Sample acquired. One of the core objectives for this trip was now complete.
The team wasted no more time and began the return journey, following their planned route.
...
As evening approached, the team made camp again under Uncle Cai’s guidance. They chose a flat, sheltered slope near a water source.
Campfires were lit and tents were pitched.
The experts busied themselves with organizing and archiving the day’s data and performing the initial encapsulation of the samples.
Meanwhile, the graduate students and technicians were in charge of boiling water, cooking, and cleaning up the campsite.
The sky grew dim as twilight enveloped the land.
Just as everyone was settling in for what they thought would be a peaceful night, the anxious voice of a middle-aged expert suddenly rang out.
"Where’s Xiaoxu? Has anyone seen Xiaoxu?"
Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at each other in confusion.
"Xiaoxu? The technician who was collecting rock specimens this afternoon?" someone asked.
"Yes, that’s him. I just saw him over there organizing his equipment a moment ago, but now he’s gone."
The expert stood up, scanning the area.
"Maybe he went to relieve himself?"
A graduate student pointed toward the woods to the side and rear of the camp. "I think I saw him head that way a little while ago. He said he was going for a number two... and he’s been gone for... almost twenty minutes now, I’d say."
Everyone froze.
Twenty minutes.
In an "abnormal area" like this, where a person could get lost at any moment, twenty minutes was more than enough time for something to go wrong.
"This is bad!"
The color drained from Uncle Cai’s face. "He didn’t just wander off and get lost, did he? In these woods..."
"I’ll go find him."
Yang Qi got to his feet and patted the head of Bai Wan beside him.
"Advisor Yang, you just got back from the Ancient Goose Forest and haven’t rested yet..." one of the experts said, feeling guilty.
"It’s fine. He can’t have gone far," Yang Qi said. "Bai Wan has an excellent sense of smell; he’ll find him in no time."
"In that case, thank you, Advisor Yang," the middle-aged expert said gratefully.
Yang Qi waved it off.
Saying no more, he signaled to Bai Wan and strode in the direction the graduate student had pointed, disappearing into the deepening twilight of the woods.
...
The light in the woods was dim.
Yang Qi hadn’t gone far before he saw a figure walking in circles.
It was a young man in his twenties, wearing the team’s standard-issue outdoor jacket and carrying a small technical backpack.
He was currently standing between several nearly identical fir trees with a bewildered look on his face, taking a few steps left, then probing to the right. He had already trod a small, messy circle of footprints into the ground.
"Engineer Xu!"
Yang Qi called out, his voice raised.
The figure froze, then spun around as if he’d just been thrown a lifeline.
In the twilight, his face was filled with the gratitude and relief of someone who had just escaped disaster.
"Advisor Yang!"
Xiaoxu cried out in delighted surprise and immediately broke into a trot toward him.
He was running in such a hurry that his steps were unsteady. Before he had gone more than a few paces, his foot caught hard on a dead tree root lying across the path—
"Watch out!"
Before the words were even out of Yang Qi’s mouth, Xiaoxu had already pitched forward, hitting the ground with a dull THUD. The tech pack he was carrying was sent flying, its assorted contents spilling across the ground.
Among the items was a small, palm-sized booklet with a black cover, which tumbled to a stop and fell open not far from Yang Qi.
Yang Qi walked over and bent to pick it up.
Just as his fingertips were about to touch the booklet—
A hand shot out with unnatural speed and precision, snatching the booklet away!
The movement was so fast it stirred the air.
Yang Qi froze for a fraction of a second.
He looked up at Xiaoxu.
Xiaoxu was half-kneeling on the ground, clutching the booklet so tightly his knuckles had turned white.
The earlier look of gratitude and panic on his face had frozen into a forced, stiff smile.
"This... this is the... the raw data for the expedition..." he explained, his voice dry and unnaturally hurried. "It’s really important. It would be a huge problem if it got lost."
"...I understand."
Yang Qi glanced at him but didn’t press the issue. He extended a hand and pulled him up. "Be careful. It’s easy to get lost in these woods. Stay close to me."
"Okay, okay. Thank you, Advisor Yang."
Xiaoxu nodded repeatedly, quickly stuffing the booklet into an inner pocket close to his body before haphazardly gathering the rest of his scattered belongings and shoving them back into his pack.
Yang Qi turned and led the way.
Behind him, Xiaoxu’s expression shifted rapidly as he followed.
After they had walked a short distance, a deadly glint flashed in Xiaoxu’s eyes as his right hand slid silently toward his waist.
There, tucked against the skin of his lower back, was a palm-sized dagger, its blade coated with a colorless, odorless liquid.
The dagger slid silently from its sheath.
The next second—
A cold glint of steel flashed!
Xiaoxu’s footwork changed in an instant. He moved like a striking viper, lunging toward Yang Qi’s back to deliver a fatal blow!
But just as the tip of the blade was about to touch fabric—
As if he had eyes in the back of his head, Yang Qi sidestepped diagonally to the left in the nick of time.
The dagger met nothing but air.
Yang Qi had already spun around and taken a step back, putting distance between them.
There was no fear in his eyes, no anger—only calm.
"You’re trying to kill me?"
It wasn’t a question, but a confirmation.
Xiaoxu didn’t answer.
The mask of the timid, clumsy, and ordinary technician Xiaoxu was gone from his face, stripped away completely.
In its place was a cold, sharp, and disciplined killing intent.
Pushing off with his feet, he shot forward like a cannonball, lunging at Yang Qi once more.
This time, it wasn’t a sneak attack, but a direct, frontal assault.
The angle was vicious, aimed straight for a vital point!
SWOOSH—
A thumb-thick vine snaked out from nowhere. Moving like a living creature, it shot up and wrapped itself tightly around Xiaoxu’s attacking right ankle!
Caught completely off guard, Xiaoxu instantly lost his balance and fell hard to the ground with a heavy THUD.
Yang Qi strode forward, his right leg whipping out to precisely kick the dagger from Xiaoxu’s clenched fist!
The dagger spun through the air and plunged into the leaf litter three meters away, its blade giving off a strange, dark glint in the twilight.