Yang Liu made another pass with the drone, setting up over twenty caras up and down the cliff face, enough to bring the entire crooked-neck tree into surveillance range.
But unexpectedly, after just a short while, the screen connected to the caras suddenly distorted.
Ye Junhan stood nearby with his hands at his sides, staring at the dark screen and frowning slightly. "What’s going on?"
"It’s probably a signal issue," Yang Liu said calmly, his fingers flying across the controls as he investigated.
Ye Junhan imdiately pressed the button on his walkie-talkie to contact Qian Shan, telling him to go handle it.
Qian Shan and the others were already at the cliff, also carrying signal transmitters.
"Haozi, I’m going down to take a look." Qian Shan cleared an area of mutant plants in front of the cliff. He found a cara the drone had dropped earlier, confird it was undamaged, and re-secured it to a large tree at the cliff’s edge. Tugging on his safety harness, he turned and said.
Liu Hao took a signal transmitter out of his bag and nodded. "Alright, I’ll keep watch up here."
After setting up the signal transmitter, he leaned halfway over the edge to look down the cliff. It was very high, estimated at over a thousand ters.
By now, Qian Shan had already rappelled down to the upper-middle section of the cliff. He had one foot on a large, protruding rock and was clearing away the nearby mutant plants.
Judging by the height, that spot was level with the crown of the crooked-neck tree. A cara had probably been placed there by the drone earlier as well.
After Qian Shan found the cara, looked up, gave him an "all-good" gesture, and then continued his descent on the safety rope, Liu Hao finally turned to look behind him. Dozens of ters from the summit, an off-road pickup truck was parked. Li Shen sat on its roof, cradling his gun with his eyes slightly narrowed.
The position was extrely well-chosen. Sitting on the roof of the truck, he had a clear view of all the paths leading up the mountain.
It was a textbook "one man holding the pass against ten thousand," allowing him to firmly secure their rear.
Qian Shan’s figure was no longer visible from the top of the cliff. He moved quickly, clearing the plants around three caras during his rappel. He was now nearing the bottom of the cliff, his entire body obscured by the dense crown of the crooked-neck tree.
After Liu Hao confird Qian Shan’s safety via the walkie-talkie, he lay prone at the edge of the cliff with his gun. He aid the barrel down, ready to hit any mutant plant that showed the slightest sign of movent with a single shot.
The temperature was dropping quickly tonight. Coupled with the summit’s position in a wind corridor, it was exceptionally cold.
A bit of white frost had already condensed on Liu Hao’s goggles, but he didn’t even blink.
"I’m at the bottom of the cliff." After a mont, Qian Shan’s voice ca through the walkie-talkie. "This place is a little strange."
As he spoke, he readjusted his safety harness and carefully searched through all the plants in the vicinity. But strangely, he couldn’t find a single trace of a cara.
"Yang Liu said he placed sixteen caras in that area. Six of them are on the tree’s crown." Liu Hao lay at the cliff’s edge, his breathing slowed to a crawl and his expression grew solemn.
The crooked-neck tree was tall and massive. Its main trunk had a diater of over twenty ters, occupying more than half the space at the base of the cliff.
Following what he knew of Yang Liu’s habits, Qian Shan circled the enormous crooked-neck tree a few tis. He even buried the surrounding ring of plants deep underground until the only thing left at the cliff’s base was the massive tree itself.
But he still hadn’t found a single cara.
’This isn’t right.’
Qian Shan looked up, staring at the huge crown.
His heart began to pound faster and faster. Suddenly, beneath his goggles, Qian Shan’s pupils constricted, and his heart skipped a beat.
Qian Shan was frozen in place. For so reason, his legs suddenly felt as if they were filled with lead. An imnse sense of danger sent a chill up the back of his neck.
「At the sa ti.」
CRACK!
—A faint explosive sound ca from high up in the tree’s crown.
’Support from my teammate.’
Qian Shan snapped back to his senses. As he retreated rapidly, he swiftly drew a Superpower Gun from his waist and fired several shots at the thick trunk not far away.
But the crooked-neck tree showed no reaction.
It was as if... the imnse sense of danger that had suddenly descended upon him hadn’t co from the tree at all.
Qian Shan frowned slightly.
Just then,
"Shanzi, are you okay?" Liu Hao’s voice ca over the walkie-talkie again.
"I’m fine." Qian Shan kept his eyes locked on the crooked-neck tree in front of him, his brow deeply furrowed.
He cautiously took a few steps back. Just then, his foot seed to kick sothing.
Surrounded by peril, Qian Shan didn’t dare look down. He kept his gaze fixed on the crooked-neck tree, but his peripheral vision caught a glint of light near the tree’s roots not far away.
’A cara!’
After a mont of thought, he cautiously approached, gun raised. Sure enough, under a huge tree root, he found a cara half-buried in sand and gravel.
Imdiately after, he found a second, then a third...
What happened next went unexpectedly smoothly.
But Qian Shan had a gut feeling that sothing was wrong. Yet, even after he had checked and secured all the caras and buried the signal transmitter alongside them, nothing unusual occurred.
It was as if that montary feeling of crisis had just been his imagination.
Qian Shan frowned and searched the entire base of the cliff again, but still found nothing out of the ordinary.
Especially the huge crooked-neck tree. He had already blasted several holes in its trunk, leaving it trembling and riddled with holes.
"Shanzi?" Liu Hao’s voice ca over the walkie-talkie again.
"I’m fine." Qian Shan raised his hand to check the ti, then tugged on his safety rope. Pushing off with his feet, he used the rebound to propel himself swiftly up the cliff face.
Half an hour later, he was safely back on the summit.
"What happened?" Liu Hao asked, his eyes scanning over him.
A mont ago, Qian Shan hadn’t reported in on the walkie-talkie within the agreed-upon ti, so Liu Hao, sensing sothing was wrong, had fired his gun.
’But looking at him now, it doesn’t seem like the kid ran into any danger.’
"I don’t know either." Qian Shan shook his head slightly, looking down at the base of the cliff with a deep frown.
No matter how he looked at it, the crooked-neck tree seed normal. But just now... Qian Shan didn’t believe it was his imagination.
Liu Hao followed his gaze and leaned over to look down as well.
Below the cliff, the wind rustled the vegetation, but there was no sign of anything unusual.
But both of them subconsciously tightened their grip on their Superpower Guns, staring vigilantly for a long while.
—But there was nothing.
Liu Hao looked at Qian Shan. Qian Shan was the one who had just faced the crooked-neck tree up close. He trusted his comrade.
Qian Shan slowly shook his head. "Sothing doesn’t feel right. Let’s wait a bit longer."
「At the sa ti.」
In a corner of the temporary camp, Gu Xi sat by the fire, her eyes slightly lowered, seemingly lost in thought.
’Just now, that thing that’s been following the convoy suddenly ca to claim credit for sothing.’
’Gu Xi vaguely sensed it telling her, full of smug satisfaction, that it had just stepped in to protect one of her "two-legged beasts."’
’Her two-legged beasts?’
’Gu Xi quickly realized it must be referring to the superpower users in the convoy.’
’Where?’ Gu Xi wondered, asking through that special connection.
The creature had a very high opinion of itself and utterly looked down on human superpower users. Gu Xi had to coax and trick it before it finally agreed to conceal its aura and follow the convoy.
But given the creature’s temperant, it was a miracle it didn’t harm or frighten people. Gu Xi had never imagined it would actually save soone—let alone a human superpower user it held in such contempt.
This ca as a huge surprise to Gu Xi, and a vague suspicion began to form in her mind.
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