We finally made it through the dense jungle, arriving at a more open area.

My tense mood has eased a lot. If the sand monsters want to attack me again in this open area, they'll probably have to ask the thing in my hand for permission first.

Top and I traveled relatively safely along the way. Apart from encountering some small animals that posed no threat, we didn't encounter any large animals.

We soon arrived at the stream we had come from. By now, the stream had expanded several times over due to the raging torrents, and the width of the water was estimated to be more than twenty or thirty meters.

The road that Top and I had walked on was flooded, which was something I expected.

Judging from the momentum of the flood, it seems unlikely that it will stop anytime soon. If we want to continue along the stream, we'll have to go deeper into the rainforest.

For some reason, I always had a bad feeling about going to that rainforest. But since we came here using this stream as a reference, we could only return the way we came.

We have no choice but to go deeper into the jungle.

The trees here are denser than in the previous area, and the tall trees block out a lot of sunlight, making the forest much darker.

Upon entering this rainforest, my nerves tightened again. The terrain here was equally dangerous; one wrong step and we could capsize.

Not long after we entered the rainforest, a loud cracking sound suddenly came from not far in front of me.

A tree more than 20 meters tall broke off at the base and fell rapidly towards me.

Before I could even run away after hearing the sound, a tree branch whizzed past my nose at incredible speed.

That was close!

If this tree had been even an inch closer to me today, my head would have been smashed open on the spot.

Because of the lack of human activity, ancient tropical rainforests like these have tall, dead trees that remain in place until their roots completely rot, creating unpredictable time bombs in the jungle.

Passing animals have no idea when these trees will fall. It might only take a gust of wind, or nothing at all, before they suddenly collapse and hit the lucky spectators below.

I was just one of the lucky audience members here.

The fallen tree was at least 30 or 40 centimeters in diameter. If it had hit me, I would have been dead in no time.

I walked around the fallen dead tree with lingering fear, and when I looked up, I realized that there were more dead trees in this area than just this one.

Ahead, one could see bare, white tree branches one after another. I hadn't noticed these dead trees before because all the trees in the vicinity, whether dead or alive, were covered with a thick layer of green moss.

It seems that this place is prone to flooding due to its proximity to water. Furthermore, these trees don't seem to have evolved ground roots like banyan trees to breathe air.

This is why so many trees have died here. The area has now become a dangerous zone; anyone or anything that enters could be struck.

Having learned from this experience, I sidestepped to avoid the dead trees.

When I finally arrived at the base of the tree that had almost fallen and hit me, I realized that the falling tree was definitely not as coincidental as I had thought.

This tree is indeed a dead tree, but I can clearly see that the roots of the tree are covered with teeth marks from some kind of animal.

Because the tree is already decayed, it wouldn't be difficult for some animals to do so. However, generally speaking, no animal would be so bored as to gnaw on a tree for amusement.

Most tree-eating animals are rodents. A characteristic of their front incisors is that they grow continuously.

If they don't gnaw on hard things to wear down their teeth, these continuously growing teeth will affect their eating, and they may even starve to death because their teeth are too long.

I crouched down to examine the bite marks. If it were a rodent, the bite marks of that size would be understandable.

But when I saw the bite marks clearly, my pupils dilated involuntarily. These were definitely not the marks of a rodent bite.

Back in my hometown, I've seen those big trees that beavers had gnawed through; their teeth are very sharp from frequent use.

The bite marks are like the effect of a chisel hitting a tree, a fine and compact chisel mark.

But the teeth marks in front of me were rough and irregular, jagged like they had been bitten by dog ​​teeth. These were definitely not the marks that any rodent I knew could have made.

However, judging from the width of the teeth marks, it does fit the identity of another cunning old friend I know: the Sand Beast!

I carefully avoided the dead trees and went to examine their roots. I saw that without exception, the roots of all of them had been gnawed by some kind of large animal.

Moreover, the force of the gnaw is just right; it doesn't cause the tree to fall immediately, but keeps it in a precarious state. As long as there is the slightest external interference, these trees will fall down immediately.

What's even more alarming is that after examining the direction of the bite marks on several trees, I was surprised to find that if these trees fell, without exception, they would all be heading towards the path I was walking on.

If one tree is just an accident, then several trees in a row doing the same thing is definitely not an accident.

I'm almost certain this was left behind by the leader of that sand beast.

It knew that it might not be able to take me down in close combat, but its bow and crossbow could inflict fatal damage on it from a distance, so it came up with this method to kill me.

If I hadn't been a bit luckier and hadn't been a step slower, I might have actually fallen victim to that sand monster's scheme.

I knew before that this Sand Beast leader must be very intelligent, but I only thought that it was logically stronger than those Sand Beasts.

But this thing's actions were far beyond my comprehension. It didn't confront me directly; instead, it used these dead trees to create a trap for me!

To understand the concept of a trap, one cannot simply rely on logical ability. To grasp its significance, one must first possess humanity's primary and most fundamental cognitive ability: imagination!

It is a terrifying ability for a wild beast to have evolved to possess a rudimentary imagination, considering that even chimpanzees may not be able to understand the meaning of a trap.

This also means that the beast before us is no longer a simple wild animal, but a higher animal whose intelligence can rival that of humans.

No wonder they handled my traps so well. At the time, they were just pressed for time and busy escaping; otherwise, they might have come up with a way to minimize casualties.

For the first time, I came to understand my opponent anew. I felt that I was no longer dealing with a wild beast, but with a treacherous and cunning villain.