December 4th.

After most of the day's rest, the survivors of the excavation team were at least psychologically settled; Obviously, Solid was right to hide the truth, no...... It should be said that all his decisions and countermeasures were right.

Yesterday evening, Professor Rodrigo consulted with the workers in accordance with what Sollid called the "grace and power", and as a result, the workers collectively agreed to continue the work.

Therefore, early this morning, with the exception of Gimenez's group and some of the wounded, the rest of the excavation team set out at dawn.

In the wild, people's work and rest time are naturally different from those in the city; You have to "watch the sky" here – as soon as the sun rises, you have to get up quickly, because when the sun goes down, you can't work overtime even if you want to.

If it is in a desert area with a wide field of vision and few animals, it is not impossible to dig at night with a few large searchlights; But...... It's a jungle with complex terrain and a lot of animals, so it's not a good idea to get very bright light at night.

Considering the limited time during the day, the workers have to eat, drink and rest, and there are still heavy rains in the rainforest from time to time, which can be several days at a time...... If you want to finish it early and get out of here, you can't do it without hurrying it.

To sum up, Rodrigo set a time for the workers to wake up at half past four in the morning.

However, when it was half past four, although the alarm clock in the workers' tents did go off, the only person who finally got dressed and came out of the tent on time was the professor himself......

Of course, Rodrigo was not at all surprised by this situation - he had led the team to dig the soil for decades, and he had seen all kinds of workers, which was not a problem.

After stepping out of his tent, Rodrigo went straight around the camp, unzipped all the workers' tents in half, and then walked leisurely to a nearby stream to wash.

When it comes to "getting people up", the alarm clock is undoubtedly far inferior to mosquitoes.

The alarm clock is like a butler who gently pats you on the shoulder, and after you are woken up by him, tell him to shut up, he will shut up, and then you can sleep for a while; And mosquitoes ...... It's like a bunch of bear kids who poke you with their fingers at will, they can't hit or drive you away, they will harass you until you get up.

Sure enough, ten minutes later, when Rodrigo returned to camp from the stream, all the workers came out of their tents scolding the street, and you just let them go back to sleep...... They itched too much to sleep.

In less than half an hour, the professor's wise gesture earned him the nickname "Luo Papi", but he didn't care; First, he is thick-skinned enough; Second, he knew a long time ago that the image of "a certain peeling" was actually a fabrication of the family, and the prototype of his character was actually a good person, who had always been frugal and kind, but he just caught up with the tide of a certain era, and was inexplicably beaten to death, and his property was divided, and he was used as a negative typical propaganda, which was left behind for thousands of years.

…………

At six o'clock in the morning, after more than an hour of hard work, the workers finally moved an excavator out of the cargo hold of the plane.

Don't think they're inefficient, that's it...... It was done with the help of Solid and two soldiers; If it weren't for the help of these three "Hercules" in B17 armor, this work would have been done all morning.

For this mission, they originally prepared three excavators, but two of them were damaged during the forced landing, and only one of the smallest light "Kemera (a model of excavators)" was still available.

However, although the sparrow is small, it has all kinds of organs; This "Kemera" is not much worse than the other two in terms of excavation performance, in fact, from a certain point of view, it is more suitable to use this type of light machine in jungle terrain.

After the excavator was moved outside the machine and put away, Sollid asked the soldiers and workers to go back to the camp first, because the next half hour was the time to recharge the excavator.

Originally, this could have been done directly on the plane, but because the supporting base had broken and the circuit in the cargo compartment had failed, they had to ask two mechanics in the excavation team to pull a cable directly out of the power room of the plane, drag it outside through a hole in the bottom of the plane, and then dock with the excavator to complete the charging.

During this half hour, the soldiers and workers could go to have breakfast and rest.

Solid and Rodrigo did not rest, they set off in groups, following the route taken by Solid yesterday, to survey the path of the excavator and decide on a place to "shovel".

"You're unlike any officer I know, Mr. Wilson." On the way, the professor struck up a conversation with the veteran, "Although I don't completely agree with some of your practices, your spirit of leading by example is really admirable. ”

"Oh? Do you know a lot of officers? Solid asked.

"Ah...... Not a lot indeed. Rodrigo replied, "There are a lot of officially assigned missions that will get the troops to follow us, so I've seen more than two dozen officers of the Union Army, but I've never seen a commander keep vigil with the soldiers." ”

He was telling the truth, not a compliment.

The federal officers that Rodrigo had contact with before were usually like uncles, leaving everything to his subordinates to do, and he wished that he would even pee for someone else to take care of him; But last night, when Rodrigo woke up at night, he was stunned to see Solid (they all had numbers on their armor and could not be mistaken) standing guard with a soldier himself.

"Because I'm a person who is very 'excessive' in life and things, if I don't lead by example, it will be difficult to convince the public." Solid continued.

Hearing this, Rodrigo smiled: "Huh...... Sometimes what is objectively 'right' is 'incorrect' in terms of human or political feelings, for example, what you asked me to do yesterday - 'suggest that the workers will be thrown into the river if they do not start work'...... And the vast majority of people seem to be 'excessive', but I also know deep down that given the situation we are in, this kind of tough negotiation is indeed the best option, and if I don't listen to you, I just bargain with them...... Then they are likely to gain an inch, and my prestige will gradually be lost in this process of bargaining; Even if I compromise them by raising the price for the time being, they will use every opportunity available to them to sit with me again in the coming days. ”

"Heh......" Sollid chuckled when he heard this, "I thought you were just a pedantic intellectual, but now it seems that you are also a sensible person." ”

"Stereotypes or prejudices, sir." Rodrigo teased with a shrug.

"Call me Solid, Professor." Sollid replied.

"Okay, Solid." Rodrigo continued, "What's that...... I'd love for you to call me by my first name, but because my name is a bit silly and even hinders the sales of my work, I hope you will continue to call me a professor in the future. ”

"Okay, Tandy." But in the next sentence, Solid maliciously reported the professor's name.

The sense of humor between uncles, about that......

…………

The two just chatted and walked for a while.

The air in the jungle was hot and humid, and the chubby Rodrigo soon broke out in a stinky sweat, but he didn't slow down.

It's Solid, for some reason...... The more you go, the slower it gets.

"What's wrong with you?" Rodrigo noticed Solid's anomaly and asked, "Would you like to sit down and rest for a while?" ”

"Something is wrong...... Sollid didn't need to rest, he slowed down for other reasons, "When I walked here yesterday, the terrain around me wasn't like this......"

"Huh?" Rodrigo was stunned for two seconds, "Could it be that you remember ......?"

Before he could say the "typo", Solid rushed and said, "No way, the mark I made is still there." ”

As he spoke, he took a half step back and pointed to a tree beside him; In the middle of the trunk, there were indeed two obvious scratches.

I said...... Why do you want to use such a primitive method as engraving? You should have a system of orientation and positioning in that armor, right? "Rodrigo's focus seems to be a little off.

"That system you're talking about...... It's broken. "There's a strange disturbance in this area, and every once in a while the orientation system in my armor changes, and the time between them and the direction of change are random. ”

By the time he finished speaking, Rodrigo had already taken out the compass in his pocket with a suspicious expression, looked down, and then raised his head to look at the sun: "Hey! Oh, the compass is wrong. ”

Although the professor always carried a compass with him, he rarely looked at it, because he had a good sense of direction and knowledge of astronomy; As long as there is the sun during the day and the stars at night, he can distinguish the south, east and west by scanning the sky, so there is no need to use equipment...... Therefore, it was only at this moment that Sollid reminded him that he found out that there was not only communication interference in this area, but also magnetic field interference.

"The problem of the magnetic field does not explain the situation in front of you......" After a few seconds, Solid looked ahead and said in a deep voice, "When I came to this tree yesterday...... The road ahead was a gentle downhill climb, and after a little further 200 meters, the terrain gradually increased, but now ......"

"It's going uphill, isn't it......" Rodrigo continued.

"And ...... Look at this. Solid then got down on one knee and pointed to the root of the tree next to him, "The water marks in the lower part of the trunk are left by the rainy season, and the part that has been soaked in the water will be a little different in color from the others. As he spoke, he raised his hand and pointed to a few trees in the distance, "But if you look at the location of the water marks of the trees in front of me, they are not parallel to the one next to me, and they are much worse...... If the water level has risen to the height of the water marks of those trees, then the marks on the trees next to us should be at least a meter higher. ”

"What do you mean...... then," Rodrigo asked tentatively.

"Just last night, the terrain here changed dramatically...... "Solid said a head-tingling conclusion in a calm tone," ...... At least, the area in front of us is a big bulge upward. ”

"It can't be, right?" Rodrigo certainly couldn't immediately accept this kind of unreasonable statement, "The magnitude of an earthquake that can cause such a change in the terrain is very high, and we can't feel it." ”

"So it's not an earthquake." Solid had already thought clearly.

"Oh?" Rodrigo asked, "What could that be?" ”

"I don't know." Unexpectedly, Solid changed his words and gave such an answer with confidence, "But I want to ...... Keep going, and you should know something. He paused, stood up, looked at the professor and said, "Professor, you should go back to the camp first...... By the way, help me bring a message to soldiers four and seven, and ask them to come and join me, they know my mark and will find me. ”

Rodrigo is a sane man, and he knows that he is not fit to participate in this kind of "unidentified anomalous" mission without armor; If he insisted on going along, it was hard to say if he could help, but he would likely become a burden to Sollid in the event of an emergency.

Therefore, Rodrigo did not express any objection to Solid's order, he just left a sentence of "then be careful", and quickly turned around and went in the direction of the camp.

The Professor's figure quickly vanished into the woods, leaving Solid standing alone.

After standing silently for a moment, Solid suddenly rushed into the air and said loudly, "Okay, the people in the way have left, you can come out." ”

I don't know who he said this to, but anyway...... The voice was behind, and no one paid attention to him.

The strange sounds of ropes in the jungle continued, and the howl of some beast could still be heard in the distant sky, but the area around Solid was surprisingly quiet at this time, so quiet that he could only hear his own breathing in his armor.

"I've seen a few opponents who can completely eliminate their own aura, and you're not the only one in this world who can do this kind of thing." Seeing that the other party did not show up, Solid continued, "But in any case, that kind of trick is useless to me...... I can still feel your presence. ”

He's not bluffing or trying to cheat anyone, he's telling the truth.

Sollid has instincts and instincts stronger than beasts, and he is best at detecting and counter-reconnaissance, ambushing and counter-ambushing in jungle warfare......

Since he was sure that there was someone in ambush around him at the moment, there must be!

"That's it......" After waiting for more than ten seconds, seeing that the other party was still unmoved, Solid said, "That can't be helped...... If you refuse to come out, I will have to come to you. ”

He was only halfway through this, and the man had already moved.

The B17 armor is not the kind of armor that allows the wearer to gain speed, it is designed to greatly increase the defense and attack capabilities of infantry combat units, and the average person will wear this armor, even with the assistance of the built-in power system, the speed will be affected.

However, Solid used this heavy mechanical armor to run at a hare-like speed, and rushed out seven or eight meters with a single lift of his feet......

After a breath, he rushed to a bush more than ten meters away, grabbed the pistol at his waist and prepared to aim.

But what he didn't expect was that the "man" who was ambushed here also had a speed that was not inferior to him; As he approached, the other party had already fled, and I don't know if it was because of the speed, Solid only saw a black, small shadow through the video capture system on the armor mask, and it didn't look like an adult figure.

Whew——

In the next second, Sollid decisively opened the mask, used the naked eye to see instead, and followed the path of the black shadow to catch up.

He was confident that with his tracking skills, no one would be able to escape him in the jungle......

…………

After five minutes of rapid pursuit, the target's trail vanished.

This situation of evaporation out of thin air can usually be judged as the other party's ability to use or some kind of tool to fly into the sky.

Sollid didn't think he was tracking something that escaped using a jetpack or a rope ladder dropped by a helicopter, because even if it was a jetpack and a helicopter...... It will also leave traces on the ground.

So, nine times out of ten, this "disappearance" depends on some kind of ability.

"If you can run away without a trace like this, why don't you leave sooner?" Solid stood in the place where the other party disappeared, and said to himself, "I chased me for a while before suddenly disappearing, there are about three possibilities...... First, at first he didn't expect me to be able to chase him all the time, and only used his power when he realized that he couldn't get rid of me; Second, the ability to help him escape has a certain price, and he doesn't want to use it until he has to; Third, he deliberately led me to ...... ...... from here."

With this in mind, Sollid glanced around again, and realized that he was standing on the "top of the slope" of a strange hill.