"Chirp, chirp..."
A burst of birdsong suddenly rang out in the distance. Wang Jing and the others turned toward the sound.
They saw several sparrows hopping about on the grass, chirping from time to time as they eyed the group curiously.
The sparrows were perfectly ordinary, not aberrant beasts. Wang Jing and the others only glanced at them before looking away and ignoring them.
"We didn't come to the wrong place, yet that little hill is nowhere to be seen. There's something strange about this," one of the investigators said gravely.
"It won't be long before dark. Our top priority now is finding a safe place to spend the night..." another investigator emphasized.
After discussing the matter for a while, everyone looked in unison toward the silent Wang Jing.
"We don't need to dwell on the missing hill for now. Let's settle down at that place ahead." Wang Jing raised a hand and pointed toward the distant stream as she addressed her teammates.
A hundred meters away, a clear stream wound its way into the distance.
The ground beside the stream was flat, with an extremely open view. Several trees of modest height stood not far apart, their branches spreading into broad patches of shade.
After looking the area over, no one raised any objections.
The group then quickly headed toward the stream a hundred meters away.
They soon reached their destination, but the investigators did not immediately put down their backpacks.
Instead, they carefully searched the surroundings to see whether any dangerous aberrant beasts were hiding in the shadows.
After checking every place where an aberrant beast might be concealed and confirming that the area was safe, everyone finally relaxed and set their backpacks on the ground.
Beneath several trees standing not far apart, Wang Jing and the others