"If you don't explain everything clearly…" Ling Jiang drew the small knife at her waist, threatening coldly, "Things like this love the smell of blood most. How about I cut you open a little and throw you inside? That way, we can immediately see that first tier beast you keep talking about."
Su Qinghe's eyes widened. Were these two women insane? Brother Zhang was standing right here, after all. He was from the base. Did he just allow them to do such things?
But when Su Qinghe looked at Brother Zhang she saw he didn't intervene at all. Su Qinghe cried out, "Brother Zhang aren't you going to stop this? This behavior breaks the rules! If the base finds out, they'll punish you too!"
Brother Zhang replied expressionlessly, "They aren't from the base. And they all have abilities. I'm just an ordinary person. I can't beat them. So it's smarter to bow to the situation. Be honest and talk, and you'll suffer less."
The four of them hadn't expected Brother Zhang to sing this tune, but this only made things easier for them. They had no interest in the base's secrets, but if there truly was another first tier beast inside, then it was a matter of their lives. That was no laughing matter. They had to take it seriously and get answers.
Su Qinghe glared at Lan Jin and Ling Jiang, shouting, "You two women are vicious!"
Ling Jiang scoffed, "Are you sure about that? Maybe think again about what you've done. You say we're vicious, but between the two sides, who's more vicious?"
Never mind all the questionable things Su Qinghe had done before. Just last night, when she had tried to thaw her teammates out of the ice, her thoughts had already been exposed clearly enough. A person like this dared to call others vicious? How could she even say it out loud?
Su Qinghe defended herself, "I didn't mean it last night! And you're no better! Don't act like you're saints. Especially you, you dodged really fast!"
As she spoke, Su Qinghe even pointed a finger at Lan Jin, her expression full of accusation.
Lan Jin just looked at her, without saying a single word. She kept staring until Su Qinghe grew uneasy and pulled her hand back. Only then did Lan Jin finally say, "What else should I have done? Wait until you killed us, then when the rest of the team couldn't stop you, you would escape alone?"
"No, I wouldn't."
"No need to lie. We weren't the only ones with eyes last night. Everyone saw it. But let's leave that aside for now. Let's talk properly about that first tier beast."
Ling Jiang grew impatient. She hated when conversations dragged and wandered in circles. So she stepped forward and threatened directly, "Enough. Stop stalling. Who has the time to waste words with you? The sooner we finish, the sooner we get down the mountain. If you won't talk, I'll just use my knife."
Just as Ling Jiang's blade stretched toward the half-reclining Su Qinghe, a pale pink tongue suddenly darted from the dense greenery beside them. It wrapped tightly around Su Qinghe's waist and with a sharp tug, flung her to the side.
The tongue was long and flexible. Clearly, its owner had intended to snatch Su Qinghe away. But because of Su Qinghe's heavy weight, the tongue only managed to lift her briefly before slamming her back down.
And in doing so, the creature behind the tongue dragged itself out of the undergrowth too.
What appeared was a lizard, large as two grown men put together. Its tongue stretched long enough to wrap Su Qinghe's waist, and given their similar size, that wasn't surprising. But using only its tongue to drag away prey as large as itself was no easy task.
Because of the recoil and sheer weight, the lizard ended up exposing itself fully.
But was that the real problem?
A lizard?
Were there even lizards in this forest?
Brother Zhang immediately raised his gun. While preparing to defend, he said, "That's not right. We never received any reports of these creatures being here."
Seeing the lizard, Su Qinghe panicked instantly. "Save me! Save me! The lizard is the other first tier beast!"
Lan Jin said flatly, "That little thing? One explosive arrow should be enough."
Su Qinghe cried desperately, "No, no! Not little! Very big! This is its baby! Save me, save me!"
Even if it couldn't drag her away, the lizard didn't let go after wrapping Su Qinghe's waist. And as Su Qinghe screamed miserably, the lizard suddenly shrieked at the sky.
The next moment, from the same thicket, several more lizards of about the same size leapt out, swarming across the narrow dirt path until it was completely blocked.
The five of them could only retreat, step by step, all the way back until they had nowhere else to go. The distance between them and Su Qinghe grew wider and wider.
In that moment, Lao Gao had only one thought: It's over. They themselves might survive, but Su Qinghe was doomed. Lao Gao muttered, "If nothing else works, just throw a bomb over there and blow everything up together. At least we won't waste strength. Su Qinghe's beyond saving."
Brother Zhang objected at once. "No. What if we don't hit them and only destroy the path? How will we get out? And if the explosion really draws out the first tier beast, then what?"
While Brother Zhang worried, Su Qinghe's miserable screams filled the air. Soon after, the heavy stench of blood spread through the forest. Her cries cut off.
It was over. She was gone for good.
Ling Jiang muttered coldly, "Isn't this what they call… courting death?"
If Su Qinghe hadn't thrown a tantrum and refused to move, maybe she wouldn't have been caught by the lizard. If they had just kept moving, who knows what would have happened.
No. That wasn't quite right. Su Qinghe's recklessness did bring this, but some encounters could never be avoided. The things meant to appear would appear sooner or later.
Like the lizards before them now. After devouring Su Qinghe, their eyes turned to the rest of them.
The moment the lizards' gazes fell, Lan Jin acted without hesitation. Lightning crackled across her hands. The massive lizards shuddered violently, screeching and convulsing under the electric current, until they fell to the ground, dead.
The small lizards were dealt with quickly. But their screams would almost certainly draw the attention of the true large lizard. That could be both advantage and danger.
Even so, Lan Jin hadn't expected their cries to carry so far. She immediately apologized. "I'm sorry. I didn't know they'd scream like that. If I had known… I would have asked before using lightning."
What kind of words were those?
But apology aside, no one blamed Lan Jin. Without her lightning, they wouldn't have been able to kill the lizards so quickly. If they had used guns or explosive arrows, the noise would have been even worse.