Stanley turned to Felicia. “Any ideas, Mrs. Russell?”

Felicia calmly took a sip from her water bottle. “Didn’t you bring signal flares? Let’s rest here and fire one. We’ll see if we get any response.”

“Got it.” Stanley grinned and nodded.

The six-person team stopped to eat and drink, regaining their strength. Stanley set off a red signal flare. The red smoke spiraled upward, spreading through the dense rainforest. If someone had been observing from above, they would have seen bright red smoke emerging from the vast sea of green trees. But there was no response.

Stanley then used a satellite phone to contact the other teams. The nine arriving helicopters had split into several teams, each searching along different routes. Like them, however, none had made any progress.

Felicia finished her snack, dusted her hands, and stood. “Speaking of which, the Carrell family’s team should have reached their destination by now, right? We weren’t far from them when we landed. Maybe we can catch up. Let’s go.”

“Right!” Stanley nodded. “Exactly. Mr. Russell must be near there. Let’s move!”

Everyone packed up their gear and was about to set off when the walkie-talkie in Stanley’s hand emitted a burst of static.

“What’s going on?” Stanley inspected the walkie-talkie, tapping it a few times. Was it broken? But soon, the other walkie-talkies started emitting the same static noise. Felicia’s pocket walkie-talkie, for emergencies in case the team got separated, was also buzzing with static.

One of the subordinates checked their electronic equipment, including the trackers, and shouted, “Our devices have stopped working!”

Unexpectedly, Stanley relaxed. “That makes sense. Mr. Russell must have lost contact because of this. Let’s pick up the pace and try to reach the destination before sunset!”

Felicia had no objections and led the group forward.

After another three hours, the footprints on the ground suddenly became chaotic. Up ahead, a large swamp appeared, beyond which lay countless snakes, chopped into pieces.

Stanley surveyed the area. “Looks like there was a snake swarm here. The teams that passed through probably got scattered at this point.”

Another subordinate picked up a dead snake and examined it closely. “They’re all venomous. We need to stay alert moving forward.”

“Understood.” Stanley crouched to examine the footprints. His exceptional tracking ability had earned him the title of tracking expert. After a short investigation, he concluded, “The Carrell family went this way. Let’s follow their trail.”

The rest of the team prepared to move, but Felicia remained standing, her gaze fixed on the dead snakes.

“What’s wrong, Mrs. Russell?” Stanley asked.

Felicia pointed at the chaotic footprints. “Can you identify if any of these belong to a couple? Even if they encountered the snake swarm, they would have stuck close together, so their footprints should be side by side.”

Stanley’s decisiveness was his strong point. He didn’t question who Felicia was looking for and immediately began analyzing the chaotic trail for any signs that might fit her description.