evolved snake's skin. Better than protective gloves."

Cao Xianyun, envious, made a trade request. "Sister Qing, next time you hunt a hardness-evolved python, could you trade me a small piece of its skin?"

Cao Xianyun's assignment was to garrison the territory. Although he could wander around the evolved forest near the territory during rest days, his combat power and equipment were both insufficient. A hardness-evolved python was a prey of that caliber — even if he ran into one, he could only run for his life. Unlike the other sweep squads, the members of the Northern Zone One sweep squad directly led by Tan Junjie all knew just how formidable Xia Qing was.