Chapter 188
Chapter 188
“Woof, woof!”
The two dogs came running back.
Zuozuo carried something in that enormous mouth and set it down before Jiang Yunsui.
“Ew…”
Little Mushroom’s exceptionally disgusted voice drew everyone’s attention. Their eyelids twitched when they saw what lay there.
Good heavens. Only a moment ago, they had been discussing parasitic flies. Now Zuozuo had delivered a wildcat infested with them.
The wildcat was small, perhaps only two months old. Its emaciated body was covered in huge swellings around the eyes, ears, belly, and elsewhere.
The fly larvae beneath those swellings had already grown quite large.
The wildcat was barely breathing and looked close to death.
“Mr. Shen, quickly,” Fat Chef urged. “Save the poor little thing.”
Mostly, those flies were simply too revolting to look at.
Song Jin clicked his tongue. “Those damned things are disgusting.”
The larvae were still wriggling.
The sight raised gooseflesh on everyone’s skin.
Jiang Yunsui hid behind Fat Chef, hardly daring to look.
What horrible bugs!
Shen Qingzhu had seen many insects in his work. He disliked these too, but he could tolerate the sight.
He took out his tools and quickly removed every larva from the wildcat.
Each time he pulled one free, Fat Chef exhaled with relief.
“I have to admit, watching those things come out is strangely satisfying.”
“Done.”
Ji Si dug a hole nearby. After killing the larvae, he tossed them in and buried them. They could become fertilizer.
Jiang Yunsui even planted a seed on the little mound.
“What seed is that?” Ji Si asked.
“A pine tree.”
She dusted off her hands and ran back to inspect the little wildcat.
Its fur was wet and matted. After the infestation, it was so thin that every bone showed. Even the bones of its skull were easy to feel. It gave a feeble mew.
It looked like an ugly little mouse.
Jiang Yunsui fed it some Imperial Flowing Essence and wrapped its tiny, frail body in a handkerchief.
“Little Yunsui, are you going to keep it?” Fat Chef asked as he prepared their meal.
“I don’t know,” she answered softly. “But if we leave it alone, it’ll die.”
If she happened upon a hunt, she would not interfere with the strong preying on the weak.
This situation was different.
The little creature had been brought to them and saved. That meant they shared a bond of fate.
“Fat Grandpa, hurry and melt these milk tablets.”
Little Mushroom pulled a small handful of milk tablets from her pack and gave them to Fat Chef.
She did not know whether the wildcat could eat them, but there was nothing else suitable.
Whether it survived would depend on how tenacious its life was.
Once the milky liquid had cooled, Jiang Yunsui carried over the small bowl and fed it.
The wildcat looked so close to death that she feared it would be unable to swallow.
To her surprise, it drank.
“Little Yunsui, come eat!”
“Coming!”
After Jiang Yunsui finished her meal, Qianqian and Houhou approached, one of them carrying a large spider in its beak.
The spider was brightly colored and obviously venomous.
“Little Pink, it’s time to eat.”
She tapped one finger.
A faint rustling came from her sleeve. Then a beautiful pink-and-white snake poked out its head.
The snake looked delicate, with ruby-red eyes and a body only as thick as a thumb.
Like its master Jiang Yunsui, Little Pink appeared frail and easy to bully.
In truth, this tiny pink-and-white snake was lethally venomous.
She preferred venomous prey, such as the spider Qianqian and Houhou had just brought.
Once the dead spider was placed on the ground, Little Pink slowly slithered down from Jiang Yunsui. She opened her mouth and swallowed the spider, though it looked much larger than her head.
The little pink snake’s belly quickly bulged.
Then she slowly climbed back onto Jiang Yunsui.
Jiang Yunsui pinched the tip of her tail before it disappeared into her sleeve.
“You’re such a homebody.”
Little Pink was a shy, reclusive venomous snake.
Jiang Yunsui had never restricted her movements after she hatched, yet the little creature’s favorite place was inside Jiang Yunsui’s sleeve, coiled around her wrist.
Unless Jiang Yunsui called her out, she refused to move. When anyone else called, she still refused to budge.
After the meal, the party continued with the little wildcat.
Fat Chef’s nimble fingers wove a small basket from vines, and they settled the wildcat inside.
Several more days passed before they finally arrived.
“That’s Wushan Cavern?” Fat Chef asked. “I can’t see a thing. Why does it feel so eerie?”
“Obviously because everything over there is buried in fog,” Song Jin replied.
Fat Chef glanced at the sky. “It’s this late, yet the fog is still so thick. And the air is unbearably hot and muggy.”
The constant cries of insects echoed through the forest, fraying everyone’s nerves.
“Stay alert,” Song Jin warned. “There are too many snakes here. More than thirty people came to scout this place last time. Only three returned.”
Those three had been badly injured as well.
“Understood.”
“Where is Jiang Yunsui?”
Visibility was already poor, and the girl could conceal her presence. Where had she gone?
“Zuozuo, Youyou, find your master.”
They did not dare call loudly for fear of alerting the people inside Wushan Cavern.
Zuozuo and Youyou found Jiang Yunsui quickly but did not dare approach her. Instead, they returned to summon the others.
When the group found her, the little girl was bent over with her bottom in the air, picking something.
“Don’t go any closer!” Shen Qingzhu shouted.
“Cover your mouths and noses. Hold your breath.”
No one dared ignore him.
“What’s wrong?” Song Jin asked.
Shen Qingzhu pointed. Everyone followed his gesture and sucked in a sharp breath.
A deer stood nearby.
It was dead.
Yet the carcass remained upright, held in place by a white substance resembling spiderwebs. Those web-like strands spread down to the ground, where clusters of beautiful, dreamlike pale-yellow mushrooms had sprouted around the deer’s hooves.
Tiny pale-yellow mushrooms even grew from its antlers.
A closer look revealed that the deer was not alone. Other animals and even human corpses surrounded it, all in the same state.
White, web-like strands covered their bodies.
None of the corpses had decayed. They bore no signs of a painful struggle. Instead, they resembled works of art arranged for display.
Everyone drew another horrified breath.
Fat Chef’s voice trembled.
“Wh-what are those things?!”
“A kind of mycelium,” Shen Qingzhu answered.
“Jiang Yunsui!”
She was already well inside the range of the pale-yellow mushrooms. Everyone’s heart leaped into their throats.
Jiang Yunsui looked up, a radiant smile on her clean, pretty face.
“What is it?”
She turned around, and everyone clearly saw the mushrooms in her arms.
They were the same pale-yellow mushrooms growing beside the white mycelium!
“Y-you… put those down right now!”