Chapter 80 The lurking shadow entered the cave, and it turned out to be...

Ning Jinli's footsteps rang out.

The dark figure, intending to devour the wild boar's entrails, quietly slipped into the nearby river.

The shadowy figure was enormous, yet incredibly fast and silent.

By the time Ning Jinli ran over, she had already disappeared, leaving only a ripple on the river surface, which quickly dissipated into the current.

"Ugh... such a strong fishy smell." Ning Jinli looked at the pile of wild boar entrails and pinched her nose.

She didn't want to waste a single ingredient, but the smell was too strong.

It made her feel nauseous.

"It's really strange. The smell wasn't this strong when Xiao Qidi was dealing with it. Why does it make me feel more and more nauseous..." Ning Jinli looked up at the sunlight that was about to be blocked by the cliff.

Could it be that it was just exposed to the sun and the smell became more pronounced as the temperature rose?

Forget it, I'll just throw it away.

Even if wild fruits could be used to remove the fishy smell, it would be difficult to suppress such a strong, strange odor.

Moreover, cleaning all those internal organs would be too much work, making it not worth the effort.

Ning Jinli had no choice but to suppress her nausea and throw the pile of wild boar entrails into the river.

Judging from the current progress of preparations, it is estimated that we will have to stay in this cave for a few more days. If we don't throw the internal organs into the river, the consequences of them rotting are unimaginable.

After quickly throwing it away, Ning Jinli washed her hands by the river and then began to cut the wild boar meat into small pieces.

In the river, a group of fish, attracted by the wild boar's entrails, swam up from the depths.

Just as the fish were about to feed, a dark mouth quietly opened and swallowed the fish along with the sinking wild boar entrails.

Everything happened beneath the surface, causing only slight ripples on the surface.

Ning Jinli, who was squatting on the shore processing wild boar meat, did not notice that a large, long, dark shadow swam past her in the water less than three meters away.

Even just a fleeting glimpse of his torso was as thick as two adult bodies…

...

Ning Jinli spent half a day finally cutting the wild boar meat into pieces suitable for drying, and then laid them out to dry on a simple tree branch rack built in the cave.

The wild boar meat weighed several hundred pounds, so it could only be roasted into jerky in batches.

Fortunately, the temperature at the bottom of this mountain stream is usually low, so the meat won't spoil before it can be made into jerky.

It was still some time before nightfall, but the mountain stream was already shrouded in darkness, and the fog rolled in again.

Ning Jinli gathered some firewood and stored it in the cave, drew some water with a bamboo tube, and began to prepare dinner.

The same food we ate during the day: roasted wild boar meat, stewed pork soup, and some fresh wild fruits.

Xiao Qidi sat cross-legged in the haystack, meditating without moving.

Ning Jinli leaned closer to examine him and teased with a grin, "You've almost turned into a wild man these past few days. Your hair is a mess and you've grown a beard. It's a good thing you're handsome, or you'd be quite scary."

Xiao Qidi's eyelids twitched slightly, but he did not open them or say a word.

"Could you martial artists teach me your methods of meditation and internal energy cultivation to heal internal injuries?" Ning Jinli asked. "If I get injured in the future, I can just heal myself using my internal energy, right?"

Xiao Qidi replied with some difficulty, "Healing through internal energy... is not as miraculous as you think... and it will not heal without medication."

Ning Jinli noticed that something was wrong with him and immediately asked, "What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"

Xiao Qidi's thin lips tightened, and his face gradually paled. "I... am fine."

Ning Jinli quickly touched his forehead and exclaimed, "So hot? You have a fever!"

Xiao Qidi knew that this was due to the repeated injuries and the excessive physical exertion from catching wild boars. His body was too weak, and even using his internal energy to heal his injuries was only enough to keep him from fainting.

But he didn't want Ning Jinli to worry about him, so he kept putting on a brave face.

"You call this okay when things are like this?" Ning Jinli helped Xiao Qidi lie down and said to him, "I'll go find some herbs."

Xiao Qidi said with difficulty, "It's already dark... Don't go... It's too dangerous. I'll hold out until tonight... We'll talk about it later."

"If I don't go find herbs, it's questionable whether you can even survive tonight!" Ignoring all advice, Ning Jinli grabbed a piece of firewood from the scallion fire to use as a torch and hurriedly left the cave.

Xiao Qidi wanted to follow her to protect her, but he was too weak to even crawl, so he could only watch Ning Jinli's figure disappear into the cave entrance.

Ning Jinli walked into the bushes, holding a torch.

She didn't know if she could find the herbs, but she had no other choice.

The only saving grace was that during her time living with Aunt Su, who came from a rural background, Aunt Su could identify some basic medicinal herbs that could be used in daily life. Sometimes when she had a fever or a cold and didn't have money to see a doctor, she would go to the mountains on the outskirts of the city to pick herbs and treat herself. As a result, Ning Jinli learned a little bit about them.

Although we don't know Xiao Qidi's specific situation, it's always good to try some anti-inflammatory and fever-reducing herbs.

Ning Jinli searched the bushes but couldn't find it, so she had no choice but to bite the bullet and walk into the woods.

Her original plan was to expand the exploration area with Xiao Qidi after making preparations, moving outward little by little. Now she had no choice but to venture into a completely unfamiliar area alone.

As soon as she entered the edge of the woods, she felt the hairs on her body stand on end.

The light here is even dimmer, and you are greeted by a primitive, rugged, and dangerous atmosphere.

The tall, dense trees exuded an oppressive aura, while the low, intertwined vines and wild grasses among the trees resembled ghostly figures appearing and disappearing in the mist.

Ning Jinli mustered her courage, crouched low, and carefully searched as she walked, the torch in her hand becoming the only light in the area.

Fortunately, in this untouched natural environment, there were many kinds of plants growing luxuriantly, and Ning Jinli soon discovered herbs that could reduce inflammation and fever.

She didn't want to stay there for even a second longer, feeling that something was lurking in the darkness around her, so she quickly gathered a handful of herbs and prepared to return as soon as possible.

Just then, a glimmer of light emerged from beneath the torn-open herbs.

Ning Jinli shook the torch and discovered that the light seemed to be reflected from something.

She instinctively pushed aside the weeds, and a metallic object came into view, causing her to freeze in shock.

This thing is about the size of a palm, L-shaped, and looks like it's made of iron. There's something like a roller in the middle. Although it's quite rough overall, it's obvious that it wasn't formed naturally.

The more Ning Jinli looked at it, the more familiar it seemed, so she dug it out of the soil.

When Ning Jinli saw the overall design clearly, she was shocked and could hardly believe her eyes.

If it wasn't a hallucination, then what she found was a revolver!

No wonder it looked familiar!

Although she had never touched a real gun, she had seen them in TV series or movies.

The reason I didn't recognize it at first glance is because this revolver is very different from the normal one. It looks like it was crudely made by a blacksmith with poor skills, using the most primitive forging methods.

Ning Jinli's head was buzzing.

If she were in a forest in the modern world, she wouldn't be too surprised to find even a proper handgun.

But this is... a world from over two thousand years ago!

Gunpowder hadn't even been invented yet! Forging pig iron was still a high-tech process!

How could there be a revolver?

Her scalp tingled, and she shakily tried to turn the wheel.

Crack—

The cylinder was unscrewed, revealing six bullets inside.

Upon closer inspection of the other components, although they are quite rough, everything from the barrel to the trigger to the hammer is quite well-made.

Ning Jinli's pupils dilated sharply, and she took out another bullet to examine it carefully.

Similarly, they are also handmade and very different from modern firearm bullets, but they are indeed bullets.

Ning Jinli was shocked for a while before she came to her senses, squatting on the ground and frowning in thought.

"Could it be... that there are other time portals, and someone brought modern weapons here? Wait, no, no..."

"Modern weapons manufacturing standards are not this bad; this definitely wasn't made in modern times."

"In other words, this revolver is a genuine ancient artifact."

"hiss……"

Thinking of this, she gasped.

Then there are only two possibilities.

One possibility is that some ancient genius invented this thing and even made it.

Although historical records indicate that gunpowder did not even exist during this period, it does not mean that someone in some unknown place had already invented gunpowder.

It may not have become widespread for various reasons, so it was not recorded.

If this is the case, this genius not only invented gunpowder, but also miraculously devised a method for making weapons, thus creating weapons similar to modern revolvers.

What kind of genius must he be?

No matter how I think about it, it feels...too surreal.

Another possibility, while also quite unbelievable, is relatively more reasonable than this speculation.

That is—there are time travelers in this world.

Using modern knowledge, the time traveler handcrafted a gun more than two thousand years ago in ancient times.

After all, Ning Jinli herself came to this world through a time-space portal.

Perhaps... she wasn't the only one who encountered a miracle...

Regardless of the guess, it gave Ning Jinli goosebumps all over.

But now is not the time to focus on analyzing these things. Xiao Qidi is still in the cave with a fever, waiting for her to bring back the herbs.

She composed herself, carefully reloaded the removed bullets into the revolver, and began her return journey.

Regardless of where this thing came from or whether it works properly, I'll just take it with me and see what happens.

——

Meanwhile, on this side of the cave...

Xiao Qidi is about to fall into a coma.

The high fever made him increasingly confused. Although his body was very hot, he felt cold and his whole body was trembling.

He wanted to add more firewood to the fire, but he couldn't even crawl anymore, no matter how hard he tried.

Swish...

A strange friction sound rang out outside the cave.

Under the hazy moonlight, thick fog had begun to spread, and in this gray and dark fog, a blurry black shadow was rapidly approaching the cave.

Xiao Qidi suddenly felt a chill and goosebumps rose on the back of his neck.

And I could faintly smell a strange, fishy odor.

It seems to have drifted in from outside the cave with the mist.

Over the past few days, he could vaguely smell this strange odor, but because he was weak and in this environment, he didn't think much of it. He even thought it was because his sense of smell was wrong or because he was too dirty.

But now, the stench has become more pronounced.

Xiao Qidi strained his eyes, staring intently at the direction of the cave entrance.

The thick fog outside the cave rolled in slowly, not by the wind, but as if something was moving it.

As the thick fog rolled in and became more pronounced, a black triangular outline appeared next to the cave entrance.

The fog is too thick.

Xiao Qidi is too weak.

He couldn't see what it was, but judging from its size and outline, the black triangle was probably bigger than an adult, like a small mound that appeared out of nowhere.

Then, the black triangular outline slowly floated up, and from within the outline, two green lights larger than a human fist emerged.

"Hiss... hiss..."

A chilling, strange sound followed.

Xiao Qidi's pupils gradually contracted as he looked down at the black triangular outline, where he could vaguely see a long, dark shadow.

He was immediately shaken.

If I'm not mistaken...

It was a giant snake unlike any seen before, and the black triangular outline was its head, with two green orbs larger than a human fist as its eyes...

The reason we just saw the triangular outline slowly rise was because the fog was too thick, obscuring the giant snake's neck.

At this moment, Xiao Qidi didn't even dare to breathe.

He even hoped that it was a dream that occurred while he was in a coma.

However, as most of the giant snake's head had already entered the cave entrance, and a huge snake face covered in scales appeared in his field of vision, he had to accept the reality.

Hiss... hiss...

The giant snake flicked its blood-red tongue, staring at the burning fire inside the cave.

Xiao Qidi dared not act rashly. He knew that all wild animals, no matter how fierce or huge, had an innate fear of fire.

Now we can only hope that the fire will keep the giant snake at bay.

Otherwise, if the giant snake were to rush in, he would surely become its prey.

With such a large head and such a thick body, it could be easily swallowed whole with just a slight opening of its mouth.

The man and the snake were locked in a stalemate across the fire.

The giant snake's eyes, glowing with a dark green light, stared intently at Xiao Qidi.

Xiao Qidi realized that this beast was also very clever. It had probably been watching in the dark for a long time, and only started to hunt when it was sure that the prey had no ability to resist.

The giant snake flicked its tongue, stared at Xiao Qidi for a while, then turned its head and began to eat the wild boar meat in the cave.

It devoured hundreds of pounds of meat chunks and slices in just a few bites.

But it seemed like it hadn't had enough to eat, and continued to stare at the living person in the corner of the cave.

call--

A gust of wind blew into the cave.

The campfire flickered.

The giant snake lowered its head and approached the fire, as if pondering something. After a moment, it suddenly exhaled a breath from its nostrils.

The campfire flickered even more violently.

The giant snake exhaled an even stronger breath.

Wow!

The flames were almost completely extinguished!

Xiao Qidi thought to himself, "This is bad! This beast is so clever! He actually plans to blow out the fire!"

As the flames grew weaker, the giant serpent continued to close in.

Xiao Qidi imagined an even worse scenario—Ning Jinli had gone to pick herbs; if she returned at this time, wouldn't that mean…

what to do? !

I have absolutely no ability to get rid of this beast!

In that instant, a thought rushed into my mind.

The giant snake just swallowed several hundred pounds of wild boar meat. Even if it wasn't full, it should be at least half full, right?

If we give it some more food, maybe it will leave?

So……

I can only sacrifice myself to buy Ning Jinli some more time to live...