Chapter Seven: Tracking
The sun was shining brightly, and the sky was a pure, unblemished blue, but the graffiti still gave the small village a sinister atmosphere.
The team followed the trail to a house at the edge of the village. The drone broke through the window and entered. Zhao Bohan said, "There are traces that look like a fire."
He put on his filter mask, revealing only a pair of beautiful, dazzling peach blossom eyes, and went into the house first.
The pollution level rose by 6%, the deputy captain is really holding up! Qi An admired him in his heart and followed him into the house.
Dust danced in the sunlight, the furniture in the living room was not yet completely decayed, and a yellowed family photo of the five people stood quietly on the small table next to the sofa.
"The furniture in the house was not damaged, and the ashes from the burning plants were cleaned up, but the dust was unevenly distributed in many places, and with this smell... this is undoubtedly the place where that group of fallen insects spent the night!"
The convoy included a light truck, and the Fallen Insects were on a long-range mission that required overnight stays. Based on these two points, it can be inferred that the Fallen Insect squad's mission was more likely to be collecting or transporting supplies than patrolling or fighting.
Based on the size of the house where they stayed overnight, the amount of dust disturbed on the ground, and the concentration of the slime odor, I estimate that the number of these fallen insects should be between 4 and 7.
Because they are aware of counter-tracking, the supplies they are transporting on this mission must be very important, and they are being followed by wisdom insects.
Zhao Bohan was like a humanoid AI, touching everything around and then rattling off a string of conclusions.
Qi An was really inexperienced. He was too busy looking at the family photo and Zhao Bohan's pollution level. Although he concluded that there were about 6 Fallen Insects, it was all based on some kind of inexplicable intuition.
No wonder everyone trusts the vice-captain; Qi An is convinced.
Yu Shuang completely trusted Zhao Bohan's conclusion, "I understand. You take Xiao Qi and leave the house first."
Tang Long is preparing to change the drone's battery. He's starting from the courtyard gate and calculating the trajectory of the fallen insect convoy.
Even though the fallen insects tried to conceal their whereabouts, how could they stop human technology and ruthless methods?
The driving trajectory was quickly calculated, starting from where the image of the insect convoy was captured at the village entrance, heading all the way north.
However, just before setting off, the all-powerful vice-captain stopped everyone and made them squat in the bushes at the village entrance.
Yu Shuang was completely confused: "Did you have an upset stomach this morning? Can I have five minutes?"
Zhao Bohan turned around and glared at her. "I did find that the plants in this area have been dug up!"
In early spring, patches of green have already begun to emerge in the sunny wasteland. Upon closer inspection, one can indeed see that the soil around the green has been disturbed, indicating that it has been excavated.
However, hidden in a patch of withered yellow grass, the traces were not obvious, and Qi An marveled at Zhao Bohan's observation skills.
Tang Long got out of the car and went over. "It should be shepherd's purse, dandelion... There are also toon buds on the tree over there, they've all been picked!"
This burly man spoke of ingredients with great familiarity, his voice brimming with excitement as if he were pleased to have reached a useful conclusion.
"There's slime residue left, it must have been collected by the Fallen Insects. Maybe the supplies they're searching for this time are wild vegetables!"
Polluters are also omnivorous, but their diet is much broader than that of humans; they can digest raw grass and rotting meat.
However, although they can eat almost anything, different foods provide different nutrients. Polluters raise animals and also collect edible vegetables and fruits.
In winter, when food is scarce, polluters actually send out convoys to dig for wild vegetables... It's absurd, but it's also possible.
This confirms the conjecture that "there is a sizable polluter's stronghold here."
Zhao Bohan stood up, but Qi An noticed a patch of withered yellow grass stems on the ground that had clearly been dug up. It had a peculiar smell, so he took a second look.
"Is that also a wild vegetable?" she asked.
Tang Long scratched his head: "It seems...not? I don't recognize it."
If he doesn't recognize it, it's probably because it's inedible.
Su Qingran glanced at it, picked up a stalk, smelled it, and said uncertainly, "It looks like licorice?"
Zhao Bohan was taken aback upon hearing this.
Medicinal plants are the domain of doctors, but in early spring, the stems and leaves of licorice are withered, which is very different from what is shown in textbooks. Su Qingran guessed it by smell.
However, whether or not it's licorice, it doesn't affect the overall situation. Yu Shuang brought everyone's attention back to the main point: "The key is tracking, everyone! If we delay any longer, the stench in the air will dissipate!"
At her repeated calls, everyone returned to the car.
This time, Yu Shuang drove herself, Zhao Bohan sat in the passenger seat to control the drone, and Qi An sat in the back car with Tang Long and Zhuang Xiao.
With a stomp of the accelerator, the car in front shot off like a rabbit. Zhuang Xiao whistled and immediately floored the accelerator.
Two military off-road vehicles sped across the wilderness like two ferocious beasts!
The drone was even faster, disappearing from everyone's sight in a matter of moments.
"An increase in exhaust gas concentration has been detected. The convoy is estimated to be 10 kilometers away... 5 kilometers, 3 kilometers away. The convoy has been observed."
In the drone's field of vision, the two vehicles were just two inconspicuous gray dots on the ground, but as the distance slowly closed, the outlines of the vehicles became clear.
The car was filthy, covered with suspicious flesh and tentacles.
Zhao Bohan's voice was calm and steady: "The vehicle model matches the one in the satellite image perfectly, indicating that it is the correct target to track. The coordinates have been transmitted."
The multi-functional reconnaissance drone, about the size of a washbasin, stopped 500 meters away from the convoy of fallen insects and did not approach.
Zhao Bohan took off his headset and handed it to Su Qingran in the back seat. He then quickly took out a soft hat with densely packed sensors on the inside from the equipment box next to him and put it on.
This is a wearable neural control device, paired with a miniature spy drone the size of a quail egg.
According to Yu Shuang, their team is different now than before, and the equipment they brought this time is all high-end gear!
The spy drones start up almost silently, and their surface is coated with a stealth coating that provides excellent camouflage.
Su Qingran controlled the multi-functional reconnaissance drone to return, and the spy drone took over, silently flying onto the roof of the Fallen Insect truck.
The series of operations were extremely smooth. Even though the fallen insects were covered with tentacles, each with an eye that could see 360 degrees without any blind spots and had incredible eyesight, they couldn't detect the tiny thing that Zhao Bohan was operating with such precision in the car!
A restrained smile appeared on Yu Shuang's face: "Remove the GPS trackers from both vehicles."
Zhao Bohan pressed a button on the tablet, and the round bottom of the spy drone, located several kilometers away, opened. A needle-like robotic arm inserted a locator the size of a pill into a gap in the roof of the vehicle.
Two minutes after the signal delay, the red dot of the locator appeared on the navigation screens of both vehicles.
Zhuang Xiao chuckled and said, "Science and technology are the primary productive forces of mankind. Which great man said that again?"
"A great man of our great-grandfather's generation!"
"Stop being boastful and reckless, maintain our advantage!" Yu Shuang laughed.
The spy drone flew away from the truck and was about to land on the roof of the SUV.
Everything went smoothly; Zhao Bohan's micro-management skills were extremely high. However, the drone suddenly got stuck in the air and started to fall!
Zhao Bohan immediately sat up straight, concentrated, and tried to retrieve the drone.
They did manage to retrieve it, but the tiny "quail egg" was dangling wildly in the air as if it were having a seizure, and the red light on top, indicating a malfunction, was flashing frantically!
Zhao Bohan exerted all his strength to control it, narrowly avoiding the truck's windshield!
But then, a high-frequency howling sound, like that of a faulty connection in the audio equipment wiring, came out of the controller!
The drone, located several kilometers away, completely lost power and crashed into the bushes!
This top-notch job, which I received from the special operations equipment receiving and dispatching department, turned out to be faulty!
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