Chapter 7: Anomalous Objects

After dropping off the young people, the official vehicle continued for over a kilometer before pulling up in front of an ordinary streetlamp.

After Director Qin got out of the car, he reached out and fumbled along the surface of the streetlamp, activating a hidden verification device.

Click~

A set of stairs leading underground opened up beside the road.

The end of the stairs led to an Institute hidden fifty meters underground, primarily responsible for the management and scheduling of this practical exercise.

“Hello, Director Qin!”

“How are the preparations coming along here? Those young people should have already gone up the mountain.”

“All departments have performed self-checks at least three times, and all equipment is in a green status.

Additionally, the physical examination parameters of the four youths participating in the exercise are all above average, and one person’s parameters are even close to excellent.

This exercise will surely be a success.

Oh, right! Director Qin, would you like to participate in our luck game?”

The employee held a transparent square box in their hands, which was already piled with quite a few folded slips of paper.

The seemingly stern Director Qin did not refuse; he dropped a slip of paper with information already written on it into the box and placed a bet of 1,000 rubles.

The subject of the bet was exactly which 【Objects】 the four high school students would choose; it was considered a pastime outside of work.

Although Director Qin participated in the betting, he still sternly emphasized, “Entertainment is entertainment, but the premise is to ensure the simulation proceeds perfectly. If there is any error, I will strictly hold the person in charge of the corresponding project accountable.”

“Understood.”

At this moment, a notification came from the monitoring department, “They have gone up the mountain!”

Employees who didn’t have anything to do at the moment immediately gathered around.

The monitoring area was an open circular shape, with a large number of electronic screens arranged horizontally and vertically; standing in front of the screens, one could easily read information about the entire practice area.

Up to three hundred monitoring feeds were controlled by AI algorithms, and important scenes were automatically moved to the center.

The monitoring feeds targeting the participants would always be kept in the central area, with secondary screens assisting in monitoring to facilitate the researchers’ observation and recording.

Everyone was silently praying in their hearts;

some were praying for the smooth progress of the exercise, while others were praying that their bets would be chosen by these four young people.

【Five Minutes Ago】

By the road, at the foot of the mountain.

The class monitor was performing standard body stretches, eyes fixed on the 35° sloping hillside, “If the timer only starts once we step onto the slope, we can prepare in advance by the roadside now.”

Following the class monitor’s suggestion, everyone took out the equipment they might need for mountain climbing.

After all, it was the height of summer, the temperature was high, and everyone was dressed in short sleeves and shorts, making it easy to get scratched by the dense trees.

The class monitor’s preparations were quite comprehensive, including but not limited to knee pads, leg wraps, gloves, and telescopic hiking poles.

Luo Di, however, had not considered these at all, and naturally, he had no relevant equipment.

The ‘fully armed’ class monitor continued, “Should we split up to find the 【Objects】 later, or act together?

According to Director Qin, the exercise only formally begins after finding and activating the relevant objects, and that’s when we might encounter danger, so splitting up to search isn’t impossible.

After all, we only have half an hour to find things, so I personally suggest we search separately first and regroup in the last ten minutes.”

There was no problem with the class monitor’s proposal; everyone gathered together first to activate the “real-time location sharing” function on their wristbands.

【07:10】

The climb began.

The four of them started up the mountain in completely different directions; due to the limited time, everyone moved at the necessary speed.

The blonde Anna was the fastest, and her movements were quite professional; she was the first to disappear from everyone’s sight.

Just as Luo Di was surprised by her physical strength and professional techniques, the class monitor’s voice came from the side.

“Hehe~ Our Anna is very impressive. Not only are her physical education grades excellent, but she is also proficient in various wilderness survival skills. Don’t lose to her in the subsequent performance.”

Luo Di did not respond to anything, just quickly climbed up the mountain in the direction he had chosen.

Once he was completely separated from the team members and couldn’t see anyone around, Luo Di actually became more relaxed.

His thoughts drifted back to several years ago, when he used to go hiking with his family, and he revealed a rare smile.

Such beautiful memories did not last long.

A gust of eerie wind suddenly blew from the mountains, sweeping across his body.

Luo Di’s exposed arms felt as if they had been grazed by icy fingers, and the hairs on his arms stood on end.

Alert, stop, observe.

His finger was already locked onto the start button of the chainsaw.

Looking around, he didn’t discover any ‘creatures’, but his gaze fell upon a special tree.

It was obviously different from the other trees in the mountains.

This tree was larger, thicker, and more eerie; its trunk presented a state of almost twisted bending, commonly known as a crooked-neck tree.

The gusts of eerie wind spreading through the mountains seemed to originate from this tree.

Although Luo Di’s grades in academic subjects were average, he happened to recognize the type of tree: a locust tree.

The eerie wind blew continuously, as if the tree were actively calling out to him.

Being so strange, Luo Di could almost be certain that this tree was definitely related to the object of this practical exercise.

Approaching carefully,

his gaze also followed and locked onto a pitch-black hollow on the surface of the trunk.

The eerie wind was continuously overflowing from inside this opening, and when he got close, he could hear a hissing sound caused by the wind, like the groaning of an old man about to die.

He took out the flashlight from the side of his backpack.

The strong beam of light pierced through the tree hole, penetrating the interior, and captured a square box hidden inside the tree hole, made of mahogany with gold inlays.

Considering the potential risks inside the tree hole, Luo Di did not reach in; instead, he picked up a suitable tree branch and attempted to move the wooden box, and after quite a bit of effort, he finally retrieved it.

Just as the wooden box left the tree hole, the eerie wind stopped immediately.

It was as if the old man had exhaled his last breath and died peacefully at this moment.

…

On the other side.

After stopping, the fastest and most experienced Anna immediately looked down at the shared location on her wrist; she had already pulled far away from the others.

“Oh my, that guy who Wu Wen said was so impressive doesn’t look that impressive after all.”

Just as she intended to search this forest area,

Click~

A crisp Tongue-clicking sound came from the woods.

“Who’s there?”

It couldn’t be that others had caught up; after all, she had checked everyone’s location just a few seconds ago.

She did not have the fear that a high school girl should have; instead, she held her tactical axe and became highly vigilant.

Her thinking was very clear: the exercise followed the rules of the Institute, and since it hadn’t officially started yet, there would definitely be no direct danger.

The Tongue-clicking sound likely corresponded to an object.

Anna immediately followed the direction of the sound and soon discovered a clearing in the forest. This was a clearing in the true sense: not only were there no trees, but there wasn’t even any grass, exposing extremely dry soil, which even made her feel an inexplicable heat.

Among the slightly raised soil, there was a visible crack, just enough to allow an arm to reach into it.

Click~

The Tongue-clicking sound came again.

It was certain that the sound came from the sewing gap.

Anna also took out a flashlight from the side of her backpack and carefully approached the sewing gap.

The light beam from her hand gradually slanted as she approached.

When the light became vertical, Anna’s eyes looked straight into the deepest part of the sewing gap,

and in a flash, there was a charred Tongue wriggling below, which scared her into stepping back abruptly.

When she shook her head and approached to look down again, there was no Tongue at all; there was only a metal square box imprinted with a hexagram and a goat head symbol.