Although Yang Lin knew he shouldn't laugh at a time like this, he couldn't help himself.
This was because Teacher Xiao Liang had been specially invited by the "Into Science" program team to Shennongjia to investigate the mystery of the wild man.
But who would have thought that before the results were out, the person would be captured by a wild man.
Of course, whether this wild man was indeed the kind they imagined remained to be seen.
At least in Yang Lin's opinion, wild men didn't exist in this world.
"Can you briefly tell me the details of what happened?"
In the van, Yang Lin, who had finally calmed down, immediately began to press for details of the incident.
Hearing his question, Tian Rui immediately recounted the entire story.
"It's like this: Teacher Xiao Liang and the 'Into Science' program team formed a field survey team and were exploring the Yinyu River area."
"When we first entered the Yinyu River area, everything was fine. Later, it suddenly started snowing heavily, and then we lost contact with Teacher Xiao Liang and his team."
Before Tian Rui could finish speaking, Yang Lin asked doubtfully:
"Then why are you so sure that Teacher Xiao Liang and the others were captured by a wild man?"
Hearing this question abruptly, Tian Rui's gaze suddenly became strange.
After a moment of silence, he took out a mobile phone from his pocket and opened a video on it.
At the beginning of the video, Teacher Xiao Liang was still talking to the camera about the unique flora and fauna in Shennongjia.
When the video reached the three-minute mark, the sky suddenly changed dramatically, and then heavy snow began to fall from the sky.
The next second, to Yang Lin's horrified gaze, a white figure rushed into the program team's camera.
Before Yang Lin could react, the camera had already fallen to the ground.
In the last part of the video, a large white foot was vaguely visible, and someone could be heard shouting the word "wild man."
"This..." As the video abruptly ended, Yang Lin fell into silence.
He had initially thought that Teacher Xiao Liang being captured by a wild man was just a joke.
However, judging from the final footage, Teacher Xiao Liang and the others seemed to have indeed encountered a wild man.
But as soon as this thought surfaced, Yang Lin shook his head.
"No, no, it's definitely not a wild man, it must be some other wild animal."
"Could it be a rare white ape unique to the Shennongjia region?"
According to the information he had previously researched and the information he had received about Shennongjia, the Shennongjia forest area was home to over 4,000 species of wild animals, including more than 330 species of vertebrates.
This was only statistics gathered after 1980. Before 1980, Shennongjia had always been in a closed state, and the real numbers were bound to be much higher than the official statistics.
With such a massive population, there must be some rare, unknown animals.
The wild man in legends and the white figure in the video must be one of them.
Thinking of this, Yang Lin became excited.
If he could discover a large number of new species on this trip, he would be one step closer to upgrading the system to level 3.
As he pondered what kind of creature this white wild man encountered by Teacher Xiao Liang and the others might be, the vehicle he was in drove from the airport to the wildlife research station in the central part of the Shennongjia forest area.
Although the research station was shrouded in a thick layer of snow at the moment, the area around it was bustling with activity.
Yang Lin spotted no less than seven or eight search teams and several rescue helicopters at a glance.
Even a signal truck from a telecommunications company had arrived.
As soon as the van that picked up Yang Lin stopped, a group of people immediately surrounded them.
As soon as the car door opened, a middle-aged man wearing a thick down jacket and a windproof mask extended his right hand.
"Director Yang, I am Liu Changhe, the editor-in-chief of National Geographic Magazine. I apologize for troubling you at this critical juncture."
"Thank you for making such a long trip."
Just as Yang Lin was about to exchange pleasantries, another person beside him spoke.
"Director Yang, I am Qi Dongqiang, the producer of the 'Into Science' program. We really had no choice this time."
"Director Yang, I am Zhao Guangming, the deputy head of the Shennongjia Forest District..."
"Director Yang, I am Xu Gong, the deputy director of the Shennongjia Forest District Forestry Bureau..."
"Director Yang, I am Li Changhai, the captain of the Great Snow Mountain Rescue Team..."
...
Yang Lin, who had been about to greet them, was stunned after the barrage of self-introductions.
He could no longer match the names, positions, and other information with the people in front of him.
After opening and closing his mouth for a long time, he finally chose to say nothing, but smiled politely.
Perhaps worried about too many people speaking and too much information, the group quickly selected a representative to communicate with Yang Lin one-on-one.
This person was Li Changhai, the overall commander of the joint search and rescue operation.
"Director Yang, I believe Xiao Tian has already told you the basic information on the way here."
"Now I will be responsible for explaining the difficulties we are currently facing."
Inside the research station, Li Changhai said while taking out a map of the forest area.
"Director Zhang and his team entered the southern exploration area of Shennongjia this time, which is the area with the highest density of wild animals, including more than twenty species of national first-class protected animals."
"Of course, these regular wild animals do not have any impact on our rescue efforts. What truly affects us are some mysterious animals."
At this point, a look of lingering fear appeared on Li Changhai's face.
"Mysterious animals?"
"Yes, when we went up the mountain to search yesterday, we encountered a mysterious animal whose name we couldn't identify. It was very fast, and possessed great strength and size."
"Moreover, it was extremely aggressive. One of our team members was severely bitten and wounded after a direct encounter with it."
As if afraid that Yang Lin would not believe him, Li Changhai quickly produced several photos.
One was a giant claw mark appearing on a tree trunk, one was a giant footprint on soft ground, and the last one was a huge wound that could penetrate the upper torso.
As Yang Lin's gaze fell on these photos, his pupils slightly contracted.
As an animal worker, if it were the tracks of a normal animal, he could guess the identity of the animal with just one glance.
But the traces on these three photos made it impossible for him to associate them with any wild animal.
His mind couldn't help but conjure images of Hua Dajie and Lion King.
"Could it be that there are existences like Hua Dajie in nature?"
"Or is it like Dolphin Island, where there is some extraterrestrial meteorite that causes animals to evolve?"
As Yang Lin was hesitating, Li Changhai provided him with a useful piece of information.
"I consulted an old forest ranger in the area, and he told me that there is a fierce beast in the Shennongjia forest area that surpasses lions and tigers. This fierce beast is called 'Guo Shan Huang'."
"Guo Shan Huang?" Hearing these three words, Yang Lin's gaze suddenly sharpened.