The three men were already aboard the vehicle. They had used an item to reduce their own weight, so they hadn't added to the vehicle's load. After receiving Qiu Ming's hint, Xu Huo asked them some questions about the Dungeon, then pressed them about whether they had been escorting "Dr. Dorr" into Heaven's Ladder.
The three were fairly honest. They briefly explained what had happened. Six of them had come together, along with "Dr. Dorr." But before nightfall, one of their companions had died from a deadly poison. It was so potent that he had died before they could even get the Antidote down his throat. Two others had died, one in the jaws of a Man-Eating Flower and the other beneath a Mutant Beast's claws. As for "Dr. Dorr," when the night owls attacked them just now, the three had been busy fighting back. When they turned around, he was gone, and there was only a large hole in the ground inside the defense barrier.
They suspected that some kind of burrowing Alien had dragged him away. But the situation was urgent, and they couldn't split up to search for him. Even if they were willing to risk their lives to look, they would probably only find a corpse.
It was only a Dungeon. There was no need.
"Besides, I suspect the Dr. Dorr we were assigned wasn't the real one," said the crew-cut Player who had warned Xu Huo and the others to be careful earlier. "His appearance and credentials checked out, but after we entered Heaven's Ladder, I realized he wasn't even close to being an expert on genetic disease research. Still, we'd already made it this far, and turning back would be difficult."
Going back would only bring more trouble. The commotion they had caused earlier