Chapter 929: Since You're Already Here

In the dense forest beneath the Shi Zhu forest, the person in the middle of the three-person squad running toward the giant eagle's corpse was Sang Chenglin, a Level 5 strength evolver of the Beast Squad who had climbed to 43rd on the Hui-3 combat power ranking after capturing a sniper from the Dongyang Squad a few days ago.

Sang Chenglin was not a sniper; the only role he had in joining the Eagle Extermination mission was to carry the dead bird and grind his ranking.

Even as a porter/logistician in an S-rank Eagle Extermination squad, the combat power gained after a successful mission was greater than that of ordinary missions. After this mission, Sang Chenglin would surely climb another one or two spots.

Being able to squeeze into this S-rank mission squad showed that Sang Chenglin had very well-informed intelligence and very broad connections.

Qinglong Night Heron had publicly joined a mission for the first time and taken down an S-rank target, earning combat power points. If this identity completed a few more missions, it would surely climb onto the combat power ranking.

A squad's combat power was the cumulative value of its members' combat power. Only when a squad's overall strength reached a certain level could it qualify to take on missions with higher danger coefficients, and it would also be easier to recruit outstanding talent. Therefore, once a squad member entered the top one hundred of the combat power ranking, their squad would usually grant points and resource rewards — this was also the main reason Sang Chenglin was actively climbing the ranking.

She didn't know if Zhang Ling had any interest in the combat power ranking, but Xia Qing had none at all, because she didn't rely on it to earn points to support herself.

Hiding inside the bunker and sending a message to Luo Pei to report her achievement of hitting one target with five shots, Xia Qing immediately contacted Er Yong to ask about the situation at the territory.

Learning that only a few raptors had flown over the territory's airspace, that the No. 3 and No. 9 centers had suffered no losses, and that no one had discovered that the "Xia Qing" inside the territory was Zhang Ling in disguise, Xia Qing wiggled her body like a caterpillar a few times, sat cross-legged inside the nest, and began observing the dense vegetation beneath the Shi Zhu.

This Shi Zhu was inside the southern No. 7 Mountain, at least a hundred li from humanity's southern territory, deep within the evolved forest that humans rarely set foot in. Having occupied such a good observation position, Xia Qing naturally had to take the opportunity to look for collectible resources.

After marking the location of a several-meter-tall fig tree on her phone, Xia Qing received Luo Pei's reply:

Excellent! The bird tide will end in just over an hour; stay concealed. Yang Jin is serving as commander on the western defense line — I'll have him escort you back later.

Xia Qing stared at the exclamation mark after the word "excellent" for a few seconds, the corners of her mouth lifting slightly. The other giant eagle was still alive, so she couldn't take a helicopter back to the territory openly; traveling with others would easily expose her identity, so going with Yang Jin's squad was the safest option.

Xia Qing glanced at the golden eagle opposite, still bristling and staring at her without daring to move, pulled out a pack of Green Lantern pork jerky from her backpack, tore it open, tossed it out through the bunker's entrance, and greeted the seemingly intelligent raptor in a calm tone: "I won't hurt you, and I won't take your territory. I'll be leaving soon."

The golden eagle hiding in the branches and leaves of the aggressive great tree was extremely wary; without even glancing at the jerky, it opened its beak and let out a threatening low screech at Xia Qing, telling her to get out of its nest.

Although this golden eagle's magnetic-sense perception wasn't high, its IQ was certainly not low. Otherwise, it wouldn't have lived beside two aggressive evolved great trees, and it would still know to hide in the branches of the nearby great tree when danger came.

Looks alone, this raptor was even more beautiful than Seeing Xin Yu's jade-carved sea eagle. Xia Qing took out her phone and shot a video and two photos of it, so she could share them with her bird-raising good friend after returning.

After a few minutes, when Xia Qing turned to observe the vegetation to the northeast below the Shi Zhu, the bristled feathers of the golden eagle in the neighboring great tree slowly settled down.

An hour and a half later, the bird tide ended and the southern defense line began withdrawing. Commander Zhang Jingwu contacted Xia Qing again: "Night Heron, will you be returning to the safe zone with us?"

Zhou Touzi, Mo Shaozhi, and the others had already joined the southern defense line; the only sniper who had not withdrawn from the Shi Lin was Night Heron.

Xia Qing pressed the walkie-talkie button: "Thank you, Commander. I'll return with my squad."

"Alright, I'll leave two people to protect you. Stay safe." Night Heron was Qinglong's sniper and also the top sniper of the Hui-3 base; Zhang Jingwu had a responsibility to protect her safety.

From the moment Luo Pei had him assemble the high-level sniper Eagle Extermination squad, ambush them inside the Shi Lin, and reserve the tallest Shi Zhu for Night Heron, Zhang Jingwu had confirmed that Qinglong Night Heron's sniping level was above that of a high-level sniper.

Not long after the southern defense line personnel withdrew, Yang Jin's squad arrived beneath the Shi Zhu. After completing the mission handover with the two soldiers left behind, they contacted Xia Qing above the Shi Zhu.

Amid the scolding screeches of the bristling golden eagle, Xia Qing crawled out of its nest, pulled her backpack out of the bunker, and then pointed at the bunker's entrance and said, "This nest is yours now. Hiding inside is definitely more comfortable than sleeping up top. Thanks."

She had earned sixty thousand points here, so paying the landlord a bit of rent was only right.

After saying that, Xia Qing quickly took two small cuttings from the two aggressive evolved great trees and placed them into glass test tubes, then sampled several pieces of rock. These two great trees had very strong magnetic fields but no physical attack methods, which meant their branches, leaves, or sap were likely highly poisonous, so Xia Qing took samples to bring back for her idol to study.

After finishing the sampling, Xia Qing leaned out and waved to Yang Jin and the other two squad members below. After getting a response, she took out the seventy-meter Dengshan rope from her backpack, hooked the claw at one end of the rope onto a protruding rock, and grabbed the rope to leave the mountaintop.

After the hook gripping the rock shook twice and fell away from the rock, the golden eagle's bristled feathers slowly settled down.

"Xia Qing, the other giant eagle is above the clouds. Don't worry, it doesn't dare come down. Hold onto the rope." Yang Jin, who was providing covering fire for Xia Qing from below with his gun, had just sent the reminder through the walkie-talkie when the giant eagle above let out a sharp, piercing screech.

The prepared Xia Qing wasn't startled, but the golden eagle tucked among the branches atop the Shi Zhu bristled again.

"Copy!" The giant eagle's purpose was to intimidate her with sound, to make her panic and fall off the cliff on her own, but Xia Qing wasn't easily scared.

With three humans pointing guns at it, this brain-eating eagle definitely wouldn't dare drop below 2,500 meters — what was there to be scared of!

"Clang!" Hanging vertically against the rock face with one hand gripping a crevice, Xia Qing once again firmly hooked the claw at one end of the descent rope into a crack, sliding down steadily amid the giant eagle's continuous screams.

After rappelling four times, Xia Qing's feet finally touched the ground, and she greeted the three members of the Qinglong squad.

Besides Yang Jin, the other two were Wang Liang, Qinglong Squad's No. 5 combat power, a dual-system evolver with Level 4 speed and Level 6 jumping ability, and Ma Jun, Qinglong Squad's No. 19 combat power, a Level 4 hearing and Level 5 vision evolver.

The two of them were permanent members of Yang Jin's squad, which ranked first in combat power within the Qinglong Squad. Xia Qing had previously assumed these two were single-system evolvers, but now she knew they were both dual-system!

Wang Liang's eyes were practically shining as he looked at Xia Qing — their squad now had two top snipers. Tell me: awesome or not!!!

Ma Jun, also a sniper, gave Xia Qing a thumbs-up: "Sister Qing, push a little harder. Next year, kick that kid Nie Hong off his perch!"

Last winter, when Xia Qing first went to No. 49 Mountain for training, her sniping level was still a notch below Ma Jun's. In just over half a year, she had caught up with Luo Pei. Ma Jun felt that, at this rate, next year Xia Qing would surely surpass Nie Hong and take the throne of Hua Nation's top sharpshooter!

Xia Qing, who was coiling up the rope, looked at Yang Jin: can we talk about something serious? I was attacked by aggressive evolved plants up there for over four hours and urgently need Green Lantern plants to soothe the wounds.