The Trap

Toxicity Knowledge Level 3 (1049+0/5000): Toxicity Expert. You have a thorough understanding of poisonous insects and plants in the jungle, and can extract the corresponding toxins from natural materials at any time.

Note: Toxins are very dangerous. Even with the relevant knowledge, extracting them is never guaranteed to be completely safe. Please be careful.

After glancing at the corpse whose soul had been extracted, Liu Zhi keenly noticed that it seemed to have undergone a subtle change the moment its soul was pulled away.

There was nothing visibly wrong with it, but Liu Zhi had the distinct feeling that the corpse had gone from having just died to having been dead for seven days.

Liu Zhi gave the minor matter only a glance and let it go.

Searching Mr. York's corpse, Liu Zhi soon found a small pouch hidden inside his coat.

It was made of cowhide and looked only about as big as a palm, but it had four or five compartments. Liu Zhi opened it and saw that each one held some kind of powder or liquid.

Though it was his first time handling them, Liu Zhi recognized them instantly: poison dart frog venom, spores from netted stinkhorn mushrooms, black widow venom, the roots of ghost-face vines, and more. He even knew how to use them.

Putting the pouch in his backpack, Liu Zhi looked at Mr. York again. "Looks like you had secrets of your own. But that has nothing to do with me. You can stay right here."

Only then did Liu Zhi collect the nearby traps and retrieve the fork from the squirrel's den. After checking his direction, he made his way through the trees toward Perkin and the others.

Perkin's group had chosen a clearing far from the river to rest in. Though it was surrounded by tall trees, at least they could see the sky.

When Mr. York had chosen the spot, he had given them plenty of reasons, but his main concern had been preventing wild animals from ambushing them in the woods.

Liu Zhi lay curled up on a nearby tree, watching them closely.

Perkin was sitting on a rock, eating something black and unidentifiable. The others were either tending the fire or sleeping, all waiting for Mr. York to return with food.

Only the swordsman could barely keep himself alert, scanning their surroundings now and then as if he were guarding against something.

One glance was all Liu Zhi needed to reach his verdict: without Mr. York, their jungle expert, this group's formidable fighting ability would be useless.

Smiling to himself, Liu Zhi slowly retreated from the area. It wasn't time to attack yet; they were still waiting for Mr. York to return.

It wouldn't be long before they realized something had happened to him. That would be Liu Zhi's moment to strike. For now, he needed to find somewhere to eat and recover.

As Liu Zhi withdrew, the swordsman glanced up in puzzlement, his gaze passing over the spot where Liu Zhi had been hiding.

Pretending to stretch, he sat down beside the female knife-thrower. "Be careful in a bit."

She was nearly asleep, but at his words, her eyes lit up. Their mercenary group might be impulsive, but they had worked together countless times. One look at the swordsman's face told her they were being watched.

She lost all desire to sleep. Quietly gripping several throwing knives, she kept watch with her eyes closed.

Just then, their guide, Lai, suddenly called out, "Mr. York's been gone a long time. Why hasn't he come back?"

His voice wasn't loud, but it woke everyone. Perkin carefully stowed the black food in his backpack before standing up with the bag in hand.

"He said finding food would take some time. This jungle isn't our territory, and even a jungle survival expert has to rely on luck to find food—especially when he's looking for enough to feed all of us."

Perkin's words calmed the group's growing frustration.

Although everyone sat back down, there was no telling what each of them was thinking.

As Perkin settled down again, Lloyd came over to him. "Uncle, about this..."

"Don't worry. Mr. York is the best jungle survival expert around. This jungle is like home to him. He'll be fine."

Lloyd nodded and said no more. Then he went back to sleep, unaware of the worry that flashed across Perkin's eyes.

After Lloyd lay down, Perkin took a pocket watch from his coat and studied it carefully.

"It's been nearly an hour and a half. He said he'd be back within two hours. Could something have happened?"

As Perkin murmured to himself, he pressed a hand to his chest. His grip on the watch tightened, and the blue veins stood out on his thin, dry arm.

Unlike Perkin and the others, who could rest after eating, Liu Zhi had no time to relax. He was searching the woods for something.

Before long, he caught a bird resembling a grouse. It was the stupidest bird in the jungle: it couldn't fly very high and often crashed into trees. If it weren't so prolific—laying ten to fifteen eggs at a time, with chicks hatching in half a month and learning to fly a month later—it might already have gone extinct.

After catching one, Liu Zhi searched the area for some strong-smelling materials and carefully rubbed them onto its back and beneath its wings.

Finding those smelly materials was much harder than catching the bird. Liu Zhi knew a fair amount about the jungle, but his sense of smell wasn't any sharper than usual. And if he got even one scent wrong, the whole thing would fail. So he tested the materials over and over.

Fortunately, he found a nest of small snakes. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to pull everything together in such a short time.

When Liu Zhi cautiously returned to Perkin's group, he hadn't even made a move before he heard them arguing.

Lai, the guide who had been close to Mr. York, was insisting that they go look for him. The others refused, since night had fallen and they didn't know the jungle.

Just as the argument was on the verge of turning into a fight, the stupid bird Liu Zhi had sent flying swooped straight into their camp.

The group was startled. The female knife-thrower, who had been holding her knives the whole time, flicked her hand and brought the bird down with a single throw.

They all turned to look at it, unable to figure out what was going on.

Fortunately, Lai had spent some time living in this jungle and knew what kind of bird it was. He quickly explained it to the others, and the tense atmosphere that had nearly boiled over subsided.