Chen Ying and his team set off while it was still dark.
The sunrise was expected around 6:30 AM, with sunset at 8:30 PM, making for approximately 14 hours of daylight.
However, by about 5:40 AM, the sky had already started to lighten, and they could see the scenery along the roadside.
"Brother Ying, take a look ahead, I feel like a car has passed through here recently."
Chen Ying looked closely and saw fresh tire tracks with water marks on them.
"Should we go back and check? These cars came in through the official channels, right?"
Yin Li parked the car by the roadside and made a phone call.
A few minutes later, his expression relaxed.
"It's a scientific investigation team that came in to study the water environment, about two hours ahead of us."
Knowing their origin was reassuring.
He had mentioned it before; the protection zone hadn't seen poaching for over a decade, so it was unlikely they'd just happen upon it.
