Chapter 894: Night Hunt in the Evolved Forest

“We’ve rescued Lu Fangchun and Wang Bo, and captured Chen Dongyang alive. Three are still on the run—two with Evolved Elasticity and one Speed Evolver.” She Xing’s furious voice crackled through the walkie-talkie. Judging by her tone, Luo Fang and the others must’ve taken quite a beating.

“Copy that. The enemy sniper has retreated into Section Four of the Western Lands. I’m starting my sweep of the escapees,” Xia Qing replied calmly, turning her focus on spotting the targets through sound and sight.

A gruff voice came in on the walkie-talkie. “Hello, Azure Dragon Squad’s lead. I’m Sang Chenglin from Beast Squad, a Level Five Strength Evolver. That tall Evolved Elasticity fella running away—I’ve got a score to settle with him. Mind letting me handle him if you catch him?”

Xia Qing knew exactly who Sang Chenglin was.

Last June, he barely squeezed onto Hui Three’s power rankings, and ever since, his ranking had hovered between 40 and 50 for over a year.

This March, Huaguo tallied up the different types of evolved fighters across combat teams and the military. Compared to three years ago, the share of Speed and Evolved Elasticity users shot up by more than ten percent.

That jump happened because those two types have the fastest movement speeds out there, letting them adapt faster and survive better in a crisis.

It was precisely because Sang Chenglin lacked the scouting and reaction skill typical for Strength Evolvers that Xia Qing took notice. After all, he managed to stay listed in the rankings for so long. She replied levelly, “Understood. I’ll let the tall Evolved Elasticity escapee go.”

But Sang Chenglin hurried to clarify, “Wait, that’s not what I meant! Could you, uh, put a bullet in him for me—just enough to take him down and keep him barely alive?”

Xia Qing paused.

Suddenly it clicked—so that’s how this guy managed to climb the rankings.

A top-tier sniper is a guardian angel for her side and a grim reaper for the enemy.

Xia Qing quickly brought down three ordinary evolved fighters trying to escape, making sure each one survived by a hair.

As she came down from her vantage point, Sang Chenglin from Beast Squad had just finished dealing with his nemesis and was striding over to thank her—and maybe get on her good side—when the roar of a helicopter filled the air. He looked up, blurted out a curse, then stared in shock.

“Woc, why’s this helicopter so close? Am I going deaf? I could barely hear it before!”

Here’s something you might not know: that’s a third-generation Cloud Piercer with noise-reducing rotors—it’s here for me.

Wearing a black facemask, Xia Qing raised her hand, said her goodbyes, then dashed west at top speed.

Sang Chenglin couldn’t help himself. “Woc! She’s a Speed Evolver sniper? No wonder Azure Dragon’s squad has so many hidden talents!”

Xia Qing raced back to where she’d stashed her Black Blade, slung it across her back, then pulled out a flashlight. She signaled the helicopter with quick flashes to show her location.

What she didn’t expect was for the helicopter to skip dropping a ladder and land outright. The cabin door opened and four Azure Dragon members stepped out, carrying medical kits and shielding Chang Li along with two nurses.

Chang Li headed straight to Xia Qing and greeted her. “Ling, Luo sent us to treat the people in Liangqing Squad. Judging by their wounds, it’s going to take at least two hours.”

This spot is even closer to the Safe Zone than Section One to the north. The helicopter’s real mission was to fetch Xia Qing back.

After the Handsome Huge Wolf had escaped, Xia Qing sent a message to Luo Pei. Now, she’s someone with her own helicopter!

She handed the bag with her Black Blade to Jing Kuan, nodded at the rest, then slipped away into the mountains to the west alone.

These were all familiar faces from Territory One. Besides Hu Zifeng and Jing Kuan, no one guessed that Zhang Ling was just Xia Qing in disguise. But if she boarded the helicopter, someone might spot the truth.

So Xia Qing decided to use those two hours to hunt down the remaining escapees.

Yin Jie and the others assumed Zhang Ling had some other mission from Luo, so no one pressed for details.

Hu Zifeng, piloting the helicopter, opened his mouth as if to speak but stayed silent.

Is the Evolved Forest dangerous at night? For most people—absolutely. After all, it’s the Western Wolf Pack’s turf, the same wolves that fought humans half a year ago. Heading in could mean certain death.

But for Xia Qing? Not at all. She’s one of the few humans the wolf pack trusts.

Lu Fangchun and Wang Bo sure got lucky tonight. If Luo and that Huge Wolf hadn’t met by chance in Section Three, those two would be as good as done for.

Finding a fugitive in a dense, almost lightless forest is close to impossible. Still, Xia Qing wanted to give it a shot. With her Magnetic Sense Evolution, she could dodge the deadly Devastation Evolution plants that lay in ambush.

Evolved beasts? The most dangerous one here was the Handsome Huge Wolf, standing nearby, just watching.

And if the enemy had a sniper rifle?

She’s wearing double-layered body armor. Why should she panic?

Xia Qing didn’t plan to borrow the Handsome Huge Wolf’s help. For these two hours, she wanted to rely only on herself.

This Speed Evolver sniper had been working with Chen Dongyang’s group, so he obviously knew about the past conflict between the Western Wolf Pack and humans. He wouldn’t dare go deep into the western mountains, so Xia Qing figured she had about a 10-20% chance of finding him.

If she didn’t find anyone, it wouldn’t be much of a loss.

In the pitch-black, tangled forest, Xia Qing kept to the beast trail, ears tuned to every sound within two hundred meters. Her eyes swept for targets through her night vision, and her magnetic sense guided her clear of hostile plants.

Every glowing pair of lights in the treetops? Just the eyes of hooting owls. Flickers on the ground? Squeaking mice. Or that bright, marble-sized flash darting away—a startled rabbit. The snapping by her feet was scorpions on the move, the dry rustle? That’d be something slithering.

Half an hour, then an hour passed. Xia Qing had no leads, so she decisively turned back. The magnetic field in here was warped—even a compass was useless. Any deeper, and she’d risk getting lost.

And if that happened?

She’d have to climb a tall tree, then use the stars to find her way and track the time. Every evolved fighter who works in the Evolved Forest has mastered that.

“Awoooo—oooo—”

Twenty minutes into her return, Xia Qing heard wolves howling. With her sharp hearing, she picked out the source—it was the Western Wolf King, the one who’d once led the pack in a massive beast tide. His howl was angry and tinged with grief, and he wasn’t far off. If she climbed a tree, she’d spot him, standing atop some mountain peak and howling at the sky.

“Awooo—oo—”

That was a different wolf, this one sounding even angrier than the first.

For all her rapport with the wolf pack, Xia Qing knew things were still… complicated. She picked up the pace, wanting to get out before she ran into real trouble.

“Awoo—oooo—”

Another howl. Closer than ever.

Xia Qing moved faster but stepped wrong on slick moss. She went down hard, rolled across the ground, then stopped moving. She raised her sniper rifle, sighted in on the direction of the wolf pack, ready to defend herself at a moment’s notice.

If the pack attacked, she’d shoot first and never look back.

“Awooo—oooo—”

That last howl was even nearer—full of authority and force.

It was… the Handsome Huge Wolf himself, standing guard for her and refusing to let any other wolves come closer.

Xia Qing’s nerves instantly unraveled.

Bathed in those overlapping wolf howls, Xia Qing retreated from the forest and returned to the helicopter. Inside, Liang Qing, the Beast Squad, rescued wounded, dead, and even the subdued Dongyang Squad—all packed together, those with hoods over their heads, crowded in tight.

Good thing this bird could handle ten tons. Otherwise, there was no way they’d all fit.

As soon as Xia Qing boarded, Yin Jie fired up the engines and took off for the Safe Zone.

With the wolf pack on edge, this place was now just too dangerous. The plan was clear: get everybody back to safety, then return north.

Once in the air, Xia Qing glanced at the mountains back where that first angry howl erupted. There on a massive boulder atop the ridge, she spotted a human sprawled out—limbs twisted at odd angles.