Forest survival: Death would be fine too, a fresh start in life

Aah!!!

Feng Rumeng cried out in alarm. The nanowire was forcibly snapped back into her bracelet by the distance, jolting her arm numb.

She lowered her eyes to the snake's tail wrapped around her. It was the python from before.

The swarm of giant bees caught up, and a stinger pierced her arm. The pain drained the color from her face in an instant.

The python saw the swarm and darted out of the giant tree with a swish, plunging downward.

The snake's tail tightened around her. Feng Rumeng struggled to breathe, feeling as though her heart had been squeezed into her throat. Her face turned from red to purple, and she had no room to struggle at all. Resigned to her fate, she closed her eyes.

She had no idea how long they had been falling when a piercing screech rang in her ears.

Feng Rumeng opened her eyes and saw the giant bird that had grabbed her earlier flying toward them, its wings beating.

The snake's tail trembled. The giant eagle was swift. Pfft! Its talons pierced the python's head in an instant. The python struggled in pain, its tail twisting violently.

Feng Rumeng was flung away.

She looked in terror at the boundless water below and gave a bitter smile. "Death would be fine too, a fresh start in life."

Splash! A huge spray rose from the surface, and Feng Rumeng sank into the water.

She felt as though her bones had been shattered. The air was squeezed from her throat, and a rush of metallic sweetness welled up.

As her consciousness grew hazy, the water around her began to move. A transparent, egg-shaped shield of light slowly enveloped her and drifted onward with the current.

Several hundred li away.

In an abyss that reeked of death, Wuchen leaned against a rock wall, no longer looking human.

His entire body was covered in blood, not a single patch uninjured. His left hand, its flesh torn open and curling back, rested on the crescent moon on his chest.

Wuchen's eyes were unfathomable. His poor little thing was alone in the cave; she must be terrified. If only he had known, he wouldn't have blocked the entrance. He hoped the Beast God would watch over her and let her live!

Several towering giant foxes surrounded Wuchen. Every one of them had bulging muscles, and scraps of flesh still clung to their bared fangs.

The red giant fox, Liaoyuan, stepped closer. "Chen, have you taken a mate?"

The six-tailed white fox Bai Chi spread out his tails. "Chen, hand over the female beast king crystal, and we can still live in peace as we did before."

Another six-tailed white fox, Bai Zhan, bared his teeth. "Chen, it takes a female ferocious beast hundreds of years to advance to king rank. How precious is a beast crystal? Only an outstanding female like Lilian is worthy of using it. Hand it over."

Wuchen's voice was utterly grim. "You're stealing my things to curry favor with her. Have you no shame? I'd sooner throw my things to the hyenas than give them to that vicious female."

The gray six-tailed fox Xuanwu roared, "You're courting death."

Liaoyuan's red eyes were steeped in venom. "Chen, if you don't hand over the beast king crystal today, don't expect to leave this place."

Wuchen scoffed. "A bunch of stupid beasts. If you have the ability, come and take it."

Bai Zhan sneered. "Chen, you're not the only eighth-rank beast in the fox tribe."

Wuchen tilted his head. "We grew up together, so I'll be kind and warn you one more time. Don't be fooled by Lilian's disguise. Don't forget how Chi Lan became a crippled beast."

Bai Chi's tails shifted into an attacking stance. "Isn't it perfectly normal for a male to sacrifice himself for the female he likes?

"Chi Lan did it willingly. No one forced her. Who in the fox tribe wouldn't want a litter of Lilian's cubs?"

"Chen, you know what this beast king crystal means to Lilian. As long as you hand it over, the right to mate with Lilian this cold season will be yours."

"That filthy female-only the likes of you would be willing to mount her." With that, Wuchen took his beast form, his nine enormous fox tails swaying.

Liaoyuan narrowed his fox eyes. "Since you refuse to cooperate, don't blame us for showing no mercy."

He raised his right forepaw. "Whoever gets the beast king crystal will sire Lilian's next litter of cubs."

The foxes kicked off the ground with their forelegs, jaws stretched wide as they lunged to bite him.

A day and a night later, at the far end of the lake, Feng Rumeng opened her heavy eyelids and found herself enveloped in a transparent sphere of energy.

She looked toward the shore. As though it had a mind of its own, the energy sphere dragged her ashore and vanished with a pop.

Feng Rumeng moved, jarring the injury to her right leg. She groaned in pain, cold sweat covering her forehead and back as she clutched her leg with both hands and rolled from side to side.

When the pain eased a little, she struggled into a sitting position and discovered that her lower right leg was broken. A piece of bone was sticking out. The skin all over her body had turned purplish gray, and there were blisters in some places.

Feng Rumeng bit her lip, wishing desperately that this was all just a nightmare.

But if she wanted to live, she had to face reality.

She took a first-aid kit out of her space, along with some other things she always kept on hand for martial arts competitions.

She took a breath, bit down on a wad of cloth, and carefully disinfected the wound on her leg.

Then she used a dagger soaked in alcohol to cut open her lower leg. Forcing herself to endure the pain, she searched for the broken bone fragments with tweezers. She couldn't let her leg be ruined; she couldn't become a cripple.

Feng Rumeng's eyes were red, but she didn't shed a single tear. Crying would blur her vision and slow her down.

She had to be quick. She would die if she lost too much blood, and if the smell of blood spread and a pack of wild beasts came, she would lose her life all the same.

Feng Fumeng's face was deathly pale with pain, her muscles twitching. Her body had reached its limit.

After she pulled out the sixth fragment, tears welled up uncontrollably.

She drew a deep breath and pushed the bone back into place.

Aah!!!

Feng Rumeng let out a bloodcurdling scream.

Time waited for no one. With trembling hands, she quickly sprayed and applied medicine, bandaged the wound, and tied two hard objects to her leg. She put her things back into her space and made her way toward the forest, leaning on a crutch.

More than two hundred meters away, she used the nanowire to climb a giant tree. She glanced around; it was safe for the moment. She sat down against the trunk.

Only then did she dare examine the blisters on her body. They covered her from head to toe, and they hurt terribly whenever she touched them.

She knew this was all thanks to the giant bees. She had to disinfect the wounds quickly; if they became infected, she would die even faster. She pulled the stinger out of her arm.

The stinger was as thick as a pen refill. Fortunately, it hadn't pierced the bone.

She didn't throw away the stinger she had extracted, putting it in her space instead. Although she hadn't died, she wasn't sure whether the darkening was only temporary. She thought that once she got out, with medicine so advanced these days, perhaps she could still be saved.

Feng Rumeng gathered her thoughts and looked at the boundless lake. Until her leg could carry her again, she had to do her best to stay alive. There was water here, and she had food in her space. The only thing she lacked was a safe place to recover.

After eating two pieces of bread and resting for a while, she shot out the nanowire and swung through the forest toward the mountains.

Before long, the pain became unbearable, and her body began to lose strength.

Perhaps heaven took pity on her. There was a hollow in a tree trunk not far away. She watched it for half an hour, and when there was no movement from the hollow, she slowly made her way over.

The hollow wasn't large. It was full of dust, dead leaves, and fragments of animal bones that had nearly weathered away. It looked as though it had been abandoned for a long time.

Feng Rumeng gave the inside a rough cleaning, then shot out the nanowire again and climbed higher up the tree. She took out her dagger and cut thin branches and trunks.

She stuffed them into her space as she chopped. After returning to the hollow, she wedged the trunks one by one across its entrance, then threaded the thin, leafy branches through them, sealing the entrance as though weaving a back basket.