"Th-the GPS is broken?" The slightly overweight man's voice was dry.
"My compass…"
Another female assistant held up her compass, her face pale. "The needle… the needle is spinning wildly…"
Guide He snapped his head up, his gaze sweeping over the surrounding trees, rocks, and the interplay of light and shadow.
Everything looked perfectly normal, yet it all felt indescribably off.
The dappled sunlight filtering through the leaves seemed a little dimmer than before.
The chirping of birds and the buzzing of insects had, at some point, completely vanished.
Even the wind seemed to have died.
A heart-pounding, invisible "force field" seemed to envelop them.
"Get out."
Guide He made a snap decision, his voice low and resolute. "Get out. Now!"
This time, no one raised any objections.
An instinctive fear gripped everyone.
They scrambled to turn around and quickly retreated along the path they'd come from—or rather, what they thought was the path.
