novelraw Chapter 329: The Law of the Jungle
Chapter 329: The Law of the Jungle
That wooden longboat painted in gray-green was ultimately abandoned by them on the riverbank. Lin Jie carefully camouflaged the small boat, which carried their last means of retreat, using several large palm leaves and the surrounding dense undergrowth.
When their feet truly touched the land known as Borneo, that oppressive feeling of being rejected by the entire world instantly became tangible.
This tropical rainforest, revered by the local Dayak people as the "Heart of the World," was not some poetic landscape painting. It was a massive, humid, and suffocating steamer constructed from endless green vegetation.
The canopy overhead, reaching sixty meters high, blocked almost all sunlight like a heavy dome. Only a few extremely faint rays of light could penetrate the gaps in the leaves and branches, projecting onto the layer of rotting leaf litter.
The air here was thick. Every inhalation felt like swallowing a hot cotton ball laced with mold spores and the scent of decaying plants. Sweat had already soaked through everyone's hunting attire within less than ten minutes of leaving the riverbank.
"Stay close behind me. Don't fall behind, and don't touch anything randomly."
Nadia walked at the front of the group. The sharp parang in her hand cut silver arcs through the air. Each swing was accompanied by the crisp sound of vines snapping and the splatter of sap.
There were no roads here.
Or rather, roads were everywhere, but every path was filled with potentially fatal traps and obstacles.
The seemingly solid ground might actually be a false trap formed by countless layers of rotting leaves. One misstep could plunge you into waist-deep mud or some unknown insect nest.The vines hanging from the trees, looking like ordinary ropes, might be covered in thorns, or could simply be a poisonous snake disguised as a plant.
Lin Jie followed closely behind Nadia. He had tightly tied the hem of his [Black Mercury] trench coat around his waist. This armament, possessing physical deflection properties, demonstrated excellent protective capabilities against the scraping of branches.
But Julian and Evelyn were not so fortunate.
These two scholars and scientists, accustomed to living in the civilized world, were enduring the most painful march of their lives.
The almost vertical steep slopes, the perpetually slippery and muddy ground that could never be firmly stepped on, and the desperate combination of high temperature and humidity were slowly draining the moisture and willpower from their bodies.
"Damn it... This place is simply hell."
Julian gasped for breath, using his walking stick to push aside a large fern leaf. His face was covered in swollen red bumps left by mosquito bites.
"This is just the edge."
Nadia said without looking back. She didn't slow her pace because of their sorry state, because she knew that staying longer in this place meant more danger.
"When we reach the heartland, you'll look back fondly on these comfortable days."
The team struggled through the dense forest for about two hours.
Apart from the irritating cicada chirps and the strange calls of unknown birds, they didn't encounter any legendary beasts or Black Lotus Sect patrols.
But this didn't mean they were safe.
The real enemies were often those invisible, tiny, yet omnipresent things.
"Ah!"
A short, sharp cry came from the rear of the group.
Evelyn suddenly stopped walking. She somewhat frantically threw down the detector in her hand, her hands clawing wildly at her neck and collar.
"Something... something crawled inside!"
Her voice carried uncontrollable panic. That slippery, wriggling sensation on her skin made her scalp tingle.
Lin Jie turned around swiftly. He grabbed Evelyn's wrist to stop her scratching, then reached out and pulled open her tightly buttoned collar.
On Evelyn's pale collarbone, two mountain leeches, only as long as a finger but swollen to the size of red dates from gorging on blood, were clearly attached.
These seemingly insignificant mollusks were the most loathsome vampires of the rainforest. They could stretch themselves as thin as a needle, slip through the smallest gaps in clothing, and inject anticoagulants to suck blood frantically while the victim remained completely unaware.
"Don't pull them off by force."
Nadia's voice rang out coldly. She pulled out a small pinch of powder mixed from tobacco and plant ash from a leather pouch at her waist.
She walked over and directly sprinkled the powder onto the two wriggling leeches.
The stimulated leeches immediately contracted violently—a biological instinctive spasm. Then, they released their suckers, rolled off Evelyn's skin, fell to the ground, and curled into balls.
But at the two bite sites, blood was still gushing out, staining the collar of Evelyn's white shirt.
"This is just a welcoming gift."
Nadia dipped her finger in a bit of the powder and applied it to the wounds. The herb with strong astringent properties instantly stopped the bleeding, but also brought a burning, stinging pain.
"In this forest, things like this could be hiding under every leaf."
Evelyn's face was pale. Looking at the two worms that were still greedily wriggling on the ground even after leaving a human body, she felt a strong wave of physical nausea.
As a woman capable of manipulating high-voltage electricity and even daring to face UMAs, she wasn't frightened by giant monsters. But these pervasive, tiny creatures had breached her psychological defenses.
"Tighten your pant legs. Seal your collar with tape." Lin Jie took out a roll of waterproof tape from his backpack and tossed it to her. "Here, comfort is superfluous. Only being sealed tight can save your life."
After the minor incident, the team continued forward.
But the oppressive atmosphere grew heavier.
Everyone realized that this forest itself was a massive, malevolent living entity. It was rejecting them, trying to consume their lives in countless ways.
They walked for about another kilometer.
The surrounding vegetation began to change.
The tall Dipterocarpaceae trees became sparser. Some strangely colorful plants appeared on the ground.
The humidity in the air seemed even greater now, carrying a faint, sweet scent of rotting fruit.
"Stop."
Nadia suddenly raised her hand in warning.
She crouched down and gently used her parang to push aside a clump of bushes in front of her, revealing a small clearing ahead.
On a moss-covered, rotting log in the center of that clearing, squatted an extremely beautiful little creature.
It was a frog only the size of a thumb.
Its skin displayed a dazzling bright gold color, covered with black markings on its back. In the dim rainforest, it looked like a golden gemstone that had fallen to the ground, emitting a fatal allure.
Evelyn was also drawn to the sight of this beautiful little creature.
In this gray world filled with mud, rotting leaves, and ugly insects, this splash of bright color seemed so incongruous yet so stunning.
As a scientist with strong curiosity, she instinctively wanted to move closer to observe this rare species. Perhaps this was some unrecorded, precious creature.
She took a step forward, reaching out her hand to touch that rotting log.
"Don't touch!"
Nadia let out a sharp, angry shout.
Her action was faster than her voice.
The wild girl practically shot forward in an instant, crashing hard into Evelyn, directly sending her flying. Both of them landed heavily in the muddy ground several meters away.
"Are you insane?!"
Nadia climbed up from the ground, her eyes filled with anger and lingering fear.
Evelyn was dazed by the sudden collision. She was about to open her mouth to explain when she noticed Lin Jie and Julian's expressions had also turned extremely grim.
Lin Jie walked forward. He picked up a dry branch from the ground.
He gently touched the back of the golden frog with the branch.
The frog slightly inflated its vocal sac, secreting a layer of milky-white mucus.
A few seconds later.
The tip of the dry branch that had contacted the mucus visibly turned charred black, as if scorched by some invisible flame.
"Poison dart frog."
Julian adjusted his glasses, his voice somewhat dry.
"And the most toxic kind at that. Just that tiny amount of toxin secreted on the surface of this frog's skin is enough to kill ten adults."
"If your finger had touched it just now, even if you only grazed it and broke the skin a little."
Nadia looked coldly at Evelyn.
"You would already be a corpse by now. Not even a god could save you."
Evelyn looked at the blackened branch, then at her own hand still hanging in mid-air. A bone-chilling cold swept through her entire body.
She had... truly just walked past the gates of hell.
"I'm sorry..." Her voice trembled.
But the crisis wasn't over.
Nadia suddenly grabbed Evelyn's wrist, spreading her palm open.
Although there was no direct contact, when Evelyn fell just now, her palm seemed to have brushed against some moss on the edge of that rotting log.
On that moss, there was an extremely faint trace of mucus left behind when the frog had crawled over.
The edge of Evelyn's palm began to rapidly turn red, then changed to an ominous purplish-blue. A strong numbness was spreading from her fingertips up her arm.
"Damn it!"
Nadia cursed.
She directly put her hand to her mouth, forcefully biting her own tongue tip until it bled.
Then, she grabbed a handful of pungent-smelling herbs from the leather pouch at her waist, stuffed them into her mouth, and chewed them vigorously, mixing them with the blood.
A few seconds later.
She spat the thoroughly chewed, saliva-and-blood-mixed herb pulp onto her hand, then pressed it hard onto Evelyn's already discolored palm.
"Endure it!"
An excruciating, piercing pain made Evelyn scream.
The herb juice had extremely strong adsorption and neutralization properties. The moment it contacted the skin, it felt like countless ants were gnawing, forcibly pulling out the toxins that had seeped into the pores.
Purplish-black blood flowed down with the herb pulp.
The entire process lasted about five minutes.
When Nadia cleaned away the pulp that had turned black, Evelyn's palm, though badly swollen and red, had lost that fatal purplish-blue hue. The numbness had also disappeared.
"You got lucky."
Nadia spat out the remaining herb pulp in her mouth. Her face was somewhat pale from blood loss and the side effects of the herbs.
"Another thirty seconds later, and this hand would have been useless."
She stood up, re-shouldered her blowgun, and swept her gaze over everyone present.
This time, her eyes no longer held that simple coldness, but absolute authority.
"Listen, outsiders."
"Here, everything brightly colored is a warning of death."
"The more beautiful, the more deadly."
"Put away your ridiculous curiosity. This is the first time, and the last."
"If anyone falls behind or gets injured because of such stupidity again, I'll leave them right here to feed the ants."
No one spoke this time.
Lin Jie also remained silent. He knew Nadia was right.
In this cruel green world, the firearms, alchemy, and even Grotesque Armaments they possessed were, to some extent, rendered ineffective.
The enemy here wasn't a specific monster.
It was this forest itself.
It was the bacteria invisible to the naked eye, the colorful poisonous creatures, the omnipresent laws of nature.
"Keep moving."
Lin Jie gave the order. His voice was still calm, but carried an unprecedented caution.
"Nadia, you lead the way in front."
"Evelyn, you stay in the middle. Don't get too far from me and Julian."
"We... are not at the point of resting yet."
For the next few hours, the team's progress became even more cautious.
No one spoke anymore. Everyone's nerves were taut, focused on every single step they took.
Nadia displayed her astonishing survival skills as a "daughter of the forest."
She didn't need a compass to discern the correct direction in the maze-like jungle.
She could judge whether large beasts had passed ahead based on a few broken branches and traces in the soil.
When the group's drinking water was about to run out, she refused to lead everyone to fetch water from the broad but parasite-filled stream. Instead, she used her parang to cut through a type of vine with a thick stem.
Clear, sweet, mineral-rich sap flowed from the cut end of the vine—the cleanest water source gifted by nature.
"Drink."
Nadia tilted her head back, letting the sweet spring flow into her throat.
"This is called a water vine. In the rainforest, it's more precious than gold."
When the last rays of the setting sun were finally completely swallowed by the thick canopy, the light in the forest rapidly dimmed.
Night had fallen.
For the rainforest, night was when true danger began.
The predators that lay dormant during the day began to awaken. Countless eerie sounds began to echo in the darkness.
"We cannot spend the night on the ground."
Nadia stopped walking. She selected several giant Shorea trees, thick enough for three people to embrace, arranged in a triangular formation.
"The ground dampness is too heavy, and swarms of army ants and venomous snakes will emerge at night."
"We need to go up into the trees."
Under her guidance, the four of them, using ropes and a special climbing technique, arduously climbed up to a broad branch about ten meters above the ground.
Although still damp, it was at least relatively dry and far from the crawling threats on the ground.
They set up simple hammocks between the branches and sprinkled a circle of insect-repellent powder around the area.
A simple dinner consisted of compressed biscuits and water vine sap.
After eating, the exhausted Julian and Evelyn quickly crawled into their hammocks and fell into a deep sleep the moment they closed their eyes.
Their stamina had been pushed to the limit.
Nadia leaned against the tree trunk, holding her parang, half-squinting her eyes like a vigilant leopard.
Lin Jie took the first watch.
He sat on the outermost part of the tree fork, legs dangling, back against the rough bark.
He didn't light a lamp.
Darkness was not an obstacle for him, possessing [Black Mercury] and highly attuned spiritual intuition. Instead, it was protection.
He took out the silver cigarette case from his chest pocket—a parting gift from Ethan.
He took out a cigar, smelled it, but didn't light it.
In this environment, the light and scent of smoke could attract unnecessary trouble.
Lin Jie quietly gazed at the boundless, bottomless darkness beneath his feet.
The forest grew noisier with the arrival of night.
Unknown insects chirped, night owls hooted, and from the distance came the occasional low roars of large predators hunting and the dying screams of prey.
This was a never-ending feast of slaughter.
Here, there was no justice or evil, no civilization or savagery.
There was only survival and death.
Only eating and being eaten.
This was the purest law of the jungle.
Lin Jie felt an inexplicable familiarity.
This feeling reminded him of the slums in the White Church District back then, of that dog-eat-dog underworld.
But he also felt this place was more pure than the city.
In the city, predators would cloak themselves in the garments of civilization, using laws, money, and lies to conceal their fangs.
Here, fangs were fangs, claws were claws.
Everything was laid bare before you.
"What are you thinking about?"
Nadia's voice suddenly sounded behind him.
The wild girl crawled over and squatted on the branch beside Lin Jie.
"Thinking about the rules here."
Lin Jie still looked into the darkness.
"The rules here are simple." Nadia said, her fingers unconsciously rubbing the white finger bone on her chest.
"Much simpler than you think."
"As long as you're strong enough, or smart enough, or... ruthless enough."
"You can survive."
She turned her head, looking at Lin Jie's profile, which appeared somewhat stern under the faint moonlight.
"You have that scent on you."
"What scent?"
"The scent of a predator." Nadia's gaze was serious. "Stronger than any Dayak hunter I've ever met."
"Even though you wear that strange coat and carry that fire-spitting tube."
"But in your bones, you're the same as the things in this forest."
Lin Jie was slightly taken aback.
He looked down at his own hands. Those hands, though slender and clean, were stained with too much blood.
From the time he crossed over until now, how many people had he killed? How many monsters?
Had he, without realizing it, also become a beast in this vast jungle?
"Perhaps."
Lin Jie put the cigar back into the cigarette case.
"But in this world, if you don't want to be prey, you can only be a hunter."
"There is no third choice."
Nadia didn't speak. She just nodded, seemingly agreeing with this viewpoint.
She retreated back into the shadows.
"Get some sleep." She said. "I'll take the watch after midnight."
"Here, my ears are better than your eyes."
Lin Jie didn't refuse.
He was indeed tired.
He adjusted his posture, leaning against the tree trunk, pulling the collar of his [Black Mercury] trench coat tight.
Just before closing his eyes, he took one last look in that direction hidden deep within the darkness.
That was their destination for tomorrow.
"Just wait."
Lin Jie silently recited in his heart.
"Soon, the hunter will arrive."
The rainforest night wind blew through the treetops, bringing a rustling sound.