Humanity Forbidden Island [Full Text] - 7

Chapter 88:

The scorching bullets, guided by the blood-letting gun, whistled like fire dragons towards the lurking monkey crouching at an angle, trying to sneak up and shoot Yi Liang. The danger I posed instantly shattered its head. Compared to the head rolling under the door crack, it instilled greater fear in me, more deserving of death, because that pineapple-shaped skull contained the desire to devour the little girl.

Now, no one had the hands or feet to pry open that terrifying ghost head with its wide, silvery-gray eyes and frightening fangs. Yi Liang skillfully changed another magazine, and seeing that I had calmed down, she became even more confident. However, her fair face was splattered with black blood spots, making her look like a little girl who had been mining coal.

The wooden pulleys outside the hatch, like train carriages lined up one after another, reached the hatch. "After the last wooden tray is pushed out, Chi Chun will slowly lower the hatch. The moment I stop firing and pull out the machine gun barrel, Yi Liang, you need to fire even more fiercely."

"Okay." Yi Liang's voice carried a hint of impending victory as she heard the mission was about to be completed. The ghost monkeys outside the hatch certainly couldn't understand what was happening. We were frantically shooting at them, yet simultaneously pushing out trays of food.

These creatures' intelligence was more inclined towards killing their prey than considering human treachery. If they weren't eating the food we offered, the only reason would be that they were confused by our actions. However, a half-animal that feeds on human flesh, only concerned with satisfying its own appetite and the pleasure of hunting, how could it understand the thoughts of others? Especially hypocritical thoughts.

The last wooden tray, halfway through the hatch, was blocked by the four in front. Just when it seemed like we were about to finish safely, this situation occurred, instantly sending a chill down my spine.

This was the most dangerous moment; neither Yi Liang nor I could continue firing our guns, the gap under the door blocked by the wooden trays. Having suffered heavy losses, the demon monkeys had figured out their tactics. They were restless, racing against time. Every time a wooden drawer passed the gap at the bottom of the door, several of these menacing creatures, their fangs sharpened, tried to leap over.

But before their feet even touched the ground, the drawer slid out with a creak, using the greasy surface. And my bullets, fired precisely as they followed.

One of the demon monkeys, wielding a long blowgun, like a javelin thrower, used its aerial advantage to grab one end of the blowgun in its mouth, intending to plunge the venomous stinger into the gap in the hatch and strike us as it landed.

This display was truly frightening; they were more resolute and fearless than suicide bombers. I wondered what kind of demonic brainwashing they had undergone, or if fascist genes were inherent in their blood. The demon monkeys, after all, are not fully evolved humans. Their bloodthirsty predation testifies to their intense sense of survival crisis.

Rather than arguing with the prevailing evil, they would have been better off returning to their tools and engaging in animal husbandry on the island's hillsides, instead of risking their lives on the large ship. Even more tragically, they sometimes die by their own weapons.

That creature wanting to play high-flying shooting, with its towering green hair, looked like a newly-adult mother. Perhaps incited by the old chief, it was too "bloodthirsty," a perfectly good maternal organ, instead of mating and reproducing in the tribe, it came to join the commotion.

To prevent the girl in the cabin from being hurt, I could only stubbornly continue firing, protecting the kind people around me. A magma-colored bullet struck its calf. When the female demon monkey leaped, its body appeared frail; the struck calf looked like a piece of paper torn apart.

In that instant, it realized it shouldn't have acted impulsively, but it was too late. After tumbling headlong down, one end of the long wooden pole pierced the hatch, and its trusted weapon pierced through its cavity.

Their weapons, originally black, now had a protruding section of the pole protruding from its neck, carrying animal blood that dripped continuously onto the deck. At this moment, it was no longer throbbing, but like a bent-over stone statue, it became still. However, its young life was gone. Perhaps in its dying expression, it was thinking of a male ghost monkey in its tribe that it had been in love with.

To prevent it from suffering pain and clogging the wooden drawer, I promptly used fire to pulverize it, scattering its flesh and bones into the sea. The vastness of the ocean can encompass everything, giving rise to new life, a soft life, as bright as water.

Perhaps the ghost monkeys on either side of the hatch had already begun scrambling for the food propped up on the ship's side. Several women relentlessly exerted their strength, constantly poking at the wooden drawer stuck in the hatch, and then something unexpected happened.

The last wooden drawer, as if tied with a rope from the outside, was yanked out rapidly. "Chi Chun, close the door!" I shouted. Chi Chun, with her hand holding the steel pipe, yanked it back sharply, and I, along with the falling iron door, promptly pulled the machine gun back. Yi Liang was very intelligent; she knew what was happening outside the hatch and precisely timed her pull back the submachine gun barrel.

I jumped to my feet, lunged at the hatch, and twisted the metal bolt, locking it securely. In that instant, it felt as if we had closed the gates of hell and returned to a safe world.

All the women collapsed to the ground, too exhausted to move. Throughout the entire dangerous ordeal, we were fortunate to be unharmed and still full of energy.

Now, all we had to do was wait—wait for the food to be eaten by the monkey horde, wait for the toxins to claim their lives. At that moment, I didn't know the time; I only knew it was the cusp of dusk and night.

I carried a full bucket of clean water from the kitchen next to the sleeping pod. I poured a little into the blood-stained basin to rinse it clean, then poured the rest of the water in.

"Everyone, wash yourselves to prevent infection from the monkey blood on your bodies." Hearing this, the women swarmed around the basin as if grabbing gold and silver jewelry. The women holding long sticks had their monkey blood, smeared on their fair necks, trickling down their cleavage to their navels because their bras were simple.

Now, even the most embarrassed women had to unhook their bras, forcefully pull out their heavy breasts, and splash water on them to wash.

The blonde woman frantically splashed water on her swaying breasts, scrubbing them urgently, even bending over and spreading one of her sexy, alluring legs to scrub the groin area with her wet fingers.

Yi Liang took Lu Ya's hand and led her to the sleeping pod to wash alone. Fortunately, Chi Chun was wearing an oversized men's top, and because of the position she had just been in when she pried the steel pipe, her beautiful breasts were well protected. Only a few specks of mucus splattered on her delicate face, hanging between her nose and mouth.

Chapter 89: The Treasure in the Rice Bag

The fresh water in the cargo hold was very limited. There were many ghost monkeys on the deck. If they evolved to have the intelligence to control their appetite, once they detected something unusual about the food, the remaining ghost monkeys would be difficult to poison. As long as there were living ghost monkeys, this stubborn defense and killing could not be abandoned.

The most terrifying situation was that the dwarf savage tribe continued to replenish their numbers on the deck. All the food in the large hold had been given away as cannon fodder. If fresh water was not considered strategically, the aura of death would draw even closer.

After many women had bathed, the water in the basins turned dark red. It contained not only animal blood but also a few drops of milk squeezed out by the mature and beautiful women when they were scrubbing their breasts too vigorously. Especially the blonde woman; the way she washed her inner thighs always made me think she'd just taken a short bath in a basin.

At that moment, fresh water was life itself, so I could only make do with the water I'd used to wash the women's private parts, cleaning the dark blood splattered on my face, neck, and chest. Besides, this water wouldn't be thrown away anyway. Thinking back to when we were adrift on that small rubber raft, compared to the agony of drinking my own bodily fluids, the water in the basin was probably a viable option.

The women, having washed themselves, huddled together in the corner of the hall. Like chicks afraid of the cold, they huddled together for warmth and to hide their shame.

I wanted to find some clothes for these women forced to expose themselves, so I asked Chi Chun to look for some, but to no avail. "There are no women's clothes, only a large chest, but we can't open it," Chi Chun said disappointedly after searching the sleeping pods for a long time.

“A box? There’s no box that can’t be opened.” I picked up the axe and walked towards the sleeping pod. Yi Liang and Lu Ya had already washed up. The two little girls were draped in sheets, their wet hair hanging down, shivering as if they had just been rescued from drowning.

Carrying the axe, I exuded a menacing aura. Afraid of frightening them further, I deliberately walked slowly as I passed by, trying to appear gentle. This unnatural and unaccustomed behavior caused the two little girls to exchange mysterious smiles.

“Come here, let us help you wash again. There’s still a lot of blood on your back.” Yi Liang’s gentle voice called out softly, which felt like a breath of warm air on my anxious heart, bringing a sense of comfort. “No need. Don’t throw away the water you used to wash.” To keep them away, I said coldly.

The large chest that Chi Chun mentioned was at the very back of the small medicine room with a red cross carved on it. I pushed aside the medical supplies and dragged the large chest out. The chest was very heavy. If it wasn't made of metal, then the box must contain metal.

I swung the large axe at the wobbly lock, and with a clang, sparks flew. The box, like a machine abruptly stopped, swayed twice before coming to a stop. When

the antique green lid was lifted, my pupils dilated as the golden light diffused onto my face. Coincidentally, this was the gold that the black man, Suhu, had retrieved. It was

the first time I had ever seen such a huge amount of precious metal. If this stuff were in Southeast Asia, possessed by one person, it could buy the life of any ordinary man, or the body of any woman.

If greed were to inflate further, building a few golf courses, inviting local officials for entertainment, and blatantly colluding, a simple private enterprise could sweep up the nation's wealth. Then, there wouldn't just be Filipino maids; Thai, Vietnamese, and Cambodian maids would be everywhere.

For an ordinary person, witnessing fifty pounds of gold for the first time is hard not to feel dizzy. On the entire ship, I was the only man who could control the situation, the only man who could dispose of this wealth at will. No matter who they were, their first reaction would be to seize it for themselves, to hide it in a place only they knew, and then distribute it further.

"What is it? Let me see!" Luya, draped in a bedsheet, her long, wet hair flowing, ran towards the half-open chest. Her voice pulled me back from my reverie. I quickly grabbed the chest, feigning seriousness, and said, "You can't look, it'll scare you."

My words were like a bullet, shattering Luya's curiosity and stopping her in her tracks. Looking around, I couldn't find a better place to hide the golden treasure chest than the medicine room. Finally, I had to put it back in its original location.

"You and Yiliang take some spare bedsheets and give them to the women on deck so they can wrap themselves up." After dismissing them, I pulled the chest out again, carried it into the kitchen, and quickly packed the gold nuggets into bags that had previously contained rice and drugs. Human thought can be quite peculiar sometimes. Gold of the same properties and weight, when placed in an ordinary bag, only changed in appearance, yet it easily led me to its hiding place. So, standing on a small stool, I lifted the gold onto the ceiling outside the kitchen.

It was empty and unremarkable, about three meters above the ground. Now, apart from me, no one on the ship knew about the discovery and location of the gold. Such immense wealth easily ignites possessive desires and drives people to do foolish things, and women are no exception.

Now, I not only had to control the monkeys on deck, but also carefully manage the ammunition depot and this box of gold. Even tigers have their moments of weakness; not being careless or overconfident in dealing with everyone around me is a crucial factor in my survival to this day.

Walking towards the hall, as I passed through the corridor, I heard some noises coming from the berth next to where I had woken up, and a white curtain hung at the door. It certainly wasn't a dangerous person. There should have been thirty-seven women in the hall; the missing woman must be lying here.

I used my fingers to pry open a gap in the curtain and looked into the small wooden bed inside. Lying directly in my line of sight was the woman from that day when Cang Gui and his men had shoved a grenade into her genitals.

Her eyes were tightly shut, as if she were having a nightmare; her forehead was drenched in sweat, and her bent knees swayed back and forth, afraid to come together and lower. Lying opposite her was a strikingly beautiful woman with red hair.

The sound of footsteps reaching my right ear told me that Chi Chun was approaching. "How strange, this is clearly a medium-sized luxury cruise ship, why isn't there a single piece of women's clothing?" This alluring, mature woman, her face radiating post-thriller pleasure, said to me from afar.

I turned to look at Chi Chun. She extended a pale hand, looking at me with a suggestive gaze. "Give it to me." I was puzzled by her abrupt words, so I pressed, "What? What do you want?"

She deliberately blinked, her expression becoming even more ambiguous, even a little coquettish, as she said, "A dagger, I'm making clothes for those beauties in the hall."

Chapter 90: The Framework of a Man in Purgatory .

Before I could even appreciate the humor in her teasing words, Chi Chun herself covered her beautiful, peach-like red lips and giggled.

Her words, at first, did startle me, because I had just hidden away fifty pounds of wealth. Chi Chun's sudden appearance was like a pretty wife discovering her husband's secret stash of money, first gently and sweetly persuading him to hand over the treasure, and then launching into a tirade.

"Oh, be careful when you use it, it's a Swiss dagger, a little force can kill a cow, do you understand what I mean?" Chi Chun took my dagger, but instead of turning away, she tiptoed and, like a cute little pet leaping up to eat dessert, kissed my chapped lips. The seductive giggles faded into the distance before she turned back and managed a curt "Understood."

Next to the sleeping pod were the mother and her two daughters. The two little girls had probably just fallen asleep, their mother watching over them. The noise of the axe smashing the treasure chest had startled them. Now, seeing me peeking, the mother quickly clutched her twin daughters' heads, their terrified eyes filled with a helpless plea for mercy.

"Don't be afraid, there won't be any more bad people on this big ship. You can stay with your children without leaving their side."

Back in the hall, it was much harder to see the women's breasts and genitals. Chi Chun not only understood medicine, but also possessed a talent for simple tailoring. Those sheets, cut open with daggers, though crudely made over a woman's naked body, would, on a catwalk, possess a thin, hazy concealment imbued with erotic art.

Alluring beauty is always accompanied by danger, a danger stemming from the stimulation of male lust. As long as these women are before me, with every sway and crouch, they easily reveal the shy beauty of womanhood.

I don't know why, but Chi Chun dresses them exceptionally sexily; it seems she understands women deeply, knows how to dress to arouse men.

Chi Chun herself is an upper-middle-class woman; she has considerable experience and understanding of men. The man who married Chi Chun must have been captivated and satisfied by her alluring attire on countless nights.

Taking out spare weapons and ammunition, I firmly locked the armory door, fastening the long metal key to my waist. Seeing the two women and three mother and daughters next to the sleeping pod, I became indifferent to the half-dead Cang Gui locked in the storeroom.

Now, apart from Yi Liang and Lu Ya, no one is allowed to carry guns or daggers. Chi Chun told me that Cang Gui's bleeding had stopped, but it needed an intravenous injection of medication. I didn't agree. To avoid confusing Chi Chun, I had to tell her, "You've examined all the women in the sleeping pods. The one who caused this terrible outcome is the Cang Gui you're trying to save."

She seemed to want to say something more, but the stubborn expression on my face, like an invisible hand, covered her mouth. "Let him leave it to fate." These cold words were a kind of consolation to Chi Chun's hesitant words.

After everything was settled, I felt somewhat exhausted and overly tense, so I lay back down on my old bunk bed. The moment I closed my eyes, the horrific scene of shooting the monkey demon flashed through my mind like a movie.

Now I needed to carefully consider and assess what was happening on deck and what our next move should be. The bunk bed creaked, and my body swayed rhythmically. Although I couldn't hear the outside world clearly, I knew for sure that a storm was brewing at sea, accompanied by the same torrential rain we had endured when we desperately sought out this little-known island.

Everything that had happened these past few days felt like a half-awake, startling dream, as if I were back in the shabby sleeping quarters of the Snow, waiting to wake up early the next morning, climb the tall mast, curl up there, and navigate back to that warm, peaceful town with the rare metals I had traded for dried fruit and furs, back to the woman in the tailor shop who loved me so deeply, back to the attic to touch the little faces of Yi Liang and Lu Ya.

"Hehe." A mischievous girl's teasing voice pushed open the door to my hazy consciousness. The itching on my face made me feel like I was lying on a thick bearskin in a cave. Luya, that child, had sneaked in again while I slept, her slender, soft hands pinching the ends of her hair and constantly stroking my cheek.

"What did you dream about? Why did you keep calling out the tailor's name?" Luya's innocence and curiosity often made me feel like a boy her age. This carefree little girl constantly filled the void in my childhood, soothing the inner pain of a taciturn man.

"Nothing, just a dream," I replied, bringing myself back to reality. "How long did I sleep?" Luya must have been very curious about why I always seemed to live inside a clock. Actually, she didn't know that I lived on the hands of the wheel of fate.

"I don't know, maybe five or six hours, or longer," the little girl said reluctantly, blinking her adorable big eyes. "Take your weapon, we're going to find Yi Liang. Remember, no one else is allowed to have weapons or daggers except the three of us. (Web users please log in to '佗剩?сν' to download txt format novels, mobile users log in to wàp.16k.сn)"

Lu Ya was startled and asked anxiously, "Why? Aren't the bad guys arrested? Can't Chi Chun take weapons either?" Mentioning Chi Chun, I was also confused and couldn't find a reason to reply to Lu Ya. "You could on the island, but not now. Chi Chun has to take care of the child." "

With Lu Ya's age and experience, she wouldn't understand the hidden meaning in my words. My intuition is currently in turmoil, to the point that I'm even starting to criticize it.

From the moment I dragged Chi Chun downstairs to prepare the medicine, and she mistakenly thought I wanted to have some fun with her before she died, I sensed something. She believes that the purpose of human nature is linked to how much pleasure one ultimately enjoys; that every man is disguised by desire, and once that disguise fails and becomes an empty promise, he will turn against her and devour everything in front of him.

And I, a man who crawled out of purgatory, have never been able to escape her conceptual framework. Yi Liang and Lu Ya haven't experienced the materialism and vanity that Chi Chun's previous environment had, which is precisely why I'm more aware of these two..." The only reason I trusted Baizhi.

In my mercenary career, I've been betrayed by countless missions with unclear objectives, and my only salvation was escape, escaping while holding my own life hostage. And now, I'm unconsciously holding my own life hostage again.

The weapons I selected from the ammunition depot are piled under the small bunk bed. Now it's time to go up to the deck to investigate the scene of the poisoning of the Ghost Monkey. Yiliang has an AK-47 rifle, Luya has a portable submachine gun, and I'll carry two myself.

Chapter 91: Lightning Reflecting Corpses

The women in the hall knew what was going to happen when they saw the three of us armed and heading towards the super hatch. "Chichun, go to the sleeping pod and find something like a small mirror that can reflect images."

Chichun agreed quickly and immediately turned and ran down to the lower level. It was clear that Chichun had seen the mirror in the sleeping pod.

I moved the rectangular wooden table leaning against the hatch. Yiliang and Luya were a little nervous, but they also got into firing positions. "Don't rush, first find out what's going on outside." Standing at the hatch, the ship rocked violently. The rain seemed to be flung down by thunder and lightning, the sound of it hitting the metal hatch exceptionally clear, like the beating of a tin drum.

Chi Chun found a small mirror that women used for makeup; she probably found it in her sleeping quarters and kept it for herself. I unscrewed the metal bolt on the hatch, using a steel pipe to hold the hatch open with one hand, and carefully pried it up with the other. During this process, I didn't hear the rattling noises outside that I'd heard last time I opened the hatch.

The silence this time foreshadowed a promising outcome. "Chi Chun, take the small mirror and lean it against the crack in the door. Use the refraction of light to let me see what's outside the hatch the moment lightning flashes."

Chi Chun then realized I wasn't going to recklessly open the hatch, so she relaxed a little, hurriedly went up the stairs, and knelt down in front of my face to reflect the small mirror outwards. A sudden downpour, carrying the coolness and the scent of the sea, rushed in through the crack in the door, washing away the feminine fragrance that had emanated from Chi Chun as she crouched down.

"Don't panic, wait patiently for the lightning," I whispered, trying to reassure her, though I myself was also worried about hearing any signs of life on deck again. The raindrops sounded large, pounding against the deck with a pattering sound, as if trying to wash away the danger outside.

A flash of light appeared, and the small mirror Chi Chun held in her fair hand reflected what I could see. Of the five wooden drawers, only one remained empty, propped against the opposite side of the ship; the other four had been dragged away.

One could imagine how fiercely those monkeys, smelling the bloody food, would fight for it. I thought that when the temptation of their appetite was placed before them, their hatred would instantly vanish. Because, after all, everything was for the sake of their stomachs.

"Chi Chun, go to the lobby and get a Y-shaped stick. Attach the small mirror to the top." Chi Chun remained tense. She got up quickly; everyone was happy to be away from the hatch for a short while.

Tools, by their very nature, are meant to provide a sense of security, yet humans use them to unearth unfathomable desires. Chi Chun went to the lobby and quickly returned to my side, carrying a two-meter-long stick.

"You control the steel pipe; I'll spy on both sides of the hatch myself." Hearing my words, a hint of excitement flickered across Chi Chun's charming face.

Rather than holding the wooden stick to see the reflection in the small mirror, Chi Chun preferred to grasp the steel pipe with her alluring hands. After all, she had already tried it once and was currently most familiar with that operation.

The stick with the small mirror attached to the top was indeed a bit too long, so I broke it in the middle with my military boot. Because this kind of spying had to be done very discreetly, it wasn't safer to assume that longer was safer; in fact, the opposite was true—it was the easiest way to create danger.

The broken spying device, held in my hand, resembled a small shovel, but it suited me perfectly. I slowly approached the hatch and poked the small lens out in the dark rain.

At that moment, my heart clenched. If, just as I was delivering the lens, a striking flash of lightning streaked across the dark sky, the movement of the small lens would be immediately exposed. If there were any living monkeys, a whole swarm would leap over.

I tried to deliver it as slowly as possible, like a venomous snake pouncing on its prey, cautious and deliberate. Once it was in the right position, I tilted the lens to the right and waited for the roaring nature to deliver the lightning that pierced the darkness.

Raindrops hitting the deck shattered instantly, bouncing off my wrist holding the device; that icy feeling always made me uneasy, as if it were splinters blown by a monkey lurking in the shadows.

"Snap!" A bright line pierced through my vision, which I could only glimpse by pressing my face against the edge of the ladder. On the right deck, there were two wooden drawers lying sideways, surrounded by furry, dark objects, a perfect example of poisoning.

I carefully flipped the lens to the left side of the deck, waiting for the next lightning bolt. "Have they finished their food?" Luya, that curious little girl, actually asked about the situation outside at such a tense moment.

"Shh," I practically spat out the warning. She immediately realized she shouldn't have spoken, but still ridiculously let out an "Oh." I dared not remind her again.

The final lightning bolt, which I had been waiting for, was slow to arrive. I could only awkwardly wait, hoping that our scrutinizing God would generously flash one last time.

"Alright, Chi Chun, hold on a little longer." With that, I ran to the hall and grabbed two lightning bolts from the wooden box against the wall. I wanted to put a couple more protective charms on everyone before going up to the deck. In case

any ghost monkeys were feigning death, or weren't completely dead, the blinding lightning could reveal their presence. For so many years, what I've always avoided most is surveying battlefields. Once I stand on the ground strewn with corpses, I'm in a passive position where the enemy is in the dark and I am in the light.

The most deadly thing was the poisonous wooden splinter. Like a cobra hunting its prey, it didn't need to bite to death; injecting venom into the target's flesh was enough.

"Chi Chun, push harder, lift it up a little more, I'm going to throw a grenade." Chi Chun responded, quickly raising the hatch twenty centimeters. I lay on my side at the bottom of the stairs, like someone crouching under a car, waiting for an opportunity to repair the engine compartment. Two grenades, one to the left, one to the right.

The blinding light didn't bother me or the woman beside me. I tried my best to throw the grenade with the copper ring removed as far as possible, throwing it into the pile of corpses of those ghost monkeys.

"Huff," I exhaled deeply, letting out a breath of pent-up air. I returned to the wooden crate in the hall, retrieved two grenades, and, following the method for throwing grenades, detonated them in opposite directions. Although the rain was heavy, I didn't hear a single ghost monkey's cry, and only then did I feel completely relieved.

I abruptly stood up, my large hand flat against Chi Chun's soft chest, and gently pushed her back. The cabin door creaked open, lifted by my strength.

Taking the two submachine guns handed to me by Lu Ya, I acted as the scout, leading the two girls towards the deck. Chi Chun grabbed a flashlight and followed behind us. But the light she shone was difficult to align with the muzzles of our guns.

Chapter Ninety-Two: Become a Gamble

The ghost monkeys were all dead, lying densely packed on the damp, cold deck, like large rats that had drowned in a ditch for days, their bodies abnormally swollen in the middle.

"Chi Chun, call all the women in the cabin out. Tell them each to pick up a stick in the hall and poke the dead ghost monkeys into the sea as soon as possible, to prevent the few with strong drug resistance from waking up."

The torrential rain, like an angry demon, shook the large ship with its invisible claws. The women who went up to the deck, like drunken hockey players, swayed from side to side with the ship. "Everyone, keep your balance! Don't fall into the sea! Don't touch the monkey corpses!"

I shouted, my slightly open mouth immediately filled with icy rainwater. Lu Ya and Yi Liang slung their guns over their backs, took the extra sticks, and joined the others in clearing the area.

The stick I got was the thickest and longest; I first piled up the corpses of several dwarf savages together, like pushing a snowman, and pushed it towards the edge of the deck. Chi Chun's flashlight kept shining in all directions, allowing everyone to use the fleeting light to imagine and complete the next steps.

At this moment, the lightning, like a faulty flashlight, greatly aided us. "I feel short of breath," Lu Ya's voice sounded particularly weak amidst the howling storm. Her and Yi Liang's long hair was soaked and clung tightly to their cheeks and shoulders.

"Bend over, shake your head left and right, take a deep breath, hold it, and poke the ghost monkey a few times. Don't get too close to the ship's side, or the ship will tilt!" I was anxious for Luya and Yiliang, and when I shouted, I didn't pay attention; rainwater got into my throat, and the pain felt like I'd swallowed a bowl of chili oil.

The ghost monkey's corpse lay on the deck, previously resembling a Go board, but after half an hour of our efforts, it now looked like a chess endgame.

"Everyone, get into the cabin. I'll clean up the rest." The pain in my throat prevented me from standing upright and shouting; I could only cover my mouth with my hand. Hearing my shout, the women hurriedly dropped their sticks, covered their heads with their arms, and crouched as they rushed into the cabin.

"Crack... Rumble..." Another flash of lightning illuminated the entire deck. The women rushing towards the cabin doors looked as if they had just been startled out of a swimming pool. "Yi Liang, what are you waiting for? Go back to the cabin!"

This sixteen-year-old girl, my fiancée, seemed not to hear my shouts. She stubbornly clung to the wooden stick, waiting for the next lightning strike to find the remaining ghost monkeys on the deck.

"Be good, don't worry me. I can handle it myself. Go inside and be with Lu Ya." The urgency in her voice finally made Yi Liang drop the wooden stick, turn around, and stagger towards the cabin door. As she reached the doorframe, she kept looking back anxiously. "Go inside!" I finally roared, startling the girl into no longer hesitating.

Because I could already feel the entire ship beginning to move with the rising and falling waves, the deck tilting at angles exceeding forty or fifty degrees at times. A woman's arms are too soft to hold a man's strong body, but they cannot, like a man's strong arms, hold onto the ship's railings tightly in the instant of falling into the sea.

The ship's movement at this moment was tantamount to a romantic death for us. There was no food in the hold, and the anchor wasn't raised at the stern. Compared to the small rubber raft we used during our escape, we were objectively at a disadvantage. Even with my strong arms, I could

n't lift the massive anchor head at the stern. An anchor only has the pulling force to secure the ship when it's a certain distance away and the anchor chain is tilted. So, the first thing to address when raising anchor was this problem. I

started the anchor winch, tightened the anchor chain, and the ship moved towards the anchor. When the anchor chain was nearly vertical, the anchor was pulled up.

So, I rushed back to the hold to prevent the anchor hook from snagging on hard rocks and tying down the large ship. If there was a malfunction when raising anchor, the ship would become a drifting desert island. As I gripped the anchor winch handle, my heart felt like it was hanging on the anchor hook. During the lifting process, I was terrified of getting stuck in the hidden reefs.

Although the entire ship rocked violently, I could clearly feel that the anchor head was rising vertically without any abnormal contact. After successfully raising anchor, I moved a small table to the hall and rushed back to the deck.

By now, the large ship, aided by the lightning, was nearly a kilometer away from the island. I lifted the small wooden table and threw it into the dark sea. Rain lashed my bare shoulders, and the newly healed wounds caused a slight discomfort.

Another bolt of lightning, like a proud dragon soaring through the sky, appeared in the night sky, and the rain poured down even more fiercely. The wooden table, swept into the sea like a discarded toy, was ravaged by the giant waves and drifted southwest.

My heart felt as if it had been struck by a scorching hot iron, filled with sudden, intense terror. Faced with such a violent force of nature, a man was powerless at that moment. The deck tilted more and more, and I had no choice but to return to the cabin, waiting for the wheel of fate to stop.

"Can we go home now?" Luya's excited eyes blinked through her wet hair, waiting for my answer. This child didn't understand; she thought the large ship, after weighing anchor, was drifting towards home. Her words were full of innocence, like an old fisherman at sea with a naive girl by his side, asking at dusk if he'd go home.

Chi Chun's face showed no joy. Although she didn't know which way the large ship was drifting, she understood one thing: no food, no direction.

I had hoped that after the storm, I could return to the island, use the axe before me to chop down some straight logs, and make a few simple masts.

Even if I couldn't sail far across the waves, I could control the speed and direction, carefully navigating behind the island to hide temporarily. Once I was familiar with and mastered operating the large ship, I would take advantage of the darkness to leave this pristine environment forever, to leave those terrifying monkeys behind forever.

But now, God, not yet satisfied, seemed unwilling to pull us off the wheel of fate.

The ship rocked more and more violently, and this helplessness and waiting was even more terrifying than when we were caught in a storm on our small rubber raft. Luya and Yiliang huddled close to me in fear. Chi Chun returned to the sleeping cabin to take care of the baby. The other women huddled back in their original corners.

They were afraid of the storm outside, while I was afraid of where the ship would drift. If it struck a nearby reef, in this weather, the sea could swallow everything, whether it was someone desperately swimming to survive or a small rubber raft.

The reality before me meant that I could only wait and pray, which was more dangerous than running through the woods and shooting at the enemy.

Chapter Ninety-Three: Double Throw with Great Grasp

"You two, go and rest in your sleeping cabin. Tomorrow, you can play on the deck." I comforted them, hoping they could have a good dream and get through the uncertain night ahead.

"Aren't you going to rest?" Yi Liang's pretty little mouth twitched slightly, as if she wanted to say something but hesitated. Lu Ya interrupted her. "I'm not tired. I need to think about how to fish for sea fish. I'll teach you tomorrow."

Lu Ya's tired, slightly drowsy eyes immediately widened again. "Mmm, make sure you figure it out! We'll catch even more than trout!" Her happiness and innocence made my heart ache even more. These two innocent children, and the innocent women on the ship, had no idea that God was playing a game of single-shot revolver again.

Yi Liang noticed the worry hidden on my face and decisively took Lu Ya's hand, leading her towards the sleeping cabin. In a corner of the hall, the women, huddled together for warmth, gradually drifted off to sleep on the swaying floor.

Two hours later, I opened the cabin door again and walked towards the center of the deck. The cold rain, hidden in the black wind, assaulted my chest and back. With the belated lightning, the island's shadow had long since vanished, replaced by a dark forest.

During the ambush of the bandits in the swamp, I once crouched high in a tree, observing the dense forest inhabited by the ghost monkeys. Since disembarking from the Snow, we've lost our bearings; all we know now is that we're at the southern tip of the equator, in the center of the Indian Ocean.

The Earth's surface always holds anomalies, but once explored by humankind, they become commonplace. This region's climate features numerous warm air masses, making it difficult for scientists to explain, from a dimensional perspective, why such a vast rainforest exists behind the island, like a fishing ground formed by the confluence of warm and cold currents.

Standing atop the valley, I initially mistook it for a forest connecting to the mainland, but now I completely abandon that idea. Because the ship has completely circled around to the rear.

A river over 800 meters wide is churning and crashing down from the undulating sea shelf. Its currents cause our ship, like a piece of foam floating near a sewer, to drift sideways along the underwater eddies, constantly moving closer to the rainforest.

I, who only believed in bullets and daggers, now stood alone on the swaying deck, and couldn't help but wonder if the shaman of the Ghost Monkey tribe had used some mysterious power to absorb the ship into the center of death. God, why do you turn your face away, refusing to show mercy, stingily blocking our path home?

In the cold rain, I felt two lines of tears on my cheeks. I had used all my strength to protect the soul I had found, to protect the innocent girls and women, only to be mocked by fate time and time again.

The ship lurched sideways, the river's whirlpools like grinning imps, carrying our lives that we refused to give up, relentlessly pushing us into the terrifying depths of the primeval rainforest. The deep riverbed beneath my feet seemed like a road to hell.

And I, the only man, stood on the deck where the raindrops beat like war drums, only able to bring the killing intent I carried with me into the endless darkness ahead.

If it were a large ship still adrift on the vast sea, I would certainly return to my cabin, and for that night, I would no longer concern myself with life or death. If we were near the island's shore, I could log and hunt. Further from the coast, even if things went wrong, we could try our luck at catching fish to make our way home. However, this uncontrolled drift was heading towards the direction of the monkey tribe.

Given this situation, I could no longer leave the deck; I had to keep a close watch and, if any possibility or suitable opportunity arose, stop this large ship that was about to sell out lives.

In the storm, the roar of the waves had faded. The rushing black water leaped and surged towards the sea. This sound gave me a sense of familiarity, like the small waterfall in front of the cave, but at the same time, the terror I felt near the muddy streams was magnified a hundredfold.

The river water beneath the boat churned in the downpour, the sound growing louder. If the large boat wasn't brought under control soon, it was highly likely to crash into the underwater stone structure, like a flooded staircase. As the smaller boat drew closer, the draft gradually decreased, and the danger of the boat slamming into the edge of the staircase became increasingly imminent.

There was no time to hesitate; the cat had to be thrown decisively, bow and stern, while simultaneously dropping the heavy anchor. Even if trapped in the middle of the river, at least there was a chance to find a solution. If the monkeys that swarmed the deck were to climb back up, our deaths would be certain.

On both sides of the wide river, fallen trees began to appear. I figured there must be large rocks and logs underneath this section of the river, and the heavy anchor would be most vulnerable to these things.

Without further ado, I took off running towards the cabin door. In my haste, as I approached, I stepped on pieces of monkey carcasses that hadn't yet been washed off the deck. Losing my balance, I slammed my forehead hard against the door.

In the cold rain, I didn't feel any intense pain. I lowered the anchors completely at the bow and stern, and only after the ship made a loud "clang" did my heart finally relax.

Perhaps a powerful cat with a strong grip had snagged on a log or large rock at the bow or stern. As soon as the trembling in my legs subsided, I hurriedly ran back to the deck. Now I could finally catch my breath.

The large ship, held in place by the thick anchor chain, escaped the irregular forces of the whirlpool and began to lie flat in the middle of the river, like a fishing float that couldn't be pulled away or sunk.

The swaying caused by the anchor catching on the riverbed startled every woman in the cabin. "Ah! Are we home?" Luya, rubbing her sleepy eyes, appeared behind me, one hand on the cabin door.

This little girl, seeing so many trees around, thought the ship had reached Cambodia overnight. "Okay, we're almost there. You should hurry back to your sleeping pod and stay with Yi Liang."

Yi Liang was right behind Lu Ya when I said this. Of the two girls, only Yi Liang could easily understand the meaning behind my words.

It should be dawn now, but the thick, ominous clouds still shrouded the boundless sky, threatening heavy rain. The pain in my forehead intensified, and the exhaustion made me dizzy. I had finally averted the foreseeable danger; the unknown could wait until I had a good night's sleep to plan for the future.

Just as I lay down my stiff, cold body on the small plank bed in my sleeping pod, Chi Chun rushed to my side with a small medicine box. "Yi Liang said your forehead is bleeding. Don't move, let me take a look." Chi Chun said, turning around and rummaging through the medicine in the box. The back of that mature, beautiful woman evoked endless beauty and fantasies.

Chapter 94: The Sound of Beast Meat

A jolt from the ship jolted me awake. The patter of raindrops hitting the ship had ceased, and the swaying of the cabin had returned to normal.

Lu Ya, somewhere, had found a telescope and was sitting opposite me on the small plank bed, kicking her slender legs and shining it at me.

As I sat up, the creases on my forehead reminded me of Chi Chun's bandages and the harrowing experience on the ship the previous night.

"The ship isn't moving anymore. Lots of big fish are leaping in the river. I'm a little hungry, let's go catch some." I slowly got out of bed, straightened up, and didn't feel the previous soreness. On the ship, the firearms I could use were neatly arranged at the head of the bed.

"From now on, you're not allowed to go up to the deck alone while I'm asleep. How much food is left on the ship?" Luya was indeed hungry, and said listlessly, "Oh. There's nothing to eat. The food was all fed to the monkeys."

Even if Luya could rummage around and find some food, it would only be some packaged snacks. There were forty people on the ship, and their daily rations had become the first survival crisis they faced. Thinking back to last night, I had actually shed tears. Now that I was awake, it felt absurd. My hands and the weapons in front of me were the most reliable things.

I slung my M25 sniper rifle over my shoulder, took the binoculars from Luya's hand, and turned to walk towards the deck. "Wait, what about fishing methods? You're not going to use a gun, are you?" The girl's question suddenly stopped me in my tracks, causing her nose to bump into my back as she followed closely behind. “That depends on whether you can retrieve the fish I shot.”

Lu Ya raised her delicate little hand, rubbed her exquisite nose, and pouted, looking displeased at my teasing. “I’ll shoot, you go retrieve the fish.” Her words left me feeling helpless, but recalling what had happened before, Lu Ya had indeed achieved something. This gave me an idea: give her a gun and let her shoot.

“From now on, you’ll protect me.” Saying this, I slung the sniper rifle over her shoulder. This mischievous girl’s big eyes immediately blinked, and a satisfied smile appeared on her lips.

“And what about you? Your gun.” Hearing Lu Ya’s question, I quickly reached for my lower back. The long metal key was still hanging on my body. “There’s still some in the ammunition depot, I’ll go get another one.” Lu Ya

hugged the sniper rifle, like a personal guard, closely following behind me. Chi Chun and Yi Liang were still resting in their sleeping pods. So far, besides Lu Ya waking up from hunger, there were several other women sitting or lying in the corners of the hall who had also woken up from hunger.

Now, on this large ship, I'm the only strong man capable of finding and controlling the food. The women, still shrouded in fear, none dared to pout and ask for food like Luya.

Pushing open the cabin door, the cool, damp air after the rain, mixed with fresh air, filled our lungs. Luya, like a child entering a toy store for the first time, excitedly ran to the ship's side before even seeing me move, pointing at the distant water and shouting excitedly, "Quick, look! That fish is so big and long!"

The wide river, with its cool fresh water, rushed towards the sea. White mist rose all around, chasing the white smoke rising from the forests on both banks.

The large ship lay sideways in the middle of the river; it was clear that the double-strength anchors had bitten into the rubble and logs on the riverbed. We were twelve kilometers from where the sea and fresh water met. Only from the deck, looking vertically, could one clearly see that it was surrounded by the ocean.

Standing on the gun emplacement, I used binoculars to observe the upstream terrain and ecology. At the river's end, a high mountain range rose abruptly. I imagined there must be a basin-shaped terrain there, like an open winnowing basket, catching massive amounts of rainfall before pouring it back into the sea. Over countless years, through island earthquakes and weathering, it had carved out such a magnificent river.

The monkey tribe should be in the mountain streams; their appearance in the mudflats was premeditated. Those foolish thieves, brazenly bombing in the rainy night, had alerted all potential enemies.

After making strategic deductions, one thing was certain: the monkeys possessed watercraft. Due to the impending downpour, I couldn't see what kind of vehicle it was. Given their limited capabilities, at most they could hollow out a large tree and use buoyancy for water transport.

The calls of seabirds on both banks, hidden among the lush vegetation, varied in timbre and tone, sometimes rapid, sometimes slow. Some sounded like excited welcomes, others like they were startled by us.

"Gah gah gah, squeak squeak squeak." A cold sweat instantly seeped down my spine, the hairs on my back almost pushing up my clothes. "Lemur, look!" Yi Liang's alertness and reaction speed in predicting danger were extraordinary, unlike mine.

For a sniper on an A-level mission, any suspicious sound or sight could trigger a rapid mental scan, assuming potential danger, and firing a bullet that would alter the death list.

I've been to Madagascar, and while trading with the locals, I saw a captain with a lemur perched on his shoulder. These animals have exceptionally long tails, hanging upside down from trees, and their faces are very similar to bats. Their two ruby eyes, when illuminated at night, could scare the unsuspecting half to death.

Just by looking at their mouths and noses, it's indeed hard to tell if they're foxes or monkeys. "What fox-monkey? Those are lemurs. Remember that. Don't call out animal names randomly anymore, misleading your teammates. You're a sniper now, understand?"

The day I was unconscious on the deck, temporarily incapacitated, Luya and Yiliang bravely took up their weapons and continued the unfinished battle. This gave me an idea: I needed to train them to be excellent marksmen.

If a similar danger arose again, I'd feel much more at ease. If we ever needed to coordinate operations, at least we'd have two more well-trained young women. And everyone's chances of survival would increase significantly. "Let's shoot the fish quickly," Luya pleaded, raising a small hand and tugging at my sleeve.

“You need to learn to anticipate things. In a river with such a fast current, the fish you hit will sink to the bottom first. By the time their swim bladders lose control and they float to the surface, they'll already be half a kilometer away from the boat.”

The girl blinked her big eyes, her mind wandering as she imagined the whole process after hitting the fish. “If only the bullet had a rope to hold it, we could pull the fish back. But what do we do? We have no food.”

“Yes, in the trees.” I glanced sideways at the source of the squeaking noise. “Hehe, right, how come I didn’t think of that?” Lu Ya finished speaking and was about to raise her sniper rifle when one of her big eyes, only halfway closed, was quickly pressed down on her shoulder by my hand.

Chapter 95: A Treacherous Talent

"Don't be so reckless. Those lemurs in the trees are staring at us curiously. Your movements are too big, like a machine gunner, which will provoke them to dodge. Even if you hit one, the rest of the lemurs will become sensitive and wary of your weapon and posture, making it difficult to hit a second one."

What Luya needs to learn now isn't accuracy in hitting targets, but how to kill silently like a ghost. "Think about how to shoot the most food before scaring the troop away."

Luya pursed her pretty little lips, furrowed her brows, and pondered with interest. "Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang." Just as Luya was turning her thoughts, trying to find a satisfactory answer,

I swiftly turned, and in the brief moment of raising my sniper rifle, I had already pulled the safety. The first bullet, the moment my right eyelashes touched it, shot down the fattest lemur in the innermost position. The next four lemurs, following the order of approaching targets, were also shot down instantly.

This method serves two purposes: first, it reduces the time difference for the target to escape into the forest, and second, it concentrates the target's fall location. "Wow!" Luya's little head stopped thinking about my question. Her eyes and mouth widened as she stared blankly at the falling lemur.

"Have you thought of a method yet?" I asked sullenly. "It's the method you just used, hehe." Her naiveté and cleverness, which might have worked under normal circumstances, were absolutely not working now. I straightened my face and looked at her with a cold gaze. "I asked you if you've thought of one?" She finally realized the seriousness of the situation.

"Um, um, I've thought of one." She lowered her head, avoiding my stern gaze, her eyes darting around as she thought rapidly. "Tell me." Knowing she hadn't come up with an idea yet, I pressed.

"First, hide so the lemurs don't spot you. Observe their escape routes, shoot the first one to run away, then shoot the second one that's about to escape. If several are in similar positions, shoot the one that's hit so the other lemurs won't easily notice.

This girl is indeed very clever, possessing the cunning talent of a hunter." "Who told you this?" Although I was satisfied, my face remained cold. "Nobody told me." Luya pouted again, not because she was proud of her perfect answer, but because of my suspicion.

"How can you prove no one told you?" I asked again, my tone sharp. "Your answer is too blunt. If you can't prove it, you have to give it back." Luya sensed my deliberate provocation and spoke her mind defiantly. "When we were catching trout together, you were using a wooden basket, and this is how you caught them."

"Haha, alright. Your answer is reasonable and well-founded, it passes." A smile finally appeared on my face. "Hmph, you scared all the lemurs away, now I have nothing to fight." The little girl started complaining.

"How can you say you have nothing? The forest is so big, there's life everywhere, you can fight as much as you want." I said, deliberately trying to vent her anger. "No way, you scared them all away. Look at those startled birds, they flew so far."

This girl started to make things difficult for me again. "There are some 500 meters away. But you can't fight them now, I have to get a small raft to find food to fill your stomach." Luya understood the meaning of my last sentence, but didn't understand the first one. "Ah, 500 meters, I can't see anything." With that, the girl reluctantly raised her sniper rifle and peered through the scope into the distant forest.

"What happened? Were you just shooting?" I wanted to go back to the cabin to get a rubber raft, but as I reached the hatch, I bumped into Yi Liang, who was rushing out. Her soft, delicate breasts bumped against my chest, creating a wave of tenderness.

"Don't worry, I'm getting food." As I spoke, I released Yi Liang's shoulders. Her body, with its natural feminine delicacy, almost knocked me over with my firm chest muscles.

"Yi Liang, come quick, look what I've got for you!" Lu Ya, still holding her sniper rifle, was alone on the deck. Seeing Yi Liang, her interest grew even stronger. I found an unopened folding raft from the ammunition depot, unfolded it on the deck, and stepped on the air bladder. In less than ten minutes, a small, half-inflated boat appeared before me.

I didn't dare inflate the raft too much, because of the recent downpour, many broken branches and thorns from upstream were floating towards the sea. Besides, I planned to go alone to retrieve the five small animals.

"Luya, when we get close to the riverbank, you provide cover with your sniper rifle. Yiliang, use your binoculars to observe my surroundings. If you see anything unusual, call out immediately." I wasn't worried about Yiliang; she had experience signaling me from the edge of a large mudflat. I trusted Luya the most, so I reminded her again.

"Be careful not to use your sniper scope to satisfy your curiosity about me picking up the meat. Do you understand?" Luya frowned again. "You're the one who wants me to protect you," she asked, puzzled. "Oh, I mean don't aim your gun at him, be careful not to accidentally discharge,"

Yiliang explained directly, not bothering to laugh at Luya's naiveté. "I know even if you don't tell me, I got yelled at once on the shore last time," the little girl teased me, seizing the opportunity.

Following the anchor chain at the bow, I carefully climbed down. The objects floating on the river, rushing past from side to side, gave me the illusion of a large ship sailing.

Reaching the middle of the small raft, I took out the broadsword from my waist, slowly crouched down, and pulled out the two small oars hidden inside. Like a hummingbird taking flight, I paddled rapidly towards my target.

As I approached the riverbank, the raft was still swept away from its target, but that didn't matter. I could use the horizontal branches to slowly move to where the lemur had fallen.

Yi Liang had already climbed onto the high gun emplacement, holding binoculars and constantly observing in my direction. Logically, once I entered the edge of the forest, I couldn't shout anymore and could only use professional hand signals, but unfortunately, neither of them understood them now.

The lemur had a long tail and could leap from branch to branch. The river beneath the trees was over a meter deep, so I didn't imitate them. Every few steps, I had to find the next one; there were connecting trails between the trees, leading me in circles.

Many wet, black tree trunks were covered in scarlet mushrooms, which were unsettling to look at, let alone touch. The trees, freshly washed by the rain, were sticky and slippery; a moment's carelessness could send me tumbling into the water. It wasn't that I was afraid of swimming or getting wet, but I didn't want to be hurt by snakes, scorpions, or leeches.

After walking for a while, I looked back at the large boat in the middle of the river. Yi Liang had her binoculars hanging around her neck, waving her arms to indicate that everything was fine. This reminded me of the time she used a banana leaf to signal me, and I couldn't help but chuckle.

Chapter Ninety-Six: Teasing Behind the Plain Knife

Forest, mostly redwoods, grew very tall and straight, vying for the sunlight. However, the river's erosion had weakened the roots of many greedy trees along the banks, tearing at their roots and pulling down many in the previous night's storm.

The fallen trees, crisscrossing each other, were my prey. I carefully made my way towards the food, stepping over their bodies, which they had returned to nature, my machete in hand. Looking deeper into the forest, beneath the dense, towering trees, various vines clung, damp with decaying matter.

The mystery of the forest lies in the frequent transformation of hundreds of millions of lives within it. The death of one life creates the birth and continuation of others. The forms are diverse, the speed astonishing. If human life were to rashly participate, who knows what form and speed it would take to be transformed into another?

This magnificent green canopy makes each tree within it seem like a warrior with a mission; their growth seems not to be about providing an environment for life to flourish, but about conquering the world.

Because of the thick smoke that filled the forest, my view of the rainforest was extremely small. Raindrops still clung to the green leaves around my eyes; occasionally, a touch would cause them to fall in droves, scaring away the tiny, toothpick-like fish at my feet.

Before paddling across the raft, I was thankful I was wearing a green jacket; otherwise, my entire chest and back would have been covered in red welts from an allergic reaction. During jungle warfare in Thailand, many soldiers contracted malaria, some even from indiscriminately eating small animals.

There are many kinds of monkeys; some indigenous people use monkey blood as a traditional remedy to stimulate libido. For me, a man from modern society, although I can't see the microorganisms in animal blood with the naked eye, I at least have a sense of safety precautions. I've never eaten lemur meat, nor have I heard anyone say it's edible. I'm just taking it back now, combining it with Chi Chun's medical knowledge, before considering whether to consume it.

For life on the large ship, in the water, and on the branches, the torrential rain is merely rain; but for the reptiles living under the dead leaves and roots, it's nothing short of a natural disaster, a flood.

On a palm-sized leaf, a layer of bright red ants lay piled up. They constantly turned and crawled, stimulating small fish underwater to peck at them, making the leaf like a ferry. Once it reached a suitable spot, the red ants on the edge would work together to bite onto the object, allowing the main force to climb ashore.

In this team, no ant, stepping on its companions to climb to safety, uttered a smug sneer, nor did any of the stepped ants grit their teeth and speculate about fairness. Their life instinct was to eat food and excrete conscience. A will without thought, infused into this industrious and brave little group of life, formed a powerful deterrent.

I used a machete to cut a two-meter-long branch, intending to hook the lemur that had been shot in the neck. The monkey was very heavy; I couldn't lift it directly, so I had to move it little by little to my feet. The monkey's

blood attracted many fish that were scavenging for food, swaying their long, flat bodies, frantically biting and scrambling to grab a bite. Seeing them completely ignoring the swaying rod above them, I wished I could use a large net to scoop up these plump, meaty fish and bring them back to the big boat to cook them alive.

This lemur, dripping wet, had its head and body connected only by a sliver of skin and flesh. For such a small creature, the barrel of a sniper rifle was practically a cannon. I kept using my long rod to nudge it, but the twenty-odd arowanas, excited by the rising water, relentlessly pecked at the bait, making it difficult for me to hook back the floating carcass.

If I were to raise a stick and smash the water's surface to scare away these cunning little thieves who were so emboldened by my lack of fishing gear, it would only get me into trouble.

In this dense, damp forest, apart from animals at higher altitudes who communicate through screams, most land creatures rely on growls to convey and receive information. The sound of a stick slamming into the water is nothing unusual to humans on the crossbeam, but it is a sensitive and alluring sound to large, ferocious creatures lurking underwater.

Just as I had finally managed to hook the lemur carcass to a position close enough to reach it, a long dragonfish, its white, shimmering tail swishing, was caught in the jaws of a large sea wolf that leaped out of the water with a splash.

I hurriedly shook my arms to regain my balance on the slippery crossbeam, nearly falling backward into the water filled with teeth and eyes. My heart and the hairs on my body stood on end.

It was a middle-aged sea wolf; it used its two wet, small black paws to cover the dragonfish it was biting, and instead of diving back into the water, it stared at me with its bright, dark eyes, observing me curiously.

Having grown so large, it had seen all sorts of fish at the bottom of the food chain and encountered all sorts of birds of prey at the top, but my appearance and presence deeply attracted it. I ignored it, only wanting to get the bleeding lemur first.

Unexpectedly, just as I grabbed the lemur's long tail, the water wolf freed one of its small black paws and hooked onto the other end of the carcass, playing a sawing game with me. It was like a bewildered little girl, holding a piece of candy, scrutinizing me, this strange man. Its silly expression and eyes seemed to be wondering why I was stealing its food.

Actually, I knew it wanted to eat too, but it overlooked a danger. I was much stronger than it, and with each bit of carcass I pulled back, the water wolf moved closer to me. When the water wolf first appeared, I didn't pay attention to it, because such creatures are hard to catch if you stay alert.

It should have been content to catch and eat fish, return to its pack, and stay put, but it was instead captivated by the tempting carcass before it. I slowly lowered the branch with my right hand, reaching for the broadsword behind me—a process the wolf couldn't see. My

left hand, holding the monkey's tail, pulled it back three centimeters, then pulled it back two centimeters, this teasing maneuver giving it the illusion of a chance to obtain the whole beast.

Just as the water wolf was engrossed in this playful act, I gritted my teeth, swung the broadsword behind me, and brought it down with lightning speed from high above. The sharp blade instantly cleaved a deep, bloody gash into its wet, spherical head.

My hand gripping the hilt could clearly feel the vibration of the blade shattering its skull. "Awooo, awooo, awooo…" Its cries revealed its agony. The intense pain made it forget to dive quickly; instead, like a non-swimmer, it clung to the surface, its sucker thrashing about in terror.

I hurriedly grabbed a branch beside my right foot, stood up, and started poking at its shoulder. No matter how hard it struggled, it could only circle in place, unable to escape my control.

Controlling this unexpected gain brought me little satisfaction; instead, its piercing scream filled me with panic. I quickly looked around, fearing this creature might be cursed.

Chapter 97: The Rebounding Escape Leap

The water wolf finally succumbed to the pain of its skull being shattered and died within a minute. I used the branch to pull it diagonally to my feet, grabbed its neck, and yanked it out of the water. When only its seal-like head was visible, I thought it weighed only twenty or thirty pounds, but once it was above water, I realized how heavy it was—at least fifty or sixty pounds.

The water wolf's howl had probably alerted the lurking dangers around us. The lemurs I had shot down behind me, with a few powerful splashes, were swallowed by some large predator, leaving only jagged waves lapping at the small branch of the log I was standing on.

The stench of the lemur's blood had likely drawn all the surrounding danger to my vicinity. Although I hadn't yet seen what those carnivorous beasts looked like, I knew that the moment I finally got a clear look would be the moment I was pounced on.

I hoisted the slain water wolf onto my shoulder, and tied the headless lemur's tail around my waist. I leaped back along the same route. Even if there were more meat readily available, I wouldn't bother with it.

Now, on the riverbank of this vast rainforest, I was already converting two kinds of life into food for myself and the women on the large boat. If I were to be greedy any further, the possibility of being converted by other life forms would greatly increase.

Yi Liang's hand had begun to wave up and down, but not too quickly. She was worried that I was too hasty and might slip and get hurt. From her gestures, I could sense the danger, probably within a range of twenty or thirty meters around me.

Perhaps some aquatic beasts were hiding beneath the floating leaves, staring at me fiercely. My right hand still gripped the broadsword, ready to strike in time should another reckless beast like a water wolf appear and pounce.

Reaching the secured rubber raft, I released the air, wrapped the fat water wolf in it, hoisted it onto my shoulder, and, stepping over the tangled fallen trees, headed upstream. Because it was flood season, the large boat had been swept far downstream from the forest bank.

I had to reach the upstream side of the boat, launch the raft there, and use small oars to drift back to the boat with the downstream current. This time, I didn't need to enter the forest again; I could choose the path along the edge of the forest.

Four or five broad-snouted crocodiles, their noses covered in fresh green seaweed, disguised themselves as dead wood and slowly approached me. The lemurs on my body, like leaky bags, constantly dripped their blood into the water at my feet.

Some of the fallen trees weren't very large, and with my increased weight, the weight of my footing sometimes caused the supporting structure to sink halfway into the water. Every time the military boots approached the water's surface, a swarm of piranhas lurking beneath the surface would emerge, frantically gnawing at the tree bark.

These fish generally don't attack humans easily; they only swarm like disturbed wasps when blood appears or when they are trapped and desperately hungry. "Splash!" Another large-scale attack echoed as a crocodile pounced on its prey.

A middle-aged crocodile with a long, pointed snout, seeing the swarm of piranhas around it, stopped targeting me and began biting the fish. The piranhas' power wasn't just limited to their serrated teeth in their small, square mouths; more importantly, it was their sheer numbers and unified attack.

If any prey in the water had even a small, bleeding hole, the swarm would instantly and relentlessly attack the affected area. The other three broad-snouted crocodiles, however, were fixated on me and the carcass on my back.

"Crunch, crunch," the sound beside my ear told me that a towering tree ahead, like a giant, slow-moving fly swatter, was about to pounce on me.

The crossbeams in front of me were spaced far apart, making it impossible to judge which one, after I jumped over, wouldn't be suspended beneath me and have the weight to catch me. It was like a sudden deal: if it hit me, my life was mine, I'd have to hand over the stolen food; if it missed, it'd give me a makeshift bridge, sparing my life.

Seeing the tree about to crash down, I had no choice but to run backward. The three crocodiles behind me, adept at seizing opportunities, automatically approached their prey. They abandoned their shabby camouflage, splashing through the muddy water as they charged towards me.

My right hand was still gripping a broadsword; I couldn't quickly switch to the pistol at my waist. I considered turning to the large ship to signal for cover, but decided against it, concentrating on raising my knife to meet the rapidly approaching crocodiles.

When we disembarked, I instructed Luya to provide long-range protection with a sniper rifle in critical moments. She and Yiliang had also been keeping a close eye on my movements and our surroundings. Instead of wishfully glancing at the large ship and calling for cover, they should adjust their mindset and fight bravely.

The leading crocodile, its tail like iron chainmail, thrashed from the muddy shallows towards me, its fierce eyes filled with aggression and savagery towards a stranger.

Perhaps the overwhelming scent of blood on me provoked it, causing it to disregard everything and ignore its raised, sharp blade. Having experienced the crocodiles of the deep mud, I had a slight understanding of how they attacked their prey.

This two-meter-long creature would surely accelerate again when it was only three meters away, opening its long pincers to lunge at my calves, which were pinned to the crossbeams and severely restrained. It wouldn't know that compared to the crocodiles in the mud, it was practically a dwarf, nor would it know that I had killed a nearly four-meter-long tyrannical crocodile.

My crouching position was also carefully chosen. The moment the crocodile's mouth lunged, I could quickly throw the water wolf on my shoulder to block its attack, using the momentum to leap back and dodge the swift, fatal bite, then jump back to viciously strike the crocodile's eyes with my broadsword.

This was extremely dangerous, because two more crocodiles would arrive immediately during the fight. At that point, even the sharpest broadsword wouldn't guarantee safety.

"Bang, bang, crash." The broadsword, which was already gripping its prey, immediately splattered mud-like scales onto the side of the ship. The bullet's heat and penetrating power instantly shattered the crocodile's aggressive intent and accumulated destructive force.

Just as it was about to raise its upper jaw, Luya struck precisely where the jawbones crossed. As a result, this ferocious crocodile, like a lump of hard mud, pounced and crashed down below my knees, spraying mud and water all over my face.

Seizing the opportunity, I raised my broadsword like a meat-chopping machine suddenly activated, slashing and swinging down with terrifying ruthlessness.

The mud and water on my face, sticking to small leaves, were about to slide down my nose when they were washed away by the crocodile's splattered blood.

Chapter Ninety-Eight: The Bullet That Knocks on the Gates of Hell

"Bang, bang, bang." The second crocodile, about to pounce, also bristled its scales on its neck. Perhaps seeing that the first crocodile was about to bite its prey, it ran even more

excitedly, its center of gravity becoming somewhat unsteady.

It was much smaller than the one I'd been hacking at with my broadsword. The force of the bullet flipped it over, its fierce attack turning into that of a gecko, lying face up in the muddy water.

My arm, gripping the knife, was already burning with the urge to survive, but I managed to control myself, raising my knife to wait for the crocodile to come closer.

"Giggle, crack." As the sound drew nearer, my back and neck felt like they were being whipped from afar by countless shepherds' whips, burning with pain. If it weren't for the raft with the water wolf,

the area of pain would have been much larger.

The damage from the tree canopy wasn't like that from the crocodile; once it fell, there was no more danger. I didn't dare look back, afraid of misjudging the number of crocodiles and being ambushed. So, my eyes remained

fixed on the water ahead, not daring to let my guard down for a moment.

"Behind, behind, behind..." Yi Liang jumped up and down, pointing at me with her arm raised, looking so anxious that she wanted to jump off the deck and run to my ear to shout. "

If you can't kill me, then give me a way out." This deal wasn't as fair as I'd expected; it definitely contained a conspiracy. The rustling of the treetops came from behind me.

"Bang, bang, bang." Gunfire erupted again from the large ship. The sonic wave of the third bullet, as I felt intense pain in the shoulder carrying the water wolf, relentlessly pierced my ears.

Luya, this girl, had never tried long-range protection in such a confined space before. Perhaps it was Yi Liang's impatience that made her flustered, unable to calm down; her slender hands, controlling the weapon, trembled

slightly .

Through the sniper scope, Luya probably already saw that the bullet had hit the target she was protecting. For her, this was the biggest and worst mistake she'd made since embarking on this protection mission. The broad-

snouted crocodile beneath my feet, its bulging eyes and brow ridges dented by the brutal broadsword, its entire head looking like it'd been smeared with crushed tomatoes.

Pain can make any life repent. Its back, covered in yellow mud and green grass, was mostly exposed, its belly loose and swollen. It seemed their attacks weren't just out of hunger, but mostly

out of disgust at me taking the food lurking around.

Crocodiles were hard to catch, and the monkeys in the trees—those I had shot down from a distance—had their blood smell stimulating the possessive desires of the larger creatures.

The ship needed food; they needed possession. God's greatest conspiracy, preventing all things from communicating, made them drop their knives and teeth, turn away, and sit back to receive their pleas.

Here, it was no longer a cave, no longer a valley ceiling; there was no longer any strategic advantage. Standing on the deck offered a false sense of security, but in reality, it was more terrifying than sinking into a quagmire.

This primeval forest was far from the imagined reality I had on the large ship. It was like the body of a sleepless person, able to feel mosquito bites instantly, and deadly hands that came as expected, leaving no time to dodge

.

Beneath the crossbeam, the ripples in the water were no longer a muddy yellow; instead, the pink fins and tails of countless piranhas, like frantic fish pulling in a net, churned frantically. Half-dead crocodiles, being pecked at,

moved relentlessly into deeper water.

The sounds of hissing, rustling, and crunching, like the small wooden sticks on a symphony stage, directed the goosebumps rising and falling all over my body. At this moment, I couldn't shout like Yi Liang, urging Lu Ya

to keep firing and abandoning my anxiety about being hit.

Lu Ya's sniper rifle had become a bargaining chip; she had to fire, either to protect me or to kill me.

Shouting would only arouse the danger behind me, and I dared not turn back rashly. I could only slowly crouch, shrink my center of gravity, and curl up even tighter. If either Lu Ya or Yi Liang on the large ship

understood this physical cues, there was a chance.

"Bang, bang, bang." Three more shots. My current posture greatly encouraged Lu Ya. The sound of exploding shell casings, like the girl's heartbeat, returned to steady. If Luya had hit its target,

it would have certainly inflicted serious injury.

With a splash, I guessed it was the leopard in the tree, unable to withstand the gunshot wound, that had fallen into the water. Pain shot through me, and I slowly turned my neck, glancing at

the danger behind me.

In the center of the undulating muddy water, a swarm of anacondas, as thick as a tree trunk, revealed its bloated body, over ten meters long, as it swam rapidly into the depths of the rainforest. Its glossy, dark brown back, with its intricately patterned stripes and bowl-

sized spots of blue, gray, white, and yellow, like moss growing on rotten wood, was a spectacle that, from the viewer's perspective, directly stimulated their stomach and spinal nerves.

Luya's bullets must have hit the anaconda two or three times. Blood trickled from beneath its scales in the middle of its body, and its movements were unusually slow.

Only after the anaconda submerged and disappeared into the rainforest did I dare use my broadsword to chop down the branches of the large tree, clearing this hard-won stepping stone, and hurrying upstream.

Yi Liang, standing on the gun emplacement, waved her hands left and right again, signaling safety and calming my lingering fear. The raft carrying the water wolf had been pierced by Lu Ya's bullet. I wasn't sure if

the vehicle would be usable once we reached the right position.

The bullet wasn't very large, but the extremely high temperature it generated after exiting the gun barrel widened the hole in the plastic raft. A large, leaning tree, half-submerged in the river

, blocked a large number of tree trunks impacting from upstream, forming a makeshift raft.

I carefully stood on it, pulled out the water wolf, and began to inflate the airbags. Because of the leak, adding air required extra caution. Too much air

would cause the raft to explode, while too little air wouldn't be enough to propel me onto the larger ship.

The wolf's rump was plump and shiny, its wet, dry, wood-colored fur neatly arranged around its two hind legs, lying supine. He pulled a dagger from his boot, pressed down on its plump rear with his left hand, and...

It was a female otter.

In a month or two, it would likely be mating season, and healthy organs grew beneath its shovel-like tail. Unfortunately, a moment of impulsive curiosity had betrayed it.

A sharp knife sliced a piece of flesh from the water wolf's left rump, just enough to plug the leak. The raft, roughly repaired, was then secured with soft reeds to prolong

the time

. Like a wounded warrior going into battle, it made its last stand. Watching the swift current, I estimated the course. If it hit a broken log in the water, I would abandon ship and swim

back to the larger vessel.

The river was currently extremely murky; visibility would be very poor once submerged. Therefore, I etched the entire route into my mind through my eyes.

Chapter Ninety-Nine: The Misunderstanding Between Man and Weasel.

Kneeling in the middle of the raft, I frantically swung the short oars, my right foot constantly stomping on the air bladder, using all my strength to reach the larger vessel against the churning river. Yi Liang had already retrieved the rope and

was waiting . Grabbing the cold anchor chain, I arched my back, my foot on the airbag, afraid to move, afraid to stop.

After securing the water wolf's neck, I shouted upwards, "Secure the rope, and we'll pull together after I get up." Once on deck, Lu Ya looked at me with a strange expression. "Are you human or a ghost?" I was bewildered by her question.

"Come on, let's pull the water wolf and the raft up together." The two girls hurriedly grabbed the rope behind me, as if participating in an exciting tug-of-war. The raft, like a wilted banana leaf,

was lifted onto the deck along with the plump water wolf.

"Phew." I let out a long breath and lay down. "What happened? Are you hurt? I'll go call Chi Chunlai." Yi Liang was frightened by my actions, her face turning pale. "No need, I need to recover my strength and nerves.

" "Yi Liang, come here." "Lu Ya called to her softly. The two little girls stood on the gun emplacement ten meters in front of me, whispering mysteriously. "Yeah, I saw it too, it really hit him

. Could it be..."

They thought their whispered conversation wouldn't be heard by me. Actually, from the moment I boarded the ship, Lu Ya suspected I was a ghost, and I knew she couldn't figure something out. I slowly sat up from the deck where I had been lying,

my back feeling very uncomfortable.

"Yi Liang, binoculars." I responded in a low voice. "Oh, coming." Yi Liang hurriedly ran to my shoulder and handed it to me with her fair and soft little hand. "Yi Liang, come here quickly." Lu Ya

gestured to her again from behind.

"Go get a small bucket, tie some fresh water with a rope, and while you're at it, see if Chi Chun has woken up, and tell her to bring the first-aid kit." As soon as I finished speaking, Yi Liang immediately squatted down, her soft hands

cupping my cheeks, and asked with concern, "Are you really injured? Where?" "

As she asked, her slender fingers began to unbutton my shirt. I cooperated by raising my arms to help her take off my green top. In that instant, my entire back felt like it was being roasted by fire.

Yi Liang's eyes reddened and welled up with tears. "You were hit by a big tree, there are bloodstains all over your back." Lu Ya also ran over curiously to see, but what she wanted to see more was why the bullet hadn't killed me. There was a large, purple bruise the size of a pancake on the back of my left shoulder. Yi Liang began to sob. She knew I couldn't see behind me, but she also knew I wanted to know about the injury, so she forced back the tears welling up in her eyes and choked out her story.

Five cool, soft fingers gently touched the bruise that Yi Liang had mentioned, and I felt a wave of discomfort, my body trembling. "Your flesh is so hard, like a rock, no wonder the bullet couldn't penetrate it."

I stood up, partly because I couldn't stand Lu Ya's naivety, and partly because I didn't want to be poked and pinched by her curious fingers anymore. I drew my dagger, grabbed the water wolf's mouth, and dragged it back to where it had just lain. Aiming

at the wolf's belly, where a purplish-black, blood-sucking bullet hole had appeared, I sliced

into it. "Clang." A bullet, soaked in black, rolled onto the deck. "Quite elegant, a masterpiece of trembling fingers." With that, I ran the dagger across the animal hide and tucked it back into my boot.

"Hehe." Yi Liang, who had been crying, was suddenly amused by my words and quickly covered her peach-like mouth with her hand. Those crystal-clear tears clung to the girl's upturned eyelashes, reluctant to fall.

Yi Liang's beauty at that moment seemed to reach its peak, washing away all the man's sorrow and pain.
"Ah, a weasel, so smelly, so smelly, you can't eat it. We used to have a laying hen at home, and it was bitten to death and had its blood drunk by this thing." Lu Ya, seeing the bullet pulled from the carcass, immediately understood.

Realizing she had almost killed me, and considering her earlier overreaction, she feared I would be angry and scold her like I had on the shore last time. She quickly straightened up and played the silly girl.

"You shot very well. If it weren't for your cover, I would either have been bitten by a crocodile and dragged into the river, or entangled by a anaconda and rolled into the water." Yi Liang stopped laughing and turned to go back into the cabin. Only Lu Ya remained, her

big eyes still blinking, unsure of my words.

"When I hit you, I almost cried. It was Yi Liang who encouraged me, telling me not to cry, to be strong like you, and to keep shooting with confidence." This girl was good at seizing opportunities;

if she couldn't figure out the conversation's flow, she would subtly try to please me.

If she were a man, a skilled sniper, I would definitely be furious, but she was just a child, a little girl, who had just saved my life. For a novice like her,

encouragement and urging for improvement were far more effective than scolding.

“This isn’t a weasel that stole your hen, it’s a water wolf.” I said, starting to skin the animal carcass. I knew my body needed more than just medicine.

“You’re lying! How could a wolf be in the water? I saw it clearly through the sniper scope.” I sighed deeply again, shaking my head helplessly. This girl must have been aiming at me through the sniper scope.

But she meant no harm; she was just trying to observe carefully and fulfill her duty of protection.

“See, I was right, it’s not a wolf.” This girl still wouldn’t let it go, wanting me to tell her the answer. “It’s an otter. They live in groups in the river and can cooperate like wolves,

chasing schools of fish and organizing hunts. That’s why they’re called wolves in the river.”

“Hehe, you’re so brave, let me kiss you.” Before I could even think, her words, seemingly out of nowhere, led this little girl to stick her warm lips to my forehead.

“Pfft, pfft, pfft.” Lu Ya wiped her mouth with the backs of her hands, her tongue constantly tracing patterns on her lips. I didn't look at her, but I knew she must look ridiculous, so I couldn't help but

chuckle my

face remained grim as I lowered my head to butcher the meat. "So salty, so salty!" The girl skipped and hopped as she ran into the cabin, bumping right into Yi Liang, who was carrying a small bucket. The two girls were about the same height, their firm breasts and budding breasts touching head to head.

This was a woman's feeling, something a man could never guess. "Quick, quick, bring me some river water, I need to rinse my mouth," Lu Ya urged Yi Liang urgently.

Perhaps it was because my face was covered in crocodile blood, the fishy and salty taste was something my nose and tongue had experienced countless times, but this crazy little girl was the first time in her life that I

had tasted this flavor from a man's forehead.

"What's wrong? Let me see," Chi Chun said, holding a small medicine box, her charming face still radiating the beauty of sleep. She squatted behind me, carefully examining the scratches on my back and the bullet

wound.

Chi Chun, while staring at the wound on my back, hurriedly opened the first-aid kit, searched for iodine, and used it to clean the bloodstains.

Chapter 100: The Enlightening Strike

"Oh dear, don't move, I can't muster any strength," Chi Chun said anxiously. I was tearing at the otter skin with one hand and peeling away the membrane with a dagger with the other, unwilling to stop what I was doing. "Chi Chun, think carefully

, is that monkey in the raft a suitable food source? Is it dangerous?"

Chi Chun was busy cleaning my wounds, her eyes only glancing at the headless monkey before she began to think. Yi Liang struggled to bring over a small bucket filled with river water, placed it beside Chi Chun's left leg, and squatted down as well

, anxiously looking at my back.

Because Chi Chun had just woken up, the warmth emanating from her full, delicate body gently warmed my cool back. “The wounds are all cleaned. Don’t wear clothes on your upper body to prevent infection. It’s best to go back to the cabin and lie down

for a while . I’ll prepare the food.”

I cut off all the meat from the otter’s hindquarters and threw it into the bucket of water where Chi Chun had just washed her hands. Pointing to the lemur on the raft

, I said, “Have you thought about how risky it is to eat it?” Chi Chun hesitated, staring at the small animal, her cheek turned to me as she said, “It’s best not to eat monkeys. Most of them carry viruses. Some patients have short-term symptoms, while others have long incubation periods.”

I straightened up, raised my binoculars, and observed the surroundings again. The crocodiles had dispersed from the ambush site, and there were no visible signs of hunting, but it proved something. Without

experiencing it firsthand, relying on analogical experience and imagining it from the deck, one either harms unexpected lives or gets harmed oneself.

“Chi Chun, take the otter meat to the kitchen and cook it. Try to cook the meat into a porridge-like consistency, and keep the supply at a minimum.” Chi Chun understood and could see the situation. The only thing she didn’t know was that this otter was

a reward thrown into a cage by heaven.

Yi Liang carried the small first-aid kit and returned to the cabin with Chi Chun. Lu Ya fiddled with the sniper rifle again, constantly aiming it at the large fish leaping from the water. My entire back, thanks to the iodine treatment

, had returned to its normal pain level.

"Are you going back to the cabin too? Aren't you going to teach me how to shoot?" Lu Ya heard my footsteps as I entered the cabin and quickly turned around to ask. "I won't teach you alone." I didn't turn around and went straight into the large ship, leaving

the little girl lost in thought.

Yi Liang and Chi Chun had already gone down to the hall, and the women squatting in the corner had mostly woken up from their hunger. I walked towards the ammunition depot, my back bare and covered in blood. The women followed my movements with

surprised eyes.

I slung my second sniper rifle over my shoulder and walked back onto the deck. "Huh." Lu Ya was leaning against the railing of the ship's side, her slender hands covering her eyes, looking up at the flock

of seabirds flying overhead.

My appearance seemed to rekindle her lost innocence. "Go call Yi Liang, tell her to come up to the deck too." I craned my neck to watch the flock of birds flying overhead. The little girl, as if a long

-awaited game was about to begin, skipped and hopped into the cabin to find Yi Liang to join her.

Yi Liang's fair forehead was glistening with dewdrops, and as soon as she stepped off the deck, she eagerly met my gaze with gentle, kind eyes. "Here, the bullets are loaded. You and Lu Ya stand at

the stern of the large ship, I'll stand at the bow. Go."

I said coldly to the two girls. The river would probably take two days to return to its lake-like state. I couldn't go down any further; not only was it dangerous for me, but

the number of small rafts was also limited.

"And then?" Lu Ya shouted excitedly, holding up her rifle and trying to look behind me. I quickly waved downwards, signaling to the impetuous girl. "The ship is a hundred meters long. Use your eyes

and brains to memorize the distances within those hundred meters," I shouted from the opposite side.

Lu Ya looked puzzled; it wasn't what she expected. Yi Liang, though initially confused, diligently followed my instructions. After a while, I returned to their side.

"Look at the tall tree upstream in the distance. It's several hundred meters from our position," Yi Liang said, shielding her eyes from the rising sun with her hand, beginning her estimation. "Ah! That far

? It's hard to guess without a ruler,"

Lu Ya exclaimed, sensing my intention but feigning surprise. She reasoned that if her estimation was inaccurate, it was due to the difficulty of the object itself, not her lack of focus.

"I don't want excuses, just answers," I said, my expression growing colder. Lu Ya, being young, always treated this professional training as a fun game. She had no idea what it meant to

misjudge and get shot in the head by enemy bullets.

“You and Yi Liang are my new recruits. During these few days when we can't work on the boat, I'll use this time to teach you as many survival skills as possible. Lu Ya, see this stick in my hand? If you dare

to grin , your back will end up like mine.”

As I spoke, I didn't look at either of them, but coldly gazed at the leaning tree upstream.

“Four hundred meters,” Yi Liang said seriously and tentatively. I estimated for a moment, then looked at Lu Ya, who hadn't spoken yet. “Five hundred meters, oh no, four hundred meters.” The little girl

lost her confidence after hearing Yi Liang's answer.

“Crack.” The stick in my hand struck Lu Ya hard against the railing next to her left cheek. Some of the shattered wood fell into the rushing river, some splashed onto her long hair.

In a moment of fear, the little girl quickly freed one hand from her gun and covered her eyes. Yi Liang also trembled, thinking Lu Ya was about to be whipped and would scream.

I stared at the terrified little girl, the broken stick still lying across the railing in her hand. She timidly parted her fingers, peeking through half an eye, her fear masking her pain, waiting for me to speak

.

“Enemy bullets are far more accurate than this stick in my hand. From now on, when I hit you, you mustn’t be so tense, and you mustn’t close your eyes. Hands aren’t for numbing yourself, but for stopping attacks and killing the enemy

.”

Luya’s large eyes were filled with tears. She fully realized that this wasn’t a game; the concept of interest or indifference would only tarnish the seriousness before her. Yi Liang was also too frightened to breathe freely.

“I know you’re still young, and delicate girls, but no man is eternal. You must learn this important thing.” Luya nodded tearfully, her voice filled with grievance,

no longer daring to speak freely.

"From today onwards, intensive training begins. No matter what happens, or any provocation, you two are not allowed to be happy, not allowed to be nervous. You must always remain silent, as cold as ice, as still as ice."

The two girls nodded, only knowing that this was training, unaware of the actual connection between the current requirements and shooting to kill, let alone the precognitive intent and future effects.

Chapter 101 The Ghost Seedling on the Deck

"That slanted tree by the river in the distance is 475 meters away from us. Take another look at the deck length and re-perceive the distance."

This time, the two girls became serious, looking earnestly at the stern, trying hard to memorize the 100-meter distance.

"Luya, do you know that the bullet you shot at the anaconda accidentally hit me?" When I mentioned shooting accuracy, Luya immediately focused her eyes, shaking her head like a rattle-drum, wanting me to give her an answer.

"The crosshairs on the sniper scope aren't meant to be aimed at the target so the bullet will hit it precisely. You have to treat the crosshairs in the scope as a reference point. Although the bullet leaves the barrel, it is controlled by nature. Now, aim at that big tree 500 meters away."

While instructing the two girls, I lay prone on the deck, raised my sniper rifle, and observed the designated target in the distance. "Now, observe the trees, look for life on them—an insect, a bird, a frog—anything can be the bullseye. Don't treat the tree itself as the target."

"I can't see anything," Yi Liang said seriously after observing intently for a while. I lay prone to Yi Liang's right, about two meters away. She turned her beautiful face, looking at me with expectant eyes.

"We're not lying on a big ship now. You need to imagine the environment: a row of low bushes along the ship's side, and in the distant trees, there are snipers like us, searching and ready to fire deadly bullets at any moment."

"Okay." "Okay." The two girls nodded in agreement simultaneously. I felt a little helpless, but I continued to patiently guide them. “Thumbs up means 'okay,' 'go,' or 'yes.' If you can't see, or your line of sight or position is poor, cover your eyes with four fingers together. Don't make a sound, and be careful

with every movement. If there are birds or animals nearby and you're startled, this unusual movement will immediately attract the attention of snipers lying in ambush, and your life will become the enemy's most desired target.” “Okay,” Luya agreed again. Just as I was about to glare at her, the girl hurriedly covered her mouth. Realizing something was wrong, she quickly pulled out her left hand and raised her delicate, white thumb.

“I saw a tree frog. You two quickly find its location, observe it first, remember the frog's color, the shape of the surrounding branches and leaves, and then shoot after I give you my hand signals. This is your task.”

I continued to press my eyes back against the sniper scope, no longer looking at the large tree in the distance, but looking further upstream on the river. On the large ship, only I knew that my current situation, seemingly peaceful and safe, had actually become a deadly game where every second counted. Now, I could only teach the two girls while carrying out my own mission.

If the river's current slows down in two days, I'll try to weigh anchor and inch the boat closer. Although the riverbanks are lined with timber, and I have a handy axe, the danger is a hundred times greater than it was in the grove.

The two girls not only need to master shooting skills and general knowledge, but they also need perseverance and a strong physique. For now, we can only use the deck of the large ship as a training ground, teaching them some practical shooting techniques.

Being able to hit the target every time in a confined environment is enough to win an Olympic gold medal, but it's far from being a professional sniper, especially a ghost sniper.

Whether in forests, valleys, mountains, towns, shooting upwards or downwards, windless or calm, rainy or snowy, light intensity, or even dampness or dryness, an excellent sniper can achieve a 99% hit rate within effective range.

Shooting technique isn't actually the first thing to consider; many things can affect the hit rate. After eliminating these factors, luck is the only one beyond our control.

“Yi Liang, describe the target you see first.” As I spoke, I continued searching for my other target. “A bluish-black frog with dense black spots on its back, preparing to prey on an inchworm under the branches.”

The image she captured was the same as what I had just seen. “Lu Ya, it’s your turn to describe.” My eyes remained pressed against the sniper scope on my rifle, waiting for her to speak. But after a long while, the girl remained silent.

When I turned to look at her, she was raising her rounded thumb and staring at me with wide eyes. This little devil was quite engrossed and adept at interpreting hand gestures, knowing that a thumb up meant the opposite of down.

I stared into Lu Ya’s large eyes and pointed to my eyes with my index and middle fingers.

This stumped her; she hesitated for a long time, unable to decipher my meaning. “This means to see, to be visible.” I then made a claw shape with my palm and pointed downwards. Her eyes widened even more, and she suddenly found these gestures fascinating.

“An animal.” After saying that, I stopped looking at her. The two young girls lowered their heads again, observing the monkey that was about to become cannon fodder for human progress.

Their bodies were in the throes of puberty; the first time they shot at the monkey from the deck, they had mistakenly used their arms to support their weapons. Now, I had to tell them shooting techniques unknown to most.

"Your current prone position makes it difficult to control fatigue. The surrounding environment is important, but without a correct posture, you'll sway unsteadily. Therefore, you must utilize your skeletal structure to support your sniper rifle. Shooting is much easier when prone."

I had only explained halfway when the two girls simultaneously let out a long sigh, like balloons finally released from their seals, slumping limply against their rifles.

If I had simply ordered them to fire, I'm certain neither girl would have hit the target; their arm muscles were tense and trembling. Non-professional shooters wouldn't notice these subtle yet crucial movements.

"Hold your forearm in the center of your chest, perpendicular to the forearm grip of the rifle, so that the muzzle can move straight up and down. Keep your forearm close to your sternum so that the sternum assists in supporting the weight of the sniper rifle. When ambushing, you must lie prone in a flat and comfortable position, with your toes pointing outwards so that your feet are flat on the ground. Start from your feet and arrange your whole body on the ground. If you use your muscles to support your body, it will be easy to sway."

Yi Liang and Lu Ya, as if listening to Teacher Yu Jia's instructions, constantly adjusted and moved their delicate bodies with my words. They were both very intelligent and could keep up with my explanation in time, finding the correct shooting posture.

"In the future, when you two go to environments like mountains, valleys, and rivers to shoot enemies, try to find a position that you can maintain for a long time without easily tiring you out. For different positions of the rifle on your shoulder, you need a combination of postures that minimizes swaying but allows for flexible movement of the rifle."

I imagined the future, two little girls, proudly holding sniper rifles, running in nature like me, fighting back against all evil. A warm feeling welled up inside me.

Chapter 102: Chasing the Chain of Life

"When firing, do not take your eyes off the scope to change the magazine. Only do this when no one can see you."

Lu Ya immediately straightened her neck, like a little oriole waiting to be nursed, her big eyes looking at me. "The enemy can't see us, so why do we need to sneak around changing magazines?" The two girls had never experienced actual combat. These explanations couldn't be memorized like for an exam, to be applied later.

My responsibility was to put their thoughts into practice, to lead them into the threshold of killing and being killed, and then bring them back out. "When ambushing, you can't be sure if anyone is watching you, especially the enemy in front. You need to give them the illusion that you can fire at any time, suppressing their potential and lethal firepower. If an enemy hides behind cover and fires at you, you must hit them quickly and accurately, trying to blow their head off. Other enemies won't dare to easily spy or retaliate."

"Several hundred meters away, that's so far, can the enemy see us?" Yi Liang pressed. "Sometimes, they don't need to see us. The enemy just needs to sweep their machine gun at the possible hiding spot of a sniper, like exploding a mudfish from the bottom of the mud. So, once a sniper's eyes leave the scope, the attack becomes blind, and the defense becomes blind as well."

The flood discharge upstream shows signs of weakening, so my prediction is basically correct. The river will calm down in two days, and then it will be much safer for boating, hunting, logging, and the like.

"Is it correct to understand that 'attack is the best defense'?" Yi Liang blinked her bright, mirror-like eyes, looked at me, then at Lu Ya, and thought her answer would be accepted.

"Neither attack nor escape is the best defense. If you lie prone in one spot, you are stationary in the enemy's eyes. The enemy is like a puddle of water pierced by a bullet; it will inevitably split after being stimulated, and that is its dynamic state. You must cherish and make full use of every second to complete the sniping mission."

Lu Ya withdrew her left hand, her slender, pale fingers pressed together, and vigorously rubbed her delicate forehead, pouting her lips in frustration. "I don't understand! How can the enemy be water?" Yi Liang, after hearing Lu Ya's statement, immediately looked at me, expressing the same sentiment.

"Because the longer the time, the greater the changes in the surrounding environment compared to what you observed before you laid an ambush. For example, the grass and branches that conceal you, they are growing or withering; the background of the sky, the clouds and light; the crawling insects around you; and the movement of third parties from afar. Everything is in motion and changing; you have to shorten the distance created by time. The world of an A-level sniper is about finding gaps in relativity, killing the locked-on, lagging life, and escaping the time pressure that kills you."

After explaining, I raised my eyes from the sniper scope, glancing at the two girls' level of understanding. "Sigh, sigh." Lu Ya and Yi Liang, two lovely and charming faces, like clean and dried jade plates, exquisite yet without a trace of moisture, making one want to touch them, but touching them doesn't feel as comfortable as seeing them before.

"He's in a different world from us, how terrifying!" Lu Ya whispered in Yi Liang's ear, telling her girlish secrets. Upon hearing her words, Yi Liang's charming little lips pursed, and a few smiles appeared. This smile was most like a group of girls bathing, hearing their lovers knocking at the door, hugging and laughing as they fled to both sides, half-hiding and half-revealing themselves.

"Integrate into your ambush environment, maintain communication and consistency with all things in nature, only then can you keep up with the chain of life. Yi Liang, you hold the gun first, try shooting at the poison dart frog that is hunting at 500 meters."

After saying that, I put my eyes back on the sniper scope. On the blue T-shaped crosshair, the brightly colored tree frog had already adjusted its posture, ready to stick out its sticky tongue to catch the green inchworm under the leaf in front of it.

"Okay." Yi Liang had just finished speaking and was about to press her innocent eyes to the sniper scope. Lu Ya quickly reached out, patted Yi Liang's shoulder, and raised her unusually straight thumb to show Yi Liang.

Yi Liang's lotus-colored face immediately flushed red, and the smile that had been hidden at the corner of her mouth was like the shy restlessness of a naked girl who had finally been discovered.

"The trajectory of a bullet is parabolic, while your vision is linear. The final point where the two intersect is the hit. When you see a parabolic trajectory, don't panic about the bullet's deviation. You have to consider the effects of the Earth's rotation and the wind."

Yi Liang aimed carefully. I glanced at her from time to time and then quickly observed the tree frog. "Bang." The moment the gunshot entered my left ear, the poisonous frog, its tongue swirling in its mouth, jerked violently, like a person's nerves only telling them to duck their neck after a foreign object flies over their head.

"Sigh." "Yi Liang sighed, as if apologizing for missing. "It's alright. At this distance, no one can hit it on the first shot. You seemed to have good control; the bullet hit the frog within 20 centimeters, which is quite good."

Yi Liang was indeed excellent. I thought her bullets would be like feathers drifting in the wind, completely invisible in my sniper scope, but she unexpectedly achieved an extremely high hit rate.

If that poison dart frog were the size of a **'s head, this person's scalp would probably be deeply scratched, like an ox's plow had passed through it.

"Remember, after each shot, whether successful or not, you must not have any emotions. That will make your heart beat faster and the gun barrel shake. You need to make a thumbs-down, constantly bending gesture to tell your teammates that the target missed, but there is still a life. These precautions are more important than hitting the target." "

Luya lay beside me, listening intently to my explanation to Yiliang. She envied Yiliang for achieving such a commendable score, so she felt a mix of hope and worry.

"Luya, listen carefully. I'll explain Yiliang's mistakes. Even if you can't achieve a better score, at least your bullets won't be blown away by the wind."

Hearing my lack of confidence, Luya pouted slightly, but behind her large, blinking eyes, her two jade-like ears were already perked up, like a white rabbit hearing a sound but not seeing a predator.

"When you inhale, the gun barrel will naturally tilt downwards; when you exhale, it will tilt upwards. And you must never hold your breath to fire. If you don't breathe, your muscles will sway due to lack of oxygen. Before pulling the trigger, take a deep breath, then exhale slowly. When you exhale, feel your breath becoming heavier, then inhale again until you feel your breath becoming heavier again, then pause for one or two seconds. It's that simple." "

Lu Ya listened carefully to my explanation while adjusting her breathing. However, because she couldn't grasp the key points, she even forgot the basic breathing for a moment. It's like the story of the man from Handan who tried to learn how to walk but ended up imitating someone from Handan.

Chapter 103: Totem on Blood and Bone

"Don't be nervous, take it slow. This one or two seconds is your shooting time. Since you only have two seconds, you must prepare to aim beforehand. Remember, this is crucial."

Lu Ya nodded as if she understood, her oval chin bobbing a few times on the butt of the rifle. Yi Liang and I pressed our eyes back against the sniper scope. The heterochromatic frog was still perched on the branch, drooling over the worm.

It didn't know that the bullet that had just swooped past was a warning for life. That soft-bodied little colored worm was pulling it into a risky and dizzying state of greed. If it weren't for the temptation of its appetite, that slippery, shiny poisonous frog should have jumped into the water.

"Stop." I shouted immediately, raising my clenched left fist. "This gesture is to signal the teammates to stop firing." "You two need to remember this too." Lu Ya was intently aiming when my sudden shout startled her. This girl, Lu Ya, who had been fumbling with her aim for so long, scattered like a flock of sparrows finally lured together with a grain of wheat.

"Lu Ya, when you pull the trigger, do you pay attention to your finger? Do you feel it really pulling back? You probably didn't know before, but when you pull the trigger, your finger actually pulls back from the side. Pulling the trigger like this adds an invisible force to the side of the trigger. Think back, when you shot me, did your finger tilt?"

My words immediately dispelled the reluctance on Lu Ya's face. Her big eyes lit up again, and she and Yi Liang looked at me expectantly, like children ready to hear a fairy tale.

"If you're holding the gun with your right hand, the muzzle will move to your right because your finger pushes to the left while your forearm doesn't move, acting like a lever, causing the muzzle to move to your right." "That's why, even though the anaconda was behind me, you still managed to shoot me on the shoulder while I was carrying the water wolf."

"Hehe, yeah, that's right. I was just wondering why the bullets kept veering to the right, so I guessed and moved the gun a little to the left." Lu Ya's big eyes narrowed into two slits with a smile, like crescent moons, one hanging in the sky, the other floating on the water.

"So how do you avoid that? How do you make the bullet travel in a straight line?" "Although Yi Liang was happy, she was more focused on solving the root of the problem. Lu Ya's childlike nature sometimes outweighed her outward appearance.

Seeing the two girls gradually develop a strong interest in sniping, I also felt very fulfilled. Their feelings were something I could never personally experience. When I was their age, I never received such gentle and professional guidance. The

assassin experience I imparted to the two girls was all accumulated over the years, standing on the edge of death, crawling and struggling. These bloody techniques, like the sharpness of a dagger, are deeply engraved on every bone in my body.

The harsher the combat conditions, the tighter the shadow of death looms, the more clearly the killing totems on my bones are displayed." "Yes, tell me the method quickly. If I can overcome bullet deviation, I can shoot more accurately." "

Lu Ya's face couldn't contain her joy and eagerness. Perhaps she felt that this was the most suitable epiphany for her. Just like a student in a classroom, spending four or five hours listening to the teacher ramble on and on, as long as one sentence in it makes you feel useful, then the class wasn't a waste of time, and you've gained something.

I glanced at the poisonous frog. Its greedy posture, which had just been scattered by the bullet, began to adjust again. It couldn't see itself, but the image reflected in my sniper scope was a desperately tempting, dying expression."

“To avoid this, try to control the trigger using the space between the first and second joints of your fingers. This will reduce the force applied to the left. Also, when pulling the trigger, avoid applying excessive force. Pull the trigger slowly with your finger until the bullet fires.”

As I spoke, Lu Ya had already lowered her head, raised her sniper rifle, and aimed at the frog 500 meters away. “You need to calculate that the frog’s location is two 250s.” To help this competitive little girl shoot more steadily, I added a word of advice.

Lu Ya aimed intently for a while, hesitating to pull the trigger. Her fingers, slender and soft, seemed to be teasing rather than pulling. “What’s wrong?” I asked the somewhat confused little girl with concern.

“My heart is pounding. You said that a faster heartbeat makes the gun shake. What should I do?” Although Lu Ya was sometimes innocent and cute, she was not reckless or impulsive. She knew that when she couldn't control her anxiety, she should confide in those around her and seek answers.

"That's a good question. When you're unsure if you can hit the target with one shot, the best thing to do is give up. Smart snipers do that."

"But I don't want to give up, then I won't be able to hit the tree frog." This girl couldn't understand my answer for a moment; she was still using a normal person's approach, conjuring up a fantasy. This fantasy was like me on the deck, easily shooting down five lemurs, imagining myself crossing over on a small raft to retrieve a delicious meal.

Chapter 104: The Blind Spot of Life, the Forbidden Island of Humanity

"Don't be afraid. Understand the meaning of the evil god correctly. The surface words are like a sniper's disguise; without thinking and considering other possibilities, it's easy to be misled. The god who eliminates evil is called the evil god; the god who bestows blessings is called the blessing god. So, when shooting at life, you should silently recite scriptures. Pray for your bullet, and the blessing god and the evil god will switch places, and your heart will find peace."

"We don't understand the Bible, so what should we recite?" Yi Liang listened with great interest and couldn't help but ask. “You recite it once, and we’ll repeat it silently after you,” Lu Ya said eagerly after Yi Liang finished asking.

“Please have mercy, tell her what you want most. Don’t pray for your own greed, or it will backfire.” My words seemed to transport the two little girls into a world where things were within easy reach. Lu Ya tossed her head, her eyes darting left and right, and began to imagine.

“Merciful Lord, I’m so hungry, so hungry! That tree frog’s thigh must taste delicious. Give it to me, your devout servant.” The girl smacked her lips, her right eye tightly closed, her left eye pressed hard against the sniper scope.

“Ouch! That hurts! Why did you hit me? You said you wanted what you wanted most.” I gently tapped her head with the small wooden stick I was holding, but she gave a clever cry to protect herself. Yi Liang saw Lu Ya clutching the back of her head, her stubborn little mouth pouting, with an innocent and aggrieved expression, and couldn’t help but smile slightly.

"You've only been hungry for a day, yet you're begging for food. The Lord won't pay attention to such self-deceiving hypocrisy. What would it taste like if the target were a human?" Yi Liang's pretty face broke into a dimple as she smiled, her eyes narrowed as she watched Lu Ya's response.

"Tell the truth, state your purpose in shooting that tree frog. Don't use grand pronouncements or try to manipulate your mind; that way, your heartbeat will be calm. The Lord's eyes see all things; before Her, you are nothing but piety."

"Who is the Lord?" Yi Liang stopped laughing and asked seriously. "The Lord resides within every life, therefore she can see all things. The gods of evil and good are the two weights she uses to control the scales of life. Those who refuse to believe are like snipers ignoring time, unable to perceive the pressure of time pressing down on them."

After listening to my words, Luya pressed her eyes back to the sniper scope and began a new recitation: "Master, I will temporarily borrow the innocent life of your servant to help me shoot the tree frog. In the future, I will return the soul that betrayed you as a servant."

"Bang." With Luya's recitation, the poison dart frog I was observing through the sniper scope instantly exploded. I jumped up, grabbed the two girls, tucked them between my arms, and ran quickly towards the hatch.

"I hit it! I hit it!" Luya, her little bottom sticking out, kicked and twisted her legs under my chest. The women in the corner of the hall were once again frightened by my actions, all shrinking back and crowding together.

"Come and eat, I've finished cooking." Chi Chun, carrying a steaming pot of otter meat, walked into the hall like a pretty housewife. I put the two girls down and solemnly said to Chi Chun, "These two girls are not allowed to eat."

Chi Chun, with her ample bosom, froze in mid-air, her arm holding the pot still, staring at me blankly with a bewildered expression.

"Lu Ya, say it again. Did you shoot that tree frog?" I gripped the stick in my right hand and squeezed her soft shoulder with my left, squatting down to ask her. Lu Ya didn't know what had happened, frowning and staring into my eyes.

"I hit it, I saw the bullet land on the tree frog's air sac." Lu Ya looked serious with a puzzled expression. "Snap, snap." I struck her outside the thigh with the stick in my right hand.

"Say it again, did you shoot that tree frog?" Lu Ya's eyes were already filled with tears, and the inexplicable pain made her look helplessly at Yi Liang, then at Chi Chun, seeking help from a third party.

"Snap, snap." I struck her delicate leg again with the stick. "Don't look at others, answer yourself. Did you hit the tree frog? Don't cry." I shouted, my fingers gripping her shoulder, exerting pressure imperceptibly.

All the women in the hall were stunned by this scene. They didn't know what terrible mistake Luya had made, nor did they understand why I was so violent.

"Waaah, waaah, waaah." Luya burst into tears, hugging Yiliang's waist and burying her head in Yiliang's firm breasts. The wooden stick in my right hand rained down on her, making her tremble and convulse.

Luya had indeed hit the target; her shot was far beyond my expectations. While the two girls were practicing shooting, I had been observing the distance, paying extra attention to places where danger might be lurking.

"Let's go eat first." Her excitement at hitting the target had long since vanished, like a child who had been abused and was too afraid to go home.

Lu Ya sobbed, timidly approaching the meat pot, intending to have Chi Chun bring her food. She glanced at me fearfully, turning her head several times as she did so.

I sat alone on the stairs, watching this aggrieved little girl. Lu Ya didn't know that the stick striking her felt like it was hitting my own heart. Yet I knew clearly that giving her this violence now was to prevent her from being harmed by enemy bullets in the future.

When a sniper revels in his hunt and cunning, another sniper who can kill him will be born.

Lu Ya's age and body were still very immature; she couldn't comprehend the bloodshed and terror of death through mere imagination, which meant she was destined not to be aware of those taboo yet important things.

A sniper's kill is made after squeezing into the chain of life, deeply believing in the scriptures they silently recite, resonating and communicating with all things. Among all the snipers in the world, you can find fewer than three who, like Lu Ya, can hit their target on their first attempt at 500 meters.

After the tree frog was hit, its shattered flesh and blood, like billowing red smoke, lingered on the swaying branches for a long time.

When one life ends another, it must be done with solemnity and gravity, without excitement or elation. Any smile that comes from taking pleasure in this is bound to be cursed. Those who entertain life, as long as they also possess life, will ultimately be trapped in the cycle of being entertained.

As for Luya and Yiliang, their disappointment and triumph over whether or not they hit their targets will one day lead to their deaths at the hands of the enemy. The beatings and intimidation with sticks are precisely what drive away the blind spots in their personalities.

When I was in the mercenary camp, there was a soldier who suffered a mental breakdown because he couldn't bear the instructor's bizarre training. In the middle of the night, he was alone outside his tent, shouting deafeningly as he drilled. When the instructor came over to reprimand him, this mercenary grabbed a live ammunition, shot the instructor dead, and then committed suicide by shooting himself.

The large ship rocked incessantly through the night, but much more gently than the previous night. Luya, her stomach still half-full from a nervous meal, was already fast asleep, nestled in the same small bed as Yiliang. I thought this girl's intimacy with me would undergo a dramatic change from this moment on.

Chapter 105: The Creepy Petal Hook

It was late at night, and I was still awake, thinking about how to solve the current food crisis. The sleeping pod was a bit chilly. Luya curled up tightly, clinging to Yiliang, burying her head in her firm breasts, seeking warmth.

I gently got up and covered the two little girls with my green coat. They slept peacefully, like twin sisters in the womb. Because of the cold, Luya hadn't slept soundly. Awakening from a light dream, she rubbed her sleepy eyes and then covered Yiliang with the coat.

In the dim light, seeing that I wasn't asleep either, Luya simply got off the small bed, groped her way to my bedside, and like a lamb seeking milk, squeezed herself under me. I'm a man with a muscular physique and a strong resistance to the cold. The warmth I radiated made Luya hug me tightly, a comfortable smile on her lips, and she quickly drifted off to sleep.

I opened my arms, holding her petite body close, trying to keep her warm. I thought of how she had been beaten with a stick during the day, terrified and convulsing, yet her eyes remained open, staring unblinkingly at my raised arm as she cried. My heart felt like that of a newborn baby, its mouth suddenly filled with vinegar—an indescribable pain, one that could only be silently endured.

A gentle warmth emanated from the little girl's hair, and I softly stroked her head with my chin, releasing the aching pain in my heart. Luya's tears soaked my chest; she was pretending to be asleep.

I asked her if it hurt. She shook her head, then nodded, her honesty showing her strength. She told me that Yi Liang had already comforted her, knowing that what I did was to train her, to prevent her from being harmed by evil people someday.

"Sleep. Tomorrow will be another day," I whispered in her ear. The little girl obediently closed her eyes, snuggling closer to my warm chest, and said nothing more. I

hadn't done a single thing I promised Luya. I'd wanted to take her fishing, but instead, we were trapped in a raging river. The women in the hall must be starving right now.

The otter, with half its meat cut off, would be gone after one more meal tomorrow, leaving no food for the rest of the year. This crisis, though unseen, was incredibly tense.

The thought of sleep only lingered in my mind for three hours before being swept away by heavy worries and anxieties. I carefully pulled myself out of bed and wrapped the sheet tightly around the curled-up Luya, hoping she could sleep a little longer. I

walked into the hall alone. The women squatting there, their stomachs empty, were still drifting in a cold, dreamless state. Pushing open the armory door, I quietly approached Cang Gui. This old thief must be most afraid of the cold right now. His gang of thugs probably wouldn't stop their wicked clutches even when a woman is menstruating and bleeding, letting him experience the chill of being a woman.

Since the forest, teeming with life, forbids me from approaching to feast, I'll use a clever trick, luring the enemy in deep. The brilliant culture and thought of ancient civilizations are like an inexhaustible spring of wisdom, nourishing generation after generation of dragon-like descendants. If we abandon these treasures and indulge in licking the stale, sickly face of island nations built on plagiarism, we are abandoning our advantages and clinging to our disadvantages, ultimately suffering losses and being despised.

I picked up my axe and smashed down the iron cage imprisoning the woman from the tall iron pillar. It was like a box a meter high and wide, perfect for holding Cang Gui.

I raised my foot and gently kicked Cang Gui's waist, seeing that he still had a faint breath, which eased some of the loneliness in my heart.

This large pile of torture instruments was mostly made of steel plates and bars. I swung my axe and smashed down three steel bars, each about forty centimeters long and thicker than my thumb. I went to the engine room, retrieved a heavy hammer from the toolbox, and carried the anvil to the deck.

In the early morning light, still tinged with the darkness of night, the much quieter river caused a cool, misty vapor to constantly blanket my bare chest and back, like countless tiny icy hands trying to force me back into a warm, dry bed.

To combat the chill, I placed the fifty or sixty-pound anvil at the bow, gripped a steel bar tightly in my left hand, pressed it down on the anvil, and swung the hammer wildly with my right.

"Clang, clang. Clang, clang." I could have processed these iron tools in the ammunition compartment, but not wanting to disturb the women's sweet dreams and make them even hungrier when they woke up, I moved to the bow, transferring the shrill noise to the lazy birds and beasts.

This should have been the quietest time of day in the entire forest, as the strangely shaped, multicolored insects, having chirped noisily all night in the grass and leaves, were now taking a break from their noisy night shift, their throats moistened by the cool dew.

Only the small animals, having feasted under the cover of darkness, were about to return to their nests for a peaceful dream when they were disturbed by the ear-piercing, sharp, violent impact of the metal. They must have been huddled in the dry grass and leaves, their teeth grinding together, clearly angry with me.

"Clang, clang..." The more I struck, the steadyer my grip became; my back was no longer cold, and sweat began to bead on my forehead. As my body warmed up, a sharp spike gradually formed at one end of the metal rod.

Even the waterbirds, usually early risers, were unable to be awakened by their biological clocks, flapping their wings in panic and fleeing in flocks from both banks of the river.

The hammerhead, through the metal bars, slammed violently against the anvil, sending countless tiny sparks flying, leaping onto my muscular arms and chest. The cool dew clinging to my body extinguished these tiny sparks, absorbing their heat and transferring it to my robust frame.

"Glug, plop. Glug, plop." Wisps of white smoke rose from the gradually calming river surface, where catfish and dragonfish, like dancers in a fine mosquito net, twisted and turned, excitedly matching the rhythmic thud of the hammering.

The three iron bars quickly forged a chilling sharpness, their gleaming light burning the naked eye. I inserted them into the round holes of the anvil, bending them into the shape of fishhooks used in slaughterhouses to hook pork, then removed them and hammered barbs horizontally at the lower end of the spikes. This small secondary hook, once it pierced flesh, was like the mouth of a python, biting and refusing to let go until bone and flesh broke.

After crafting the three gigantic iron hooks that sent chills down one's spine, I returned to the cabin and retrieved five long wooden sticks. I bound them together with thin wire, then arranged the three hooks like flower petals, firmly securing them to one end of the ten-meter-long sticks. The tool for tormenting flesh was born, now in my hand.

After stuffing Cang Gui into the iron cage, I dragged him onto the deck. "Brother Cang Gui, breathe some fresh air and cleanse your filthy insides." Now, freed from the greenhouse-like warehouse, Cang Gui huddled wretchedly in the cage, trembling even more violently.

He was no longer the arrogance of a bandit, nor did he possess the methods of torturing prisoners. Combined with this scene, I felt a sense of exhilaration.

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