Chapter 329: Alive

As the shutter made a soft sound, this light-and-shadow image that would be passed down for hundreds of years was frozen in Chen Ling’s hand. Except for Chen Ling, no one knew what this photo meant... and no one could imagine what kind of existences these nine people in the photo would become.

"Alright, let's go!"

None of the nine researchers looked at the photo. At this moment, they only had that mysterious meteorite fragment in their hearts; the beauty or ugliness of the photo didn't matter at all.

After Chen Ling handed the camera to a military member, he quickly followed their figures.

Following the research team into the mountains was a special operations team of more than thirty people. They were equipped with the most advanced firepower weapons and communication equipment, protecting the nine people and Chen Ling in the center, looking serious and vigilant of their surroundings. All guns were already loaded.

Chen Ling glanced at the time; there were three hours left until the save file went offline.

As the group went deeper, the bright tent area behind them gradually disappeared into the pitch-black forest. The wailing cold wind and fine rain hit the transparent masks of the protective suits, making the vision somewhat blurry...

Everyone was walking with their heads down, and the world was so quiet that only the sound of their own breathing inside the masks remained.

"Radio signal test."

In the dead silence, Lu Xun’s voice suddenly sounded from inside everyone’s masks. "Report numbers in order of ID."

“1。”

“2。”

“……”

“10。”

After Lu Xun finished speaking, everyone reported their numbers in order of their protective suit IDs. Chen Ling, as the guide, was the last one, which was number "10."

After confirming that everyone’s signals were normal, Lu Xun spoke again:

"Everyone, pay more attention to your feet, be careful not to step into a hole or trip, and then listen to me..."

"According to satellite positioning, the location of the meteorite fragment is five kilometers deep in the mountains. It is expected to take two and a half hours on foot. However, according to the situation of the first two teams, after going deep for at most twenty minutes, our communication with the outside world is likely to fail. Whether the internal radio can be used is uncertain."

"No matter what happens, stay calm first, always pay attention to the companions in front of and behind you, and never get separated from the main force."

"Although detecting various indicators around the fragment is important, prioritize your own safety."

Perhaps the atmosphere of the wind-and-rain-swept deep mountains was too oppressive, and these scholars who had been immersed in scientific research for years were a bit unaccustomed to it. They were concentrating on their feet, and only Su Zhiwei and another unfamiliar scientist replied that they had received it.

Chen Ling’s gaze looked through the mask, scanning the surroundings. He didn't see anything unusual in his field of vision...

He was also very strange. The Red Star fragment was just a dead object. If so, how did the first two exploration teams disappear? Even if they got lost in the mountains, they wouldn't be unable to come out for so long, right?

The group moved forward in silence and vigilance. During this process, Chen Ling would take out his phone from time to time to check the time.

What he was confirming this time was not the time he would go offline... but the time the team lost contact.

In Dr. Yi’s account, ten minutes after the Nine Lords’ research team started exploring, they lost contact with the outside world. That is to say, at the critical node of ten minutes, something must have happened.

"Director Chen, do you have any urgent matters?"

Lu Xun, who was walking beside Chen Ling, saw the phone screen light up repeatedly and asked suspiciously.

"...No." Chen Ling shook his head. "I just wanted to confirm if the signal with the outside world was cut off."

Lu Xun was even more suspicious. "In such deep mountains, there shouldn't be any signal on the phone anyway, right? Director Chen, what kind of phone do you have that has such a good signal?"

Chen Ling: ...

Just as Chen Ling was about to continue making things up, he suddenly sensed something and stopped.

Buzz—!!

Half a second later, a harsh buzzing sound came from inside everyone’s masks. The radio seemed to come alive and screamed wildly. It wasn't the kind of "howl" caused by a microphone and speaker touching each other; this was a sharp, fluctuating, and changing sound, like equipment wailing.

Everyone covered their ears in pain at the same time, and blood seeped from their ears. Chen Ling slapped his mask the first moment to cut off the power to the headset, but the others were not so lucky.

This sharp wailing seemed to be able to penetrate the soul. Everyone was in so much pain that they couldn't think, let alone react to turn off the headsets. Seeing this, Chen Ling didn't hesitate to rip off all their masks and throw them to the ground!

"Shoot!!" Chen Ling shouted at the people with guns beside him. "Shoot at the radio equipment!"

Chen Ling’s shout made a few of them come to their senses. With their heads buzzing, they subconsciously pulled the triggers!

Da da da da da—

Tongues of fire spat in the dark night, and sparks splashed on the ground. Within seconds of the strafing, all the radio equipment was completely scrapped, and the sound that seemed to pierce the soul stopped abruptly.

But even so, everyone was already bleeding from their seven orifices... Strangely, the nine researchers who didn't exercise much were the ones with the lightest symptoms, while several of the well-trained special forces soldiers had already been shocked into unconsciousness.

"Damn it... what was that just now? Electromagnetic howling??" Lu Xun asked hoarsely while wiping away a nosebleed.

"No, definitely not." Yang Xiao looked at the scrapped communication equipment on the ground, his expression extremely grave. "Normal howling is due to the positive feedback of electrical signal loops. Logically, the frequency shouldn't fluctuate on a large scale... The sound just now was definitely not produced by this principle."

"Then what was it?"

"I don't know, but it must be some kind of extremely special magnetic field... Deep in this forest, there is a powerful and special magnetic field source that continuously affects all communication equipment, and this magnetic field will change like a living thing, just like... just like it's roaring."

Yang Xiao was, after all, an expert in magnetic fields. Even though he was already bleeding from his seven orifices, he still calmly analyzed the cause of the phenomenon just now.

Chen Ling looked coldly at the wreckage of the communication equipment on the ground. He knew Yang Xiao was right.

The current Yang Xiao was not yet the Lord of Aurora and naturally had no ability to perceive magnetic fields, but in the second before the electromagnetic roar occurred, Chen Ling clearly sensed an unusual electromagnetic fluctuation... Most importantly, even he, who could control electromagnetic induction to a certain extent, could not erase this roar.

Deep in this forest, there was something constantly emitting a terrifying, living magnetic field!

Wu Tongyuan, who was walking at the very back, was already pale with fright. He tremblingly reached out to wipe his face, only to find his hand full of crimson, and immediately suppressed a scream:

"It's that meteorite fragment!!"

"It must be that meteorite fragment... It's alive! It's alive!!"