Chapter 156 Synchronous Contamination... Something feels off... (The sentence is incomplete and lacks context.)
Something doesn't feel right. Zhen, who was at the back of the line, frowned slightly. She looked at Yingjun and Anya, who were chatting at the front, and then at Sang Zhitao, whose yellow color could only be vaguely seen. She felt that something was wrong.
But all her responses were designed based on models built from the stolen database, and were the most human-like in their behavior. Logically, she shouldn't have been discovered.
"Is this the way?" Anya happened to turn around and ask her for directions, interrupting Zhenman's guessing.
"Yes, that's right." Zhen smiled slightly and nodded obediently.
Anya looked at the map for a moment before returning to the front to continue leading the way.
The area of the Ghost Moon Forest is one of the largest on the Dragon and Phoenix Continent, and the Moon Lake they were going to was located in the very center of the Ghost Moon Forest.
Therefore, they did not reach Moon Lake until noon on the third day.
"Did you notice anything strange along the way?" Looking at the lush trees, Yingjun frowned slightly and whispered to Anya.
Anya first glanced at Zhen casually, and seeing that she wasn't paying attention, she nodded slightly: "It's been so safe along the way. Not only have we not been attacked by any monsters, but we haven't even seen many animals."
Yingjun pursed his lips: "I have a very bad feeling. Be careful later."
Anya nodded gently: "You too, try to communicate using the team channel as much as possible."
After hearing this, Yingjun said nothing more, but instead opened the channel and posted his concerns in the group.
The others saw the message, casually replied "Received," and then continued with setting up camp.
However, a hint of wariness could be seen in their movements, and they seemed to be intentionally or unintentionally avoiding Zhen.
All these subtle changes were observed by Zhen, making the malice in her eyes grow even stronger.
Her changes naturally caught the attention of Sang Zhitao and the others. Gradually, the group split into two camps, appearing normal on the surface but harboring undercurrents of tension.
In another gathering place of Japanese people, a poisonous spider was deciphering the information transmitted through its silk: "They just kept walking forward without doing anything?"
"What's wrong with brother?" Xia Liang asked curiously as she sat down next to him after hearing his soft murmur.
The poisonous spider snapped out of its daze and gently shook its head: "It's alright. We're not too far from the Bear Kingdom people, so let's not follow too closely for now."
"Okay." Seeing that he was unwilling to say more, Xia Liang didn't press him further. She nodded in agreement and got up to give instructions to others.
After he left, the poisonous spider frowned as it looked at the spider silk in its palm: "Something feels off."
After Xia Liang finished instructing her companions, she noticed her brother frowning slightly and still looking worried. After thinking for a moment, she took out some food from her pack and handed it to him: "Brother's hunger level should have dropped a lot by now, right? Have some first."
The poisonous spider sighed silently, took the scallion pancake handed to it by its younger brother, and took a few bites.
Seeing that he had eaten, Xia Liang felt relieved and sat down next to the poisonous spider, taking out another piece of bread from her backpack and eating it.
When he had eaten half of it, he realized that his teammates were still watching longingly.
Xia Liang frowned and turned to look at her brother.
The poisonous spider noticed the longing in his eyes, subconsciously glanced around, and only then did it notice the expressions of the others. It immediately reprimanded, "There's nothing for you. Solve it yourselves."
The others looked away, exchanged glances, and those who had brought rations silently took them out and ate them. Only two newcomers who hadn't brought rations clutched their stomachs, looked at each other, and silently revealed a bitter smile.
They naturally dared not question it, after all, Japan was a small country with insufficient resources, unlike a large country like Xia, which always made the country bear all the expenses after accepting a mission.
On their first mission, they had guessed that there might be no supplies, but they didn't expect that the leader wouldn't even say anything to make way for them. Helpless, they could only get up and see what they could eat in the forest.
Strangely enough, they didn't see any small animals after entering the forest. If it weren't for the occasional animal roars and birdsong they could still hear, they probably would have run away long ago.
In fact, besides animals, there are also some mushrooms and edible wild vegetables around.
They gathered some wild vegetables and a bag of mushrooms, casually pulled a clay pot from their pack, poured the wine inside onto the ground, added a fire, some water, and began to cook a mushroom and wild vegetable soup.
About half an hour later, a pot of mushroom and wild vegetable soup that didn't look very appetizing was ready.
Before the two of them could find a suitable vessel to drink the soup, the poisonous spider walked over with a frown, poured out a third of the bowl right in front of them, and left.
The two were naturally unwilling, but they dared not resist the poisonous spider. They could only watch silently as it took away a portion of the food they had painstakingly prepared.
Looking at the remaining soup in the pot, the two exchanged a glance and said nothing more, silently drinking the soup separately.
About five or six minutes later, a few Japanese people who had drunk less sat on one side with their eyes open.
Their faces were somewhat blank, and their eyes were dark and lifeless, with faint black lines visible beneath their eyes.
"What's wrong with you guys?" The people who hadn't drunk any drinks looked at them with some confusion.
The two who drank the most obediently shook their heads: "No, we just didn't sleep well."
Since it was just a short rest, the others didn't pay much attention, and they didn't notice that the two poisonous spider brothers, who were already prepared, also had strange black threads churning deep in their eyes.
During their next rest break, the poisonous spider suddenly spoke up, "I don't know how much longer we'll have to stay. Let's have some mushroom and wild vegetable soup to fill our stomachs for now."
Once he spoke, no one dared to say anything, even if they were unwilling. They could only obediently follow his instructions and go around to collect mushrooms and wild vegetables.
They made several more bonfires, and the three earthenware pots were burning hot, with the mushroom and wild vegetable soup inside boiling and bubbling.
The group shared the three pots of mushroom and wild vegetable soup without any distinction between them.
When they set off again, dark circles were moving around in everyone's eyes, and their faces were stiff.
Meanwhile, the Xiong Kingdom people who were walking ahead of them also encountered some problems in their group.
“What about Lisa?” Ivanov frowned as he looked at her. “Onev, this isn’t right.”
Lisa looked down at the spider silk that had inexplicably broken off on her sleeve, frowned and shook her head: "What happened before he did this?"
Ivanov frowned, and after a moment's thought, shook his head repeatedly: "No, Engev is the youngest among us, and everyone has always taken care of him, so he has never left our side alone."
Lisa picked up the spider silk from her sleeve, examined it for a long time, and then said, completely bewildered, "This should be the silk of a poisonous spider, so why did it suddenly stop working?"
Alexei stared silently at the spider silk in her hand, then suddenly said abruptly, "Unless the poisonous spider is dead."
"The Li people are here?" Ivanov frowned even more. If the Li people were following behind, that would be bad.
Currently, in terms of national strength, Li Kingdom is first, Xia Kingdom is second, and Xiong Kingdom is third. However, Xia Kingdom has always been low-key and keeps its new technologies a secret. Privately, everyone's ranking is Xia Kingdom first, Li Kingdom second, and Xiong Kingdom third.
Although they have been constantly suppressed by these two, as a Xiong Kingdom citizen, they have to admit that if the Li Kingdom also gets involved, it will not be a good thing for them.
"Probably not," Lisa thought for a moment and said. "People from Lisa are always concerned about their reputation; they'll only order two dogs around to help them."
“There’s another possibility.” Alexei sighed silently.
Lisa immediately understood what he meant and frowned: "Although Poison Spider's combat strength isn't particularly high, he's good at signing contracts. He shouldn't die so soon, right?"
Alexei shrugged helplessly: "We'll see when we get there."
Lisa thought for a moment and nodded in agreement: "Indeed, there's a saying in Xia Country, 'Hearing is not as good as seeing.'"
Alexei didn't say anything more and silently retreated to a position where he wouldn't be easily noticed.
Once Sang Zhitao had arranged accommodations and scouted the situation, they could head down to the lake to find their target. However, the Japanese and Xiong people unexpectedly encountered each other ahead of time.
“That’s not right, none of them are missing.” Ivanov counted several times silently before whispering to Lisa.
Lisa's face was unusually pale at that moment, and she subconsciously touched the spot on her sleeve where the spider silk had been hanging.
Seeing her deep in thought, the others fell silent.
"Ms. Lisa, we meet again~" Xia Liang looked at Lisa with the appearance of a bewildered young boy.
Lisa forced a strong stance and said in a low voice, "You actually dared to follow us?"
Xia Liang, always young and impetuous, and having grown up in Xia Kingdom, had none of the servile mentality typical of Japanese people towards the Xiong Kingdom people. Coupled with Lisa's rudeness towards them from the very first meeting, he subconsciously retorted, "So what if we're with you?!"
Poison Spider quickly tugged at Xia Liang, then looked apologetically at Lisa: "I'm sorry, this was really an accident. Perhaps it's fate that brought us together."
Lisa gripped her weapon tightly behind her back, but her face still showed a hint of disdain: "Oh, then why don't you get lost?"
The poisonous spider's expression changed before it bent down and offered the food it had taken out of its backpack: "I apologize for disturbing you. Please accept this as a token of my apologies."
Without further ado, she grabbed her younger brother Xia Liang and led her teammates to the side.
After they left, Lisa stared intently at the food in her hand, remaining motionless for a moment.
Just as Ivanov was about to bend down and pick up the food from the ground, Alexei suddenly stopped him: "No, this is too strange."
Ivanov looked at him curiously: "What's wrong?"
Alexei shook his head: "I don't know, but I have a feeling that the other party has ill intentions."
Ivanov hesitated for a moment before turning his attention to Lisa.
Lisa shook her head, intending to ignore the food on the ground; they had brought enough and didn't need it.
"What are you doing, Engev?!" Ivanov took two steps and saw Engev walking backward out of the corner of his eye. He quickly turned around and saw that Engev had picked up the food.
Lisa and Alexei heard Ivanov's voice and turned around to see Unev holding food, with Ivanov glaring angrily at him.
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Author's Note: I was too tired during the day; my brain cells died in droves. I fell asleep several times while writing. This is just a rough draft; if it's not well-written, skip ahead.
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