Chapter 333: Light Beam

Yang Xiao and Su Zhiwei also sat down nearby, seemingly still recovering from the recent scare.

“Those monsters...” Yang Xiao asked, his brow furrowed and breathing heavily, “What exactly are those monsters? They seem like beasts from these mountains, but... but they're too big, and they're not afraid of bullets at all?”

“They look like some kind of mutated organism. Could it be the radiation from that fragment that caused the nearby beasts to mutate?” Su Zhiwei said in a low voice.

“It's possible, but how strong would the radiation need to be to cause such a mutation?”

“...I don't know. I'm not familiar with this field.”

“See? I told you this place was strange. We should have just let...” Wu Tongyuan subconsciously started complaining again, but halfway through, seeing Yang Xiao and Su Zhiwei's pale faces, he silently turned away and mumbled, “Never mind... I won't say any more.”

The air fell silent, with only Wu Tongyuan's groans breaking the quiet.

“The most crucial problem now is that everyone has scattered,” Yang Xiao spoke again.

“Although we are temporarily safe, it's hard to say about the others. Without the protection of firearms, if they encounter monsters while escaping, I'm afraid...”

Chen Ling leaned against a tree, saying nothing, but his expression was more somber than ever.

Yang Xiao was right. These researchers were still ordinary people. Even encountering a first-tier calamity would be certain death for them. If any of them died, they wouldn't be able to absorb the Crimson Star fragment and become the future Nine Sovereigns, as per the historical timeline. He would then be unable to observe what truly happened back then.

But Chen Ling couldn't understand how things had come to this.

In the true historical timeline, all of the Nine Sovereigns were found in the meteorite crater. But in the current situation, it would be incredibly lucky if even half of them made it to the crater alive, let alone all of them.

Could his intervention have created a butterfly effect, causing history to deviate from its original course?

Yet, Chen Ling had done nothing but lead the way for the group, being extra careful in this regard. Otherwise, he would have long since revealed himself and charged directly towards the fragment with everyone. He had consistently kept his identity hidden precisely because he hoped to allow history to repeat itself as closely as possible, rather than be overturned.

Standing beneath the tree, Chen Ling replayed everything that had just happened in his mind repeatedly. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was amiss.

“They can't possibly kill so many monsters with the firearms they have,” Yang Xiao took a deep breath. “Once those monsters have eliminated all threats, they'll surely start searching for us in the forest. What should we do?”

“We're doomed, truly doomed,” Wu Tongyuan lay on his back on the ground, wishing he could slap himself.

“If Old Lu hadn't told me that participating in this exploration would count as outstanding scientific contribution and make me eligible for an academician title... I absolutely would not have come! Now look, I'll have to aim for it in my next life...”

Su Zhiwei remained silent, just quietly watching Chen Ling, seemingly awaiting his response.

Su Zhiwei had seen Chen Ling's shot. Although she didn't understand its mechanism, upon reflection, this Director Chen had been mysterious ever since they entered the mountains. He was the one who initially dealt with the screeching, and later, he was still able to locate the fragment even after their directions were confused. Su Zhiwei knew he must be hiding something.

Chen Ling felt Su Zhiwei's gaze. After a moment of silence, he said,

“Let's stick to the original plan and gather at the fragment... Although I don't know how many people will ultimately make it, retreating now is no longer realistic.”

The other three naturally had no objections. Chen Ling, the only one who could navigate the forest, was their backbone now.

As Su Zhiwei and Yang Xiao stood up, Wu Tongyuan, who was still rubbing his foot, saw that they were about to leave and hastily spoke.

“Shouldn't we wait a bit longer? My foot still hurts...”

Chen Ling looked back at him. “Dr. Wu, although this isn't close to the previous battlefield, those monsters can catch up very quickly given their speed...”

“Let's go! My leg suddenly feels better!”

Wu Tongyuan sprang to his feet and limped along behind Chen Ling.

Just then, a brilliant pillar of light suddenly erupted from the distant forest!

BOOM—!!!

The ground suddenly trembled violently, shaking Su Zhiwei and the other two to the ground. Feeling the terrifying, earthquake-like tremors, they simultaneously looked towards the pillar of light!

It was a massive beam of fire, a hundred meters in radius, like a sword of divine punishment struck down from the heavens. It crashed into the forest, sending out intense, circular heatwaves that radiated frantically outwards from within the pillar, illuminating the entire dark mountain range as if it were day.

“What... what is that??” Wu Tongyuan stared blankly at the god-like pillar of light piercing the sky and earth, muttering incoherently.

“A nuclear weapon? No, how could a nuclear weapon be so precisely contained within such a small area...”

“There's no sign of any launch device in the sky or on the ground... and no trajectory marks. How did it appear??”

Yang Xiao and Su Zhiwei were also dumbfounded. They had never experienced such terrifying fluctuations from so close, and they struggled to find a rational explanation for the scene before them, but to no avail.

In Chen Ling's eyes, the sky-piercing pillar of light was clearly reflected, and his expression could barely conceal his horror.

Like the others, he couldn't determine where the attack had come from, but he was certain that even three hundred years in the future, the terrifying aura emanating from this light pillar would be no less potent than the Aurora Sovereign's Particle Holy Spear. This was definitely not an impact that modern weapons could cause!

Yet, how could anyone in this era unleash such a terrifying attack? The Nine Sovereigns were clearly not yet the Nine Sovereigns!

The next moment, the searing pillar of light, which pierced the sky and earth, seemed to be gripped by an invisible hand, shattering into countless fragments.

As the brilliant specks of light vanished into the air, the distant forest fell into dead silence once more.

“Wait, that seems to be the direction Dr. Lou and the others fled?” Su Zhiwei seemed to realize something. “They wouldn't have run into trouble, would they?”

In that instant, Chen Ling suddenly had a thought!

He had been replaying the events of this mission over and over, feeling that something wasn't quite right. Now, with Su Zhiwei's words, he immediately recalled a specific detail.

When everyone was under attack by the calamities and the scene became chaotic, Dr. Lou was the first to separate from the group. At that time, it didn't seem like any calamities were attacking him, nor did he appear overly frightened; he just plunged into the forest.

And then, Dr. Ji pursued him?

Chen Ling clearly remembered that Lu Xun was desperately shouting for everyone not to split up, yet Dr. Ji's actions showed no hesitation, as if he wasn't trying to escape the calamity at all, but rather to chase after Dr. Lou!

Chen Ling suddenly turned to look at Su Zhiwei.

“What field does Dr. Lou specialize in?”