Chapter 1721

“Ugh——!”

Yu Feng wanted to spit out the snake meat in his mouth, but Lin Beichen wouldn’t give him the chance, tightly covering Yu Feng’s mouth without any intention of letting go.

Yu Feng instinctively tried to pull Lin Beichen’s hand away, but Lin Beichen was quicker, transforming his other hand into a hand blade and fiercely striking Yu Feng’s lumbar spine.

Of course, Lin Beichen couldn’t break someone else’s lumbar spine barehanded.

The lumbar spine is a relatively tough part of the body, and if Lin Beichen wanted to subdue Yu Feng with one move, he wouldn’t target his lumbar spine.

The reason he attacked Yu Feng’s lumbar spine was that when a person is hit hard, they instinctively take a deep breath before letting out a scream, which was precisely the effect Lin Beichen wanted.

“Cough—cough cough!”

As soon as Lin Beichen released his hand from covering Yu Feng’s mouth, Yu Feng clutched his throat and started coughing violently.

Seeing this, Lin Beichen just said indifferently, “How does it taste?”

As he spoke, Lin Beichen began to lower his head to tend to his own wounds.

Just taking off his outer garment, Lin Beichen found a pitch-black area beside his chest, where the wound had turned a ghastly white.

That blackness was not coagulated blood but rings of wriggling black leeches!

Excessive blood loss!

This was the first thought in Lin Beichen’s mind, and it was also the reason for his current weakness.

Lin Beichen pulled a burning stick from the bonfire, gave it a couple of shakes to extinguish the flames, and then began to press the red-hot embers against the leeches on his chest.

“Ugh—!”

As Yue Feng straightened up and saw those wriggling black leeches on Lin Beichen’s chest, he couldn’t hold back his disgust and vomited directly.

“Do you know what was in the snake meat you just ate?”

Seeing Yu Feng’s reaction, Lin Beichen seemed intrigued, a slight smile playing on his lips as he looked at the retching Yu Feng.

“That snake meat was about three-quarters cooked, and though the outside was charred, the inside was not at all cooked.”

“There were certainly maggots inside, and I even suspect there were parasites. There are quite a few parasites in the snake’s body.”

Having said that, Lin Beichen continued to lower his head, using embers to burn the leeches on his chest.

The leeches on Lin Beichen’s chest weren’t too difficult to deal with. As soon as the red-hot embers at the head of the burning stick touched them, a black leech would curl up and fall to the ground at Lin Beichen’s feet.

In no time, the ground under Lin Beichen’s feet was covered in a dense layer of leeches.

“Ugh—!”

Yu Feng didn’t know whether it was the sight of those leeches on the ground or the thought of the parasites that frightened him, but he began to retch again, spewing out stomach acid.

“I just want to tell you that, in a river like this, with a little thought, you can catch fish; it’s really not that difficult a thing.”

“Yet you chose the most unacceptable method, one that not even you can accept.”

After speaking, Lin Beichen shrugged.

During training, they also discussed how to survive in the rainforest, but obviously, Yu Feng hadn’t listened closely back then, leading him to make such a basic mistake.

Any creature in the rainforest, if not handled or consumed within three hours of being killed, is no longer edible.

This doesn’t mean the creatures in the rainforest are special, but because the rainforest is so hot and humid, a natural breeding ground for bacteria. All kinds of meat would spoil faster in such an unprotected place.

These are the most basic pieces of survival knowledge from training, and Lin Beichen felt Yu Feng should not and could not make such mistakes.

The nights in the rainforest are far from as calm as they seem. Snakes, insects, poisonous ants, and various beasts are all stirring restlessly at night. Even the mosquitoes can’t be easily withstood by ordinary people.

Take Yu Feng at this moment, covered in red and swollen lumps that, at a glance, seem like he received a warm “welcome” from hornets.

Coupled with the severe dehydration the protagonist is facing, if not replenished soon, he may faint before long.

In the rainforest, if someone faints, the consequences could be deadly.

The rainforest is difficult to traverse, and what’s more, the protagonists need to swim across a river several hundred meters wide.

Some might wonder, with the river right there, how could they lack water?

In fact, the water in the rainforest, whether flowing or still, shouldn’t be drunk unless absolutely necessary. At best, it causes diarrhea, and if parasites get into the body, that would be a huge loss.

Just like the Ganges; it’s said to contain an entire periodic table of elements. Locals dare drink from it directly, but would outsiders dare?

The same logic applies.

As long as there’s fire, you can boil the raw water to ensure it’s safe to drink. Furthermore, fire also provides warmth and can deter wild animals to some extent.

“Help me up.”

From afar, the protagonist weakly called out to Yu Feng.

Being too far away, Yu Feng didn’t hear the protagonist’s call. At that moment, he was busy striking stones with a dagger, trying to make sparks for a fire.

Having watched for a while, the protagonist couldn’t bear it anymore, grabbing a piece of broken stone and tossing it at Yu Feng.

The rainforest climate is inherently humid, and being by the river, the humidity is beyond extreme.

Attempting to start a fire using primitive methods like striking stones in such a place isn’t completely impossible, but hope is slim.

The protagonist couldn’t figure out what Yu Feng was thinking, coming up with such a dumb idea.

Unfortunately, the protagonist was too weak; though he wanted to give Yu Feng some “tough love,” he lacked the strength.

“Boss… boss, there’s fire!”

After an unknown amount of time, Yu Feng excitedly ran over to the drowsy protagonist, his face brimming with excitement like a child receiving a desired toy.

“Go get some food.”

The protagonist glanced at Yu Feng, speaking in an annoyed tone.

Yu Feng spent almost until sunset just to make a fire. At this hour, finding prey in the rainforest was practically a luxury.

“Where to?”

Yu Feng looked towards the distant rainforest with a puzzled expression.

The rainforest certainly had food now, but outside, it turned dark early, and inside the rainforest, it was pitch black.

Going in to find food now, even if Yu Feng had a gun, it would be useless.

As night fell, creatures in the rainforest indeed became active, but humans couldn’t see in the dark, rendering a gun useless!

“Isn’t there something right there?”

The protagonist gestured with his chin towards something nearby.

As evening fell, the oxygen levels in the river dropped significantly, and fish started jumping incessantly at the surface.

Unlike the protagonist, Yu Feng furrowed his brow after hearing his words, finally focusing on the net python’s carcass not far away. He hesitated for a moment before confirming with the protagonist:

“Boss, are we really going to eat that?”

As he spoke, Yu Feng reluctantly swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

At that moment, the net python’s carcass was swarming with flies, and Yu Feng could see the white critter inside wriggling; indeed, those were maggots.

Would any decent person eat rotting meat?

“What else can we do? Do you think you can catch any prey in the rainforest?”

“Stop dawdling, hurry up!”

Having said that, the protagonist closed his eyes.

He was too weak now, lacking the energy to manage Yu Feng or realize that Yu Feng’s thoughts were quite different from his own.

“Boss, it’s ready, let’s eat!”

The night had fully descended when Yu Feng’s voice reached the protagonist, who was resting with his eyes closed.

The protagonist caught a whiff of the pervasive foul smell in the air and wasn’t initially bothered. But when Yu Feng helped him to the fire, he truly wanted to kick Yu Feng into the river.

Next to the burning fire, on the blue stone slab, lay two pieces of thoroughly charred meat.

The protagonist could even see the interweaving black and blue scales on the meat. Turning his head to glance at the net python’s carcass not far away, whose else could it be?

“You kid, you couldn’t even catch a single fish from the river?”

In the dark, the protagonist took a deep breath.

Doesn’t this kid Yu Feng find this stuff disgusting?

“Boss, wasn’t it you who said to eat it?”

Yu Feng frowned in confusion.

Seeing Yu Feng’s naive look, the protagonist couldn’t be bothered to engage with him further.