Chapter 35: The Crabs
After a skirmish ended, Su Xiao was uninjured, but Bubu Wang was rarely wounded.
Bubu Wang limped out from behind a tree. The tree he had hidden behind was riddled with holes, its trunk dotted with dozens of fist-sized cavities.
Bubu Wang’s injury was on the back of his hind leg, near his rear. Strangely enough, his face and body were covered in mud.
Under normal circumstances, with such a concentrated attack, Bubu Wang would likely have been severely injured. But Bubu Wang was no ordinary dog. The moment he hid behind the tree, he began digging headfirst into the ground. In less than 0.2 seconds, he had excavated a pit large enough to conceal most of his body.
Due to the angle of the attack and Bubu Wang’s posture, his rear end naturally took a “hit.”
Bubu Wang limped out from behind the tree, unconcerned about his own injury. Instead, he scanned the area, searching for the roasted beast leg.
“Here.”
Su Xiao picked up the beast leg from the ground, shaking off the leaves. Bubu Wang, still limping, immediately rushed over.
Su Xiao examined the wound on Bubu Wang’s hind leg. It was deep, but fortunately, the bone wasn’t damaged.
“Let’s treat the wound first.”
Su Xiao pulled out a narrow dagger. Bubu Wang, who had been running toward him, suddenly veered off and limped away into the distance, clearly recalling some unpleasant memories.
Ten seconds later, Bubu Wang was pinned to the ground by Su Xiao.
“Awoo~”
Bubu Wang let out a long howl, his tear-filled eyes seeming to say, “I don’t want medicine~”
“Stop whining. That creature’s scale is still embedded in you. If we don’t remove it, you’ll be lame for a long time.”
Su Xiao’s words failed to “calm” Bubu Wang. Having followed Su Xiao for so long, he knew exactly how rough Su Xiao’s wound treatment methods were.
After being hit, Su Xiao’s wound treatment process went like this:
For shallow wounds, he would directly dig out the bullet with his fingers. If the bullet was deep, he would first cut open the wound with a sharp tool, extract the bullet, then stitch and bandage it—simple and brutal.
After three minutes of Bubu Wang’s howling, Su Xiao removed the blood-soaked scale, then applied medicine, stitched the wound, and bandaged it.
Bubu Wang’s eyes were full of tears, but with the scale no longer rubbing against the wound, he stopped limping and moved much more nimbly.
Overall, this battle resolved the food supply for Su Xiao and Bubu Wang for a day. Eating three meals a day in the Forest of the Strong was clearly impossible; one meal a day was enough to maintain stamina.
With the captured food and the jerky in the backpack, they now had two days’ worth of food.
Su Xiao and Bubu Wang quickly left the area. The smell of blood was too strong. As for the silver-scaled creatures’ bodies, not only were they humanoid—making them psychologically hard to accept—but their flesh also had a strange odor. Even if not highly toxic, it contained trace amounts of poison.
“What a painstaking effort. If I’m not mistaken, nine out of ten creatures in the Forest of the Strong have toxins in their bodies.”
Su Xiao’s expression was grim. These poisonous creatures were undoubtedly arranged by Alice or the Wolf Butler.
Compared to the food shortage and the guests running wild, Su Xiao was more worried about one thing: Alice’s clone. She was also in the Forest of the Strong. If so, she would definitely come looking for Su Xiao—it was only a matter of time.
“Woof.”
Bubu Wang barked, his expression somewhat excited.
“Hmm?”
Su Xiao looked at Bubu Wang and quickly understood what he meant.
“Found a water source?”
“Woof.”
Bubu Wang trotted quickly toward the eastern part of the forest, with Su Xiao following closely.
Ten minutes later, Su Xiao and Bubu Wang arrived at a small mountainous area. The area wasn’t large, with only two hills and sparse trees nearby.
One hill was covered in vines, intertwined to form countless natural vine cages, making it impossible to climb. The other hill was completely bare, not even a blade of grass.
Between the two hills was a three-meter-wide stone valley, about several dozen meters deep. The valley was filled with even more vines, and the faint sound of water could be heard.
After searching, Su Xiao found the water source: a mountain spring. On the waist of the vine-covered hill, a stream as thick as an arm flowed down, eventually forming a stagnant pool in the stone valley between the two hills.
The water in the stagnant pool was undrinkable, full of microorganisms and parasites. But the spring water flowing from above was different—it was freshwater filtered through rock and carbon layers.
Unfortunately, the vines tangled on the hill blocked the way. To reach the spring, they would either have to climb through the gaps in the vines or force a path open.
Su Xiao grabbed a vine and tried to snap it.
Crack! The vine broke with a sound, but it had taken six-tenths of Su Xiao’s strength to do so.
He didn’t know what kind of vine this was, but it could root into rock and was incredibly tough. Using the Dragon-Slaying Flash to cut through was possible, but it would consume a lot of stamina and time—hardly worth it.
What was the biggest difference between humans and beasts? Humans used tools. Su Xiao pulled a remote-controlled airplane from his storage space and tied a bucket underneath it. He wasn’t about to hack his way up the mountain with a blade—that was a brute’s approach. He had so many tools in his storage space that he’d even forgotten how many.
Buzz~
Su Xiao held the remote control as the airplane ascended. Bubu Wang sidled up, his meaning clear: “Master, I want to play too.”
Su Xiao tossed the remote to Bubu Wang, who immediately perked up. His rear no longer hurt, and his back no longer ached.
While Bubu Wang maneuvered the airplane to fetch water, Su Xiao took a piece of jerky from his backpack. With food and water in short supply, he couldn’t wait until hunger struck to eat. Small, frequent meals were the best way to maintain stamina.
Tearing the jerky in half, Su Xiao tossed one piece to Bubu Wang and began chewing the other. It wasn’t tasty, and whether by Alice’s design or not, it was extremely tough.
Bubu Wang chewed the jerky with a look of deep suffering. If food weren’t so scarce, he would have spat it out—it was impossible to chew properly.
“Chew a few times and swallow it whole.”
Su Xiao’s voice was a bit muffled. He gulped down the jerky, choking and rolling his eyes. Bubu Wang did the same, also choking and rolling his eyes. Man and dog were perfectly synchronized.
Buzz~
The remote-controlled airplane returned, the bucket beneath it full of water. This supply would last at least two days.
Bubu Wang had lost a lot of blood earlier and was parched, but he didn’t dare drink. It wasn’t out of politeness—he didn’t know if the water was safe.
Su Xiao took out a transparent carbon ball, a white-quality consumable used to test water quality.
If the carbon ball turned red, the water was undrinkable. Yellow meant it was drinkable but contained harmful substances. Green meant it was safe, and colorless indicated highly purified water.
The carbon ball fell into the water. After a few minutes, it turned green—safe, drinkable freshwater.
“Good. Collect more water, enough for at least five days…”
Before Su Xiao could finish, he heard a faint sound.
Clack, clack, clack…
The sound was like the tapping of insect legs on stone.
A pure white crab crawled out from a crevice in the rocks. It was about the size of a palm. If it had been lying on the rock, it would have been hard to spot. Moreover, the crab had the ability to block perception—Su Xiao hadn’t sensed it until it was within seven meters of him.
“Food.”
Seeing the crab, Su Xiao smiled. Not only had he found water, but he’d also found a food supplement. However, the next moment, his smile vanished.
Clack, clack, clack, clack…
A dense tapping sound came from all directions. Su Xiao’s pupils contracted as he witnessed an astonishing sight.
Originally, there were two hills nearby: one covered in vines with a spring, and the other completely bare. Now, that bare hill was disintegrating. It wasn’t a hill at all—it was composed of countless white crabs.
“Woof.”
Bubu Wang barked excitedly, his meaning clear: “Master, so much food.”
“Food my ass. Run!”
Su Xiao grabbed the bucket of water and turned to flee. Regardless of the white crabs’ individual strength, their numbers were in the millions. Now, it was uncertain who was the food. Could these white crabs survive in the Forest of the Strong if they were weak? Of course not. This species of white crab was one of the top predators in the forest’s food chain.