The campfire was slowly dying down when a nearly burnt-out dry branch suddenly crackled loudly, instantly jolting Chu Jun awake. He instinctively tightened his grip on the military dagger in his hand. After cautiously listening to his surroundings for a moment, he let out a sigh of relief. He added a few more dry branches to the nearby fire, and the campfire flared up once more.
All around was a desolate, pitch-black wilderness. Various strange beasts roared incessantly, and danger and strangeness lurked everywhere. It was as if he had returned to the Jurassic period; even the air was thick with a primal, savage breath.
Chu Jun had been traversing this vast, primeval jungle for seven days. Even with his formidable combat strength, honed as part of the Snow Leopard special forces, he felt he couldn't take much more. Three magazines were empty. He had even discarded his Desert Eagle to conserve energy. Now, the only thing he could rely on was the dagger in his hand.
Chu Jun pulled a greenish fruit from his chest pocket. He took a bite, and the bitter liquid slid down his parched throat. In the first few days, with a gun in hand, he could still hunt some wild beasts to fill his stomach. After his ammunition ran out, he had no choice but to forage for wild fruits. With just a dagger, he dared not provoke those monsters that could breathe ice and fire.
“That damn lunatic!” Chu Jun imagined the fruit was the big-nosed lunatic and bit into it fiercely.
Seven days ago, he had received a notice from his unit, instructing him to cooperate with a group of scientists on an experiment. And so, he vaguely found himself in a mysterious underground laboratory. His deepest impression was of the tall manager, who also claimed to be an expert. Chu Jun could never forget the mad glint in that lunatic's eyes; it was the beginning of his nightmare. Staff wearing full masks and lab coats gave him an injection, then pushed him into a metal box that resembled a coffin. After a blinding flash of white light accompanied by intense pain, he fell unconscious. When he woke up again, he found himself in this strange, primeval jungle.
Suddenly, the roars of beasts ceased. The dense forest became eerily silent in an instant. Chu Jun felt a strong sense of unease. Such an anomaly surely indicated something sinister; whatever could silence all the beasts must be truly terrifying.
In the distance, a beam of light shot into the sky, standing out starkly against the dark night. The light transformed into a long, serpentine object, like a dragon-snake. Chu Jun's heart skipped a beat, and he exclaimed in alarm, "What in the world is that?"
Just then, a meteor streaked down from the sky, its long tail heading directly towards the dragon-shaped light. After the meteor shot past, the dragon-shaped light in the sky also vanished. However, the meteor was deflected and hurtled towards Chu Jun's position. Chu Jun inwardly cried out, "Not good!" and stomped out the campfire. But it was clearly too late; the meteor, as if it had grown eyes, plunged straight towards the valley where he stood.
A soft white light rapidly expanded in his vision. Chu Jun felt a cool sensation between his eyebrows, followed by a throbbing pain in his brain. He let out a groan and collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
Roughly half an hour later, two streaks of sword light suddenly flew from the distant horizon towards them. The clear light illuminated the ground, as if two people were riding longswords. Their clothes fluttering, the two figures streaked across the sky like lightning, heading towards the direction where dragon-shaped light was erupting. If Sở Tuấn could have witnessed this scene, he would undoubtedly have been greatly startled.
Early in the morning, cheerful bird songs echoed through the valley. Sở Tuấn sat up abruptly, thoughtfully touching his forehead, his brain still vaguely aching. He shook his head, stood up, and jumped a few times, finding nothing out of the ordinary. Only then did he feel relieved enough to pick up the dagger from the ground, tuck it into his waistband, and quickly leave the valley.
It was nearing noon, and the sun was directly overhead. Sunlight pierced through the dense forest, brightly illuminating the dry branches and withered leaves on the ground. Sở Tuấn leaned against the base of a tree so massive it would take several people to encircle it, taking a rest. In half a day, he had only traveled a little over ten miles. At this rate, he didn't know how long it would take to get out of this perilous forest.
The most despairing thing was to walk alone on a path with no end. Sở Tuấn somewhat regretted having left his original position earlier, wondering if that madman had sent anyone to assist him.
After all, he was a team member who had undergone strict and rigorous training. Sở Tuấn quickly adjusted his mood, and his fighting spirit surged again as he continued forward. By midnight, Sở Tuấn had finally passed through the dense forest, emerging before a lake whose surface was like a vast piece of jadeite. His eyes lit up, and he was about to rush over to drink his fill when he suddenly felt his hair stand on end. This was the keen sense of danger he had developed after countless life-or-death experiences. Sở Tuấn instinctively ducked forward quickly, and at the same time, a dark shadow darted out from the forest, its sharp claws barely grazing the back of his neck.
Sở Tuấn rolled over, tumbling to the front of a large rock, his dagger in hand, his sharp gaze fixed on the fierce beast about ten feet away. This savage beast wasn't large, possessing the body of a leopard and the head of a wolf. Its two eyes were pitch black and malevolent, its white fangs sharp and exposed. The gray fur on its back stood on end, its back slightly hunched, brimming with explosive power, ready to pounce and tear out Sở Tuấn's throat at any moment. Sở Tuấn held his dagger up to his chest, his waist pressed against the rock, half-sitting, half-kneeling, just like a keen hunting dog.
He had encountered a leopard-bodied, wolf-headed beast before and knew its speed was formidable, its claws incredibly sharp. Without a gun, he didn't even have half a chance of winning. The monster didn't pounce immediately, but quietly maintained its posture, waiting for the best opportunity. Sở Tuấn knew that if he relaxed even slightly, he would immediately suffer a fatal blow from the monster, and beads of sweat involuntarily streamed down his forehead.
Sở Tuấn's thigh trembled slightly, and his hand gripping the dagger also felt a little numb. The situation was becoming increasingly dire. He knew he couldn't wait any longer; the longer this dragged on, the more disadvantageous it would be for him. So, he slightly lowered the dagger from his chest, creating an opening.
Sure enough, the fierce beast leaped like a flash of lightning, its sharp claws suddenly lunging towards Sở Tuấn's throat. Sở Tuấn's legs went limp, and he fell to the ground with the momentum, forcefully thrusting his dagger forward.
Thud! Hiss! Suo Jun’s bulletproof vest was punctured, and fresh blood gushed from his left shoulder. The beast wounded Suo Jun with a single claw swipe, then easily dodged the incoming dagger and landed on the boulder.
Suo Jun didn’t have time to tend to his injured shoulder. He rolled away from the boulder and ran towards the lake, hoping this beast couldn’t swim. The beast, standing on the rock, let out a sharp hiss. Its eyes held a highly human-like, mocking expression as it sprang high into the air and lunged straight for Suo Jun’s back.
Hiss! The bulletproof vest was sliced in half by the beast’s sharp claws, leaving two long bloody gashes stretching from the back of his neck down to his waist. Suo Jun suppressed the pain, thrust his dagger backward, and at the same time, used his strength to leap into the lake. The clear lake water immediately turned red in one area.
The fierce beast indeed couldn't swim. It paced back and forth along the lakeshore, its ferocious eyes staring at Suo Jun. Its throat let out a low growl, and fresh blood dripped from a wound on its chest, staining its fur; it was clear it had been struck by the dagger. Suo Jun’s back and shoulder wounds, submerged in the water, made him tremble with pain. With difficulty, he took off the bulletproof vest and threw it away. The fierce beast remained by the shore, circling, unwilling to leave, looking as if it intended to hound Suo Jun to death.
Suo Jun examined the wound on his shoulder for a moment. There were three bloody gashes, deep to the bone, yet they had miraculously stopped bleeding. Over the past few days, Suo Jun had sustained dozens of wounds, both large and small, but they all automatically stopped bleeding and healed very quickly. Normally, they would be completely healed within a day. Unable to figure out the reason, Suo Jun could only attribute it to the useful drugs those madmen had injected him with.
Although the wounds weren't severe, if he kept soaking in the cold lake water, he would sooner or later turn into a zombie. Just at this difficult moment, a loud cry of cranes suddenly echoed from the sky. Suo Jun looked up. Without him realizing it, four large grey birds had appeared above his head, each carrying a person on its back.
“It’s a langbao, don’t let it get away!” A clear, bell-like voice rang out.
The langbao let out a growl and turned to flee. Two of the large birds swiftly swooped down to block its path. Two burly men leaped down from the backs of the birds, which were nearly ten meters high, and with greatswords in hand, they attacked the langbao from two sides.
Thud! The two greatswords missed, kicking up dust from the ground. The langbao evaded the fierce attack from the two men, and taking advantage of the moment before they could steady themselves after landing, it swiftly pounced on one of them like lightning.
Thwack! Fresh blood splattered as a chunk of flesh was torn from the burly man’s thigh.
“Big Brother!” The other burly man cried out in alarm, swiftly swinging his greatsword at the fierce beast’s hind leg. The fierce beast gracefully leaped to dodge. Just as it tried to seize the opportunity to escape into the forest, a longsword, flashing with electric light, suddenly shot down from the sky. Suo Jun saw the langbao’s movements falter slightly, its fur within the electric light’s radius standing on end.
Thwack! The longsword accurately pierced the fierce beast’s neck, pinning it to the ground.
“It hit! Senior Brother is so skilled!” A red-clad young woman joyfully leaped down from the back of a large bird and headed straight for the langbao’s corpse.
“Be careful, it might not be dead yet!” A green-clad young man also leaped down from a large bird, following closely behind the red-clad young woman.
Sở Tuấn's surprise quickly gave way to joy. After so many days, he had finally met people. Although these individuals rode ash cranes and wielded strange-looking swords, and spoke an unfamiliar language, they were, after all, human, just like him. Sở Tuấn climbed out of the water. The four people, as if by prior agreement, all turned their heads, their gazes becoming very strange. Sở Tuấn was bald and dressed "oddly," truly too conspicuous.
"Thank you for saving me!" Sở Tuấn said sincerely. Although he knew they wouldn't understand, he still spoke.
The red-clad maiden and the green-clad youth assessed Sở Tuấn for a moment. The maiden said with a hint of disdain, "So it's a body cultivator!" She then turned to dissect the head of the fierce wolf-leopard beast, deftly extracting a glittering object from within its skull.
The green-clad youth asked Sở Tuấn a few questions, but seeing Sở Tuấn's eyes remain blank, it seemed he didn't understand these words. He stroked his chin, then his voice changed, as if he had switched to another language. When Sở Tuấn heard this language, his expression still didn't budge in the slightest. The green-clad youth felt a slight headache. He took out a golden wooden box and opened its lid. Inside, a thumb-sized golden pearl was revealed, its surface flickering with spiritual light. He then took out a pea-sized spirit stone and brought the pearl towards it. Suddenly, the pearl burst forth with a brilliant radiance, glowing brightly. Without hesitation, the green-clad youth then threw the pearl towards Sở Tuấn. The moment it touched Sở Tuấn's body, the object, as if imbued with sentience, vanished into him without a trace.
Sở Tuấn only felt a slight tremor within his body. A cool energy from the pearl coursed wildly through his body, then headed straight for his head. This startled him. Fortunately, seeing no malice from the four people, he didn't show his alarm.
The cool energy circulated once within his brain, then vanished without a trace. But then, Sở Tuấn's head suddenly throbbed with pain, followed by a hazy sensation as if countless patterns were emerging, forcefully infusing themselves into his consciousness.
Although Sở Tuấn didn't understand anything, since the event was happening within his own head, he still sensed a few things. In an instant, his expression changed ever so slightly, as if in profound astonishment. He couldn't quite grasp how he suddenly understood an unfamiliar language. This language was precisely the same one he had heard from the four people.
The green-clad youth saw Sở Tuấn absorb the pearl into his body, and Sở Tuấn's expression was extremely dramatic. The youth showed a slight hint of disdain, but still asked in a deep voice: "Now you can hear and understand my words. Who are you, and why are you here? This is the deepest part of the jungle; how did a first-level body cultivator like you get here? Did you see a dragon-shaped radiance a few days ago? Did you see anything flying nearby?"
Sở Tuấn’s heart skipped a beat. He couldn’t say that the big-nosed madman had brought him here. Seeing these people with their strange clothes, strange modes of transport, and unfamiliar language, they were certainly not humans from Earth. He also didn’t want to make himself stand out and be dissected for research, so he just answered vaguely, saying: “I was injured earlier, then carried here by a stinky crane. At that time, I was unconscious, so I don’t know what happened. When I woke up, I found myself here. I only just woke up yesterday, so I don’t know what happened in the past few days.”
The green-robed youth heard this and said nothing more. He also didn’t have the spare time to care why a first-level Thể tu was injured.
The two burly men with greatswords turned to Sở Tuấn, revealing friendly smiles. However, their expressions clearly still held a hint of wariness.
“What is a Thể tu?” Sở Tuấn secretly pondered the red-robed girl’s words. Connecting it with her demeanor when she spoke, it seemed Thể tu was an existence she greatly looked down upon.