The ancient return was exposed by his sister's live stream.

He stared at the red light, his brow twitching slightly.

"These animals are cultivating," he said, handing the phone back to Chen Siyao. "But they're not cultivating actively; they're passively absorbing energy. There's something under that tree releasing energy. Animals are more sensitive to energy than humans, so they all gathered around."

Chen Siyao's eyes widened: "There really is something? What is it? Is it like the Flame Spirit Stone?"

Chen Hao nodded: "Maybe. Remember the Flame Spirit Stone I brought back from underground in Gusu? That thing can make living things evolve. There should be a small piece under this tree too."

Yang Wanqing gasped: "Will these animals grow to be as big as those underground in Suzhou? That spider the size of a sow, and that snake tens of meters long..."

She recalled that scene, and a chill ran down her spine.

Chen Hao shook his head: "No. There are many Flame Spirit Stones underground in Gusu, which is why such large creatures were born. There should only be a small piece here, with limited energy, enough to make these animals a little smarter and live a little longer, but not to turn them into monsters."

Chen Siyao breathed a sigh of relief. The thought of all the cats, dogs, chickens, and ducks in the village turning into those monsters from the underground city of Suzhou was too terrifying; she didn't dare to imagine it.

She immediately told Huang Qiaoling the result and asked Huang Qiaoling to tell Fu Zhaojie not to worry, and then she put the matter out of her mind for the time being.

Meanwhile, a thousand miles away in Shushan City, Yizhou, the atmosphere in a temporarily requisitioned residential building was as heavy as the sky before a storm.

Cao Shoujun stood by the window, looking at the outline of Mount Emei in the distance. The mountain was not high, but it was very steep, and its summit was shrouded in clouds and mist all year round, which the locals called "Cloud Peak".

After the "earthquake" three days ago, most of the fog on the cloud tops dissipated, revealing a cluster of buildings that were barely visible.

In the Eshan area of ​​Shushan City, a tremor resembling a magnitude 7 earthquake was suddenly felt. Strangely, the tremor was limited to the villages around Eshan, and no other areas of the city felt it.

Local authorities rushed to the scene to investigate and discovered an astonishing phenomenon: a group of ancient and magnificent buildings had appeared out of nowhere on the once barren and undeveloped summit of Mount Emei, with upturned eaves and corners, hidden in the clouds and mist, resembling an ancient fairyland!

What's even stranger is that satellites can't capture it. No matter the resolution of the satellite, the photos all show a white expanse of clouds.

The drone flew up, but lost signal halfway up the mountain. When it crashed, the fuselage was hot, as if it had been roasted by something.

They sent people up to scout the way, but halfway there they encountered a maze of obstacles. They were going uphill, but ended up back at the starting point; they were going in a straight line, but ended up going in a huge circle.

Local authorities realized something was amiss and immediately reported it to the Secret Service.

"Director Cao." A middle-aged man in uniform walked in, holding a folder in his hand, his expression solemn. "The second team is back."

Cao Shoujun turned around: "Where are they?"

The middle-aged man's lips moved slightly, his expression filled with grief, and his voice lowered: "In the infirmary."

Cao Shoujun followed him quickly out of the office, across the corridor, and pushed open the door to the infirmary.

The smell of disinfectant was overwhelming. Several people in Secret Service uniforms lay on the hospital beds, some with bandages wrapped around their arms, some with gauze wrapped around their heads, and some with something piercing their thighs, the white bandages soaked in blood and turned dark red.

On the innermost bed, lay a person. A white sheet was pulled down over his body, covering his head.

Cao Shoujun paused for a moment, then walked over and lifted a corner of the white cloth. Gao Chiyu's face was revealed. Twenty-eight years old, captain of the second team of the Southwest Branch of the Special Affairs Bureau, he had just gotten married last year.

His face showed no sign of pain; it was calm, as if he were asleep. But there was a fist-sized hole in his abdomen, running from front to back, with uneven edges, as if something had pierced through his body.

"What happened?" Cao Shoujun's voice was deep.

A young team member who was bandaging his arm looked up, his eyes red-rimmed: "When we got halfway up the mountain, we encountered a group of... ape-men. They were three meters tall, covered in hair, and incredibly strong."

"They ambushed us in the woods, jumping down from the trees and rushing out of the bushes. They even coordinated their attacks, drawing fire from the front and flanking us from behind."

His voice trembled: "To cover our retreat, Captain Gao was... was pierced through from behind by a tree root. It was one of those ape-men's weapons, a spear made of tree branches."

"Weapons?" Cao Shoujun's voice deepened.

The young team member nodded: "They do use weapons. Not just instinctively, but tactically. A spear was thrown from seven or eight meters away and pierced through Captain Gao's bulletproof vest."

The infirmary was so quiet you could hear heartbeats. Some people were sobbing softly, while others were gritting their teeth and enduring the pain.

Cao Shoujun put down the white cloth, turned around and walked out of the medical room.

He walked to the end of the corridor and slammed his fist against the wall with a dull thud. A small piece of plaster fell off, and the back of his hand was scraped, but he didn't feel it.

He never expected that a routine reconnaissance mission would result in casualties, and such a tragic outcome!

The makeshift meeting room was packed with a dozen people, the atmosphere extremely tense.

At one end of the long table sat Cao Shoujun, and opposite him sat Qin Zheng. On either side sat Li Zhengdao, a professor at Peking University; Professor Sun, an expert on the Classic of Mountains and Seas; Professor Wang, a biology professor at Jiaotong University; and several representatives from the Shushan City local government.

There were documents and photos in front of everyone, but no one looked at them.

On the big screen, footage captured at great risk by the scouts was projected: one after another, enormous, hairy giant apes darted swiftly through the forest, their eyes fierce, their movements agile, their sharp claws gleaming coldly—these were the "ape-men" that attacked the team!

"This is the last video recorded by the second team's body camera," Cao Shoujun said in a hoarse voice. "The photographer was Gao Chiyu."

The meeting room was silent for a few seconds.

Professor Wang, a biology professor, adjusted his glasses, stood up, walked to the projection screen, and pointed at the ape-man figure: "They are not apes."

Professor Wang stated confidently, "Judging from the skeletal structure and facial features, this is a Tibetan macaque, a species of macaque, distributed in western Sichuan and eastern Tibet. Adult Tibetan macaques are generally 60 to 70 centimeters tall and weigh between 15 and 20 kilograms."

He paused, his voice carrying a complex emotion: "The one in the photo is estimated to be three meters tall and weigh over five hundred kilograms. This isn't normal evolution; it's the result of some external force."

Cao Shoujun looked at Professor Wang: "Professor Wang, can you make that determination just by looking at a photo? Should we capture one for in-depth research?"

Professor Wang nodded: "I'm quite sure. Because we've seen similar cases in Suzhou."

"A 300-kilogram spider has been found underground at Longdun in Suzhou. It looks exactly like an ordinary spider, only its size is dozens of times larger. Director Qin should be aware of this."