Major General Zhang sat in the back seat of a snow vehicle, looking at the tall fir trees ahead, and softly sighed: "So this is the Crow’s Nest."
Before deciding to come, this commander had deliberately read quite a bit of information, and many details left a deep impression.
At this moment, seeing the fir trees for the first time, his feelings were naturally different.
Several snow vehicles slowly decelerated, stopping twenty meters away from the Crow’s Nest.
A red and white barrier stretched across the front.
Many metal poles stood around, each with a camera installed on top, aimed at the firs from all directions.
These were exactly what the branch office had set up.
The sound of crows cawing continuously echoed.
Several dark crows were circling back and forth around the firs.
Commander Zhang’s gaze swept over the cameras and he softly said, "Interesting."
The information about the cameras told an amusing story.
The day after the cameras were installed, the branch office discovered all the cameras suddenly couldn’t see any images.
The branch office deployed a drone to fly around, only to find amusingly that each camera was covered with bird droppings, completely blocking the lenses.
Helpless, the branch office had to send a liaison officer to shout to the flock of crows, expressing that this setup was to protect them.
Since then, the crows stopped "covering the cameras with bird droppings."
Commander Zhang said a word, taking the lead toward the Crow’s Nest.
Over a dozen accompanying soldiers immediately surrounded the commander and followed.
Commander Zhang walked ten meters and suddenly stopped.
He turned to look at a lieutenant colonel, somewhat puzzled: "Director Liu, didn’t you say there are more than thirty Spirit Crows gathered at the Crow’s Nest?"
Commander Zhang pointed to the fir trees: "Why are there now less than ten?"
The officer referred to as "Director Liu" was the director of the Liren’s branch office in Linjiang City.
Director Liu’s expression was somewhat subtle: "Commander, there are indeed more than thirty Spirit Crows now."
Commander Zhang was a bit baffled.
I said I only saw ten Spirit Crows, yet you keep insisting there are more than thirty. Are you implying I’m blind?
Director Liu sensed the misunderstanding from the big shot and quickly explained: "Commander, not long ago, the monitoring team discovered the Spirit Crows suddenly learned to disguise themselves."
Commander Zhang was in a fog: "What disguise?"
Just as he finished speaking.
A particularly loud crow’s caw.
Moments ago, there seemed to be only a few crows on the fir trees, but now suddenly a dozen more crows appeared, flapping their wings and flying upward.
Commander Zhang was greatly startled, his heart thudding several times.
The sudden move by the Spirit Crows was no less frightening than a horror movie moment.
Commander Zhang’s face twitched several times, finally experiencing firsthand the repeated phrase in the information, "The Crow’s Nest is eerie."
Commander Zhang steadied his nerves and said: "This should be a similar ability to mimicry, right? I remember a type of bird can disguise as tree branches, the effect is enough to be mistaken for the real thing."
He even deduced the details: "The Spirit Crows stand on the surface of the fir trees, covered in snow, looking like fir branches. No wonder I didn’t notice them earlier."
Director Liu shook his head: "Commander, it may be more advanced than mimicry."
This lieutenant colonel gestured to a subordinate, who quickly handed over a tablet.
Director Liu opened a file: "Commander, please look. This shows the changes that occurred when the Spirit Crows landed on the firs’ surface, within half a second."
Commander Zhang carefully looked at several images and showed a surprised expression: "The color of the Spirit Crows’ feathers changed, simulating the effect of snow on the fir trees?"
Director Liu nodded: "We monitored for several days, and the Spirit Crows showed no abnormal behavior, until they suddenly acquired this ability just now."
Commander Zhang’s expression turned exceptionally grave: "They’re evolving, no, they’re mutating!"
If only one Spirit Crow mutated, it wouldn’t be a strange occurrence.
According to information from the Jiuzhou Legion, Great Xia’s over ten million square kilometers of land discovered between three thousand and five thousand mutated organisms.
But the simultaneous mutation of dozens of crows contained shocking information.
Commander Zhang looked up at the firs: "It seems we’ve seriously underestimated Mr. Spirit Crows."
Director Liu nodded: "Yes, I believe Mr. Spirit Crows likely mastered some method to induce the mutation of Spirit Crows."
Through the Spirit Crows, Yang Fan saw a group of soldiers severely frightened, shook his head: "So mischievous!"
This really wasn’t his instruction.
It was a prank spontaneously done by the Spirit Crows.
The change in the crows was precisely the miraculous use of the "Seed of Spirit Concealment."
The Spirit Concealment Superpower can condense the "Spirit Concealment Power" into a "Seed of Spirit Concealment," implant it into a partner’s body, allowing the partner to use Spirit Concealment Power.
The crows disguising as fir tree branches was merely the simplest application of Spirit Concealment Power.
Yang Fan turned to the squirrel and smiled: "Damao, transform!"
The so-called "Damao" was the squirrel’s name, continuing the simple and unsophisticated naming style.
It’s named this way because its fur is really abundant.
Damao jumped off his shoulder, transforming into a clump of ice and snow the moment it landed.
Yang Fan encouraged patiently: "Imagine yourself as a clump of ice and snow."
Damao’s aura changed.
But it still carried the aura of a living thing.
With its intelligence, it’s a bit difficult to completely achieve this.
Nonetheless, it still reveals how tremendous the potential of Spirit Concealment Superpower is.
Yang Fan smiled: "My guess was indeed correct. If the evolution level of Spirit Concealment Superpower increases a bit more, creating an invisible legion is definitely possible."
From Liu Hei’s perspective.
The commander suddenly shouted aloud: "Mr. Spirit Crows, on behalf of the Great Xia Military, we sincerely invite you to join the Jiuzhou Legion."
Another lieutenant colonel, as if acting as a sidekick, said: "Mr. Spirit Crows, for an outstanding superpower user like you, the Jiuzhou Legion will offer very generous treatment.
"Besides a high salary, there’s a large ration of supplies, including authorized, priority, and ordinary quotas..."
Nowadays, Great Xia has fully implemented a rationing system, and "quotas" are even more valuable than "Xia Yuan."
Ordinary quotas are quotas that every normal person has.
Priority quotas mean certain materials can be purchased first, usually for scarce items.
Soldiers, engineers, or groups that contribute to Great Xia can enjoy some priority quotas.
As for authorized quotas, they’re essentially free shopping quotas, only for groups with significant contributions or special groups.
The lieutenant colonel went on for quite a while, detailing the various preferential treatments of the Jiuzhou Legion.
For others, these benefits have enormous appeal.
Yang Fan, however, remained utterly calm.
He glanced at the large amount of supplies inside the Space Pearl, shook his head: "Sorry, I love freedom more."
If he took an official post, he would inevitably be subjected to official control, which didn’t hold much interest for him.
His thoughts were very clear: "Perhaps one day I will join the official side, but the premise is that I have mastered sufficiently powerful strength."
Powerful strength means enough discourse power, and it also means being able to dominate one’s own destiny.
Rather than—being dominated by others.
The Spirit Crows flying all over the sky fell back to the fir trees.
Their feather colors changed rapidly, blending quietly into the fir trees.
Commander Zhang was momentarily stunned, silently sighed.
Director Liu said under his breath: "It seems Mr. Spirit Crows is not interested in joining the Jiuzhou Legion."
Commander Zhang nodded: "Indeed."
He glanced sideways at Director Liu: "You seem quite happy."
Director Liu chuckled: "Mr. Spirit Crows leaving would mean the branch loses a strong ally. Now that Mr. Spirit Crows isn’t leaving, of course, I’m happy."
This lieutenant colonel added: "Personally, I feel Mr. Spirit Crows is someone with a broad vision. Even if he doesn’t join the Jiuzhou Legion, he is willing to contribute to Great Xia."
Commander Zhang remembered the scene of the mermaid being proven wrong and laughed: "That’s right."