Chapter 660: Moonlit Watch at the Dark Valley Pond

After the Devastation Rain, the grass and trees grew thick and damp, swarming with countless flying insects. Though Xia Qing had sprayed herself with antiparasitic spray, she still dimmed her phone screen, not wanting to provoke the bugs that couldn’t get close. Then she set the video—barely a minute long—to play at 0.25 speed.

The valley was already dim, and underwater visibility was even worse. Soon, the surveillance footage shifted to black and white, and with a final flicker, it went completely dark. After watching the last few seconds of the video three times, Xia Qing confirmed the one that swallowed the underwater detector was a python.

She’d seen the sudden gaping mouth, fangs curving inward—an unmistakable trait of a python. Judging by the size of its fangs, this python was clearly smaller than the top-grade, hardness-evolved Green Lantern Python the Wolf Pack had caught last year.

If this python didn’t evolve any special powers, it wouldn’t stand a chance against the Wolf Pack on land. So this python definitely wasn’t the one that defeated the wolves and forced Alpha to give up Hill Fifty-Five and move deeper into Hill Sixty.

When morning came, she’d send this video to Third Brother, asking him to help identify whether that fleeting blade of grass that appeared right before the python swallowed the detector was one of the medicinal herbs needed to neutralize Zhang Hongda’s Synthetic Toxin.

The only reason she could spot that specific herb from just a single frame was because Xia Qing had made the Yellow Weasel watch countless feature videos about the herb and even printed photos of it, pasting them all over the sheep shed’s walls. Whether the Yellow Weasel remembered or not, she sure did.

But according to the video, that herb grows on land, not underwater. So Xia Qing would have to send the footage to Idol.

If Idol confirmed it was the same plant, she’d find a way to dig it out from under the water and bring it back.

The python won’t let her? Too bad. Dazhi, a Three-Element Evolver from the Alliance, was counting on that herb to survive.

More than ten meters away, Black Wolf, who’d been resting, pricked up his ears and stood, staring down at the water hole in the valley. Xia Qing hadn’t heard anything strange, but she trusted the evolved wolf’s senses and quickly tucked away her phone, scanning the pond below through her night vision goggles.

The night vision goggles picked up the moonlight glinting off the water, making the pond beneath the dark sky look clear and bright in Xia Qing’s view. Watching the surface through the goggles gave her sharper, more detailed information than her own eyes could.

While Xia Qing and Black Wolf kept their eyes on the water, Yang Jin opened his eyes inside the tent. Even though he felt the danger, Yang Jin stayed put—if Xia Qing didn’t call for him, he wasn’t going out. They were partners; it was Xia Qing’s shift, and he needed to trust her skills and judgment.

Looking down from over twenty meters up above the waterfall, the pond below seemed much smaller. But when the sinuous figure beneath the water slowly appeared, it made the pond feel even tinier.

Black Wolf, eyes locked on the water, gave a low growl, but when Xia Qing didn’t move, he let out another dissatisfied howl her way:

“Idiot! Get into attack position, now! Get ready to fight!”

Xia Qing was so focused on the python she had no clue what those two howls meant. She lifted her left hand as if to stroke Black Wolf’s neck, signaling him not to worry and to stay calm.

If that python dared to slither ashore and attack, she wouldn’t even need Black Wolf or Yang Jin’s help. Just two shots would be enough to blow its head open.

Hardness evolution? Didn’t matter. As long as it opened its mouth, Xia Qing could put a bullet right into it.

But the python didn’t surface to attack Xia Qing or Black Wolf. Instead, it slithered a few laps in the water. What happened next was wild—even Xia Qing was shocked to see over a dozen Devastation Snakes coil around the python, following it as it sank into the depths.

Honestly, that was just peak Blue Star evolution—bizarre, insane!

After the python disappeared and the pond went still, Black Wolf glared fiercely at Xia Qing for several seconds before finally settling down again. With the wolf always looking so mean, Xia Qing never noticed his mood shifting. Reaching into her protective suit’s pocket, she pulled out the tracking ring’s receiver, only to find that the green Devastation Snake wearing the ring was moving away fast.

Pythons couldn’t move this quickly on land. The pool below the waterfall must connect to a dark river, and the python was probably herding the Devastation Snakes downstream.

Northbound.

That was something Xia Qing couldn’t just shrug off, so she reported it straight to Zhang San, the disaster response commander.

Soon after, Idol replied: “Received. You and Yang Jin stay put and keep working on capturing the Devastation Snakes. It’s dangerous at night—don’t try to follow the ones that were taken.”

After acknowledging the order, Xia Qing forwarded the surveillance video Yang Jin had sent to Idol and pointed out the second-to-last frame that showed the grass blade. She also sent a photo of the herb and asked:

“Third Brother, is this the herb you wanted me to look for?”

This time, she waited almost two minutes before Idol replied: “Judging by the leaf shape, it should be a differently evolved form of the same medicinal herb, but the effects still need testing. Once it’s light, do your best to dig it out, roots and all. Be careful.”

After sending a confirmation, Xia Qing’s eyes sparkled as she gazed at the pond.

Idol’s offered price for this herb was a whopping ten thousand credits per plant. If she brought it back, not only could it cure Dazhi, but those credits could also be traded for the special ingredients Idol used in his enhanced High-Evolution Spinach juice.

Give it another couple weeks and she’d have spinach leaves ready to juice from the terraces and make her own premium nutrient shakes. Then she could stop haggling with that Iron Rooster in the next tent.

At exactly 3 a.m., Yang Jin zipped open the tent and crawled out, trading places with Xia Qing so she could finally get some rest. Seeing him emerge, Black Wolf growled quietly and retreated fifty meters, bracing like he was ready to pounce.

Xia Qing tossed him a piece of jerky to calm him, told Yang Jin about what just happened and Zhang San’s orders, then guessed, “The python might have brought the Devastation Snakes to the lake north of Hill Sixty.”

Yang Jin stepped next to Xia Qing and tapped twice on the receiver—an arched red line appeared on the screen, stretching north. “In more than two hours, it’s only gone 8,523 meters. Clearly, it’s not a speed-evolved python. When it stops, we’ll know exactly where they’re headed.”

Seeing the red line, Xia Qing’s eyes brightened. “This tracker’s so much better than the locator you traded to me last year—the one Red Squirrel wore.”

That old locator was busted anyway. Time to get a new one.

Yang Jin nodded, his grin bright in the dark though Xia Qing couldn’t see. “This is military-grade with way better functions, but the price has skyrocketed. You want to trade for it?”

A locator costs three thousand credits, but this advanced tracking ring was over ten thousand. Xia Qing’s excitement cooled fast. “No, thanks.”

She called goodnight to Black Wolf and crawled into the tent to get some sleep. It was 3 a.m.—still three hours till sunrise, plenty of time to rest up for another day of snake catching and herb hunting.

After Xia Qing disappeared into the tent, Black Wolf glared at Yang Jin a moment longer before trotting off into the Evolved Forest.