Encounter

After the team finished resting, they hadn't gone far when a loud, jarring noise came through the communicator, making the Guard Team' heads throb. Hasmu quickly turned off the communicator.

"What's going on?" He adjusted his helmet to speaker mode and asked the communications officer next to him.

The communications soldier shook his head, switched the communication mode to speakerphone, and replied, "It seems to be some kind of unidentified electromagnetic interference; the communicator won't work here."

Hasmu nodded, signaling everyone to turn on speakerphone mode, and then the group continued forward.

"Watch out above!" Hasmu warned.

After descending, the cave passage became increasingly wider. They had only traveled less than a kilometer, yet the diameter of the passage had increased from 5 meters to over a hundred meters. Such caves are rare, even at depths of over a thousand meters.

Inside the huge, pitch-black passage, the hundreds of tactical flashlight beams appeared extremely small, far from sufficient to illuminate and allow for observation of the surroundings.

"Captain, should we fire two flares?" a team member asked quietly.

This pitch-black, unknown environment naturally creates a terrifying atmosphere, causing even the boldest mercenaries to unconsciously lower their voices.

However, in this quiet, enclosed space where even a drop of water could echo, the whisper still seemed a bit loud.

"Shut up, idiot," Hasmu muttered under his breath, then made a hand gesture.

Everyone nodded, turned off their tactical flashlights, and turned on the infrared night vision goggles and infrared searchlights on their helmets. Instantly, the white light beams that had been emitted from the team's original position disappeared, leaving only some flickering red dots in their wake.

In a battle between two armies, the infrared light emitted by these infrared searchlights would be easily detected by the enemy, revealing the location of one's own troops. Therefore, infrared searchlights are generally used on fixed monitoring equipment, but in this situation, they can be surprisingly effective.

Although visibility was still not very clear, it was much better than before, and the team's pace quickened slightly.

Suddenly, a team member patted Hasmu on the shoulder and pointed to the top of his head.

Hasmu felt a chill run down his spine and looked up. He saw something moving on the top of the rock wall a hundred meters away.

He adjusted the focus of his night vision goggles, zooming in a bit, and was surprised to discover a group of bat-like creatures hanging upside down. These creatures seemed to be asleep, with only a few occasionally shifting their bodies and stretching their wings.

Hasmu had no idea how so many creatures came to be here, where they came from, or how aggressive they were.

However, just to be on the safe side, he patted the team members around him and made a few hand gestures. Soon, with him as the center, the orders were quickly and silently transmitted.

The teammates noticed the strange thing above them and carefully released the safety on their guns.

Hasmu shook his head and made a retreat gesture.

So the squad began to retreat, their guns subtly pointed upwards.

After retreating 200 meters, the squad quickly established a simple defensive position, demonstrating the exceptional skills of elite special forces soldiers.

The team members operating the Mechanical Spider unfolded their backpacks again, and several Mechanical Spider quickly crawled forward, while several Drone also silently flew out.

The space here is spacious, and the signal can be transmitted over a long distance. Since we have already discovered life ahead, for safety reasons, we should send the machine to investigate first.

The Cat Ear Spaceship only carried 500 combat personnel; the loss of even one would be a huge blow.

One of the team members turned on the built-in light in his helmet, making it look like a head was floating in the air in the dark space—a somewhat comical and eerie sight.

The player's mouth was moving, as if conveying some message.

Regardless of their reasons for signing up for this operation, the 500-person Guard Team has undergone rigorous selection; they are the elite of the elite, with absolutely no compromises.

Lip reading and sign language can be considered their basic skills. Night vision goggles can't see very fast body movements, and sign language isn't very useful, but this high-definition lip reading is clear to everyone.

"Captain, ever since we came down here, I've had a feeling something's not right. I feel like something's watching us." Hasmu glanced at them and immediately understood what the team member meant.

One by one, the light bulb-like helmets lit up in the darkness, and everyone discovered this new way of communication.

"Yes, Captain, I feel the same way."

Me too.

Same as above.

These soldiers had amazing intuition. Although they didn't find anything, the eerie feeling of being watched made them feel uneasy, as if pricked by thorns, yet they couldn't detect anything unusual.

Hasmu had the same feeling, but it wasn't something he only started having after coming here; he often had this feeling when he was doing missions on the surface.

Although he reported the situation to his superiors, the ship's doctor diagnosed it as delusions caused by anxiety, so it did not attract the attention of the ship's higher-ups.

Previously, he had no evidence and only stopped caring about these eerie voyeuristic feelings after seeing a psychologist a few times. But now, so many people have this feeling; surely not everyone has developed anxiety disorder?

Things were getting increasingly bizarre. Just as he was pondering his next move, the operator of the Mechanical Spider reported that the electromagnetic interference was also affecting the Mechanical Spider and the Drone; they could only probe a distance of 500 meters before they could not continue. To avoid losses, they had no choice but to return.

This might actually be where the captain and his crew are looking for.

Previously, he had led his team to explore several underground caves, but none of them had encountered the situation they were in now.

We can't continue like this; let's retreat first.

Hasmu made a decision in an instant.

He quickly made hand gestures. Although the team members didn't understand why the mission was suddenly canceled, they were used to obeying orders and didn't ask any questions. They began to pack up their belongings in an orderly manner, maintaining their defensive formation, and slowly retreated.

The 500-meter rope descent took two hours, and the ascent was expected to take even longer. Hasmu's forehead was sweating; if an accident were to occur, it was uncertain how many of these team members would survive.

He began to pray, hoping that what he had just experienced was just his imagination.

I don't know if he's ever heard of Murphy's Law, but even if he hasn't, he's already experiencing it.

Sensing the change in the guard squad, the numerous bats that had been sleeping upside down on the top of the rock face detached themselves from the rock and flew towards them with shrieks.

They are very similar to the bats that the Swarm originally found in the Red Mangrove Forest, but unlike those bats, the bats in the cave are not disturbed by their own kind, nor do they fight each other.

They have clear goals and are more organized, which seems to indicate their different identities.

The vigilant Hasmu immediately noticed the change overhead. Forget about concealment, he shouted, "Prepare to attack!"