The four of them climbed down the edge of the basin bit by bit—the slope was nearly sixty degrees, and with many juice-rich weeds growing on the slope, a few more steps and their boot soles would be covered in slippery sap... Despite the fisherman's specific warning, Shino still slipped several times. Fortunately, he was tied to a safety rope, otherwise, he feared he'd be the first to reach the bottom of the slope among the four.

Sun Hang had never revealed his ability with mycelium to these teammates he'd just met less than a day ago; he still retained a bit of caution towards them.

"Phew, finally down," the fisherman wiped the sweat off his forehead. "I only now realize how great it feels to have both feet on solid, level ground."

"Not too bad, the Guards Corps has this kind of cross-country training every now and then," Huangfu Sha said. "Climbing steep slopes in heavy rain or night swamp crossing... I feel like this difficulty is pretty low already."

Sun Hang glanced at the two people who didn't even bother to tie the safety rope, then turned to look at Shino—he was the lightest loaded of the four, yet in the worst condition, unable to speak as he bent over, hands on his knees, gasping for air.

Compared to the fisherman and Huangfu Sha who only broke a slight sweat, Shino's clothes were completely soaked, the fabric clinging tightly to his skin, trembling along with his muscles.

"Drink some," the fisherman tossed over a sports drink. "Be careful not to faint."

"Th-thanks," Shino struggled to say a word of thanks, unscrewed the cap, and gulped down more than half in one go.

"Don't drink it all at once, we're running low on drinking water," the fisherman said. "Even if the water on this island is distilled, honestly, I'm still wary of drinking it."

"Speaking of water sources, I remember Dubhe Tower's intelligence stated the entire Nameless Island has been transformed into an environmental anomaly, so we should already be within it now?" Sun Hang said as he dismantled the detection equipment from his body. "Shino, test the anomaly level in the vicinity."

"Alright." Shino, having caught his breath, stuffed the remaining half of the drink into his pack, walked towards the equipment, and plugged in the disconnected cables one by one.

"Actually, I'm quite puzzled. If the first four groups of people who landed on the island didn't make it here, on what basis did Dubhe Tower conclude the entire island was transformed into an anomaly?" the fisherman muttered. "Even the fourth group who brought back some information only made it as far as the woods before retreating."

"Those woods are obviously an environmental anomaly, that's unquestionable," Huangfu Sha said. "Perhaps Dubhe Tower believes the woods were affected by the research facility ruins at the center of the island, which is why it's anomalous. So being the source, the anomaly level at the ruins should be more severe."

"I should have tested in the woods with this machine earlier. We were so busy hurrying that I forgot about it," the fisherman said.

"Just being able to get out of the woods alive is good enough," Shino said with lingering fear. "Alright, the equipment's up and running, in about five or six minutes, we'll have results."

"What's the detection range?" Sun Hang suddenly asked.

"I set the power to maximum. With our current position as the center, the detection range is within a kilometer radius," Shino replied.

Sun Hang looked toward the distant ruins; a kilometer radius would roughly encompass half of the ruins.

"Speaking of which, did you notice something?" the fisherman suddenly said.

"What?"

"Over the basin, not a single drone..." the fisherman frowned. "Initially, the Hunters intended to borrow drones from the Angsa people to send messages, but it appears they've also lost all their drones."

The drones prepared by Dubhe Tower for this operation were divided into three batches: the first batch patrolled the island's perimeter, the second acted as the vanguard advancing towards the island's center, and the third followed the Hunters who landed, serving as fire support and an external communication means.

The drones accompanying Sun Hang's group were mostly knocked down by the giant waves Yamata Orochi conjured. The remaining ones were used by Shino to send word of Yamata Orochi's appearance. However, the drones accompanying the Angsa and Indian Hunters should be intact, so why are there none visible over the basin?

"Were they all downed or taken into the research facility underground?" Huangfu Sha was also puzzled. "In narrow underground passages, flying drones wouldn't be of much use, right?"

"If it were me, I'd leave those drones outside," the fisherman said.

Apart from these airborne drones, the Hunters also carried some 'land drones,' which were made into little cars or robotic snakes, used to explore hidden corners humans couldn't enter.

"The results are out," Shino suddenly said. Sun Hang looked toward the voice, seeing Shino's brows knitted together, a look of disbelief on his face.

"What's wrong? Judging by your expression, is there something odd about the results?" the fisherman quickly walked over and asked.

"D-detecting no memetic waves at all," Shino shook his head repeatedly. "This shouldn't be... not even the slightest fluctuation, doesn't this mean the basin wasn't anomalized at all..."

"Aren't those four curves?" the fisherman pointed to the equipment's screen. "Don't these curves count as fluctuations?"

"Those four lines are the memes we're carrying... the three thicker, completely flat lines below are the environmental detection results," Shino explained. "That's strange, the woods we passed through were definitely a type G anomaly, but when we reached here, everything returned to normal."

"Don't jump to conclusions," the fisherman said seriously. "There's a saying that everything appearing normal is actually the most abnormal."

"I know it's not normal. Initially, I thought there might be a malfunction with the equipment. But after testing our memetic frequencies, I found no issues with the equipment. Look, this was the record obtained on the beach before, and this is the record now. Overlay the two images, and all eight curves match two by two."

"Hmm, true enough," the fisherman tilted his head, looking at the screen of the detection equipment. "If the equipment is fine, then the issue lies with this place... Hey, I suddenly have an idea. Want to hear it?"

"Go ahead," Sun Hang said.

"Could it be that the so-called 'Type G-19' doesn't exist at all? Those woods aren't just an environmental anomaly...only the trees were anomalized, not the place itself? That would explain perfectly why no memetic waves were detected here in the basin," the fisherman said.

"Makes sense," Shino nodded in agreement. "Most of Dubhe Tower's intelligence on Nameless Island came from the fourth group of Hunters who landed, but our current location has deeper than any of those Hunters... which means their information is meaningless to us now."

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