Chapter 71
Chapter 71
Looking at his grandfather who appeared outside the door, Shi Tou rubbed his eyes and asked in confusion.
"Grandpa, why are you still awake so late? What do you want to talk to me about?"
As soon as Shitou finished speaking, he raised his head and looked at his grandfather.
"It's nothing. It's just that the uncle from Grandpa Dai's family up the mountain wants to see you. Grandpa wants to know if you can help them now."
Hearing Shitou's question, the village chief did not delay and spoke directly.
"Hmm? Help? What can I do for you?"
Shi Tou was now fully awake and did not avoid the village chief. He moved closer to the village chief, looked at the cell phone he was holding, and said in surprise.
"Village Chief, this?"
Not only Shi Tou heard the village chief's answer, but Captain Dai, who was held in the village chief's hand, also heard it.
"Oh, you're not home so often, so you probably don't know this. Our Shitou can communicate with animals. If the animals are gentle, they will listen to his advice."
The village chief didn't say too much, just gave a brief description.
Too many things have happened in the mountains recently. Someone in Shangyou Village has awakened their abilities. In addition, the village chief of Shangyou Village wants to send the younger generation of their village to Daxi Village to learn how to improve their abilities and control them.
This shows that the two village chiefs have been communicating quite a lot during this period. At least some of the more obvious abilities that can be demonstrated in Daxi Village are more or less known to the people in the upstream village.
Moreover, Shitou's ability cannot be hidden. He often talks to the animals in the village. In addition, he always carries a small, black, reflective snake on his body, making it difficult for people to ignore him.
However, Captain Dai was often out and seldom went home, and his daily conversations with his old man were not much more than casual chats.
So until now, he only knew that there was a person with special abilities in Shangyou Village, but his abilities were not strong. There were many people with special abilities in Daxi Village, but their village was xenophobic and they generally did not communicate too much with people from other villages.
In normal conversations, we would never talk about a little kid like Shi Tou.
"It's really amazing. Thank you for troubling the village chief."
After hearing the village chief's explanation, Captain Dai on the other end of the phone was a little surprised, but after he realized what was going on, he immediately expressed admiration.
"The stone's ability is really great. In a world where the world is changing and animals are out of control, the stone can communicate with those animals. It's really amazing."
Listening to the praise from the other end of the phone, Shi Tou's dark cheeks began to feel hot. He turned around and looked at the two big cats that were woken up by his getting up. At this time, they did not get out of bed, but just raised their heads and tilted them to look in his direction.
"Sure, I'm not that sleepy now. Uncle Dai, if we run into animals that can talk to me, please let me talk to them."
Stone nodded in agreement.
His ability is quite similar to that of the kid from Team Three, except that Stone's ability is more gentle. It gives Stone the affinity of a cub, allowing mutant animals to know he is not a threat the moment they come into contact with him, and they can relax their vigilance.
In addition, the stones can talk to them. Although they don’t recognize them at first, the animals have brains. After all, they have never learned anything and have never seen the human world, so they easily believe the cubs in their eyes.
With Shitou watching by the side, although the village chief did not find the godmother in Daxi Village to seek help as he had expected at the beginning, the unexpected surprise of finding Shitou also made Captain Dai very happy.
"Okay, don't worry, Shitou. We'll get there as soon as possible. Just take a rest and call us when we meet."
After getting Shitou's promise, Captain Dai did not delay.
They just arrived at the foot of Sangshan Mountain. The mountain was a bit steep and the off-road vehicle couldn't go up, so they had to walk.
They looked down at the direction where the first few frontline personnel had last appeared when they disappeared. It was still some distance away from their current location. Captain Dai and his team glanced in that direction, and without any extra words, they set off in that direction in tacit understanding.
They didn't make too much noise along the way, for they were afraid of attracting some mutant animals on the mountain. After all, they were here to find someone, and before they could determine the person's location and find out where the person was, they should not make any extra noise to attract the attention of those mutant animals.
Even though they knew that the animals had become more sensitive after the mutation, and even though they were very careful, they were still easily discovered by the mutated animals.
Their caution is probably just to comfort themselves, but one should always think more just in case, right?
With this idea in mind, the group walked towards the mountain and soon approached the approximate location where the three front-line personnel had disappeared.
Without saying a word, after a few simple gestures, the team dispersed around and began to search carefully.
It didn't rain these days, but because there is always some fog on the mountain in the morning, it is almost dawn. The ground on the mountain has become muddy because of the condensation of fog, and the leaves and other plants are covered with water droplets.
As they walked, water droplets from the grass leaves at their feet kept dripping onto the uppers of their shoes.
If they weren't wearing special military shoes, they would have been soaked with water by now.
"The most unpleasant thing on this mountain is the fog."
Seeing that the cloth on his arm was soaked, Tang Ji reached out and carefully rolled up his sleeves. He waited for a while, making sure that the mutated insects did not move towards his arms and hands, and then he felt relieved.
He controlled his own power and put it on the sleeves that he had just rolled up into a circle. After a while, the small circle began to emit water vapor.
It was obvious that Tang Ji felt uncomfortable when he saw his sleeves were wet and stuck to his body, so he wanted to dry them. Since he only had a small area that he could flexibly control, it was obviously easier to dry his sleeves by rolling them up.
Hearing his muttering, a team member who was not far away from him turned his head to look at him, then calmly rolled up his sleeves and imitated Tang Ji's ability to dry his sleeves.
He didn't put his sleeves down afterwards, but instead let his power attach to the arms with rolled-up sleeves.
His ability became an obstacle for Tang Ji and others because of long-term control, so even though his ability was electrical, he still controlled it very delicately.
It was just such a thin layer attached to his arm, coupled with the mist that fell on his arm and was constantly evaporated by his power, so that the insects that were about to land on his arm with the intention of sucking blood were electrocuted to death before they could get close.
After confirming that his method was effective, he turned to look at Tang Ji beside him and motioned him to follow suit.
Tang Ji looked at him, speechless. Their abilities were all different. If he had little flames all over his body, wouldn't that be like giving the surrounding plants a full-body SPA? If ordinary plants were set on fire by him, then he would be setting the mountain on fire and would just go back to squatting under the fence.
The mutant plants roasted by him thought he was provoking them and would definitely fight him to the death. He was here to find someone, not to cause trouble...
Thinking of this, he turned around and continued to quietly observe the area around him carefully. As he walked, steam continued to rise from his body. The steam was the mist that fell on him and was then evaporated again by him.
Looking from a distance, if you don't know, you might think there is a steam boiler over there.
The group gradually found an area where the surrounding rocks began to increase from an area with dense vegetation.
"This is the only place I haven't found yet."
Looking at the rocky area in front of him, he knew that Sangshan had become a quarry for some residents at the foot of the mountain for a special period of time before the mutation.
However, it has been abandoned for decades. The reason why people were able to mine stones on the mountain was because there were not many resources at the time. These stones became the main materials for the villagers living at the foot of the mountain to build houses.
But later, the country began to control nature and no longer allowed the environment here to be destroyed, nor did it allow people living at the foot of the mountain to come and quarry stones. Later, this place was abandoned.
Look at the stones scattered around and the plants growing around those stones.
Before the mutation, there were a lot of gravels here, and part of the mountain had been dug up, so the ground was all rocks and could not provide much nutrition. Therefore, there were not many plants growing here, and it looked like there was only a thin layer. But now, the plants around here seem to need no nutrition, and they are growing so lushly.
Come to think of it, the spiritual energy constantly floating in the air around here is the best nutrient for those plants.
"Be careful, there are more snakes and insects in these places."
Turning to look at his own team members, the captain turned around and whispered a word of advice.
His voice was not loud, but he was sure that his teammates could definitely hear it thanks to their enhanced hearing abilities.
Then he made a gesture and the crowd dispersed again.
This time they obviously came to the right place.
After carefully exploring the surroundings, the team gathered together and began to analyze the clues they found.
"I found many mutant animals in the cracks of the rocks here. Those mutant animals obviously saw me or sensed my presence around them, but they didn't actively attack me."
One team member whispered what he saw.
As soon as he finished speaking, he saw everyone around him nodding, and it was obvious that their clues were very similar.
"What I sensed with my ability here is that there are many mutant animals emitting power fields. There are many mutant animals."
Luo Sui squatted down, gently drew a circle on the map laid out by Captain Dai, and tapped it with his fingertips to indicate that this was the place.
"So what's puzzling to us is why these mutant animals clearly sensed our approach but didn't even think of attacking us."
"Could it be that he really has a good temper?"
Mo Shan turned his head to look at the location that Luo Sui pointed out on the map. That place happened to be a mountain wall with many potholes.
On the surface, there is really nothing special there, but if you say that there are many mutant animals hidden there, then it becomes interesting.
As for them, although they all have abilities, they are still inferior to mutant animals that are obviously stronger than them after mutation. And as Luo Sui said, there are obviously a large number of those mutant animals.
This is not something they can summarize in just one sentence.
"Aren't mutant animals territorial? How can they be so close to each other and still be so peaceful? It's so strange. This area is so strange."
Zhuang Dun looked up at the top of the mountain which was still some distance away and murmured softly.
Because there were mutant animals around, they didn't dare to risk making a loud noise, so they tried to keep their voices as low as possible when talking and discussing.
"Let's look for them. If all else fails, let's go up the mountain. Those mutant animals are ignoring us. The three frontline personnel ahead must have noticed this before they stayed here for too long and eventually disappeared."
Captain Dai said as he folded up the unfolded map.
They all carry electronic products with them, but when it is obvious that there is a need to discuss specific events, it is better to have something that can be seen directly on the surface.
For example, this map was specially applied for when it came out.
This is a new map, which was created after the frontline personnel were found missing and a satellite was used to look down at the ground.
Although nothing unusual was found on this map in the end, it can still be used as a reference for rescuers.
With doubts, their team wandered around the mountain for most of the day but found no useful clues.
Finally, when Captain Dai saw a mutant animal that was obviously not as powerful in attack coming out to look for food, he thought of Shi Tou and tried to find a way to attract it over and called Shi Tou.
Through the few words that Shitou said on the other end of the phone, combined with the constant body language and humming of the little fox in front of them, the team extracted a key word.
"There are treasures on this mountain, but you can only find them slowly in the mountains. If you take them out, they will be robbed."
Shi Tou told the results of his inquiry.
"Uncle Dai, are you guys in the mountains too? Are you looking for treasures like the little foxes?"
The child asked curiously.
Shitou had taken the children in the village to play treasure hunting games before, but the treasures they found were all brought out by the children from home. They had never gone out to the mountains to look for treasures.
"Well, it seems that it is only found on the mountain where Uncle Dai is now. There is no such thing around the mountain where we live."
When Captain Dai heard the child ask this, he directly told the result.
It's actually very easy to guess what the child is thinking. Just by asking this question, Captain Dai, combined with some of the content about children that he had heard from his old man before, was sure that Shitou was curious and wanted to go up the mountain.
The environment outside was very dangerous at that time, and we didn’t dare let the children go up the mountain alone.
Although Shitou is not an ordinary child, he has special abilities and can communicate with wild animals in the mountains.
Danger is danger, and it doesn't mean that a person won't get hurt just because he or she is strong enough or special enough.
"Okay, I get it. I definitely won't go up the mountain to look for treasures by myself."
Hearing Uncle Dai's words, Shi Tou lowered his eyes and answered with a hint of frustration in his voice.
"Okay, Shitou is the best. Uncle Dai still has work to do. Thank you for your help, little comrade Shitou. You are the most capable kid I know so far!"
Captain Dai praised Shitou as he spoke, and he praised Shitou so much that he was grinning from ear to ear, and his voice was filled with joy before he hung up the phone.
As long as Shi Tou's abilities remain and continue to grow stronger, perhaps in the future, even if Shi Tou does not join the official team, he will still be of great help to those who seek help from him.
So there is nothing wrong with the statement that Shi Tou is the most powerful kid Captain Dai knows.
Because Captain Dai still doesn't know any other children except the two children from his eldest brother's family.
"Let's go. You all heard what I said. Let's find the source. I have a feeling that the three missing people should also be around that so-called treasure."
Captain Dai said this, signaling everyone to start taking action.
As the sky grew brighter, Uncle Xiao followed the mark he had made at the beginning and returned to the place where he fell.
At this moment, he looked up and could clearly see the hole above him emitting the light of day.
For some reason, he felt like the frog he learned about in elementary school textbooks.
The only difference is that his state of mind is that he knows the vastness of the outside world, and he is just trapped here temporarily.
"Fortunately, the fever is gone. I should be able to hold on."
He squatted next to the two front-line staff in front, reached out and touched their foreheads, took their temperature, and was relieved after confirming that their fever was not as high as when he first discovered them.
The temperature has dropped, and apart from anything else, there is no need to worry that they will die from a high fever due to their injuries.
"What's in this passage? Why are there so many forks and why are they so strange?"
He observed the sky outside through the cave entrance, lowered his head to calibrate the time, and after making sure that there was no problem, he turned around and continued to explore the inside of the passage.
The reason why he calibrated the time was that ever since he fell into these passages, his electronic products had a tendency to malfunction. The electronic screen kept flashing, and finally stopped working completely when he passed through an unknown passage.
In the end, he could only tell the time by the mechanical watch on his wrist, which he usually used as a decoration.
This mechanical watch is just for decoration. He usually doesn't pay much attention to the time, so it often runs a little slower because it can't keep up with the normal time.
Because it has not been calibrated for a long time, it has become much slower.
At this time, he could only make an approximate calibration by looking at the sky. Being able to distinguish day and night and roughly knowing the time was already very good.
Uncle Xiao is still not sure when the official search and rescue personnel will come here to find them, so he doesn't put all his hopes on external rescue.
It was obvious that he couldn't climb up to the cave entrance above, so he gave up. He now wanted to find a cave entrance that would allow him to exit.
These passages are interconnected, and he doesn't believe that the only passage leading to the outside world is the one above!
Uncle Xiao had just arrived here after receiving the exploration mission. He fell down before he could discover the herds of mutant animals on the other side of the mountain wall, so he had no idea that the inside of the passage was not what he saw on the surface.
The entire passage seems to be quiet, but there are often mutant animals running around looking for the treasures in their mouths.
Because they were looking for treasures, they had no time to meet Uncle Xiao. Those carnivores also looked down on the little meat on Uncle Xiao's body and simply bypassed him.
The mutant animals unanimously ignored the other humans in the passage, so Uncle Xiao still didn't realize that there were other living creatures in these passages, and he could only wander around blindly.
The fox, who had been intercepted by the team and given delicious food and had a friendly chat with Shi Tou, was now digging something in a passage.
When you hear the slightest movement, you will prick up your ears alertly and tilt your head towards the source of the sound to make sure you can hear it more clearly.
After waiting for a long time, he was sure that it was not the mutant animals with stronger abilities who came out to look for treasures, but the stupid human who was always wandering around in the passage but didn't find any treasures.
It let down its guard and continued to dig with its head down. After a while, it finally dug out a very transparent crystal-like object from the place it was digging, picked it up skillfully, and chose a passage farthest from Uncle Xiao to walk quickly.
That human was so stupid, it didn't want to be infected by him. It would be troublesome if it became stupid too. The fox aspired to be the smartest fox. If it was infected by a stupid person, its life would probably be ruined.
Thinking about it, it became more and more convinced of its action of taking a detour to stay away from stupid humans.
There are many mutant animals who think the same way.
Including the two injured front-line personnel who were being taken care of by Uncle Xiao, they were also objects of disgust by the mutant animals.
They don't understand why these humans choose the most dangerous passage when there are so many entrances to it. I heard that the two humans who were thrown and unable to move have been completely turned into idiots.
This rumor spread like wildfire throughout the mutant animal circle in Sangshan, which also led to fewer mutant animals wanting to meet Uncle Xiao.
Although their reputation was damaged, it was fortunate that the mutant animals on the entire Sang Mountain were relatively mild-tempered, just as Captain Dai's team refused to believe at the beginning. They had a stable source of power enhancement and had no conflicts with humans.
As long as you don't provoke them, they will be busy strengthening their strength and will not pay any attention to the humans coming here.
Except for those mutant animals that are still in their infancy, other animals will not be very curious about humans.
In addition, the mutant animal cubs are now kept at home by their parents, who talk about how bad and stupid the two-legged animals outside are every day, so they gradually lose their curiosity about humans.
The cubs don't want to learn from humans and become bad animals, nor do they want to become stupid animals because of human infection.
Therefore, staying away from humans is the first survival lesson that adult mutant beasts teach their cubs.
This is something left over from their instinctive inheritance. Because of the mutation, the abilities of these mutated animals have become stronger, and their cubs seem to have a slightly weakened inheritance of vigilance against humans. Knowing how cunning humans are, they spare no effort to think of the bad things about humans to keep their cubs away from humans.
Uncle Xiao didn't know that in the eyes of the mutant animals around him, he was just a fool and a two-legged beast that could spread stupidity. He was squatting on the ground, groping for something.
Ever since he fell into this passage, he has been constantly searching for an exit.
After confirming that there were no traces of human activity inside the passage, he looked at the environment without any doubts. Even when he saw that the rock walls, ground, etc. inside the passage were somewhat irregular, he thought it was a natural formation and that mutant animals had chosen it as a nesting ground, so he did not pay much attention to it.
But when he was bored and walked through a passage he had walked through before, he found that the shoe prints on the ground where he had walked before were gone.
Looking at the ground that was exactly the same as if I had never walked on it before.
If he wasn't sure that his memory was excellent and he wouldn't make any mistakes, he would have doubted his memory.
"What on earth is going on?"
Looking at the gravel on the ground, he reached out and dug it out.
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