However, when the other person flashed past, Xiang Beifei did not see that person's system interface.
This was the only way he could distinguish between humans and desolate beasts.
Sun Yushan pondered for a moment, then said, "Don't bother with it, if it hasn't attacked us, we don't need to concern ourselves with it, let's head to the pioneering point first."
She gestured for Fan Kai and Xiang Beifei to continue walking towards the pioneering point ahead, but Xiang Beifei suddenly became solemn, and said, "We can't go there."
"Why?" Sun Yushan furrowed her brows.
"It's hard to say, this is my second time to the outer domain wilderness, I don't have as much experience as you, and there are many things I can't explain, but my perception is very strong, there seems to be something wrong with that pioneering point."
Xiang Beifei stared intently at that sign.
His understanding of the outer domain wilderness undoubtedly did not compare to the two people beside him, but he was very sensitive to the system. In textbooks, he had studied the structure of pioneering points, which are a type of spatial system item.
He could easily recognize anything that was a system spatial item.
However, the pioneering point in front of him did not have any characteristics of the system.
In other words, it looked more like something disguised.
This posed a difficulty for Fan Kai and Sun Yushan, as they did not have the same perception as Xiang Beifei, and so they could not be sure of the truth of Xiang Beifei's words.
"How strong is your perception?" Fan Kai asked.
"Above standard," Xiang Beifei said simply.
At this moment, the whimpering sound that had been merely sobbing suddenly turned into loud crying, as if a child had fallen and was screaming exhaustively for someone to help.
The sound made them even more irritable.
"Let me confirm, the marker of the pioneering point can distinguish human spiritual power."
Sun Yushan took a few steps forward, a dark spear appearing in her hand, which gleamed with a special brilliance.
She threw the spear forward, and as it flew through the air, it turned into a stream of light, reaching its target in a flash and thrusting towards the marker of the pioneering point.
Just as the spear was about to pierce the marker, it suddenly halted in mid-air, stopping instantly, with its tip less than an inch from the mark on the wall, at which point the spiritual power attached to the tip of the spear transferred to the marker.
"How is it?" Fan Kai asked.
Sun Yushan said, "It absorbed my spiritual power, that's a pioneering point!"
Pioneering points recognize the spiritual power of cultivators but repel desolate beasts; others in the outer domain wilderness on missions, if they want to enter the pioneering point, need only input spiritual power. After the marker absorbs the spiritual power, it will open.
And the pioneering point marker in front of them had absorbed the spiritual power, confirming it was genuine.
But Xiang Beifei still insisted, "There is definitely something wrong with that place, I feel like either the pioneering point has been damaged, or it's a location disguised by some desolate beasts. It may have camouflaged the entire area with an illusion."
Fan Kai and Sun Yushan looked at each other.
"You have never been to a pioneering point before, you should know that we are more familiar with pioneering points than you," Sun Yushan said.
"Then you should be even more cautious than I am!" Xiang Beifei said.
Sun Yushan furrowed her brows, as she had been navigating the outer domain wilderness longer than Xiang Beifei and had visited numerous pioneering points. In her view, there was nothing wrong with the pioneering point in front of her.
On the side, Fan Kai said, "Mr. Ye has said that if there is a disagreement in a team in the outer domain wilderness, the safest opinion should be adopted. Since Xiang Beifei's perception is off, we won't go!"
Sun Yushan remained silent for a moment before she finally spoke, "Okay."
Although she didn't quite trust the intuition of Xiang Beifei, who was on his second expedition to the outer regions, she acknowledged his well-trained potential as a pioneering Awakener. He wasn't bent on going his own way.
Just then, Fan Kai's monitor vibrated.
"Wen Lin has taken the bait," Fan Kai rejoiced, "The signal shows it's on the left."
The location was not the direction of the pioneering site. Xiang Beifei slightly relaxed; now, he didn't have to agonize over whether to head to the pioneering point or not.
Without any hesitation, they turned and made their way to the left.
The previously clear channel meandered before them, quickly revealing itself. The clear waters of the lake gurgled, flowing up to a partially collapsed office building.
The building appeared to have more than twenty stories, but it seemed as though it had been cut in half. Half of it had collapsed onto the ground, and the remaining floors were crooked, some of the main beams askew, as if slapped away by a giant desolate beast.
The clear channel reached the wall of this building, and to their surprise, the water didn't stop at the wall but continued flowing upward along the crumbling masonry, then through the distorted windows into the building.
This reverse-flowing channel was exceedingly eerie, with water flowing upward instead of down.
"The signal shows that Wen Lin is inside," Fan Kai whispered.
But when they reached there, the persistent cries became even clearer, as if the child that had been crying all along was right in this building.
"That sound, why does it seem like it's surrounding the building?"
Xiang Beifei concentrated his spiritual power into a thread, pushing it deep into the building, but his spiritual power was not strong enough. Searching in a straight line made it difficult to detect anything else.
Fan Kai and Sun Yushan exchanged glances. At this point, it was clear that there could be no Whimpering Creature inside, but the pervasive crying was quite irksome. They were also unclear about which desolate beast might be disguising itself through these cries.
However, now that they had found this place, there was no intention of retreating. The outer wastelands were inherently bizarre, filled with all sorts of strange desolate beasts. If they gave up on their mission just because of a somewhat strange sound, then the pioneers might as well not think about carrying out their tasks at all.
"Let's go, get inside. Fan Kai, you cover the rear. Newcomers, stay in the middle, don't get separated," Sun Yushan glanced at Xiang Beifei.
"Remember, if anything feels off, grab me immediately. I will escape instantly," Fan Kai cautioned Xiang Beifei again.
"Understood," Xiang Beifei nodded.
Fan Kai's abilities were very useful among the pioneers, for if they encountered a powerful and undefeatable desolate beast, sticking with Fan Kai would mean a chance at survival. Thus, System Awakeners like Fan Kai were quite popular among pioneers.
Though their team was small, having Fan Kai with them meant they still had a chance to survive.
The three cautiously approached a window covered thickly with green moss. The moss, about three inches long and slightly twitching, seemed to swiftly retract upon their approach, disappearing without a trace.
Even the green moss in the outer wastelands seemed sentient, retreating upon sensing that they were not to be messed with.
Sun Yushan took out three metal spheres, similar yet slightly different from the devices Yuchi Shen had used to monitor Xiang Beifei. These were a type of black technology designed for detecting life traces, specifically used to scan for desolate beasts.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Sun Yushan didn't enter immediately but threw the spheres into the window. The spheres quickly hovered up and then scouted the pitch-black building for a moment. Once certain there were no desolate beasts inside, she signaled for Xiang Beifei and the others to follow.
She leaped into the building first, landing on the decayed corridor. Xiang Beifei and Fan Kai followed suit. The corridor was dark, with visibility extremely low, barely illuminated by the faint light from the windows.
The wall plaster had long since fallen off, leaving the walls cracked and exposed, showing clumps of rusted steel rebars and various strange liquid traces, as if left by some traversing desolate beast.
Once inside, the cries became louder, although intermittently on and off, as if just now crying around the corner before running to the back, then seemingly moving to the third floor.
The echo of an infant's cry in a building sounded very eerie.