Chapter 424: Mysterious Expedition, Huaxia Special Department?

"Today I'm heading to Lop Nur, a place known as the 'Sea of Death'."

"The Classic of Mountains and Seas refers to Lop Nur as 'Youze'."

"In the Mongolian language, Lop Nur means 'a lake where many waters converge'."

"But now, Lop Nur has completely dried up, leaving behind nothing but an endless expanse of desert and salt crusts."

Ning Fei drove across the Gobi Desert, accompanied only by the little falcon, chatting with his viewers.

"Temple Master Ning, what are you going to Lop Nur for?"

"Yeah, are you going on another travel?"

"There's nothing to see out there, right? Just a bunch of sand and hard dirt."

The viewers immediately grew curious.

Hearing this, Ning Fei smiled and said, "An expedition team made a new discovery in Lop Nur, and they invited me to join them."

"I thought it sounded interesting, so here I am."

His words instantly riled up the audience.

"An expedition team? Are you tomb raiding?"

"Hahaha, can you even call it tomb raiding if Temple Master Ning does it? That's just open, above-board geological research!"

"Temple Master Ning, what's the new discovery?"

"Are you allowed to talk about it?"

"Good heavens, so there's treasure! I was wondering why he'd go!"

Chatter filled the stream.

Ning Fei didn't explain further, mostly because he didn't know the specifics himself.

After nearly half a day of driving, Ning Fei arrived at a research institute in Lop Nur Town.

Today happened to be the agreed-upon gathering time.

Bai Yuanche's friend, the initiator of this expedition, was a renowned Huaxia archaeologist named Lin Tao.

For this archaeological dig, he had brought along two of his students and two staff members from the research institute.

This archaeological team had traveled to many places across Huaxia and possessed a wealth of excavation experience.

The moment Ning Fei walked into the institute, everyone gave him a warm welcome.

"Hello, Professor Lin."

Ning Fei was polite, greeting Lin Tao with a smile. After all, this was his master's friend, and he naturally needed to show proper respect.

Lin Tao's hair was a mix of black and white. He had a tough, robust physique and exuded vigorous energy. Far from looking weather-beaten, he seemed full of youthful vitality.

"Hello there, Temple Master Ning. We've been eagerly waiting for you,"

Lin Tao laughed, shaking his hand.

The others also looked at Ning Fei, their expressions filled with excitement and admiration.

Of the two students Lin Tao brought, one was a dark-skinned young man wearing glasses. He seemed rather quiet and was named Liu Wu.

The other was a young girl named Xue Fang. She had beautiful eyes, giving off a vibe similar to the new leading actress Liu Haocun in one of Director Zhang Mouzi's films—a very clean, pure presence on camera.

The remaining two were middle-aged men, clearly the backbone of the archaeological team.

Lin Tao introduced the team members to Ning Fei one by one.

Ning Fei quickly realized that this team was far from ordinary.

The two middle-aged men were in superb physical condition, their gazes steady and calm. At a glance, they were veteran explorers.

Liu Wu might have been quiet, but he had the face of someone who naturally aced advanced mathematics—a top-tier academic through and through.

Xue Fang wore almost no makeup, but she looked physically fit and wouldn't be a burden to the group.

Only after everyone got acquainted did Lin Tao explain the ultimate goal of their expedition.

"This was discovered by some tourists. A group was crossing the uninhabited zone of Lop Nur, and at night, from inside their cars, they filmed a bizarre video."

"Take a look."

Lin Tao showed Ning Fei the video on his mobile phone.

Ning Fei took the mobile phone and watched closely.

He saw the tourist convoy driving along a wide sandy path flanked by towering dunes.

Right then, two dark figures resembling humans appeared on the dunes, moving around.

The tourist's shocked exclamation rang out from the video:

"Holy shit! Holy shit! What the hell is that? Look over there!"

The footage was a bit shaky, but it was still clear enough to see. The creatures had two hands, stood upright, and looked exactly like humans.

Ning Fei's expression turned serious.

"Lop Nur has sand lizards, Bactrian camels, goitered gazelles, and scorpions, but there are absolutely no humanoid creatures that stand or walk upright."

"Could they be other tourists?"

Ning Fei asked.

Hearing Ning Fei's analysis, Lin Tao nodded and replied, "You're right. Watch the rest of the video. The convoy thought some tourists had gotten lost out there, so they specifically stopped to rescue them."

"Two of them even climbed the dunes to check, but they didn't see any signs of human activity."

"Instead, they found beast fur on the sand."

"These tourists were smart enough to immediately report it to the local government using their mobile phones."

"There is a department in Huaxia that manages these matters. I won't go into the details, but back in the day, your master threw his weight around quite a bit in that department. He infuriated the older generation, but he was simply too capable. They couldn't do anything about him and still had to treat him like royalty."

"Oh, right. Remember the water monkey you discovered a while ago? We handled that, too."

Lin Tao looked completely unfazed as he said this.

The two middle-aged men standing behind him, however, slightly changed their expressions.

They probably hadn't expected Lin Tao to reveal all this to Ning Fei.

'Special Department...'

Ning Fei pondered silently.

It made sense. There were always many mysterious things out there, and making them public would not have a positive impact on society.

"Have you studied the beast fur? What kind of animal does it belong to?"

Ning Fei asked, pressing for more information.

Lin Tao replied, "According to the test results, it belongs to a type of anthropoid ape. This species has never been discovered by mankind before."

Hearing Lin Tao's words, Ning Fei furrowed his brows slightly.

"Anthropoid apes in Lop Nur? That doesn't seem realistic."

"Apes and chimpanzees live in forests. Their habitats must have trees, water sources, and fruits."

"Lop Nur is a barren desert. How could anthropoid apes possibly exist here?"

Ning Fei questioned.

Lin Tao tidied his belongings and slowly said, "That is exactly why we need to go and find the answers."

"Besides, it's not impossible."

"More than a decade ago, the uproar over the wildmen in Shennongjia caused quite a stir. It was our department that stepped in and gradually smoothed things over."

"I can tell you that we did find some things in that region, but there was no need to make them public."

Hearing Lin Tao's words, Ning Fei realized that this world truly harbored many things yet to be discovered by mankind—things often veiled in deep mystery.

"A secret expedition team... It looks like I won't be able to live-stream this,"

Ning Fei clicked his tongue and sighed.

"No, you can stream. It's fine this time."

"In fact, if we really discover an underground city, we'll announce it to the public."

"This is strictly an archaeological expedition."

"It seems you really don't pay much attention to archaeological news,"

Lin Tao said with a smile.

Ning Fei was momentarily taken aback.

Later, when he turned on his stream, Ning Fei finally understood. Lin Tao and the other two middle-aged men before him were all famous, top-tier archaeology experts in Huaxia.

They had uncovered numerous historical ruins and artifacts, appeared on the news countless times, and possessed a massive fanbase on the internet.

"Having more fans pay attention to our archaeological work is a good thing."

"By having you stream this time, we're actually leeching off your popularity."

"However, it's best to speak as little as possible about the department and its secrets."

"Next time there's a mysterious expedition like this, I'll invite you again,"

Lin Tao added with a laugh.

The man was very charismatic, and his way of speaking naturally put people at ease.

Ning Fei nodded, fully grasping Lin Tao's thought process.

Inviting him along was partly to gain a capable helper, and partly to boost their visibility. Because of that, Ning Fei absolutely had to live-stream.

"Did your master warn you to be careful? I reckon he thought this would be like one of our past expeditions."

"Relax, it's just a normal archaeological dig. The danger level shouldn't be high,"

Lin Tao continued.

Ning Fei nodded.

He finally understood why Bai Yuanche had warned him to be careful.

Lin Tao engaged not only in archaeological digs but also in mysterious, covert explorations.

And those mysterious explorations carried a certain degree of danger.

Hearing that there was no danger, Ning Fei sighed instead.

No danger usually meant boredom.

"Whatever. Maybe there will be some unexpected surprises,"

Ning Fei muttered to himself.

Lin Tao and the others didn't pay much attention to his remark.

What they didn't know, however, was that Ning Fei's mouth was practically prophetic. Later on, they really would encounter some very unexpected surprises.