"Okay, go ahead." Qin Yu nodded.
"If possible, I hope you can stay by our side for the next three or four days and help us cover our tracks," Lin Zhaoran said quickly.
Qin Yu didn't immediately agree. She turned to look at the side, where soldiers were busy packing up before their evacuation.
Seeing this, Lin Zhaoran's heart sank slightly, and he said:
"I'm sorry, if this has affected you..."
"No, it's just..." Qin Yu paused, then explained, "If there weren't any Sixth Tier- Sixth Tier Calamity Beast Calamity Beast, I might still be able to try, but with so many people present, there's a high probability I won't be able to hide everyone like I did with you all just now."
Seeing that Qin Yu was worried about this, Lin Zhaoran breathed a sigh of relief and said:
"It's alright. I don't want you to hide us all under the watchful eyes of the Calamity Beast. I just want you to help me cover up some of the traps!"
"A trap?" Qin Yu tilted her head in confusion.
"Well, based on the previous situation, the Calamity Beast will likely continue searching for our tracks after we leave. If they don't find us, that's fine, but if they do..." Lin Zhaoran paused, looking at Qin Yu, "Then whether it's to buy them more time or to teach them a lesson, we'll set some traps along the way. My hope is that you can conceal these traps so the Calamity Beast don't discover them!"
Upon hearing this, Qin Yu paused, then nodded and said:
"I understand, I will do my best!"
Seeing this, Lin Zhaoran finally breathed a sigh of relief, and the corners of her mouth turned up slightly.
Ten minutes later, Qin Yu and Lin Zhaoran stood in an open area within the stronghold.
Before them stood soldiers, one after another.
The evacuation proceeded quickly, taking less than ten minutes in total.
This still includes the initial notification and the time required for subsequent data collection.
There are two main reasons.
One reason is that the soldiers have been evacuated several times, and they can be said to have become very skilled at it.
On the other hand, it's because there really wasn't much to pack.
After all, almost everyone was alone when they were teleported in, with at most clothes and weapons, and some didn't even bring any weapons.
That's how I was teleported in.
Therefore, it's natural not to expect them to have much to pack.
A significant portion of what needs to be cleaned up came from hunting the Calamity Beast after entering the area.
After a quick glance, Qin Yu turned her gaze to Captain Lin, who was standing to the side.
Captain Lin leader, also surveyed the assembled soldiers.
Then, seemingly confirming that the personnel at the base had all gathered, she nodded and said:
"Now, begin the withdrawal..."
More than half a day later.
In a rudimentary outpost.
One after another, low-level Calamity Beast roamed through the area, traversing the territory that should have belonged to humans.
After a while, a wolf-like Calamity Beast, much larger in size, flew rapidly towards a certain location.
Soon, as it crossed the fence, a Calamity Beast sitting on the edge of the mountaintop, gazing into the distance, came into its view.
"Lord Bronze Skull Beast!"
The wolf-like Calamity Beast landed on the ground and lowered its head.
"Have you found any clues?" the Bronze Skull Beast asked in a deep voice, its gaze still fixed on the distant, rolling mountains.
"Found it, but..."
The wolf-like Calamity Beast spoke hesitantly.
"But?"
The Bronze Skull Beast turned its gaze in that direction.
"... Um."
After a moment's hesitation, the wolf-like Calamity Beast raised its head, and at that moment a stone slab floated over from behind.
"This was found in this human city, a clue they left behind. Similar things were also found in other cities they had previously abandoned."
There was no immediate response; the Bronze Skull Beast stared at the stone slab.
On the stone Inscription were a series of characters that were clearly not naturally formed; they appeared to have been deliberately left behind.
"So, this is how you found those humans before?"
"Yes, that's right," the wolf-like Calamity Beast responded.
"What does it mean when it's written on the stone tablet?" the Bronze Skull Beast asked in a deep voice.
"Uh, well... we don't know either!" The wolf-like Calamity Beast glanced cautiously at the Bronze Skull Beast.
"Don't know?" the Bronze Skull Beast asked, its gaze fixed on the wolf-like Calamity Beast.
Seeing this, the wolf-like Calamity Beast quickly lowered its head again and said:
"Yes, we found them this way, but not by deciphering the information on the stone tablets. Instead, we tracked down the humans they couldn't notify during their evacuation and then went there!"
"Humans who couldn't be notified in time?" The Bronze Skull Beast narrowed its eyes slightly.
"Yes!" the wolf-like Calamity Beast replied quickly.
"When those humans arrive in a new place, they usually send people out to explore and hunt for food."
"Then, when they detect our situation and try to evacuate, there will always be people outside who haven't returned."
"In this situation, we just need to wait for those humans to return, and then send the pangolins underground to secretly follow one of them."
"Sneaking behind?" The Bronze Skull Beast narrowed its eyes as it looked at the wolf-like Calamity Beast.
"Uh... yes!" the wolf-like Calamity Beast responded, "We've captured these humans before, trying to interrogate them, but we often failed. Then, on one occasion we succeeded, we wanted them to teach us the meaning of these characters, but the human said that these characters are all temporarily set, and they are redefined every time we go to a new place, so..."
So, instead of interrogating those humans, why not secretly follow them?
The Bronze Skull Beast quickly understood the wolf-like Calamity Beast's meaning, but...
"Won't we be discovered by those humans if we follow them?" it asked.
"No, we always send pangolins to follow the human for a while to determine roughly which direction they're running in before returning," the wolf-like Calamity Beast replied. "That way, even if those humans have specialized scouts, they won't be able to find our trail!"
He paused for a moment, then continued:
"That's why we can't directly find out where their latest stronghold is!"
After speaking, the wolf-like Calamity Beast cautiously looked at Lord Bronze Skull Beast.
The other person seemed to be pondering something, and after a while, their gaze drifted towards the distant mountains.
It breathed a heavy sigh of relief.
Phew, it seems Lord Bronze Skull Beast isn't so unreasonable after all...
"Alright, let's get ready!"
A sound suddenly came.
The wolf-like Calamity Beast raised its head in confusion.
"Lord Bronze Skull Beast, are you ready?"
The Bronze Skull Beast continued to gaze out of the city.
"According to your previous plan, we waited for those humans to return, but..."
The night was dark and desolate.
A soldier carefully climbed up the city wall, which had been bustling with activity when he left that morning.
He stood on the mountaintop, carefully looked around, and breathed a heavy sigh of relief after confirming that no Calamity Beast were following him.
He withdrew his gaze and scanned the surroundings.
The stronghold was covered with messy footprints, looking as if it had been ravaged by a Calamity Beast.
"Tsk, they arrived so quickly this time..."
The soldier muttered a complaint, then without further hesitation, entered the stronghold to search.
Ten minutes later, he casually picked up a stray stone placed by the roadside, paused as he was about to put it down, and then laughed.
"Finally found it...?"
The soldier smiled as he looked at the stone slab in his hand, his gaze slowly moving across it as he began to decipher the meaning of the characters on it.
"An arc plus a dot equals west."
"A triangle, opening downwards, resembling a mountain."
"Two parallel lines plus a diagonal line..."
The conversation suddenly stopped.
Somewhat stiffly, the soldier slowly raised his gaze.
A huge shadow, silently, enveloped him from behind...