Why did you provoke me?

Captain Tian squinted. There were things he didn't know. Looking at Yan Lei's confused expression, he probably hadn't figured it out either.

Xiao Wen kept his head down and didn't say anything, and Du Wenhe didn't insist any further.

"What kind of riddle are you two playing?" Yan Lei asked, puzzled.

"That's settled then. I'll be in a group with him. What do you two think? Together? Or separately?"

"Separate." Two voices rang out simultaneously.

"Let's go back and prepare now. We'll set off once Jingyi arrives."

"Okay." The three of them went back, leaving only Xiao Wen there.

He lay on the makeshift bed, but his mind was filled with Du Wenhe's words.

He didn't believe in these things before, but since Yu Meng had mentioned it, he had to take it seriously. Besides, there were many taboos when doing something in the village; sometimes even zodiac signs had to be avoided.

But he couldn't just send Yan Lei back based on a single sentence, and besides, he didn't have that authority.

Xiao Wen was exhausted and fell asleep on the bed. In his daze, someone rushed into their camp, took out a white silk ribbon without hesitation, hung it on the roof beam, and then nimbly crawled inside and hung there.

Xiao Wen woke up in a cold sweat. What happened to him? Why did he have such a dream?

I rubbed my eyes, stood up, and went outside. There was a lively place in the distance, so I thought for a moment and walked over.

Jingyi was arranging for people to form teams. "Separate the strong and the weak, and those with special abilities should also be separated. Don't gather in one team. I'm telling you, at any time, our priority is to save our lives. If you encounter danger, run if you can. Never fight head-on."

Xiao Wen, watching from a distance, was taken aback upon hearing Jing Yi's words. When did they start valuing life so much? In the past, missions were always mission-oriented, and sacrifice was inevitable in the pursuit of completion. No one had ever told them to prioritize survival, nor had anyone dared to say that they could run away in danger.

But Yu Meng's sect said it like that, and they said it openly and honestly. At that moment, Xiao Wen suddenly wondered if the beliefs he had held onto before were wrong.

Jingyi had excellent eyesight; he had spotted Xiao Wen long ago, but since the other man hadn't come over, he didn't pay much attention. He had already made arrangements for his own people before walking towards Xiao Wen.

"What's wrong? Can't sleep?"

"Why are you traveling at night? Is there an urgent mission?" Xiao Wen asked tentatively.

Jing shook her head. "Secretary Wu doesn't like us, so he sent us away."

Xiao Wen recalled the scene of Secretary Wu chasing him away. "I wanted to stay another day, but he didn't give us a friendly look either. Do you think we did something to offend him?"

"When we got back, he was so happy his eyes were practically slits. I didn't do anything after that, Captain Xiao. Did you do something to upset him?" Jingyi asked thoughtfully.

"I haven't said more than a few words to him since I came back. What did I do to offend him?" Xiao Wen was even more frustrated.

"That's his problem then." Jingyi shrugged indifferently. "What time are we leaving tomorrow?"

"After eight o'clock. There's been heavy fog these past few mornings, so visibility is poor."

Jing nodded slightly, "I need to rest for a while, do as you please." Then she went back.

The next morning, everyone gathered together. Jingyi looked at the teams that had split into three directions, checked the sound transmission bell in her hand to make sure it was working properly, and then they parted ways.

Jingyi was in Xiao Wen's group. "Are we going to go deeper today?"

"Yes, there's nothing of value left on the outer perimeter, so we have to go further in."

The group moved quickly, and Jingyi and the others kept up closely. Xiao Wen turned to look at Jingyi, "You've all made great progress recently."

Jing smiled and said, "I learned a few tricks from Nian Nian, but I can't compare to you guys."

Yan Lei couldn't help but interject, "Your speed is no slower than ours right now, and you're still being modest?"

"We can't keep holding you back, so we have to find a way to catch up." Jingyi spoke the truth, recalling the first time she went on a mission with Xiao Wen, how the rest of them couldn't keep up with the speed of Xiao Wen's team.

That awkwardness instantly shattered their sense of superiority from being able to peel off the alien's skin. Xiao Wen didn't mock them; he simply slowed down the team's pace.

"Do we have a specific goal for this in-depth mission?" Jingyi changed the subject.

"No, we collect everything that's valuable. We take pictures of unusual aliens and send them back. Secretary Wu said that we can record anything we don't recognize or aren't sure about first," Xiao Wen said in a deep voice.

"Okay, if we can handle it, then we won't be polite; if not, then we'll talk about it again."

Three days passed in a flash, and Xiao Wen and his team had not found much of value.

Looking at the dense forest ahead, Jingyi stopped in her tracks. The leaves of the trees were a dark green, giving the whole place a gloomy feeling.

"Should we go in?" Jingyi asked, turning her head.

"Let's rest for a bit, and then we'll take a look around the edge," Xiao Wen said slowly, as this place gave him a very bad feeling.

Yan Lei fiddled with his backpack; it was empty, with very little inside.

Half an hour later, everyone stood up. "It's right at the edge. Nobody is allowed to go inside, understand?"

People came together in twos and threes.

Xiao Wen and Jing Yi walked side by side. "This place is different from other places. I always feel uneasy here," Jing Yi said, cautiously observing her surroundings.

"You feel that way too?" Xiao Wen asked, and both he and Jing Yi were stunned.

After walking a short distance, Jingyi stared blankly at something under the tree. "This looks like a good thing."

"Where is it?" Xiao Wen looked in the direction Jing Yi pointed.

It's about the size of a pigeon egg, with stripes on it in varying shades of color; at first glance, it's quite pretty. It has a certain feel to it—it should look exactly like this.

"Is this an alien?" Xiao Wen cautiously crouched down a short distance away. "Can I peel off the skin?"

"It should work." Jingyi stretched out her hand, and the lines hovered in the air, slowly wrapping around the pigeon egg.

Ten minutes later, a beautiful sheet of dough was peeled off, but the bead it was made into looked a bit strange, like an eyeball.

Jingyi held it up to eye level and looked at it. He felt a wave of dizziness. He thought he saw the bead move slightly.

Jingyi instinctively threw it away. Xiao Wen was confused. "Why did you throw it away?"

Jingyi looked at the remaining part again; a new dough was forming.

It's not fast, but you can feel it regenerating.

This was the first time Xiao Wen had encountered such a situation. "How is it? Are you confident?"

"I've never seen it before, but since it can peel off the dough, it should be fine," Jingyi replied uncertainly.

The lines wrapped around the pigeon egg again, and soon the dough was peeled off to make a second bead.

Jingyi took a deep breath and raised the bead again. It was still the same eyeball, but this time it only moved slightly. The movement wasn't as large as the first time.

Xiao Wen pointed to the alien on the ground, "It, it's starting to grow again."

"Then let's try again!" Jingyi retorted stubbornly. "Let's see how many layers it can grow."