"What's wrong?" Xu Yao frowned slightly and stood up, putting away the scales in her hand.
Gong Yixing's eyes flickered, and he handed Xu Yao the thing he was holding, "Take a look."
Xu Yao took it with surprise. It was icy cold to the touch.
She looked down, her pupils contracting, and her expression also grew solemn.
This was a small piece of skin cut from the tail of the alligator gar.
In the center of the skin was clearly printed the number 056, exactly the same as the one on the Rat King's tail.
But this time, there was a small mark below the number.
"Same laboratory as the Rat King," Gong Yixing frowned, watching Xu Yao lightly rub the number with her finger, and lowered his voice slightly, "According to the number, this laboratory has at least 56 experimental subjects."
"I don't know how many more experimental subjects like this have escaped the laboratory," Xu Yao's expression was worried, her gaze swept across Gong Yixing's face, and finally landed on the serval cat pretending to be well-behaved beside them.
This cat, considering its current level of evolution, was already quite good.
But it was still far inferior to the alligator gar.
If a large number of similar experimental subjects were leaked, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Gong Yixing followed Xu Yao's gaze to the serval cat, pondered for a moment, and said, "It's also possible that they didn't escape, but were deliberately released."
"Yes, that's highly likely." Xu Yao breathed a sigh of relief, returning the fish tail to Gong Yixing. "The Rat King's territory border is this alligator gar's lake. This seems more like artificially divided territories."
Gong Yixing nodded, his gaze returning to the small mark under the number.
This mark was somewhat similar to the clan emblem of the Gao family.
Could this matter be related to the Gao family?
Xu Yao looked back at the lake. A gust of wind blew, and the lake's surface rippled.
Xu Yao shivered in the wind. She looked around, feeling a bit confused.
"Strange, it's summer, why do I feel cold?"
"Global mutation will cause climate change," Gong Yixing looked at Xu Yao with a hint of confusion.
The major families had learned long ago that mutations would cause climate change.
But seeing her confused look, it didn't seem like she was faking it.
Could it be that she really wasn't from a major family?
"Kitty, the rest is yours." Xu Yao nodded understandingly, not noticing Gong Yixing's expression, and beckoned to the serval cat.
Never mind, if she couldn't figure it out, she wouldn't.
Gong Yixing said he would investigate, so she would wait for his results.
"Meow..." The serval cat meowed at Xu Yao, flicked its tail, and signaled for Xu Yao and Gong Yixing to step back.
Xu Yao raised an eyebrow and pulled Gong Yixing back a distance.
The serval cat leaped up, jumped onto the head of the giant fish, and with a few swipes of its claws, tore open the fish's head and buried its head inside to search.
After a few minutes, finding nothing, the serval cat looked up and let out an angry roar in the direction of the lake, its angry whiskers trembling slightly.
Xu Yao and Gong Yixing exchanged a glance, clearly seeing surprise in each other's eyes.
This giant fish had clearly evolved further than the Rat King, so why didn't it have a Crystal Core?
What sustained its abilities then?
Could this be the secret of the laboratory?
"Meow, meow."
Amidst their silent communication.
The serval cat jumped off the fish and meowed twice briefly at Xu Yao.
Xu Yao came back to her senses and saw it dragging the fish's tail towards the forest.
This little cat had quite a temper, even its retreating back looked sulky.
"Yaoyao, you really are here."
As Xu Yao was sighing, a familiar voice suddenly came from behind.
She turned around in surprise and saw Liu Fangfang and Wang Mengling running towards her.
"Why are you here?" Xu Yao smiled and walked to meet them.
"The school has set up camp again at the edge of the forest ahead. We searched the entire camp and couldn't find you," Liu Fangfang went up and pulled Xu Yao to look her over, only relaxing when she was sure she was unharmed.
"We asked others, and someone said they saw you by the lake yesterday when they were setting up camp, so we followed the original path back," Wang Mengling was also excited to see Xu Yao. She then tilted her head to look at Gong Yixing in front of them. "I didn't expect to see you all here from afar."
"Uh, we... were delayed by something." Xu Yao looked at their concerned eyes, momentarily at a loss for words, not knowing how to explain.
Sensing her difficulty, Wang Mengling shook her head and said calmly, "It's okay, if you don't want to say, then don't. We believe you."
"Right, if it weren't for your armor, we would have died during the rat tide. It's okay if you don't want to say," Liu Fangfang nodded in agreement.
Xu Yao breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing the fleeting fear on Liu Fangfang's face as she mentioned the rat tide, she quickly changed the subject, "Let's not think about that. We're all fine, and that's what matters."
"Yes, are you finished with your business? Let's head back to the camp first. The school will be taking attendance soon," Liu Fangfang nodded, asking Xu Yao, and then glanced at Gong Yixing beside them.
Only then did Xu Yao notice Gong Yixing's odd behavior.
Gong Yixing was staring intently in the direction of the lake, as if contemplating something.
Could he have discovered something else?
But soon, Xu Yao dismissed the idea.
Not necessarily. Whenever it was like this, he never said anything. It was as if he charged extra for every word he spoke.
"Gong Yixing, let's go." Xu Yao pouted, called out, withdrew her gaze, and nodded to Liu Fangfang and Wang Mengling. "Let's leave now."
Led by Liu Fangfang and Wang Mengling, the four of them headed towards the school's camp.
The school's camp this time was set up on the edge of the forest. After the previous two attacks, the school's actions became more cautious and prudent, and their progress slowed down considerably.
In the blink of an eye, three days passed, and they had only reached the middle of the forest.
However, these three days were peaceful, and Xu Yao got sufficient rest.
"It's really getting colder and colder." This day, the school chose a relatively open place to set up camp. After the sun set, a cold wind blew in gusts. Xu Yao wrapped her jacket tighter and hid her hands in her sleeves.
Beside her, hearing Xu Yao's mumbling, Gong Yixing silently added a few pieces of firewood to the campfire in front of them.
"Yaoyao, Lingling, here." Liu Fangfang brought their dinner for the day. After handing it to her two friends, she silently placed Gong Yixing's portion next to him.
Gong Yixing was too serious, and his eyes were very sharp, as if he could see through a person with just one glance. She and Wang Mengling were too intimidated to speak to him.
"Thank you." Xu Yao smiled and took the food from Liu Fangfang's hand.
Tsk, the food is becoming more and more perfunctory. This is the third meal of fish.
Looking at the food in her hand, Xu Yao pouted dispiritedly.
The space ability user from the school who was injured in the rat tide had not yet woken up. The supplies in his space could not be retrieved, so everyone could only eat the ordinary fish caught in the lake last time.
After barely filling her stomach, Xu Yao took out her communicator to continue researching.
She desperately needed to know the distribution of fire seeds in this world, but the more she researched, the deeper her frown became.
There was almost no information about fire seeds on the forum.
Xu Yao frowned deeply, her gaze became heavy, and she bit her lower lip in thought.
Ordinary flames could not smelt fish scales at all.
It felt terrible to have materials but be unable to use them.
Sensing the change in the atmosphere around her, Gong Yixing looked towards Xu Yao, his gaze falling on the page of her communicator.