Chapter 474: Chapter 340: I Have Something to Retrieve (Part 2)
"Why leave the entire corpse? It’s to destroy evidence, naturally, burn it," said Qinghan quite seriously.
"That’s the last resort. If the two of them are gone, so is my bonus. We’re not there yet. Quickly think of some excuse to bluff our way out."
"For a scholar like him, without concrete evidence, he wouldn’t be so sure about something. To overturn his conclusion, unless we let him touch the insect blood and he remains unchanged."
"Should I go back now and break off an insect leg to bring back?" We’ve already left the cave where we encountered flying insects. The insect’s corpse remains outside the cave. To get its blood or brain tissue, we have to go back.
"Be back before morning."
"No problem."
After discussing with Qinghan, we departed one after the other, separating our return times a bit.
Qinghan went back first. I used going to the bathroom as an excuse to come out. I told Doctor Du that the sand insects we ate tonight might not have been fresh, causing some stomach trouble.
Doctor Du got angry and slapped me on the back, saying everyone else ate them cooked, but I swallowed them raw. If they were not fresh, the ones they ate were what’s not fresh. Mine was the ’freshest,’ and the stomach trouble was definitely because the insects were ’too fresh.’
I thought to myself, humans eat all sorts of things raw, including sashimi, so what’s the big deal with a little sand insect?
But to keep my excuse for going out, I didn’t argue with her. When I came back late, she gave me a pill.
Medicines are in short supply right now. I pushed the pill back, patted my stomach, and said, "The poison is expelled, save the medicine for someone else."
For someone with an upset stomach, it’s just a trip to the bathroom. Doctor Du saw that I still had the energy to joke and smile with her, so she knew I wasn’t seriously ill, though she still insisted on giving me the pill, saying that if something feels wrong, I should take it myself and not call her later, as it would be bothersome.
I accepted the pill, saying I had to make a trip. When we killed the big insect, my dagger fell into its head. I just remembered that the handle of the dagger holds something useful to me.
So, I have to go back to retrieve it, departing tonight and returning before morning.
When everyone heard, they wanted to discuss who should accompany me. I quickly waved my hand and said there was no need. Travelling at night is a mandatory course for learning in the deep mountains. With night vision, I’ll be quicker on my own.
They already knew about this, but were still not at ease. Huang Zaijiang said there was nothing to worry about; among those present, who could challenge the Insect King in pairs? He had confidence in me. Surely, I’d be fine on my own.
I could have taken Little Red with me, but if it went back with me, when the ’item’ was retrieved, it would lower credibility in Mr. Tang’s eyes. After all, in that case, we’d be suspected of colluding and committing a joint crime.
From initially trying hard to stop me, Mike had now only advised me to be careful, showing a significant shift in attitude. He didn’t hide it and talked with me on the way back, saying he found my abilities far superior to his. He had no reason not to believe I could take care of myself. He finally understood why Qinghan always pushed me to the front because Qinghan had complete confidence in me.
Actually, Qinghan too had moments of worry. Even though he knew I was invulnerable to weapons, he occasionally worried about my safety.
Doctor Du taught me along the way how to navigate by stars. The magnetic field in this place has some issues, and the compass is sometimes accurate, sometimes not.
So, I can’t rely on it entirely. Walking at night is the perfect time to judge direction according to the stars’ positions and time.
Although they were assured of my combat skills, they were not confident in my directional skills. Besides this method, they also stuffed a locator into my pocket.
If even the stars couldn’t help me, they would come to pick me up.
With a compass in hand, a locator in my pocket, and my eyes gazing at the starry night sky, my positioning equipment was complete. It’s just that I didn’t take a weapon and resolutely embarked on the journey back to the cave.
The desert at night is not quiet; sounds are everywhere: rustling, gurgling, cracking... all sorts of strange noises.
I moved swiftly, passing between these sounds. Fortunately, the sources of these noises ignored me. As long as I didn’t stomp on their heads or kick their tails, no living creature noticed me.
But after a while, I heard some different sounds, not from the front or sides, but from behind.
There was an effect similar to ’causing a commotion.’ Creatures that ignored me earlier seemed to have discovered something delightful.
More accurately, they found a feast, and they cheered for it. Even the simple-minded creatures among them conveyed their cheers, which I received.
