Upon hearing that sound, my expression changed drastically. Could it be that giant dragonfly coming again?

When I saw that dark, indistinct thing flying towards me again, my pupils contracted sharply. I quickly shouted to the young native and Top beside me,

"Run!"

This time, it wasn't the giant dragonfly that came, but its usual prey—

A huge swarm of giant ancient mosquitoes!

The mosquito is nearly half a meter long and has a mouthpart of about 30 centimeters, making it larger than an Australian lobster.

The reason why this giant mosquito was so huge, like the Meganeura dragonfly of the same period, was related to the high oxygen content of the environment.

If those several tens of centimeters long bellies were sucked dry by them, I reckon they'd be meeting their maker immediately.

"Damn it, let's go in the water!"

There's no time for us to hesitate now; these deadly prehistoric mosquitoes are different from modern mosquitoes.

They not only feed on tree sap, but also prefer to suck fresh blood. What's even more dangerous is that not only female mosquitoes suck blood, but even early male mosquitoes had blood-sucking mouthparts.

It must have been the body heat and scent emanating from our group that attracted these demons.

Seeing that those guys were about to pounce on us, I raised my shotgun and pulled both triggers at the same time.

"Bang!"

Almost at the same moment, two gunshots merged into a deafening thunderclap above my head, the sound making my ears ring incessantly.

A powerful jet of metal formed a huge fan-shaped area and shot towards the giant ancient mosquitoes that were flying in.

Instantly, a foul-smelling rain of mosquitoes, a mixture of green sap and red blood, began to fall four or five meters above my head.

This is the second time I've fired two shots at the same time. I've hardly ever used this shotgun, and I've already fired three shots since I came to this sinkhole.

But things weren't as simple as I thought; it was far from over.

This is just the first wave of giant ancient mosquitoes to attack; many more are rapidly approaching us like bombers.

At this moment, the young native, Top, and Pat had already arrived at the pool. There was a protruding rock ledge underwater, which they could stand on and hold onto with their hands to ensure that they would not sink into the water.

I emptied everything out of the basket, and ran towards the pool carrying only the leather bag containing the shotgun and the shotgun.

At this point, all the other weapons were useless to me; only the shotgun shells in my hand were still usable.

I quickly changed to a shotgun, then cocked the firing pin but didn't fire immediately. Instead, I went to the young native and placed the shotgun and ammunition pouch on the bank near the pool.

Now I know that just peeking out isn't enough; these prehistoric vampires don't care what they suck from, they just need to suck blood.

I turned the basket upside down and covered the water above our heads, so that the space inside could provide us with breathing space, and the giant mosquitoes outside couldn't get in.

After I had all this done, I had the young indigenous people lift the baskets underwater with their hands.

I sealed the shotgun shells with resin, making them very waterproof. I grabbed the shotgun and ammunition pouch from the shore and went back into the water, where we all hid in the baskets.

By this time, a swarm of giant mosquitoes, like a dark cloud, had surrounded the water, and our backpacks became the only protective gear we could use to fend off them.

The next second, all the mosquitoes sensed the heat reaction on the water's surface. Like wild animals that had been starving for months, they swarmed onto the basket without caring whether they would fall into the water.

The buzzing sound, like hundreds or thousands of engines starting up at once, made our heads spin.

There wasn't a ray of light in sight, and the entire basket was swarming with hundreds of giant mosquitoes. Due to the limited space in the basket, some of the mosquitoes had even squeezed into the pond.

Those giant mosquitoes that were lucky enough to perch on the basket began to impatiently extend their 30-centimeter-long, needle-like mouthparts at us.

Their mouthparts begin to secrete a foul-smelling mucus. This mucus has an anticoagulant effect, and when injected into the body, it makes blood flow more smoothly, thus increasing the efficiency of blood-sucking.

Watching those mouthparts, thicker than the tail stingers of a golden-ringed beetle, stabbing wildly inside the basket sent chills down my spine.

With so many giant mosquitoes, if you got stung a few times by them, wouldn't you instantly turn into a dried-up human?

At this moment, the young native had probably never seen such a big mosquito since birth. He was so frightened that he was trembling with fear. If it weren't for the protruding rock ledge under his feet, he would probably have already sunk to the bottom of the water.

Top, being short, could only sit on my shoulders, and he squealed nervously as he watched the dense barrage of deadly needles coming his way.

At this moment, only Pat seemed to remain indifferent to life and death, lying on the water's surface like a duck.

Anyway, its feathers are waterproof, so as long as it doesn't flap around too much, it will float on the water without any problems.

Several times those mouthparts almost touched my back, and even though we were in the water, I felt a chill run down my spine.

"Damn it! Do you think I'm an easy target?"

Being stuck in this cramped basket, I felt incredibly stifled. After letting out a curse, I decided to give it my all: since you all love poking so much, then poke me to your heart's content!

I slung the shotgun and ammunition pouch over my shoulder, then drew the Nipper machete from my waist. I began hacking at the densely packed, protruding mouthparts.

The mouthparts of these giant mosquitoes, like the stingers of wasps, are not very hard; they are more like syringe needles.

On the contrary, they are quite resilient, like the brown bristles of a wild boar. They are able to suck blood mainly by using the sharpest point to pierce the pores and then penetrate the blood vessels.

At that moment, I slashed wildly at it, and large sections of its mouthparts were cut off by the sharp cleaver like grass, with the sticky mouthparts falling into the pool water one after another.

The giant mosquito, its mouthparts severed, pulled them out in pain, and a pale green liquid continuously gushed from the severed mouthparts.

"Come on! You like poking, don't you? Let's do it again!"

I yelled at the giant mosquitoes.

The next moment, as soon as the giant mosquitoes whose mouthparts had been severed left, a second wave of giant mosquitoes, who had never seen anything like it before, swarmed towards the basket again.

However, this time the giant mosquitoes learned from the lessons of the previous ones. Instead of using their mouthparts to force their way in, they concentrated their strength on the upper part of the basket.

Under the influence of these giant mosquitoes, a force is pushing the basket to one side; they are actually trying to lift the basket open.

At first, the young locals could persevere, but as more and more giant mosquitoes joined in, many of them hung densely in one corner of the basket like a swarm of bees.

With the increasing weight and the lateral thrust from the giant mosquito, large beads of sweat rolled down the young native's face, clearly indicating that he was struggling to hold on.

I looked at the shotgun in my hand; it was time.