Chapter 933: Boss! Boss!

On the helicopter ride back to North Sector One territory from the safe zone, Xia Qing sat in the gunner's seat, keeping a constant eye on the flying birds in the sky through the firing port.

Flying is the preferred way for humans to travel between bases after the Catastrophe.

With the further promotion of Hui Three Base's signature crop X-2 and the continued rise in sales of Hui Three Pharmaceutical's products, the number of passenger planes, transport planes, and helicopters traveling between Hui Three and the other bases had at least doubled. Xia Qing's helicopter was mixed in among them, so by all logic it shouldn't have drawn the attention of the escaped brain-domain evolved giant eagle.

But Xia Qing, out of long-standing caution, had still changed into a different color and style of protective suit and mask, to avoid being recognized by the giant eagle.

If the giant eagle recognized her and came straight at the helicopter to attack, Xia Qing wasn't afraid at all, because it would just be delivering points to her. What Xia Qing feared was it lurking somewhere she couldn't see, following her back to North Sector One territory, then lying in wait for a long time to get revenge.

Given the giant eagle's size, it could snatch away not just Does Daigua the monkey, but even Sheep Boss!

Hu Zifeng glanced twice at the focused Xia Qing and tactfully kept his mouth shut.

When the helicopter landed on Mountain Forty-Nine, Xia Qing handed the mission over to Zhang Ling.

Zhang Ling briefly reported the number of raptors she had sniped, and gave her audio and video recordings to Xia Qing; Xia Qing in turn gave today's audio recordings from the Eagle Extermination Squad mission to Zhang Ling, along with the video, and briefly briefed her on a couple of points.

The reason for swapping audio and video was twofold: first, to prevent the cover from being blown; second, by watching the footage recorded from Xia Qing's perspective, Zhang Ling could better understand Xia Qing's scouting and sniping style and improve her own sniping ability.

Zhang Ling was also a high-level visual evolver with great potential, one who could be expected to become a top-tier sniper.

When Hu Zifeng carried a big bundle of tree branches and escorted Xia Qing back to Territory Three, he couldn't help asking, "Xia Qing, did things go smoothly when you went to gather figs?"

Xia Qing nodded. "Very smoothly."

Hmm...

If it went so smoothly, why was the captain looking at him like she wanted to knife him?

While Hu Zifeng, sensing something very wrong, was racking his brain for words that might make Xia Qing treat his boss a little better, he saw a little red squirrel leap from a tree branch onto Xia Qing's backpack, then climb up to her shoulder; the moment Xia Qing unzipped the pocket of her protective suit, the little squirrel darted right in.

Hu Zifeng had just gathered his thoughts when he heard snorting sounds coming from the bushes beside him. Soon the lord of this stretch of forest, the little honey badger, burst out of the bushes, baring its small teeth and charging at Xia Qing with the swaggering, six-relations-denying gait of a reckless fool.

Xia Qing pulled a ripe fig from a small packet in the pouch at her waist and tossed it over.

The little honey badger swallowed the fruit in one gulp, then shifted targets and went after Hu Zifeng.

The little honey badger often fought with Little Lao Wu too, and Hu Zifeng was on Little Lao Wu's side, so every time the badger saw him, it beat him up.

Once Hu Zifeng couldn't hold back and gave it a thrashing, and the thing chased him all the way up to the monitoring room on the mountain, gnawing a hole right through it, looking for all the world like it wouldn't stop until it ate Hu Zifeng whole.

Afraid of being pestered again, Hu Zifeng handed the backpack back to Xia Qing and ran off at top speed.

The flat-headed little one, who had just eaten the fruit, made a decisive choice between Xia Qing and Hu Zifeng—abandoning the stinky Hu Zifeng and picking Xia Qing, who had fruit. Beat her up and snatch the delicious fruit!

Xia Qing, clutching the tree branches, sprinted toward the North Barrier. "Boss! Boss—"

Hearing Xia Qing's exaggerated shouting, Hu Zifeng, who hadn't run far, slipped and fell flat on the ground, silently complaining to himself: if only Xia Qing would call out to his boss like that, he wouldn't be having such a miserable time...

Sheep Boss didn't hesitate—face-scanned the door open, stepped out, and shielded his little follower behind him, brandishing his spiral horns as he waited for the flat-headed one to charge. Fight in the Evolved Forest? No way—there'd be no one there to cheer him on.

No way—there'd be no one there to cheer him on.

"Boss! Leave it to you!"

"Baa!"

"These are the figs I harvested today, they're really good—have one before you go fight the flat-headed one!"

"Baaa~~~"

Xia Qing retreated to Territory Three, rubbed Wolf Lao Er's head, then flicked the Does Daigua monkey on its back. "Lao Er, did Daigua steal food from our greenhouse today?"

Wolf Lao Er nuzzled Xia Qing, grinning happily.

"Lao Er, you're amazing—leaving the territory to you is what I'm most at ease about." Xia Qing fished a non-venomous snake from her pouch. "Look, I caught a green lantern snake just for you!"

Wolf Lao Er immediately pinned the fleeing snake down with his big paw and started eating.

Xia Qing fished Employee No. 001 out of her pocket, set it on a nearby rock, and handed it a fig. "Eat up, green lantern—next time you see fruit like this in the Evolved Forest, remember to pick one and bring it back for me."

Little Feimao held the big fig in its tiny paws, fussed with it for a few turns, took a bite, and the fur on its tail stood on end as it buried its head in eating.

Xia Qing fished another fig from her pocket, sternly lectured the eager-eyed Does Daigua No. 002 for a few moments, then handed it over. "Eat up. Sixty points."

The Does Daigua monkey had eaten figs before; it took the fruit, gripped the stem in one hand, nimbly rubbed off the dirt clinging to it with the other, and started eating from the sweetest part.

Xia Qing scanned the area for danger, confirmed her territory really hadn't been damaged by raptors, then went to Greenhouse Two and drank a few mouthfuls of pollution-free spring water, and contacted her idol by phone.

"Speak!" Zhang San was in a bad mood.

"Third Brother, I just got a green lantern fig with a 2.3‰ harmful-element content, worm-free—would you like to try it?"

"Only one? Bring it over." Zhang San's mood shifted from overcast to sunny.

"Okay!"

Xia Qing hung up, gave Wolf Lao Er a few instructions, cheered Sheep Boss on, then headed along the North Barrier toward Territory Seven to deliver the fruit to her idol.

After she left, the two freeloading red squirrels in Territory Three hopped onto the wire-mesh wall near the North Gate, staring longingly at the Does Daigua monkey and Little Feimao eating fruit.

The two employees of Territory Three, as if by unspoken agreement, sped up their eating.

"The flavor really is good—where did you find it?" Zhang San took a bite of the fig and asked amiably.

"In the Shi Zhu grove on South Mountain Seven..." Xia Qing briefly recounted how she had hunted the eagle and picked the fruit, and also mentioned the poisoning of Lu Fangchun and Wang Bo. "Third Brother, Lu Fangchun and Wang Bo are both evolvers with real potential. If they leave their squads and settle in our territory, things here will be even safer."

"What poison?" Zhang San, in a good mood after finishing the fruit, sprayed disinfectant on his hands and slowly wiped them clean.

"A slow-acting harmful synthetic poison—child's play for you." Xia Qing had contacted Xu Juan at the Inner City hospital and gotten the inside information.

The biggest challenge in detoxifying the harmful synthetic poison is the reagent. Xia Qing has the harmful-element grass, Zhang San has the harmful-element reducer—as long as Zhang San is willing to step in, detoxifying isn't hard. The key is still points.

How to scrape together those points depends on She Xing and Fu Xiaodan.