Chapter 725: What a Coincidence

"Sister Qing, are you back from Mountain Fifty-One?"

Xia Qing had only just sat down in the hanging chair when she got a call from Zhu Li.

Xia Qing replied, "I'm back already. How's your territory? No damage?"

Because Ram Boss had thrown a tantrum and then fallen asleep, Xia Qing hadn't turned on the walkie-talkie after returning, and didn't yet know the specific losses her allies had suffered in this bird tide attack.

Hearing that Xia Qing had made it back safely, Zhu Li finally breathed a sigh of relief. "Lao Kuang and I weren't hurt. Two greenhouses had their insect nets punched with a few holes by birds, but the damage isn't serious. Sister Qing, you know the helicopter killed a giant eagle this afternoon, right?"

"I know." I was the one who killed it.

There was a hint of schadenfreude in Zhu Li's tone. "That giant eagle fell and crashed into the farmland of Territory Fourteen, smashing up all the vegetables Yan Meng had planted."

Xia Qing... what a coincidence!

Zhu Li went on, "When the Fourth Inspection Squad went in to carry out the giant eagle's corpse, Yan Meng said the eagle had smashed a hundred and two Gao Yi Element spinach seedlings in his territory, and demanded the mission squad compensate him for his losses."

This bird tide was triggered by the mission squad led by Tan Junjie while they were carrying out a mission on Mountain Fifty-One, bringing danger and losses to the territories of Northern Area One. According to the relevant regulations, the mission squad should compensate the territories for their losses at market price.

But Yan Meng had sold off all the Gao Yi Element spinach seeds his base had issued him, and there weren't any Gao Yi Element plants being grown in his territory at all. By saying this, he was trying to extort the mission squad and cover up the fact that he'd secretly sold the seeds.

Xia Qing asked, "What did Captain Zeng say?"

Anyone who loves a good show fully understood the weight behind Xia Qing's question.

Zhu Li was thrilled and rattled off everything she'd heard to Xia Qing. "At first it was Tang Huai muttering about it on the lord channel. Later I went south to stand guard, and when the Fourth Squad carried the giant eagle out through the north gate of Territory Fourteen, I heard a squad member whisper that Yan Meng wouldn't let them take samples of the broken spinach leaves, so they couldn't confirm those were Gao Yi Element spinach."

"So Yan Meng has convicted himself out of his own mouth."

"He really has convicted himself." Xia Qing warned Zhu Li to be careful while watching the show. "Yan Meng's body is recovering, and he's a Level Four olfactory evolver. If Yan Meng is moving around near the north wasteland grass wall of Territory Fourteen, and you're near the south wasteland grass wall of Territory Six, he might pick up your scent."

Territory Six and Territory Fourteen are separated by just one corridor, just like Territory Two and Territory Three.

After hanging up, Xia Qing ate a simple but bountiful green-light dinner, then went out for a night run and to patrol her territory. After running three laps inside the territory, Xia Qing entered the planting greenhouse on the low slope, hauled out the water barrels that had filled up in the spring cave, and loaded them into her backpack.

This was drinking water for her, Ram Boss, the chickens, and the squirrel family, and Xia Qing carried a barrel back every day.

Back home, seeing Ram Boss still lying in the hanging chair by the door, Xia Qing laughed. "Boss really likes this hanging chair?"

"Baa~" Rarely, Ram Boss used a cutesy voice for something that wasn't food, which showed he really did like it.

"Then I'll weld you a steel frame inside the house and move it in for you." Anyway, her living room had few pieces of furniture and plenty of space, with room right next to the tatami.

"Baa~"

Xia Qing went to the storage shed, fetched the steel frame, and briskly cut and welded it together, then moved Ram Boss's hanging chair inside the house.

After Xia Qing finished her shower and looked downstairs, she saw Ram Boss still lying in the hanging chair, and suddenly felt like she'd shot herself in the foot: Ram Boss had taken a liking to the hanging chair and wasn't stepping on the power-generating exercise bike anymore...

That problem could wait till tomorrow. Xia Qing let out a huge yawn; another full day had passed, and she was now both exhausted and sleepy.

"Ding."

At two in the morning, a sound trap in the north buffer forest was triggered and went off. Xia Qing's eyes snapped open immediately and she grabbed her phone.

After the sick wolf left, even though there were cameras inside Territory Three, Xia Qing still set sound traps at key locations every night, adding an extra layer of protection to her territory.

The sound trap had gone off, but the surveillance hadn't sent any alert to her phone, which meant the visitor was most likely a familiar wolf. Xia Qing opened her phone and saw a tall, mighty evolved wolf. Though its eyes glowed green in the night, Xia Qing still recognized it by its left ear.

The northern pack's alpha wolf, who didn't like using doors, had hopped over two iron-net walls with prey in its mouth and entered her territory.

Xia Qing climbed up, pulled on her protective suit, and went outside, where she saw her family's evolved sheep, glowing dazzlingly white in the moonlight, nuzzling up against the alpha wolf.

It had been a long time; Ram Boss missed the alpha wolf too.

Hearing Xia Qing come out, the alpha wolf only twitched its ears, its eyes still fixed on the direction of the sheep shed.

"My lord, the red squirrel in my territory that likes to freeload had a litter of baby squirrels in the sheep shed." After explaining, Xia Qing curiously examined the prey the alpha wolf had brought. "This is... a giant eagle's leg? So the giant eagle that burrowed into Mountain Fifty-Eight this afternoon really did get caught by you. My lord is mighty, my lord is number one on Blue Star, my lord is unrivaled in the universe!"

Only then did the alpha wolf turn its gilded eyes and gaze quietly at Xia Qing.

Hmm...

Understood.

Xia Qing carried the two eagle legs, each over a meter long, back inside to pluck them. Ever since she'd discovered her plucking skills were far superior to the plucking weasel's, whenever the alpha wolf and the broken-waist wolf brought her birds, they came un-plucked for her to deal with.

The alpha wolf slipped through the screen door, swiped its paws clean, and came inside. It glanced at Ram Boss swaying in the hanging chair, then turned its gaze back to watch Xia Qing pluck the feathers.

While boiling water, Xia Qing tested the quality of this giant eagle and found it was actually red-light. "My lord, this is an eagle leg with a 19‰ Shang Element content. Are you really going to eat it? You're still nursing little cubs right now—is it okay to eat meat with such a high Shang Element content?"

Seeing the alpha wolf didn't react, Xia Qing still plucked the snow-white feathers off the eagle legs clean. After she finished the first leg, the alpha wolf walked over and started crunching away.

It didn't just eat the meat—it even bit the leg bones to pieces and swallowed them. After a year of knowing it, this was the first time Xia Qing had seen the alpha wolf tear into prey so savagely.

The alpha wolf's behavior was a little unusual. Xia Qing glanced up at Ram Boss, still swaying in the rocking chair, and kept plucking.

After she finished plucking the second eagle leg, the alpha wolf chewed it up hide, bones, and all, leaving only the giant eagle's six talons.

The Philippine eagle hunted precisely with these long, sharp talons and beak.

Once, while on a gathering mission in the Evolution Forest, Xia Qing's squad was attacked by a swarm of bees. While fleeing, an evolver was snatched by a Philippine eagle and carried to a cliff. Xia Qing, whose eyesight was excellent, watched the eagle peck through the evolver's protective mask, then peck out his eyes, tear him to pieces, and only then swallow him.

That evolver's screams went on for a long time, and his blood stained a large patch of the cliff red.

Tang Huai had mentioned on the lord channel that the refugees in Territory Two, on their way to Hui Three Base, had also encountered Philippine eagles several times, and dozens of people were tortured to death.

Philippine eagles don't only torture humans to death—whenever they catch other large prey, they always tear it apart alive before swallowing it. So Xia Qing had no fondness whatsoever for such brutally savage animals.