The video, which lasted only a few minutes, was quickly played.
You look at me and I look at you. The group of people frowned and remained silent for a long time.
After a while, Zhao Zhengping finally spoke, temporarily breaking the silence: "I remember, your name seems to be Xiao Xie, right!"
"Please, please zoom in on the scene in the video just now where the human creature took out the cigarette and lit it, and then pause it."
"I always feel that his actions seem a bit familiar!"
……
Those really big bosses are generally quite amiable when dealing with lower-level employees.
On the contrary, the lower-level managers are much stricter with their subordinates and always like to put on a bad face.
When his eyes fell on Xie Guangming, Zhao Zhengping's expression softened slightly, and he deliberately put on a smile.
"Okay, Chief!" Xie Guangming responded with a nod, and he quickly started operating.
Soon, the action of the charred humanoid monster taking out a pack of cigarettes and lighting one was magnified more than ten times and clearly displayed on the big screen.
"King Furong?"
"Although the monster's face looks equally dark, if you look closely, it seems to be very similar to Mr. Jiang who entered Death Valley a few years ago!"
"After your reminder, it seems to be true. If I remember correctly, Mr. Jiang is a heavy smoker and always likes to smoke Furong Wang. The way he looks when he smokes is exactly the same as this humanoid monster."
< br>
"Could it be that..."
Among the people in the headquarters at this moment, in addition to Zhao Zhengping and Yang Guoping, there are several people who have been stationed here and had seen Jiang Yao before.
The video captured by the drone in the sky was not specially enlarged when it was played before.
But now, the scene that was enlarged and paused on the big screen once again came into view.
Not only the dark face of the humanoid monster, but also the pack of cigarettes in its hand, everyone could see clearly.
Several people spoke one after another, connecting what they said together. Inadvertently, an incredible guess appeared in everyone's minds out of control.
"That kind of mantis-man monster can split its daughter bodies and parasitize on corpses. When they successfully parasitize and truly transform, they will show the face of the person they parasitized in life. This is a fact that we have already known."< br>
"Although the face of the unknown humanoid monster is highly similar to Mr. Jiang, perhaps for similar reasons, it does not mean that it must be him."
"After all, Mr. Jiang has not been seen for four or five years after entering Death Valley. If something happens to him there, there is a high possibility that he will be parasitized by those monsters."
"We must treat this matter carefully."
"There happen to be two hunting teams here at the camp, and they have just entered that area."
"If you encounter the unknown humanoid monster captured by the drone, you can test it for a while. If you find anything wrong, you can allow them to shoot directly."
"That's right, no matter whether the monster is Mr. Jiang or not, we absolutely cannot gamble with the lives of our subordinates. I definitely agree with this proposal!"
"Second!"
"Second!"
……
With a heavy look on his face, Zhao Zhengping spoke first.
After he started, several other people present expressed their opinions one after another.
Soon, they had reached a consensus and made a decision.
With the headquarters as the center, their orders were conveyed layer by layer. Soon, they had reached the ears of everyone in the camp.
Jiang Yao naturally knew nothing about what happened in the camp.
At this moment, he had just killed a mantis monster, and he was still in a state of confusion.
“When I entered Death Valley, I only stayed for four or five days at most!”
"The mantis people active outside are expanding so fast? My current location is nearly five kilometers away from the entrance of Death Valley. How can I still encounter such a monster here?"
"There are still this number. I didn't even bother to search for them when I came here. There are already nearly twenty mantis monsters that died in my hands."
"Such a big change can happen in just a few days. In the past few years, most of the entire Qing Province might have been occupied by those weird things!"
……
After completely erasing the mental imprint left by the mantis man he had just killed, Jiang Yao stood up from the ground.
He rubbed his head, and his two brows were already furrowed into a straight line.
He has always disliked meddling in people who have nothing to do with him. Even if he is beaten to death in front of him, he will just watch with cold eyes and will never have the idea of going to help.
But now, after seeing that the expansion speed of the mantis monster could really destroy all living beings, his mood became obviously heavier.
Inadvertently, he had reached the location of the camp in his memory.
There were broken bricks and tiles everywhere, and the former camp had long been turned into ruins. Jiang Yao didn't see the shadow of the troops stationed here. Instead, they were mantis monsters. He encountered another one and was killed by him casually.
"I went into Death Valley and stayed there for a few more days."
"Could it be that Zhao Zhengping and others stationed here were wiped out again?"
"When I left, Zhu Mingxu stayed in the camp. With his strength, ordinary Mantis people should be no match for him."
"He was sitting in the camp and was attacked by the mantis people. He couldn't resist it for three or five days. This is illogical and shouldn't be done at all!"
……
Originally, Jiang Yao, who was covered in black and looked very embarrassed, was not going to go back to the camp directly.
However, after he walked nearby and saw that the camp in his memory had become like this, he finally frowned and stepped into this area.
After walking around, the doubts in his heart not only did not subside, but actually became much stronger.
"The greater the ability, the greater the responsibility!"
"The area of activity of those mantis monsters has expanded to here. Zhao Zhengping and the others who were originally stationed here seem to have had something happen to them, and they are probably in danger."
"The drone that was spying on me at the entrance of Death Valley should have come from the team re-sent from above."
"I don't know how far away they are, they are monitoring this area."
"But just monitoring can't stop those monsters from expanding, so it's useless."
"Forget it, I am compassionate, so I will help them. Don't be in a hurry to go back for the time being. Let's clean up this area!"
……
Jiang Yao sighed softly and muttered a few words in his heart.
Having already reached the old camp, he turned around and plunged into a small jungle following the path he came from.
After Jiang Yao left, less than half an hour later, a fully armed and unmanned team came from a distance and appeared in this abandoned camp.
"Everyone, be careful and search the area."
"Remember, the monster's weakness is its legs." "Although our X-type armor-piercing bullets are very powerful, they can directly break the monster's legs and make it lose the ability to move, but if it hits the Those parts covered by carapace can barely break through the defense, and it is difficult to cause any fatal injuries.”
"If something goes wrong and the monster gets close, our team, just like Lao Tian and others a few days ago, will probably be wiped out!"
……
The speaker is called Lu Jinwang.
With a thick head and dark skin, this guy gives off an extremely tough look at a glance.
Whether it is him as the captain or the other team members, even if they are not the king of soldiers in the army, they are definitely at the top elite level.
After all, if you want to hunt that kind of mantis monster, you need not only good marksmanship and psychological quality, but also very strong tactical literacy.
If a person with no real ability joins the hunting team, not only will he lose his own life, but he may also harm his teammates.
"Don't worry, head."
"This is not the first time we have come here to hunt mantis people. We know very well how to do it."
"I'll search the west, Curly Hair, Old Cat, you guys can explore other directions!"
The young man with a scar spoke first and nodded.
After greeting several companions, he crouched, holding a gun, and walked cautiously towards the west.
The remaining people looked at each other and nodded, then each chose a direction with the same tacit understanding and began to explore.
On their faces, they wore biological goggles specially designed for hunting mantis men.
The body temperature of that kind of monster is the same as that of a dead corpse. It does not have the body temperature that normal creatures should have. However, there is a special kind of creature in them that can continuously escape to the outside.
This kind of goggles can sense that special energy, allowing members of the hunting team to immediately discover the existence of those mantis monsters.
Four or five years ago, when the mantis monster first appeared, it could directly destroy a regiment stationed here. This is indeed a fact.
But now, with so many specimens, after so many years of research, and with the help of technology, major research institutes in the Federation have naturally developed many tools specifically for the Mantis Man.
For example, this kind of biological goggles, or the X-type armor-piercing bullets, were born to deal with the mantis monster.
"Head, we found something..." Looking at the several team members who were scattered and searching in all directions, Lu Jinwang was in the middle, ready to provide support at any time.
Twenty or thirty meters away, a low shout from the scarred young man fell into his ears, and he shot straight towards it like a rabbit being shed.
It wasn't just him, several old curly cats in other directions also heard the noise here, and they seemed to be running over.
"A mantis corpse, who did it?"
"The legs are intact, but a fatal wound on the chest shattered the carapace and penetrated directly through the monster's entire body.
"No hunting team in the camp can do this. There must be someone else who kills this mantis!"
"That's right, if it had been done by another team, they would have definitely brought the monster's body back to the camp and wouldn't have left it here without care!"
"There may be unknown enemies, please be careful!"
……
In just a few seconds, Lu Jinwang and several other team members had gathered near the scarred youth.
Looking at the mantis monster corpse on the ground, several people frowned and started talking in low voices.
When the monster was first killed, its body contained some unknown virus that could infect humans and animals, gradually turning them into mantis-men step by step.
Only after waiting for a period of time, and after the monster's body shows signs of decay and is no longer alive, will the virus completely disappear, allowing ordinary people to touch it normally.
After joining the hunting team, the instructor in the camp had already informed Lu Jinwang of these common sense things.
At this moment, the corpse lying on the ground looked indeed no longer alive, but Lu Jinwang and others still tested it several times. After confirming that the thing was safe, they squatted down and inspected the monster corpse. .
"Head, before we entered this area, wasn't there news from above that there was an unknown humanoid monster coming out of Death Valley?"
"Tell me, is it possible that the death of the mantis man in front of me was caused by that unknown monster?"
The monster's body was inspected several times by several people.
As a member of the hunting team, Lu Jinwang and the others naturally knew how abnormal the defense power of the carapace on the mantis man was.
The wound in front of him that shattered the carapace and penetrated the mantis man's entire body was already a bit chilling just by looking at it.
Among the people, the guy nicknamed Curly Hair took a deep breath and guessed.
"This area is tightly defended. No one else will enter this area except our hunting team."
"It is indeed possible that the mantis man in front of me died at the hands of the unknown humanoid monster."
“The big guys above don’t know what they think.”
"The order we received actually said that when we encounter the unknown humanoid monster, we cannot attack first. We must first test and call Mr. Jiang."
"Originally, our team's mission was to hunt down a mantis monster and bring it back to the camp to meet the needs of the research institute. But now, searching for the whereabouts of the unknown humanoid monster has become our top priority!"
……
With a bitter look on his face, Lu Jinwang couldn't help but let out a long sigh when he said this.
The more unknown something is, the greater the risk it contains.
With his team members, he just hunted some lone mantis monsters. He was already familiar with the process, and generally speaking, there was not much risk.
But now, when searching for traces of the unknown humanoid monster, if you really want to find something, you can't attack first, you have to tentatively call Mr. Jiang...
For Lu Jinwang and others, this is no different than tying their heads to their belts.
"This order from above is indeed a bit stupid."
"There's nothing we can do, head!"
"We are soldiers and it is our duty to obey orders."
"No matter what the reason is, since it is said so, no matter how dissatisfied we are, we can only do it."
……
After Lu Jinwang finished speaking, the scarred young man and Curly Hair also looked helpless and let out a long sigh.
But depression is just depression, things have to be done after all.
"Leave this mantis corpse here, don't worry about it for now."
"Since it is likely to die at the hands of the unknown humanoid monster, let's not delay any longer and just follow it all the way."
"With luck, if we can find something, we will also have an explanation for the camp."
"At that time, we will go back the same way and go back directly with this body!"
After a silence, Lu Jinwang stood up.
After greeting several teammates, he stepped forward and headed forward. (End of chapter)