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Gu Xiaoxi naturally had this feeling.

But what could she do?

Even if they didn’t truly exterminate the Giant Rat, at the very least they needed to bring back the information they found here.

Kate knew all too well that so many soldiers from Yatang City had been sent here to investigate, only to lose contact.

The place was dangerous, but because they didn’t know what the danger was, they also wanted to prove their own strength.

So, it was impossible for him to return without achieving anything.

The International Alliance, they stood at the pinnacle of the world, possessing supreme authority.

They would never admit that they couldn’t bring back even a piece of information.

In the evening, everyone set up camp.

Kate personally led a team, then Gu Xiaoxi and Kang Wei each led a team too.

Three groups of people investigated the situation here from three different directions.

Gu Xiaoxi was the first to lead her team away.

She was assigned to investigate the valley opposite the rest area.

It was deep into the night and dead quiet; the valley was without a breeze, and the weather suddenly became oppressively hot.

Tang Yisheng glanced around and couldn’t help but sigh, "We’ve been in the Primitive Forest before. But we’ve never had this strange feeling like today."

"Yeah! Despite the hot weather, I feel chills running down my spine. Are we all having illusions?" Jing Haoran also widened his eyes, carefully looking around.

"Everyone just needs to be careful," Gu Xiaoxi simply reminded everyone repeatedly, just like Kate had.

So, the ten people, moving in a rhythmic march, slowly headed towards the valley not far away.

They hadn’t walked very far when they saw a pile of disorganized bones on the ground.

Gu Xiaoxi shone her flashlight on it, discovering that they were the bones of large animals like wild deer and buffalo. The flesh had been cleanly gnawed off!

"Judging by the looks of it, it must have been dead for some time!" Yun Xiao said with mixed feelings.

"That’s normal; there are many wild creatures in the forest, they need food. Tigers and lions survive by preying on them," Willy said nonchalantly.

In his view, finding animal bones in the Primitive Forest was nothing unusual.

Gu Xiaoxi, however, bent down to pick up a bone, examining it in her hand. There were obvious bite marks on the splintered bone! "This method of consumption is too violent; this does not look like the work of tigers or lions," she said.

Because normally, tigers and lions, being carnivores, would either break the bones or leave the skeletons intact.

At this moment, what they saw before them was a pile of violently gnawed remnants.

"What’s so strange about that? You don’t understand the world of animals. It’s quite normal for a few to die and their bones to be gnawed on. Maybe they were chewed by wild dogs," another team member from D state commented.

Gu Xiaoxi shone the flashlight around and didn’t refute the other person’s words. "Let’s continue forward! Can’t even see the moon tonight," she said.

"That’s true! It rained last night, and today was a clear day; there should have been a moon," Jing Haoran muttered to himself.

Following that, Gu Xiaoxi continued to lead the team forward.

Not much further on, they discovered another pile of gnawed bones. They looked nearly identical to the ones they had seen before.

Moreover, the tooth marks on many of the bones were very distinct.

"Could this area be the territory of wild dogs?" Che Junqing joked.

"Have some common sense; only lions and tigers choose a territory to reside in for a long time," Jing Haoran rolled his eyes.

The atmosphere became more lively as each person spoke, but Gu Xiaoxi looked up at the sky, the disgusting and spine-chilling sensation still persisting.

"Look, there are so many more bones here! And they are..." the person from D state who found the bones said.

His speech was clearly filled with horror.

Gu Xiaoxi immediately led everyone over, and they saw a dense mass of bones on the ground, among which were many human skulls.

These were human bones, and it was clearly distinguishable.

At the same time, Gu Xiaoxi found some metal objects among the pile of white bones. Items such as military canteens, rusted firearms, and bayonets.

It was certain that these were from the teams previously sent by Yatang City for investigation.

At this moment, everyone took off their hats, looking at the bones on the ground with eyes full of sorrow.

There was no need to guess; these were the remnants of the people who had perished here before.

"They really all died here, it’s too horrifying," Willy said, now truly scared.

He even thought he might die here as well.

Gu Xiaoxi clenched the gun in her hand, looked at the bones on the ground, and said to the others, "We continue forward!"

"Captain, the farther we go, the more unknown dangers there might be. Now that we’ve found so many bones, we should really head back," Willy’s companion, Danmai, said nervously.

Gu Xiaoxi’s expression was blank as she said, "Since thousands have died here, there must be more skeletons elsewhere. Let’s keep looking."

"Looking at the bite marks on those skeletons, it must be the work of the Giant Rat; how could they possess such lethal power? Those bones we saw earlier belonged to hundreds of people, a sizeable regular army," Jing Haoran spoke with a grave expression.

If things continued this way, wouldn’t these hundred people also be in danger?

"Nothing is impossible!" Gu Xiaoxi said indifferently, and soon they found another spot with skeletal remains.

At the same time, Kate, Feng Shuo, and others also discovered some skeletal remains.

Just as Gu Xiaoxi was about to move forward, Kate signaled for everyone to regroup and return.

In the temporary camp, Kate looked towards Gu Xiaoxi and Kang Wei and asked, "Did you find anything?"

Kang Wei and Gu Xiaoxi told them all they had seen, without omitting any detail.

After listening, Kate took out his communicator. There wasn’t a single signal, although the mountain was high, it shouldn’t have isolated them from the world like this.

Even so, the Military Department’s helicopters from Yatang City should have arrived.

Before he left, he had arranged with the mayor of Yatang City that if they lost contact, the city would immediately dispatch helicopters to join them in the operation.

But they had waited all afternoon, and still no helicopters came.

Kate fell into deep thought. He surveyed his surroundings for a while before suddenly deciding, "Let’s retreat!"

"Why?" Everyone was puzzled. It had been so difficult to get here, and now to go back seemed too hasty.

With so many Giant Rats, the people of Yatang City were still living in fear.

If they left, would this matter still be resolved!

"We have to go! Just take the weapons, equipment, and dry food. Leave everything else. Follow the original path back!" Kate immediately commanded.

Man-eating rats, thousands had died here.

To confirm that the thousands of people previously sent by Yatang City were killed by the Giant Rats was enough.

Now, they had the news.

He could lead everyone back safely.

He didn’t want these innocent people to die!

If they were to come back, he would bring the strongest team members from the International Alliance, who had undergone training and assessment, not a bunch of rookies...

As he spoke, everyone began to gather, preparing to leave this group of mountains.

Kate held the map, found the way they came, and led everyone quickly away.

Only, there was a problem with the path out.

It was unclear whether it was because they hadn’t seen the road clearly at night or hadn’t looked at the map properly.

They followed the map, and as they walked, they found themselves back at the starting point, and all communication devices were completely without signal.

Now, Kate was genuinely anxious.

They had lost contact with the outside world! The helicopter, scheduled for support by the mayor, hadn’t come despite a long wait.

Most importantly, they couldn’t find their way out now.

Gu Xiaoxi was also extremely perplexed; this kind of problem shouldn’t have occurred.

But when she used her own blood to ignite the Fire of the Blazing Sun to explore the way, she discovered that all she could see were these mountains and a distant valley.

Every other place was pitch-black, and she couldn’t even sense the slightest sound.

For a moment, she too was filled with questions.

Kate refused to believe he was trapped like this.

He immediately led the majority of the troops to continue on their way! Meanwhile, whenever they reached a new area, he used a pen to make a mark on a tree.

In the end, they still returned to their tent campsite.

When they ventured out for the third time, it was the same.

On the fourth attempt, they gave up on the map and tried different paths, but they still ended up back at the original spot.

At this point, everyone felt dejected.

By one o’clock in the middle of the night, Kate and everyone else were exhausted.

Finally, he gave up trying to leave again.

With a grave look, Kate turned to Feng Shuo and said, "What do you think?"

Feng Shuo was a formidable member of the International Alliance!

Kate trusted him deeply.

He tucked his weapon into his pocket, sat beside Kate, and said gravely, "This should be a maze-like forest."

"How so?" Kate asked.

Gu Xiaoxi, Kang Di, and the rest gathered around Feng Shuo, who drew a large circle with his dagger on the ground.

In the center of the circle, he drew a small circle and explained, "This small circle represents our current location. Suppose every path in the forest leads to this circle and there is only one entrance. Once we enter, it’s very difficult to find the exit."