Chapter 981: Level One Focus Target: Xia Qing

"An effective range of 2,100 meters has already caught up with or even surpassed Luo Pei's record, which shows Xia Qing's visual evolution ability is no lower than Level Nine — it should be Level Nine and a half or top-tier."

In the luxurious conference room atop Blazing Fire Mountain, Deputy Captain Qu Fangzhou, who is in charge of intelligence gathering and analysis, was briefing the Blazing Fire senior leadership on the latest noteworthy intelligence from each base in Hui City, and included Xia Qing's latest combat achievements from a rescue mission five days ago.

Deputy Captain Zhou Jin, who is in charge of combat team members' ability training, did not believe Xia Qing had equaled Luo Pei's best record. "Xia Qing was firing from an elevated angle — downward — which is less difficult than a flat shot."

"The point Captain Zhou raised is very important. A downward shot is indeed somewhat less difficult than a flat shot." Qu Fangzhou agreed, then continued, "After Luo Pei was poisoned and made his comeback, his flat-shot and upward-shot records are both within 2,000 meters. On the 10th of this month, a senior sniper in the Azure Dragon combat team known as Night Heron killed a high-level speed-evolved giant eagle with an upward shot at 2,050 meters in Evolution Forest No. 7 in southern Hui-Three. Based on the intelligence we have, it has been confirmed that Azure Dragon's Night Heron is Xia Qing."

Zhou Jin, who had retired from the Hui-One military, did not like Luo Pei, but hearing that a junior had surpassed his contemporary Luo Pei stirred complicated feelings in him. He nodded stiffly. "Stronger than Luo Pei is now, but he hasn't caught up to Luo Pei at his peak."

"You're right." Qu Fangzhou smiled and nodded, then continued his briefing on noteworthy developments in Territory One of northern Hui-Three. "In Territory One of northern Hui-Three, a force that cannot be ignored has formed around Xia Qing. I've named it the Xia Qing Team."

Qu Fangzhou pressed the page-turn pen, and a tree diagram made up of photos of territory personnel spread out on the wall-mounted screen in the conference room. He used the laser pointer to illuminate the photo at the very top of the tree diagram. "Dual-system top-tier sniper Xia Qing is the core of the team."

"Territory Fifteen's three-system evolver — vision, elasticity, and speed — retired soldier Zhang Hongda; Territory Eleven's dual-system senior evolver — elasticity and weight — retired soldier Huo Zhun; Territory Ten's Level Five and a half strength evolver Shi Du; and Territory Twelve's Level Five hearing evolver Tang Huai. These four people took part in the rescue mission five days ago together with Xia Qing. Apart from Tang Huai, the others all played important roles."

The laser pointer on Qu Fangzhou's page-turn pen moved down to illuminate the next row of photos. "This row is the non-combat strength: Territory Five's Level Three strength evolvers Qi Fu and Yuan Yan — although these two aren't high-level, they've earned Xia Qing's deep trust; Territory Four's ordinary person Zhao Ze, an engineer who has served many times as the manager of construction projects on Hui-Three's Mountain Fifty; Territory Ten's Level Four strength evolver Lord Huo Lei, whose identity is blacksmith and who can forge fine farm tools; Territory Eight's ordinary person Seeing Xin Yu, who can draw on the resources of senior manager Zhou Zhaoping and the Chonglian Group; and Territory Six's merchant lord Kuang Qingwei, who handles the buying and selling of supplies for northern Territory One."

After finishing this level, the red dot on the screen moved down another level. "This level is the Xia Qing Team's future combat strength: thirteen-year-old dual-system Level Five evolver — endurance and speed — Lu Fangchun, and fourteen-year-old Level Five vision evolver Wang Bo. These two are currently receiving treatment inside Professor Fu Tianfeng's territory; ten-year-old Level Four speed evolver Tan Qi is attending school."

Level Four endurance and Level Six speed evolver Zhou Jin once again expressed his regret. "If we'd moved just a little faster, we could have pulled Lu Fangchun over to our side."

Lu Fangchun was a promising seedling Zhou Jin had his eye on, which was why Chen Dongyang was able to easily buy the synthetic poison. Blazing Fire's plan was to wait until She Xing thoroughly broke with the Liang Qing combat team and had nowhere to turn, then have Blazing Fire's medical team appear in the role of savior and bring the mother and son back to Blazing Fire Mountain. What no one expected was that She Xing actually knocked on the door of Professor Fu Tianfeng's laboratory.

Qu Fangzhou was only responsible for intelligence gathering and analysis, and did not comment on the mistakes of combat team members. He continued on. "Besides these, there are also more than 300 retired soldiers in Territory Nine and Territory Fifteen. Although ninety percent of them are ordinary soldiers, and most of them have some kind of disability to one degree or another, they've already developed a sense of belonging and mission toward northern Territory One. If a catastrophic event occurs, these retired soldiers will erupt with powerful combat ability under Yue Haiying's command. Yue Haiying and Xia Qing have a very close relationship."

Finally, the laser pointer on Qu Fangzhou's page-turn pen tilted slightly upward and illuminated the thin, curly-haired head wearing glasses, just to the left of Xia Qing's portrait. "Professor Fu Tianfeng has become an important member of the Xia Qing Team, in the role of — team doctor."

The conference room fell silent. There was no one in Hui-One who didn't know how much the petty-minded Professor Fu Tianfeng disliked treating patients. Just how had Xia Qing managed to persuade him to act?

Shan Ying, who was wearing a white lab coat, frowned. "Could Xia Qing be a recovery-type evolver?"

Deng Yufeng, seated in the main seat, also raised her eyelids and looked toward Xia Qing's portrait.

Qu Fangzhou directly dismissed Shan Ying's question. "Xia Qing was injured many times while in the Hui-Three Safe Zone, and the Hui-Three Outer City Hospital has her medical records. She has obvious scars on her body, and her recovery ability is no different from that of an ordinary evolver."

Zhou Jin also felt Xia Qing was a major threat. "Captain, this person cannot be allowed to remain."

Shan Ying nodded, indicating her agreement.

Deputy Captain Liao Wendong, who was in charge of Blazing Fire's business operations, told Zhou Jin — who hadn't attended a meeting in two months — the reason they couldn't move against Xia Qing. "Xia Qing is being openly shielded by Professor Fu Tianfeng. To move against Xia Qing, we'd have to first get rid of Professor Fu Tianfeng. Otherwise, he'll swallow up our entire pharmaceutical product market."

Zhou Jin shut his mouth. No matter how aggressive he was, he didn't dare move against Professor Fu Tianfeng. Not to mention him — even the base commander of Hui City didn't dare. Because no matter how much they disliked the petty-minded, temperamental Professor Fu Tianfeng, they had to pinch their noses and admit that he was one of the core scientific research forces of Hua Nation in the fight against natural disasters.

The Fire Phoenix, leaning back in the main seat, raised a finger toward Qu Fangzhou, signaling him to turn the page and continue.

Qu Fangzhou turned the page and listed the analytical conclusions on the Xia Qing Team:

"Synthesizing the intelligence, two points can be analyzed: First, although the Xia Qing Team's strength is constantly growing, they are a loose cooperative relationship with farming and survival as their goal, and they will not compete with our combat team for missions. Our main competitor in Hui-Three remains the Azure Dragon combat team. Second, Professor Fu Tianfeng's deep cooperation with the Xia Qing Team will help him take back more autonomous research authority from the Hui-One officials."

Finally, Qu Fangzhou offered his intelligence analysis recommendations. "First, Hui-Three is currently competing for cooperation rights with Professor Fu Tianfeng's laboratory, and the relationship between Hui-One and Hui-Three is deteriorating further. This is good news for us, and we can use the opportunity to push forward several plans. Second, after Professor Fu Tianfeng obtains autonomous research authority, he should roll out several high cost-performance-ratio pharmaceuticals, breaking the existing pattern of the pharmaceutical market. To respond to this change, we should put the adjustment of our R&D and business strategy on the agenda as soon as possible."

The Fire Phoenix's fiery-red fingers tapped lightly on the tabletop. "Wendong, conduct market research as soon as possible and come up with a direction for adjusting the business strategy."

"Yes." Deputy Captain Liao Wendong, who was in charge of business operations, acknowledged.

"Shan Ying, gather the heads of each experimental project for a meeting this afternoon. I want to know the progress of the experiments."

"Yes." Deputy Captain Shan Ying, who was in charge of R&D, nodded.

"Zhou Jin, keep a close watch on Lu Fangchun and She Xing, and try to pull them over to our side."

"Yes." Zhou Jin was determined to succeed.

"Fangzhou, classify Xia Qing as a Level One focus target and prioritize investigation. Give a detailed introduction of the merchant lord you just mentioned."

"Yes."

Qu Fangzhou pulled up Kuang Qingwei's detailed file. "Kuang Qingwei, male, 45 years old, ordinary person. Before the catastrophe he ran a fruit shop; after the catastrophe he opened a general store in the Hui-Three Safe Zone…"

In the Blazing Fire Mountain conference room, after listening to Qu Fangzhou's introduction of Kuang Qingwei, the Fire Phoenix flicked her fingers. "Take down Kuang Qingwei as soon as possible. Do we have the file on that child Xia Qing brought back from Lan-Five?"