Chapter 121 How Is Everything Gone!
Sophia had been walking for over two hours and had only covered half the distance.
She brought only two-thirds of her people into the mountains, leaving the rest at the village entrance just in case.
There was no signal in the mountains, but fortunately, they had satellite phones.
After circling back to the same spot for the second time, she stopped and looked at Gerald, who stood ahead looking troubled.
Gerald paced back and forth, finally realizing that their group was lost.
Gerald took a deep drag on his cigarette and sighed, "It rained a few days ago, and the heavy fog in the mountains made us take a wrong turn."
He glanced at his obviously old watch and said slowly, "I'll go check ahead. You guys wait here and eat something to keep your strength up."
Sophia and Monkey exchanged glances, both feeling uneasy.
"Gerald, this forest looks pretty wild. Not many people probably come here, so there might be wild animals around. I'll send a few people with you in case you run into trouble."
As she spoke, she took a special potion from Monkey's hand and passed it to him along with a butterfly locked in a special device.
"This is a new potion from our lab, and this butterfly can remember routes. Even if you get lost, it can bring you back."
Gerald didn't refuse when he heard this, his eyes showing some excitement. "That's a great thing! Your lab is really something. I'd really like to get out and see it someday."
Where he couldn't see, the bodyguard at the back was letting drops of a special transparent liquid fall to the ground, disappearing into the foggy forest path.
After Gerald left, Sophia immediately had someone fly the special drone into the air.
However, the fog in the forest was too thick.
The drone's footage showed nothing but towering trees and impenetrable white.
Fortunately, this drone was a new product from their partner research institute, equipped with a brand-new life form movement sensor. By switching modes, it could bypass the fog and detect all life forms in the forest.
"Found them."
As soon as the drone operator spoke, Monkey handed the tablet to Sophia. In the footage, Gerald was leading four people toward the southwest at a steady pace.
Sophia said, "Looks like Gerald still has ulterior motives."
The potion she'd given him earlier contained a special solution. As long as he dripped it on the ground, the drone's tracking system could show their route.
But he hadn't used it, because currently the footage only showed the traces the bodyguard had secretly left.
If Gerald had used it, there should be two trails in the footage, but currently, there was only one.
Whether he really got lost or deliberately went the wrong way—only Gerald knew.
Sophia had another reason for bringing so many people into the mountains: to search for more rare herbs!
If what Gerald saw really was Revival Herb, then a mountain that could sustain such an extremely demanding plant must also be growing other medicinal herbs.
In modern society, many ancient herbs had gone extinct.
If they could really find those rare herbs, it would be great for the lab's research.
Once on site, Sophia discovered that the mountain near Hillwater Village was very primitive.
It was indeed very suitable for herb growth.
Before coming to Cloud City, she had drawn pictures of all the herbs she knew and had Rat design an herb identification system.
By wearing special glasses, they could immediately identify any relevant herbs they saw.
"You guys put on the glasses and look around nearby."
"Be careful of the fog in the mountains, and if you see any swamps, put on your gas masks."
Sophia sent most of the bodyguards to search for herbs in the mountains.
She didn't stay put either, taking Monkey and a few others a bit farther into the area.
Monkey kept watching the footage on his tablet.
Gerald kept heading southwest.
All the bodyguards had satellite phones and walkie-talkies. If they were going the right way, they could contact them directly.
But as the group went farther and farther, no news came through.
Worried about getting lost, Sophia didn't go far. Although she didn't find any precious herbs, she did find quite a few with strong blood-clotting properties and put them all in her backpack.
By the time Gerald returned with his people, Sophia was already back at the original spot.
"Found the way. Let's go."
Gerald glanced at her group and noticed half were missing. "Where are the others?"
Sophia didn't plan to hide it from him and told him straight.
"When we came into the mountains, I noticed quite a few herbs along the way. They're not rare, but I sent people back to collect them."
"We don't need to wait for them. They'll head straight back to the village. Let's go."
Knowing that Sophia's lab did medical research, Gerald didn't think much of it.
"Alright then, let's hurry while it's still early."
Sophia nodded and glanced at the time.
They had set out at seven in the morning, and three hours had already passed.
According to Gerald, they still needed at least two more hours to reach the place he mentioned.
That meant they'd arrive around noon.
The return trip would take nearly five hours.
It wasn't summer now, so it got dark early—by five o'clock it wouldn't be very bright.
If they were stuck in the mountains at night, forget the hidden dangers; just the temperature alone would make them miserable.
Everyone immediately packed up their bags and followed Gerald, walking briskly in the direction he'd confirmed.
Fortunately, this time they didn't end up back where they started.
After walking for two hours, they finally reached the place where Gerald had found what he thought might be Revival Herb.
But...
The red ribbon Gerald had left was still tied to the tree, but the grass around it had clearly been ravaged by wild animals—all the plants had been chewed.
"How is it all gone!" Gerald's voice was full of regret.
He circled the tree twice, and after confirming it was the tree he'd marked, he sighed to Sophia, "The herb that looked like the one in the picture was right under this tree."
"I saw that the herb had nice colors and the flowers it produced smelled really good, so I thought it might be some kind of precious medicinal plant and left a mark here."
He tugged at the red ribbon on the tree, now completely soaked with dew. "This is it."
Sophia crouched down and carefully examined the chewed grass stalks, the sharpness in her eyes growing deeper.
She stood up and said to Gerald with a smile, "It's okay. Only the leaves and flowers were eaten. If it really is Revival Herb, what we actually need is its root and stem."
With that, she directed Monkey and the others to dig with tools.
Whether it was Revival Herb or not, they'd know once they dug up the root and stem.
Gerald had very long hair tied in a bun on top of his head with a black stick, with some messy hair at his forehead that just happened to hide the sharp look in his eyes.
He thought to himself, 'Looks like this person really does know Revival Herb!'