At this time, the group of people on the platform also recovered and stepped off the platform one after another.
The two groups gathered at the giant lizard, but both sides seemed to have some scruples and neither took the lead to say hello.
There were eight people on the other side, seven men and one woman, three men were armed, and the remaining five were unarmed. Two men and one woman were young people, one was middle-aged, and one was over sixty years old.
These five people looked a bit bookish and looked like experts and scholars. They all looked at Ning Xiaofan and Ning Xiaofan nervously and curiously. As for the young woman, she was none other than Ning Xiaofan's beauty.
Neighbor Li Wanting.
Li Wanting was wearing a warm jacket, but there were many tatters on the surface of the jacket, giving people a very embarrassed feeling. At this moment, she was also looking at Ning Xiaofan and the others with curiosity, but Ning Xiaofan was facing
It was so dark that she didn't recognize it yet.
At this time, the other three men holding automatic rifles looked wary, and the automatic rifles in their hands were raised a little intentionally or unintentionally.
Ning Xiaofan originally wanted to say hello to Li Wanting, but saw that the three gun-wielding men were not very friendly, so he temporarily gave up the idea. Fatty and Hou San also looked cautiously, raising the guns in their hands slightly.
The gun was not pointed at the other two, but only at the leader of the opponent.
Both sides pointed their guns vaguely at each other, and the atmosphere became tense. However, Ning Xiaofan already knew the identity of the other party, so he acted more relaxed.
"Are you a prospecting team?" the middle-aged man with a scholarly temperament asked slightly nervously
Ning Xiaofan was about to respond, but the fat man standing aside responded first: "Yes, we are the advance team of prospecting, you are..."
"We are a joint inspection team." The middle-aged man replied quickly.
"A joint inspection team? Are you from Jiangnan University? A joint inspection team sponsored by Xin'ao?" It was Ning Xiaofan who spoke this time.
"Hey, how did you know that we are from Jiangnan University?" the middle-aged man said with surprise in his eyes.
Ning Xiaofan glanced at Li Wanting intentionally or unintentionally, and smiled slightly: "We are a prospecting team belonging to Xin'ao."
"Are you from Xin'ao?" The middle-aged man was startled at first, then said with surprise in his eyes: "That's good, we are a family, a family..."
"You said you are from Xin'ao, what proof of identity do you have?" The man on the other side, known as the boss, suddenly asked, still maintaining a vigilant look.
Ning Xiaofan immediately took out his ID card, walked over, and handed the ID card to the man with the gun.
There was a photo and the name and occupation of the cardholder on the ID card. The man with the gun took a quick look at it and recognized the Xin'ao logo on it. The look on his face relaxed slightly, and he said apologetically: "It turns out to be Assistant Ning.
I'm sorry, we suffered a bit of a loss not long ago, so we asked you to confirm your identity."
Ning Xiaofan said disapprovingly: "When you go out, you should be careful."
"As long as you understand, let me introduce myself first. My name is Yang Hai. I am a security guard at the Xin'ao Overseas Branch. I am responsible for the security of the joint expedition team. By the way, I haven't thanked you for rescuing us just now. Thank you.
Ning Xiaofan smiled slightly: "It's a trivial matter. You said you suffered a loss not long ago, what happened?
The man with the gun darkened slightly and sighed: "When we were camping last night, we were attacked by a team and several people were killed. Fortunately, the team recognized that we were not a prospecting team, so no one rushed to kill us.
Otherwise, more people will die."
Has this begun to eliminate dissidents? How many people have died? Ning Xiaofan felt a chill in his heart and said, "Then did you recognize each other's identity?"
The man holding the gun said with a bitter look on his face: "It was far away at the time, so I only knew that the other party was a prospecting team, and there were several foreign members among them. They should be foreign prospecting teams."
"Foreign team? Didn't you say that the mines will be launched in batches? Why are they so early?"
"I don't know about this. I heard that there were several advance teams early yesterday morning. We arrived at the base at noon yesterday. We were supposed to rest for a few days before entering the tiankeng. Later, we were notified at short notice that there were geological changes inside the tiankeng.
We had to go down to the mine in advance. We went down into the tiankeng around 3 p.m., and there were more than ten teams with me, but each team took a different route."
After listening to Yang Hai's words, Ning Xiaofan suddenly realized that it had only been a day and a night since he entered the sinkhole, but all the way there, the sinkhole was not only dark, and he could not tell the difference between day and night, but also there were
There were so many things that it felt like several days had passed.
And if the team that set off after this could meet our own team, it was obvious that either we had taken the wrong route, or there was another route closer to here.
While thinking, Ning Xiaofan asked again: "Well, where are you going?"
"Same as you, you have to go to the grotto first, and then decide on the inspection route." The man with the gun said, hesitating slightly and said: "Since you are the Xin'ao prospecting team, you can be regarded as your own, I don't know if you can
Let's go together? You also know that we only have three armed security personnel left. If we want to protect these experts, our strength is a bit weak."
Ning Xiaofan pondered for a moment and said, "It's not impossible to travel together, but you need to obey the arrangements."
"This..." Yang Hai glanced at the middle-aged man standing not far away, and said with a troubled expression: "I have no problem with my two subordinates, but I am not the leader of our team. You have to communicate with our team leader.
.”
"Then let your team leader communicate with me."
"Please wait a moment."
After Yang Hai finished speaking, he walked over to the middle-aged man, chatted with the middle-aged man in a low voice for a few words, and then walked over to the middle-aged man again.
"Hello, my surname is Wang, Wang Zhipeng, manager of the development department of Xin'ao headquarters." The middle-aged man who called himself Wang Zhipeng took the initiative to extend his hand to Ning Xiaofan, but his expression was slightly reserved.
"Ning Xiaofan, assistant manager of the development department of Xinao Jiangnan Branch, leader of the advance prospecting team." Ning Xiaofan reached out and shook his hand.
Wang Zhipeng smiled reservedly: "Hello, Xiaoning, right? I just heard Yang Baoan say that we can go to the grotto with you?"
"That's what happened."
"That's good, that's good. Let me make some arrangements first. It's almost noon now. Let's find a place to rest first."
Ning Xiaofan was startled when he heard this and said hurriedly: "Wait a minute, didn't Yang Baoan tell you? If you are traveling with us, you must obey our arrangements."
"I will obey your arrangements?" Wang Zhipeng frowned slightly: "Speaking of Xiao Ning, aren't you a bit pushy by saying this? You have to know that according to our status in the company, I should be your boss. Speaking of which,
You should also obey my arrangements."
This guy didn't seem to understand the situation. Ning Xiaofan felt unhappy and said calmly: "Manager Wang, I admit that your position is higher than mine. However, this is not a company, but a mining area. As the team leader, I have to work for me."
The team is responsible for safety. If you don’t obey the arrangements, then go your separate ways.”
"How could you do this?" Wang Zhipeng said with a slightly stunned look on his face: "You are just the leader of a small team, why do you want us to follow your arrangements? If you do this again, I will report it to the superiors based on your current performance when you go back.
Reflect, when the time comes, if you lose your job, don’t blame me for not reminding you in advance.”
"It's up to you. Since you don't want to follow the arrangement, then everyone can go their separate ways."
In Ning Xiaofan's heart, he only cared about Teacher Li's safety and was too lazy to talk to the guy in front of him, so he turned to look at Li Wanting.
At this time, Li Wanting was standing next to the giant lizard's body. She didn't pay attention here. Instead, she and another sixty-year-old man kept looking at the giant lizard's body. Two of the younger men were still there.
Those head-shaking comments.
Ning Xiaofan bypassed Wang Zhipeng, walked straight to Li Wanting and said, "Teacher Li, come with us.
When Li Wanting saw Ning Xiaofan suddenly walking up to her and asking her to follow him, she was stunned for a moment, then a hint of surprise appeared in her eyes: "Xiaofan, are you Xiaofan?"
At this time, she heard Ning Xiaofan's voice, but Ning Xiaofan's face was too dirty and she was a little afraid to confirm it.
Ning Xiaofan was also stunned. She hadn't recognized him yet. Then she realized that her face was a little dirty. She quickly wiped it with her sleeves a few times and grinned, "It's not me, Teacher Li.
I didn’t expect to meet you here.”
It was okay that Ning Xiaofan didn't wipe his face. With this wipe, his face looked like a tabby cat, making it look even more dirty. However, those black and white, slightly shy eyes made Li Wanting even more sure, and she couldn't help but laugh out loud:
"You are such a kid. I heard that you went into the sinkhole early yesterday morning, and I asked if I could meet you..."
While the two were talking, the 60-year-old man standing next to Li Wanting saw the two chatting and laughing happily, and asked with confusion in his eyes: "Teacher Li, do you know each other?"
"We know each other. I am still his landlord. Oh, by the way, let me introduce to you. This is my neighbor, Ning Xiaofan..." Li Wanting said, and introduced Ning Xiaofan: "Xiaofan, this
Our Professor Zhao from Jiangnan University..."
"Hello, Professor Zhao." Ning Xiaofan greeted politely.
"Oh, okay." Professor Zhao seemed to be more interested in the giant lizard, so he said perfunctorily, and then his attention turned to the giant lizard's body.
Li Wanting smiled apologetically at Ning Xiaofan: "Professor Zhao is an expert in the field of biology. When he sees something like this, he doesn't care about you. Don't be surprised."
"How can you not? This is professionalism and is worthy of admiration." Ning Xiaofan smiled and said: "Teacher Li, I heard that you are going to the grotto first, and you happen to be on the same road as us. How about you come with my team?
