My guess shocked Qinghan and Professor Liu. If there really was an "alternate path" at the point they disappeared, invisible to our eyes, they must have gone down that path.
That's why the two groups didn't encounter each other on the journey thereafter. Of course, the alternate path they took must be far from us, which explains why we didn't hear any sounds made by other people in the jungle.
Both of them fell into deep thought and then began discussing my speculation.
As soon as I heard their discussion, I felt my eyelids getting heavy, so I quickly wandered around the area. The clearing in the forest where we were was about the size of four football fields.
The perimeter was surrounded by towering ancient trees. Although there were trees in the clearing as well, only a sparse few.
Occasionally, there was a cluster of red wildflowers, extremely bright in color, among the tall wild grass and unknown wildflowers in the clearing.
