Chapter Five Water Source

  This walnut is mountain walnut, also known as wild walnut.

  As a member of the forestry bureau, Lin Bei naturally had a deep understanding of this plant. In modern times, mountain walnuts are a highly nutritious food with a high price tag. However, those mountain walnuts were not actually from the wild, but mostly cultivated artificially. The real mountain walnut should look like this one in front of us.

  This mountain walnut tree is over five meters tall, the trunk is not big, but the age of the tree is not small, because walnut trees grow relatively slowly. In Lin Bei's eyes, this mountain walnut tree is at least over fifty years old. Under the tree is a stone mound, which is higher than the forest floor, making the surrounding trees look shorter, so this mountain walnut tree can survive.

  This unmanned walnut tree can't be expected to produce a lot of fruit, in fact, there were only about twenty fruits on the tree. The green color on the surface of the walnuts had faded away, some were dry and withered, indicating that the walnuts had been ripe for quite some time. This also allowed Lin Bei to roughly estimate the current season, which should be around September or October, or maybe even earlier. Because there is a folk saying "July walnuts, August pears", but due to the differences between north and south China, Lin Bei couldn't be certain, however, the general time shouldn't be too far off. Now it should be autumn season, which is a harvest season, and it's estimated that there won't be too few fruits in the forest. If Lin Bei wants to eat fruit, then he wouldn't have to worry about not being able to find any.

  So Lin Bei looked at the walnut tree with great disappointment and decided to throw away his idea of eating walnuts, Lin Bei was not poisonous.

  To confirm whether he was mistaken or not, Lin Bei opened his big mouth and made a few "chomping" sounds, then used his tail to sweep inside his mouth a few times. Finally, he confirmed the fact that he was not a venomous snake at this moment, because the characteristic of a venomous snake - the venomous fangs - had not grown out yet. It would be quite troublesome to eat walnuts like this.

  Lin Bei observed the surrounding environment.

  It's actually not too far from the outskirts of the forest, only a dozen or so miles away. But it has to be said that the terrain of the ancient forest is still quite well-preserved, even though there are settled hunters nearby. However, it's clear that those hunters have hardly ever come here to hunt, and it's not ruled out that this side of the mountain isn't someone else's hunting ground either. In any case, this place is desolate and uninhabited.

  Because there are almost no human footprints, the plants and animals here have been preserved quite well. As for the plants, it's not necessary to mention them. There are countless animals, and under Lin Bei's observation at this moment, he has seen at least a dozen or so living creatures in the surrounding area. The smaller ones look like white ants, while the larger ones should be wild chickens and the like. As for ferocious beasts, none have been encountered yet.

  All the way, Lin Bei encountered several snakes, but at this moment, there was not a single snake in Lin Bei's sensing range. It should be that they were frightened away by Lin Bei's powerful aura. This is not surprising, as animals that can survive in the forest have various skills. With Lin Bei's current physique, it would be deserving to be called the Snake King. If those snakes did not want to surrender, they could only escape.

  Lin Bei took one last look at the walnut tree and continued on his way.

  The snake's unblinking stare devoured the surroundings, gathering information with its eyes and Jacobson's organ, allowing Lin Bei to see more clearly than other snakes. This was an exceptionally powerful ability for humans, so although the forest light was somewhat dim, it had no effect on Lin Bei. As he passed by, almost all animals were startled away by Lin Bei. Of course, those small animals were not too afraid of Lin Bei, such as birds, which would fly to a branch and stop to gaze at this powerful outsider with rapt attention.

  "What? There seems to be mist in the distance on the right side. Could it be a water source?"

  This information came from where Lin Bei wasn't clear, but he had a very definite feeling that the air in front was much more humid than here. At this time, Lin Bei turned around and rushed towards his target.

  The closer they got, the clearer Lin Bei's senses became. When they were even closer, the faint rumbling sound from beneath his feet told him that there was indeed a small river ahead, which should be the source of water in the forest.

  At any time, the forest would never be short of rainwater, no matter how severe the drought was outside. Lin Bei approached this water source and a sense of foreboding rose in his heart. He stopped and looked up in one direction.

  Underneath a big tree with dense branches and vines, an animal was quietly lying there, staring at the forest to the north. It was a leopard.

  This was not Lin Bei's first time seeing a snow leopard; there were some in the Double Tooth Mountain Nature Reserve, but this was Lin Bei's first time observing one with the eyes of a beast.

  A very powerful guy, the flower leopard is much larger than a cat, and its body generally does not exceed one hundred pounds, but it is very long, with perfect streamlining, and the spots on its skin can almost perfectly hide in the shadows. If Lin Bei's perception wasn't many times stronger than that of humans, he definitely wouldn't have discovered it.

  The flower leopard opened its mouth, with a slightly inverted tongue licking its lips, and then moved its gaze away from Lin Bei, indicating that it had no desire to attack Lin Bei, a very clever guy.

  Giant pythons and clouded leopards are both top predators in the forest, but their encounters are relatively rare. Clouded leopards usually hide in trees, while giant pythons are on the ground, and they don't eat the same food either. Clouded leopards wouldn't dare to provoke this enormous python unless it's tired of living.

  Lin Bei thanked the snake's body again, which gave him the confidence to face such a fierce beast. Lin Bei was able to rush through the forest with abandon, all thanks to his current massive physique. If Lin Bei were only two or three meters long, he would absolutely not be in this state now.

  Because he encountered a leopard, Lin Bei temporarily did not rashly go forward, because he knew that the water sources near the general forest were mostly the paradise of predators, those herbivores would drink water in the water source and then be killed by predators, leopards are not the only predators.

  But now Lin Bei was somewhat surprised, this was less than twenty miles from the edge of the forest, and yet a fierce beast had already appeared. Lin Bei could already foresee that there would definitely not be too few fierce beasts here.

  Along the water source, Lin Bei circled around for half a circle and then climbed up a big tree. The tree was quite tall and wide, two or three people couldn't wrap their arms around it. As soon as he climbed up, Lin Bei encountered his first competitor, who was also of the same kind as him - a snake.

  This is a two-meter-long cobra, its tail wrapped around the trunk of a tree, its head raised, its neck flattened, staring intently at Lin Bei, its rapid breathing making a faint hissing sound in the air, because Lin Bei had invaded the cobra's territory.

  The cobra is also a top predator in the forest, and many times even tigers don't dare to provoke them because of their high toxicity and scarcity of meat. Lin North looked at the cobra in an attacking posture and felt a bit numb in his heart. Humans almost always instinctively dislike these slithering creatures. Later, Lin North became somewhat angry - how could this small broken snake be so arrogant? Can't it see the difference in strength between them?