Chapter 149 - 147: Feeding the Gu
Miao Anji felt the searing pain of being bitten all over his body. Besides Miao Jiangling, there was no one else who could have hung these cocoons here. This was Miao Jiangling’s specialty.
Miao Anji crushed the small snake in his hand and awaited death. ’At least Sister left safely.’
The corners of Miao Anji’s mouth curled up as his vision went completely dark.
Jiang Li crawled out and stared in horror at the scene before her. She scrambled forward, crying, "Xiao Ji!"
Jiang Li stared in disbelief at Miao Anji, who was covered in crawling insects. Without a thought for whether they were poisonous, she rushed forward and began brushing the bugs off his body.
"Didn’t you say this was your specialty?" Jiang Li’s hands trembled in panic as large tears streamed down her face.
’How could this happen!’
Several insects quickly bit Jiang Li’s hands.
Lu Xingye hadn’t expected this either. He stomped on the venomous bugs crawling toward him, then patted his pockets only to realize he didn’t have a lighter.
Lu Xingye picked up a nearby stick and started swatting away the swarming insects.
"Xiao Ji? Xiao Ji?" Jiang Li called out to Miao Anji, but no matter how she yelled, he didn’t respond at all.
Panic surged in Jiang Li’s heart. As she looked at the dense clusters of tiny red dots on his body, she suddenly noticed several cuts on his arm.
Jiang Li froze for a moment. Then, she saw the dagger lying nearby, and a thought clicked in her mind.
’So, this is how you raise Gu Worms?’
Seeing more and more venomous bugs being drawn to Miao Anji, Jiang Li picked up the dagger from the ground and slashed her own hand.
The moment her fresh blood dripped down, the surrounding insects were instantly attracted and swarmed her frantically.
"Jiang Li, are you insane?!" Lu Xingye rushed forward, grabbing her hand and staring at the wound.
"I’m fine." Jiang Li shook off Lu Xingye’s hand.
"You’re crazy." Lu Xingye snatched the dagger from her.
"Lu Xingye, give it back! Nothing can happen to Xiao Ji." Jiang Li frowned and tried to grab it back. ’If I can lure these insects away, I can save Xiao Ji.’
Lu Xingye’s brow furrowed. He took the dagger and cut his own arm.
Jiang Li’s hand froze in mid-air, her mind a complete mess. These venomous bugs were different from other insects; their growth rate was terrifyingly fast.
And once bitten, a numbing sensation would spread from the wound.
’If this drags on any longer, none of the three of them will get out.’
Wu Ming had said this was how you raised Gu Worms, and what a coincidence that they appeared right here.
Jiang Li glanced around. ’Could they be after me again?’
Jiang Li used her jacket to sweep all the bugs off Miao Anji. She turned to look at Lu Xingye, wanting him to take Miao Anji out first.
"Lu Xingye..."
Lu Xingye cut her off with a frown. "You take Miao Anji and go first. Where I came down, there’s a rope that Captain Zhou and the others let down."
"They should have evacuated by now, so you can climb up without worry."
’He couldn’t let her be the one to stay behind every time.’
Jiang Li looked at Lu Xingye. "No, I can’t carry him. You two go first. I’ll be fine."
Miao Anji was so tall, and she was too short. Her trying to carry him would only waste time.
Lu Xingye gritted his teeth. ’She’s always like this.’
"Lu Xingye, you’re a police officer! What are you hesitating for?!"
Lu Xingye clenched his jaw, his arm muscles tightening. In the end, he relented. "Hold on for a bit. I’ll take him up and come right back for you."
Lu Xingye made several more cuts on his hand, letting a pool of blood form to attract the creatures. Then he hoisted Miao Anji onto his shoulders and walked to the spot where he had descended.
Jiang Li saw the small, dying snake nearby, picked it up, and put it in her pocket. She grabbed the flute from the ground and started walking in the other direction, but stopped halfway.
’But if these worms get out, wouldn’t that be incredibly dangerous?’
Lu Xingye placed Miao Anji under a tree. He turned and was about to go back down the pit when a dark swarm suddenly flew at him. Before he could get a clear look, his foot slipped, and he fell, knocking himself unconscious.
Jiang Li watched the approaching insects. In places she couldn’t see, some were even climbing up silently.
A sharp pain shot through Jiang Li’s neck. Her body stiffened on the spot, her feet already numb. She was completely paralyzed, only able to watch as the creatures crawled up her body.
「...」
"Fuck!" Yu Huannian cursed under his breath in frustration as he looked at the two people in front of him.
After he and Wu Ming handed Kong Zhen over to Captain Zhou’s men, he had rushed back. Wu Ming didn’t have the stamina to keep up, so he didn’t follow.
He went to the original exit but couldn’t find anyone, so he had to head up the mountain. In the end, all he found were the unconscious bodies of Miao Anji and Lu Xingye.
"Lu Xingye, where’s my sister?"
Yu Huannian shook Lu Xingye violently. Just as he raised his hand to slap him awake, Lu Xingye’s eyes fluttered open.
Lu Xingye groggily opened his eyes and saw Yu Huannian in front of him.
The next second, he shot to his feet, but he’d gotten up too fast and immediately stumbled back. "Damn it!"
"What’s wrong? Where’s my sister?"
Lu Xingye looked at the rope nearby. ’Jiang Li isn’t that foolish. She should have climbed up. She must have climbed up.’
He grabbed the rope, preparing to go down and look, but all he saw was the frayed, broken end hanging over the edge of the pit. His vision went black.
’The rope broke...’
Seeing Lu Xingye’s state, Yu Huannian prepared to jump down himself.
Zhou Tiancheng, who had just caught up, quickly grabbed Yu Huannian and chided, "Are you crazy? I told you to go to the hospital, but you wouldn’t listen."
Zhou Tiancheng looked at this stubborn mule, Yu Huannian, feeling anxious himself.
The doctor had said his leg was injured, but he refused to go to the hospital. He insisted on coming up the mountain, and now he was about to jump into the pit without a second thought.
If he jumped, his leg would be truly ruined. ’What’s with this guy? Is he trying to be some kind of reckless hero?’
"Yu Huannian, calm down! Maybe Jiang Li already got out through another exit."
Yu Huannian clenched his fists. He and Wu Ming had already checked the exit they came out of. No one was there.
That small opening had been blocked by a large boulder, and no one knew what had happened inside.
Since he didn’t see them there, his only option was to run up the mountain.
Lu Xingye quickly looked at Zhou Tiancheng. "Captain Zhou, you saw Jiang Li at the other entrance, right?"
Seeing the looks on Lu Xingye’s and Yu Huannian’s faces, Zhou Tiancheng didn’t know what to say for a moment.
He had led his men up the mountain after Yu Huannian, but Yu Huannian was too fast. When his team backtracked, they only found the place where Qin Hao had held Kong Zhen captive and the body of He Ming.
Before he could get a clear look, Yu Huannian had rushed out from inside and headed up the mountain.
He suspected Yu Huannian knew where Jiang Li and the others were, so he had hurried to follow.
"Let’s get Miao Anji to the hospital first. I’ll go back down and look."
Looking at the pit opening, Lu Xingye pulled a rope from a colleague’s backpack, tied one end to a tree, and began securing the other around himself.
"Those bugs are strange. I’m enough to go down alone. Captain Zhou, does anyone have a lighter?"
Lu Xingye cut off the words Zhou Tiancheng was about to say. If too many people went down there, they might just become food for those things.
Zhou Tiancheng handed him a lighter. Lu Xingye took it, made sure his rope was secure, and jumped down.