Chapter 230: Suspicious
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The emergence of a biologist who suddenly disappeared inside a horrifying supernatural realm’s island for four to five days was indeed strange, causing the black officer who stopped Zhang Lisheng to become alert right away.
Not only that, the incredibly terrifying appearance last night had made all of the US soldiers in the gathering place be on a state of high tension, despite their indifferent facade as they maintained the calm qualities of professional soldiers.
For this reason, when the black officer raised his voice a little, another soldier on the scene armed with a gun immediately raised his gun and made an aiming action before approaching.
“Hey, buddy! Relax! Relax, okay? I’m really a biologist from Stanford. I’m working for the military now, and I’m not paid either so please don’t point the gun at me.” Being pointed at by the black muzzle, Zhang Lisheng raised his arms and said with a wry smile.
Upon seeing this Asian young man who was covered with dirt but did not seem to possess any danger, the leading sergeant temporarily put down his vigilance and lowered his muzzle. “Tony, what unexpected situation did you find? ”
“Sir! T-This young mister here claims to be the biologist Zhang Lisheng who has gone missing four days ago…” The black officer replied with a lingering shock.
“Excuse me? I’m not ‘claiming’! I actually am Zhang Lisheng! Besides, I didn’t go missing! I went to the field to do some scientific research with the permission of my supervisor.”
The short but strong sergeant looked at Zhang Lisheng from head to toe like a monster for a few times. “You’ve gone to the field to do some scientific research? Recently, the outside has become as terrible as h.e.l.l every night. Right now, anyone who doesn’t return overnight will be identified as missing. Please tell me, how did you manage to spend four nights unharmed in the jungle? ”
“Don’t tell me that n.o.body here actually knows that the beast tide will not get close to the indigenous tribes at night. As long as you see a large fire, just go near and climb up to the tree to tie your body up. Then, you can have a good night’s sleep already!” Zhang Lisheng said with a disbelieving expression.
“Is there even such a thing? d.a.m.n it! Then why do these wild beasts still attack us frantically when we have so many aborigines in the gathering place…” The sergeant was stunned for a moment before cursing under his breath. However, the gun in his hand had already been put down.
Now that the atmosphere had eased up, Zhang Lisheng said with a grin, “It’s because this island belongs to the aborigines and not us. Everyone must have seen the terrible experience of last night, right? Didn’t any of you realize that these monsters didn’t even attack the aborigines at all? As long as you stay by the aborigine’s side, you’ll be safe already.”
The soldiers were dumbfounded and pondered for a moment. Finally, somebody shouted, “The f*ck! It’s true! After that dune monster and the stone monster appeared, they did not approach the s.p.a.ce of the indigenous camp at all!”
“That’s right! That’s right! That two monsters destroyed some houses and e-eat the humans. Their targets were us, the Earthlings!”
“Don’t tell me that all of these happened because of these aborigines?”
“Oh shut up! You guys are on duty now, not chit-chatting in a bar.” When the chief sergeant heard the exclamations of his subordinates, he frowned and looked at Zhang Lisheng again, no longer any doubt in his eyes other than shock. “Alright, Dr. Zhang. It seems like as an expert, you’re indeed much more useful than us in this h.e.l.l island. At the very least, you know which place is safe. Go to your colleagues and study the sand monster properly. Let soldiers like us at least know where the weakness lies when we come across such monsters again.”
“I’m not a doctor yet, Sergeant.” Zhang Lisheng smiled and crossed the soldiers’ warning line to go to the huge sandman who had been subdued by the beach. “Besides, I don’t think you can find any fixed weakness in these kinds of monsters.”
After getting near to the sandman and circling around the chaotic scene, Zhang Lisheng quickly discovered his supervisor who was standing while holding a tablet, concentrating on recording something amidst a group of scientists.
“Professor, is there any discovery?” He quietly walked up to Steven and asked.
“You’re back, Lisheng! This is great! Even though I know that it’s impossible for a super rich millionaire who built up an empire worth hundreds of millions of dollars before he has even reached 20 years old to be so stupid to feed the beast using his own body, the duration that you left the gathering place was just too long!”
“Professor, I have been away for a long time and of course, I have a worthy reason for me to be away for such a long time,” Zhang Lisheng said with a smile.
“Oh, no wonder you’d ask me what discovery have I found the moment you came back!” Steven’s eyes lit up as he replied anxiously. “Other than discovering that this disabled monster is not an organic living thing, I didn’t find anything else. How about you?”
“I have two, Professor. First, when the beast tide takes place, all of the wild beasts will automatically take a detour away from the aboriginal tribes. The second discovery, on the other hand, is merely just a bold a.s.sumption. The supernatural phenomenon that happened last night might be the Emperor Mola.s.ses phenomenon recorded in an ancient book of the oldest civilization on Earth — the Chinese civilization.”
“The beast tide will make a detour from the aboriginal tribes… The Emperor Mola.s.ses phenomenon…” After listening to Zhang Lisheng, Steven muttered in a daze.
“Also, Professor!” Zhang Lisheng pondered for a moment and added again as though n.o.body was beside them. “I think that the military is hiding some secrets from us. They have placed a few hundred unmanned scout planes above Shrimp B1 Island but they didn’t even obtain the most basic information. This doesn’t make sense…”
A scientist who made a true contribution to society would naturally have strong skepticism and contempt for authority. There would always be no shortage of ‘conspiracy theorists’.
“What makes you think so, young man?” Professor Muthu, the Indian geographer from Harvard University, who was staring at the howling sandman in a daze, suddenly interjected and asked.
“Because I accidentally discovered that the trees destroyed by the artillery in the jungle will be restored in a day. And, as I said earlier, the aboriginal tribes are not affected by the beasts. These are all situations that can be easily observed but the military has never disclosed this piece of information to us.”
Zhang Lisheng’s words that were quite convincing quickly raised a commotion among some of the scientists present on the scene, until a serious reb.u.t.tal suddenly resonated from behind him. “Mr. Zhang Lisheng, did you really think that we can collect detailed data on a huge island of more than 30,000 square kilometers with just 123 A09 Hummingbirds?”
“But, General, the situation can even be observed with the naked eyes just by standing on the wall of the gathering place…” Zhang Lisheng replied with a smile, without even turning his head around.
“The soldiers are not botanists! How is it possible for the soldiers guarding on the wall to notice this?” Luo Lin, the supreme commander of the gathering place stood behind Zhang Lisheng and looked at the scientists present on the scene. “Alright, everyone. Since the military has invited all of you to Shrimp B1 Island, we won’t hide anything from you. I, Harmand Rowling, can promise you this personally.”
Hearing the strong a.s.surance from this three-star General, the scientists present at the scene slowly calmed down and looked at each other before waving their hands at each other and beginning to resume their work around the captured sandman.
After a.s.suring the crowds with his own personal charm, Rowling placed his attention on Zhang Lisheng completely. “I’ve already made my explanation, young man. Now, it’s your turn to explain, why did you suddenly leave the gathering place and actually manage to stay safe outside for four whole days?”
The reason Zhang Lisheng raised his suspicions was because he wanted to take some of the attention away from the encounters he met outside of the gathering place for these few days. However, right now, the situation had an opposite effect and he could not help but curse his bad luck in his heart. “General, I didn’t really hear you explaining anything…”
“It’s me who is asking you now, young man.”
“Okay! Okay…” In the face of Rowling’s aggressive questioning, Zhang Lisheng repeated the reason he told the short yet strong chief sergeant just now with a wry smile.
“It sounds reasonable but if I carefully weigh it in my mind, it sounds kind of inconceivable.”
“General, there are a lot of inconceivable stories in the world that have taken place. You can attribute them to good luck or even having the ability…”
“Having the ability? This explanation is very interesting. Did you know, young man? After you disappeared, when your portrait is sent to every soldier in the gathering place, one of the second lieutenants, Alison, reported to me that she has seen you before. You have come to this Shrimp B1 Island before on the first day when the island was officially opened to the public. From the surveillance video, it seems like you have also done some incredible things as well, for example, making an aborigine leader who is influential to be scared of his wits; or even received the wors.h.i.+p of a group of aborigines at the exit of the town wall…”
Rowling’s words made Zhang Lisheng become at a loss for words. At this moment, his supervisor beside him suddenly chimed in, “General Rowling, I’ve long told you before that as one of the Stanford Science Team members, I was the one who allowed Zhang Lisheng to leave the gathering place. Moreover, we are scientists invited by the US government and not suspects that are detained by the police. There’s no need for us to explain anything to anyone. Okay, my student and I will have to start working now. Please step away.”
Steven’s words made Rowling stunned for a moment. After that, with a grave expression, he took a good look at Zhang Lisheng before turning around to leave without saying a word.
Looking at the disappearing silhouette of the General, Zhang Lisheng secretly breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you so much, Professor. Why is that General Rowling so aggressive today?”
“Two monsters have suddenly appeared from the beach and the concrete floor yesterday in the gathering place. You’ve also seen the result of it. It’s said that at least thousands of civilians and more than hundreds of soldiers have been injured or died from this incident. Not only that, three armed helicopters have been destroyed as well. If General Rowling doesn’t give any proper explanation, what awaits him would be a brought-forward retirement. Not only that, he may be asked to attend the military court due to dereliction of duty as well. What kind of att.i.tude and joy would you expect him to have in such a situation? Alright, Lisheng. These are not important to us. What’s important now is how the h.e.l.l was this strange creature born inexplicably? You mentioned the Emperor Mola.s.ses just now, right? What is that?”