The sound of rain outside could cover up all the subtle sounds, but Qin’s five senses were extraordinary. He could hear the sound of rushing water and the panicked shouts of the players. Did the river surge and wash away the shore? The overflowing water seemed to force out various animals hiding in the caves. Tonight was even more lively than last night.
A few embarrassed players rushed out of the rain, including the temporary team with the green-braided girl and the tall thin guy. They ran in the heavy rain, splashing water everywhere. The Zerg bid farewell to primitive hunting for tens of thousands of years, and their movements instead attracted more predators hunting in the dark.
“Run! These beasts are crazy!”
Snap, snap! Swish! Boom!
The sound of splashing water under one’s feet, the whistling sound of the wind wrapped in raindrops, the sound of tall trees being broken and collapsed…it was like a weird and harsh symphony. The drum beats were the sound of their jumping, bang, bang, bang, faster and faster.
The light beams flickered in the rain, and occasionally a dark figure flashed by. The only sounds in the vast wilderness were their heavy breathing and the sound of something sliding on the slippery grass. A huge shadow loomed, shrouding the remaining people like a nightmare.
They originally had six members, but now there were only three left, and the thing behind them was still chasing them.
Suddenly, there was a flash of lightning, with the sky and the earth becoming bright as day. They could clearly see what was behind them from the corner of their eyes. It was an extremely large snake with a head as big as a car and a dark purple tongue covered with smelly mucus.
With a loud clatter, a big tree in the wilderness was struck by lightning and fell down, blocking the path they were moving forward.
“Ahhhh——” One person tripped and fell, flopping on the ground in fear.
“Let’s go!” His temporary teammate, the man with green braids, pulled him and they jumped over the tree trunk and continued to run forward.
Due to lack of food, insufficient rest and high concentration, their legs felt heavy as lead, their bodies were cold and tired, and their vision was blurry. The night environment had a huge impact on them, with heavy rain, lightning and thunder. That was not all, there were so many ferocious beasts crawling out to attack the players. The triple negative environment was superimposed, and the lethality to them was too great.
The burrowing types could hide in the ground to avoid attacks, but what about the flying types and those without shells? Even with defense of shells, it was useless. The snake could just swallow them without worrying about not being able to digest it. It was the same as giving up the game.
“Look, it looks like, ha… it looks like we are going to die here…” The tall, thin man ran breathlessly.
“No, think about your relatives and friends.” The girl with green braids answered intermittently. They wanted to gain energy from this mutual support.
“Stop talking, save some energy.” The one running in front took a deep breath, “The river is rising rapidly, and the water in the low-lying areas is accumulating more and more. Let’s run to the upper reaches.”
They continued forward and met other unlucky people who were alone on the road, but no one cared about each other. They just looked at each other and continued to run their own way, and even guarded against each other.
They didn’t know how long they had been running, their bodies were so cold that they had lost all feeling, and time seemed to have no meaning or existence. Their souls and bodies were becoming increasingly exhausted, and they wanted to just collapse and never get up again.
“Light!”
The roar woke up the other two. They looked over and could see a little warm light in the hazy rain, so small that it seemed like an illusion.
The cold-skinned Zerg tried to jump again, filled his feet with strength again, and ran towards the light.
“It looks like a cave!” There seemed to be a cave halfway up the cliff. A ray of warm yellow shone through the cave, which was conspicuous in the night with heavy rain.
They rushed straight towards the cave.
The cave was halfway up the mountain, and climbing was difficult due to the strong wind and heavy rain. However, the group was driven by the desire to survive, and they didn’t feel any pain even when their palms were scratched. Instead, they climbed faster and faster.
The cave was getting closer and closer, and they could gradually see a fire. It seemed that there were people sitting by the fire to keep watch, so the three of them walked faster.
However, when they really ran to the cave entrance, the smile on their faces froze in a second: “…Qin?!”
These expressions were like being chased by a female ghost in a tomb passage, and then facing a zombie head-on.
The lips of the girl with green braids trembled. The face she had seen countless times appeared in front of her. She thought she would be very excited, but in truth, she was so scared that her whole body was stiff. The pair of ice-blue eyes brought her only fear, terror and coldness.
The sound behind them became clearer and clearer, the sound of grass and trees being broken, and they knew it was the huge monster. In front of them, Qin was sitting by the fire and warming himself.
Qin didn’t say a word or make a move, but everyone feared him as if they were afraid of death. The three participants were as dead as ash. If we advance, we will die. If we don’t advance, we will die too.
“Master Qin, can you …” The dark and strong man didn’t finish his words, but was frightened by Qin’s cold eyes and shut his mouth. It was hard to tell which one was more dangerous, the thing behind him or the high-level Zerg in the violent stage in front of him.
The three of them were nailed to the spot. At this time, the sounds were very close. They turned around with pale faces and saw a huge silhouette in the darkness, with a sticky tongue that brought out a strong fishy smell.
“Let’s fight!” Being pushed to the extreme, the strong man finally mustered up some courage. He transformed himself into a bug with a huge horn, and his whole body was shining with metallic luster.
The tall, thin man transformed into a two-handed sickle insect, with a thin body and extremely fast speed. In fact, his speed could be even faster, even teleporting, as long as his wings could be used.
The green braided girl didn’t change much, she was still in shape, but her hair became thicker and dragged behind her. Now all the hair on her body was poisonous, and she could shoot the hair at a short distance.
Compared to the ones An Yinong had met before, these three were much smaller and did not look as intimidating. Obviously, they were the weaker group of players. At this time, the creature chasing them also revealed its complete appearance. It was completely black, with only a white ring pattern on its neck.
It had a triangular head with three horns on each side, which could be quickly retracted to fit the body or unfolded. When unfolded, it looked like six horns, had a flexible tongue, was covered with armor, and was extremely fast.
The six-horned coral snake was a top predator. Its body was two to three meters thick. When it was dug out of the soil, it could cause earthquakes. However, the ones following them were just small snakes. Of course, a little snake was enough to give them a hard time.
This giant beast relied on its sense of smell to determine the position and movements of its prey. Its six jade-like flaps could capture the slightest scent in the air.
The leather armor on its body was hard and smooth, and could not be damaged easily. The poisonous needle of the green-braided woman and the sickle of the thin man had no effect on it. As for the one-horned man, he could only defend for two seconds.
He felt that he was doomed to die, but he still turned around and rushed forward. His back looked so tragic, but Qin watched indifferently, without even changing his breathing.
“The emperor we are familiar with is back.” The audience in the live broadcast room had mixed feelings, “He has not been replaced.”
“Doesn’t this just show how special that player is?”
“Shut up!”
“Huh? Are people here?” At the exciting moment, a sudden voice appeared, and what was even more sudden was the sleeping head.
An Yinong poked his head out from the tent cloth and looked at the rain outside: “Isn’t it almost nine o’clock now?”
“Yeah.” Qin looked at his watch and nodded.
He crawled out of the tent and walked to the cave entrance: “It’s raining so hard.”
The battle at the door was very fierce, but only three of them were defeated by the big snake.
The reason why this little snake came out was that he felt something approaching, and his feeling was very similar to Fengchi’s father.
This snake was really big! He tilted his head to observe it.
“!!!” Seeing An Yinong coming out of the cave, the coral ring snake that was wrapping up the tall man and preparing to swallow him suddenly braked.
“Pah, hiss—” It quickly threw away the snack in its mouth, shook its head left and right, and slithered towards An Yinong. The hard black scales scratched against the stone, making a rustling sound.
Qin, who was standing by the fire, looked over and ice started condensing in his hands.
“Hiss—” The big snake stuck its head in, but was blocked by a layer of transparent membrane. Its black eyes blankly stared ahead. For some reason, it looked a little cute.
Although the three people outside probably won’t think so.
“Hello, are you out looking for food?” An Yinong was a little embarrassed. He reached out, passed his fingers through the invisible membrane at the entrance of the cave, and touched the big snake that came closer.
In fact, he knew what was happening at the cave entrance. It was nothing more than a war between the players and the local animals.
At first, he was not going to interfere in the war between the Zerg and the animals and plants here. He thought it was not fair to kill either one. But he didn’t expect that the snake would stop its actions because of him, and even convey a kind emotion to him.
“Hiss.” The big snake, whose head was being touched, kept swinging its tail happily. A light flick of its tail could smash the nearby rocks.
“Ah, not looking for food? The house suddenly flooded so you’re in a bad mood?”
“Hiss.” The big snake stuck out its tongue at the three embarrassed participants and once again spread out its six jade-like wings to intimidate them.
An Yinong understood what was going on and his face turned incredulous: “I think the water flooded your house, not them.”
These contestants were so miserable. They just happened to pass by that area and were blamed for the flooding for no reason.
“Hiss—”
“Well, I’m afraid I can’t stay and play with you.”
Seeing the interaction between the snake, not only the viewers who stayed up late in the live broadcast room, but even the three participants who escaped death were stunned. They could hardly believe their eyes.
The snake that almost killed them all last second, now had such an eye-catching expression? Its head was about to rub the skin off other people’s hands.
“Wait, he…how did he do that?” The green braid changed back into human shape, and she couldn’t figure out whether she should take the opportunity to escape or stay and wait and see. Now it seemed that this cave not only contained the terrifying Qin, but also another one.
On the other hand, there were so many potential dangers outside, and there may be no place safer than this cave entrance within a few miles. The terrain here was high, there were no dangerous animals hiding nearby, and there were two big guys behind it.
An Yinong talked to the snake for a long time before the creature left, looking back every three steps. As soon as it left, the three people came over tremblingly: “Can we stay at the cave entrance until dawn?”
Seeing their expressions, An Yinong wanted to agree, but…
“No.” He shook his head.
Three groups were disappointed, but there was nothing special about it.
Instead, Qin, who was leaning against the stone wall with his eyes closed, was somewhat puzzled: “You won’t keep them?”
His intuition told him that An Yinong wanted to keep these things, probably out of some kind of sympathy. Qin did not have this kind of sympathy, but he knew that many people did.
“Aren’t we teammates? Moreover, they have misunderstandings about us and are suspicious and wary of us. There are hidden dangers. Why should I leave hidden dangers?” An Yinong said calmly.
Qin knew that An Yinong wanted to stay, and An Yinong also knew that Qin didn’t want to keep them.
Moreover, these three would rather face the big snake than ask Qin for help, which showed that they didn’t trust Qin. If that was the case, why keep them? Do good things yourself and let your teammates do evil?
“Teammate?” The strong man took a breath: This was Qin’s teammate?
Not to mention the explorers, there was only one Qin? And this one was in the transformation stage… No, the transformation stage was probably just a disguise, maybe a high-level Zerg that could control animals. Anyone who could gain Qin’s recognition was truly extraordinary.
“Besides, whether to stay or not depends on our agreement. If I agree and you don’t, they will inevitably feel resentful. After all, they have prejudices against us from the beginning.”
The girl with green braids silently shook her hands: Even if they were brave enough, they wouldn’t dare to feel any hatred towards Qin!
Finally, An Yinong concluded: “To be on the safe side, it’s better to refuse. These thoughts of mine are not as important as you.”
It was the first time that Qin heard someone say “This is less important than you” so directly. The corners of his mouth curled up slightly and he quickly suppressed it.
The three miserable Zergs looked at Qin and An Yinong, and reluctantly walked out. As for being told that they were not important at all? Oh, they were not important at all, nothing wrong with that.
“You can stay.” Qin said and closed her eyes.
Hmm? An Yinong was stunned. He became soft, and… because of him?
He raised the corners of his lips and looked at one of the Zerg, who was frozen in shock: “Since Qin is of the same mind, I agree as well.” The vines on the cliff that were resisting the heavy rain secretly climbed over. They did not expose their poisonous thorns, but wrapped their tender branches around the rocks at the entrance of the cave, waiting for new instructions.
WhiteMoon x BlackSun 