This novel isn’t for everyone. Please see the warnings on the TOC page before you continue.
After several tries, Shan Ming still failed to light the cigarette in his hand. The forest was too humid. The matches were as if they had been soaking in water and could not start a fire at all. He frustratedly threw the soggy matchbox to the ground, but after thinking for a bit, he picked it back up again.
If he can get out of this wetland and dry it under the sun, it might still be useful. He certainly does not want to spend the next few days eating only raw meat.
Two days ago, they were on a mission on the China-Myanmar border. The local drug lord offered them a sum of $20 million to escort a drug deal with the Americans. The money proved to be worth it as the deal failed, and a subsequent attack by the Americans resulted in the loss of three of their men. For their world-class mercenary group, Peregrine Falcon, this was already a huge loss. However, as expected, they managed to protect their employer as well as their reputation.
In that battle, Shan Ming was first beaten bloody in the face with the butt of a gun, then got his left arm struck by a dagger. Although he snapped the neck of the man who sneaks attacked him, during the few minutes delay, he got separated from his teammates. He escaped alone into the primitive forest on the China-Myanmar border, which was a true devil’s land, but he already had no way of retreating. He needed to find a place with residents as soon as possible, so he can contact his mercenary group and get someone to pick him up.
The wound on his left arm began to fester. In a place like this, the scent of blood was like a call for death. He had no choice but to heavily wrap up the wound with his clothes after simple treatment. He could imagine the extent of the wound rotting due to the lack of ventilation, but he still didn’t dare to expose it. The time remaining was less than he anticipated. He must get out as soon as possible and receive treatment. Otherwise, even this kind of injury, which he normally wouldn’t bat an eye at, may cost him his valuable arm. Losing one arm would already be quite optimistic. Carrying an injury in this kind of place, it’s really not much different from walking into a lion’s den with bare hands, which in both cases aren’t far from death.
In addition to carefully watching his steps in the wetland, he also had to guard against hunters of the forest.
In a place like this, there weren’t many things that humans can eat, but things that eat humans were everywhere. Even ants as big as sesame seeds are eyeing his body of raw flesh. For the past two days, he hasn’t dared to sleep and rest in the same place for more than two hours. He knows that if he can’t resist the fatigue and falls asleep, he will soon turn into a pile of white bones.
The fatigue of the body increased exponentially. Even the naturally arrogant Shan Ming felt the threat of death at this time.
He crouched down, observed the humidity of the soil, and compared it with the road he had walked over the past two days. He knew he was about to leave the wetland.
Once he gets out of the wetland, he will be safe for the most part. Compared to the small but deadly insects, he would rather face large beasts such as wolves and pythons, since he could at least see his target.
Shan Ming never bats an extra eye at targets he can visibly see.
After walking carefully for more than ten hours, the soil under his feet became harder and harder, and the trees that had blocked the sun began to become thinner. He could gradually feel the sun leaking down from the leaves.
He was famished now, having found nothing edible the entire way and having to be on guard to prevent himself from being eaten. The exhaustion of both body and mind was beginning to take a toll on his physical strength, and every step required an immense amount of willpower.
Suddenly, he caught a whiff of a strong, nauseating smell of blood, mixed with dampness.
Such a strong smell of blood could only be emitted by a large animal. At this moment, Shan Ming had already gotten over his disgust. He was thinking about whether this unlucky creature had already been eaten up clean, and if there would be some leftover scraps for him to fill his stomach.
He tucked the Browning M1935 into his waistband, took the MP5 submachine gun from behind, and held it in his hand, ready to shoot whatever wolf or tiger he sees to death. Kill first, ask questions later.
He held his breath and followed the smell of blood, approaching the bushes there step by step.
He pricked up his ears, carefully listening for any subtle sound. His hawk-like sharp eyes fixed on the front as he cautiously used the barrel of the gun to push aside the layers of bushes, walking towards the center of the smell of blood.
The sight in front of him left him astonished.
Three wolf corpses lay on the ground, all with their throats bitten and their guts spilled out, dead in a brutal way. Their fresh blood splattered all over the ground, staining the green leaves on the ground into a purplish-red color.
Shan Ming’s nerves suddenly tensed up. He slowly circled around the spot. These wolves were obviously attacked by a large beast, but only a little part of them were eaten by said predator. This was all too strange. If said beast could kill three wolves, how could it not have room in its stomach to stuff them in? The only possibility that Shan Ming could think of was that the beast was still nearby and wanted to share its meal with its companions or cubs.
Shan Ming didn’t dare to approach them rashly. Instead, he chose a safe place to hide himself and planned to observe for a while.
He waited for more than two hours, but the scene of Survival of the Fittest remained the same as when he arrived. There was no sign of any beast coming back to share the meal with its companions or cubs.
Shan Ming could no longer resist the temptation. That corpse on the ground is his food today. If he doesn’t have meat right now, he won’t be able to go on.
Shan Ming cautiously stepped out of the bushes. He drew his knife from his waist and prepared to cut off a wolf leg, then quickly leave. This scene was too eerie, and he didn’t want to stay any longer.
However, when he successfully approached the corpse of a wolf, his doubts deepened.
He glanced at it in a hurry earlier and didn’t look thoroughly. Now that he was near, he noticed that the torn wounds of these wolves didn’t look like they were caused by large beasts.
The wounds weren’t deep and the degree of the tear was too small. If it was done by an animal such as a tiger or a bear, the bite force of the lower jaw would definitely be more than this degree. The bite of a tiger can tear off a wolf’s neck, but their mouths aren’t this small. The reason why these wolves were bitten like this was because it wasn’t done in one bite. Such a small mouth… might as well say it’s similar to that of a human’s. However, the bite force of human beings was only 40 kilograms, it’s impossible to rely on one human mouth to bite three wolves to death.
Shan Ming continued to examine them and discovered that their bellies were sliced open by sharp objects. He looked around the wound on the wolf’s belly and didn’t find any fur belonging to another wild animal.
Shan Ming was already bewildered by all this eerieness. According to his judgment, these wolves were attacked and bitten to death by a creature with strong attack power, with a mouth that’s a similar size to humans, but with bite force at least three times that of humans, with sharp claws comparable to large beasts, yet have no fur around their claws. Furthermore, after killing, they only ate a small portion of meat, which meant that this creature’s stomach wasn’t big enough.
What in the actual hell is this? Shan Ming searched through his brain, he even felt that this thing was outside his field of knowledge.
Although he felt a chill down his spine, but curiosity overcame his caution. He stood up and decided to look around. The places where the wolves died were covered with leaves, no footprints or traces of the fight were left behind. Perhaps he could find some clues in the surrounding areas.
Only seven or eight meters away, he found something that pushed the eerieness of the whole hunting scene to a climax. He found a footprint in the bushes, to be precise, a human foot, and judging by its size, it belonged to a child!
Sweat rolled down Shan Ming’s forehead. What the actual fuck is all this? Wolves were killed by an unknown creature, and somehow there’s a human child’s footprint nearby?
Shan Ming crouched down and pushed aside the bushes to follow the dirty little footprint, and unsurprisingly, he found a child. What Shan Ming did find surprising was that although the child was covered in blood and mud, making it impossible to see the child’s original appearance, Shan Ming still saw the weak but stable rise and fall of the child’s chest.
This child is alive!
If it weren’t for Shan Ming’s strong willpower, he would really suspect that he had already fallen asleep due to excessive fatigue and pain, and that everything in front of him was just a dream.
An experienced top-tier mercenary like him had almost been tortured to death by the forest, yet a five or six-year-old human child could sleep here so peacefully and still remain alive. Everything that happened today was beyond Shan Ming’s imagination, and he was already too lazy to think about how this came to be.
He grabbed onto the child’s foot and dragged him out of the bushes. The child was naked, covered in blood and pieces of flesh, as if he was just fished out of a pile of rotten meat, dirty and smelly.
Shan Ming used his dirty hands to wipe the dirt off the child’s face. Then he found that he was a boy, and he even looked Asian. However, he was overly thin and also had a piece of wolf intestine hanging on his body, which looked both disgusting and frightening. He examined the child’s breath, the child was indeed stably breathing. Then he patted over the child’s body and found no serious injury.
Shan Ming was almost about to be envious of him.
This damn place had a shortage of everything except a shortage of water. Shan Ming picked the child up by one of his legs and walked away. A short distance later, he found a big water pit. With a throw of his hand, he dumped the child into the water.
The child soon sank. He walked into the pit and fished the child back up.
“Pfff!” The child woke up and started coughing violently.
Shan Ming violently splashed some water on the child’s face and rubbed him clean. After he finished coughing, the child began to flap his arms and legs frantically, slapping the water and kicking Shan Ming’s thigh as he screamed in terror, as if he had gone crazy.
Shan Ming felt so annoyed, and was also afraid that the child’s screaming would attract wild beats, so he gave the child a slap across the face.
The child was immediately stunned, then slowly raised his head and stared at him with his big eyes.
Shan Ming looked at this boy expressionlessly, “You understand Chinese?”