11: Chapter 11 Entering Kunshan

The next day, at the company entrance, final preparations were underway.

Wang An's Incarnation appeared as a young man with a lean, sturdy build, sharp facial features, and a crew cut.

The logistics coordinator, Xu Feng, had a similar look to Wang An's Incarnation. He also had the sharp appearance of a soldier, though he was older, a middle-aged man.

He was a retired military driver recommended by the Veterans Affairs Bureau by Manager Hu, proficient in driving, repairing, and maintaining various military vehicles, with experience driving in complex road conditions.

He was familiar with logistics processes such as vehicle dispatching, material transport, and fuel supply, and possessed organizational and coordination skills.

Having undergone rigorous military training, he was highly disciplined, had a strong sense of obedience, stable psychological quality, and could adapt to high-intensity, high-confidentiality missions.

He would be the person who had the most contact with the Incarnation from now on, making him very suitable for executing secret transport, field exploration, or emergency evacuation missions.

At this moment, they were at the company entrance, carrying out the final loading of equipment. Since they were going into the mountains for exploration, the company had bought an off-road vehicle to serve as transport.

Seeing that the loading was almost done, he said to Xu Feng, "Brother Feng, check if everything is complete? We are ready to set off."

Xu Feng nodded, took out the checklist, and immediately started counting, his movements very brisk.

The equipment for this operation was mainly divided into personal gear: high-performance mountaineering backpacks, waterproof and fireproof outdoor clothing, hiking boots, satellite phones, GPS trackers, outdoor watches, multi-tools, headlamps, water purification equipment, high-energy food, first aid kits, tents, and machetes.

Exploration tools: geological hammers, labels, metal detectors, high-intensity flashlights, and laser rangefinders.

Recording equipment: shockproof and waterproof cameras, action cameras, and field notebooks.

Used for taking photos of "exploration sites" and "samples" to complete company archives.

There was also an exploration permit and a Compound Bow as a means of attack. Basically, all the preparations that could be made were done.

As the inventory was completed, Captain Wang Quan and Xu Feng prepared to set off. At this time, company employees also came together to see them off; this was the first business since the company was established!

There was still some distance between Changnan and Kun Mountain; it would take about two hours on the highway. Setting off in the morning, they arrived at Kunshan Village next to Kun Mountain around 11 o'clock.

This Kunshan Village was actually on the mountaintop, quite far from the destination Wang Quan wanted to go to, which was in a valley within a branch ridge. This valley started from Kunshan Village and extended southeast to Wumei Mountain, with numerous mountain hollows on both sides.

The landing point in the video was only a general direction. They still needed to search within this direction; it might take searching 2 to 3 hollows before they could possibly find it.

After arriving at Kunshan Village, they went straight to the village committee, explained their purpose to the village chief, showed the exploration permit, and asked him about the local situation.

According to the village chief, the village had organized its own Exploration Team, but they came back halfway. Later, another Exploration Team organized by a company went in and hadn't come out yet.

Moreover, the electromagnetic interference deep inside was very strong, and communication was almost cut off. There were packs of wild boars, poisonous snakes, and eagles. The village's Exploration Team encountered these situations, and because they were not well-prepared and worried about casualties, they turned back.

Wang An was not surprised by this situation. The village's Exploration Team's main intention was actually to scavenge or try their luck. They had no intention of dealing with those Mutant creatures.

In the afternoon, Wang An and Xu Feng asked the members of the previous Exploration Team. As they spoke about the locations where they encountered Mutant creatures, Captain Wang Quan recorded them, planning to go check these places first.

Finally, they asked about the direction the second Exploration Team had taken, and learned that they had gone around the mountaintop in the northeast direction.

As for the village's Exploration Team, they took the southeast route. Since someone had already taken the northeast route, Captain Wang Quan decided to take the line the village's Exploration Team had taken. He would go forward and see what was going on.

Inside Kunshan Village, there was also a very famous herb collector who was invited to join them this time. It was said that he had been collecting herbs in the Jiuling Mountain range for over 30 years and was very familiar with this area.

Wang An and Xu Feng asked for his home address, went to his house, and asked him for some help regarding where there were more creatures.

Wang An asked one last question. "How big are the wild boars here?"

This herb collector took a deep puff of his cigarette and said, "The largest one I saw in the east before weighed at least over 500 catties. If you encounter them, run away immediately; do not fight them. They basically appear in groups. Over time, the wild boars gather more and more, and even if you bring bows and arrows, you won't be able to kill them all."

Afterwards, in the evening, Wang An and Xu Feng stayed at the village committee and planned the exploration strategy for tomorrow.

The next morning, Captain Wang Quan set off while it was still bright.

With the new spring growth, the mountains were basically a sea of tender green, with some red dotted in between; those were the rhododendrons that had just started to bloom.

It was now late March or early April, and the south had entered the rainy season. Not long after Captain Wang Quan started walking, it began to drizzle, and the mountain forest was filled with heavy fog, with visibility less than 5 meters.

Fortunately, the terrain here had distinct characteristics, making it hard to get lost. As long as they followed the mountaintop forward, there wouldn't be any problems.

Looking at the map, the straight-line distance between Kunshan Village and Wumei Mountain was about a dozen kilometers. But it was very different from the mountain roads; looking like a dozen kilometers, it might turn into a journey of several dozen kilometers. Moreover, they had to explore various mountain hollows, so the distance would be even greater.

It would basically take 5 days to reach the end, and to explore completely, it would probably take about 10 days.

At noon on the first day, Captain Wang Quan arrived at the place where the Exploration Team encountered poisonous snakes, but he didn't encounter any.

Because this place was within the range of a meteorite landing point collected by the company, Wang An searched carefully around the hollows on both sides of the mountaintop.

Searching through the hollows one by one, he finally discovered traces of damage caused by a meteorite impact inside a stone cave.

Following the traces inside, Captain Wang Quan saw a meteorite about the size of a softball lying in the middle of a pit filled with gravel.

Although it was a metal meteorite, this one did not have those mysterious patterns, which confirmed it had been used by some creature. Captain Wang Quan put the meteorite away and immediately retreated to the mountaintop.

Actually, with his current three-dimensional attributes, he wasn't very afraid of these things, even if they were creatures that had become slightly stronger after a job change.

However, it was best not to encounter them. He came here mainly to collect job-change stones, not to hunt these creatures.

After walking a bit further, seeing that the sky was about to darken, he found a flat place and started to set up camp.

It wasn't that Wang An's Incarnation couldn't explore at night, but there was no need.

If this Incarnation died, he would have to be sent over from Changnan again.

This might waste a lot of time and opportunities in between, and might also arouse suspicion from others.

Therefore, the Incarnation could get injured, but he could not lose the ability to act.

As the sun gradually set, darkness gradually spread throughout the mountain forest. The calls of various creatures rose and fell, some similar to cat calls.

It was the leopard cat, the most common wild feline in this area, similar in size to a house cat, and spread throughout the province's mountain forests.

There were also the calls of laughing thrushes and red-billed leiothrix.

As these sounds became more and more frequent and intense.

Suddenly, a huge roar rang out in the mountain forest, like a thunderclap on flat ground, silencing the surrounding creatures.

This sound was a bit like the howling when killing a pig, but there was no feeling of pain in it.

And it had more weight, faintly suppressing the surrounding sounds.