Chapter 478: Are There Really Gods?

This made Wang Xinye shudder.

These doctors were gathered with great difficulty, and if they just disappeared in the mountains, he wouldn't be able to explain it... Just as Wang Xinye was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan, a voice suddenly sounded from the walkie-talkie:

"This is Search and Rescue Team Three, we’ve found something!"

Wang Xinye immediately picked up the walkie-talkie. "Speak."

Meanwhile, at the foot of a mountain tens of kilometers away from the base, a figure in camouflage slowly crouched down, observing the tracks on the ground with the surrounding team members while speaking in a deep voice:

"Based on the number of footprints and the weight of the supplies carried, these are the tracks of the exploration team... But how is this possible?"

"What do you mean?"

"This exploration team had a large number of personnel. In addition to the nine doctors and one guide, there was a full-strength armed fire support squad. An exploration team of this scale would inevitably leave tracks. But here, we haven't found any tracks of them coming here... It’s as if..."

"As if what?"

"As if they departed from the base and suddenly crossed a distance of tens of kilometers, appearing here out of thin air."

Wang Xinye paused. "You mean... they instantly crossed tens of kilometers of mountain roads and arrived at the deepest part of Shennongjia?"

"That seems to be the case for now."

The search and rescue team leader stood up, his gaze following the direction of the numerous footprints. "We will continue to search along the trail."

In the thick fog, the search and rescue team followed the exploration team's footprints. After walking for an unknown amount of time, a pungent smell of blood drifted into their nostrils, and their expressions turned grave.

Before long, a series of gruesome, mangled corpses appeared in their field of vision.

These bodies looked as if they had been attacked by some kind of beast; there were bite marks all over them. Even more bizarrely, several of the bodies showed signs of being burned. But in this deep, remote forest, what could possibly have burned people to such a state?

"We've found the bodies of the exploration team members." The leader took a deep breath before continuing his report. "The armed escort squad has been completely wiped out. All their firearms show signs of having been fired; they must have been in a fierce battle..."

"A battle? With whom?"

"I don't know. We didn't find any other bodies at the scene... However, whatever their enemy was, it certainly wasn't human."

"Were any bodies of the research staff found at the scene?"

"No, and we haven't found the guide's body either."

Hearing this, Wang Xinye let out a slight sigh of relief.

"The survivors seem to have been scattered... We will split into groups to search along their tracks. If nothing goes wrong, we should have results soon." The leader didn't specify what those "results" might be. After all, given the horrific scene before them and the fact that the armed squad had been annihilated, it was unlikely that a few untrained researchers without weapons could have survived.

Under the leader's orders, the search and rescue team split into three groups, heading in different directions to begin their search, maintaining contact via walkie-talkies.

But to their surprise, the three groups that had set off in different directions all ended up converging on the same location... When the leader and his team members emerged from the woods and saw the scene before them, everyone's pupils involuntarily contracted!

On the desolate clearing, a massive crater, as if caused by a meteorite impact, stretched for hundreds of meters. Cracks from the impact spread out like a tortoise shell, and even the surrounding trees had been uprooted and overturned...

Yet, in that terrifying crater, there was no sign of a meteorite. Instead, nine figures were floating in mid-air in nine distinct, bizarre postures, and an indescribable aura permeated the entire crater.

No meteorite in the crater, just nine people floating in the air?

At that moment, every member of the third search and rescue team was stunned. Even the leader, who had seen his fair share of major events, widened his eyes in disbelief, wondering if he were dreaming.

A few seconds later, the leader regained his senses and immediately spoke:

"What are you standing there for?! Save them!"

After saying this, as if remembering something, he turned to one of his members and said, "Quick, record this scene."

The third search and rescue team immediately sprang into action. Some were tasked with taking photos, while the others rushed forward to save the people. They used climbing ropes to secure the nine figures in mid-air, pulling them down to the ground one by one to check their vital signs.

The good news was that all nine were alive; they were just unconscious.

Upon receiving the news from the front, Wang Xinye felt both deeply unsettled and secretly relieved... Regardless of anything else, it was good that they were alive.

As the search and rescue team saved all nine and began transporting them out of Shennongjia on stretchers, the leader did not leave immediately. His gaze fell on another large crater not far away, and he walked over to it to observe it carefully.

"Leader, what's wrong?"

"Something's not right... The big one earlier was definitely a meteorite crater, but these holes here look like they were caused by artillery fire... No, that's not right either. The impact points aren't large; it looks like some kind of slender object with immense kinetic energy smashed into the ground, just like..." The leader imagined it in his mind and spoke uncertainly,

"...a spear?"

"A spear?" The team member instinctively touched the pistol at his waist.

"Not that kind of gun. A cold-weapon spear." The leader scanned his surroundings and quickly locked onto a nearby small mountain peak. "Let's go up there and take a look."

Led by the leader, the two quickly began climbing the small peak. Being members of the search and rescue team, they were in good physical condition and reached the summit in no time.

When they stood at the high vantage point and saw the situation around them, their mouths fell open involuntarily...

There wasn't just one crater.

The mountain wind whistled in their ears. The mountain range in the distance looked as if it had been riddled with holes by something; there were craters of all sizes everywhere. Even one mountain peak had been swept through the middle, leaving only a lonely half standing in the distance. Everywhere they looked, the entire mountain range was shattered...

It was as if a great battle had just taken place, shaking the earth and completely destroying the terrain. In the distance, there was even an entire mountain peak covered in some strange, magical-looking vegetation.

"This... here..." the team member said in shock. "What's going on? Did a god descend to earth??"

The leader didn't speak. His gaze seemed to have noticed something; a red butterfly-like slip of paper drifted down from the clouds... He instinctively reached out to catch it. The next moment, the paper spontaneously ignited in his palm and vanished in an instant.

The leader was stunned. He immediately looked up at the sky.

Amidst the misty clouds, a figure in red was walking out from among countless red butterfly-like paper slips, stepping on the sea of clouds and walking through the air toward the distance... The figure seemed to notice the leader's gaze and glanced down leisurely.

It was a pair of apricot-colored eyes. Just one look was enough to make the leader's mind go blank for a moment.

By the time he regained his senses and looked again, the figure in red had already passed into the sea of clouds and vanished without a trace...

"Could it be... that there really are gods in this world?"