Chapter 23 Python

Feeling the pain, the giant snake rushed forward angrily, its tail hitting the ground with a loud rumbling sound and gravel flying everywhere.

Gu Nian continuously put arrows on the snake and shot at it, but unfortunately the scales were too thick and difficult to penetrate. She could only launch an area attack in groups of three, aiming at the soft part of the abdomen, in order to curb the snake's movements.

Taking advantage of the giant python's obstruction, the people along the way seized the opportunity and immediately fled.

Gu Nian raised her hand to take the arrow and continued to suppress the big snake's movements. At the same time, she quickly estimated that the giant python was still thirty meters away from her. At her current speed, once the giant python entered the range of fifteen meters, she would need to evacuate quickly.

Many people running along the way recognized Gu Nian. This girl was a resident of the villa area. She looked fair and gentle. I didn't expect her to be such a powerful evolver! And her archery skills were so strong! If it weren't for her, who knows how many more people would have died today!

"Retreat, everyone retreat quickly!" Suddenly a loud shout rang out.

There were chaotic footsteps. Gu Nian looked and found that she knew the person coming. It was Yu Ziqiu, the leader of the second action team.

Yu Ziqiu also saw Gu Nian, the little girl who was on the mission last time. She is here too? But there was no time to communicate. Yu Ziqiu pulled out a pair of daggers, jumped high and kicked the tree trunk, then used the recoil force to jump onto the snake's body and stabbed the dagger fiercely.

The dagger pierced the snake's body, but for the huge python, this wound was meaningless. It only caused the python to go crazy and roar towards the sky. At this time, layers of ice mist appeared on the python's body, and a lot of cold air spewed out of its mouth!

Oh no, this python has evolved a second time! Not only has its body become huge, but it has also mastered the cold air! Yu Ziqiu felt a chill in her heart. She was wearing ordinary cold-proof clothing, and her teeth immediately chattered. Even her hands and feet became cold. The snake turned its head and bit Yu Ziqiu. Yu Ziqiu reacted slowly and narrowly avoided the snake's mouth.

"Hurry up! Contact Jiang Yang and notify the people from Action Team 2 to come quickly!" Yu Ziqiu shouted to Gu Nian. She happened to be doing business near the villa area today, and rushed to help immediately after the incident. The other people from Action Team 2 had not arrived yet.

There must be another way. Gu Nian thought calmly. If we wait for the people behind us to arrive, I'm afraid most of the villa area will be destroyed, and her villa will hardly be spared. She noticed the changes in the giant python. The ice crystals accumulated on the snake's body more and more, forming a dangerous ice belt. Close combat was no longer effective, and it was difficult to count on Yu Ziqiu.

There were a few boxes of biofuel lying alone on the side of the road. Gu Nian's eyes lit up and she quickly picked them up. While the giant python and Yu Ziqiu were fighting, she quickly smeared a thick layer of biofuel on all the arrows.

Next comes the time to compete in firing rate.

Gu Nian lit the arrow head and shot out again, burning the ice belt with strong flames and nailing the snake's body!

It worked! This biofuel is not so easy to extinguish! While the ice crystals were not surrounding him again, Gu Nian shot three more arrows. The flames tore through the ice bands on the snake's body, and burnt wounds appeared on the giant python's body!

It seems that the python's weakness is its fear of fire. Gu Nian made a quick judgment, but at this time, there were only ten arrows left in her quiver. Gu Nian raised her head and shouted, "Cover me, let it show its belly!"

Yu Ziqiu had already been shocked by Gu Nian's archery skills when she launched a volley of arrows. She reacted immediately after hearing what she said. She no longer hesitated, and suddenly jumped on the snake's body, using the force of falling to stab the snake with a dagger, and then flexibly fled between the road and the treetops.

Sure enough, with Yu Ziqiu as bait, the giant snake's attention was diverted. Gu Nian patiently looked for an opportunity, but she didn't have many arrows left.

Yu Ziqiu could even smell the stench of the snake's mouth and the sound of the wind coming from the snake's body. She quickly shot out a hook from her arm, grabbed the hook and jumped to the roof, barely avoiding the attacking bloody mouth, shouting: "Is this possible? I can't hold on for much longer."

The time is now!

The giant python opened its mouth to bite Yu Ziqiu who was running on the roof, and its body raised high revealed its vulnerable seven inches.

The arrow created thick smoke in the air, and the flames were like flowers of death, tearing seven inches apart.

Gu Nian shot several arrows in succession, each arrow entering closely following the wound torn by the previous arrow. The wound became deeper and deeper, and finally pierced the giant python's heart.

The heart stopped beating and the huge snake body slammed to the ground, raising dust.

Gu Nian carefully shot the last arrow at the giant python's forehead again. The snake suddenly raised its head and opened its mouth to bite the arrow head.

What? His heart was pierced, but he's still alive? Yu Ziqiu's heart sank.

The burning arrow approached the snake's head, but the snake's head fell down helplessly, allowing the arrow to penetrate. It was a last dying counterattack. Reptiles like snakes can still survive for a short time even after their hearts stop beating.

Yu Ziqiu was relieved. During this period of time, there have been many incidents of mutant animals injuring people in Jiangcheng. The entire second action team was dispatched, and even Jiang Yang, who was responsible for logistics all year round, was sent out. They were divided into responsible areas for duty. When Yu Ziqiu went out on patrol, he happened to see a mutant python injuring people. He immediately felt uneasy and anxious. For such a huge mutant beast, it would be the best outcome if he could kill the giant python with serious injuries! Unexpectedly, with the help of this girl, he was only slightly injured and killed the giant python!

Because of the cold, Yu Ziqiu's movements were stiff, and she could only limp towards Gu Nian, saying sincerely, "Thank you." She originally just regarded Gu Nian as a little girl and didn't pay much attention to her, but now it has been confirmed that Gu Nian can be considered a strong person among the evolvers in Jiangcheng, and is fundamentally different from those three-legged wilderness hunters! Especially this girl's keen combat intuition, I'm afraid she will shine in the future! I just don't know what special material her arrows are made of, which can break the scales of the mutant python? You have to know that this pair of special daggers made of the material of the mutant beast can only cause minor injuries to the giant python.

Gu Nian nodded. She looked at the many small wounds on Yu Ziqiu's body and his inconvenience in moving, and asked, "Are your wounds okay? How about we take you to the hospital?"

Yu Ziqiu shook his head: "It's okay, my companions should be here soon."

Sure enough, Jiang Yang's voice shouted from behind: "Sister, are you injured? Damn, such a big python!" Behind Jiang Yang, there was a team of fully armed soldiers. It seemed that they were the official agency responsible for dealing with injuries caused by mutant beasts in the city.

Seeing Jiang Yang coming over to support Yu Ziqiu, Gu Nian nodded, just as a greeting, and planned to leave. She wanted to get the python, after all, there must be spiritual crystals in the huge snake body, but the authorities might have to investigate the ins and outs of the mutant python, why it appeared here, etc., and the snake body might be taken over by the authorities.

But Yu Ziqiu stopped her: "Wait, do you want this python?" The person who made the greatest contribution to killing the python was Gu Nian. Yu Ziqiu wanted to make friends with Gu Nian, so he showed his goodwill and intended to do her a favor.

Gu Nian stopped.

Very good, the girl is interested. Yu Ziqiu smiled and said gently: "The fangs and scales of this mutant python can be processed into weapons and protective gear. If the snake meat is non-toxic, it can be eaten. There are also spiritual crystals in it. If you don't mind, our Action Team 2 can help process the snake meat and process weapons. You can contact Jiang Yang to pick it up later."

Gu Nian remembered Jiang Yang's skill in dealing with the mutant beast, and simply said, "It was thanks to you that I killed the snake just now as bait. Since you are responsible for dealing with it, you can each take half."

"Okay." Yu Ziqiu was overjoyed. She wanted to build a good relationship with Gu Nian, and had planned to help deal with it without charging any fees, just as a favor. But now that Gu Nian gave her 50% of the snake body, her injury was not a loss.

Gu Nian did not intend to attract too much attention. Seeing that she had reached an agreement with Yu Ziqiu, she nodded and left the scene. She walked around for a long time and made sure that no one was following her before returning to her villa through the back door.

As soon as they entered the villa, Lianhua rushed over and circled around Gu Nian anxiously: "Master, that snake is so fierce, is it injured?"

The master did not answer her. Lotus carefully observed the master and found that he was exhausted. His face was no longer smiling, his eyes were no longer curved like a crescent moon, but were gray, and the corners of his mouth were flat.

This is what humans mean when they are unhappy, Lotus thought, and it went to rub its master's hand. Usually, whenever it did this, the master would smile.

Gu Nian touched its soft fur and suddenly became frustrated. "Lotus, am I useless? Even if it is a python that has just mutated, it takes so much effort to kill it? In the future, these mutated animals will become stronger and stronger, what should I do?" Gu Nian tried her best to kill the python today. She had been practicing breathing techniques silently, attaching her spiritual power to the arrow, and only then could she barely break the python's scales. Now she is exhausted. Even an ordinary person can knock her down!

Gu Nian clearly remembered that prophetic dream. Evolution had just begun, and animals had just begun to mutate. The mutants would only become more and more ferocious. If he did not have strong strength, would he be able to survive even if he had stored up a lot of supplies? This world was no longer a paradise for humans.

"I... want to become stronger." Gu Nian murmured.

It turned out that the master was worried about his own strength. Lotus raised his little head and used his hairy claws to pull the master's arm: "Body Tempering Soup! Master, you can use Body Tempering Soup!"

"Body-tempering soup? Doesn't that increase cold resistance?" Gu Nian asked in confusion.

"Yes, but the reason why the body-tempering soup can enhance cold resistance is because it can greatly strengthen the skin and flesh and greatly improve physical fitness, meow!" Lotus said.

So that's how it is. Gu Nian's heart moved. If that's the case, she really should arrange the body-hardening soup as soon as possible. She brought the lotus back to the farm space.

Gu Nian had previously spent all his spiritual energy coins on exchanging time accelerators to ripen medicinal herbs, and he had never been willing to buy the recipe. Looking at the spiritual energy coins he had saved recently, Gu Nian didn't feel any regret and directly used them to buy the body-quenching soup.

The list of ingredients for the body-tempering soup slowly unfolded in front of her.

Ingredients of the body-quenching soup: frankincense, myrrh, bone balsam (magic medicine), tung tree bark (magic medicine), and wood spirit crystal.

Gu Nian carefully checked the herbs in the recipe. Frankincense and myrrh are both precious Chinese medicines, but Gu Nian still has some in stock. As for wood spirit crystals, Gu Nian can roughly guess that they refer to spirit crystals obtained from plants such as trees and flowers. The spirit crystals Gu Nian has are all animal spirit crystals, that is, spirit crystals taken from animals. Compared with mutant beasts, mutant plants are extremely difficult to produce spirit crystals. Occasionally, there are one or two, but they are almost never circulated on the market.

In order to obtain wood spirit crystals, Gu Nian must go to the wilderness to find mutated plants that can produce spirit crystals.

However, what bothered Gu the most were the Bu Gu Xiang Zhi and Cui Huan Tong Pi. She quickly searched the Complete Chinese Medicinal Materials in her hand and found that these two medicines were not there at all!

Gu Nian suddenly remembered a post he had seen on the forum. The poster claimed that after the spiritual energy tide, many unknown plants appeared in various places, and many of them were very similar to the records in ancient books. Perhaps these books were not about legends, but about plants that only appeared under the spiritual energy tide! Maybe this Bone Balsam and Green Ring Tong Bark are plants that only grow after the spiritual energy tide, just as the poster said?

Lotus curiously watched the owner flipping through the book. It jumped onto the book, trying to occupy the owner's sight: "Meow~ Master, what are you reading?"

Gu Nian said casually, "I'm looking for Bu Gu Xiang Zhi and Cui Huan Tong Pi, but unfortunately these two herbs are not in this book."

"Master, you can bring Lotus with you. Lotus knows a lot of medicinal herbs, including these two." Lotus raised a cat paw and pressed it against Gu Nian's face.

Gu Nian's eyes lit up. I didn't expect Lotus to have this ability! Yes, Lotus itself is the incarnation of the system. Although it is a little confused, it naturally knows what the things mentioned in the system are like.

Gu Nian decided to go to the wilderness to gather all the ingredients and make the body-hardening soup as soon as possible. The powerful python gave Gu Nian an unprecedented sense of crisis. In the apocalyptic evolution, if she didn't have enough strength, she might fall to the bottom of the food chain at any time. She had never been so eager to be strong!

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The wilderness had become something Gu Nian did not recognize at all.

This was her first time entering the wilderness after the cold fog, and the original urban buildings had completely changed beyond recognition. The concrete road was cracked, with weeds and shrubs growing out of it. The buildings on the roadside were also surrounded by vines, and the trees grew rapidly, so high that they blocked out the sun. For a moment, Gu Nian felt as if she had not come to the suburbs of Jiangcheng, which she had been away from for only a month, but to a primeval forest, except that there were still faint traces of the city in the forest.

The urban clusters that humans spent hundreds of years building were instantly regressed to primitive times.

Gu Nian walked carefully along the way. Following the road signs, about a kilometer later, she saw an official recycling point.

This is a camp built on the edge of the wilderness. In the middle of the camp is an official mobile vehicle, which is used to purchase mutant plants and animals. The recycling price is a few credit points cheaper than the purchase points in Jiangcheng, but many wilderness hunters who want convenience still choose to sell their prey directly to the camp outside the city.

Around the official recycling point, there were several tents, pickup trucks, and iron sheds scattered around, forming a small supply market. The camp was full of tall and strong men, with weapons on their arms and shoulders. Daggers, long knives, bows and arrows, and even guns were everywhere.

Gu Nian was wearing a thick black mountaineering suit today, with the collar raised high, a windproof hat and goggles, a mask, and a backpack on his back. Just looking at his figure, it was difficult to tell whether he was a man or a woman.

Gu Nian walked to the mobile car. The worker at the recycling point was a middle-aged man. There was a deep claw mark on his face, which was obviously left by a large animal, no, a large mutant beast. Perhaps it was because of this scar that he installed a cold inorganic artificial eye.

"Newcomer? I haven't seen you before." said the uncle with the artificial eye.

Gu Nian nodded indifferently: "Well, buy an official wilderness map."

The man with the artificial eye lazily handed her a blueprint.

"Here it is. It marks nearby large mutant beasts and aggressive plants. A copy costs 200 credits and is updated weekly. But I suggest you don't believe it all. Everything in the wilderness will change. If you rely on this map to find your way... hehe... the consequences will be unpredictable. If you have a wilderness hunter license, this map can be provided for free, but the condition is that you share information. You can buy weapons and bullets from me, but you still need a wilderness hunter license. There's nothing I can do about it. I'm an official staff member." The uncle with the artificial eye finished speaking in one breath.

Gu Nian swiped 200 credit points and took the map. She noticed that there was a stack of blue booklets on the stall in front of the man with artificial eyes, with a line of large characters printed on the booklets: "Credit Point Exchange Manual".

The uncle with the artificial eye followed Gu Nian's line of sight and patted his bald forehead: "I forgot you're a newcomer. Here." He handed Gu Nian a blue booklet: "This is free. It lists the mutant plants and animals that are officially recycled. You can sell it to me if you get it."

Thinking that the person standing in front of him was a newcomer, the uncle with the artificial eye simply pointed out a few stalls nearby. "The iron shed with a big furnace and a workbench sells equipment. You can go there to repair weapons, whether it's cold weapons or firearms. That small house is a tavern that also sells food. Next to it is a simple medical station. That's all."

Gu Nian seemed to be thinking about something. It seemed that a new ecology and a new order had begun to emerge around the wilderness, but this new order was full of violence and chaos.

Gu Nian silently kept this information in her mind. She turned and entered the equipment store.

The store was a temporary iron shed, and once inside, it was filled with machinery, stacked from floor to ceiling. The shelves were filled with all kinds of strange goods, including bone blades made from mutant beast limbs, and bottles and jars filled with unknown powders and solvents.

The boss had a big beard and his face was almost invisible. He had a monocular on his eyes and was carefully repairing a gun. When he saw Gu Nian coming, he just asked casually, "What do you want?"

Gu Nian raised the compound bow in his hand: "I want to buy some arrows."

Arrows? The boss looked at the girl. Yes, bows and arrows are sometimes more effective than guns for hunting. "Do you want the expensive one or the cheap one?"

"That depends on whether what you bring out is worth the price." Gu Nian said.

The bearded boss stood up lazily and fumbled in the shelves behind him. He handed Gu Nian a black arrow, made of fine steel, with barbs on both sides of the arrowhead and six blood grooves on the arrowhead: "Damage-increasing arrow, 200 credits each." He took out another arrow, a slender tapered arrow with sharp edges on all four sides: "Armor-piercing arrow, stronger penetration, also 200 credits."

The bearded boss took out another arrow. The tip of this arrow was made of fine steel and was much thicker than the average arrow. "This one is a burning arrow. It can burn for three minutes after being shot. It cannot be guaranteed in extremely cold conditions. 300 credit points per arrow. No bargaining."

Gu Nian picked up the arrows and examined them carefully. He had to say that these arrows were all top-quality and their lethality was definitely better than the ordinary arrows that Gu Nian usually used. "I'll buy one of each first. Is there a place? I want to try the goods."

The bearded boss pointed to the back door and gestured for invitation.

Gu Nian swiped over 500 credit points, picked up the three-foot arrow, and walked around the messy containers and out the back door. Behind the grocery store, there was a wide flat area with a few dead trees. There was no one around, so Gu Nian began to test the arrows. Gu Nian asked for a trial, not only to inspect the goods, but also to understand the performance and power of the arrows. Going into the wilderness with a weapon that had never been used before was either stupid or arrogant, and she was not going to make such a mistake.

Gu Nian put on the arrow, drew his bow and shot. The bark of the dead tree cracked immediately, and even the wood layer under the bark cracked. Gu Nian thought to himself that if this arrow was shot at the mutant beast, it would cause a tear from the arrowhead and bleed profusely.

She raised her hand and shot another armor-piercing arrow. The slender conical arrow head steadily penetrated the tree trunk that was at least 20 centimeters thick. The arrow body passed through the trunk, leaving only the arrow tail still trembling.

Very good, strong penetrating power. Gu Nian was satisfied, but what she cared about most was the burning arrow worth 300 credit points. After Gu Nian used biofuel to coat the arrowhead and injured the giant python last time, she had been thinking about buying a few burning arrows. Unexpectedly, she found the weapon she had been thinking about in this equipment store. She just hoped that the power would be as she wished!

After the burning arrow was shot out, a whistling sound erupted in the air, and almost at the moment it left the bow, a dazzling flame burst out from the arrow head. A huge wave of fire rose up and finally nailed the tree trunk, which immediately burned completely and even quickly spread in all directions.

The boss skillfully picked up a fire extinguisher and walked over to spray the flames on the sapling. He almost used up the entire bottle of fire extinguisher before the tree trunk stopped burning. "How about using the biofuel extracted from the mutant beast Flame Rat to make a burning arrow?"

Gu Nian answered simply: "Three kinds of arrows, ten of each."

Taking thirty special arrows and adding his own thirty ordinary fine iron arrows, Gu Nian left the camp with a bulging quiver on his back.

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There are few people in the wilderness, and the trees block the sun, with only circular spots of light shining through the gaps between the leaves.

Gu Nian walked carefully, alert to the mutant beasts that might appear at any time. Suddenly, a small head popped out from her coat pocket. It was Lotus.

There was no one else around, so Lotus finally poked her head out of her pocket. "Master, let's go to the lake. The tung trees often grow by the water."

Gu Nian nodded, and according to the markings on the map, she quietly crept into the forest. Lianhua stopped talking, and held the edge of Gu Nian's pocket with her little paws. Today was the first day to go out and work with her master, and Lianhua would also try her best to help and not cause trouble, meow!

Walking in the forest would slow down, and about 20 minutes later, Gu Nian finally saw a small lake. Lianhua stood on Gu Nian's shoulder, twitching her nose, turning her head to look around, and finally jumped off the ground to look around.

Gu Nian was alert to the surroundings.

"Meow, I found it!" Lotus jumped, trying to attract Gu Nian's attention.

Gu Nian's pupils shrank. A green figure appeared behind the lotus! It was a mutant frog! It was half a meter tall, and its body was perfectly hidden in the environment. It only showed its shape when it attacked, and its tongue stretched out quickly, rolling towards the lotus!

Gu Nian raised his hand and shot an arrow, which pierced the tongue fiercely. Another arrow pierced the mutant frog's eyes and went out through its brain. The mutant frog fell limply to the ground.

Lotus was so frightened that it slipped away and stood on Gu Nian's shoulder again. Its small body was still shaking. Gu Nian quickly patted its head to comfort it: "Be careful. Don't be more than one meter away from me in the future. Got it?"

Lotus rubbed Gu Nian's cheek, and finally felt relieved. It stretched out its short claws and pointed at a short green shrub on the ground: "That, that is the Emerald Tung tree!"

Gu Nian walked over. The shrub was only calf-high, with dense leaves and clusters of white flowers. Its brown bark was covered with circles of green rings. Around this green-ringed tung tree, there were many other small shrubs that were identical to it, except that they did not have green rings on their bark. Gu Nian guessed that these plants were probably originally of the same genus, but after the spiritual energy tide arrived, only this one had changed into a green-ringed tung tree.

Gu Nian pulled out a dagger and began to scrape the bark of the Paulownia tree.

Lotus stayed close to its owner. It didn't dare to distance itself from him. However, cats are curious and its little head couldn't help but look around.

Lotus' eyes lit up as she found another herb! "Master, look over there, there's a spotted orchid!"

Gu Nian had just finished taking the bark of the tung tree. She stuffed the bark into her backpack and looked in the direction that Lianhua pointed. She saw several orchids growing there, with yellow spots like eyes on their stems and leaves. These orchids were hidden in the deep grass. If Lianhua hadn't pointed out the direction and Gu Nian hadn't looked carefully, it would have been difficult to find them.

"Is this the spotted orchid?" Gu Nian took Lianhua over to check it out.

"Yes, this is a very common spiritual medicine, it can be used to make many, many things!" Lotus said excitedly, and was stunned again. Hey, why do I know that this spiritual medicine can be used to make many, many things? It's like before... I saw a human use it to make many, many things?

Lotus's little head was lost in thought, but she didn't get any answer. Oh, it doesn't matter if she can't think of it. Lotus flicked her ears and forgot about it in an instant.

Is this orchid a magical medicine? Gu Nian's mind was moved. She took out the free "Credit Point Exchange Manual" and turned to the herbal medicine column according to the catalog. As expected, she quickly found the orchid, which could be exchanged for 200 credit points. In front of Gu Nian, there were five orchids.

It seems that with the little lotus, I have a magical medicine radar!