Upon hearing this, Cheyenne quickly understood what he meant and threw a silver needle towards the direction of the lighter.
The moment the needle pierced the plastic outer tube of the lighter, the pressure inside was disrupted.
The liquid flammable material came into contact with the air, causing an explosion in the compressed space.
Bang!
A loud noise, sparks splattered.
“Cheyenne, be careful.”
Kelvin flew over to protect her in his arms for the first time, using his body to shield her.
In the air, besides the damp earthy smell, there was also a smell of burnt protein.
Behind them, it was like a rain of hornets, with burnt killer bees falling from the sky one after another.
It wasn’t enough; one lighter could only deal with half of the bees, so they had to raise torches as soon as possible.
Glancing around, Octavio and Araceli quickly cut off a piece of branches.
They swiftly tore off their clothes and wrapped them around, using a lighter to ignite the fabric into a makeshift torch and rushed into the swarm.
Everyone worked together to quickly burn these killer bees to ashes.
After the ordeal, everyone was exhausted and collapsed on the spot.
“Finally saved our lives.”
Cheyenne wiped the sweat from her forehead and looked up at Kelvin.
He had just rushed over to protect her without a second thought; what a fool.
“Are you injured? Let me see.”
“No, how about you?”
She shook her head too and held Kelvin’s hand tightly.
“I’m fine too.”
Seeing this, Iker didn’t approach but turned to ask about the others’ condition.
Everyone was fine except Octavio, who had been bitten by a killer bee.
It seemed he got bitten when he rushed in with the torch to exterminate the insects.
He was bitten on the back of his neck, and now a fist-sized blister had swollen at the wound.
The surrounding skin was stretched to a meaty pink, just looking at it was painful.
“What should we do? Should we pierce this blister and let the pus inside flow out? Otherwise, Octavio will be in pain sooner or later with such a big blister.”
Araceli suggested.
Cheyenne immediately opposed her suggestion.
“No, I think the fluid in this blister is highly corrosive.”
“If it bursts, the liquid might spread everywhere and cause infections in other areas. the forest is full of venomous creatures, and it will only get worse.”
Leandro and others agreed on this point; the blister couldn’t be pierced; they needed to find another solution.
“What should we do then?”
Iker didn’t know medicine, but Octavio was the firepower he had invited at a high cost. It would be a pity if he was disabled here.
“It’s all my fault. If I didn’t want to pick this flower, maybe none of this would have happened.”
Old Bray blamed himself.
Paisley’s eyes also turned red. She had never seen such a scene before, and she couldn’t forget it.
If it were usual, she would have scolded the old man, but seeing the expression on his face, she couldn’t bear to blame him.
“Let it go, you didn’t mean it. Let’s find a place to settle down first.”
“We four will discuss what to do with Octavio’s illness. I believe everything has its antidote.”
“If killer bees exist, there must be their natural enemies. Maybe that’s the antidote to their venom.”
Hearing this, Cheyenne suddenly felt like a switch in her brain had been turned on, and inspiration rushed in.
She thought of a very important key.
“Wait a minute, Paisley said everything has its natural enemy. Just now… Old Bray attracted the killer bees with this Konjak Flower, right?”
Old Bray didn’t know what she meant.
But indeed, he had smelled a strong smell of corpse at the moment he picked the flower, which attracted the killer bees.
“Yes, it’s strange. Since I picked the flower until now, it seems like there are no killer bees around.”
Cheyenne lowered her head to look at the flower in his hand.
“Old Bray, look, when did this flower close?”
Old Bray quickly looked over and was surprised to find that the petals of the flower in his hand had closed at some point.
“Wow, I hadn’t even noticed that. So does that mean an unbloomed Konjak Flower can repel killer bees?”
That might actually be effective against bee venom.
The thought filled everyone with hope, and if this calculation was correct, then Octavio might be saved.
Iker was also relieved, his tone lightening up considerably.
“Alright, in that case, let’s find a place to settle down first and then detoxify Octavio.”
“Thank you all for your concern.”
Octavio smiled politely at everyone.
“It’s no problem, we’re a team.”
Iker patted his shoulder, comforting him.
Then everyone helped set up tonight’s camp.
Except for the injured Octavio resting temporarily, everyone else was busy.
Paisley found a few palm leaves and tied them together to make a makeshift broom, sweeping the dirt around their designated area.
She counted at least ten venomous snakes nearby, all hissing at them.
Cheyenne felt her scalp tingle; there was no way they could sleep with these snakes around.
Fortunately, they had brought a lot of sulfur, which came in handy now.
She scattered sulfur around the campsite, and sure enough, the snakes fled at the scent.
Meanwhile, Kelvin and Iker chopped down a few trees and dragged them back, while Araceli helped build a temporary shelter.
They erected a square frame with four wooden poles, using bamboo as the support on top.
Then they covered it with palm leaves, topped with banana leaves, to prevent it from getting wet if it rained at night.
There were also many poisonous ants on the ground, so they couldn’t just sit on the ground.
Kelvin found some mugwort from somewhere, burned it into ashes, spread it on the ground, and then covered it with banana leaves as a carpet.
With the scent of mugwort ashes, the mosquitoes weren’t as rampant as before.
With the sleeping situation sorted out, the next important thing was to make a fire.
For Iker and Araceli, who were experienced in outdoor survival, this was just a small matter.
Araceli took care of making the fire, while Iker went to nearby places to find edible wild fruits and fresh water.
Just as they settled down, Cheyenne and the others began to study the bee venom that Octavio had been injected with.
She plucked a petal from the Konjak Flower, mashed it with a stone, and applied it to Octavio’s neck.
“How does it feel?”
“It’s really hot, it hurts!”
“Hang in there, I see the blisters are getting smaller.”
At the same time, the venom inside was also rushing out frantically, and they couldn’t let it flow elsewhere.
Fortunately, Cheyenne had wrapped his neck in a towel beforehand, and the dark green pus flowed onto the towel.
The new towel quickly changed color.