Xun You, seeing his companion’s action, also crouched down to try it.
The result was the same as before; the Engraving in his hand also showed no response.
Both of them maintained a posture of inspecting the body, and the others did not notice anything unusual about their behavior.
"Mr. Zhan, could you explain in detail what exactly happened here?"
Hu Peng stood up and asked.
He subconsciously used the same title as before, as Jannan’s name, in pronunciation, also tended more toward Eastern inflection.
"I’m also puzzled about this incident. It happened the night before last, this thing suddenly came from nowhere and attacked my house."
"I was sleeping at the time, and this monster broke through my wall — the hole you just saw."
"Luckily I reacted quickly, dodged its sneak attack, and then started playing a roundabout game with this fool inside the house."
Jannan pointed to the wounds on the wolf’s corpse, saying:
"Do you see these marks? I left them. I shot all my ammunition, all of it! That included two hand grenades!"
"God knows what it was made of! It took all my attacks and didn’t die, then chased me all the way here."
He said, patting a nearby large tree.
This was a very thick olive tree, with a diameter over 2.5 meters, very rare at the edge of the desert.
"I stayed in the tree all night, it must have been severely wounded as well, and couldn’t catch me. By dawn, I found that it had died from its injuries."
Jannan spoke calmly, but everyone could sense the terror of the moment from his words.
Now everyone also understood why Jannan’s weapon had no bullets left.
In a way, they even needed to thank this wolf for depleting Old Zhan’s ammunition.
Xun You pried open the wolf’s mouth and said, "Hmm... This creature’s minor features match those of the Ero Wolf, but its size is significantly different."
"Ero Wolves are a smaller subspecies of grey wolves, usually found on the Ero Peninsula and in the northern parts of the Sahara Desert. The area where we are currently located shouldn’t have them, but that doesn’t rule out unrecorded wild populations or individuals."
He felt the wolf’s body again, continuing:
"This wolf’s muscles are extremely developed, far beyond the limitations of its species, even reaching a level unattainable by normal biological standards. I can’t determine its skeletal structure for now, but to support this body, it must have been strengthened..."
"And look here, its claws are clearly different from those of canines, being more similar to felines, capable of slight retraction. It has webbed toes, a thin membrane covering its eyes, and its nostrils can flare... This suggests it might be able to hunt underwater... Is this, perhaps, an amphibious predator?"
Everyone listened intently to his analysis; having adventured with Lord Bear for so long, Xun You had naturally learned quite a lot.
"From an overall perspective, this creature doesn’t seem to be an Alien Species, but rather more like a Mutated Creature! Could it be... that animals on Water Blue Star are also beginning to mutate?"
At his words, the others were still trying to make sense of it all, not reacting at once, but Hu Peng instantly grasped his meaning, and his expression changed abruptly.
"This matter is suspicious, we better report it quickly. Go tell the Star Lord, while I check around here for more clues."
Xun You whispered to Hu Peng, and then started looking around the vicinity.
The members of Wildfire Team were somewhat puzzled, unable to understand what these two were up to, as their subsequent conversation had switched back to Chinese, which the rest of them couldn’t understand.
Jannan appeared reflective, as if he had begun to speculate about the identities of the two men.
A moment later, Hu Peng had finished his satellite call. He had informed Zhang Xiaoman of the events that had occurred here, and the latter said he would come to inspect the situation later.
"Dog, did you find anything on your end?"
Upon hearing this, Xun You shook his head before turning to Jannan and asking,
"Mr. Zhan, did your father tell you about this place? Did he mention anything else to you... or have you heard any legends about monsters?"
Jannan pondered for a moment, seeming to reminisce, and then spoke after a while,
"Actually, it was my grandfather who first came here. He was a travel enthusiast who loved adventures and had once been obsessed with investigating the ancient legends about the Ero Pyramid in this land."
"Later, no one knew why, but after one expedition, he chose to stay. I only met him in my childhood, and by now, I hardly remember anything about him."
He continued, walking over to a small gravestone nearby,
"My father later told me that my grandfather had passed away somewhere in Ero. I remember coming here as a child; this grave is his final resting place."
"As for the monster you mentioned... I’m not sure about that. I’ve only been here once before. But honestly, if it weren’t for your arrival today, I might have planned to move somewhere else in a couple of days. After all, I don’t want to be neighbors with such a creature..."
Jannan elaborated in detail, sharing everything he knew and even chatted about some minor aspects of his life here.
Perhaps having lived in seclusion for so long, now that he had someone to talk to, he seemed somewhat unguarded.
Everyone listened quietly to his story, and as time went on, they also gained a new understanding of this formidable man.
Although Jannan appeared weathered and not prone to smiling, those who interacted with him would find him quite talkative.
His personality was very amiable and not as aloof as one might imagine.
Everyone got along naturally.
He was currently squatting in front of the tombstone, gently wiping the dust off its surface, revealing letters that had been engraved there over time.
However, due to the passage of time, many of the letters on the tombstone were blurred, and the group could only make out some of the content.
Didiyal Cruz Sandoval
Additionally, there were other inscriptions on the tombstone, but they were illegible.
But the information that remained was enough for others to know that a person named Estevan Vasikar once lived here.
After his death, it must have been an old local friend who buried him in this oasis.