CH 11

Chapter 11: Snake Scorpion Beauty

“I noticed your movements were swift and decisive, it couldn’t be that you had long prepared to do just that?” Wu Yun took another look at the car door sealed shut from the two-headed wolf spider’s fluid and then at the side of Zhou Yu’s face.

“Since we had no way of breaking away from it as it continued to pursue us, someone had to do it,” Zhou Yu answered, very naturally.

“It only wanted to give birth, did you need to be so cruel?” Wu Yun pointed at the thing behind them.

“Then why don’t you get out of the car and volunteer to be the sacrifice?” Zhou Yu shot back.

“Because I still have to drive,” Wu Yun replied naturally.

“I know how to drive too,” said Zhou Yu.

“Fine, even by retreating ten thousand steps, you didn’t need to shoot that many bullets at the two-headed wolf spider. What a waste. The neurotoxin isn’t easy to come by. The more you use it, the less we have,” Wu Yun said.

“I know, it comes from the spinal fluid of a certain S rank organism. Even a minute amount could kill other organisms. I only forgot about it momentarily, I’ll remember it in the future. More importantly, right now, can our car still move?”

Wu Yun tried to start the engine and struggled to wrench the car wheel free from that sticky fluid. Unfortunately, the fluid had already hardened and locked the wheel in place.

“Fuck…” Wu Yun cursed under his breath.

“You really are unlucky. Have you thought about changing your name?” Zhou Yu asked.

“Oh? what name should I change it to?” Wu Yun clasped his hand onto Zhou Yu’s shoulder.

Zhou Yu didn’t answer him, but instead waved away his hand and said, “We can only wait in the car and rest for now until daybreak to check if the car can still be repaired. Also, it’s impossible that those evacuated researchers came into the forest on foot. Before they were captured by the two-headed wolf spider, they should’ve been driving a car. We should search for that car, and if we’re lucky, we might find one.”

“What if we’re unlucky?” Li Qian asked.

“We walk,” Wu Yun answered.

Li Qian really didn’t want to hear Wu Yun say anything anymore.

“Thinking of anything else right now is useless. Instead, we should all rest well and save our strength,” Zhou Yu closed his eyes, ready to sleep.

“That’s right, other than sleeping, there’s nothing else we can do,” Wu Yun turned off the car lights and locked the car doors.

“How… Can you sleep like this…” Li Qian whispered.

Han Li didn’t speak and covered her face with her hands. She was probably weeping. After experiencing so much, her neat hair bun was now in a sorry, disheveled state.

Dr. Daniel performed a simple examination on Zhou Qing to confirm that his brain did not suffer from the excitement that was followed in quick succession and by the excessive shaking and jolting of the car.

Time passed faster than Zhou Yu realized. When the first ray of sunlight fell onto his face, he opened his eyes.

There were no menacing organisms in sight at first glance. A few strange, many-eyed birds peered at them curiously from the branches of a tree, as well as a few small, unknown creatures.

Wu Yun also woke up, he took out his box of cigarettes and used his strength to throw it at Li Qian’s face in the backseat. Li Qian jolted awake and flailed around in confusion, “Don’t eat me! Don’t eat me!”

At the sound of this ruckus, everyone else in the back also woke up.

When Li Qian opened his eyes, he saw that the corners of Wu Yun’s mouth were lifted in a smirk towards him while he looked at him with an expression that implied ‘idiot’.

“Is everyone rested? Get out of the car!” Wu Yun ordered.

“What? Get out?” Li Qian was momentarily astonished before he completely understood Wu Yun’s meaning.

The car was already broken, and taking advantage of the time when the suppressor drug was still effective, they had to leave the forest as quickly as possible.

Wu Yun and Zhou Yu had already opened the doors. Zhou Qing didn’t say anything and followed them out of the car.

The two-headed wolf spider was still sprawled on the trunk.

“We have to get this thing off, or else we can’t retrieve our water, rations, and equipment,” Wu Yun pressed at his head, “But it’s so gross, I don’t even want to touch it.”

“So you want me to do it?” Zhou Yu snorted.

“You’re the one who killed it with such fortunate timing.”

“Next time, I’ll leave the timing to you,” Zhou Yu replied.

He took out some rope and bound it around the spider’s body. He threw the other end over a tree branch and then pulled down hard on it. The wolf spider was dragged off.

With a crash, Li Qian and them hid far away, too scared to even look.

Wu Yun opened the trunk of the car and divided up the water and rations amongst everyone to carry.

“So heavy…” Li Qian didn’t exercise much in the first place, and with the weight of the water and rations, he almost fell flat on the ground.

“If you can’t carry it, then you don’t get to eat or drink. Although, dying of thirst or hunger is a much more beautiful death than being eaten by any of the organisms here,” Wu Yun gave a vile laugh.

Zhou Yu was about to take the things that had been handed to Zhou Qing, but Zhou Qing refused him.

“You have to protect everyone, so you should carry something more important.”

The party continued forward, Wu Yun was carrying more than enough, but he didn’t forget to take the box containing the embryo with him.

“It looks like the thing in there is really important,” Zhou Yu glanced at it.

“Haha… everything is important.”

While they walked, Zhou Qing observed the plants nearby.

Then, Li Qian stepped on something and let out an “ah.”

He bent down to see and discovered that it was a flower as transparent as glass.

The petals had been crushed by Li Qian.

“I thought… it was a dangerous organism…”

Just as Li Qian closed his eyes and let out a breath, Zhou Qing pulled him away, “Be careful!”

Something as thin as a silver snake suddenly reared out of the flower’s center, only a hair’s breadth away from biting Li Qian’s nose, frightening Li Qian into screaming.

That silver snake withdrew and then gathered its energy to pop out as if it simply could not give up on biting Li Qian.

“Hurry…Hurry and shoot it…”

“No need, it’s going to die very soon. This is only its last retaliation against its aggressor before death,” Wu Yun stood nearby and cooly answered.

“What is this thing… why was it inside the flower?”

“Have you seen a caterpillar before?” Wu Yun smilingly said, “Just treat this as a leveled-up version of a caterpillar.”

“Huh?” Li Qian completely did not understand.

“This is an appearance unique to Nibelungen. Plants and animals sharing the same body. Juli Corp gave it the name ‘snake scorpion beauty’. Its danger level is only C rank, about the same as a parasite. Because the plant and animal share a body, the animal side is unable to break away from where the plant has taken root.”

“If it could separate itself, would I be alive right now?” Li Qian was not in the mood to feel amazed by the unique lifeforms here, he only let out a relieved sigh that he was still alive.

“That’s right, if you were bitten, maybe a plant will also grow from your body,” Wu Yun said.

“You’re trying to scare me again!” After a day and a night, it could be said that Li Qian had had enough of Wu Yun.

“Wu Yun’s not scaring you, he’s telling the truth.”

Zhou Qing shouldered his heavy backpack and walked past Li Qian at an easy pace.

The group of people continued forward. What met them ahead was a happy surprise—they found a car.

It should be the one left by the people from the base.

“Fantastic!” Li Qian was just about to rush over before being held back by Dr. Daniel.

Zhou Yu and Wu Yun both pulled out their matching guns and approached it step by step.

The car door was wide open.

Wu Yun’s gun was pointed at the driver’s seat and Zhou Yu’s at the copilot seat. After they checked to ensure that there were no problems, they inspected the back seats and the trunk as well.

After confirming that everything was fine, Wu Yun waved Dr. Daniel over.

Then the rest walked over.

Wu Yun tried to start the car, but it was unresponsive.

“It can’t be… Do we have to continue walking?” Li Qian knew that it was impossible for him to walk the whole day with such a heavy load.

Wu Yun examined the car, “It’s fine, a few parts probably came off from the two-headed wolf spider’s attack. There are maintenance tools in the car, give me a hand, Zhou Yu. It should work after it’s fixed up a little. Everyone else, stay here and rest. Don’t wander off anywhere and don’t touch anything, am I clear?

“I don’t even want to go anywhere!” Li Qian directly sat on the ground and surveyed his surroundings, scared that something would pop out.

Zhou Qing was the only one who didn’t sit down, with his hands clasped behind his back and his eyes narrowed, he maintained a distance with the surrounding vegetation while observing it.

Dr. Daniel found it funny as he looked over at his back view. Although they’ve only known each other for a short while, Dr. Daniel had a good impression of this botany professor. He respected Zhou Qing’s professional knowledge and how he was earnest and meticulous, he also admired his cool-headedness during critical moments. After a day and a night, he and Zhou Yu had already established a rapport for protecting Professor Zhou. For example, just now, when Zhou Yu passed by them, Daniel’s gaze was on Zhou Qing the whole time. He wouldn’t stop him from observing the plants, but he was prepared to pull him away if danger appeared.

Zhou Qing was already captivated by the grains of the primitive trees. They relied on absorbing nutrients in ways that were not just through photosynthesis. Their bark wasn’t hard at all, but they were like a layer of skin, there were even veins, arteries and even something like nerves underneath the surface.

Leaning in even closer, he seemed to be able to hear the whispered conversations of the trees.

“Professor Zhou, drink some water,” Dr. Daniel raised up a bottle of water from nearby.

“Ah, oh, thanks!” Zhou Qing understood that this was Dr. Daniel’s tactful way of reminding him not to get too close to the trees.

Even seemingly harmless creatures may have hidden dangers.

Taking the water and drinking two mouthfuls, Zhou Qing sat down beside Daniel. First, he raised his head to look at the leaves as continuous as waves, not appearing impatient at all. When his head became tired, he looked down at the mud and dirt by his feet.

Like an illusion, there seemed to be something winding around his neck, fiddling with the ends of his hair, and slipping past his ears. As if something from behind Zhou Qing gently embraced him into its bosom.

In the beginning, Zhou Qing thought it was a breeze, but gradually he felt something like a gentle hand slowly covering the back of his head, as if checking to see if the open-skull surgery had harmed him.

Zhou Qing thought it was Dr. Daniel, but the doctor was taking inventory of his water and rations, both his hands were visible.

Li Qian and Han Li were sitting on the other side, and Zhou Yu was still busy with Wu Yun.

Zhou Qing became nervous and suddenly turned his head back, but there was nothing to be seen.

Zhou Qing let out a breath of relief. It probably was just a breeze, he was being too sensitive.

At this time, the car was able to start, Dr. Daniel looked over and Han Li and Li Qian excitedly stood up and went over.

“How is it? Can we drive it?

“Fantastic! Let’s leave this place, quickly!”

Zhou Qing also stood up, but his world suddenly vanished into darkness and he couldn’t see anything.

Zhou Qing thought that his colloid cyst had started to grow again and had compressed his visual nerves so that he couldn’t see anymore.

“Do you want to see?” An ethereal and graceful voice sounded.

–

The author has something to say: It looks like Professor Zhou is going to see his little gong first.

Mo Ye: I’ll appear later but outdo the earlier! Good preparation is the key to success! The future will overtake the past!

Zhou Yu: You should be incubated first before babbling about all of that.