Chapter 95: Trap
Translator: Letty Editor: DarkGem
The jungle was his last bet since he could never be a matched opponent for the military and the gene-altered soldiers. Only in the jungle, where uncertainty and hidden dangers treated invaders equally, Chang would have a chance of exterminating them.
He returned to the jungle, holding the hope of purging his enemy. Without a doubt, the jungle was pitted with peril. The danger within was more deadly day by day as species were evolving. It had been a while since he got out of the jungle, therefore, he implemented a full preparation against the dangers before he went in.
First, he secured the “bandage” around his head so that it wouldn’t fall when he fought.
Second, he made another batch of grass mush and smeared the mixture on his exposed skin so that his scent was reduced to a minimum.
Third, while on his way to the jungle, for the first time he robbed someone. All he harvested from the gang was a full water bottle and a meal that he ate ravenously. After the robbery, he left quickly.
When he finished his preparations, he stood below the “Welcome to Zhengzhou” billboard, which he’d visited before and which had become even more rusty. The jungle was expanding its territory and expunging all traces of civilisation around it.
Every inch of the jungle became more vital than it had been previously. The trees reached their arms higher to the sky to compete with their own breeds. By extracting an abundance of nutrient from the underground, their bodies were more stout and solid. Their skins were made up of a thick coat of fungi and fern, and the roots were blanketed by lush bushes. It was nothing like before, and a variety of noises echoed in the jungle. The buzzing sounds were the most clear, but there were many more that could be heard. Together, the inhabitants of this jungle were composing a vivid symphony of life.
But it could also be the opera of death.
Chang took a deep breath, smoothing a wrinkle on the bandage around his head. He cautiously chose his path, entering in his most vigilant manner to receive the challenge from the mysterious jungle.
Half an hour later, the hooknosed woman arrived at the billboard, where Chang had made a brief stop. She was with three gene-altered soldiers and her own troop.
“Madam, are you sure he went in there?” The agitating buzzing that was heard from the edge of the jungle worried the adjutant. He swallowed.
“I am 100% positive about this, don’t you trust my nose?” The woman tied her brows. “He is a savage boy, and that I didn’t foresee… What a desperate fightback!”
“Who do we do now? Should we follow him?” The adjutant hesitated, he seemed terrified.
“We’ll go after him no matter what.” The woman nodded.
“Are you sure? He could have died in there already!”
“Well, in that case, we still have to check. I believe you know the consequences of not completing this mission. Zhuo isn’t amiable on this kind of issue.” The woman tapped on the chest of a gene-altered soldier, speaking again, “I heard that he is still looking for human subject participants, and he can do anything when he is unhappy. If we don’t go back with two people, I can’t assure you that you won’t be one of those in the tanks.”
“Ah!” The gene-altered soldier roared as the hooknosed woman tapped on him, causing the woman to retrieve her hand by reflex.
“Alright, alright.” The adjutant swallowed again when staring at these human shaped beasts. He shouted to the troop, “Follow up! We are going into the jungle!”
Led by the adjutant, the troop slowly entered the jungle. The concentration of plants became thicker the deeper they went. Although the troop couldn’t see beyond three meters, the surroundings dimmed as the lush branches blocked the sky.
The layered tree crowns created a mottled dome, filtering the sunlight. Thus, the soldiers’ vision was further limited, the difficulty of marching raised. There was no path cultivated, and they had to find their own way; the ground was slippery and bumpy as roots and fungi weaved together. Waist-high bushes that grew in patches added another difficulty for the marching troop.
The woman was beside her adjutant, guiding the troop with her sensitive nose. She constantly sniffed the air so that she could separate Chang’s scent from others who lived inside the jungle. Even though her nose had become familiar with the scent, and it was unlikely that she would lose the trail, she still proceeded into the jungle with wariness.
“The scents and odors are mixed all together in the jungle, and most of them are brand new to me. Even though I know his scent, it is time-consuming to distinguish it from the rest. My ability is not helping much in this scenario.” The woman was irritated by the speed of the troop. “And I realised that the advantage of having a troop is dwarfed in here, these normal soldiers are slowing us down.”
“Then what do you think we should do?” The adjutant was aware of the same problem.
“Can you take the troop back to the city? I will pursue him with three gene-altered soldiers.” The hooknosed woman’s expression changed as her nose caught an unusual smell. “Where does this heavy blood smell come from?”
“Where?”
“It is about 100 meters ahead of us.”
“It’s normal for there to be a heavy smell of blood in the jungle, I guess, since animals predate upon each other, resulting in bloody residue.”
“No, this is different. Animals barely waste their food, and even if they were to predate, they would finish their dead prey as soon as possible to reduce the spread of blood scent.” The blood smell obviously overwhelmed the woman’s nose. She said, “This smells like an animal was dismembered. and its blood was deliberately splashed around. Animals won’t risk their lives to do this, it must be made by a human.”
“You mean this was made by our target?”
“Yes! It’s him!” The hooknosed raised her pitch, screaming, “The smell is fresh, I didn’t sense it until just now, but it means he’s nearby!”
“Wait, what do we do now? This must be a trap that he setup for us!”
“Of course we’ll catch up with him!” she bellowed, waving her hands to the gene-altered soldiers. “The longer we stay in the jungle, the lower our chances of leaving safely get. We have these gene-altered soldiers with us, what are you afraid of when it’s just him alone?”
“Number One, Number Two and Number Three, the target is that way!” The woman ran briskly while commanding the creatures. As if concerned that the gene-altered soldiers would be unable to understand her order, she added gestures to show them the direction.
The gene-altered soldiers were killing machines as Zhuo had made them to be. They passed the woman with a burst of speed.
A trail was blazed through brambles. The creatures were so fast that they forged ahead for over a hundred meters even where the surface was slippery. Soon, they arrived at the area where fresh blood dripped from the branches. The creatures went in different directions to search for Chang, their uniforms dampened by jumping up and down among the branches.
Chang was hiding behind a tree on the far side, squatting on one of its thickest branches. His mouth was set in a broad grin—the smell of blood was irresistible to the animals that lurked in the jungle. He’d learned this with his own sweat and blood. Therefore, when he saw the blood gradually stain their clothing, he knew that trouble was coming for them.
As he expected, in less than three minutes, the first wave of predators arrived.
The first wave was obviously the most speedy. They were a group of beetles, but their size wasn’t enlarged through evolution. By estimation, they were only as big as a human nail but their elytra were hardened to an iron’s. Given their miniscule size, they were flying at a tremendous speed. The tense buzzing made Chang’s scalp feel pin and needles.
The beatles showered the gene-altered soldiers while they were still looking for Chang. Hundreds and thousands of beatles constituted a falling dome, its shadow diving sharply towards the scaled skin of the creatures, venomous mandibles eager to bite into their muscles.
“Ah! Ah!” Soon the gene-altered soldiers were covered by these miniscule beatles, making them into “bugmen”.
Although the scaled skin provided protection against the beatles, they were still troubled. They waved their hands to try and brush off the swarm, yet their efforts were barely effective. Later, as more beatles landed on them, the force pushed them down from the tree crowns.
The beatles constantly attempted to bite through the scaled skin but failed. They soon realised, though, that they could enter their bodies through olfactory and auditory holes. The bugs even bit into their eyes so that the gene-altered soldiers would lose their vision.
Even though the beatles didn’t get any fresh flesh out of this attack, the gene-altered soldiers lost their rationale as the buzzing sound and the itching of their bodies would not go away. They acted on instinct and started running away in anxiousness.
Some other beetles that arrived later lost the share of the great meal, but they kept circling around to await for something else.
Bang!
A gunshot blasted through the buzzing noise, cueing the lost beatles on their next target. A stream of fresh smell of blood quietly suffused the air. As if they had received an order, all the beatles turned to the same direction and dived down.
The distance was only about one hundred meters, which only took Chang less than ten seconds to cover and find the troop. As soon as he guided the beatles to the gene-altered soldiers, he jumped between trees to find the best sniping spot.
Without hesitation, Chang shot the first soldier he saw. The mechanism of the handgun provided a great deal of kinetic energy to the bullet, which penetrated through his chest, making a giant see-through blood hole. Blood splashed, and Chang’s second bait was successfully dropped.
Before the troop could notice him, Chang ran away from this battlefield.
He didn’t look back for even a second, because he had confidence in the savage predators being able to solve his problem.