Chapter 230: The Breeding Ground

We reassessed the situation and confirmed that the tracks, which looked exactly like snake trails, did indeed lead into the depths of the Crying Forest. The three of us squatted on the ground, staring at the marks and then at each other in silence.

“This is a massive problem,” He Yu murmured. “We’ve truly failed before the campaign even began.”

I glared at him before he could finish. Shifting the subject, I began to analyze. “Looking at these tracks, something must have come out of the forest in the middle of the night and dragged Old Qian and Kuba back inside. Judging by the shape of the trail, could it be a snake?”

“I think our safest bet right now is to go for help,” He Yu suggested. “Aren’t your Fourth Brother’s people just on the other side of the mountain?”

I shook my head and signaled Chen Canghai to help me pack up the tent. I did a quick inventory of the essentials and stuffed them into my pack. “The situation on the opposite slope is too complicated. Didn’t you see earlier? Some of the guns those guys were holding were M16 automatic rifles. You know exactly what that means in this country right now. Given the circumstances, even if we went for help, they wouldn’t necessarily send people for a search and rescue.”

“So,” I said, zipping up my backpack, “we can’t rely on anyone this time. Grab your gear and tie up the horses. We’re going to have to feel our way into the forest ourselves.”

Upon hearing this, Chen Canghai immediately shouldered his pack. Among us, he had the least amount of gear. We’d had a shotgun back in the Greater Khingan Mountains, but since we had to take a train to make time, we couldn’t hide it and were forced to discard it. The three of us sharpened our knives, gathered our necessary supplies, and followed the faint, inconspicuous tracks step by step into the deep forest.

After walking barely a hundred meters, it felt as though night had fallen. We had no choice but to switch on our flashlights to continue. The canopy of this Crying Forest was far denser than any other woods on the grassland. Moreover, the forest was filled with towering trees so thick that three people would struggle to link arms around them. This made it even harder for sunlight to penetrate. Logically, it should be difficult for such giants to grow in a dry place like the grasslands; I wondered if there was a hidden underground river connected to the decoy tomb below.

Just then, Chen Canghai reached into the side of his pack and pulled out two Tu Haozi, tucking them into his waistband. He Yu happened to catch him in the act.

“Hey! You kid, where’d you get those? Stashing illegal firearms, are we?”

Chen Canghai took a moment to process the question before explaining, “They’re Kuba’s homemade guns, used for scaring off wolves in the winter. I tested them; the impact is limited, but they make a hell of a noise. I thought they might come in handy, so I brought them along.”

It was rare for me not to join their banter. I stayed focused on the winding tracks ahead. The path suddenly grew steep, and I came to an abrupt halt. My heart tightened at the sight before me.

It seemed this was the entrance to the decoy tomb that Ye Yuzhu and his team had found back then.

It was a large pit buried under fallen leaves, clearly man-made. However, the tomb entrance at the bottom had been blocked by fallen rocks. Although many areas were covered by layers of leaves, I could still imagine the scene of desperate, panicked flight that must have occurred here.

I guessed that something had gone wrong after Ye Yuzhu led his team back into the tomb. In the ensuing crisis, the men outside must have desperately laid explosives where the tomb passage met the entrance, causing the passage to collapse along with the door.

After the events of last night, we had all become quite somber. Usually, I would play along when He Yu cracked a dirty joke, but now I didn’t want to say a word. It felt as if I had temporarily lost the ability to socialize. We began to spread out and search, as the drag marks on the ground vanished at this spot.

I squatted where the tracks ended, lost in thought. A moment later, I saw Chen Canghai walking toward me holding a scrap of fabric. “Brother, I found this,” he said.

I took the cloth and examined it. I could tell it was from Old Qian’s thermal undershirt. I slapped my knees and stood up. “Damn it. It looks like he really was dragged all the way here in nothing but his thermals. He was dragged so far the fabric wore right through.”

“Could it be some kind of wild beast?” He Yu asked, jumping out of the pit to join me.

“Probably not,” I said. “A large predator wouldn’t drag a person away so silently. Search the area again. I have a feeling they’re nearby.”

I swept my flashlight forward. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of something in the distance. It was massive, like a wall.

I quickly grabbed He Yu, who was closest to me, and pointed ahead. “What is that?”

The three of us huddled together and turned our flashlights to their brightest setting. As the beams converged on the object, we finally saw the true face of the behemoth. It was an incredibly massive pair of Couple Trees. Shining the light upward, we saw that the branches of the two trees were almost completely intertwined. The two main trunks formed a bridge over our heads, and the canopy was exceptionally high. It was my first time seeing Couple Trees grow to such a size.

“Xiao Yao!” He Yu tapped me. His flashlight beam moved behind the Couple Trees, his voice thick with excitement. “Look! Is that Old Qian up in the tree?”

I squinted and moved my light to join his. Where the two beams met, I clearly saw a person hanging from a vine dangling from the canopy. It was indeed Old Qian!

“It’s him, it’s him! But how the hell did he get up that high?” He Yu said, preparing to jump into the pit. “I’m going to get him down.”

Just then, I saw Old Qian twitch. Something felt wrong. I immediately held He Yu back. “Wait.”

Then, under the gaze of our three pairs of eyes, Old Qian suddenly stood up on the distant tree. To be clear, it wasn’t a normal way of standing; he transitioned directly from a lying position to a standing one. Yet he remained unconscious, his arms still hanging limply at his sides. He convulsed as he took several steps forward along a branch of the Couple Trees and vanished from our sight.

“Holy shit,” He Yu said, terrified. “Is he possessed?”

Before I could even answer, I felt Chen Canghai move beside me. He shoved me aside with sudden force.

“Watch out!”

I tumbled headfirst into a pit, rolling several meters down through the fallen leaves before coming to a stop. Just as I shook my head and scrambled to get up, I saw a familiar figure charging down after me. It was Kuba, who had been missing for ages. The blade in his hand flew toward my face, thudding into the dirt barely a centimeter from my cheek.

I scrambled back in a frantic crawl as he lunged at me, his eyes rolled back to the whites and his limbs flailing. He clamped his hands around my throat and pinned me ruthlessly to the ground. There was no time to think. I drew the Horse-Head Blade from my waist and slashed at his arm with a backhand stroke. His grip loosened, and I immediately tucked my knees and kicked him hard in the stomach. The force sent him flying two meters back, where he slammed into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Chen Canghai seized the opportunity to pin him from behind, but Kuba possessed terrifying strength. His entire body convulsed and bucked, and he let out incoherent, guttural roars. Even a young man like Chen Canghai struggled to hold him down. I leaped up and threw my weight onto him as well. Only with our combined effort did we manage to suppress his movements.

He Yu pulled a rope from the side of his pack, and the three of us tied the maddened Kuba up securely.

“Why is this guy acting like a lunatic?”

He Yu grabbed the rope and hauled Kuba up from the ground. When Kuba snapped his teeth, trying to bite, He Yu delivered a sharp chop to the back of his neck. He knocked him unconscious instantly and dumped him back on the dirt.

I knelt beside Kuba. The only shirt on his upper body was worn through with several large holes, and after rolling around on the ground, he was covered in filth and dead leaves. I grabbed his hand and rolled up his sleeve, then checked his legs. Aside from some abrasions, there were no other wounds on his body, which basically ruled out the possibility of snake venom.

He Yu scanned the surroundings and said, “This is bizarre. Biting people on sight… he couldn’t actually be possessed, could he? And then there was Old Qian’s expression earlier. That guy has vanished too. This is getting creepy.”

I frowned, my eyes suddenly catching a ripple beneath the skin of Kuba’s belly.

“Brother, there’s something in his stomach.” Chen Canghai reached out and lifted Kuba’s tattered shirt.

The moment the clothing was pulled back, He Yu jumped three feet away. Being the closest, I watched in horror as I realized Kuba’s stomach was larger than a normal person’s. Worse, something inside was constantly squirming and shifting.

“Is he… pregnant?”

“Pregnant my ass! Something crawled inside him and is using his body as an incubator!” I barked.