"Shen Miao?" Jiu Ying called to her.

Shen Miao agreed, wrapped some mud in animal hide, and prepared to take it back for further study.

On his face as he returned, the cat-beastman remarked, "Those mud pits are the most terrifying. Nobody knows what might be in them. I've heard of leeches that can eat a person down to their skeleton."

Jiuying said, "I've also heard of people whose lower bodies got stuck in the ground and were only bones left after they were rescued."

Shen Miao felt a little disgusted by what they were saying, but out of curiosity, she still asked, "Is it just leeches? Are there any others?"

"Leech is scary enough, but I haven't heard of anything else."

Shen Miao thought to herself that it had little to do with the situation she had encountered. She was certain that what was inside today was not leeches.

After returning home, Shen Miao did not tell Qing Chen about the incident. Before the matter was clarified, she did not want everyone to panic, so she only casually mentioned that she had gotten stuck in the mud pit.

Qingchen knew that some places would have mud puddles after it rained, so he didn't say anything, only telling Chenmiao to be careful in the future and never go to places where no one had walked before.

Shen Miao agreed.

After nightfall, everyone went to rest.

Shen Miao locked herself in her room, took out a microscope from her spatial storage, placed the silt she had brought back under the microscope, and then observed it from different angles.

Under the microscope, some wriggling black worms appeared; they were very small.

These insects were rolling around in the mud, seemingly searching for something. They looked disgusting, and Shen Miao had to force herself to keep watching in order to find out what they were.

After observing for a while, she moved the microscope away, took out a dagger, made a cut on her hand, and then placed the wound on the clump of mud, dripping a few drops of blood onto it. Shen Miao then looked at the microscope again.

This time she saw an even more horrifying sight: the fleshy worms in the mud, like cats attracted by the smell of blood, all gathered near the blood and frantically sucked at it.

Shen Miao's hand trembled, and he almost dropped the machine in his hand.

She was right; those insects did feed on blood. But according to the cat-beastmen, these things weren't in the mud before.

In other words, these insects may have appeared suddenly.

So here's the question: will these suddenly appearing insects affect the orcs?

In fact, Shen Miao already had the answer in her heart. There must be one, but she didn't know in what form they would appear in front of everyone.

Shen Miao sat there blankly for a while, her mind a bit confused.

She put the microscope into her spatial storage, started a fire, and threw the clump of mud into it. Once the mud was dried, a thin wisp of black smoke slowly drifted into the distance.

Without much hesitation, Shen Miao immediately knocked on Qing Chen's door and told him about what had happened during the day, as well as her guess that there might be something in the mud.

Of course, she didn't mention that she saw insects under a microscope. She only said that black smoke was produced after she threw the silt into the fire, and she didn't know what it was, so she asked Qingchen.

After listening, Qingchen's expression became extremely solemn. He asked to confirm, "How did you come up with the idea of ​​roasting the silt with fire?"

Shen Miao lifted her animal skin, revealing numerous wounds on her feet.

During the day, neither she nor Jiu Ying told Qing Chen about this, only mentioning that they had gotten stuck in the mud. So this was the first time Qing Chen had seen the wound on her foot, and he was momentarily stunned.

He stared at the wounds for a while, then looked up at Shen Miao with a complicated expression: "Why didn't you tell me yesterday during the day?"

Shen Miao calmly replied, "I didn't know what was going on during the day, so telling you wouldn't help."

Qingchen seemed to think what she said made sense, and remained silent for a moment, frowning as if she were pondering something.

At this moment, Erbao, who was sleeping next to Qingchen, turned over and kicked off the animal skin. Shenmiao went over and pulled it back up for him, covering his belly so that he wouldn't get cold.

After doing all this, Qingchen was deep in thought, so Shen Miao didn't disturb him and let him think. She then tiptoed back to her room.

The next day, after breakfast, Qingchen unusually took the initiative to say to Shen Miao, "I'm going out today, you'll come with me."

Qingchen needs a main monster to go outside; he doesn't need that thing, as he always feels it would make him seem weak.

He preferred to be supported by Shen Miao.

Shen Miao agreed, told the children to watch the house, and then helped Qingchen out.

They went to the cat-beastman's house. Shen Miao didn't know what he was going to do, but guessed it was related to what she had said last night.

Shen Miao and Qing Chen didn't talk much on the way, mainly because Qing Chen had a serious expression on his face and looked preoccupied, so she didn't dare to say much to him.

When they arrived at the cat-beastman's house, the two huddled together and chatted for a while. The cat-beastman's expression changed to be just like Qingchen's.

About fifteen minutes later, the two finally reached an agreement. The cat-beastman stood up and said, "There's no time to lose. I'll go and inform everyone now to build the fortifications. It might be too late if we're late. Your legs aren't good, so it's okay if you come slowly."

After saying that, the cat-beastman hurriedly ran away.

Shen Miao quickly stopped Qing Chen, unable to hold back this time, and asked, "What exactly happened?"

Seeing the two of them looking as if they were facing a formidable enemy, building fortifications and organizing the tribal orcs, Shen Miao wasn't surprised at all that a great enemy was coming.

Qingchen stopped and looked at her intently. "Do you remember what you told me last night?"

Of course she remembered, she wasn't a three-second memory. Shen Miao held back her urge to complain and asked with some doubt, "Those bugs? But I don't think they're that powerful. Why do you and Brother Cat seem so nervous?"

Qingchen's expression was serious: "You're mistaken. The Bloodworm Clan is very dangerous. Their camouflage methods are extremely secretive and they are not easily discovered. Fortunately, you knew in advance, otherwise our entire tribe would have become their prey."

Shen Miao got goosebumps when she heard this.

"Yes, is it that serious?"

"There was once a tribe that was suddenly attacked by the Bloodworm Clan, resulting in the complete annihilation of the tribe, with no survivors."

Shen Miao thought that tribe was too unlucky. Could they have been drained of their blood by the Bloodworm Clan and died? That would be too tragic.

She thought about it for a moment. That thing was too strange, and she didn't know how to defend against it. So she asked. Qingchen said, "We have arranged for everyone to build a defensive line outside the tribe. We will also notify all the orcs not to go out in the near future."

Shen Miao bit her lip. "How can I help?"

Qingchen said seriously, "You don't need to do anything. Just take care of the four little ones. Also, if things go wrong, don't worry about me. Just take the little ones and run."

Shen Miao knew that something was wrong here; it probably meant that the defensive line had been breached and they had failed to hold it.

She didn't know what to say, and silently nodded.