Zhou Lin

December 6th.

After a long day of rest yesterday, the survivors of the excavation team have at least calmed down psychologically; obviously, Solid's approach of concealing the truth was right, no... it should be said that all his decisions and The countermeasures are all correct.

Yesterday evening, Professor Rodrigo negotiated with the workers in accordance with the "grace and force" method mentioned by Solid. As a result, the workers actually collectively agreed to continue work.

Therefore, early this morning, except for Jimenez's group and some of the wounded, the other members of the excavation team set off as a team at dawn.

In the wild, people's work and rest schedules are naturally different from those in the city; here you have to "work according to the weather" - as long as the sun rises, you have to get up quickly, because after the sun sets, you can't work overtime even if you want to. add.

If you are in a desert area with a wide field of vision and relatively few animals, it would not be a bad idea to use a few large searchlights to dig at night; but... this is a jungle with complex terrain and many animals, which creates very bright light at night. Not a good idea.

Considering that the time during the day is limited and the workers need to eat, drink and rest, there will be heavy rains in the rainforest from time to time, which can last for several days... If you want to finish the work and leave here as soon as possible, you must seize the time.

To sum up, Rodrigo set a wake-up time for the workers at 4:30 in the morning.

However, when it came to half past four, although the alarm clocks in the workers' tents did ring, the only person who finally walked out of the tents on time, dressed and dressed, was the professor himself...

Of course, Rodrigo was not surprised at all by this situation - he had led the team to dig soil for decades, and he had seen all kinds of workers. This was no big deal.

After walking out of his tent, Rodrigo made a large circle in the camp and unzipped all the workers' tents. Then he took a leisurely walk to a nearby stream to wash up. .

When it comes to "waking people up", alarm clocks are undoubtedly far inferior to mosquitoes.

The alarm clock is like a housekeeper who taps your shoulder gently. After you wake him up, you ask him to shut up, and he shuts up, and then you can sleep for a while; while mosquitoes... are like a group of people using their fingers to do whatever they want. The naughty children who poke you randomly cannot be hit or driven away. They will continue to harass you until you get up.

Sure enough, ten minutes later, when Rodrigo returned to the camp from the stream, all the workers came out of the tents cursing. Now you tell them to go back to sleep... and they are too itchy to sleep.

In less than half an hour, the professor's wise move earned him the nickname "Luo Bapi", but he didn't take it seriously; firstly, he was thick-skinned; secondly, he had known "a certain person" a long time ago. The image of "skin-picking" is actually made up by novelists. The prototype of his character is actually a good person who has always been frugal and kind. He just caught up with the trend of a certain era and was beaten to death for no apparent reason. After dividing up the property, people still use it as a negative model for publicity, which will last forever.

…………

At 6 o'clock in the morning, after more than an hour of hard work, the workers finally moved an excavator out of the cargo hold of the aircraft.

Don't think they are inefficient, just this... was accomplished with the help of Solid and two soldiers; if it weren't for the assistance of these three "Hercules" wearing B17 armor, this job would probably be It takes a whole morning.

They originally prepared three excavators for this mission, but two of them were damaged during the emergency landing, leaving only the smallest and light "Camera (an excavator model)" Still available.

However, although the sparrow is small, it has all the internal organs; the excavation performance of this "Camera" is not much worse than the other two. In fact, from a certain perspective, it is more suitable to use this type of light machine in the jungle landscape.

After the excavator was moved outside and put away, Solid asked the soldiers and workers to go back to the camp first, because the next half hour was the time to recharge the excavator.

Originally, this could be done directly on the aircraft, but because the supporting base was broken and the circuit in the cargo compartment was faulty, they had to ask two mechanics from the excavation team to directly do it from the power room of the aircraft. Pull a cable out, drag it outside through a hole in the bottom of the aircraft, and then dock it with the excavator to complete charging.

During this half hour, the soldiers and workers could have breakfast and take a rest.

Solid and Rodrigo did not rest. They set off together without stopping, following the route Solid took yesterday, preparing to survey the excavator's route and decide on a "shovel" location.

"You are different from all the officers I know, Mr. Wilson." On the way forward, the professor chatted with the veteran. "Although I don't completely agree with some of your actions, your spirit of leading by example is really good." impressive."

"Oh? Do you know many officers?" Solid asked.

"Ah...there are indeed quite a few." Rodrigo replied, "There are many officially assigned tasks that will require troops to follow us, so I have seen at least twenty officers of the federal army, but I have never I have seen commanders keeping vigil with the soldiers."

He was telling the truth, not a compliment.

The federal officers Rodrigo had come into contact with before were usually like the old men, leaving everything to their subordinates to do, and wishing they could even pee. But last night, when Rodrigo got up, he was stunned. I saw Solid (their armors all had numbers on them, so there was no mistaking them) standing guard with a soldier in person.

"Because I am very 'excessive' in my behavior and actions. If I don't lead by example, it will be difficult to convince others." Solid continued.

Rodrigo smiled after hearing this: "Ha... sometimes what is objectively 'correct' is 'incorrect' in human or political terms; for example, what you asked me to do yesterday -" hinting to the workers, if "If you don't start work, you will be thrown into the river", in my opinion... and in the eyes of most people, it is "excessive", but I also understand deep down that considering our current situation, this tough negotiation method It is indeed the best choice; if I don't listen to you and just bargain with them... then they are likely to push for more, and my prestige will gradually be lost in the process of wrangling; even if I temporarily make them compromise by increasing the price In the coming days, they will also use every available opportunity to raise prices with me again."

"Haha..." Solid chuckled when he heard this, "I thought you were just a pedantic intellectual, but now it seems you are also a sensible person."

"Stereotypes are a must, sir," Rodrigo said jokingly, shrugging.

"Call me Solid, Professor." Solid replied.

"Okay, Solid." Rodrigo continued, "Well...although I also want you to call me by my name directly, because my name is a bit silly, it even hinders the sales of my works. So I hope you will continue to call me professor in the future."

"Okay, Tandy." But in the next sentence, Solid announced the professor's name with malice.

The sense of humor between uncles is probably like this...

…………

The two of them just walked and chatted for a while.

The air in the jungle was hot and humid, and the fat Rodrigo soon broke out in stinking sweat, but he did not slow down his progress.

Solid, on the other hand, for some reason... walked slower and slower.

"What's wrong with you?" Rodrigo noticed Solid's abnormality and asked, "Would you like to sit down and rest for a while?"

"Something's wrong..." Solid didn't need to rest. He slowed down for other reasons. "When I walked here yesterday, the surrounding terrain was not like this..."

"Huh?" Rodrigo was stunned for two seconds, "Could it be you who remembers..."

Before he could say the word "wrong", Solid said, "Impossible, the mark I made is still there."

As he spoke, he took a half step back and pointed at a tree beside him; there were indeed two obvious scratches in the middle of the trunk.

"I said... why do you use such a primitive method of marking? There should be an orientation and positioning system in your armor, right?" Rodrigo's focus seemed to be a little off.

"The system you mentioned... is broken." Solid replied, "There are strange disturbances in this area. Every once in a while, the direction system in my armor will change, and the time interval and direction of change will change. It’s all random.”

When he finished speaking, Rodrigo took out the compass from his pocket with a suspicious look on his face, looked down at it, then raised his head and looked at the sun: "Hey! It's true, the compass is all wrong. ”

Although the professor always carries a compass with him, he rarely looks at it because he has a good sense of direction and knowledge of astronomy. As long as there is the sun during the day and stars at night, he can tell the north, south, east, and west with a glance at the sky. There was no need to use equipment... Therefore, it was not until Solid reminded him at this moment that he discovered that there was not only communication interference in this area, but also magnetic field interference.

"The magnetic field problem cannot explain the situation at hand..." After a few seconds, Solid looked ahead and continued in a deep voice, "When I came to this tree yesterday... the road ahead was a gentle downhill slope. , and after walking about two hundred meters further, the terrain gradually rises, but now..."

"It's going uphill, isn't it..." Rodrigo followed the other person's words.

"And... look at this." Solid knelt down on one knee again and pointed to the roots of the tree next to him. "These water marks on the lower trunks are left during the rainy season and have been soaked in water. The color of some parts inside will be a little different from other parts." As he spoke, he raised his finger and pointed to a few trees in the distance, "But look at the positions of the water marks on the trees in front of me, they are not parallel to the one next to me. , and it's a lot different... If the water level rises above the height of the water marks on those trees, then the marks on the trees around us should be at least one meter higher."

"Then what do you mean..." Rodrigo asked tentatively.

"Just last night, the terrain here has undergone drastic changes..." Solid said a mind-numbing conclusion in a calm tone, "...At least, the area in front of us has bulged upwards. A big chunk."

"Isn't this impossible?" Rodrigo certainly couldn't accept this unreasonable statement immediately. "The magnitude of the earthquake that can cause this kind of terrain change is very high. There is no way we can't feel it."

"So this is not an earthquake." Solid thought it through clearly.

"Oh?" Rodrigo asked again, "What could that be?"

"I don't know." Unexpectedly, Solid changed the subject and gave such an answer confidently, "But I think... if we keep going, we should be able to find out something." He paused and stood up. , looked at the professor and said, "Professor, please go back to the camp first... By the way, give me a message to Soldiers No. 4 and 7, asking them to come and join me. They know the mark I left and will find me."

Rodrigo is a very rational person. He knows that without armor, he is not suitable to participate in such a mission of "detecting unknown anomalies"; if he insists on following, it is hard to say whether he can help, but when he encounters an unexpected situation, When the situation arises, it is likely to become a burden to Solid.

Therefore, Rodrigo did not express any objection to Solid's order. He just said "Be careful then" and quickly turned around and ran towards the camp.

The professor's figure quickly disappeared into the forest, leaving Solid standing alone.

After standing silently for a moment, Solid suddenly spoke loudly into the air: "Okay, the person who was in the way has left. You can come out now."

I don’t know who he said this to, but anyway... his words fell behind him, and no one paid him any attention.

There were constant strange sounds in the jungle, and the howls of some kind of wild beasts seemed to be heard in the distant sky. However, the area around Solid was surprisingly quiet at this time, so quiet that he could only hear his own voice in the armor. Breathing.

"I have seen a few opponents who can completely eliminate their own aura. You are not the only person in the world who can do this." Seeing that the opponent did not show up, Solid continued, "But no matter what, , that kind of trick is useless to me...I can still feel your presence."

He wasn't bluffing or trying to deceive anyone, he was telling the truth.

Solid has stronger intuition and instinct than a beast, and what he is best at is reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance, ambush and counter-ambush in jungle warfare...

Since at this moment he is sure that there is someone ambushing around, then there must be!

"That's it..." After waiting for another ten seconds and seeing that the other party was still unmoved, Solid said, "Then there's nothing we can do... If you don't want to come out, I'll have to find you."

He was only halfway through speaking when the man was already moving.

The B17 armor is not the kind of armor that can increase the speed of the person wearing it. Its design concept is to greatly increase the defense and attack capabilities of infantry combat units. After ordinary people put on this armor, even with the assistance of the built-in power system, Speed ​​will also be affected.

However, Solid used this heavy mechanical armor to run as fast as a hare, and he rushed seven or eight meters away...

After a breath, he rushed to a bush more than ten meters away, picked up the pistol on his waist and prepared to aim.

But what he didn't expect was that the "person" ambushing here was not inferior to him in speed. As he approached, the other party had also fled. I don't know if it was because of his too fast speed. Solid passed through the armor mask. The video capture system on the phone only saw a black, small shadow, which did not look like an adult figure.

scold--

The next second, Solid opened his mask decisively, changed to seeing with the naked eye, and followed the fleeing route of the black figure and quickly caught up with him.

He is very confident that with his tracking skills, no one can escape his pursuit in the jungle...

…………

After five minutes of rapid pursuit, all trace of the target disappeared.

This situation, which seems to evaporate out of thin air, can usually be judged as the opponent using an ability or some kind of tool to fly into the sky.

Solid didn't think that the thing he was tracking escaped using a jet pack or a rope ladder dropped from a helicopter, because even jet packs and helicopters... would leave traces on the ground.

Therefore, this kind of "disappearance" is most likely due to some kind of supernatural power.

"Since you can escape like this without a trace, why didn't you leave earlier?" Solid stood at the place where the other party disappeared and thought to himself, "After being chased by me for a while and then suddenly disappearing, there are about three possibilities... First, he didn't expect me to chase him all the time at first, and he didn't use my ability until he found he couldn't get rid of me. Second, the ability to help him escape came with a certain price, and he didn't want to do it unless he had to. Use; thirdly, he deliberately led me here..."

Thinking of this, Solid glanced around again, and then realized that he was standing on the "top" of a strange hill.