Chapter 46: End of the Journey
Su Yu hissed as he strode forward, his left arm heavily slamming downwards. Finally, a shrill cry like that of a baby could be heard as the ‘Rending Claw’ brought up large amounts of minced meat and fresh blood mixed with river water. Su Yu then lifted his hand and with a “Pa!”, something was brought out of the river and heavily thrown to the shore.
The group looked over and saw half a segment of a monster that seemed to be a mix between a fish and a snake, the ‘Rending Claw’ of Su Yu had caused an area of minced flesh but the other areas of the monster seemed clear like the colour of the river water, extremely strange and now that it had been dropped by the river side, its colour gradually changed and actually became that of the mud, if one did not look closely it would be simply impossible to see it.
In no time at all Su Yu tossed the other half of its body to the shore and it also changed from the colour of the river water to that of the mud by the shore.
The monster actually had the ability of a chameleon and could change its body colour to match that of its surroundings, when it was in the river it was clear like the river water and thus no one had noticed its presence.
Zhuang Xiao Hua had been hoodwinked to believe that there was no danger within the water and leapt in, thus resulting in him being viciously attacked.
When Su Yu brought Zhuang Xiao Hua back to the shore, Zhuang Xiao Hua’s body was already contorted and he had already died.
Looking at Zhuang Xiao Hua’s corpse and recalling the scene of him jesting earlier, his vibrant life had suddenly vanished in an instant.
The group looked at Zhuang Xiao Hua’s corpse which was currently lying wide eyed by the shore, the atmosphere silent and heavy. Qin Jia Gui was currently hating on himself for hesitating, if he had not hesitated and jumped into the river with Su Yu, while Su Yu was killing the monster he would have been able to attempt to save Zhuang Xiao Hua, possibly giving him a fighting chance. However, besides Su Yu, no one else had dared to jump into the river.
Qin Jia Gui was ashamed and he finally realised that we would never be able to compare to Su Yu, during a critical juncture he was not as decisive as Su Yu.
Thinking of this, he could not help but look over at Su Yu.
At this moment Su Yu was staring at Zhuang Xiao Hua’s corpse, as though he were thinking about something.
In Qin Jia Gui’s eyes, Su Yu had suddenly become mystifying and incomprehensible.
Su Yu was extremely ordinary on a normal day and did not seem to possess anything special, however, when it came to a critical situation, he seemed to have extraordinary courage and insight, able to make the right decisions and the ability to adapt to any situation.
Qin Jia Gui suddenly understood, the reason why Su Yu was able to stand at their forefront and become the only tier two dark iron warrior was not due to luck like he once thought but rather, strength. This was the strength he kept buried and concealed within him and Qin Jia Gui suddenly felt the distance between him and Su Yu.
His fists clenched tightly as Qin Jia Gui suddenly felt envious of Su Yu, this innate quality that Su Yu possessed he also yearned for it.
The weird monster that had appeared at the riverbed and Zhuang Xiao Hua’s death made the group gloomy, the sky was gradually getting darker and this afternoon would pass in no time. At this very moment, everyone was feeling their enthusiasm wane.
Su Yu’s ‘Eye of Perception’ had already gathered the information regarding the dead monster. It was called ‘River Boa Beast’ and it made sounds like that of a baby. Its body would change its colour to the surroundings and often would commence sneak attacks from within rivers. It did not have teeth but was immensely strong, when it wrangled its prey it could crush all the bones within it causing the prey to die instantly. Thereafter, it would swallow the prey whole. It belonged to the water beast race and loved solidarity, it was fearsome and could be occasionally seen in rivers and mountains.
Looking at Zhuang Xiao Hua’s corpse and the sky that was gradually becoming darker, the group had even lost their interest to take a bath.
Qin Jia Gui felt deep down that he owed Zhuang Xiao Hua, grabbing a metal spade from Wei Zhang Ming as he began to dig a hole.
Li Dong, Zhou Hua Kang and the others were quick to grab metal spades as they assisted him, these metal spades were those wielded by the gnomes and were currently very useful.
In no time at all a large hole was dug by the riverside and Qin Jia Gui put the metal spade down as he gingerly lifted Zhuang Xiao Hua’s corpse as he softly said: “Sorry, if I was slightly more courageous, maybe…… maybe you wouldn’t be dead now. I promise….. I will never be weak again in the future…… just watch, if Su Yu can do it, Qin Jia Gui also can do it. I won’t be inferior to him.”
Placing Zhuang Xiao Hua’s corpse into the large hole, the group began to help cover it and his corpse was buried swiftly.
Having buried the corpse, Qin Jia Gui let out a sigh as the feeling of guilt within his heart lessened. He lifted his head and mumbled: “The sky will be dark soon.”
The group understood what he meant, seeing the ten over metre river before them, Qin Jia Gui had lost the will to carry on. This journey of theirs seemed like it would end at this river.
Following Zhuang Xiao Hua’s death, the number of people in the group had fallen to twelve.
The group were silent for a long time as they sat down, the twelve people lost in their own thoughts.
The night came swiftly within the forest and shrouded the entire area in darkness. The group silently ate as they heard the occasional frightening roars within the forest. In the night, the forest became extremely frightening and the roars this night were exceptionally bone-chilling and frightening, repeating continuously and constantly fraying their nerves, making them unable to rest.
Ding Shan’s large eyes will filled with terror and she hid within Zhou Bi Rong’s embrace. Zhou Bi Rang covered her ears in an attempt to prevent her from hearing the frightening roars.
Finally, Qin Jia Gui broke the silence as he looked at a biscuit within his hand and said: “Based on the promise, two days have already passed but heading back in the night is too dangerous. Let’s rest here for tonight and early in the morning, we will go back to the school. What are your opinions?”
Returning back to the school meant facing the thousand over students and teachers. What would they do about the food problem? They had ventured forth but not found a rescue team, neither had they found a safe exit or any food that could satisfy the thousand odd people. It could be said that they had thoroughly failed in their mission.
Li Dong laughed coldly: “There are quite a few of the monsters within the forest, regardless of Lesser Goblins or Gnomes, if we let them eat the meat from these monsters, they may be able to continue living.”
Li Dong’s words made the group feel disgusted, the blood of the Lesser Goblins was green and their flesh was also green, seemingly extremely disgusting. Eating the meat from a Lesser Goblin? Not to mention eating it, the mere thought of it made the goosebumps of the group stand on end.
“Li Dong, your damned dog mouth that can’t say any good things, can you not be so disgusting?” Zhang Zhong Mou had almost spat out the sausage he had eaten and was quite displeased.
Li Dong coldly replied: “Disgusting? Haven’t you guys heard the rumours from the past, back in the desolate past, people were hungry to the point of eating tree bark and roots, eating mud or even human flesh. These are just the meat from monsters and if you don’t want to, then there’s only one solution.”