Chapter 180 Unexpected People
180
At this moment, the eerie, piercing whistling of the leaves rang out again! The poisonous insects, which had been caught in a frenzy of infighting, seemed to be whipped by an invisible lash, instantly ceasing their fighting, turning around, and surging back into the depths of the dense forest like a black tide!
In just a few breaths, the terrifying swarm of insects vanished without a trace!
Lin Baozhu's sharp eyes locked onto the direction the insect swarm had retreated. She lightly touched the branches with her toes and, with a few nimble leaps, arrived in front of Lin Sanlang's hammock.
"Third Brother! Wake up! Wake up quickly!"
"Um……?"
Lin Sanlang groggily opened his eyes, and in the dim moonlight, he recognized Lin Baozhu. He rolled off the hammock and sat up, lowering his voice to ask:
"Little sister? What's wrong? What happened?"
“Listen, Third Brother…”
Lin Baozhu spoke rapidly, her voice extremely low, "You stay in the tree and don't make a sound! Keep an eye on our baskets and equipment! Qin Haifeng and I will go over there to scout out the situation!"
Upon hearing this, Lin Sanlang's eyes widened instantly, and he almost jumped up:
"How can that be?! In case of any danger, my big body can shield you..."
He unconsciously waved his thick arm, his face full of undeniable protectiveness.
Lin Baozhu rolled her eyes at him, annoyed, and interrupted, "It's because you're too conspicuous! You're easy to expose! Besides, we've worked so hard to carry all this stuff up the mountain, can we manage without a reliable person guarding it?"
She patted her third brother's strong shoulder and continued, "Don't worry at all! With Qin Haifeng and my skills, even if we run into trouble, we'll be more than capable of protecting ourselves and getting out of there!"
Looking into her resolute eyes and recalling her superhuman strength, Lin Sanlang opened his mouth, but ultimately swallowed his words and nodded heavily.
"...Okay! Then...you all be very careful! Call me if there's any noise!"
"Okay."
Watching Lin Baozhu and Qin Haifeng disappear into the darkness like cheetahs, Lin Sanlang's last trace of drowsiness vanished!
He deftly secured the two heavy baskets to a thick tree branch with vines, ensuring they were completely safe. Then, he slid down the tree and took a quick nap over the dying embers of the fire below…
"Sizzle—" A burst of white steam rose up, and the fire was completely extinguished.
After doing all this, he climbed back up the high branch next to the hammock, held his breath while holding his beloved homemade gun, and activated all his senses, listening intently to every subtle sound in the darkness... The rustling of the leaves in the night wind sounded exceptionally clear at this moment.
Under the faint morning light, Lin Baozhu and Qin Haifeng trailed far behind the swarm of insects. The chilling rustling sound, like a low tide, echoed through the silent forest, providing them with perfect cover.
The swarm eventually converged on a secluded ravine.
The entrance to the ravine was blocked by layers of dense, almost unnatural vines and twisted bushes, making it extremely difficult to spot unless the swarm of insects skillfully slipped into a narrow crevice. The crevice was only wide enough for one person to barely pass through, and it was dark and deep inside, emitting a stench even stronger than that of the burial pit, a mixture of decay, mold, and a strange, sweet-smelling stench.
The two exchanged a glance, held their breath, and silently approached the crevice. Qin Haifeng signaled Lin Baozhu to keep watch behind them, while he himself pressed himself against the cold rock wall and cautiously peered inside—
Beyond the crevice lay a huge cave, half natural and half man-made!
The scene inside the cave was far more bizarre and terrifying than the mass grave!
The cave walls were covered with sticky, slippery, dark green moss that emitted a faint phosphorescence, providing the only light source for this place.
The ground wasn't soil, but layers upon layers of rotting organic matter, several feet thick! It was a mixture of animal remains, decaying plants, and an unknown, viscous substance, like a giant, constantly fermenting breeding ground. Countless reptile larvae writhed and crawled within it, emitting nauseating "plop" sounds.
On this huge "humus hotbed", countless sunken "insect holes" are scattered like stars in the sky.
These burrows vary in size and are constructed from a grayish-white secretion resembling beeswax, with centipedes and centipedes crawling along their edges.
Inside the burrow were those terrifying venomous insects: brightly colored snakes coiled in the corners, glistening centipedes darted through the crevices, hairy wolf spiders guarded the entrance, and scorpions lurked in the shadows...
The air throughout the cave was incredibly foul, the stench almost tangible. Even more chilling, deep within the cave, near the rock walls, lay piles of large animal carcasses, not yet fully decomposed! This was the source of the corpses in those pits, the "slaughterhouse" that provided a constant supply of nourishment to this vast kingdom of venomous insects!
At this moment, on a relatively "clean" rock in the center of the cave, a thin, hunched figure sat cross-legged with his back to the cave entrance.
The man was dressed in dark, coarse cloth clothes, no different from those of the mountain people, and his head was wrapped in a dirty turban. He was holding a peculiar leaf with unusually smooth edges to his lips. The eerie, monotonous "woo-woo" sound from earlier had come from him!
Suddenly, the sound of the leaves rustling stopped abruptly.
The man seemed to sense something and suddenly turned around!
A weathered, deeply lined old face was exposed to the faint phosphorescence. His eyes were not large, but unusually cloudy, with a layer of gray seemingly veiled deep within the pupils, now flashing a light that was a mixture of vigilance, malice, and an almost inhuman indifference!
Lin Baozhu's heart trembled violently, and she almost cried out! She covered her mouth tightly to suppress the sound.
It was none other than Lin Asi, the eccentric and reclusive old widower who lived year-round in a dilapidated house at the foot of the mountain! He was usually taciturn, surviving by gathering wild herbs and mountain produce, practically invisible in the village. Who would have thought that this seemingly harmless, even pitiful, old man was actually the mastermind behind this terrifying insect swarm, the slaughter of wild beasts, and the attempt to create a rabbit plague that would trigger a mudslide!
Lin Asi's cloudy eyes were fixed on the direction of the crack in the cave entrance. Despite the dim light, he still managed to catch a glimpse of something.
He slowly stood up, his hunched body casting a distorted shadow in the phosphorescent light, like a demon crawling out of hell.
A hoarse, sandpaper-like sound, carrying a chilling, eerie chill, echoed in the deathly cave:
"Who's outside?...Come out!"
Lin Asi's hoarse, chilling question echoed through the foul-smelling cave, like a venomous snake flicking its tongue. Lin Baozhu and Qin Haifeng pressed themselves against the cold rock wall, holding their breath, their hearts pounding in their chests.
Qin Haifeng reacted extremely quickly. Almost the instant the sound fell, he suddenly pulled Lin Baozhu, and the two of them silently slid back several steps like cats, completely disappearing into the darker shadows at the entrance of the crevice.
"Huff...woo..."
The eerie whistling of leaves sounded again, but this time it was no longer a monotonous call; instead, it carried a sharp, urgent, and murderous tone!
The previously lethargic poisonous insects inside the cave were instantly activated! As if whipped by an invisible whip!
The brightly colored venomous snake suddenly raised its triangular head, its tongue flicking wildly, hissing threateningly, and its body shot towards the crack in the hole like an arrow!
The giant, glossy centipede moved its hundreds of legs in unison, making a teeth-grinding "rustling" sound, and moved at an astonishing speed, skimming along the humus-covered ground as it pounced on its target!
Hairy tarantulas swarmed out of their nests, spreading across the ground like a black tide!
Even the lurking scorpions raise their venomous stingers high, their deadly glint flashing in the phosphorescence!
The entire insect hive instantly erupted into chaos! Countless venomous insects converged into a deadly black torrent, surging madly towards the narrow entrance crevice!
"Retreat!" Qin Haifeng shouted, pulling Lin Baozhu behind him and raising his homemade gun instantly, the dark muzzle aimed at the front of the surging insect swarm!
"Bang!!"
A deafening gunshot shattered the silence of the cave! A torrent of iron filings erupted, forming a fan-shaped storm of death!
The dozen or so venomous snakes and several tarantulas that charged at the front were instantly smashed to pieces, with foul-smelling juices and bits of flesh splattering everywhere!
However, this terrifying destructive power was merely a drop in the ocean against thousands upon thousands of venomous insects! The gunshots and the stench of blood only fueled the swarm's ferocity! More venomous insects trampled over the corpses of their own kind, surging forward even more frantically! The gap was narrow, and the swarm almost completely blocked the entrance!
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