56: Abnormal distress signal

The wind and sand whipped into their faces, and the air was filled with the scent of decay.

Wang Kai quickly unfolded the portable scanner.

He stared at the fluctuating data on the screen, his brows furrowing tighter and tighter, his fingers tapping unconsciously on the instrument's casing.

"Wait, these latitude and longitude coordinates..."

"We've arrived in the Great Northwest desert? How is this possible?"

"Nothing is impossible." Su Lei narrowed his eyes, his gaze sweeping over the undulating sand dunes.

The sandy ground was covered in dense three-toed claw marks, serpentine drag tracks, and circular depressions over two meters in diameter.

"Indeed, many desert creatures have appeared."

Su Lei squatted down and brushed his fingertips over a claw mark.

"Sand scorpions, rattlesnakes, death worms... It seems the beast tide really did emerge from this rift."

He stood up, brushed the sand off his hands, and cast his gaze into the distance.

In the far distance, the outlines of buildings were vaguely visible.

"Let's go and figure out why the spatial rift appeared, and why those beasts attacked us."

Li Shi suddenly shivered: "Do you guys feel like... it's a bit too quiet?"

Apart from the sound of the wind, the entire desert was dead silent.

There were no insect chirps, no bird calls; even the most common sand lizards were nowhere to be seen.

"Time is tight, no time to zone out."

Su Lei gave a brief order, "Advance at full speed."

Four figures moved rapidly across the dunes, the dust they kicked up trailing behind them in long streaks.

After advancing at full speed for half an hour, they stopped in front of a wall half-buried in the sand.

On the mottled concrete wall, the four faded red characters for "Military Restricted Area" were vaguely discernible.

The rusted barbed wire swayed gently in the wind, emitting a teeth-gritting creaking sound.

"Search the area."

Su Lei made a gesture to disperse.

"Wait!" Zhang Shan suddenly froze in place, constantly scanning his surroundings, "This layout... this structure... why does it feel so familiar?"

"It seems like... a military base?"

Su Lei suddenly walked toward a mound of sand and pulled out a buried sign.

"Seventh Biological Research Institute."

Looking at the words on the sign, all three of them frowned simultaneously, their expressions turning grim.

Zhang Shan thought for a moment and said slowly: "I remember... this place was abandoned by the military three years ago."

Li Shi continued, his voice dry, "Because a beast tide attacked during some biological experiment..."

This incident was recorded in the military database and listed as a major accident, which is why it left such a deep impression.

Wang Kai walked toward the group and said in a deep voice: "There's an underground passage to the east, and it contains a large number of intact incubation pods."

Zhang Shan and Li Shi looked at each other.

"Wait, wasn't this place abandoned three years ago?"

"Could the military still be conducting experiments in secret?"

Wang Kai shook his head.

"Since they cultivated these alien beasts, why would they attack..."

The sentence stopped abruptly halfway through.

The four of them seemed to realize something, and a chill crawled up their spines simultaneously.

After a while, Su Lei broke the silence.

"Take photos and record it; bring this intelligence back."

Five minutes later, the group began their return journey along the path they had come.

But their steps were much heavier than before, and countless doubts swirled in their hearts.

Just as they left the vicinity of the ruins, a rapid "beep-beep" sound suddenly rang out.

The communicator on Su Lei's waist was flashing red.

"The effective range of the communicator is fifty kilometers..."

"Could Elder Ye and the others have also come to this desert?!"

Several of them immediately stopped in their tracks, looking surprised.

After connecting, an unusually calm voice came through the communicator.

"Where are you now?"

Wang Kai was about to report their coordinates, but Su Lei shot him a sharp look, stopping him.

"We are near an abandoned base, what's wrong?"

"Come over immediately and rendezvous with the main force; we've discovered a beast nest here."

Su Lei's brows knitted into a deep furrow: "Rendezvous? Did you encounter any Yao Beasts?"

"No."

"Where is Elder Ye?"

"He is currently fighting."

"Specific coordinates?"

"86.43. Keep heading due east, there is an oasis there."

Su Lei was about to ask something else, but the other party suddenly hung up.

Zhang Shan and Li Shi looked at each other.

Regardless of what was discovered, they had to return in two hours.

These were the exact words Elder Ye had said to everyone personally.

With time so tight, why insist on attacking a beast nest?

And why call the four of them to join?

Zhang Shan muttered: "Since there are no Yao Beasts, their strength should be enough to resolve it..."

Li Shi nodded in agreement: "One Grandmaster, thirty Fourth-Order Martial Masters. How could such a luxurious lineup fail to take down a beast nest?"

"But what reason would they have to deliberately deceive us? Maybe they really ran into danger and are looking for us to rescue them?"

"If there was important intelligence in that nest, or if they had encountered a large number of high-level Vicious Beasts, the first thing they should have done was report the situation!"

Wang Kai said thoughtfully, "Do you guys feel... like they seem very familiar with the terrain of this desert?"

"Some of them are from the Western Theater Command, so that's not strange."

The discussion yielded no results, and everyone turned to look at Su Lei, waiting for the captain's instructions.

Su Lei pondered for a moment and swept his gaze over the three people in front of him.

"You take the photos and samples and return the way you came." His voice was very soft, but carried an unquestionable decisiveness.

"I will go to support them alone."

The group was shocked upon hearing this.

"You alone?"

"That's right."

Wang Kai urged in a deep voice: "Think clearly, there are only ninety minutes left until the spatial rift closes."

"And we don't know how long it will take to reach them; what if..."

Su Lei said expressionlessly: "Since they could contact us, it means the maximum distance is no more than fifty kilometers."

"Fifty kilometers... at my full running speed, I can arrive within thirty minutes."

"In case the information is wrong, I can also leave in time and return to the space-time rift before the time limit ends."

The group fell into silence.

Wang Kai hesitated several times, but gritted his teeth and said: "No, it's still too dangerous... If we are going, we should all go together."

Su Lei shook his head and said: "No time to argue here."

"Bring the intelligence back to the base safely; that is an order."

Several of them took a deep breath and nodded slowly.

"Take care!"

Su Lei's figure was like a black lightning bolt, speeding between the undulating sand dunes.

His entire body's muscle fibers contracted and relaxed with perfect efficiency, every inch of strength precisely converted into forward kinetic energy.

Even while sprinting at high speed, he still maintained a special rhythmic breathing.

With every inhalation, his lungs expanded to their limit, squeezing out all the oxygen from the air, before slowly exhaling.

Every time his toes lightly touched the sand, they only left a mark so shallow it was almost invisible, smoothed over by the wind and sand in the blink of an eye.

It was as if he were running on the wind.

Twenty minutes later, a touch of green appeared at the edge of his vision.

Su Lei's expression immediately sank.

Elder Ye's familiar aura was indeed present, but it felt like it was wrapped in something, flickering on and off.

And another kind of aura...

That was not the blood and Qi power that a Vicious Beast should have; instead, it was a sense of oppression coming from the mental realm!

Big Wolf Book Source Warm Reminder: Due to special reasons, the group has been forcibly disbanded! New group rebuilt, Group 1 (298732622) Group 2 (1062268835) to prevent loss of contact, tg: t.me/dahuilang888, this message will be displayed until tomorrow noon!