Chapter 77
"It's nearby, why can't I find it?"
A few people pushed aside the bushes, and when they were on the road, Yu caught a glimpse of something in front of him. He walked closer and found that the meteorite crater they were looking for was there.
Tang Zeyu walked in front. The trees around the crater were burned into black ash by the high temperature when the meteorite fell. The bare trees were particularly conspicuous here.
As soon as he walked in, Tang Zeyu saw a particularly conspicuous small pit on the ground. The pit didn't seem very big next to the meteorite crater, but when he got closer, he found that an adult could lie down in the pit.
Yan Hong walked around the area and returned to the group. She shrugged and said, "Didn't they say the mercenary leader fell nearby? How come there's no one around?"
Chen Yunliang: "That happened yesterday. The other party must have left long ago."
Yan Hong scratched her hair and suddenly saw a row of footprints heading towards the woods on the other side.
Yan Hong took a look and quickly dismissed her speculation.
These footprints definitely don't belong to the mercenary captain. They look like the hoof of some animal.
Yanhong yawned in disappointment. She slept too late yesterday and was so sleep-deprived that she wanted to find a place to hide and catch up on her sleep.
Just when Yan Hong was thinking of finding an excuse to slack off, she suddenly heard a rustling sound coming from behind the bushes. Yan Hong instantly became alert, looked back and saw that everyone was quite far away, so she decided to go and see what was behind the bushes herself.
After pushing aside the bushes, Yan Hong saw not some strangely deformed creature, nor a human, but a deer.
It seemed to be just a young deer, not very aggressive and not afraid of people. It was brave enough to come right in front of Yanhong, and instead forced Yanhong, who was still confused, to fall down.
"What the hell? A deer? Hey! Stay away from me!"
Everyone was still discussing where the mercenary captain might have gone when they suddenly heard Yan Hong's shouting. They immediately rushed over and saw Yan Hong being chased and licked by a deer.
Logically, Yan Hong should have cut off the deer's neck directly to prevent it from being a deformed creature with bad intentions. However, when the blade was against the deer's neck, Yan Hong felt a little hesitant to do it when she saw its clear and lively black eyes and fluttering eyelashes, especially since the deer was acting extremely friendly and its furry head was nodding off to look for food on her body.
The few people who were originally preparing to rescue Yan Hong, who seemed to be trying to push her away but actually never lowered her lips, chose to stand and watch the show.
"I didn't expect Yan Hong to actually like this type of animal," Shao Xingyang stroked his chin thoughtfully, "No wonder she insisted on riding that horse-like deformed creature when she saw it."
Lu Shiyu: "Is there such a thing? What happened? Did she get it?"
"I did, but the deformed creature crashed into a tree and died. Yan Hong couldn't ride it for more than a few seconds."
Lu Shiyu: “…”
The little deer probably noticed that Yan Hong had no food on her, so she stuck out her pink tongue, licked her nose, sniffed the air, and quickly locked onto the people standing nearby.
The reddish-brown deer walked lightly around the few people and soon found Yan Ning. Its head, which had not yet grown antlers, rubbed against Yan Ning's body and finally rubbed against his pocket.
Yan Ning didn't expect that the deer's nose was so sharp, and he took out a piece of uneaten biscuit from his pocket.
This was the emergency dry food he carried with him. It could be stored for a long time as long as the packaging bag was not torn. Last time, he was interrupted by several people from the exploration team when he was halfway through eating. He put the unfinished biscuits into his pocket and forgot about it afterwards.
Unexpectedly, it was found by a deer.
Yan Ning handed the biscuit to the little deer. The little deer's nose moved, and its eyes sparkled like stars. It took a bite of the biscuit without hesitation and started eating under the gaze of everyone.
Chen Yunliang pushed his glasses up, a little confused: "Is this a deer?"
Shao Xingyang asked in surprise: "Isn't this obvious enough?"
Chen Yunliang didn't bother to pay attention to him. He rolled his eyes and walked forward to check on the deer.
In every way, it looked normal, too normal, as normal as an ordinary deer that would be exhibited in a zoo.
"I didn't find any signs of deformity on this deer," Chen Yunliang said, stroking the head of the happily feeding fawn. "I can't be sure if there's anything wrong with its body, but at least from its appearance, it doesn't look like an animal that's been deformed."
Several people immediately sensed something was wrong.
Lu Shiyu subconsciously said, "Is this another normal animal?"
"Again?" Yan Ning asked Lu Shiyu after being surprised, "Have you seen any other normal animals without any signs of deformity?"
"Where is he? What does he look like? Have you confirmed that his organs are normal? How long ago did you encounter him?"
Yan Hong had gotten up from the ground at some point and stood between Yan Ning and Lu Shiyu who were approaching step by step.
"Hey, please talk nicely and don't get so close, okay? People should always keep a little distance."
Yan Ning also realized that he was a little too excited. After adjusting himself, he apologized to Lu Shiyu and asked about "normal" animals.
"It's nothing, actually. We just came across a rabbit on the way here, not far from here," Lu Shiyu gestured with his hands. "It was about this big, and in every way it looked like a normal rabbit. Chen Yunliang dissected it, and it was a normal rabbit, just like the ones at the base."
"But why a normal rabbit appeared there, we don't know."
Yan Ning listened thoughtfully, and soon felt a wet touch on his hand. He looked down and found that the deer had finished eating the biscuits and was still licking the biscuit crumbs on his hand with unsatisfied taste.
Yan Ning rummaged through the small bag she was carrying and took out another biscuit. When Xiaolu saw the biscuit, his eyes lit up again. He couldn't wait to take a bite, but he got nothing.
Yan Hong touched the deer's head soothingly. Yan Ning opened the plastic package of the biscuits, poured the crushed biscuits into his hand and fed them to the deer.
"My teacher and I have been doing research on biology, including the reasons why deformed organisms become deformed."
Yan Ning said slowly, "The base discovered long ago that the core of biological distortion is that genes are affected by some external factors and undergo irreversible changes, but the specific external factors that cause genetic changes have never been determined."
Lu Shiyu glanced at the deer and asked, "Is it really possible that no normal animals can survive outside the base?"
"I can't say for sure, but this is the first time I've encountered a normal animal since I started following the teacher out of the base."
Yan Ning stroked the deer's cheek with his other hand and said, "However, we cannot determine whether it is truly 'normal' based on its appearance alone. We need to do more in-depth research to confirm the result."
Yan Hong felt something was wrong when she heard this and immediately pulled the deer to her side.
"You're not going to dissect it, are you?"
The little deer, who was eating happily, was suddenly dragged away and wanted to go back to Yan Ning's hand to continue eating the biscuits unwillingly, but was held down by Yan Hong.
Yan Ning realized that the other party had misunderstood and explained: "No, the autopsy is too one-time."
Yan Hong had just breathed a sigh of relief when he continued, "I plan to take it back to the lab and draw its blood and measure its physical indicators daily. It will be kept in a cage in the lab. To ensure the data isn't distorted by food, I'll only provide it with a scientifically proportioned forage."
Yan Hong: “…”
Lu Shiyu held his forehead with his hand. It sounded too tragic, and Yan Hong's face became even uglier!
Chen Yunliang intervened to smooth things over, saying, "Whatever you plan to do, you have to return to base first."
Tang Zeyu asked Yan Ning when he and Professor Chen planned to go back. Yan Ning calculated the time and said it was still early. They should stay for at least a while longer and record all the animals and plants nearby.
"Then, I'll leave this deer to you to take care of before you go back." Tang Zeyu pushed the deer in front of Yan Ning, ignoring Yan Hong's dissatisfaction. "This is a good time for you to observe the habits of this deer."
As expected, Yan Ning accepted the suggestion, and took out a rope from somewhere and put it on the deer to make it easier to pull it and prevent it from running away halfway.
Yan Hong muttered, "Who knows what those superstitious researchers will do to it."
Tang Zeyu glanced at her and asked, "Are you planning to take the deer with you?"
Yan Hong stopped talking.
"I remember there were some wolf-like deformed creatures not too far from here," Lu Shiyu said. "There were quite a few of them in packs, and they were particularly ferocious. If you don't believe me, ask Chen Yunliang."
"Yes, I will testify." Chen Yunliang nodded.
"If we leave it here, there's no telling what might happen to it in the future, so letting Yan Ning take it away might not be a bad thing."
"Okay then." Yan Hong's dissatisfaction finally dissipated a little.
After Yan Ning put the rope on, he patted the deer and said, "Actually, you can come to the institute to see it when you have time. The teacher has a separate mimicry area that simulates the environment outside the base. It's quite large, and the deformed creatures he occasionally brings back are kept there for observation."
Chen Yunliang asked, "Speaking of which, why did two normal animals appear nearby one after another?"
Lu Shiyu said uncertainly, "Perhaps there's something unusual around here that's affecting the animals around them, causing them to become normal... Yeah, well, I'm just guessing."
Speaking of unusual things, everyone thought of the meteorite that had been ignored for a long time.
There is probably nothing more unusual than a meteorite. If normal animals really appear because of something around them, then meteorites are undoubtedly the biggest suspect.
Everyone gathered at the edge of the crater and looked at the large rock lying motionless in the pit. Some of them were not sure whether it was because of this.
"How about we knock off a piece of it and take it away as a sample?" Shao Xingyang suggested, "It's so big anyway, it won't be a problem if we take a little secretly."
With no one objecting, Yan Hong took the initiative to choose to be the one to go down the pit to quarry.
Yan Hong held a short knife and stood at the edge of the pit, ready to slide down little by little. But she had not slid down far when she suddenly jumped out of the pit. To be more precise, it was more like she was escaping.
Although he came out, his movements obviously did not have the lightness of usual, but instead seemed very flustered.
Yan Hong didn't say a word after coming out, but her expression was extremely frightened. She kept gasping for breath, as if she had just experienced a life-threatening situation. Even when she was fighting with Guan Wei, her reaction was not so big.
"Don't...don't go down, absolutely don't go down!"
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