Watching the scattered black patches, Mo Li fell into deep thought. Although he was not highly educated, he was very clever. Based on his earlier tests, these black patches were probably not simply black marks, but some kind of tiny organism. These organisms had gathered on the Murals perhaps because the paint used on them contained some substance that attracted them.
This was halfway up a snow mountain, at an altitude of over three thousand meters, and the temperature was extremely low. These tiny organisms should therefore be adapted to cold environments. Although the cave was pitch-black, these little things did not seem very sensitive to light. Otherwise, when he had shone the glow stick at the cave wall, they should have scattered immediately. But the facts proved that light did not affect them.
Since light had not driven them away, there had to be some other factor. What had he done earlier? Leaned his head closer to the cave wall? It seemed that was the only action he had taken. The rapid scattering of these little things should have been related to that action, but what puzzled Mo Li was this: if that was the case, what aspect of leaning forward had driven them away? Could these little things be afraid of people? That clearly made no sense. If they were truly afraid of people, they should have scattered quickly without him needing to approach them.
After thinking for a long while, a sudden flash of inspiration struck Mo Li. He had not merely brought his face closer to the wall. At the same time as he leaned forward, he had done something else—breathed. Since the air he exhaled came from inside his body, it carried warmth. Could it be that these little things were afraid of heat?
With that possibility in mind, Mo Li immediately walked over to another mural obscured by unknown black patches. Holding his breath, he leaned his face closer. This time, although the black patches still reacted somewhat, their reaction was nowhere near as intense as before. That confirmed Mo Li's guess.
These little things really were highly sensitive to temperature. Even without breathing, the slight warmth released by his skin was enough to make them react. But what exactly were these black things?
Mo Li was quite bold. After hesitating briefly, he suddenly reached out at incredible speed and grabbed at the slowly moving black patches. As his hand drew closer to the cave wall, the heat radiating from his palm grew stronger, and the black patches began moving faster and faster.
But no matter how quickly the black patches moved, they could not possibly outrun Mo Li's reaching hand. He successfully grabbed a handful of the black substance.
The things felt extremely strange in his hand, like a handful of sesame seeds. They were also writhing. Mo Li opened his palm and brought it close to his eyes, then moved the glow stick over for a careful look. In the end, he discovered that the black things were tiny bugs, each even smaller than a sesame seed. They were all small Beetles, completely black except for a pair of milky-white eyes. Though they were incredibly small, each Beetle had a pair of enormous pincers on its mouth, completely disproportionate to its body. They looked quite dangerous.
These Little bugs really did seem highly sensitive to temperature. Mo Li's body temperature was only around thirty-six degrees, yet even at that temperature, the Little bugs rapidly began dying in large numbers. Those with stronger vitality scurried across Mo Li's hand, desperately trying to escape his palm.
Mo Li kept his eyes fixed on the Little bugs, so when one fell from his hand, his gaze instinctively followed it downward, and the glow stick in his other hand moved along with it.
But when Mo Li looked toward the ground, his expression changed. He discovered that the floor was already densely covered with these Little bugs. The entire cave floor was swarming with them. Although the bugs did not dare approach Mo Li, Wei Dengke and Zhong Lichun had both fallen unconscious, and their body temperatures were very low. At their current temperatures, they posed no threat to the bugs. As a result, the two of them were already covered in bugs, their entire bodies buried beneath them and transformed into two pitch-black human shapes.
Recalling the enormous pincers of these bugs, Mo Li had no doubt that they were carnivorous. If so many bugs crawled over Zhong Lichun and Wei Dengke, wouldn't the two of them be in grave danger?
With no time to think further, Mo Li lunged straight at Wei Dengke. Compared with Zhong Lichun, Wei Dengke's body temperature was lower, making him more vulnerable, so Mo Li had to save him first. Straddling Wei Dengke, Mo Li desperately slapped away the bugs covering his body. But there were simply too many of them, and they were so small that they could get into nearly every gap. Wei Dengke's clothes were probably already full of bugs as well. Slapping them away by hand was practically useless.
In his panic, Mo Li chose what he believed was a workable solution: he wrapped his arms around Wei Dengke and used his own body heat to drive the bugs away.
Mo Li's judgment proved correct. Once he embraced Wei Dengke, the Little bugs covering his body began scattering rapidly, eventually revealing Wei Dengke's body.
Without stopping to check Wei Dengke's condition, Mo Li held him with one arm and rushed toward Zhong Lichun nearby. He then copied what he had done before and picked Zhong Lichun up as well. Compared with Wei Dengke, Zhong Lichun had a stronger constitution, and her body temperature was also slightly higher. Only her limbs and face were covered with a few bugs. Under the threat of Mo Li's body heat, those bugs finally crawled away from her body too.
The bugs did not go far from the three of them. Instead, they continued writhing on the ground nearby, looking ready to pounce. Mo Li had no doubt that the moment he released either of them, the bugs would immediately swarm back.
This won't do! I can't keep holding both of them forever! I have to find a way to generate enough heat to drive these bugs away. Mo Li was frantic, but there was not even a single leaf in this godforsaken place. Starting a fire was impossible.
Mo Li searched the surroundings for a long time, only to discover in despair that there truly was nothing here that could be burned. Left with no other choice, he took off his shirt and pulled the lighter he carried from his shirt pocket. It was probably the only thing he had left. Fortunately, he had kept it in his shirt pocket. If he had put it in his pants pocket, it would likely have already fallen through the worn-out fabric.
While holding the two of them with one arm, Mo Li rolled his shirt into a ball with the other and used the lighter to set it ablaze. Chemical Fiber clothing caught fire easily, though it gave off an unpleasant smell once lit. But that was not something Mo Li could worry about now. Holding the burning shirt, he gave it a fierce sideways swing. Sensing the heat of the flames, the bugs finally became completely terrified and began retreating rapidly.
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