The sudden appearance of fog surprised them.
Gao Kai frowned and said, "When we entered, I remember we walked exactly 1080 steps. The straight-line distance was about one kilometer, right? Although we took many detours when we entered, it shouldn't be more than ten kilometers, should it?"
Chu Tian thought for a moment and said, "This mist formation might also have abilities similar to 'shrinking ground into an inch.' As for what's really going on, I'm afraid only a formation master would know!"
When they arrived, there were four men, one woman, and one soul. When they left, only four grown men remained.
With the mission accomplished and on their return journey, the tension in their hearts had eased. Along the way, everyone was discussing and speculating about the things they hadn't figured out.
Why did people possessed by Zhujiú have no shadows?
How did the clothes of those who were controlled by Xu Duoduo to hang themselves end up under the soil?
What were the blood mist that appeared in the village and the dark figures within the mist?
Where did the spring at the bottom of the well lead? Why was there a Zhujiú corpse in the well?
Why did Xu Duoduo massacre the entire village after the well's spring was penetrated by the drilling machine?
Where did the bodies of over a hundred villagers go?
Why was this village built here, and when were the hollows within the mountain dug?
Was the formation that required carrying fire to enter set up by Xu Duoduo, or did it exist originally?
How was it possible for the village, abandoned for forty-four years, to show no signs of decay?
Although they had solved the problem of Zhujiú possessing Ye Ling, more mysteries remained unsolved. Initially, everyone discussed and guessed fiercely, but eventually, they all fell silent. In the quiet deep mountain forest, only the rustling of branches and vines could be heard as Chu Tian cleared the path ahead.
As evening approached, they found a clearing and began to set up camp, preparing to rest there for the night. By midnight, Zhao Lei and the other two were asleep, and Chu Tian stayed to keep watch. It was convenient for him; he just sat there, and his divine sense spread out.
Chu Tian discovered that the limit of his divine sense coverage, with him at the center, was almost 2000 meters in radius. However, the further out his divine sense spread, the blurrier the things he saw became. After trying it, he stopped deliberately extending his range, simply allowing his divine sense to naturally extend. This conserved the most soul energy, covering a radius of about five hundred meters.
Bored, he recalled the attribute given to him when his Elf King bloodline was officially activated. It stated that he could use some Druidic form skills in human form. He had tried various methods in the game, but this attribute always showed as inactive. Logically, there shouldn't be such an error in the Heavenly Dao. So, what was the reason?
He had asked Dao Tian about this once, but Dao Tian surprisingly told him to figure it out himself. Thinking of this, Chu Tian cursed silently in his heart: "Old fossil, can't you just tell me so you can die?"
...
"Achoo!" Dao Tian, who had just finished drinking in a void space and was asleep, sneezed. He rubbed his nose and muttered, "Brat, when you reach that height, I'll see how I deal with you!" He rolled over and continued to sleep.
Chu Tian, on his end, was bored to death. He stretched, about to stand up, when his divine sense suddenly fluctuated. Six people appeared within his divine sense range, instantly capturing his attention. In his divine sense, their attire resembled tourists. He focused his attention and scanned their backpacks; the contents were ordinary, with no firearms or similar weapons. As for daggers, machetes, and other items, these were essential for exploring deep mountain forests. However, wandering around this late at night without setting up camp was a bit unusual.
After observing them for a while, Chu Tian noticed that they were heading directly towards their camp. At a distance of about three hundred meters from their camp, they spread out their formation, taking up an encirclement, and cautiously approached. They didn't know that all their efforts were in vain; they were completely exposed to Chu Tian's divine sense.
Chu Tian stood up and quietly unzipped Gao Kai's tent, about to cover Zhao Lei's mouth. He feared that if he woke others first, this kid might make some noise. Unexpectedly, before he could make a move, Zhao Lei opened his eyes and put his finger to his lips. Chu Tian was taken aback, turned his head, and saw that Gao Kai and Jing Kaiyu had also opened their eyes and were quietly getting up. It turned out that the three of them had woken up when he pulled the tent zipper. They knew that if there were no issues, Chu Tian wouldn't disturb them.
Chu Tian, while observing with his divine sense, quietly recounted what he saw to them. Zhao Lei listened and judged, "They are definitely not ordinary explorers."
"You're stating the obvious!" Jing Kaiyu shot him a look.
"You two, stop fooling around. Xiao Tian, do you think they might be here to rendezvous with Xu Duoduo?" Gao Kai said.
Chu Tian immediately felt it was very possible, because Ye Ling had told them when they set out. This mission was directly assigned to her by Elder Xu, so no one else knew about it. She also warned them that if this mission encountered problems, there would be no rescue. If they didn't want to participate, they didn't have to. Therefore, these six people now were clearly a team. Ye Ling had also mentioned that teams in the Ninth Bureau were always six members.
The fact that they had no firearms suggested they might be acting independently, so no one provided them with regulated weapons.
"What do we do now?" Chu Tian was seeking Gao Kai's opinion, as he had the most experience.
"Damn, what else can we do? Just blast them all..." As he spoke, Zhao Lei pulled back the safety of his rifle with a click.
At the same time, Chu Tian sensed that one of the approaching individuals suddenly stopped. He twitched his ear, and Chu Tian quickly made a gesture, signaling everyone to be quiet. This person listened carefully for a moment before slowly continuing to stealthily advance. When Zhao Lei pulled the bolt of his rifle, that person was still a hundred meters away, yet he had heard the sound. Fortunately, the distance was a bit far; if it were closer, he probably would have heard their anomaly clearly.
Could this person possess auditory abilities or talents? Chu Tian felt that abilities were more likely; otherwise, even with talent, they wouldn't be able to hear abnormal sounds from a hundred meters away. Chu Tian quietly explained the situation. Gao Kai's eyes flickered, "This team is not simple!"
"Brother Kai, we can't just sit here and wait. Please assign roles, tell us how we should proceed?" Chu Tian knew that the three people here were all masters in the jungle, and Gao Kai had always been their commander.
[Author's Note]
Fourth update....
Thanks for the flowers and rewards from [Ai Wang Zitong]!