novelhk Chapter 86 Insiders
Chapter 86 Insiders
The snarling smell was like rotten flesh mixed with rust, heavier than last week's snort and three days ago. The abrasive feeling was like countless claws digging at the edges, pressing the smell layer by layer into the soil, drilling into the nasal cavity and making one feel tight.
The one-legged creature stopped to his left, tilted its nose slightly to the south, lowered its ears instantly, and darkened its gaze.
Chen Fei glanced at it from the side.
One-Legged turned his gaze from the south to Chen Fei, pointed south with his chin, then pointed northwest, repeating the same gesture, conveying the same meaning: "The pressure from the south is also being felt upstream."
Chen Fei stood on the north side of the uplift line for a long time, his front paws unconsciously scratching the ground, mentally mapping out the scent distribution from the south. The Cleft Mouth hadn't crossed the line today, but the density of its scent was nearly a third higher than last week, suggesting that more individuals were active on the south side of the uplift line.
The quantity is increasing.
Or the frequency of activity is increasing.
Neither of these are good news.
Chen Fei made up his mind, turned around and walked towards his landing spot, no longer looking to the south, his tail sweeping in an arc behind him.
The one-legged lion caught up and walked a dozen steps before stopping on the southern outskirts of its landing spot. It let out a series of low roars, calling the two lionesses to its side. The three lions then stood side by side again, facing northwest, ready to return upstream.
Chen Fei stood at the southern edge of their landing spot, watching them leave.
After walking about twenty meters on one leg, he suddenly stopped, turned around and glanced in Chen Fei's direction. It was just a glance, without making a sound. His amber eyes gleamed briefly in the dim light, then he turned and continued walking, leading the two lionesses into the twilight grass. The grass closed up, obscuring their figures.
[Host: Chen Fei]
[Identity: Sub-adult male lion]
[Energy Points: 918↑]
After eating and resting, we entered the tent at six o'clock.
As evening fell, the survey team's camp gradually quieted down, with only the sound of the wind sweeping through the tents remaining.
Morris's canvas backpack leaned against the tent entrance, neatly arranged, all straps fastened securely, the bottom flat against the ground without wobbling. Marcus sat at the folding table, pen nib sliding across his notebook, carefully completing today's equipment inspection report. He snapped the pen cap shut with a "click," then looked up at Morris.
"What time will the car arrive?"
"Seven o'clock tomorrow morning." Morris put the satellite communication equipment into the waterproof bag, zipped it up quickly, and shoved it into the side pocket of his backpack with a "click". "Ella and Caller are coming with me. You stay and wait for me until I get back."
Marcus closed the notebook, tapped his fingertips on the cover, and said, "Okay."
Morris zipped up the side pocket of his backpack again to make sure it wouldn't come undone, then sat down in the folding chair, placing his hands on the table and tapping his knuckles lightly. "After you found that line of text yesterday, did you tell Kenneth about it?"
"No." Marcus paused, his fingertips tracing the edge of the notebook. "I wrote it directly into the notebook. I didn't tell anyone before you brought it up at the meeting this morning."
Morris nodded. "Okay."
"Maurice," Marcus pushed the notebook onto the table, making a slight scraping sound, "who do you think left that line of writing?"
Morris looked up from the satellite communication device, stared at Marcus for a moment, and didn't answer immediately. The night wind outside the camp swirled the grass blades, slapping them against the tent fabric with a soft thud before returning to silence.
"I don't know," Morris finally said, his voice perfectly calm, "but I know it appeared precisely in the right place and at the right time."
Marcus suppressed those words in his mind, his brow furrowing slightly, "If it's an insider..."
"If he's an inside man, what does he want?" Morris countered, his fingertips tracing the strap of his backpack. "Tell us to bypass that area? We've already explored that area; we didn't find anything, so it doesn't affect us."
“But Marcus,” he paused, taking his backpack from the doorway and holding it on his lap, the rough texture of the canvas seeping through his trousers, “if it wasn’t an insider, how did that line of writing end up next to the boundary marker?”
Marcus didn't answer, but just looked down at the table, his fingers unconsciously curling up.
Morris put his backpack back by the door, stood up, unzipped the tent door, and stepped out with a "whoosh." The night wind immediately rushed in, carrying the coolness of the grassland.
The night wind bent the grass in the camp into an arc, and a page of the notebook on the folding table was flipped open with a "whoosh" before being pressed back down by the wind. Marcus sat at the table for a while, picked up the flashlight, turned it on, and the beam swept around the perimeter of the camp. Finding nothing unusual, he turned down the brightness of the tent light, casting a dim yellow light on the table. He picked up the notebook, turned back to today's page, paused, and added a sentence below the last line:
Morris will leave the team tomorrow. He'll be stationed alone for the first day.
He closed his notebook, placed the flashlight on the table, turned off the tent light, and sat down in the darkness.
Record-keeping is something that people like them must do; if they were to disappear one day, this would be the most important clue.
The night wind on the grassland pressed down on the distant reeds, creating a long, rustling sound that drifted in from the northwest, carrying the scent of grass and trees and swirling inside the tent.
On their landing spot, while everyone's attention was focused on the joint patrol, Big Head sneaked to the base of the bushes. He quickly dug up the hole that Stray B had buried that evening, picked out the bone fragment with some tendons, and darted into the tall grass behind Sel. He buried his head low and chewed on it with gusto, the bone fragments falling down his chin.
When the wandering man returned from his patrol, he first ran to the roots of the bushes, sniffing the ground with his nose and digging deeper into the pit with his claws, turning the ground upside down. Finally, following the scent, he found himself behind Sel, and immediately saw Big Head chewing on the last piece of bone with his mouth full, his eyes narrowed. When he saw him coming, Big Head deliberately raised his head and looked innocently at the sky, as if the theft had nothing to do with him.
The stray dog let out a low growl, filled with discontent, and took a step forward with its paw.
Big Head quickly swallowed the bone fragments, his throat moved, he stood up, and casually took three steps to the side, sitting down at a distance that Stray B couldn't reach. He began to lick his paws, the "rustling" sound of his tongue licking his fur clearly audible, as if to say, "I didn't do anything."
The stray stared at him for a while, then sighed heavily, lay down, rested its head on its front paws, closed its eyes, but its ears were still twitching slightly.
No way.
The place where we landed fell silent again, with only the sound of the wind sweeping through the grass.
The wind from the south brought the smell of cracked lips, making it even stronger. It settled deep within the night wind, like a heavy stone, pressing down on one's heart.
Chen Fei lay prone in the grassy hollow on the north side of the ridge, his forelimbs pressed against the ground, his nose twitching slightly as he rubbed the rusty smell into his nostrils again and again.
The population of the split-mouthed race is definitely increasing.