The next morning, everyone drank multi-grain porridge with crocodile meat, put out all the campfires, packed up everything, and continued to advance deeper.

For an entire morning, Professor Zhong and his assistants conducted a careful exploration, taking samples and analyzing them continuously, hoping to make some discoveries in the samples.

Yesterday's encounters with poisonous snakes and crocodiles gave them a more concrete understanding of the dangers of Ailao Mountain and made them realize how difficult this journey was.

Opportunities are hard to come by, and we don’t always have a genius like Zhang Shuguang to protect us.

"Captain, the compass is malfunctioning."

Reconnaissance platoon leader Hu Jianpeng stared at the compass, the needle of which kept spinning around.

The other soldiers also took out their compasses and looked at them with a nervous look.

In the rainforest that blocks out the sun, I lost my way and one foot has already stepped into the gate of hell.

Protected by Zhang Shuguang and the soldiers, the expert group was able to focus on their academic research work, and the soldiers' nervousness also infected them.

"Captain Zhang, I'm sorry, we've been so engrossed in our work. Is it too late for us to turn back now?"

Professor Zhong looked at Zhang Xiangnan with apology.

"Xiao Guang, what do you think?"

This was Zhang Xiangnan’s first experience with magnetic field disorder.

"I'll lead the way."

Zhang Shuguang randomly chose a direction and strode forward.

He didn't know where to find the mineral that Professor Zhong needed, but he knew that once the magnetic field was disrupted, it would be easy for ordinary people to go around in circles.

Without his leadership, this team of more than 100 people could easily get lost.

"Keep up, don't fall behind."

Zhang Shuguang's calmness instantly calmed the slightly chaotic team. In just one day yesterday, Zhang Shuguang's performance had conquered everyone.

At noon, Zhang Shuguang led everyone to find a suitable place to cook.

This place is surrounded by mountains and water, and the miasma is relatively thin. The only drawback is that there are two giant pythons mating there.

"Old Hong, is this a Burmese python? How come it's so big?"

Professor Zhong swallowed hard.

The colors and patterns of the two giant pythons are very similar to those of the Burmese pythons distributed in Southeast Asia.

But the giant python in front of him was too big. It was estimated to be more than ten meters long and weighed at least six or seven hundred kilograms.

The largest Burmese python discovered so far is only five meters long and weighs 140 kilograms.

"Judging from their appearance, they should be Burmese pythons. I don't know how they can grow so big."

Professor Hong was delighted to see the prey, his eyes sparkling. If he didn't know how dangerous the python was, he would have pounced on it and observed it closely.

"Comrade Zhang Shuguang, should we camp somewhere else, or take care of these two?"

Liu Kaifang asked his superiors for instructions.

The escort mission this time was carried out by their First Steel Company, and Liu Kaifang was the company commander of the First Steel Company.

However, with Zhang Xiangnan and Zhang Shuguang as his two backbones, he could only obey orders.

"We don't know how far away a suitable place to camp is. We're not going to change camps here. They're just two long insects. We can kill them and make soup."

The father and son moved in unison, both raising their wrists to look at their watches.

"Team Leader Tian, ​​are you sure you can kill with one strike?"

Tian Mingxi is the squad leader of the sniper squad of the 3rd Regiment. He has few men under him, but all of them are sharpshooters.

"Captain, don't worry. Although we're not sure where their weak spot is, we'll attack their heads together and kill them."

The two pythons were at a critical moment and probably felt that these small animals were not dangerous, so they did not deliberately stop mating.

"Kill them, then light a fire and cook, and take a good rest to replenish your strength."

Zhang Xiangnan waved his hand, and the sniper squad immediately took action, relying on the favorable terrain to find a suitable sniping position.

"Snipers No. 1, 2, and 3 will target the slightly larger one, and No. 4, 5, and 6 will target the slightly smaller one."

Because the two pythons had basically the same color and were entangled with each other and it was difficult to tell their positions, Team Leader Tian could only determine the target based on their body shape.

After all the snipers had taken aim, they gave a signal to squad leader Tianfu Chao.

"beat."

Six tongues of fire, a gunshot, two giant pythons rolling violently, and the earth shook.

"Everyone, keep shooting, don't let them get close."

The giant pythons kept struggling and rolling, making the surrounding rainforest a mess.

"Don't panic, the python is already dead. It's just that its nervous system hasn't died yet. Everyone, please stay out of the way and don't let it."

With Zhang Shuguang's eyesight, he could see everything clearly at such a close distance.

All six bullets from the sniper squad hit the giant python's head without exception.

At such a close distance, with the power of a sniper rifle, there is no chance that the giant python will survive.

“Yes, the nervous systems of many animals are very tenacious. Even after they die, their nervous systems can still be active for a long time.

For example, even though the fish has been killed, its mouth and gills will still open and close, and it will even jump up when put into the pot.

A few hours after being slaughtered, the muscles of the cattle will still twitch from time to time.

Male mantises that have lost most of their body can still maintain mating status.

The same should be true for these two giant pythons. Although they caused great damage, they had no clear sense of direction or targeting; it was just the instinct of their nervous system."

After the initial panic, Professor Hong calmed down and began to share scientific knowledge about animals with everyone.

"I also know that we often encounter venomous snakes when patrolling the border. The main reason is that the python is too big, and I am not sure whether the sniper rifle caused fatal damage to the python.

We are responsible for the protection of the expert group, and we should try our best to avoid any possible danger."

The two giant pythons struggled for more than three minutes and finally lay motionless on the ground. The originally dense rain forest was crushed into a large flat land by them.

"That's good. It saves us the trouble of cleaning."

While talking, Zhang Shuguang walked towards the two giant pythons.

"Follow me."

Zhang Xiangnan waved his hand, and the soldiers slowly surrounded him with guns raised.

"Comrades, don't be impatient. Let's write down the specific data before we eat."

Professor Hong squeezed in with his assistants.

"Just measure it. We're not in a hurry."

Liu Kaifang ordered the soldiers to move aside to facilitate the expert group to measure and record various data of the giant python.

The kitchen staff has set up the big iron pot and is ready to stew the crocodile meat.

The soldiers were responsible for keeping watch on the surroundings and picking up some firewood suitable for burning nearby.

The expert group worked hard for a while, measuring and recording the data of the giant python, and Professor Hong asked his assistant to come over and borrow a knife.

"What's it for? A dagger or a kitchen knife? Do you need our help?"

Liu Kaifang thought that the expert group was going to open the giant python themselves.

"We need to weigh the python, but we don't have a scale big enough, so Professor Hong plans to dismember the python and measure its weight."

Professor Hong's assistant was full of excitement. In the two days since they entered Ailao Mountain, they had discovered no less than ten new species that had never been recorded.