Chapter Thirteen: The Man-Eating Blood Vine

  Hei Zi's back was big and lucky, I carried a big noble, we left the range that the fire could illuminate, so we each took out the wolf eye flashlight from our equipment bag. Hei Zi didn't know where the oil barrel went, so he looked around and asked me after a while: "Jizong, did you see clearly which direction the fat man ran in? How come he disappeared in an instant? We have to find him quickly, otherwise relying on his clumsiness in the forest, who knows what will happen?" The oil barrel was hidden by me when we left, so I knew very well that he ran in that direction. Moreover, with the oil barrel's physique, if he walked it would be fine, but once he ran, his center of gravity would become heavier. Although this mountain road is indeed very hard and solid, no matter where he ran, wouldn't dry branches and leaves make a hole? I pointed to the right side that the wolf eye couldn't illuminate and said: "There, let's go!"

  Kuroko looked puzzled, but I didn't explain much. With one hand carrying the equipment bag and the other holding onto Taiga, I quickly ran ahead. Kuroko apparently hadn't expected to be left behind and quickly followed after me at a fast pace.

  We had now truly entered the depths of Er Long Shan's forest, where the darkness was so profound that it seemed to have a palpable presence. Oil Barrel, despite his frantic pace, still retained enough composure to use his dagger to slash a deep gash into the dry bark of a tree along the way. The wound was fresh, clearly inflicted just moments before, and it was evident that this person had been running in great haste. One slash was horizontal, another vertical, varying in length, and seemingly without purpose as he fled forward.

  Hei Zi didn't say a word, just silently followed me. He looked very guilty when he saw that I was hurt because of his own impulsive behavior. We walked along the marks left by You Shui until we came to a cave. From afar, I saw a flickering flame inside the cave, which seemed particularly dazzling in the dark night. Hei Zi and I quickly approached the entrance of the cave, which wasn't very deep. This should be some kind of lair for large wild beasts like wolves or tigers. But my decades of hunting experience in the mountains told me that this beast was no longer here. A seasoned hunter not only needs sharp eyesight but also a keen sense of smell. My nose picked up the musty smell from animal bones scattered on the ground, but I didn't detect any wild beast's stench! At this moment, You Shui was sitting inside, staring at the fire with a look of horror on his face as he smoked. When he saw Hei Zi and me approaching, he finally reacted, his expression changing from despair to joy. He patted his bulging belly and exclaimed: "Ah, Lu brothers! I knew you wouldn't die so easily! Look, isn't this great? See how well I'm doing here? I've been worried sick about you, couldn't eat or sleep... now that you're safe, it's just wonderful... haha..."

  He burst out laughing, I ignored him and put down Da Fu Da Gui in front of him, saying: "They are injured, lost too much blood, he is your subordinate you think of a way yourself, we don't have many medical supplies".

  He sat down in a place. Only to see the oil water belly rummaging through the equipment bag, finally pulling out a rectangular white paper box with dense English words on it, but I only recognized the three largest letters as "sc". I didn't know what it meant.

  Only to see the oil water belly pull out two small glass bottles filled with red ** from the paper box, tapping his fingers on the small glass bottles a few times, and the small glass bottles shattered in no time. The oil water belly then pulled out two syringes from the equipment bag, sucking out the red ** from the small glass bottles with the syringes, and injecting them into Da Fu's arm.

  After doing all this, the oil water belly sat down contentedly. Hei Zi asked curiously what this thing was, and the oil water belly smiled mysteriously and said: "This thing is called 'Su C', American goods! If I explain it in detail, you won't understand, so let's just say it's an antibiotic. But this isn't ordinary super antibiotic, it's a super duper antibiotic! No matter what injury you have, no matter how much blood you've lost, as long as you use this thing, it'll be fixed in no time! This thing hasn't been released on the market yet, I got it through connections. It may look small, but one bottle costs tens of thousands!"

  Hei Zi's eyes widened as he stared at the empty bottle that You Shui Tou had casually discarded on the ground, saying: "This must be worth a few thousand too." After finishing speaking, he picked it up like a treasure and blew on it a few times before carefully wiping it clean. You Shui Tou watched from the side with raised eyebrows, saying: "Oh my, you silly child, this thing isn't valuable at all! Do you even know what 'inner quality' means? The things inside are the inner quality, and things with inner quality are valuable, just like the things in this bottle. No matter how I explain it to you, you won't understand!"

  Hei Zi couldn't take it anymore, and the oily water belly was saying that he was a country bumpkin. He started arguing with the oily water belly. I sighed in my heart, took out my phone to check the time, and found that it was already almost 2 o'clock in the morning. Not wanting to think too much, I leaned against the wall and dozed off. This kind of pseudo-sleep is very painful for those who are not used to it - either you sleep soundly or you don't sleep at all, but this feeling of wanting to sleep yet being unable to sleep is something that ordinary people can't handle. However, as someone who has been hunting in the mountains for years, I have slowly gotten used to this way of sleeping, and perhaps it's even become a habit for me.

  Nothing happened at night until I woke up when it was dawn on the second day.

  When did he start using the oil drum as a pillow, and was sleeping soundly on his leg, the oil drum was sitting on the ground with saliva flowing all over, and a lot of saliva had already dripped onto Hei Zi's face. That disgusting thing is absolutely unbearable for me! I counted the people again, there were only four, and one was missing... It was Da Fu with long hair. These two young men had not spoken any extra words on this road except when discussing things with Oil Drum. Forget it, don't think too much, anyway they are all under Oil Drum's command, he ran around happily, causing a lot of pain to those who were looking for him!

  I lightly kicked the bottom of Hei Zi's shoe, and he woke up with a start, only to find himself sleeping on You Shui Guo's leg. His face was covered in You Shui Guo's saliva. In anger, I directly kicked You Shui Guo's leg. Previously, I suspected that You Shui Guo wasn't so simple, but now I couldn't help but wonder if I was just being overly suspicious! He hadn't expected to be kicked by Hei Zi and jumped up in pain, rubbing the spot where he had been kicked, tears streaming down his face as he glared at Hei Zi and scolded him: "You young punk, are you really determined to go against me, Brother Pang? I'm telling you, if it weren't for Lü's sake, you'd definitely be dead or crippled!"

  Hei Zi spat on the ground and started arguing with You Shui Du. Hei Zi scolded in Mandarin with a Cantonese accent, while You Shui Du retorted in unmarked Mandarin. I got a headache from watching them argue, so I took out some food from my equipment bag to fill my stomach, watching them calmly. Just as they were arguing intensely, Da Fu rushed in from outside and whispered something in You Shui Du's ear. I saw You Shui Du's face change from anger to shock. After Da Fu finished speaking, You Shui Du exclaimed to me: "Oh no! Lu brothers! Something's wrong, there's a dead body outside!"

  A dead person? I was startled, could it be Liu Lao Tou's gang? In order not to arouse the suspicion and vigilance of You Shui Du, my face remained calm as usual, saying: "Pack up your things, take me to see"

  Everyone packed up their belongings, and Da Fu woke up the still sleeping Da Gui. It was clear that Da Gui's injuries were more severe, as his face had just regained some color but immediately turned pale again when he stood up. With no other choice, You Shui Guai could only carry Da Gui's equipment pack on his own back.

  We gathered our things and walked out of the cave, Da Gui leading us deeper into the woods. This place was not as bright as outside, only a few rays of light that were not blocked by the tall trees shone in, making it not completely dark. There were no sounds from any animals around, only the rustling sound of our footsteps on the dry leaves and twigs on the ground.

  After walking for about a kilometer, Da Fu stopped in his tracks. I looked around at the scenery and found that we had arrived at a mountain valley. The four walls were all bare rocks, but inside the valley was full of trees, and on the trees were red vines as thick as my arm, which looked very eerie!

  The branches of this wisteria are soft, the shape of the leaves is a bit strange, and the veins in the leaves are very deep, forming an eye-like structure, which looks very eerie. Da Fu pointed to the vines not far from our front door and said: "It's just above."

  "What's up? But I didn't see anything. Just as I was about to step out, the oil jar blocked my way and hastily said to me: "Ah, Brother Lu, you absolutely can't go in, there's danger ahead."

  "What danger? What kind of danger? Why would there be any danger?" I thought to myself.

  "You brothers, do you know what this vine is?"

  I shook my head in ignorance!

  The oil-water belly expression was mysterious and slowly spat out four words: "Cannibal Blood Vine"!