Chapter 131

"What's this?"

Someone asked, poking at the rock layer above the bedrock. A layer of sand fell down. The bedrock surface had been eroded and weakened. Perhaps in a few thousand years, the Gobi Desert would become a desert.

Several wilderness survival experts approached the bedrock wall and shone their lights on it. Professor Russ said, "It must be an anthill."

"Ah, could it be army ants? They eat meat." The little monk screamed in shock and quickly retreated behind Chu Huaiqin with a look of fear on his face.

Before the global competition began, the young monk watched a few movies at Xia Entropy's house. One of them showed army ants chasing the protagonist and gnawing the supporting characters to pieces. From then on, the young monk felt a chill down his spine whenever he heard the word army ants.

"You've watched too many movies. Army ants, while tropical, simply can't survive in a hot desert, let alone the Sahara," the Kaili expert laughed. "Besides, army ants can't build nests; they're migratory."

"Yes, I guess it might be a scavenger." Professor Ruth guessed.

"I guess so, but although scavengers eat arthropods, I've never heard of them eating birds!"

"There are some old and some new bones here. The new bones are shaped like goose claws. I think they must be our missing geese or ducks."

"Could it be a mutant scavenger..."

Several experts ignored Chu Huaiqin and the others, squatted down, put on gloves and began to study the bones on the ground.

The others only listened halfway and didn't understand what was going on.

"Brother, what is a scavenger?" Lin Zhinan asked.

Many people in the livestream room nodded their heads. These experts only spoke halfway through their sentences. May they never eat noodles without seasoning packets again. Someone in the comments asked a question, and someone answered it. However, due to the typing limitations of the comments, no one could finish the answer immediately. Instead, Chu Huaiqin, who was present at the scene, began to interpret it.

"Scavengers, also known as broad-jointed arrow ants," Chu Huaiqin said, "are ants unique to the Sahara Desert. They can survive in the Sahara Desert, where the surface temperature exceeds 70 degrees Celsius. They specialize in eating dead arthropods, hence the name scavengers."

"Then what are arthropods?" The young monk still didn't understand. "Aren't poultry bones also segmented? Why do they say they don't eat poultry?"

Some people in the live broadcast room nodded repeatedly, asking why birds with segmented bones are not qualified to be called "arthropods"?

Another group of people in the live broadcast room asked: Should we blame the school for not teaching, or should we blame the students for not listening?

Chu Huaiqin: "Arthropods generally refer to creatures like centipedes or shrimps."

"Oh, I see," the little monk nodded repeatedly. "Brother, you're amazing. So that's how it is. That means it only eats insects. I'm not afraid anymore."

Chu Huaiqin did not comment. The expert just said that arrow ants only eat arthropods, so are they the ones that attack birds?

"There are not only bird bones here, but also large animal bones. Is this a lion?"

"What is this? A dog?"

Several experts gathered there, chattering incoherently. The more they turned over the bones on the ground, the heavier their expressions became.

"Hey, this bone..." Kaili exclaimed, picking up a cylindrical bone from a pile of bones. "It's missing one side, but why is it so neat?"

Kaili was holding a piece of cylindrical bone, with a U-shaped hole in the middle eroded by some unknown substance.

Upon hearing this, Professor Ruth immediately moved closer to Carey, took the bone from his hand and looked at it carefully. The two looked at each other and put the bone into the bag.

Then they picked up some more bones and put them into the bag. They also took some bedrock and underground sand. Then Kaili said to Elena, "We have taken the specimens. Let's go back first!"

Professor Ruth's eyes wandered among these small holes, his expression a little solemn.

"Have you figured out what it is?" Chu Huaiqin asked.

"It's not clear yet, but for safety reasons, no one should come here until the results come out." Kyrie said lightly. It was not appropriate to say anything more now that the results were not out, not to mention that if anything had to be said, it would be to Anthony.

Elena looked at Kaili and then at Professor Ruth. After a moment's hesitation, she began to chase them away. "Go back! It's okay, it's okay."

"We can go back, but now it's confirmed that the poultry have indeed disappeared. What should we do now?" Valeri asked irritably. Although they ate some pancakes, it was not enough to fill their stomachs.

"I'll ask Anthony for instructions." Elena didn't know how to solve this problem.

"That's it for now!" Andrei patted Valery's shoulder.

Everyone turned around and walked back. The headlights swept across the bedrock wall and then were turned off.

Live broadcast room:

"Ahhh, the lights are finally turned off. Those tiny holes just now gave me goosebumps. I have trypophobia!"

"Everyone, what could it be? Is it really an arrow ant? A mutant arrow ant?"

"I don't think it's possible. Look at all the bones on the ground."

"I still think it's the army ants. Only they have such great power."

"Ah, well, when the light was sweeping across the little hole in the bedrock just now, I thought I saw something squirming inside the hole. It was red. Was it a bug? Am I the only one who saw it?"

"I think it's a scorpion or a centipede or something."

"Ah, could it be some other large animal?"

The live broadcast room was filled with constant speculation, and the message from the viewer who said "I saw something" was drowned out by countless messages, and no one paid attention to what he said.

Back at camp, Anthony's situation was mostly resolved. Daley, who injured the fennec fox, was disqualified from the competition, and two members of the Kangaroos received yellow cards. Unfortunately, the staff couldn't find the fennec fox; it had disappeared somewhere, frightened.

The other contestants who stayed behind found a few sand radishes not far away. In terms of luck, they were actually luckier than Chu Huaiqin.

After dealing with the injured fennec fox, Anthony turned his attention to Chu Huaiqin. After discussion, the director team decided to set up another food point half the distance ahead of the next food point.

The Russian team was furious. According to the distance between the food points, each one was about eight hours' travel time. Since they were already at this food point, the next one wouldn't be until tomorrow afternoon. Now the director team said they wanted to set up another one halfway there, about four hours' travel time.

In other words, they have to go hungry for one night and half a day.

The Maozi team protested immediately, and the Shuangying team thought about it and protested as well, but they withdrew when the director team was determined not to change it. Only the Maozi team continued to argue and even turned their attention to Chu Huaiqin and others.

Chu Huaiqin, who had already eaten the goose, thought this was a good idea. If they were compensated here, they might not get any compensation for eating the goose. Adding a food point would actually benefit them.

So Chu Huaiqin turned his head silently.

Maozi Team: ...

The more they argued, the hungrier they got. The director team remained unmoved, and Andrei had no choice but to stop the agitated Valeri. Since they had come to participate in a wilderness survival mission, they had to be prepared for any unexpected event. Now that something had happened, and the director team had already made some concessions, they let it go.

When you are hungry, you will no longer be hungry when you fall asleep.

Believing this to be true, the Maozi Team and the Double Eagle Team quickly lay back down in their tents. After two days of traveling, they were so exhausted that they fell asleep quickly.

Chu Huaiqin, on the other hand, couldn't sleep. He recalled the strange behavior of several experts before. The more he thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong, and he became uneasy.

"What's wrong?" Xia En knew Chu Huaiqin was not asleep by listening to his breathing. He sat up and looked at him through the dim light.

"I'm a little concerned about that bedrock," Chu Huaiqin also sat up, frowning, "Do you think those small holes will lead to our side?"

The bones were found on the back of the bedrock next to their current camp, in the same bedrock mountain layer. Although this mountain layer was quite large, Chu Huaiqin was inexplicably worried.

"There aren't so many small holes on the bedrock wall here!" The bedrock wall here is layered, like a thousand-layer cake with uneven shapes and lengths. It is completely different from the bedrock wall on the back which is full of small holes. Xia En thinks Chu Huaiqin is too worried.

"No, some of those bones are very big, a bit like the bones of animals like camels and lions. Arrow ants are not that big." The more Chu Huaiqin thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong. He immediately wrapped himself in a coat, put on his boots, and crawled out of the tent, taking the bow/crossbow he made for Lin Zhinan with him. This thing can sometimes come in handy.

"Wait for me." Seeing Chu Huaiqin so anxious, Xia En hurriedly followed him out.

The place where they set up camp was a little distance away from the bedrock in order to prevent the weathered rock mountain from being blown down by the wind.

Turning on the watch light, Chu Huaiqin walked around the camp to check the situation.

In the darkness, the dull rustling of boots on the ground instantly woke everyone in the livestream room. The previously sparsely populated screens were once again filled with comments, everyone asking why Chu Huaiqin suddenly appeared, even after eleven o'clock in the evening. Did something happen?

After checking, Chu Huaiqin confirmed that the camp was safe. He saw no scorpions, no poisonous snakes, and no arrow ants.

"Let's go back! It's too cold." Xia En checked his watch. It showed a temperature of two degrees Celsius. It would get even colder after midnight. Lately, for some reason, the temperature seemed to be getting lower and lower.

"Hmm!" Chu Huaiqin responded casually, but his eyes were still scanning around with his watch, as if trying to see something.

Seeing Chu Huaiqin's worried look in the live broadcast room, some people were sighing that he was responsible, while others were making fun of Chu Huaiqin for almost becoming an old woman.

After making sure that nothing was found, Chu Huaiqin and Xia Entang returned to the camp.

The livestream room was abuzz with Chu Huaiqin's annoyance. Due to the time difference, the Chinese audience's daytime was mostly the show's nighttime. When watching the livestream, they mostly saw static tents, leaving little to talk about. Tonight, they finally managed to catch Chu Huaiqin out, and everyone was buzzing with excitement. Some were speculating about the bones' origins, while others were chatting about him.

That's right, it was Chu Huaiqin. The main topic of discussion among those who were discussing Chu Huaiqin was the news that his film "Clash of the Titans" was scheduled for release soon. This discussion also aroused the interest of some foreign audiences, and for a time, the atmosphere was extremely lively.

“Ouch!”

It was a quiet night, in the bustling live broadcast room, and the howling of a wild beast scared everyone.

"What's going on? What beast is roaring?"

"Is it a lion?"

"It sounds like a Gobi bear."

"Ahhh, it's not going to chase Chu here, is it?"

"Director team, camera, hurry up! Judging by the sound, the Gobi bear should be not far from the camp. Where's the drone? Fly faster!"

"As a beast researcher, I can tell you that this howl is a warning."

What was the warning? No one knew. However, the people in the camp were startled awake by the Gobi bear's roar. Chu Huaiqin reacted the fastest. When he emerged from the tent, the director's night shoot crew were still sitting in their chairs, stunned by the Gobi bear's roar.

"It's there." Chu Huaiqin said, pointing to the front.

In the hazy darkness, the Gobi bear was not easy to spot. Squinting, I could barely make out a single figure. It was on all fours, slightly tilted, its sharp eyes fixed intently ahead, emitting low, warning grunts into the darkness, as if confronting something terrifying.

“Ouch!”

There was another howl, and the Gobi bear seemed to be attacked by something. It took a few steps back, slightly bent its strong hind legs, stepped forward with its front legs, its sharp claws protruding from the toes, and its sharp teeth slightly exposed. It made a posture ready to fight back at any time, perhaps because of fear, its body slightly tilted as if it was ready to escape at any time.

What is it that scares the Gobi bear so much?

The author has something to say: Bedrock: weathered rock mountain.