Chapter 112 The Woman on the Branch, Strange Cries for Help

Chapter 112: The Woman on the Branch and the Strange Cry for Help

"Needles in butts? Made to sting people?" Miao Yuanjin quickly unbuckled her seatbelt. "How can such evil bugs exist?"

With no tire tracks to guide them, Shen Tanrong asked while driving, "Where did those bugs come from?"

Yu Xing listened intently, soon beads of sweat forming on her forehead. "It seems... they're coming from above."

Shen Tanrong's hands stiffened on the wheel for a moment. Above?

"Buzzzzzzzz..."

A maddening buzzing sound suddenly came from overhead. Yu Xing couldn't see the situation outside from inside the vehicle, but just the sound told her there must be a large number of them.

"Run!"

Even on Earth, swarms of bees were terrifying, let alone in this place. Yu Xing urged, "Hurry!"

There was no need for urging—Shen Tanrong was already driving at the fastest speed he could.

Yu Xing, sitting by the window in the backseat, pressed against the glass to look outside. A black cloud poured down from the branches and leaves above, like ink spreading in clear water, instantly dispersing upon contact with the convoy.

"Buzzzzzz..."

That was no black smoke or ink—it was a dense swarm of bees.

After descending, the swarm quickly dispersed, surrounding the convoy like dust in the air, swirling and dancing around them.

"Tap tap tap tap..."

Suddenly, the vehicle was hit by a barrage of tiny sounds, like raindrops. The noise wasn’t loud, but it was crystal clear.

Zhao Lan gasped, "Stingers! Tail stingers! The bees are shooting their stingers at the car!"

"What?" Yu Xing thought she must be hallucinating. Bees shooting stingers at the car? Do bees shoot stingers? If she remembered correctly, don't bees have to make contact first, then stab with their stingers? They can shoot them?

She soon understood what Zhao Lan meant, as the glass in front of her was suddenly covered with dense black dots. Upon closer inspection, each dot was a stinger embedded in the glass.

Yu Xing was shocked. The bees really could shoot their stingers!

The stingers were small and didn't penetrate deeply, but the sheer number of bees was overwhelming. If this attack continued, something bad was bound to happen.

"Activate the flamethrowers," Di Shensi commanded over the comms.

"Whoosh!"

Flamethrowers on every vehicle ignited, blasting flames at the bees.

The problem was, each vehicle only had one flamethrower, aimed in a single direction, while the bees attacked from all sides.

"Tap tap tap..."

The dense barrage of stingers struck the car, making Yu Xing feel a slight tremor under her feet.

"Under the car!" Miao Yuanjin shrieked in alarm. "Those bugs are attacking from below the car!"

"Do these insects have any weaknesses?" Di Shensi turned to ask Yu Xing.

Yu Xing's eyes were blank. Normally, bees died after stinging, but the swarm outside showed no signs of thinning. She guessed these bees were pollutants, no longer like ordinary bees.

As she pondered, a loud bang came from behind.

"Boom!"

Then, a voice crackled through Di Shensi’s comms. "Commander! Our tire’s blown!"

Di Shensi's brows furrowed, and he clenched his fist, electricity dancing over his knuckles.

"Turn the car around," Di Shensi ordered Shen Tanrong. "That vehicle only has two people. They can take shelter in ours first."

Shen Tanrong gritted his teeth, preparing to turn back, when another voice came through Di Shensi’s comms. "Commander! No need for rescue—I can use my Divine Skill to hide the car underground!"

There was a Beloved of the God of Earth in their group. Yu Xing remembered her—a female soldier with a ponytail. Hearing this, Shen Tanrong paused, then continued forward.

But if this continued, their tires would likely be next.

In their panic, they drove recklessly. With bees everywhere obstructing their vision, the car shot through a patch of waist-high bushes—only to suddenly launch into the air.

"Ahhh!!!"

All five passengers in the car simultaneously lost their balance. Behind the bushes was a cliff!

To be precise, it wasn't a cliff, as it was only a three-meter drop, far from being a real cliff. But below was a large slope, and the car began to roll uncontrollably after landing.

"Ahhhh!!!!"

Yu Xing couldn't make out whose screams were whose. She could only barely grab someone’s hand. After experiencing being flung into the sky by a giant earthworm's tail, Yu Xing wasn't as panicked this time. First, the car was built like a tank, and second, she was wearing her seatbelt.

The only concern was where the car would stop. Hopefully, not somewhere terrible.

"Crash!"

A sharp sound rang out. Yu Xing closed her eyes, feeling a stinging sensation on her face—the car window had shattered. Something hard slammed into her head, making her head buzz.

"Splash splash..."

When Yu Xing woke up, everything was hazy. She tried to speak, only for icy water to rush into her mouth.

"Cough cough cough..."

After a violent coughing fit, Yu Xing came to her senses. She felt herself submerged in water and moving.

She quickly pulled out her broomstick, and in the next second, Yu Xing shot out of the water, holding the broomstick. Once airborne, she saw that she had been floating in a river.

The river was quite wide—the first one Yu Xing had seen since arriving in this world.

The water wasn't clear, with some dead fish floating belly-up. The fish looked strange, and Yu Xing wouldn't dare eat them.

She landed on the ground, spitting out the somewhat strange-tasting river water. When she was in the air, she had looked down and saw no cars nearby. So either the car had sunk to the riverbed, or it had landed elsewhere, and she had drifted here with the current.

She had no idea what had happened to the others, and Yu Xing was a little anxious.

Yu Xing guessed it was the second scenario, as she wasn't in the car.

She raised her hand to touch her head. "Ouch..."

It hurt so much. She didn't know what had hit her head. She had briefly lost consciousness, and when she woke up, she was already floating in the water.

She believed the others must still be alive, because if everyone in the car had been in trouble, then the current situation would be that everyone had sunk to the bottom with the car. Yu Xing remembered clearly that she had been wearing her seatbelt in the car. So someone must have unbuckled it for her after the car entered the water, allowing her to leave the car and float in the water.

This thought slightly eased her mind, and she prepared to search upstream along the river.

...

"Cough, cough, cough..."

Miao Yuanjin sat on the ground, feeling as if fire burned in her lungs, burning so badly it tore at her, making her wish she could rip them out and throw them away.

"Are you okay?" Zhao Lan gently patted Miao Yuanjin's back.

"Cough, cough..." Miao Yuanjin coughed for a while longer before finally calming down. Her first thought was to look toward the river. "Where's Yu Xing?"

Zhao Lan looked anxiously at the water. "She drifted away."

When the car had tumbled down the slope, the window suddenly shattered, and Yu Xing lost consciousness. At the same time, the car plunged into the river.

Because the window was broken, river water instantly flooded the car.

They had no choice but to escape through the window, but Yu Xing was still unconscious. With no other choice, Miao Yuanjin unbuckled Yu Xing's seatbelt and pushed her out through the window.

But Da Ya couldn't swim. As the car was about to sink completely, Miao Yuanjin and Zhao Lan had to rescue Da Ya first.

Once they freed themselves, Di Shensi and Shen Tanrong went to rescue Yu Xing, but the current was too strong, and in no time, Yu Xing had disappeared.

Now only the three of them remained. Da Ya, her face pale, said, "It's all my fault for not knowing how to swim."

"Don't think like that," Zhao Lan reassured while looking around. "The current was too fast. No one could have done anything in that situation."

Miao Yuanjin clenched her teeth. If only she had...

"Let's go find Yu Xing," Miao Yuanjin struggled to her feet and pointed in one direction. "We'll follow the river downstream."

This place looked like a river valley, the kind of place they had only read about in books—something from the Old Era or beyond the walls. Inside the walls, everything was flat. This was the first time any of them had seen a real river.

"At least the bees didn't follow us here." The memory of the earlier swarm made Zhao Lan's skin crawl.

She bent down to ask Da Ya, "How are you feeling?"

Da Ya squeezed water from her hair and stood up. "I'm fine. Let's go look for Xingxing."

Fortunately, none of them were badly hurt, so without hesitation, they decided to head downstream along the river.

They seemed closer to the core area now. The branches of the giant trees were much denser than outside, blocking out all sunlight.

Being here felt surreal—as if they weren't walking in their familiar world but on some strange alien planet.

"What are those glowing things?" In the dim surroundings, they could see flickering lights among the branches and leaves above.

"I read about those," Zhao Lan said. "In the Old Era, there was a type of insect called fireflies. They glowed."

"Insects?" Miao Yuanjin immediately thought of the bees and shuddered. "Will they attack us?"

All three instinctively moved closer together, as if that might make them safer.

After walking along the river for a while, Miao Yuanjin suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong?" Zhao Lan and Da Ya looked at her.

"I feel like..." Miao Yuanjin turned toward the left, where only low shrubs and tangled branches above were visible. "There's something over there."

"What is it?" Da Ya craned her neck in that direction.

For a moment, none of them spoke or moved.

In the dead silence, they caught a faint sound.

"Help..."

"Save me..."

Their eyes widened as they looked at each other, confirming they had all heard it.

It was a woman's voice crying for help. Da Ya immediately asked, "Is it Xingxing?"

"Xingxing wouldn't be there..." Zhao Lan had seen Yu Xing get swept away by the current. Even if she had made it to shore, she wouldn't be this far from the riverbank. The voice seemed to come from some distance away.

"Then it must be another fallen soldier," Miao Yuanjin reasoned.

Some of the soldiers in their exploration team were women, so Miao Yuanjin's guess was reasonable—it could be another female soldier who had fallen like them.

"Let's go see," Zhao Lan said.

Since they encountered it, they couldn't just leave someone to die.

"Save me..."

"Save me..."

As they ran toward the voice, the cries became clearer until they reached the spot where it seemed loudest.

"Save me..."

The woman's voice was incredibly clear, as if she was in terrible danger. Yet when the three stood at the source of the sound, there was nothing—only ground covered in moss and a few scattered weeds.

"This isn't right," Da Ya muttered anxiously, looking around. "The voice is coming from right here."

Zhao Lan stared at the ground, wondering if all three of them were hallucinating.

Miao Yuanjin couldn't take it anymore. She suddenly shouted, "Where are you? Where do we go to help you?"

At her yell, the continuous cries for help suddenly stopped.

The three looked at each other in confusion. Where had the voice gone?

Soon, the voice reappeared.

"I'm here!"

"Where?" Da Ya spun in place.

"I'm here!"

With another cry, Miao Yuanjin suddenly looked up.

Above them were tangled branches and leaves that blocked all sunlight, but she could feel that the voice came from above.

"Up there?" Zhao Lan asked, seeing Miao Yuanjin staring upward.

"Yeah!"

Miao Yuanjin nodded firmly, then began stepping back, moving left and right.

Finally, she saw it!

"Look!" Miao Yuanjin pointed upward.

Zhao Lan and Da Ya moved to her position and followed her gaze. Above them, where the branches intertwined, two very thick branches stretched out, and something seemed to be on them.

Just then, a firefly flashed nearby.

All three saw it at the same time—half of a woman's body was visible between the tree forks. The woman had long, thick black hair, flowing down. She wore no clothes, or perhaps her clothes had been lost due to the accident. Her pale body contrasted sharply with the slightly bluish branches, and her full, unmistakably female features were vividly displayed before them.

"Help me..."

The woman's body was clearly trapped. She struggled to reach out toward the three of them. "Save me..."

"How did she get up there?" Da Ya asked worriedly.

"There might be something up there," Zhao Lan said cautiously, scanning the branches while considering how they could reach her.

Even the lowest of the branches was out of their reach.

"Help me..."

Then Zhao Lan got an idea. "We can create ice blocks, then step on them to climb the lowest branch. From there, we can climb to the branch where the woman is."

They immediately got to work. They first dug a rectangular pit in the ground, then Da Ya made it rain into the pit, and finally, Zhao Lan froze the water into ice blocks.

Miao Yuanjin was responsible for moving the ice blocks and stacking them into a pile that could be climbed.

During this process, the trapped woman's cries for help grew weaker.

Soon, they completed an ice pile high enough to reach the branches. Zhao Lan climbed first, followed by Da Ya, with Miao Yuanjin bringing up the rear.

As Miao Yuanjin climbed the ice pile, a question suddenly struck her. "Did either of you get a clear look at that woman's face? Is she from our expedition team?"

"I did," Da Ya replied, clinging to the branch. "She's very beautiful, but... I don't think I've seen her in the team. Though it's possible I just didn't notice."