Chapter 832: Poachers

The next day, Xia Qing asked Hu Zifeng to send someone to guard her territory while she and Xin Yu hurried to the spot where the wolf pack had caught the wild ducks.

Just as Xia Qing had guessed, the wild ducks the wolf pack had brought back on these two occasions lived in a stretch of wetland between Mountain 52 and Mountain 53, a route the wolves had to take when traveling between Territory Three and Mountain 60.

Xin Yu could use magnetic sense to detect edible prey, so teaming up with her meant there would be no infuriating situation of killing dozens of ducks without a single green light.

If Wolf Lao Er weren't so wary of Xin Yu, and if his magnetic field didn't make Xin Yu uncomfortable, Xia Qing would have preferred to team up with both Xin Yu and Wolf Lao Er. Because Wolf Lao Er knew the hunting area they were heading to today extremely well.

Xin Yu evaded the eyes watching her, entered Territory Three before dawn, then left through the North Gate of Northern Zone One, quickly reaching the parking lot beneath the Third Peak of Mountain 50, and proceeded on foot to their destination.

Mountain 53 lay north of Mountain 50, and the wetland where the wild ducks lived was only 6 kilometers from here in a straight line, but the mountain path was rugged. Besides having to climb over mountains and leap across crevices over a hundred meters deep, they also had to pass through a stretch of aggressive, evolved vine plants whose flowers were bigger than a washbasin and would drool at people, and the territory of giant lizards and crocodiles. Even though the two of them were the perfect combination for sensing aggressive plants and aggressive animals, they still had to exercise the utmost caution.

Seeing the flesh-red giant flowers that drooled up close for the first time, Xin Yu asked, "Is this… an evolved Rafflesia?"

"It looks a bit like one, but after testing, Third Brother said it's a new species, and we can't determine yet which plant or fungus it evolved from. They can sense danger through ground vibrations and release volatile substances that cause hallucinations in animals—don't take off your protective mask." Both Xia Qing and Xin Yu's protective masks were high enough grade to filter out the interference from this gas.

Because wolves have pads under their feet, the ground vibrations they create while moving don't disturb these bizarre flowers, which is why when Xia Qing moved with the wolf pack, these flowers only drooled at her.

Evolved life on Blue Star is just this crazy!

After passing through the bizarre flowers' and giant lizards' territory and climbing over another mountain, Xin Yu sent a low-voiced warning to Xia Qing, "Ten o'clock direction, about 100 meters, two animals full of malice. One of them has a very strong magnetic field—should be a large predator."

"Halt advance." The sound of flowing water here was very loud, so Xia Qing couldn't sense the lurking evolved animals through hearing. After Xin Yu's warning, she immediately swapped positions with Xin Yu, led her behind a boulder, and shielded her on the inside.

About two minutes later, Xin Yu lowered her voice to warn, "Twelve o'clock direction, another predator… it's a human, malice very obvious!"

"Follow me, change position and take cover." Unlike wild animals, humans have extremely strong long-range attack capabilities. Xia Qing immediately led Xin Yu, lightening her footsteps, moving forward over twenty meters to hide behind two even larger boulders, and said in a low voice, "Contact Captain Tan, ask if any squad or military personnel are active nearby."

"Copy." Xin Yu took out her phone, glanced at it, then put it away. "There's no signal here—either the magnetic field is chaotic, or the other side has activated jamming equipment. One o'clock direction, another human spotted, malice obvious."

"It's jamming equipment—there used to be signal here." Xia Qing, who had walked this beast trail several times, gave a definitive answer, which was why the static now appearing in their walkie-talkies was being affected by the jamming equipment.

Carrying equipment that could block phone signals but not interfere with walkie-talkie communications proved the other side was also using walkie-talkies to stay in contact. They definitely didn't come here to catch ducks or crocodiles.

Xia Qing took out her sniper rifle and said in a low voice, "Report human position changes in real time. Is the ten o'clock direction human?"

"Ten o'clock direction confirmed not human."

In other words, the two malice-filled humans and the two malice-filled predators at ten o'clock might not be on the same side, but rather enemies of each other. The predators here could be wolves or bears. Xia Qing's eyes turned cold.

Xin Yu's brow suddenly ached sharply, and she reminded in a low voice, "Suppress your malice, it's interfering with me."

"Copy." Xia Qing immediately reined in her killing intent.

Half a minute later, Xin Yu reported, "Two more humans have appeared, at nine o'clock direction, moving together with the one at one o'clock toward the eighty-meter mark at ten o'clock direction, emotions have all turned to joy; the predator's magnetic field at ten o'clock is weakening; the human at twelve o'clock is lying low and not moving, emotion also shifted to joy."

"The predator at ten o'clock is probably an evolved wolf that's already been hit—it's the hunting target of those four people." Xia Qing kept her inner calm. "Looks like they haven't spotted us."

Otherwise, those four people wouldn't be joyfully moving toward ten o'clock direction before eliminating her and Xin Yu.

This was the northern wolf pack's territory, and possibly the territory of evolved bears. If the two fought and killed each other, it had nothing to do with humans, but if humans hunted evolved wolves and bears, it would definitely anger the wolf pack on Mountain 60 and the brain-domain evolved bears on Mountain 61, triggering an unpredictable crisis.

One thing that could be confirmed about this crisis was: Northern Zone One's territory would definitely suffer!

Xia Qing made an instant decision. "Xin Yu, can you come with me to take a look? I guarantee your safety. If they're poaching predators, we have to intervene."

"You go ahead, I'll stay here." Xin Yu understood that Xia Qing bringing her along wasn't because she needed her help, but to protect her safety at all times.

Although her fighting and marksmanship weren't great, her running speed was slow, and her strength was small, Xin Yu wasn't a weakling without the ability to protect herself—otherwise she wouldn't have dared to come out with Xia Qing without bringing her tamed beast or bodyguard. "I brought twenty grenades loaded with 180 grams of mixed explosives, with a 100% hit rate within a hundred meters when thrown. As long as you can keep your emotions stable, I can protect myself."

As long as Xia Qing's emotions were stable and her magnetic field didn't fluctuate, she wouldn't be locked on as an attack target by Xin Yu. The remaining malice-filled magnetic fields were all Xin Yu's attack targets. "Go quickly, they're only fifteen meters from the target now, the target's magnetic field keeps weakening, suspected to be about to die or lose consciousness."

"Okay."

At this critical moment, Xia Qing had no time to dawdle. She immediately pulled cat-claw shoes from her backpack and put them on her feet, moved forward over ten meters, and swiftly climbed up a normal large tree with a diameter exceeding one meter.

Although Xin Yu said she didn't need a teammate to protect her, Xia Qing was the captain and had the responsibility to protect her team members' safety. She wouldn't put her teammate and friend in danger just to save wolves or bears. It was true that Xin Yu could sense magnetic fields, but the possibility that the other side had this kind of weapon was also 100%.

If Xin Yu threw a grenade, she might become the other side's attack target.

Therefore, Xia Qing chose to climb the tree—conduct long-range reconnaissance of the situation, and protect Xin Yu from close range.