Chapter 894: Searching for the Sniper

"Lu Fangchun and Wang Bo have been rescued, Chen Dongyang captured alive. Three people fled outward—two elasticity evolvers and one speed evolver." She Xing's angry voice came through the walkie-talkie; Lu Fang and the others had probably been tortured quite badly.

"Copy that. The enemy sniper has fled into West District Forest Four, and has begun sniping the fleeing personnel." Xia Qing responded calmly, beginning to use her vision and hearing to capture the target.

A rough voice rang out on the walkie-talkie, "Hello there, sis of the Azure Dragon Squad. I'm Sang Chenglin, a Level Five strength evolver from the Wild Beast Squad. The tall elasticity evolver who escaped has a grudge with me. Could you leave him for me to deal with, sis?"

Xia Qing knew who Sang Chenglin was.

He had squeezed into the Hui Three combat power rankings last June, and for the year-plus since, he had been bobbing up and down between ranks 40 and 50.

In March of this year, Hua Nation tallied the distribution of evolver types within the country; the proportion of speed and elasticity evolvers in squads and the military had risen by over ten percentage points compared to three years ago.

The reason the proportion rose was that these two types of evolvers had the fastest movement speed, so their ability to respond was the strongest, and their survival rate in sudden situations was the highest.

Sang Chenglin, a strength evolver with poor scouting and response abilities, had actually managed to stay on the combat power rankings long-term, which naturally drew the attention of Xia Qing, also a strength evolver. She responded calmly, "Copy that. Abandon sniping the tall elasticity evolver."

Sang Chenglin, hearing that the other party hadn't understood his meaning, hurriedly added, "Sis, what I mean is, can you put a bullet in him and drop him, just leaving him with one breath left?"

Xia Qing……

She seemed to have figured out how this guy had squeezed into the combat power rankings.

A top-tier sniper is the guardian deity of one's own side, the god of death for the enemy.

Xia Qing quickly dropped three ordinary evolvers who had fled out, and left each of them with one breath left.

When she came down from the high ground, Sang Chenglin of the Wild Beast Squad had finished off his enemy and was about to come over to thank Xia Qing and try to get close, when he heard the roar of a helicopter. He looked up and was so startled he blurted out a curse.

"WTF, how did this helicopter get this close? Is my hearing broken, I didn't hear it that loud!"

You don't know this, do you—this is a Cloud-Piercer Mark III fitted with noise-reducing rotor blades, here to pick me up!

Xia Qing, her face covered by a black mask, raised a hand to bid farewell to everyone, then sprinted westward at full speed.

Sang Chenglin couldn't hold back again, "WTF! This sis is actually a speed-evolver sniper! As expected of Azure Dragon—hidden dragons and crouching tigers, crouching tigers and hidden dragons."

Xia Qing sprinted back to where she had hidden her black blade, took it out and strapped it to her back, then pulled out a flashlight and shone it into the air, flashing it on and off to indicate her position to the helicopter.

Unexpectedly, the helicopter didn't lower a rope ladder, but landed directly. The cabin door opened, and four Azure Dragon squad members carrying medical kits came down, escorting Chang Li and two nurses.

Chang Li came up to Xia Qing and greeted her, "Sister Ling, Brother Luo sent us over to treat the people from Liangqing Squad. Based on their injuries, it'll probably take at least two hours."

This place was closer to the safe zone than Northern District One's territory; the main purpose of this helicopter coming over was to pick up Xia Qing.

After discovering that Handsome Giant Wave had run off, Xia Qing had sent a message to Luo Pei. She now had a helicopter at her disposal!

Xia Qing handed the black wrapping bag containing the black blade to Jing Kuan, nodded greetings to the remaining few, and walked alone into the western mountain region.

These were all familiar faces from Territory One; apart from Beard Peak and Jing Kuan, no one knew that Zhang Ling was Xia Qing in disguise. But once she got on the helicopter, these people might well spot the flaw.

So, Xia Qing decided to use these two hours to capture someone.

Yin Jie and the others assumed Zhang Ling had taken on another mission issued by Brother Luo, so none of them said anything more.

Beard Peak, who was piloting the helicopter, opened his mouth, then closed it again.

Is the evolution forest at night dangerous? For others, extremely dangerous. Because that area was the territory of the western wolf pack, which had just had a bloody clash with humans half a year ago—going in could mean death.

But for Xia Qing, not dangerous at all, because she was a human acknowledged by the wolf pack.

Lu Zhengchun and Wang Bo really had luck on their side. If Brother Luo hadn't run into that giant wolf in Territory Three, the two of them would definitely have been done for tonight.

Finding someone hiding in the evolution forest, where the canopy blocked the moon and the vegetation was dense, was extremely difficult. But Xia Qing still wanted to try—after all, she possessed magnetic-sense evolution ability, which allowed her to avoid aggressive evolved plants.

Evolved beasts? The most powerful evolved beast here was the Handsome Giant Wolf standing not far away, watching!

The opponent has a sniper rifle?

She was wearing a double-layer bulletproof vest—who was she afraid of!

Xia Qing had no intention of relying on the Handsome Giant Wolf for help; she would use these two hours to find the person on her own ability.

This speed-evolver sniper had been with Chen Dongyang and the others, so he definitely knew the western wolf pack had clashed with humans, and wouldn't dare go deep into the western mountain region. So Xia Qing felt her probability of finding him was still one or two in ten.

Can't find him? If she can't find him, she loses nothing.

Xia Qing moved cautiously forward along the beast trail in the pitch-black, dense evolution forest, using her ears to catch any stir within two hundred meters, using her eyes to search for targets through the night-vision device, and using her magnetic sense to avoid aggressive plants.

The lamps glowing on the tree branches were the eyes of hooting owls; the small lights scurrying on the ground were the eyes of squeaking rodents; the glass-marble-sized lights flashing past were the eyes of rabbits startled into flight; the clicking sounds at her feet were evolved scorpions on the move; rustling sounds were reptiles…

Half an hour, one hour—Xia Qing, finding no clues, decisively stopped advancing and turned to head outward. The magnetic field here was chaotic; even a compass was useless. If she went any deeper, she might get lost.

What if she got lost?

She could only climb a big tree, and use the stars to fix her position and the time. This was a skill every evolver on missions in the evolution forest had already mastered.

"Awooooo—"

Twenty minutes into her return walk, Xia Qing heard a wolf howl. Her keen hearing let her distinguish that this was the giant wolf that looked very much like the Handsome Giant Wolf—the Western Wolf King, who had once led the western wolf pack to trigger a beast tide.

Its howl was both angry and sorrowful, and it wasn't far from Xia Qing. If she climbed a tree, she should be able to spot which hilltop the Western Wolf King was standing on howling.

"Awooooo—"

This was another wolf; the anger in its howl outweighed that of the first.

Xia Qing's relationship with the western wolf pack wasn't exactly friendly. She immediately sped up heading outward, to avoid clashing with the wolves.

"Awooooo—"

Another angry wolf—this one even closer to her!

Xia Qing, speeding up, stepped on slippery moss and rolled on the ground. She stopped walking, and aimed her sniper rifle in the direction of the wolf pack.

Once the wolf pack attacked her, she would counterattack without hesitation!

"Awooooo—"

A closer wolf howl rang out, its call majestic and full of intimidating power.

This was…the Handsome Giant Wolf's howl. Handsome Giant Wave was protecting her, not allowing the other wolves to advance any further.

Xia Qing's taut nerves relaxed at once.

Amid howl after howl, Xia Qing withdrew from the evolution forest and returned to the helicopter, only to find that the members of Liangqing and the Wild Beast squads, along with the rescued wounded, the dead, and the hooded, bound members of Dongyang Squad, were all packed tightly inside the cabin.

It was fortunate this was a medium helicopter with a ten-ton payload; otherwise it really couldn't have fit so many people.

After Xia Qing returned, Yin Jie immediately started the helicopter and took off, heading for the safe zone.

The wolf pack had grown enraged, and the danger level here was rising. The helicopter had to ferry these people back to the safe zone first, then return to Northern Sector One.

After the helicopter lifted off, Xia Qing looked toward the spot where the wolf pack had let out its first furious howl, and was startled to discover a human lying on a massive boulder at the mountaintop, limbs twisted.