"They have their own mission. Additionally, the safety of these people cannot be compromised. That is all." Philip's tone was very firm. Without waiting for Gaia and the others to question him again, he turned around and left the group of expert scholars to Gaia and the others.
Everyone in the exploration team sighed in their hearts.
Although the exploration team had increased their manpower, they were at the vanguards of exploring this planet. They would inevitably encounter all kinds of difficulties and problems.
Manpower was actually a secondary issue, the main problem was that everything here was still one big unknown.
If it was not for Gaia, they would not have been able to have survived this long in the jungle.
The ever-present threat of venomous insects and fierce beasts made the jungle a very dangerous place.
Now that they were tasked with excorting these expert scholars, the risk they faced was greatly increased.
Gaia thought for a moment and smiled.
He had long suspected that there was something wrong with Philip, but Gaia did not expect that he would expose himself at this critical moment.
A few days ago, he had felt that, as the leader of the exploration team, Philip did not go to the front line most of the time.
That had been the case since the very first night on Planet Mushu. Philip had waited until the wolf monsters had retreated before showing his face and saying a few words of encouragement.
After that, Gaia returned to Planet Azure. He thought that Philip would at least take charge and lead people to clean up the battlefield.
However, the next day, when they came back, they saw mounds of minced meat still splattered on the steel walls.
On Planet Mushu, they were not facing humans who had a weak sense of smell. Instead, they were facing beasts that had a sense of smell that was hundreds or even thousands of times stronger than humans.
If there were still blood and minced meat around the base, the smell could travel far away and attract the monsters.
This was not something a responsible superior should do.
After the exploration team received the exploration mission, he had never personally participated in them too.
Even during the very first exploration mission, he had asked the vice-captain - Douglas - to take charge and lead everyone to explore the jungle.
This guy always stayed in the backlines.
This time, it was no different. Previously, William had mentioned that before the expert team officially arrived, the Klaus Family would earn as much as they explored.
However, at this moment, Philip had suddenly brought in a few expert scholars over from God knows where.
It was obvious that they were here to get a share of the profits.
Furthermore, these bastards were taking a huge risk in offending the Klaus Family. They must have some other motive.
If that was the case, then the potential profits must be quite big.
Thinking of this, Gaia did not oppose Philip's decision. Gaia acquiesced with the request. Seeing that, the rest of the exploration team also followed suit.
Gaia decided to see what these experts planned to do first. Later, he could easily find an opportunity to report this to Bill and have Philip dealt with.
Gaia was not planning to wait for the perfect opportunity to expose Philip's schemes before dealing with him.
In his eyes, Philip was already a spy.
As the heir to the Klaus Family, Gaia held great jurisdiction over the military. Taking down a small Philip was a piece of cake. No one would object to it as well.
Then, why should he wait until enough evidence was gathered just to arrest the guy?
"Isn't it much easier to just get it over with?" He thought.
——————————
"Sorry to trouble you guys," said Professor Wendell with a smile. "We'll do as we're told and try not to cause trouble for you guys."
Even if the team did not want to do it, orders were orders.
Since there were no requirements for the exploration today, it was not too big of an issue.
Over the last few days, they had discovered that the danger level around the altar is actually quite low.
Last time, their encounter with the spore forest is an anomaly. These days, when they go exploring, they rarely encountered any creatures that posed too much of a threat to them.
The most dangerous encounter they had was the Greenwood Wolf.
Right now, their biggest threats were those venomous insects that were very small in size but extremely venomous.
These venomous insects were often very well hidden, making it difficult for the team to deal with them.
However, as long as they were vigilant, that would not be a big problem.
"Douglas, can we set off now?"
"Everyone ready to go?
"Alright, let's head out."
After confirming that they had all the equipment, everyone started to make a move.
After leaving the base, everyone went into a battle formation, surrounding Gaia, the two professors, and their students in the middle.
The others looked at Gaia curiously. Although he was also wearing a combat uniform and carrying a weapon, he was protected in the middle of the squad just like them.
This should have been their exclusive privelege!
However, they did not ask too much. After all, they had a mission.
Soon, they crossed the plains outside the base. The scholars were immediately attracted by the strange flowers and plants in the forest.
However, some of the trees here had been cut down, slightly ruining the scene.
In the eyes of Gaia and the others, this was actually a great sight that warmed their hearts.
This was because these trees were all cut down bit by bit by their comrades of the engineering corps. Although they were the rearguards of the operation, they had also encountered many dangers.
The most common threat was the venomous insects that were everywhere. Within just these few days of cutting down the trees, many engineers had died at the hands of these venomous insects.
Just as Gaia and the others were looking at these newly created plains with excitement, a single sentence by one of the scholars ticked everyone in the exploration team off.
"What a beautiful place. If only there were no humans, this place would've remained in peace and prosperity... " A young man wearing glasses suddenly said as he turned around to look at the deforested plains they had just passed through.
It was originally a forest, but it had completely leveled, leaving only a few tree stumps that were barely higher than ground level.
Many people were silent, pretending that they did not hear anything.
They thought that it was better to avoid trouble, though they were obviously frustrated at that statement.
He had said it as if they were sinners.
Why had they even bothered going through so much trouble to come to Planet Mushu?
It was all because they wanted to provide enough resources for human beings to survive. It was to make mankind's lives better.
They wanted to ensure that humans had food at their tables, just as all their ancestors did over the centuries.
Now, what did these people think of their contributions?
These people enjoyed the fruits of the soldiers' hard labor, whilst bashing them for destroying the environment.
The soldiers' did not know anything about nature or beauty. All they knew was that they wanted to develop this place and create a comfortable living environment for their fellow humans.
They only knew that dozens of soldiers had been bitten by venomous bugs. Some had even died in the process.
Most of the casualties were barely 20 years old.
"Motherf*cker! Those words made me sick to my stomach. Gaia, I want to kill that bastard. Do you have any plan?" Brad, who was standing beside Gaia, suddenly whispered to him.
Gaia looked at the young man as a cheeky smirk appeared on his face.
"Let's follow the same path as last time. We can bring them to the spore forest to play."