Qingmu first gestured towards the distant high ground, indicating to Petru that everything was okay and he could leave.
The savage opposite him stared nervously at the gun in his hand, clearly terrified of it.
Qingmu suddenly had an idea. He put away his gun and picked up a bow and several arrows from the ground.
He pulled on the bowstring and found that although the bow was crudely made, it was strong enough that it was difficult to draw without considerable strength. There were no large animals on the island, and the bowstring was made of something very sturdy; it might be rubber bands from marine life. He had heard that the swim bladders of large fish could also be used to make bowstrings.
The arrow shaft was carved from a tree branch and was relatively straight. It had a triangular arrowhead made of a shell, but the shell was not as white as the Su Huilan had stepped on in the stream; it was purplish-red, whether it was its natural color or because it had been coated with some kind of poison was unknown.
When the savage saw him draw his bow, he suddenly turned and ran. Of course, Qingmu wouldn't let him get away, and shot an arrow that struck the savage in the buttocks.
The savage let out a howl, ignoring the pain, and continued running for his life. Qingmu fired another arrow, this time hitting the calf. The savage collapsed to the ground with a thud.
There were two wounded men on the ground. One had his knee shattered by Petru's sniper rifle and was still groaning in pain. He was crippled. Qingmu picked up a spear and used it to end his suffering before walking towards the savage he had shot with an arrow.
The savage, who had been terrified just moments before, suddenly lost his fear, which was replaced by anger and ferocity as he roared at Qingmu.
Qingmu walked over and kicked him unconscious. Then he pulled the arrow out of his leg and looked at it with the Tushu. He found that the blood on the arrowhead was black, which meant that the arrowhead was indeed poisoned.
Qingmu didn't intend to kill him. He knew the man would find a way to cure himself once he woke up, and by secretly following him, he could find the antidote. Unfortunately, Qingmu was alone and couldn't do two things at the same time. He decided to take the survivor back first, then come back to track the savage. He figured he should have enough time.
A flash of light appeared in the distance, like lightning flashing from behind the clouds, followed by a muffled thud. Qingmu was certain it wasn't thunder, but an explosion. He couldn't tell if Petru had thrown a grenade or if the savage had triggered one of his infantry mines.
He looked up and saw smoke rising from a distant hillside. A black bird circled in the sky, then flew higher and higher, slowly becoming a black dot in his field of vision before disappearing into the clouds.
Qingmu watched the Crow disappear, finding its behavior a bit strange. Why did it fly so high? It rarely flew that high.
He gazed at the sky for a while, but when he didn't see the Crow reappear, he picked up the man he had knocked unconscious earlier and started walking back. Carrying someone on his back, his walking speed naturally slowed down. In addition, not wanting to leave any traces, he repeated his old trick, wading back downstream in the stream. By the time he returned to the cave, it was already a bit late, but Petru and the Crow had not yet returned.
It's normal that Petru didn't return, after all, his location would require a long detour and escaping the savages' pursuit. But it's a bit strange that the Crow didn't return. Logically, since it pointed out the direction, it should have returned to report first, and could even have flown back and forth between the cave, Qingmu, and Petru several times.
Su Huilan said, "I hope nothing bad has happened."
Qingmu was also a little worried. He put the unconscious savage on the ground and said, "This man is yours. Study his Mental Power and subconscious, and see if there's any way to hypnotize him."
He took some more food out of his bag, saying, "Keep these to yourselves for now."
Su Huilan laughed and said, "These are all dishes that Hanran and the Boss Coal like to eat. It wouldn't be right for us to eat them!"
Qingmu said, "We can't worry about that now. Anderson needs nutrition. I'll go meet up with the Boss Coal and see if there's anything to eat."
Su Huilan escorted him to the cave entrance, opened her mouth as if to say something, but ultimately remained silent, only saying, "Be careful."
Qingmu hummed in agreement and left.
He didn't encounter the Boss Coal or Petru on the road, nor did he hear any more gunshots. Qingmu had a bad feeling.
The scene of the killing of the savage is still there, with several corpses lying on the ground, indicating that no other savages have been there. However, the injured and poisoned guy is gone; he must have run away on his own after waking up.
There were bloodstains and footprints on the ground. Qingmu carefully followed these tracks and soon found the savage under a large tree.
He lay prone on the ground, one leg straight and the other bent, in a crawling position, his left hand stretched far forward as if trying to grab something. The arrow had been removed from his leg, but his entire leg, from his calf to his buttocks, was black, a gruesome sight. Whether from the poison or from excessive blood loss, he remained stiff and motionless on the ground.
Qingmu looked in the direction he was pointing and saw that it was the trunk of the big tree. The trunk was about two arm spans thick, the bark was reddish-brown, the tree was very tall, but the branches and leaves were not dense.
He looked up at the big tree and suddenly remembered seeing it through the binoculars; it seemed that Hanran was climbing on such a tree.
Qingmu walked over, cut open the bark with his knife, and saw reddish-brown sap flowing from the tree. He recalled the slightly reddish shell arrowheads on the feathered arrows and guessed that the tree might be the source of the poison, rather than the antidote.
He felt the savage's carotid artery and, finding the man still alive, used a knife dipped in tree sap to make a cut on the savage's arm. The blood flowing from the wound immediately turned black.
Qingmu is certain this is Venom, so what is the antidote?
The savage had come all this way, surely searching for the antidote. Unfortunately, he failed at the last hurdle.
Qingmu recalled the arrow poison tree of Southern Yunnan, with its tall trunk and toxicity primarily derived from its sap. It bore a striking resemblance to the tree before him, except that the arrow poison tree's sap and bark were milky white, while this tree's bark and sap were reddish-brown.
In the Medicine Granny's dream, Qingmu saw the antidote for the arrow poison tree, Red-backed Bamboo Stalk, a reddish-brown wild grass that grows near the arrow poison tree.
Qingmu wondered, "The poison tree is white, the red-backed bamboo is reddish-brown, and this tree is reddish-brown. Could it be the other way around, with the antidote herb being white?"
The savage reached for the trunk of the large tree, where many wild grasses grew. The antidote might be among them. However, the wild grasses were scattered and messy, and it was impossible to tell which one was the antidote. If the wrong one was used, not only would it not cure the poison, but it might also cause other poisoning.
He searched carefully and found a few white plants in the clump of weeds. He cut the stems with a knife, squeezed out some milky white sap, and dripped it onto the wild man's wound. After a while, the black color on the wound seemed to fade a little.
Although it cannot be 100% confirmed that this is the antidote, nor is the correct usage known, this is already the best possible outcome, greatly increasing Anderson's chances of survival.
Qingmu plucked the white grass, grabbed it haphazardly in his hand, and hurriedly went back.
When he returned to the cave, Petru and the Boss Coal had not yet returned, and it was already dark.