Liu Lijun froze for a moment, thinking she had misheard, but then that voice sounded again from the radio receiver.
"Can anyone hear me?"
It was impossible to tell whether the voice belonged to a man or a woman. It was unclear, with plenty of static.
Liu Lijun hurriedly replied, "I hear you. Who are you? Where are you? Are you trapped?"
The radio receiver emitted a burst of static. After a moment, the voice appeared again.
This time, it was a string of laughter.
"Hee hee hee hee hee hee..."
"Come find me. Come find me."
Liu Lijun's expression changed when she heard that voice.
Her eyes grew blank and dull.
She replied mechanically, "Okay, I'll come find you. Where are you?"
A moment later, she got out of the vehicle. Her eyes were vacant as she walked toward the ruins of a building nearby, as if sleepwalking.
In the blink of an eye,
evening had arrived.
"That's enough."
Lu Hongyun wiped away his sweat and contacted Captain Luo Yan through the communicator.
"Captain Luo Yan, we've collected enough specimens. We can head back."
"Good."
Luo Yan quickly replied, "We're returning to base."
Lu Hongyun put away the communicator and controlled the robot as it returned to the vehicle.
Lu Xinyue had already climbed into the armored vehicle ahead of him. Then she poked her head back out through the door.
"Dad, Sister Jun isn't in the vehicle."
Lu Hongyun froze, then picked up the communicator and switched to the team's private frequency.
"Lijun?"
"Lijun, where are you? Please respond if you can hear me."
He called several times in succession, but no one answered. Lu Hongyun began to panic and shouted toward the surroundings, "Did any of you see Liu Lijun?"
All the assistants shook their heads. They