Chapter 479: The Mysterious Director Chen

"Almost got seen..."

Chen Ling hid his figure in the clouds and mist, using the [Cloud Step] to walk straight out of the mountain range.

[Audience Expectation +2]

[Current Expectation: 22%]

Chen Ling hadn't expected that just by making eye contact with someone, he could trigger a small amount of audience expectation. Was it because his whereabouts had been exposed? Or would there be some butterfly effect later?

Chen Ling pondered for a moment before putting the matter aside. He had just happened to be seen while returning to the "stage," so it shouldn't have any major impact...

However, through that glance, he had also seen the search and rescue team rescuing the Nine Sovereigns, knowing that the trajectory of history was still proceeding as originally intended. The existence of himself and Ying Fu did not seem to have been discovered by the world.

"Finally got rid of that guy..." Chen Ling looked back at the mountain peak where Ying Fu had fled and let out a long sigh of relief.

The stumbling block that had prevented him from entering the Era Archive had been removed. Now that he had the ability to move freely in the modern era, he needed to think carefully about his next moves... Chen Ling pondered for a moment, took out a personal notepad from his pocket, and began to organize his thoughts.

Initially, Chen Ling had entered the Era Archive to see what had happened during the Nine Sovereigns' exploration. But after experiencing it all firsthand, he found that things were far more complex than he had imagined. It wasn't just the intervention of the Imperial God Path; the Nine Sovereigns themselves were full of mysteries.

Chen Ling wrote down several lines of characters on the notepad:

Yang Xiao (Aurora Sovereign), Doctor of Magnetic Field Domain;

Su Zhiwei, Doctor of "String Theory" research, has a unique understanding of parallel worlds, suspected of being able to manipulate the "String" movement of creation;

Lu Xun, Doctor of Astrophysics, initiator of the Red Star Fragment Exploration Project;

Wu Tongyuan, Doctor of Mathematics, weak-willed, a mascot dragged along by Lu Xun;

Dr. Lou, Doctor of Materials Science, actively asked Su Zhiwei about her understanding of "parallel worlds," left the team without authorization during the exploration, behaved abnormally, and even attempted to kill the mathematics doctor Wu Tongyuan. Suspected of being another transmigrator who returned to this era through unknown means;

Dr. Ji, Doctor of "God Particle" research, suspected of possessing the power to create wormholes and travel through time. He pursued Dr. Lou immediately after he left the team, followed by a fierce battle in the forest. He intervened to protect Wu Tongyuan when Dr. Lou tried to kill him, confirming his hostility toward Dr. Lou. Also suspected of being a transmigrator.

Chen Ling listed the six doctors he had interacted with during this event and recorded all their actions, falling into deep thought as he looked at their names.

Setting aside Yang Xiao for the moment, Su Zhiwei didn't seem to have any abnormalities. Lu Xun seemed to have sensed his uniqueness, and Wu Tongyuan... well, there was nothing to say about him. In the end, Chen Ling drew heavy circles around the names of Dr. Lou and Dr. Ji.

These two guys were definitely hiding some incredible secrets.

After thinking for a long time, Chen Ling added another line below:

Ying Fu, Imperial God Path, suspected 11th Sovereign, possesses the same Era Archive USB drive as himself, but has no conventional serial number, suspected of entering the archive through some special path...

After writing this line, Chen Ling used his pen to connect "Ying Fu" and "Dr. Lou," placing a "?" on their relationship.

Chen Ling clearly remembered that when Dr. Lou tried to kill Wu Tongyuan, he shouted into the forest, "What are you waiting for?" and then Ying Fu appeared, indicating that there must be some kind of cooperative relationship between the two.

"This is really tricky..." Chen Ling looked at the notepad and let out a long sigh.

"Regardless, let's find Yang Xiao first."

Among these nine people, the only one Chen Ling could trust right now was the Aurora Sovereign, Yang Xiao. No matter what Dr. Lou and Dr. Ji were planning, he had to find a reliable companion first and then try to win over the other Nine Sovereigns as much as possible.

With a clear goal in mind, Chen Ling's gaze fell on the search and rescue team retreating from the mountain range. The figure in red hid in the clouds and mist and vanished.

……

Several hours later.

Wang Xinye saw the third rescue team carrying stretchers out of the forest, and the stone that had been hanging in his heart finally dropped.

"Medical team, hurry!"

At Wang Xinye's command, the accompanying professional medical team rushed forward to take over. There were white tents in the base specifically prepared for medical purposes. Everyone moved the nine people from the stretchers into the tents and began busily checking their physical conditions, with all kinds of instruments turned on.

As the sounds of busy testing echoed inside the white tent, the atmosphere in the base was somewhat oppressive. Other staff members, like Wang Xinye, had personally seen the exploration team off and had watched their group photo before they left. But at the time, they never expected that a meteorite fragment exploration would end up like this... The entire team had been almost completely wiped out, with only these nine surviving.

"The others... have they all been accounted for?" Wang Xinye's voice was a bit hoarse.

"We have verified the bodies of the armed escort personnel one by one; they match the personnel list from when we departed... Only one person has neither been found as a body nor shown any signs of survival."

"Who?"

"The guide, Chen Li."

"The guide..." Wang Xinye frowned and pondered. "He's a local and familiar with the situation inside Shennongjia. Could he have taken advantage of the chaos and escaped?"

"But we didn't find any footprints of him escaping, and even if he had escaped, he should have returned here. It makes no sense for him to just go missing."

Wang Xinye rubbed his chin with one hand, lost in thought.

Just then, a figure came running over, his face deathly pale!

"Commander! Commander!!"

Both of them looked over and saw that it was one of the base's staff members. Wang Xinye said in a deep voice, "What's the rush?"

"W-we, we found the guide Chen Li in the forest behind us!"

"Oh?" Wang Xinye raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Then it seems this guide survived too... That's good news."

"That's not it, Commander! He was tied up with rope and hung from a tree branch in the forest, and his mouth was stuffed with cloth... If he hadn't struggled and broken the branch, falling down, we never would have discovered there was someone in that part of the forest..." The staff member swallowed hard, and his next sentence made the smile on Wang Xinye's face instantly freeze:

"He said he was knocked out and tied up before they even set off! He never entered Shennongjia at all!!"