But just as they felt utterly stumped, he saw the seed in the bottle inside the truck tremble silently and sprout a new shoot.
His actions paused for a moment.
"What's wrong?" asked Raymond.
"It's sprouting." Huai Shi pointed to the seed in the bottle, his brow furrowing. "When I previously sent the Paradise Guard out to explore, I had them carry some seeds. Once these seeds sprouted, they could form a tiny ecological network... You can think of it as me setting up a local network here. As soon as foreign data comes in, I can discover it immediately."
"Ah, like an alarm then!" Raymond thought for a long time, slapped his forehead, and found the most direct way to understand it.
"Actually... yes." Limited by his abilities, Huai Shi's network of vitality couldn't offer much Transformation. Developing the ability to send signals upon the intervention of foreign species had already taken him considerable time.
Raymond responded by immediately turning off the external lights and activating the camouflage device. This completely masked the vehicle's engine heat signature and any light escaping from within.
The whole truck clung to the ceiling like dust, motionless as though it had become a stone, without any further sound.
It didn't take long for them to hear the faint sound of engines from afar.
Huge flying machines roared over. Even faster than the flyers were countless tiny drones, searching all around and almost grazing past them.
After circling a few locations, the giant flying machine quickly landed.
A Sublimator from the Ivy League holding a Wind Lamp emerged, followed by two other Sublimators clad in armor.
"One is Blood Kiss. The other... damn, the other one's a newbie, I don't recognize him," Raymond whispered. "That guy Blood Kiss is the most deceitful. Don't be fooled by the big gun he carries; what he's best at are Curses and poison... Why are you laughing?"
"Nothing, just remembered something funny," Huai Shi covered his mouth, waving his hand. "Go on, continue."
"...That guy's Stigma doesn't seem to have made any significant breakthroughs. It's the Third-Stage Stigmata·Evil Eye of the Celtic Genealogy. Combined with a focused gaze, it can inflict many kinds of Curses and toxins on the enemy. Often, people fighting him mysteriously die without explanation. As for the other one, I don't know him, so be careful. Blood Kiss is very volatile, so anyone walking ahead of him is most likely a bit more formidable.
"As for equipment, let me see... Ha! An upgraded Exploration Team formation and setup. Six bikes, two flyers, and forty-one official members. They've also brought along some other Hell Swarms, but they're probably still Salamanders. Conservatively estimating, their numbers are somewhere between seventy and eighty. Any more than that, and they couldn't carry enough fuel to pay them all."
With Raymond, the second fifth, all the configurations and tactics of the Eye of Nightmare had been utterly sold out by him. He even maliciously advised Huai Shi on over three types of ambush tactics.
Yet, when Huai Shi mentioned asking him to help with the combat, this fellow posed as just a driver, refusing to go into battle at all costs.
"Don't ask too much of a person," Raymond said shyly, waving his hands. "After all, we're former colleagues. How could I raise a hand against them?"
No, you've almost sold out all your colleagues' secrets just now! Huai Shi thought.
Their quiet exchange quickly stopped.
Through the telescope, Huai Shi saw the Ivy League member protected in the center open a box. From it, he took out a large glass jar filled with an amber liquid. Soaking in the liquid was... a severed human head.
"What the hell is that?" He squinted, preparing to look closer, only to see the Ivy League member loudly commanding the head in the jar. And that head... opened its eyes.
It opened its mouth.
And then she began to sing.