The water level in the wetlands is above waist-deep, so cars can't drive in there for long periods of time.

Upon reaching this conclusion, Shi Jinzhe immediately tightened his trouser cuffs and sleeves.

Shekh, standing beside him, said, "I think those leeches you're trying to avoid are probably bigger than you and shouldn't be able to get in."

"It's better to be safe than sorry; there's all sorts of things in this water."

Especially since his blood smells so good, it wouldn't be pleasant to be bitten by anything that might attract it.

The excess rope was cut off and thrown into the ring. Shi Jinzhe picked up a tree trunk and rubbed it as he moved forward in the water.

The yellow water was so murky that nothing could be seen. Dead branches and fallen leaves floated on the surface, and there were slippery water plants underfoot.

Shekh moved much more freely than Shijinzhe, and could walk without any assistance. The golden cocoon and the map were still in her hands, and she continued to guide the way.

The movement of the two created V-shaped ripples on the water's surface, and the fish swimming underwater were so confused by the alternating aromas that they lost their bearings.

Shi Jinzhe felt something hit his leg several times, but Sheh brushed it away each time.

After walking for more than an hour, parting the grass, the water became shallower, the water resistance increased, and the water tasted somewhat fishy and foul.

Shekh held up the wooden box and looked at the map. Suddenly, her tail touched something different underwater. It was sticky and extremely attractive. The increased friction made her realize that they had encountered a man-eating swamp.

When the time is up, change direction.

"You might be too late." Shi Jin's broken leg had just sunk into the ground a second before she spoke.

The cavitation in the swamp has a strong suction force. He pulled half an animal skull out from underwater and held it up to show Shekh. "They probably eat a lot of animals here."

As he spoke, his other leg was also pulled down. "This swamp, like that snow mountain, seems alive. My stick didn't even detect anything wrong here."

Using her tail to navigate, Shekh dodged the swampy area that was searching for her. After listening to Shi Jinzhe's explanation, she tested it again and found that the spot her tail had touched earlier had returned to normal. This swamp was indeed alive.

"Wait a minute, don't move, I'll pull you out," she said, backing away.

However, the swamp was sinking too fast, so Shi Jinzhe could only brace the wooden stick he was using for probing against his back, lean his body backward, and spread his arms to increase the surface area and slow down the sinking speed.

Thick mud submerged his chest, pressing heavily against his ribcage. He slowed his breathing, reducing the frequency of his lung contractions.

Shekh came to a spot ten meters away from the swamp, stared intently at the black, dirty mud, closed its eyes, flicked its tail, plunged into the mud, wrapped around the person, and pulled them out.

Swamps are more uncomfortable than mud splatters; it feels like your mouth and nose are being tightly covered, suffocating you and making your head spin.

Buoyancy in the water makes it difficult to exert force, and Schecht could not find a point of leverage, so he could only swim backward in the opposite direction.

The snake's tail was tightly wrapped around his body, constricting him until his bones ached terribly. The tail and the swamp beneath him were locked in a tug-of-war, making him feel extremely uncomfortable.

Without the protection of certain skills, ordinary people really couldn't withstand this tug-of-war between two forces on their own bodies.

Are you alright?

Shekh was afraid that he would use too much force and crush him, so he only dared to use a little force to pull slowly.

Shi Jinzhe smiled and nodded, "I'll say so if you can't stand it."

"Then I'll continue."

While Shekh was dragging, his hands in the water were also busy.

The thick, dark blue corrosive liquid fell into the water. Instead of spreading, the solution remained in droplet form and was carried by the water flow into the swamp, where it swallowed up the black mud.

As more and more corrosive liquid was added, the force exerted on her tail gradually eased, and the smoothness of her dragging improved significantly.

She left a passage so that she could fold it up whenever she needed to, and it wouldn't be corroded when she left.

Forty minutes later, Shi Jinzhe was pulled out of the swamp, covered in mud, his skin feeling tight.

He quietly pressed his ribs, washed the mud off his body with water, and headed towards Shekh.

"Stop, stand there, don't come near me." Shekh retracted her tail and washed herself in the water; her sacrifice was immense.

"I'll help you wash it."

"Then come here." She didn't want to touch the black mud.

Shi Jinzhe carefully cleaned her tail, rubbing and scraping it. He glanced at the sky and then remembered that everything was in his ring and he couldn't tell the time. The car was packed full, so it wasn't convenient to take it out now.

He asked Shekh, "How much longer do we have to walk through this wetland?"

Shekh: "The map shows that this area is still a plain, without a specific size, but it should be soon."

"Then let's walk faster and try to get out before sunset."

When the time comes, turn your head to face the sun and extend your palm, with your little finger level with the horizon and your index finger touching the sun, to roughly estimate the time.

The width of one finger is 15 minutes. By overlapping his palms twice, he calculated that there were less than two hours until sunset, and he should be able to get out.

Let's go.

As time went by, the temperature dropped again.

Shekh's tail stirred up the water beneath the surface to prevent another living swamp from forming.

In the evening, moisture gathered again, and in less than ten minutes, the second rain of the day arrived.

It wasn't as heavy as in the morning; it was a moderate rain.

Shekh walked behind, his tone a complex mix of emotions, "Three sentences, and I've gotten myself all muddy and soaked in the rain for you."

A poor child that even his own mother couldn't save.

"I won't say it again." Shi Jinzhe covered her with his windbreaker. He had thought of everything, but he never expected that Hua Yuyi would come to mind.

After passing through patch after patch of grass, the receding water level rose again, reaching waist level once more, and continued to rise.

Because of the rain, the sun set an hour earlier than Shi Jinzhe had estimated.

The water level is rising, and the current is becoming increasingly rapid.

“Time is running out.” Shekh called to him from behind. “I have good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear?”

"Good news."

"We've made it out of that wetland."

"And the bad news?"

"We've gone straight into the river."

"..."

Looking at the water ahead, where the shore was nowhere in sight, Shi Jinzhe didn't want to say a word.

"We've come this far, let's finish it in one go. The water won't recede by tomorrow, there's no point in waiting."

Shekh is right. Soaking in this kind of water is not only uncomfortable, but also carries the risk of hypothermia.

I really don't want to experience this again; it's best to go through it all at once.

The sun was still shining, and it was very dark. He turned to Shekh and said, "You step back a few meters first, I'm going to get something ready."

Sheh retreated ten meters, and Shi Jinzhe handed the branch in his hand to Sheh, lifted the hem of his short-sleeved shirt, and took off his clothes.

He cut a slit in the clothes, tore them open, and shredded them into strips.

Shekh was behind him and could see the marks on his body from the pressure of the snake scales. His back muscles contracted and expanded as his arms stretched, and the diamond-shaped red marks on them seemed to come alive.

Besides this, there is also a long red mark on Shi Jinzhe's back that extends diagonally from his shoulder into the water. It was left when he fell off the cliff. It looks like it has recovered quite a bit and is not particularly red anymore.