The surrounding vegetation became sparse and withered at a visible rate, and finally, the ground turned into a deathly reddish-brown, as if it had been stained with blood.
A faint smell of sulfur filled the air, and the wind that blew by was cool and stung my face.
It's eerily quiet here.
“This is so strange,” Chen Xue said in a low voice, a hint of unease on her face. “We can’t even hear insects or birds chirping. This is completely different from a normal barren mountain.”
Lin Fan squatted down, knocked off a rock with a geological hammer, rubbed the debris, and frowned: "The rock is very loose and heavily weathered, which means that there may be frequent geological activity here."
Su Tang didn't speak, but took out a miniature environmental analyzer disguised as a Geiger counter. Several values on the screen were quietly changing.
The three men organized their equipment, formed a triangular formation, and began to advance deeper into the slope.
Stepping onto that reddish-brown earth, a "rustling" sound came from underfoot, as if stepping on ashes, sending chills down one's spine.
After going about a kilometer deeper, Lin Fan, who was walking at the front, suddenly felt a violent dizziness. The scenery in front of him began to spin, and the sky and the earth seemed to be turned upside down.
"Hmm..."
He groaned, his legs went weak, and he was about to fall forward uncontrollably.
"Lin Fan!" Chen Xue, who was following behind, also felt a tightness in her chest and shortness of breath. Her breathing became difficult, and the color drained from her face instantly.
At this critical moment!
The ground seemed to tremble slightly, and a colorless and odorless gas, invisible to the naked eye, seeped out in wisps from some tiny cracks in the ground.
The wristwatch-style monitor on Su Tang's wrist emitted a sharp alarm, and her pupils suddenly contracted; her reaction was incredibly fast.
"Get down!"
She rushed forward and, the instant Lin Fan fell to the ground, roughly tackled him to the ground. At the same time, she quickly pulled an oxygen mask from her backpack and tightly fastened it to his face!
"breathe--"
As the cool, pure oxygen filled his lungs, Lin Fan's muddled mind cleared up for a second.
He watched helplessly as an unknown bird flew overhead and into the seemingly calm area in front of them. The next second, the bird seemed to be grabbed by an invisible hand, its body instantly stiffening, and it plummeted straight down from mid-air, crashing to the ground, motionless.
He died.
Lin Fan's pupils dilated to the extreme, and a chill ran from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head!
He was just one step away!
If it weren't for Su Tang, that bird would have suffered the same fate as him! He had a brush with death!
"Don't move! Put this on!"
Su Tang's voice was calm. She tossed the other two military gas masks to Chen Xue and quickly put one on herself.
Chen Xue was terrified and hurriedly put on her mask, breathing in the filtered air in large gulps, which slightly relieved the suffocating feeling in her chest.
Su Tang calmly looked at her disguised "Geiger counter." On the screen, the concentrations of carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide were alarmingly high, reaching lethal levels.
Her eyes sharpened, and only after the gust of wind had subsided slightly did she help the two still-shaken individuals to their feet.
“The soil here isn’t toxic at all,” Su Tang’s voice came through the gas mask, tinged with a somber tone. “The real danger comes from the high concentrations of carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide escaping from underground…”
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