Chapter 68: Wait a Moment!
The placement point for the World Core was very far away. Su Xiao needed to traverse more than half of the Hot Rainforest. According to the information provided by Reincarnation Paradise, the location was a swamp within the rainforest.
At the center of the swamp was a small, warm-water pool. The placement point for the World Core was inside this pool.
Su Xiao not only had to delve deep into the Hot Rainforest, but the warm-water pool in the central area was also extremely dangerous. Who knew what creatures lurked within that pool? Just placing the World Core would earn him 100 Reincarnation Paradise Merits, which spoke volumes about the level of danger.
Pushing through the vine-covered areas on the periphery, Su Xiao arrived at the edge of the Hot Rainforest.
The smell of soil mixed with decaying vegetation permeated the rainforest. Many people think the air in a rainforest is fresh, but that’s not actually the case.
Bubu Wang wrinkled his nose. The various animal droppings in the rainforest made him uncomfortable, but he had to track these scents.
Most placental mammals use feces and urine to mark their territory. If a large area was saturated with the excrement of the same apex creature, one had to be careful—that animal was the king of this region.
Birds of various colors chirped incessantly on the branches. Occasionally, a creature resembling a monkey could be seen squatting on a fork in a tree, baring its teeth and screeching at Su Xiao and Bubu Wang.
Su Xiao picked up a pebble from the ground. With a dull *bang*, the stone shot out, tearing a wave of air in its wake.
Blood splattered. A monkey-like creature standing on a tree fork dropped dead on the spot. These things were extremely annoying. They traveled in groups, and their calls could easily attract apex predators, after which they would just squat up high and watch the show.
With one monkey-like creature killed by a stone, the rest of them scattered in an instant.
The smell of blood would also attract trouble. Su Xiao and Bubu Wang quickly moved on, gradually venturing deeper into the Hot Rainforest.
Pushing aside a large banana leaf, Su Xiao emerged from waist-deep grass. There were no paths in the rainforest; between the trees were all kinds of weeds. An ordinary person couldn’t get this far in.
Su Xiao pulled a leech at least 20 centimeters long off the back of his hand. Many people have an instinctive fear of leeches, but in reality, they aren’t as scary as imagined. On the contrary, they are treasures in the eyes of rainforest survival experts.
Getting injured in the rainforest is a big problem. Leeches are natural bruise processors, and they also have a pain-relieving effect.
Seeing Su Xiao pull the leech off his hand, Bubu Wang instinctively backed away a few steps, as if to say: “Master, I’m not eating that thing. Even if you hit me, I won’t eat it.”
Su Xiao certainly had no intention of making Bubu Wang eat it. He casually tossed the large leech aside. After it had attached itself to Su Xiao’s skin, it was too scared to even move, let alone suck blood.
Su Xiao took out a compass and a map. The map only depicted less than a tenth of the Hot Rainforest. Using this map, he determined he had already penetrated five kilometers into the forest.
As far as the eye could see, there were only weeds and trees. In this environment, without a compass, one would quickly lose their way.
“To the west is a natural gold deposit; to the north is the Xiluo Tree habitat.”
Both directions Su Xiao was considering advancing towards were fraught with danger.
The natural gold deposit was also known as the Ghost Gold Mine, inhabited by a type of cave-dwelling creature. The Xiluo Tree habitat was the territory of a certain kind of ant. According to the records of the Geya Alliance, those ants could devour an entire patterned steel tank in a short time.
After a moment of hesitation, Su Xiao decided to head towards the Xiluo Tree habitat. The reason was simple: as long as he didn’t approach the ant nest, the tree ants wouldn’t actively attack humans. These ants had some intelligence. Although they sounded terrifying, they only liked to eat trees. As long as they weren’t disturbed, they were unlikely to leave the vicinity of their nest.
Just as Su Xiao was about to continue, a sense of danger suddenly surged.
*Bang!*
A sonic boom came from beside Su Xiao. He immediately thought it was a flying needle, but he quickly realized whatever was coming was much faster.
A shield with 100 points of durability materialized beside Su Xiao. The moment it appeared, a green ‘arrow’ struck it.
With a crisp *crack*, green blood splattered, and large cracks spread across the shield.
A green ‘arrow’ about 30 centimeters long pierced into the shield. Because the shield was relatively sturdy, this green ‘arrow’ was now stuck inside it.
Looking closely, one could see it wasn’t an arrow at all, but a small snake about 30 centimeters long, its body stretched perfectly straight.
The green snake’s head was already crushed. Its body was covered in a green slime that was gradually eroding the shield. The center of the shield had turned a light green, and the corrosion was spreading outward.
Seeing this, Su Xiao’s eyes twitched. The shield was made of energy. The potency of a biological toxin that could erode energy was unimaginable.
If a living creature was pierced by such a green snake, the wound would be saturated with venom. This type of poisoning would kill the victim in a short time, leaving no chance to even use a potion.
Su Xiao had already encountered dozens of ferocious creatures similar to this green snake. This gave him a clear picture of why the Geya Alliance and the Sun Kingdom didn’t extensively explore the Hot Rainforest. It was simply too dangerous. An inconspicuous flying insect could be lethal. This was a forbidden zone for humans, a forbidden zone for all foreign life.
While Su Xiao was gradually penetrating deeper into the Hot Rainforest, contractors from Reincarnation Paradise, Apocalypse Paradise, and Sanctuary Paradise were all rushing towards the forest. If they didn’t enter the Hot Rainforest within three days, even contractors from Apocalypse Paradise would die—that was a verdict from the Void Tree itself.
…
At the border of Sispabning, Qing Yan, Gulu, Ganju Mei, and the others were moving quickly. Just as they were about to leave Sispabning territory, a massive object appeared in their field of vision.
“A mechanical spider?”
Seeing the distant mechanical spider, Qing Yan stopped.
“It’s someone from Sanctuary Paradise.”
Gulu pulled a dagger from her waist.
“Are you sure?” Qing Yan looked at Gulu with a puzzled expression.
“Positive. I’ve broken one of those before.”
“Smash it!”
As she spoke, Ganju Mei had already vanished.
“Wait!”
Qing Yan shouted loudly. Ganju Mei, who was in a stealth state, stopped.
“They don’t seem intent on stopping. Or rather, in their view, getting to the Hot Rainforest as fast as possible is more important than fighting us.”
“Tch.”
“Little bitch, use your brain. If you can think your way out, why use your fists?”
“You’ve got some nerve saying that. I’m so done with you.”
Ganju Mei materialized.
“Let’s get to the Hot Rainforest as quickly as possible. If I’m right, once we get there, we won’t be surrounded and attacked. Instead, we’ll be in a death race. So, whichever side arrives at the rainforest first has a natural advantage.”
Qing Yan smiled. The others around him looked confused, not understanding what he was so smug about.
“So… the earlier we get to the rainforest, the bigger the advantage?”
Gulu looked a bit speechless.
“Exactly.”
“Why didn’t you say so sooner?”
Gulu sheathed her dagger and snapped her fingers. A small, open-top off-road vehicle appeared.
“Little bitch, get in.”
For some reason, Gulu was telling Ganju Mei to get in.
“You had this good stuff and didn’t bring it out earlier? You scheming bitch.”
Ganju Mei climbed into the two-seater off-road vehicle.
“Wait—”
*Whoosh!*
Flames shot out. Qing Yan had just raised his hand when the small off-road vehicle had already disappeared, leaving only a tiny black dot in his sight.
The off-road vehicle vanished, but Ganju Mei was still lying on the ground, looking utterly bewildered.
“Your waist…”
Qing Yan turned his head away, as if he couldn’t bear to watch what was about to happen.
Ganju Mei stiffly looked down. Tied around her waist was a harness-like lasso, connected to a very long steel cable.
“Hey, hey, wait, this isn’t right. What the hell, Gulu, *****!!”
In Ganju Mei’s frantic shouts, *whoosh*, she was yanked away, instantly disappearing from everyone’s sight, leaving Qing Yan standing in the cold wind, his mouth twitching violently.