Finally, Zhou Zhiguo decided to take Tao Wei, Qi Jiang, Han Xiao and others to explore the way first, while the main force stayed where they were, adjusted and recovered, and waited for their signal to meet them in time.
Chen Ruoruo, Erlangzi, and the Wolf King were resting here when she noticed that Zhou Zhiguo, Han Xiao, Qi Jiang and others had entered the mountain. After resting for a while, she packed up and took the others to the mountain they had chosen before.
After Zhou Zhiguo led his group into the forest, he felt that the entire forest was extremely deserted. Apart from the occasional gurgling sound of a stream and the sound of wind blowing through the trees, there was no other sound. In addition, the strangest thing was that there was a faint fishy smell in the air.
"What's that smell? It's so stinky. Li Xue, can you smell it?" Xia Xiaoying said in a low voice with a frown.
"Well, it seems so... not sure..." Li Xue sniffed and said
"It's the smell of blood, from a mutant black bear..." Ma Qian whispered from the side.
"Mutated black bear? Is that guy nearby?" Li Jun immediately became nervous after hearing Ma Qian's words. He then mobilized his special abilities and looked around vigilantly.
"Not sure..." Ma Qian said with a frown on his face.
"Everyone must be careful..." Zhou Zhiguo moved his nose and looked back at the group of people behind him and said.
"Try to keep quiet..." Han Xiao also reminded.
The group slowed down their movements. Everyone was nervous and observed their surroundings nervously. They moved very lightly and did not dare to make any loud noises, not even breathing heavily. They were all afraid that they would accidentally alarm the mutant black bear that might be hiding nearby.
Zhou Zhiguo and his companions walked on the mountain for two or three hours but still couldn't find Chen Ruoruo. Their original plan was to follow the footprints of Erlangzi and the Wolf King to find her.
However, after walking up a few hillsides, they found wolf footprints everywhere. For a moment, everyone was a little confused. At the moment, fearing the mutant black bears that could appear in the forest at any time, no one dared to shout loudly. This made it even more difficult to find Chen Ruoruo.
Perhaps, because of this, no wolves' cries had been heard since entering the mountains. But this also meant that Chen Ruoruo's situation was even more uncertain. She might have gone into hiding because of the danger, or she might have already... Everyone felt even more uneasy.
Everyone hurried on in silence, their steps becoming increasingly hurried, and the only sound that could be heard throughout the journey was everyone's heavy breathing.
"It's been so long..." Wei Yangguo distanced himself from Zhou Zhiguo in front of him, pointed at the watch on his hand and said to Ren Xuefeng behind him.
"Well, hey..." Ren Xuefeng looked at the watch on Wei Yangguo's hand. At this time, more than an hour had passed. It had been almost four hours since they entered the mountain. It was almost dark, but the person had not been found yet. The situation was really not optimistic.
"Hurry up... why are you sighing..." Tao Wei noticed the two people's movements from the corner of his eye, stopped a few steps and said to them.
"But..." Wei Yangguo frowned and wanted to say something.
"Hurry up and leave. Don't blame me for not reminding you. It's best not to say anything careless now and offend Captain Zhou..." Tao Wei looked at the two of them and winked at them while speaking.
"..." Seeing this, the two of them stopped talking and quickly took two steps to catch up with the others.
Even Ren Xuefeng and the others could feel the unusual low pressure in the team, especially Zhou Zhiguo, who was sitting in the front leading the way. He hadn't spoken for a long time, and even rarely stopped to rest. He almost always kept moving forward, carefully checking the traces along the way.
Although Zhou Zhiguo didn't say it, they all knew Chen Ruoruo's specialness and her importance to the base. Of course, they also saw Zhou Zhiguo's different attitude towards Chen Ruoruo. Although the outcome of the current situation was obvious to them, no one was willing to say it out loud.
"Captain Qi, do you think Ruoruo will be okay?" Xia Xiaoying finally couldn't help but ask, tears welling up in her eyes.
"Captain Qi, Ruoruo will be fine, right?" Li Xue also whispered from the side, her eyes also red.
"It's just... she's going to be okay, right?"
"No, she will be fine, right, Captain Qi..."
The other team members also couldn't wait to ask Qi Jiang. Since there had been no news about Chen Ruoruo, they were becoming more and more panicked and depressed.
They are even more unwilling to accept the possible established fact that keeps appearing in their hearts, and they urgently need someone to deny it and give them the confidence to deny the guess in their hearts that may be the truth.
Qi Jiang looked at Xia Xiaoying and the others' eager eyes, and for a moment she didn't know how to respond.
"Ruoruo, she will be fine..." Before Qi Jiang could answer, a voice suddenly sounded, firm and confident.
"..." Her voice was not small. Everyone stopped and turned to look at the person who spoke. Even though the sound might attract the mutant black bear hiding in the mountains, no one spoke out to blame her at this moment.
"She will be fine..." Ma Qian looked at all the eyes looking at her and confirmed again.
"Ma Qian, what did you find?" Han Xiao asked Ma Qian with a gloomy expression.
"Hasn't everyone noticed that we haven't encountered any mutant black bears after walking for such a long time? Moreover, this forest is too unusually quiet..." Ma Qian asked after glancing at everyone.
After hearing Ma Qian's words, everyone recalled what had happened along the way. Because they were concerned about Chen Ruoruo's safety, they were only focused on finding the wolf's footprints and then tracking them. Unknowingly, they ignored this problem.
"Yes, that's true. We didn't even hear the bear's roar. This shouldn't be the case..." Mu Jiao nodded and continued.
"Everyone knows about the mutant creatures around Ruoruo, the nine mutant animals, and the vines wrapped around her..." Ma Qian
"What does this have to do with it?" Xia Xiaoying asked immediately
"Although I don't know the reason, you should have noticed that both the mutated vines and the mutated animals around her are spontaneously protecting her. So, Ruoruo should be safe. If she really encounters an attack, the guys around her should protect her..." Ma Qian looked at the group and spoke slowly.
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