Chapter 931: God-Tier Teammates

"Screech——"

A giant eagle circled high above the Shi Zhu Forest of Mountain Seven in southern Hui Three, letting out a sharp, piercing cry.

In the dense, colorful evolved forest, four people surrounded by more than thirty evolved spotted hyenas gripped their weapons and growled softly.

Xia Qing, her killing intent fully unleashed, pointed her black long blade at the hyena standing closest to her—the largest, fiercest, and loudest—and let out a low, commanding growl from her throat.

The sound and its slow cadence were both things she'd learned from the alpha wolf. Too bad she was wearing a mask, so the sound she made definitely wasn't as intimidating as a wolf king baring its fangs. Next mission she'd bring a loudspeaker!

"Three!"

The instant Yang Jin shouted "three," Xia Qing stomped the ground hard and shot forward.

The hyena opposite instantly bristled, opening its huge jaws to meet the attack. Xia Qing stared at the hyena, kicked through a waist-thick tree in front of her, and roared, "Scram!"

Yang Jin, who set out later but arrived first, was nearly a blur as he rushed to the fig tree where the most hyenas were gathered. He kicked away a speed-evolved hyena lunging at him, sliced off the branch he had his eye on, dragged it back to their original position, killing intent fully unleashed, and roared, "Scram!!"

Wang Liang, a Level Six elasticity evolver, used his bouncing power to topple the target tree. "Scram!!!"

Ma Jun, gripping his gun, also roared at the same time, "Scram!!!!"

Seeing the intruders display such overwhelming power, the hyena pack leader standing on the rocks let out a short, sharp cry. The hyenas surrounding the human squad immediately fell silent, tucked their heads, and retreated with tails between their legs.

Food was plentiful in the evolved forest; they didn't have to eat these few scrawny-looking prey.

The hyenas in front of her retreated. Xia Qing sheathed her blade, stepped back to her original position, turned her head—and her eyes went wide.

Yang Jin had actually sliced off a quarter of the tree's canopy in one cut!

What is a god-tier teammate? This is it!

Seeing Xia Qing's eyes go round, Yang Jin felt more accomplished than closing a deal worth several million. "I saw this branch had the most ripe fruit. Think you can carry it?"

"Yes! Let me test the quality first?"

Why not shoulder the canopy and get out of here before testing? Because carrying something that huge would make it impossible to move through the dense forest.

Pulling out her qiang-element detector to test the sap, Xia Qing's eyes lit up even more. "Qiang element content 2.2‰, non-toxic, premium green light!"

Ma Jun exclaimed in delight, "That low? Boss!"

The tree still had three-quarters of its canopy left, and the fruit on it, once picked, would weigh at least a hundred jin!

Yang Jin was calmer. "The remaining fruit isn't ripe yet—cutting it would be a waste. Xia Qing, is this branch enough?"

"These cuttings are enough to propagate a whole fig grove. The hyenas and this tree might have a symbiotic relationship," Xia Qing replied.

After watching the intruders kick down two big trees, kick away one of their companions, and chop off a quarter of the fig tree's canopy, the hyena pack was clearly intimidated—but they only retreated to the edge of the tree and refused to leave, which proved just how important this tree was to them.

Xia Qing guessed that this green-light fig tree was bait the hyena pack used to lure prey; the fig tree, in turn, grew lush and leafy thanks to the hyena pack's protection.

That's why Xia Qing said the two had a symbiotic relationship—if they cut any more, the hyenas would really fight to the death.

Yang Jin's view matched Xia Qing's. "Ma Jun, Wang Liang, hold the line. I'll handle the branches with Xia Qing."

"Copy that." Ma Jun and Wang Liang glared fiercely at the cowardly, tail-tucking dogs across from them.

Xia Qing handed Yang Jin a pair of scissors. "Captain Yang, you snip the fruit, right? Yellow-green with a touch of purple is ripe; pure green is unripe. Keep them separate. Try not to damage the leaves or bark. I'll sort the branches."

Yang Jin was a top-tier speed evolver, perfectly suited for farm work like pulling weeds and picking fruit.

Yang Jin snip-snip-snipped away, while Xia Qing swung her black blade to hack off the thick branches first. Then she cut the branches Yang Jin had already stripped of fruit—those under four centimeters in diameter—into segments over a meter long, tied them with rope, stuffed them into thickened packaging bags, wrapped each bag in a scratch-proof cloth bundle tied tight, packed them together with the fruit, and hoisted it onto her back.

Branches, fruit, plus the supplies Xia Qing had been carrying—the total weight was under six hundred jin, and Xia Qing bore it easily. "Captain Yang, we can move at full speed."

"Good, let's move out." After the four-person squad pulled back fifty meters, the hyenas in the Shi Zhu Forest finally dared to let out anguished, furious howls that mingled with the giant eagle's cries overhead.

After the squad had put some distance between themselves and the hyena pack, Yang Jin didn't mention continuing to explore the evolved forest. "It's getting late. Let's head back. Xia Qing carries the load for the first half hour, then we switch to Wang Liang."

Wang Liang was an elasticity evolver who could use his bouncing power to carry heavy loads and move quickly.

Sprinting through the dense, slippery evolved forest while shouldering over five hundred jin of supplies was basic training for strength evolvers, and the kind of mission Xia Qing knew best. But she agreed with Yang Jin's arrangement, because she was now fully capable of handling sniping, pathfinding, and flank defense.

Three and a half hours later, the four of them broke through and climbed over obstacle after obstacle, reached the southern territory buffer zone, got on an off-road vehicle, and headed for the safe zone.

After driving more than sixty li, Yang Jin, who had the most stamina, took the wheel, while Xia Qing sat in the passenger seat and Ma Jun and Wang Liang sat in the back.

Once they entered the safe zone, the giant eagle circling overhead wouldn't dare follow, because it feared the safe zone's anti-air weapons.

In the bouncing off-road vehicle, Ma Jun asked, "Sister Qing, can we eat the figs we picked?"

A squad that had scored green-light supplies naturally wanted to taste the fruits of victory. Yang Jin's squad was a main combat unit and rarely took gathering missions, so Ma Jun wasn't sure whether wild-picked figs could be eaten directly—hence the question to Xia Qing.

Xia Qing had often taken part in gathering missions before, and after leaving the safe zone had become a full-time farming lord. She had experience in this area.

Xia Qing shook her head. "The fruit skin is too soft—there are definitely insects inside. They need to be cleaned before eating."

So the biggest gain this time was the green-light fig branches.

Unexpectedly, at that moment Yang Jin, who was driving, pulled a small packaging bag containing four figs from his pocket and handed it to Xia Qing. "When I was picking, I found a few that didn't have bugs, so I put them in a separate small bag."

A high-level speed evolver indeed—in just a few minutes he'd picked over seventy jin of fruit, not only separating ripe from unripe as Xia Qing had requested, but also sorting out the premium ones!

Xia Qing's desire for speed-evolution ability surged past the charts again. As a lord, she really needed this ability.

"Boss, you're the best!" Ma Jun in the back seat lunged over without a second word, snatched the figs, and said, "Leave the washing to me!"

Wang Liang asked, "Sister Qing, shouldn't we save the seeds from these ripe fruits that haven't been bitten by insects?"

Ma Jun, who had already taken off his gloves and disinfected them, wished he could punch Wang Liang—having premium green-light fruit and you still won't shut your mouth.

Xia Qing shook her head. "Figs are insect-pollinated. Fruit that hasn't been entered by insects has no seeds inside. We can eat them."