Chapter 497: The Island of Devil’s Maw (3)
After confirming the air was not the way to go, the five walked into the jungle next to the beach. Pegasus was voted to lead, followed by Uncle Worthless, then Ambitionist, Feng Bujue and Atobe-sama. The group trekked through the jungle slowly moving towards the centre of the jungle. The first part of the main quest had a time limit, that was a good thing. Through this, one could tell that the ‘Shrine of Faith’ was not far from where the players landed, at least theoretically speaking… they should be able to reach it within 3 hours.
“Is it possible… that the shrine is close to the coast? Actually we do not need to get deeper into the island and we will find it by walking alone the shoreline?” After some time, Atobe suddenly was hit by this inspiration and asked.
“Of course, there is.” Feng Bujue laughed. “But… if that was the case, then a new question will appear…” He turned around to ask. “If we move along the shoreline, should we take left or right?”
“Hmm…” Atobe was stumped by this question. After two seconds of hesitation, he replied, “You are pulling my leg, aren’t you?”
“He’s not.” Before Feng Bujue could answer, Ambitionist chimed in. “Brother Jue is not wrong, moving left, right or entering the island basically had no difference.” At this point, he paused to scratch at his neck. “For one, we have no map and for two, we have no hints, so taking whichever route is a gamble regardless.” Brother Jue continued, “But based on experience and common sense, the chance of the shrine being inside the island is higher than by the beach,” He pointed at Pegasus. “Pegasus’ first reaction is to enter the island as well, so… I also…” His words stopped there. The next second, Feng Bujue’s expression changed and he shouted. “Don’t move!”
The group had no idea who he was referring to so all four of them stopped at the same time.
“Ambitionist, do not move.” Feng Bujue used a firm tone to warn.
“What’s wrong?” Ambitionist answered nervously. At that moment, he froze like a statue, his body completely still. Only his lips were moving to speak.
“There is something on the back of your neck.” When Feng Bujue said that, he strode forward to stand behind Ambitionist. After the three knew it had nothing to do with them, they sighed silently in relief and looked this way.
“Hmm… This is strange…” Feng Bujue was about to reach out his hand when he stopped.
…
“What is happening?” Ambitionist tried to remain calm. By then he realized there was a reason why the back of his neck was feeling itchy.
“It should be some kind of locust…” Feng Bujue answered.
“Based on what you said… that doesn’t sound like a normal locust.” Ambitionist replied.
“Correct.” Feng Bujue said. “Because I cannot see it….”
“What do you mean by that?” Ambitionist followed up.
“I can see the wound on your neck that is bleeding…” Feng Bujue replied. “But I cannot see the thing that is sucking the blood out…” He leaned in closer. “From the shape of the wound… I believe it is a locust.”
“An invisible locust?” Uncle Worthless concluded.
“No… it is definitely not invisible…” Ambitionist vetoed that himself. “If the locust is invisible, when my blood enters its body, it will show the outline of its body or at least its intestines.”
“But this thing before us does not show any trace even after sucking the blood.” Feng Bujue concurred with Ambitionist. “Hmm… We should call it Spirit Locust for now.”
“Is now the time for naming convention?” Ambitionist groused. Obviously Ambitionist was nervous. People were such creature, ignorance is bliss. When one was in the dark, they won’t feel anything special, but once they were clued in… they would feel quite uncomfortable.
“Don’t worry, I’ll deal with it now.” Feng Bujue said as he tilted his head and leaned his nose to the back of Ambitionist’s neck. “Hmm, it smells rather grassy, it is definitely a locust.”
“Hey… what the hell are you doing… Do you plan to eat it like a snack?” Atobe gave Brother Jue a side eye. Honestly if Feng Bujue really opened his mouth to consume the Spirit Locust, Atobe wouldn’t be too surprised.
“I was just trying to confirm it further.” Brother Jue said, “What if it was something else?” He explained as he took out anti-gravity gun from his inventory. “If it’s a locust… yanking it off will not be appropriate. If the suction needle is left in the skin, it might cause an infection.”
Buzz Buzz—As the gun was heated up, the wound of the back of Ambitionist’s neck lightened. Then fresh blood slid down his skin. This proved that the locust had been lifted up his neck.
“We won’t face that problem with this kind of gravitational device.” Feng Bujue moved the gun away and glanced at Ambitionist’s wound. “Hmm… from the size of your wound, this is a big one. It curls up to a ball but when expanded, it can be 10 cm long.”
“Phew… I was being too careless.” Ambitionist sighed as he rapidly used his hand to stop the bleed. “I only thought it was itchy, I wasn’t paying attention to my Life Points.” He paused for two seconds. “Thankfully, the loss is not that serious, only 7 percent… But who knew how long this thing has attached itself to me.”
“The problem is still not yet solved.” Feng Bujue said in a curious tone. “I gave it more thought… Since this locust can interact with us on a physical level, calling it a ‘spirit’ is not that appropriate.”
“You are still on that problem?” Atobe argued, “That is not important at all, is it?”
“He’s not hung up on the name.” Ambitionist pushed on his glass. “but the nature of this creature.” He thought for a few seconds and gave a supposition. “Could it be that… it has a skin that can camouflage?”
“Like a chameleon?” After hearing a whole lot of static, finally Pegasus understood something.
“Chamaeleonidae (Scientific name) is much less impressive than this.” Feng Bujue said as he raised his arm to aim the gun at a nearby tree trunk (The gun could operate both the gravitational device and the lighting device at the same time). “Look, there should be a locust floating before my gun, but even being directly hit by a ray of light, there is no shadow on the trunk. This proves that… it does not twist the light around it but it directly influences our sense of sight.”
“That is not that strange.” Ambitionist said. “The background of this scenario is clearly the game’s main universe or in other words… a magical world. Therefore, it is normal for creature that cannot be explained by science to appear.”
“Hmmm…” Feng Bujue thought for a while and then asked. “Uncle Worthless, can you see this locust?”
“No.” Uncle Worthless answered instantly.
“It’s not viewable under light or through the sunglasses…” Feng Bujue said as he lifted his head to look at Ambitionist. “It’s not showing up when stuck to a surface of 37 degree and not showing up when floating in 15 degree normal temperature…” He then continued, “Any of you carry any infra red device or skill with you?”
“You sure like to find things to do.” Even though Ambitionist was complaining, he reached into his inventory and started to rummage. “You won’t stop until you get this invisible thing to show up, won’t you? It’s just a locust, isn’t it? Now that it has been removed, can’t you just cast it aside and move on? Wasting time on such a small thing will come back and bite you in the ass later.” After the complaint was done, the item was out. Ambitionist held up an egg-like metallic item, he pressed a button and the item opened up in a burst of light.
Instantly, everything around them was cast within the radioactive rays of infrared light.
“What the fuck!” At that moment, other than Brother Jue, everyone’s Terror Point jumped. Under the infrared light, surrounding the player was a sea of invisible locusts… On the foliage above them, the muddy ground beneath them, the trees around them, in the grass, on the rock… almost all the surface was crawling with this creature. And that including all five of their clothes. Quite a number had attached themselves to the group.
“Thankfully our clothes are quite properly wrapped. And the area of exposed skin is small.” Feng Bujue said calmly. “And these locusts move very slowly. After a long time, they only move a little bit forward.” He turned to Ambitionist. “Well, brother glasses, you were only unlucky I suppose…” he lifted the gun in his hand and waved the floating locust about. “This one… probably fell from the trunk and happened to land on the back of your neck.”
“Is now the time to talk about these things?” Atobe looked at the bugs crawling on him and he was about to lose his mind. He did not dare to smack them away so he could only gasp in fear. “What should we do now?”
“There is nothing we can do really…” With a casual fling, Feng Bujue cast the locust on the gun away. He looked around and said, “based on this density… there is no need to clear away the ones already stuck to us, after all, we would get covered in them again in a few steps.” He shrugged. “We should keep moving until we reach an area where there are not that many locusts anymore and then we can deal with them.”
“Hey… what is the whole jungle is like this? What if the whole island is filled with this kind of creature?” Atobe asked.
“Then… we can consider is it possible to make these invisible locusts into emergency store of protein.” Feng Bujue tilted his head to the side and said.
“In any case… let us move.” Pegasus’ face suddenly drained of color. “I have trypophobia…” Looks like every hero has his weakness.
“Sure, let’s keep moving.” Feng Bujue added with ease.
Ambitionist took a deep breath and shook his head. “brother Feng, I have to be impressed… you sure have an incredibly strong and unshakeable mental stability.”
“Indeed, can a normal person be so at ease after seeing such a surrounding…” Atobe concurred.
“Hah…” Feng Bujue laughed jokingly. “If you are that afraid, how about a little ditty to distract yourself. Come, sing with me…” he opened his mouth and then, “Brother Pegasus, rocking his way to the west, leading Uncle Worthless, followed by three little ass.”
“Hey! Did you just violate the law of grammar for the sake of rhyming? And why did you slander yourself?”