The Great Worm Lich

“That leopard is so powerful that it could kill such a big fish in the water. That’s a feast right there, enough for its entire family,” Tina watched the leopard that was waiting quietly by the water and mumbled.

“Indeed, that’s a beautiful and fatal hit. Unfortunately, it’s not the definite winner,” Zhang Lisheng said as he extended his neck while pointing at a four to five-meter long deadwood that was floating over. The deadwood arrived next to the big fish following the river as he spoke. Suddenly, an enormous mouth appeared in the river. It bit on the big fish that was still struggling and twisted its mouth around forcefully. Under the effects of sharp teeth and great centrifugal force, the big fish was torn into two parts directly. Its blood dyed the river red.

The leopard did not show any sign of an attempt to attack since its prey was stolen. Instead, it swam to the shore quickly. Not only the leopard, but Tuta who was on the canoe also stopped the canoe suddenly while watching the river’s surface with his underlings attentively. Keeping calm was the basic thing to do when one encountered a black caiman in the Amazon River. Fortunately, the crocodile clearly did not want to proceed with its hunt since it just ate tens of kilograms of big fish without having to put in any effort. After it fed itself, it turned into deadwood again and floated away on the river’s surface leisurely.

Seeing that the threat had gotten far away, the canoe began cruising again. Witnessing the brutal law of the jungle’s ecology before their eyes, apart from Zhang Lisheng, the rest of the young people lost their mood of relaxation that they had earlier. What was even more annoying was that dark clouds began to gather slowly in the sky as Tina and the rest had their mood changed from joy to sorrow. Soon it began raining heavily.

Although the expensive outdoor jacket they were wearing had amazing water-resistance, the canoe’s unique drainage system would only work when the rainwater filled the back of the canoe which would drench almost the entire canoe. With that being said, the passengers in the canoe would have half of their bodies soaked in water as long as it rained for more than 20 minutes. One or two hours was still bearable, but Shittu whose body began to swell could not help but complain as they were soaked in the water for seven to eight hours.

“Are we going to soak in the water for a month? What the hell Mr. Tuta, we’re not asking for a VIP service for the $50,000 guide fee that we paid but it’ll be great if we get a cabin that we could hide from the rain. Do you have to save that insignificant amount of petrol? Oh yeah, I forgot that your canoe’s running on petrol…”

“Shut up Shittu,” Sheila growled behind her boyfriend while feeling irritated. “I knew you’d be the first one to complain.”

“Just let your boyfriend complain a little more. He’ll definitely won’t have much strength after a few days. The first two days on the Amazon River are the most relaxing days throughout our journey. I’m advising all of you to complain while you can complain a little bit more. Otherwise, you won’t have the chance later.”

Tuta’s attitude was changing since they departed. He was talking more now, he was more human when he talked now compared to the time when he was in Tuikano. However, he was getting meaner. A person’s ability and capability could not be inherited but the subconscious nature would be passed down following the bloodline one generation after another. As the progress in genetics went on, biologists had even found the genetic code to decide a person’s characteristic.

Shittu’s ancestors built everything from scratch and spent 30 years to found the most phenomenal legend in the world’s finance history. The biggest factor for their success was their determination that was almost lunatic. What Tatu said triggered the stubbornness hidden in Shittu. He stopped complaining and wiped the rainwater away from his face. He said nothing as he clenched his teeth along the way until the sunset while the canoe dropped the anchor in the middle of Amazon River.

After stopping the canoe and dropping the anchor as the sky was turning dark, Tatu announced, “We’re resting on the river tonight, you guys can go to sleep after you’re done eating.”

“But the canoe’s filled with water, we’ll drown if we lie down. We have to at least camp at the shore.”

“Wataruru made this canoe by hollowing a tree, the water will dry quickly as soon as the rain stops. Before that, you guys can lean on the side of the canoe to sleep. The route we’re on now is safe on water but dangerous on land. We can only sleep on the canoe for the first two nights.”

What Tatu said made the young people look at each other speechless. They leaned their face bitterly after eating chocolate and energy bars made of dried meat, nuts, dried almonds, and dehydrated vegetables as if they were forced to. They stared at the dark Amazon River as they slept, they forced themselves to sleep as soon as they could.

Sleeping early gave them strength the next day. Surviving in the wild, sometimes sleep was even more important than food. That was common sense. However, under such a terrible environment, it was impossible that these young people could fall asleep unless they were exhausted. Trish said softly all of a sudden after staring at her reflection on the water for a while, “Tina, Sheila, are you guys asleep?”

“No.”

“I’m not sleepy at all, my dear.”

“I’m so sorry to have dragged you guys to such a horrible place.”

“Don’t be silly, we volunteered to come.”

“That’s right. Moreover, it’s not bad here. At least we could admire the beautiful nature from the closest distance…”

As Tina and Sheila were busy comforting their guilty friend, Zhang Lisheng interrupted all of a sudden while feeling weak, “Trish, it’s not too late to head back now.”

The young man was exhausted at the moment. In reality, he did not have much experience exploring the jungle. When he was living in Western Sichuan’s Guawo Village, he had only been in the dense jungle alone twice and only slept in there once, including the time he became a Wizard. After that, he had only traveled into the rainforest in Tatetutu. He rode on his wizard worm’s back and traveled above the trees like they were flying. He had never experienced the pain of sleeping in a jungle, he had only understood how tough it was after experiencing it himself.

However, Tina could not understand the young man’s current exhaustion. She turned her head to look at Zhang Lisheng. “Shut up Lisheng, why are you saying things like this at such a time? Furthermore, aren’t you adapted to this kind of life since you’re a jungle hunter? Why do you look like you’re dying?”

Tuta who was at the head of the canoe urged them softly while Tina was still speaking. “Quiet, there’s a tiger coming.”

‘Wuwu…’, a roar came from far away after they were warned. They looked far away into the direction where the sound was coming from, a pair of bright nut-colored eyes appeared faintly in the jungle from the shore. To ferocious beasts living in the deep mountain range, they would usually not take the initiative to attack humans whose body was big while looking odd when they walked standing up. However, as long they attempted attacking a human who had no weapons with them, large carnivorous animals would prefer to hunt such slow, higher-class animals who had delicious meat and had almost no resistance ability. Some would even hunt specifically for humans since then, that was how cannibal tigers and cannibal lions came about.

Now the tigers were hunting by the shore at night while surrounding the canoes in the river. It was undoubtedly a gravely dangerous warning sign to the natives. Wataruru, on the other hand, put three blowguns into his mouth at the same time. One must know that although an Amazon tiger had a small body, it was great at swimming. On a certain level, the entire jungle was its hunting range whereby there were no blind spots at all.

However, Zhang Lisheng ignored the guide’s warning as everyone in the canoe was in panic and fear. He even answered Tina’s question softly, “It’s true that I’m a jungle hunter but I’ve just found out that I prefer living in society with humans.”

He looked far into the jungle as he spoke and his mouth moved a few times softly. In an instant, the nut-colored eyes that were blinking in the jungle vanished without a trace as if it was devoured by a black hole that was opened out of nowhere. A faint bloody smell came, the natives in the canoe lowered their bodies while having fear on their faces. Even Wataruru who was in his combat mode did the same too.

“A monster bit that tiger but we couldn’t see anything. Listen, lay down your body slowly and don’t show your heads. We’ll definitely die if you guys get the monster’s attention,” Tatu said softly.

“Is it a crocodile or a boa?” Tina laid down her body while her face turned pale as she could not help herself but asked softly.

“No, I’ve told you it’s a monster. Stop talking,” Tatu lowered his voice and said seriously. Seeing Tina’s fear under the moonlight while shaking lightly from the panic, Zhang Lisheng who was sitting beside her hesitated and patted her shoulder. He smiled while waving and subsequently did a zipping gesture on his lips.

Tina was stunned, she then widened her eyes in realization and moved her lips silently, “It was you?”

Zhang Lisheng did not reply directly and moved his lips silently, “Don’t be afraid.” He then laid his head on the side of the canoe and stared at the confusing dense jungle far away. He sighed. The toughness of exploring a jungle had far surpassed his imagination, giving him a feeling that he could not take it any longer. Just like that, the first night went by without them realizing with people in the canoe with some in fear, some calm while some irritated.

The sun rose the next day, washing the fog in the rainforest away. When the first ray of sunlight shone on their faces, the young people who fell asleep kneeling in the narrow canoe after that rough night woke up. They woke up when the canoe shook all of a sudden. They looked around while looking sleepy and realized that the canoe’s propellers had been started. ‘Tututu…’ it went as it moved forward.

“Remember to not use the river water to wash your face when you’re awake, use the rainwater in the canoe. Same applies if any of you wants to drink,” Tatu who stood at the canoe’s head reminded as if he had eyes on his back, knowing that the young people were awake. He had a machete in his hand. The young people who spent a day and a night on their water journey nodded silently without an expression on their face. After refreshing themselves by washing their faces with the rainwater that was slightly murky, they popped a disinfection tablet into their mouth and drank a few mouthfuls of gritty rainwater with their hands.