Qiqika fell heavily. He had been tripped by a rope. The rope appeared suddenly; it certainly wasn't there before. It only appeared when Qiqika was walking over, tripping him like a taut bowstring. At the same time, a loop of rope wrapped around his ankle and began to drag him forward after he fell.
It all happened so fast that before Qiqika could even scream, she was already hanging from a tree.
His body hung upside down, his head about an arm's length off the ground. When he reached out, his fingertips just touched the ground, but they couldn't provide any support for his body, let alone turn him over.
At this moment, Qiqika's pig-like screams rang out.
Neither Qingmu nor Su Huilan moved. It wasn't that they were unwilling to help, but rather that the circumstances at the time did not allow them to calmly provide assistance.
Those familiar with jungle hunting know that hunters usually don't set a single trap, but rather multiple traps within an area to increase their success rate. Sometimes these traps are even linked, with the next one only being triggered after you escape one.
This was clearly not a place where large, ferocious beasts roamed, and it was obvious who this trap was intended to target. Qingmu was certain that if he went to rescue her now, he would fall into another ambush before he could save Qiqika.
Qiqika cried out, "Help me! Help me!"
His voice was hoarse, and his eyes were filled with pleading. Because he was hanging upside down, his head was flushed with blood, his face was red, and his eyes were bulging out.
"He was lucky; he was only hung up," Su Huilan said.
Qingmu felt the same way. There were at least six animal traps hidden among the piles of fallen leaves and the grass. If you stepped on even one of them, it was hard to say whether you could recover from your injuries on this island with limited medical resources.
"Should we save them?" he asked.
"Save him, of course we must save him! I haven't even seen Petru yet."
"All right."
Qingmu took two steps forward, carefully avoiding the traps on the ground, but instead of heading towards Qiqika, he walked to another tree not far away.
He picked up a dead branch and gently parted the dense foliage, revealing three straight, sharpened branches, like three arrows, aimed at where Qiqika was hanging.
The three arrows were mounted on the tree by a very ingenious bow-like device. The bowstring was already drawn, and a rope was attached to the end of the bow. The other end of the rope was connected to the Qiqika that was hanging from the tree on this side.
In other words, as soon as someone helps Qiqika untie or cuts the rope, the rope will loosen, and the three arrows will be shot out. Qiqika and her rescuer will have a high chance of being hit without any warning. Although these wooden arrows are not fatal, injury is certain.
Therefore, to save Qiqika, we must first untangle this trap that is not easily noticed.
Su Huilan had to admire Qingmu's observation skills, because the trap was very well hidden, especially the relationship between the two traps. However, just as Qingmu was about to reach out to pull the rope behind him to loosen the wooden arrows, she suddenly shouted:
"Wait a moment!"
Qingmu was taken aback, turned around and asked, "What's wrong?"
Su Huilan said, "There won't just be two chain traps; there should be a third."
Qingmu couldn't understand why there had to be three traps in a chain, but since Su Huilan said so, he stopped. At that very moment, a strange sense of danger suddenly struck him, causing his pupils and muscles to contract, and his whole body to be in a state of extreme tension.
Su Huilan sensed something was wrong with him and asked, "What's wrong?"
Qingmu squinted at the pile of rocks on the hillside ahead and said, "The third trap isn't here."
Su Huilan followed his gaze and asked, "What's that?"
"Sniper."
The woods were completely silent; even the sound of falling leaves could be heard clearly. Although Qiqika couldn't understand Chinese, she sensed something was wrong and watched them nervously.
Qingmu carefully felt the sensation of every pore on his body standing on end, and said to Su Huilan, "Take two steps back to the right and stick to the tree; that position is a blind spot for snipers."
Su Huilan didn't move, saying, "If I hide in his blind spot first, he'll know we've spotted him, and he might shoot you. Besides, since he hasn't fired yet, it means he doesn't intend to kill us. As long as the sniper hesitates, we have a chance to escape danger. From your current position, if you go behind the tree, he can't hit you. With your speed, we can count to three at the same time and get to a safe position together. Except for him..."
Su Huilan glanced at Qiqika, who was hanging there. Qiqika couldn't move and could be used as a target at any time. Moreover, with his blood flowing backward, he wouldn't be able to hold on for long.
Qingmu shook his head and said, "I know why he didn't shoot."
Su Huilan asked curiously, "Why?"
"You're right, there is indeed a third trap, but it's not the sniper rifle on the mountain," Qingmu said, squinting. "That sniper wasn't lacking in determination to kill us; he saw us as prey. He was hunting, he was playing a game. He wanted to drive us into the trap he had set."
"You mean... the third trap is... behind the tree?"
"That's right. The traps there are out of our sight, so even if we're careful, we wouldn't notice them. Besides, we wouldn't normally have any dealings with that area, so we wouldn't have paid any attention to it. But now it's different. A sniper rifle is pointed at me. My instinct would be to hide behind a tree. There might be a net there, or a deep pit that's been dug."
"But if he doesn't fire, how can he be sure we'll spot him and hide behind a tree?"
"That's precisely his brilliance. If we hadn't discovered the second trap and instead went to rescue Qiqika, we would have been low-level prey in his eyes. Low-level prey isn't worth a hunter's attention; those three arrows would have been enough to kill us. But since we discovered the second trap and were preparing to disarm it, we became interesting in the hunter's eyes. So he took out his gun to test our level of sophistication. If we hadn't noticed the hunter's presence at that moment and instead risked disarming the trap in the tree, he would probably have shot us without hesitation. Because we weren't sophisticated enough to warrant his attention, but not worth his time playing with."
Qingmu casually reached out and smoothed his hair. The Crow, shooed away by his finger, had nowhere to stand and had to hop into the bushes nearby.
"So, in his eyes, what constitutes truly high-class prey?" Su Huilan asked.
Qingmu said, "Truly high-level prey can not only avoid traps, but also detect the hunter's presence, dodge the hunter's gun, and may even retaliate against the hunter. Only by conquering such prey can a master truly find satisfaction. I have a feeling that this guy is extremely confident in himself, and he deliberately let me discover him. Moreover, his Mental Power is not weak."