茶杯狐 -CUPFOX

As dawn was breaking, people in the temporary camp had already begun to pack up their equipment, gather their trash, and prepare to start the search according to the plan.

Team Leader Li also got up early, washing his face and rinsing his mouth with clean water. He started to eat compressed dry food while checking on the team’s condition.

Although the company kept many secrets from them, never fully explaining what was going on, Team Leader Li found it annoying when executing the tasks. However, he had to admit that the treatment was quite good, so good that he could completely ignore this annoyance.

There was not only handsome remuneration and benefits, but also high amount of field allowance and bonuses. During the mission, the equipment and supplies provided were also very comprehensive.

Take this piece of compressed dry food in his hand, for instance, it was not available in the market. It was specifically developed and made for them by the company’s research and development department. Nothing was written on the packaging except the shelf life.

Team Leader Li suspected that things like this were probably developed by those highly paid researchers in the development department when they had nothing to do. Even if they do not sell well on the market, it can still generate a considerable amount of orders and profits if they can cooperate with the military. These compressed dry foods are much more delicious than the standard products he had eaten before.

In less than an hour, the team completed the preparation. When they left, aside from the trace of camping, they didn’t leave any garbage.

“Dr. Fang, take a look at today’s search plan, is there any part that needs to be modified?”

Team Leader Li handed a very heavy tablet to the accompanying female doctor, indicating that he would follow her advice.

Dr. Fang looked to be in her thirties, her skin not much fairer than Team Leader Li’s. She had rather coarse features, looked somewhat masculine, and was no less efficient in her work than the male team members with military experience.

She glanced at the tablet but did not take it. “If Mr. Liang approves it, it’s fine.”

Team Leader Li helplessly took back the tablet. In fact, arranging the search plan was his authority, he did not need to ask for Dr. Fang’s opinion. The reason he asked was because he wanted to use this as an opportunity to talk with Dr. Fang. As long as she gives an opinion, he can follow this topic to ask for more information naturally. Although he felt that these researchers, who had previously worked in the laboratory, might not know all the situations, they should know more than those who handle fieldworks like them.

A few minutes later, Team Leader Li and Mr. Liang had a conversation through satellite connections.

The way they conducted their search was somewhat special, because most of them actually didn’t know exactly what they were looking for.

There were four team members on the ground with cameras, and three small drones in the air also equipped with cameras, constantly searching and recording, transmitting the footage to “Mr. Liang” thousands of miles away through the drone platform at higher altitudes.

Mr. Liang could choose to switch to any camera for viewing and even watch all the footage simultaneously.

Generally speaking, unless there are evident abnormal traces or Mr. Liang directly gives an order, they will walk along the planned route swiftly without conducting detailed searches.

However, while searching for potentially existing unknown creatures in the deep mountains of the Qinling Uninhabited Area, Team Leader Li dared not slacken for a moment, and was constantly observing the surrounding environment and the conditions of the team members through various equipment.

The search went on for five days, and just when Team Leader Li calculated the consumption of supplies and feared that the trip might prove fruitless, Mr. Liang issued an order to modify the search plan for the first time.

A few hours later, Mr. Liang issued another instruction, ordering a “deep search” of a particular area.

This was when the several researchers brought by Dr. Fang came into play, while Team Leader Li took his team members for peripheral vigilance.

After setting up the vigilance, Team Leader Li carefully approached Dr. Fang and, looking at the large tree they were surrounding, he asked softly, “What’s wrong with this tree?”

This time, Dr. Fang didn’t ignore his question. While watching the researchers collecting samples, she replied, “It has been drenched by some strong corrosive liquid from the top and is dying.”

As Team Leader Li looked up and frowned at the top of the half-blackened tree, he asked, “Was this done by humans? Or was it the creature we’re looking for?”

Dr. Fang shook his head: “It is difficult to determine at the moment, but judging from the state of this tree, it was attacked about ten days ago or even longer. Unfortunately, it has rained several times in Qinling during this time, which has almost washed away the surrounding traces.”

“Whether it’s a human or any other creature, the amount of corrosive liquid that fell from above suggests an ambush, right? So, what was the target of the ambush? If it was injured, there would surely be traces left behind. Didn’t you notice anything when you came here?” Team Leader Li made a judgment based on his experience.

When it comes to the analysis of organisms and specific substances, he certainly can’t outdo Dr. Fang and his team, but in terms of survival in the wild, adaptation, trace tracking, and dealing with enemies, he is much stronger than them.

“We didn’t find anything.” Dr. Fang replied, controlling a drone to slowly approach the top of the tree for recording and observation.

Mr. Liang’s unpleasant voice came from the communicator: “Collect the necessary samples and do not spend too much time here. Start a search on three sides with this tree as the center, beginning from the east.”

When Mr. Liang spoke, both Team Leader Li and Dr. Fang naturally followed his instructions.

For this strangely voiced “Mr. Liang,” Team Leader Li’s curiosity was no less than the unknown creature they were currently investigating.

Keep in mind, after being introduced and joining this special department of the company, he had even come face-to-face with Mr. Lu Cheng’an, the rarely reported founder and chairman of “Divine Technology.” However, he had only heard the voice of this “Mr. Liang” and never met him in person.

But Mr. Lu Cheng’an had instructed that their department was entirely under Mr. Liang’s control, and everyone had to follow Mr. Liang’s directives.

Glancing at the quiet Dr. Fang who was diligently working, Team Leader Li couldn’t help but speculate whether these lab researchers had ever seen “Mr. Liang”?

However, he certainly wouldn’t ask now, as Mr. Liang could hear every word he said through the communication device. Inquiring about the status of the unknown creature could be justified for safety reasons, but inquiring about Mr. Liang might cross a line and would be considered “probing beyond his authority.”

Before the sun set, they found another peculiar “trace.”

It was half a footprint, and unmistakably human.

However, only the edge near the big toe was clear, while the rest was already blurred.

This was because the footprint was shielded by an outcropping of rocks and brushes on the side, preventing the previous rains from washing it away completely.

“Instruct your team not to wander around; there might be more footprints nearby.” Dr. Fang immediately advised Team Leader Li.

Team Leader Li acknowledged and used the walkie-talkie to inform his team to stay put, be on guard, and observe the surroundings.

“This footprint seems to have been here for some time.” Team Leader Li observed and stated.

“Scan this footprint and look around for other traces.” Mr. Liang also instructed.

Although this appeared to be simply a human footprint, its presence in the Qinling Uninhabited Area raised a huge question.

What kind of person would roam barefoot in these deep mountains and woods?

Even their highly equipped and experienced crew had to spend a good amount of effort to get this far. It was highly unlikely that a lone tourist would have the ability or courage to venture out here, let alone without shoes.

“Could it be a wild man?” Team Leader Li speculated, preliminarily determining from the size of the big toe on the footprint that the owner of the footprint was a tall, adult male.

Mr. Liang didn’t answer, nor did Dr. Fang, who was intently scanning the footprint.

In the old days, liquid paraffin would be used to create a mold of such a footprint while out in the field. But now it was less troublesome; a portable scanner could record the details of the footprint and a 3D printer could replicate it later.

After the researchers snapped photos of their surroundings with great caution, they began to shovel up the soil from the footprint to collect and take back.

Walking barefoot in such a place, it’s easy to leave traces of bodily tissue behind.

As Dr. Fang and a few other researchers slowly searched the surroundings, trying to find more footprints and other traces, Team Leader Li felt an inexplicable excitement within him.

If these footprints didn’t belong to some unfortunate tourist who had ruined their shoes and had to walk barefoot, it was possible that the owner of these footprints was a resident of the depths of the Qinling Uninhabited Area.

Could the unknown creature they were investigating have the appearance of a human?

But then how were the wounds on the dead wild boar from the video filmed by the host caused?

Were they caused by a bow and arrow?

So was there a hermit living deep in the forest?

What was so peculiar about this hermit?

Team Leader Li did not believe that Divine Technology would spend so much money simply to search for a hermit. Going by his previous experiences leading teams on fieldwork, their aim certainly couldn’t be simply finding a hermit.

“I hope the creature is still there.”

Team Leader Li checked his anesthetic gun used for dealing with large predators and tightened his tactical gloves.

Regrettably, they could not find any clear footprint similar to the first one after a long search, although they did come across some muddy pits that seemed like footprints.

However, this situation indirectly confirmed that the footprints were unlikely to have been left by a barefoot tourist who had lost his shoes.

“Continue the search towards the east,” instructed Mr. Liang.

A day later, under the guidance of Mr. Liang, they discovered a cave on a cliff.

After using a drone to ensure its safety, they spent more than an hour preparing and slowly entered the cave from the top.

Team Leader Li was one of the three members who entered, and the cave was neither large nor deep. It was filled with a complex, stenchy smell. Once they confirmed that the cave had nothing but remnants of wild animals, he allowed Dr. Fang and the others to come down.

As he unclipped the safety harness from Dr. Fang who had climbed down the rope, Team Leader Li looked around the entrance and asked, “Is this the ‘wild man’s’ den? How did he get in?” Evidently, under Mr. Liang’s direction, he had subconsciously thought of the cave as the den of the ‘wild man’ who had left the footprint.

Soon after Dr. Fang and several researchers entered the cave, they made a judgment:

The bird carcasses in the cave did not have any fatal wounds. It was as if they had come into the cave to wait for their death. Judging from the degree of decay, they seemed to have been dead for about half a month.

Dr. Fang and the others did not conduct a thorough examination here. They quickly filmed and recorded the scene and then packed up the carcasses to be hoisted up the cliff.

“It’s kind of eerie…” Team Leader Li found the cave increasingly strange after looking around for a while, as he could not find any sign of human, or even “wild man’s” habitation.

Then he stopped before a corner of the cave and shone his tactical flashlight on a piece of… wood carving in the corner?

“Dr. Fang, come and take a look at this.”

Team Leader Li didn’t dare to examine it directly himself, so he called for Dr. Fang, who was directing other researchers to bag the bird carcasses.

Dr. Fang, who arrived at his calling, also frowned upon seeing the wood carving discarded in the corner, asking, “What is this?”

After carefully assessing the surroundings and ensuring there was nothing unusual, she picked up the wood carving with her gloved hand.

It was called a wood carving, but it was very rough and clearly made from a piece of wood broken off at random. It was only the size of a fist.

The bottom half was the broken surface of the wood, obviously broken off violently rather than sawed off with a tool. The upper half was carved into the shape of a cartoon rabbit with a wide grin.

It could only be described as a crude model, without any polishing. It also didn’t appear to have been carved with specialized tools, but rather chiseled out with sharp teeth. As a result, the rabbit looked very eerie.

“Did the ‘wild man’ carve this? Could it be the god he worships?” murmured Team Leader Li. “Dr. Fang, have you seen this rabbit figure before? I don’t think I’ve ever heard of any civilization whose totem is a rabbit?”

Dr. Fang shook her head, holding the wood carving up to the camera and slowly rotating it so that Mr. Liang could see it in full.

“Bring it back,” was all Mr. Liang said, without making any judgments about the wood carving.

After packing all the items they could find in the cave, Team Leader Li and Dr. Fang left the cave.

Upon reaching the top of the cliff, Team Leader Li brought up the map on his tablet. He was planning the next search based on the cave as the center while also calculating how many days their current supplies would last. Food and drink were not a concern, but the energy for many of their equipment, including the small drones, was a problem. He was considering whether to request support from Mr. Liang, to have people from outside brought in, and along with them, some necessary supplies.

After all, it looked like they were getting closer and closer to the unknown creature they were tracking.

He had never felt this way in all his fieldwork experiences before.

However, he was surprised when Mr. Liang suddenly said, “That’s enough, retreat.”

Not just Team Leader Li, but even the usually silent Dr. Fang reflexively replied, “But we’ve just found a clue…”

“It’s too dangerous, you can’t handle it,” Mr. Liang rarely explained more.

Too dangerous?

Team Leader Li looked at the equipment carried by himself and his team members. They could easily cope with wolves and even the dangerous animals like bears, lions, and tigers. Even if they encountered a squad of heavily armed bandits, with their current equipment, they could certainly spot the enemy in advance and might not be defeated.

Why did Mr. Liang think it was dangerous?

Then why did he spend so much money to hire them for the investigation?

Or were they just in charge of the investigation, and there were other teams, which they were unaware of, that were truly responsible for capturing the unknown creature?

Although there were many doubts in his mind, he did not ask again because he knew that Mr. Liang certainly wouldn’t answer.

So, after Team Leader Li and Dr. Fang assigned the task of carrying the “samples” packed from the cave, the team began to move in the direction calculated to be the fastest exit route.

At night, Team Leader Li efficiently arranged the patrols and camping arrangements. After agreeing with his deputy that he would take the later shift, he entered his sleeping bag to rest early.