novelraw Chapter 215: The First Buzz
Chapter 215: The First Buzz
Stored food.
This term pulled the supernatural "collective disappearance case" before their eyes back to the most primitive level—predation.
This village and all the life within it were the granary of some unknown predator.
A chill shot up the spines of the four men.
"Let's get out of here first," Ethan said, gripping his [Morning Star] tightly as he warily scanned the shadows of the silent mud-brick houses around them. "If it's a 'granary,' then the owner could come back to 'pick up a meal' at any time!"
Just as Ethan was about to order the retreat, Yan Xilou shook his head.
"No, Mr. Redgrave. I think we cannot leave yet."
Yan Xilou's voice remained gentle and persuasive.
"Aren't you curious?" Yan Xilou pointed at the lifelike "salt sculptures" around them, a morbid thirst for knowledge showing on his face. "What kind of great and creative creature could complete this collective preservation project, which is practically a work of art, in such an efficient and perfect manner?"
"More importantly..." Yan Xilou's gaze turned toward the center of the village. "What kind of master would need to process its ingredients using such a complex cooking method?"His words struck at the heart of the matter.
If this was for predation, why go to such great lengths to air-dry and preserve the prey?
Wouldn't direct consumption be more in line with a beast's instincts?
"Mr. Yan! I must remind you!" Ethan said, somewhat angrily. "We are not here for a natural history field trip, we are here to survive! The others are waiting for supplies. I absolutely will not allow you to risk everyone's lives to satisfy your damnable curiosity!"
However, before Yan Xilou could respond, a voice Ethan did not expect rang out from beside him.
"I agree we should stay for now."
The speaker was Lin Jie.
This man, whose actions had always prioritized caution and safety as the team's brain, was now agreeing to such a risky proposal.
"Lin Jie, have you gone mad?! Didn't you hear what William said? This is a granary! If we don't leave now, are we just going to wait for the owner to come back and start dinner?" Ethan asked in a tone of disbelief.
"Ethan, calm down and answer three questions for me," Lin Jie said, ignoring his emotional state and adopting an interrogative tone.
"First, how much of our backup fresh water is left?"
Ethan was taken aback for a moment before replying, "Probably enough for less than two days."
"Second, how far are we from the next oasis marked on the map that might have supplies?"
Ethan's expression turned somewhat grim. "At our previous pace, at least three days' journey."
"Then, the third and most crucial question." Lin Jie's gaze sharpened as he pointed a finger toward the center of the silent village.
"Which do you think is more rational: to gamble on a possible hope that requires three days to reach?"
"Or to spend a dozen minutes confirming a source of life that is right before our eyes?"
These three brutally logical questions struck at Ethan's heart.
Right.
They had no way back long ago.
That sandstorm had not only severed their connection to the rear but had also forced them into a desperate situation where not moving forward meant only death.
And this "ghost village" before them, though radiating an eerie aura, was currently the only hope they could see.
He subconsciously cast a pleading look toward William, the only one who might still maintain objectivity.
However, William merely silently flicked off the safety on his [Church Holy Cannon].
He used action to declare his stance.
—Agree with the majority's suggestion.
In the end, Ethan could only let out an unwilling low growl before drawing his [Evening Star] as well.
"Fifteen minutes at most," Ethan's voice was cold and decisive. "We only scout the central area of the village. No matter what we find, fifteen minutes from now, whether you agree or not, we must retreat immediately!"
Having reached a unanimous agreement, the four-man reconnaissance team proceeded with even greater vigilance and purpose, stealthily moving toward the only water source at the village center.
It was a crude, open-air well built from dried mud bricks and stones.
When they reached the well's edge and brought the carbide probe lamp close to the opening to search for water...
A wave of putrid, fishy stench surged from the well, causing everyone to take a step back.
Once they had acclimated to the smell and turned their gazes back to the well wall illuminated by the lamplight, the sight before them made everyone's scalp crawl.
There was no water in the well.
Inside were masses of wriggling nests.
They were fist-sized, earth-yellow sac-like structures, constructed from a yellow gelatinous material mixed with mucus and saline soil, their surfaces densely covered with holes.
These nests densely covered the well walls, extending from the opening all the way down into the darkness where the probe light could not reach.
A rough estimate put their numbers in the hundreds, if not thousands.
What was even more unsettling was that these nests were not inanimate.
Under the glow of the carbide lamp, they could see that many of the nest openings held large larvae. Their bodies were plump and semi-translucent milky white. They extended their featureless heads, slowly writhing in the air with their circular, sucker-like mouthparts.
Stranger still, on the saline, cracked ground around the dry well, there were several imprints of enormous, beast-like footprints.
"So that's it. 'Canopic Jars.'"
Lin Jie uttered a whisper of sudden comprehension upon seeing those nests.
His mind, filled with historical and esoteric knowledge, instantly connected the bizarre ecology before him with the literature on ancient Egyptian mummification processes he had once read in the library of the Underground City.
Lin Jie smacked his forehead hard, annoyed at his earlier mental blind spot.
"How did I not think of it sooner?!" Lin Jie explained rapidly in a hushed voice to the confused William and Ethan beside him. "The first step for ancient Egyptians in making a mummy was to empty the internal organs. They would use a special hook inserted through the nasal cavity to scramble and extract the deceased's brain. Then they would cut open the abdominal cavity to remove all the easily rotting internal organs—liver, stomach, intestines, lungs—and place them separately into four sacred containers for permanent preservation!"
"Those containers are called 'Canopic Jars'!"
"Only after emptying the organs would they use large quantities of natron to dehydrate and preserve the corpse for dozens of days!"
"So the reason these salt sculptures are dried out isn't for storage! It's to provide a nursery for these little things living in the well!!"
"Bzzz—"
A faint, high-speed buzzing of wings suddenly sounded from the dark nest before him.
"Careful!"
A cold glint flashed in the eyes of Yan Xilou, who stood beside Lin Jie. His reaction speed was even faster than Lin Jie's own.
But the thing that flew out of the nest was faster than his warning.
It was a giant wasp the size of an adult's fist, its entire body earth-yellow, blending perfectly with the surroundings.
As that yellow streak of lightning appeared in everyone's vision, Lin Jie's brain immediately went into overdrive, rapidly processing the information before him.
Relying on his familiar memory of the Association's Black Book, he instantly completed the target's identification and matching.
Lin Jie blurted out the name of this species, a desert-specific UMA species only recorded in inconspicuous text within the appendix of the Black Book.
"It's a Canopic Wasp!"
It was like a living bullet with automatic target-seeking capabilities and coated in potent venom. After flying from its nest, it traced a hard-to-capture Z-shaped trajectory through the air.
The wasp's target was not Lin Jie, who was closest.
It was aimed at the man standing behind Lin Jie—Ethan, who held twin pistols but whose attention was focused on the surrounding environment, making his defenses relatively lax.
"Thwip."
Ethan had no time to cry out in alarm. He only felt a slight, mosquito-bite-like sting on the back of his right hand.
Immediately afterward, a toxin carrying a powerful paralyzing sensation instantly rushed through his circulatory system toward his limbs and even his brain's central nervous system.
All vitality was drained from Ethan's eyes within three seconds.
His [Morning Star] and [Evening Star] slipped from his powerless grip and fell to the ground as he toppled stiffly backward.