Xu Huo didn't respond. Dai Song's attitude seemed contradictory, and something about it felt off, but this wasn't the time to investigate.
They were lucky. The vines covering this area seemed to come from the same parent plant. After they had spent some time clearing them, the vines elsewhere showed signs of retreating, and before long, a path opened up in the middle. But as the vehicle moved forward, they noticed signs of a fight. The flowers, grass, and trees across a large stretch of forest had been damaged, with scorch marks everywhere, as if they'd been struck by lightning. Large quantities of charred vines lay scattered across the ground.
"I don't see any blood. Whoever passed through here probably wasn't injured," Qiu Ming observed.
"What kind of people would show up here at a time like this?" Cao Qinglin frowned slightly.
Exactly. Dr. Dorr was with them, so no other players should have entered Heaven's Ladder—at least, they shouldn't have made it this far. Without Dr. Dorr, how could they clear the Dungeon? And why risk taking this route?
If they'd come to Heaven's Ladder early to intercept him, they should have done so near the entrance.
"They're probably the substitute the Laboratory prepared for me," Dr. Dorr said. But he didn't seem to know the details of the plan. He only said that he knew about it.
"If we catch up to them, we'll probably run into trouble." Qiu Ming looked at the map again. "Wait, they didn't take the same route as us, did they? Otherwise, there would've been traces before now. That means there are other paths nearby."
"There are some side paths, but they've already been ruled out as safe routes. They're only more dangerous than the one we're on. Otherwise, those players up ahead