As Cheyenne had said, the periphery was indeed just some towering trees, although one could see some snakes every few steps. However, they were just common snakes such as black-headed snakes, grass snakes, rat snakes, and sand vipers… These non-venomous snakes, even if not good outside, could still make humans avoid them by their appearance. However, on this island, they were just at the bottom of the food chain.
Moving forward another hundred meters, the vegetation became denser, and the forest was full of damp dew, causing bushes to grow in patches. Octavio walked ahead, clearing the way with the machete in his hand, cutting down the bushes familiarly as he walked.
Colorful spiders inhabiting the leaves hurriedly spread their hairy legs and climbed onto the tree trunk. Cheyenne noticed that the size of this spider was almost half the size of her fist. Its back was light purple, and its eight legs were dark green, very beautiful in color. Leandro quickly took a photo with his camera.
Click- “The more colorful the spider, the more poisonous it is. Don’t believe it? Look.” Cheyenne looked over at the sound, only to see the colorful spider grab a ladybug flying by with two legs and quickly paralyze it due to poisoning. It was then lazily bitten in half by the spider. However, the spider’s joy was short-lived. After it finished its meal, it was quickly rolled away along with the ladybug by a red tongue.
Behind this “sparrow” was a bright red toad. It was larger than the spider, with bright red eyes.
“I’ve never seen this red frog before,” Cheyenne said, and Leandro immediately took a picture of it. After finishing its meal, the frog licked its legs with its tongue, jumped onto the tree trunk with a splash, and continued to rest.
As a deep green bamboo snake slowly approached it, the snake suddenly opened its mouth wide and swiftly coiled around the frog’s body, swallowing it in one gulp.
The spider ate the ladybug; the frog ate the spider; and then the snake ate the frog. This was clearly a complete food chain. There was no right or wrong here, only competition between strength and weakness. The cruel law of natural selection, survival of the fittest, was vividly displayed in nature.
And when they set foot on this island, at that moment, they didn’t know whether they would become predators or prey.
They hadn’t found any human figures or clues along the way, but they had encountered many poisonous snakes.
“Dragon Serpent Isle deserves its name. From the moment I set foot on it until now, I’ve seen no less than a hundred snakes,” Cheyenne remarked. They could be found everywhere: in the grass, on the tree trunks, on the road…
“If anyone has ophidiophobia, they would be scared out of their wits without being bitten by a snake,” Cheyenne added.
When they reached a relatively open area with a water source, Iker raised his hand to signal everyone to stop.
“Let’s take a break. None of us have eaten anything since early morning. Let’s have something to eat before we continue,” he suggested.
“Sounds good. I’m actually quite hungry,” Old Bray said, panting, as he leaned on his cane and sat down in the bushes. As soon as he sat down, he felt something bite his buttocks and he shouted in alarm, quickly standing up and turning around to see what it was.
“What the hell bit my ass?” he exclaimed. Upon turning around, he found that what had bitten him was a red konjak flower.
But this was no ordinary konjak flower; it was the legendary Nine Nights Corpse-Scented Konjak Flower. This plant had a long average lifespan, easily living to be a hundred and fifty years old, and only bloomed two or three times in its lifetime. It grew from fungi gathered on corpses, and when it bloomed, it emitted a scent similar to that of a decomposing corpse to attract passing predators.
It was called Nine Nights Corpse-Scented Konjak Flower because other konjak flowers had extremely short flowering periods, mostly only lasting two or three days. However, this type of konjak flower could bloom for up to nine days.
“We are really lucky. We actually found such a treasure. If we don’t take it back, I feel like I’m letting myself down.” As Old Bray spoke, he reached out towards the corpse flower taro.
Iker immediately shouted loudly when he noticed his dangerous move. “Don’t touch it!”
But it was too late. Just as Old Bray reached out, the corpse flower taro emitted an even stronger stench of decay than before, causing everyone’s heads to spin.
“Hold your breath!”
“Buzzing…”
A strange sound emanated from the woods, where even venomous snakes couldn’t escape, leaving only a white, blood-stained cartilage behind.
It fell to the ground with a thud.
“What are these things?” Cheyenne looked terrified as the swarm, more terrifying than locusts, flew densely towards their direction.
Iker didn’t dare to underestimate the swarm of insects and quickly put on his hat. “Run, everyone, these are killer bees.”
Ten meters… Nine meters… Three meters… Getting closer and closer.
She flicked three silver needles, piercing through three red killer bees, and quickly sealed them in test tubes.
“Run!” Although silver needles could deal with these killer bees, she didn’t have thousands of them to spare. Running was the best option in this situation.
Nobody had the mood to watch out for poisonous snakes underfoot. They had to avoid the hornets behind them first.
Leandro cursed Old Bray as he ran for his life. “You old man, you’re so reckless at your age. You promised not to slow us down.”
Old Bray regretted it too, but he still held onto the flower stubbornly. “I brought this knowing it would attract a legion of killers. Instead of chatting, you should run faster, or you’ll end up as a pile of bones.”
“I’m going to be infuriated by you.” Paisley, due to her obese weight, lagged behind. She struggled to move her legs, but her body was at its limit.
“I… I can’t run anymore… I’m so tired, you guys go ahead.”
“No, we came together. How can we leave you alone to face these killer bees?” As the hornets approached within three centimeters of her, Cheyenne had to throw out her precious silver needles again. Fortunately, her aim was accurate, and none of the needles were wasted.
Old Bray blamed himself for endangering his ex-wife. He walked over and pulled her onto his back, gritting his teeth as he strained to lift her.
“Come on, get up here, I’ll carry you.”
“No, if you carry me, we’ll both die. You go quickly.”
At this critical moment, Paisley, who had annoyed him for a lifetime, couldn’t bear to let her lover die because of her.
“What nonsense are you talking? You’re my ex-wife, how could I abandon you alone?”
“We’re divorced.”
“Even so, you’re still my ex-wife. If we’re going to die, let’s die together.”
…
With snakes in front and killer bees behind, they couldn’t afford to die here before resolving the matter.
At this moment, Iker suddenly thought of a good idea. He took out a lighter and threw it into the midst of the killer bees.
“They’re afraid of fire, Cheyenne, hurry!”