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墨書 Inktalez
As soon as Anriyan mentioned that day's events, Mei Shuang couldn't help but recall the embarrassing moment when he publicly removed her clothing to shield the cat. She retorted, "Who knows if that wasn't your scheme? Using White Cat to humiliate me?"
Anriyan furrowed his brows, his gaze turning cold. His thin lips pressed together, and his words carried a hint of chill, "In your eyes, am I truly so despicable?"
Seeing that Anriyan was displeased, Mei Shuang suddenly came to her senses and realized she had gone too far.
Well, even if she didn't trust him, saying such things here and now was equivalent to placing him directly in the enemy camp, which would be absolutely detrimental to her.
After a moment of silence, she sighed and said with a hint of grievance, "What can I say? Ever since I got unwittingly involved in that damned Eastern Kingdom affair, I've felt like I've lost something. I see everyone as a threat. I was just saying that; don't take it to heart."
By saying this, Mei Shuang effectively admitted her mistake, which surprised Anriyan and brought him a bit of joy. He softened his demeanor and smiled slightly, "I can understand Miss Lin's predicament. On this journey, I will do my utmost to ensure your safe return."
Regardless of the truth behind his words, Mei Shuang felt somewhat reassured by this statement. "Alright then, a gentleman's word is hard to retract."
Anriyan chose not to speak further. He knew this woman was sensitive and suspicious, unlikely to trust anyone easily; saying more would be futile. He then shifted the topic, "Today’s Bear-like Creature has retreated, but the opponent may not let it go easily."
Upon hearing about the Bear-like Creature, Mei Shuang immediately felt a wave of dread wash over her. "What are we going to do?"
"It seems there is a Spy among us who left a mark for the enemy to track us down easily. Starting tomorrow, we will change our route."
"A Spy? Among us?" Mei Shuang exclaimed in shock. "What the hell! Just when we escaped danger, now there's a ticking time bomb? The pressure is suddenly overwhelming."
Thinking of this made Mei Shuang's scalp tingle. She snapped back at him, "Don't be alarmist; these people must have been carefully selected. Who looks like a Spy? Are you or your Attendant perhaps the Spy?"
Anriyan remained silent.
Unbeknownst to them, a strong wind began to blow through the forest, causing the dense leaves in the treetops to rustle incessantly.
The night was cool as water; with the wind blowing, Mei Shuang immediately felt goosebumps rise on her skin. She hugged herself tightly while contemplating Anriyan's words.
His words were not without reason; the Bear-like Creature had been relentless, which was no coincidence.
However, there were only six people in total, and it was hard to believe that any of them had a motive to be a Spy, nor was there any indication that anyone here was a Spy.
Lost in thought, she felt a thick coat draped over her shoulders. She looked up to see Anriyan taking off his outer garment to cover her.
Mei Shuang wanted to refuse but felt the chill. With a sigh of thanks, she wrapped herself tighter in the coat.
While she was deep in thought, she suddenly heard rustling sounds coming from beneath the tree.
The two looked down in surprise but could not see clearly.
The clouds above obscured everything, and they could only make out shapes approaching in the dim light of the dying fire. They focused intently for a moment, but the darkness below made it impossible to see. To make matters worse, it seemed that fog had begun to rise in the dense forest; they hadn’t noticed it before, but as the wind blew through the embers below, they could see the mist thickening.
Startled by the Bear-like Creature, Mei Shuang tensed up again at the sudden noise.
Anriyan gently reassured Mei Shuang, saying, "Don't be afraid; it's probably just something passing by."
Before he finished speaking, the previously rustling sound suddenly quickened as if startled, producing a noise like iron leaves scraping against each other. The sound grew louder and soon resembled clashing swords, echoing eerily in the silent night.
Hearing this made Mei Shuang's hair stand on end. Unconsciously, she edged closer to Anriyan and nervously swallowed before whispering, "Is this... is this the passage of ghost soldiers?"
Anriyan was concentrating on discerning the sounds below when he heard Mei Shuang's question and replied curiously, "What?"
"You said something was passing by."
Anriyan shook his head and directly pulled out a Firestarter from his pocket. After lighting it, he threw it toward the source of the sound.
Firestarter landed perfectly on the previously unburned pile of wood, igniting the fuel above it. With a sudden burst, the fire illuminated a large area.
Taking advantage of the light, Mei Shuang gasped and exclaimed, “Scorpion?”
Meanwhile, Anriyan frowned as he observed the chaotic scene below.
Not far from the fire, a massive Pangolin was facing off against a reddish-brown Scorpion that was about the size of a basin. The sounds of iron leaves rubbing against each other had come from the Pangolin.
Perhaps startled by the sudden blaze, neither creature showed any intention of backing down.
In the dim light, they could see that behind the Pangolin, there was another Pangolin, but this one had a much smaller Pangolin on its back.
The situation became clearer; it seemed that the Pangolin family had come out to forage and had encountered the Scorpion. The Scorpion intended to attack the smaller Pangolin, not realizing that a larger one was right behind it.
After a tense standoff, the impatient Scorpion arched its back and raised its long tail, preparing to strike. The Pangolin did not hesitate either, dodging the poisonous stinger and retaliating with its sharp claws aimed at the Scorpion's back. The sound of its scales scraping together echoed once more.
After several exchanges, neither side gained an advantage. Suddenly, as the Scorpion turned around and aimed its stinger at the Pangolin, several steel spikes came flying in with a fierce wind, pinning both the body and tail of the Scorpion to the ground. The Scorpion struggled desperately but found itself helpless; even if it wanted to sever its tail to escape, it would be left in tatters.
Cong Fei and Cong Yue, the brothers, quietly descended from the tree. Although they saw others nearby, the Pangolin family did not seem frightened. After hesitating for a moment, they flicked their tails and continued on their way, quickly disappearing into the misty forest.
The Scorpion was still thrashing about. Up close, it looked even more terrifying; its entire body had turned reddish-brown and gleamed with oil. Its pincers were thick and powerful, resembling a child's arm in size, indicating it had lived for many years.
“This is the Scorpion King,” said Anriyan, who often dealt with venomous creatures and recognized its value. Such a Scorpion King was rare to encounter in decades.
Dealing with such poison was easy for him; he took out some powder and lightly sprinkled it around the Scorpion King. Before long, it became motionless.
This tactic amazed the Coach Brothers, prompting them to ask what was happening.
"This one will put it into a coma. Such a large Scorpion King will surely be useful in the future; today, it can be said that we are aided by heaven." Anriyan instructed Kato to find a bag to put the Scorpion King into, and the bag shimmered with a faint blue light under the illumination.
Mei Shuang suddenly remembered that the color of the large jar she saw in her dream was also like this, and the poisonous insects seemed to be extremely afraid of this kind of light.
As they gathered together, Cong Fei said, "It is currently the mating season for Scorpions, but today’s weather is not suitable for them to be out, so we still need to be cautious."
When everyone returned to the tree, the mist grew thicker, and they felt a dampness surrounding them, with everything around appearing white and hazy.
"The weather in the mountains is indeed unpredictable; one moment it’s sunny and bright, and the next it’s drizzling continuously. This thick fog has come unexpectedly; we don’t know what changes are happening in the mountains, so we must not act rashly."
Although Mei Shuang understood that being closer to the waterfall meant there was more moisture near the ground and that the temperature difference at night was significant, leading to the formation of thick fog.
Even though there was no unusual noise during the latter half of the night, only the distant sound of the waterfall, everyone remained extremely vigilant. It wasn't until dawn broke in the east and the sun shone through the thin mist that they finally relaxed.
With the morning glow, the original thick fog became thin enough to see that the distant trees appeared fresh as if washed.
Finally, when the fog dissipated and their gaze fell to the ground, everyone was taken aback.
Scattered all around were the corpses of some unknown birds; aside from a few sparrows that Mei Shuang recognized, she did not know any of the others. There were dozens of them scattered across the open space ahead.
Throughout the night, everyone had kept their eyes open; no one had heard any unusual sounds. Even during the fight between the Scorpion King and Pangolin, they had not noticed this horrifying scene.
Where did these birds come from? They should have made some noise if they encountered danger.
It was utterly bizarre. The people in the tree exchanged glances; even Coach Brothers, who often traversed jungles, looked somewhat bewildered.
But there was no doubt that there were potential dangers lurking in this dense forest; perhaps danger lay in places that were invisible and intangible to them.
Coach Brothers quickly cut down a tree and speared a nearby bird with an arrow. After examining it closely and sniffing it, his expression changed. "It's been poisoned."
The two of them then carefully looked around and decisively called for the person in the tree to come down. "This place is dangerous; we need to leave quickly."
Coach Brothers observed the direction in which the birds on the ground had scattered and informed everyone, "We should head in this direction."
Anriyan, however, looked around and shook his head, pointing to an adjacent direction. "There’s a clear path here; we should go this way."
Everyone was taken aback.
Initially, there was no clear leader among them. Generally, they assumed that Coach Brothers, with their rich jungle experience, would lead the way. Now, hearing Anriyan propose a different opinion created a division that could easily waste time.
Only Mei Shuang understood Anriyan's underlying meaning; he certainly did not trust Coach Brothers now. Who could say that the marks they made earlier weren't meant to lure enemies over?
Coach Brothers exchanged glances, feeling both dissatisfied and puzzled by Anriyan's objection. "Your Highness the Envoy, what do you mean by suggesting a different path?"
Anriyan lightly tapped his fan and squinted as he asked, "Then why do you want to take this route?"
Cong Yue grew anxious. "While this place may not be as bad as the southwest, there are still miasmas present. These birds died from miasma poisoning, indicating that there are unknown dangers here. I just compared the two paths; the one you pointed out is smoother around the edges, suggesting it's frequently traveled by some animal. This deep mountain forest is definitely not a path made by humans. If we take that route, won't we run into trouble?"
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