Chapter 395: Chapter 395

"Hey, dangerous? Boss, there isn’t even an insect’s shadow in this place. Where’s the danger?" Little Black, having had his fill of food, was indeed somewhat reinvigorated.

"Something is watching us," Jing Shu said.

"What else is there on this mountain besides a few lonely dead trees?" Little Black asked, puzzled.

Dead trees! Yes, the dead trees! Every day, as she looked at the trees on the mountain, there always seemed to be a few dead trees, and their positions and orientations always seemed to stay the same. That made her feel that something was not right! Moreover, these dead trees would even seep red blood.

"Chop them down! We must chop all these dead trees down," Jing Shu, uneasy, hurriedly went up the mountain and chopped down every tree she could see that had dead wood. With every chop, the trees seemed to bleed out fresh blood, shocking in a place devoid of any life. How could these dead trees survive here? Conversely, could the absence of insects have something to do with these dead trees? And how did Jing Shu’s released Bees vanish? Was it related to these dead trees? If the dead trees are formidable, then why were Jing Shu and her people able to chop them down so easily? It seemed like there was nothing special about them!

Jing Shu cautiously collected all the red liquid. Although she didn’t understand what it was, she wanted to take it back for research. For safety and her own life, Jing Shu isolated it in a one-cubic-meter Magic Cube Space. In a completely isolated space, Jing Shu believed it wouldn’t cause trouble.

Not only did they chop the trees, but they also dug out the roots. Tan Ke dug with his shovel again and again. After digging two or three meters, he still had not reached the end of the roots. Exhausted, Tan Ke waved his hand. "These roots are too long; it’s impossible to dig to the bottom."

Jing Shu, holding her chin, snapped the roots; a few drops of red liquid would still appear inside. This liquid was colorless and tasteless. When placed on her hand, it flowed like water onto the ground and vanished in a moment.

It didn’t seem to be a harmful liquid or poison either.

Jing Shu hastened her pace, her unease growing heavier. After finally chopping down the dead trees on this mountain, when they reached the next one, the dead trees were still in the same positions and in the same quantity.

At this moment, everyone realized something was wrong. A sense of panic spread. Nobody knew if they were trapped in a ’ghost-hitting-the-wall’ kind of situation or truly trapped inside a vast mountain. ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡•𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚•𝙣𝙚𝙩

However, Jing Shu knew they weren’t encountering a ghost wall; this forest was truly vast! In the United States, this latitude typically has a Mediterranean climate. Even though the temperature in Wu City, Huaxia, had dropped close to Zero, the United States was still not too cold. But this mountain clearly did not have a Mediterranean climate. Rather than soil, it was more like stone, more resembling a tropical or subtropical region. Another significant point was that Sulfuric Acid Ants are insects that live in the tropics. All signs indicated that this great mountain spanned a very, very long distance. Perhaps this doesn’t belong to Earth’s tectonic plates. Otherwise, it couldn’t explain the many species invasions. Furthermore, the reason for Earth losing sunlight still needs investigation. So, it’s very possible that this dead wood is not from Earth, or perhaps it too is an invasive species! But why haven’t I heard about this kind of tree in the past ten years of my previous life? Not even during migrations?

Jing Shu was seriously considering these issues. To understand whether these dead trees were harmful or benign, or if she was overthinking, she deliberately left some cannibal insects to continue consuming the tree roots each time she felled a tree. Then, she dug towards the base of the roots. She refused to believe that these roots could extend hundreds of meters!

Jing Shu couldn’t remember how many trees she had cut down or how much red liquid she had collected. Their food supply in their baggage was diminishing, and even water was scarce. Yet, they still hadn’t found a way out of this massive mountain range. Between the two mountains, there were no Black Water Monsters, and the ground was devoid of insects; truly, not a single living thing was present.

The mountain range seemed to stretch for hundreds of kilometers. No matter which direction they went, it was futile.

The cannibal insects ate the roots. Most of them died while eating, which, according to messages passed along, was from sudden death. Some encountered other cannibal insects Jing Shu had distributed nearby. It seemed the underground dead trees were connected?

Just as Jing Shu was contemplating whether to explore further, her teammates began to falter.

They looked as if they hadn’t slept for weeks, with dark circles under their eyes more severe than a panda’s. Each was pale, as if something had drained their blood and energy.

Not just the people; Ah Huang seemed to have aged several years, panting heavily after walking for a while.

"I feel my life force rapidly draining from my body, like water on sand evaporating under a fierce flame," Snake Spirit said, hissing as she looked at her wrinkled hands.

Even Lingling’s tender skin had turned a waxy yellow, aging her several years all at once.

While Jing Shu and the fat chicken were unaffected, the Sulfuric Acid Ants died off in droves. The Sulfur Ant Queen showed no signs of trouble. Jing Shu had a glimmer of understanding. During dinner, she extracted the sulfuric acid from the dead Sulfuric Acid Ants.

The dead ants couldn’t be wasted. Even though her teammates were skeptical about whether the Sulfuric Acid Ants were edible, Jing Shu proved it to them with her actions.

She soaked them in salt, then mixed them with diluted spiritual spring water, minced pork, scallions, and garlic. She added soy sauce and other seasonings to make an ant meat paste. Heating oil in a pan, she shaped the paste into balls and fried them until golden brown and cooked through before serving.

The remaining ants were also not wasted. Mixed with the fat chicken’s eggs and a flour batter, she made golden ant-egg pancakes that filled the valley with their fragrant scent.

"We’ll eat this for dinner."

Jing Shu tasted a few pieces, finding them delicious. Ants contain over 70 nutrients, making them highly nutritious. This dreadful place seems to be draining their life force, and only the Spiritual Spring seems capable of countering it.

Little Black earnestly said, "Hey, I’ve discovered that our boss can make even a stinky shoe insole taste good."

Jing Shu: Thank you for your compliment.

With the widespread death of the Sulfuric Acid Ants, if Jing Shu didn’t find a solution, this trump card against the undead animals would be wiped out before being used. The team members were also reaching their limits. It seemed that staying in this mountain another day meant their life force drained quicker and quicker until death, while the Spiritual Spring seemed only able to alleviate the current situation.

Jing Shu and the fat chicken’s life force was too robust, so they hadn’t felt the drainage yet.

Jing Shu decided to take a risk. Now, it’s clear that all this is linked to the dead trees. Since that’s the case, I’m determined to see just where these dead trees lead and what lies at their terminus!