The Primitive Adventures of a Chipmunk 84

Chapter 84

In the damp dense forest after the rain, a tall and sturdy beastman was running at high speed, sweating profusely, holding a chipmunk. He took large strides, one step covering two, and in ten breaths, he had passed through a thicket and disappeared into another jungle.

Although he tried his best to maintain a steady pace, his large strides and high speed inevitably caused some shaking. Curled up in the beastman’s arms, Hua Shi’an was dizzy from the jolting. His arm felt like it was being cut by a knife and burned by fire, and an unbearable pain kept coming.

Faster, faster…

He had no time to care about the pain. Hua Shi’an held onto Mo Huaishan’s fingers, his black-bean-sized eyes staring fixedly ahead.

Going back now was definitely not a wise move. Both he and Mo Huaishan knew this. If Hong Yong and Yan Qiuyu were no match for the black bear, and if the black bear hadn’t left, rushing back would be suicide.

But he couldn’t care less. His companions had put themselves in danger to lure away the black bear. They hadn’t returned all night, and their fate was unknown. He was not made of stone. How could he not care?

He had no reason left. Hua Shi’an’s heart and eyes were filled with deep worry. He had glanced at the black bear before he fainted last night. It was no exaggeration to say that its size was no less than a small truck.

Even with bone spears, and even if they were strong beastmen, they had absolutely no chance of defeating the black bear. But they were all experienced hunters. If they couldn’t win, they should run. He was just afraid that they had followed Hua Shi’an’s previous suggestion and had turned into their beast forms and climbed up a tree.

You see, that black bear thing—it can climb trees!

And black bears are highly intelligent and extremely vengeful. Since the beastmen had stabbed it with their bone spears, it probably wouldn’t let them go easily.

They’ll be fine, they must be fine. The four of them came out together, so the four of them should go back together, safe and sound.

“Shi’an, Shi’an? Are you asleep? We’re here.”

A deliberately low voice sounded in his ear. Hua Shi’an came to his senses and found that Mo Huaishan was holding him and squatting in a thicket.

The spot he had chosen was very secluded. The weeds and bushes were taller than a person. From the outside, you couldn’t see them if you weren’t paying attention. But pushing aside the dense bushes, Hua Shi’an looked up and saw the large tree where they had rested last night.

The back baskets were still at the foot of the tree, no, they were overturned at the foot of the tree. It looked as if they had been violently overturned. Everything in the back baskets had been poured out. Bamboo tubes were rolling everywhere, and there were also some wrinkled leaves scattered on the ground. Without thinking, he knew they were the leaves they had used to wrap the beef.

The beef had been stolen, and some of the bamboo tubes had been crushed. Water and kudzu powder were spilled all over the ground.

There was no black bear, no beastmen, no bloodstains. The surroundings were quiet, with only a mess and the overturned weeds and bushes.

The black bear was large, so it would definitely leave traces when it walked. Hua Shi’an patted the beastman’s arm. Mo Huaishan understood and came out of the bushes to search the surroundings.

Soon, they found a “main road” diagonally in front of the camp. A long string of weeds and bushes were tilted to both sides. It was clear that this was a path that had been forcefully opened by a behemoth.

Without daring to delay, Mo Huaishan held Hua Shi’an and walked in.

The black bear might still be active nearby. They couldn’t search for it with a big fanfare, let alone shout directly. Hua Shi’an and Mo Huaishan worked together, one responsible for looking up at the trees, and the other for searching the ground.

The main road was very long and winding. They held their breath and searched around, their nerves constantly tense. After about ten minutes, Mo Huaishan found a blood-stained bone spear in the grass.

The tip of the spear was stained with blood, so it was certain that the blood was the black bear’s. But losing a weapon was not good news. It either meant they had encountered danger, or they had dropped their weapons and changed back to their beast forms.

There were no obvious signs of a fight around. Hua Shi’an comforted himself that it was just the latter.

But they hadn’t gone far when a strong smell of blood entered their nostrils. Right in front of them, a large area of weeds and bushes had been overturned, and the low trees had all been broken. The bushes had directly become an open playground.

There was no doubt that a fierce battle had taken place here. This was the main battlefield. The other bone spear was also on the ground, and the reddish liquid on the leaves and weeds was blood, a large amount of blood.

Seeing this, Hua Shi’an’s heart instantly sank. His paws trembled uncontrollably. But just then, a very soft, low cry suddenly came from above his head, “Squeak, squeak—”

The cry of a squirrel! Hua Shi’an suddenly looked up and, through the lush branches and leaves of the trees, he saw the red-bellied squirrel sitting on a branch at the top of a Parashorea chinensis tree, and the rock squirrel lying in the middle of the branch.

The rock squirrel seemed to have fainted and was lying motionless in the middle of the branch. The red-bellied squirrel looked around alertly. After confirming that there was no danger, it bit the back of the rock squirrel’s neck and, with all four paws, deftly slid down from the Parashorea chinensis tree.

When he was about to reach the ground, he gently leaped forward. A tall beastman landed on the ground. He opened his mouth, and the unconscious rock squirrel fell into his palm.

The suspended heart finally settled back into his stomach. Mo Huaishan stared at Hong Yong without blinking. Seeing that he had no serious external injuries, he finally breathed a sigh of relief. And just as he was about to ask about the situation, Hong Yong pushed his shoulder and hurried out.

“Don’t talk. Let’s go first. Let’s leave this place first. That damn thing only left at dawn. Who knows if it’s gone far, and if it will come back.”

Hearing this, Mo Huaishan no longer asked any more questions and couldn’t help but quicken his pace.

Without food, it was difficult to move. After returning to the camp and picking up the usable things and edible food and putting them in their back baskets, Mo Huaishan and Hong Yong did not dare to stay for a moment. Each holding a squirrel and a bone spear, they quickly left this place of trouble.

He hadn’t slept all night and hadn’t eaten for half a day. This walk lasted for a whole day.

As if he had been frightened, Hong Yong was unusually nervous. He buried his head and rushed on without a word. It wasn’t until he had left the place of trouble far behind that he slowed down and told Mo Huaishan about their encounter last night.

The black bear had smelled the blood and had become very interested in Hua Shi’an, who was in Mo Huaishan’s arms. Seeing that it was about to turn and chase after the injured Lord Priest, Hong Yong and Yan Qiuyu resolutely raised their bone spears and stabbed at the black bear.

He had underestimated the destructive power of the bone spears. The black bear was caught off guard and was stabbed in the abdomen by the sharp bone spears. But this small injury was nothing to it. It was completely enraged and turned its head to pounce on the two beastmen. Fortunately, they reacted quickly and dodged the fatal blow.

Having successfully attracted its attention, they should have climbed up a large tree nearby to hide. But Mo Huaishan was carrying Hua Shi’an and couldn’t run fast. Worried that the black bear would change its target again, Hong Yong and Yan Qiuyu had to remain in their human form and flee in the opposite direction.

Its size limited its speed. The black bear was not fast, but it was definitely not slow either.

It couldn’t catch up with the beastmen who were running at full speed, but it always maintained a distance that was neither too close nor too far. And its stamina was quite good. The beastmen slowly began to get tired, and their strength began to fail. But when they turned around, the bear was still chasing behind them.

The distance was constantly shortening. Seeing that they couldn’t outlast the black bear, Hong Yong and Yan Qiuyu decisively changed back to their beast forms and climbed up a nearby Parashorea chinensis tree. But before they could breathe a sigh of relief, the giant beast, like them, started to climb up the tree, holding onto the trunk.

At first, Hong Yong was not worried, because the black bear was too big to reach the branches where they were. But with a black bear the size of a small truck shaking the tree, it didn’t take long for the large tree to tremble and sway violently.

The shaking was intense, no less than an earthquake. If they didn’t hold on tight, they would instantly fall from a height of dozens of meters.

Fortunately, for a behemoth, climbing a tree was more strenuous than running. The black bear got tired and slid back down to the foot of the tree, sitting there, refusing to leave, its scarlet eyes firmly locked on the squirrels on the branches.

Its stamina and patience were both excellent. This stalemate lasted until the middle of the night.

Hong Yong naturally didn’t dare to close his eyes for a moment. Finally, watching the black bear leave resentfully, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

After the black bear left, they did not immediately come down from the tree. They cautiously stayed on the tree to observe. When it was late at night and there was no more disturbance, they slowly began to come down.

However, just as they were sliding down the large tree and were about to reach the ground, in the nick of time, the giant beast that had been lurking in the darkness suddenly rushed out. The two squirrels were not to be trifled with either. Realizing the danger, they instantly turned around, their sharp claws digging into the tree bark, and they quickly climbed back up to the treetops.

Large, patient, smart, and would even pretend to leave, but was actually ambushing…

Mo Huaishan’s scalp tingled as he listened, and a string of goosebumps appeared on his arm. He subconsciously swallowed his saliva and voiced his question, “That’s too strange. Are wild beasts really that smart? Is there a possibility that it was actually a person, a beastman living in the dense forest?”

“I don’t know.” Hong Yong shook his head, pushed aside the bushes with his bone spear, and continued to walk forward. “It’s too smart. We also thought about this problem. We tried to talk to it from the treetops at that time, but it was no use. It just wanted to eat us.”

“In short, whether it’s a person or a wild beast, we can’t afford to provoke it, and we can’t beat it.”

After listening to the thrilling process in Mo Huaishan’s arms, Hua Shi’an came to a conclusion:

A beast, it’s most likely a beast.

Bears are smart and cunning. They can imitate, they can probe, and they are extremely vengeful.

Of course, the possibility of it being a beastman could not be ruled out. But if it were a beastman, with its huge size and amazing strength, there would be no need to climb a tree to catch squirrels. It could just shake the trunk, and the squirrels would eventually fall down on their own.

Too terrifying.

Hong Yong was right. No matter which one it was, it was an existence they couldn’t afford to provoke.

The process was not over yet. Hua Shi’an scratched the beastman’s palm, and Mo Huaishan, as his mouthpiece, quickly asked again, “Then what happened? I saw a large area of overturned bushes at the foot of the tree, and there was blood everywhere, as if there had been a fight.”

It had been a terrifying night. He was safe now, but Hong Yong was not relaxed at all. His brow was furrowed, and he let out a soft sigh. “Luck, it was good luck. We climbed back up to the treetops, and that giant beast sat down at the foot of the tree again, looking as if it wanted to stay with us forever.”

“When it was almost dawn, a, a strange beast rushed out from somewhere. It was long and thick, with scales on its skin, a bit like the green iguana we caught before, but it had no feet.”

Mo Huaishan suddenly looked up. “I know. The one that attacked Shi’an was that kind of long beast! Did it have any injuries? I stabbed it several times at that time.”

“No injuries. It shouldn’t be the same one.”

Hong Yong continued, “The black beast was bleeding. It was probably attracted by the smell of blood. The long beast was wandering nearby. It probably thought the black beast was too big and was about to slip away, but the black beast had already discovered it and took the initiative to attack.”

Mo Huaishan asked impatiently, “They fought? Did they both get injured?”

Hua Shi’an muttered in his heart:

Impossible. An anaconda can’t beat a black bear. It was just a meal.

Sure enough, the next second, he heard Hong Yong say, “The size difference is there. How could it possibly win? Before long, the black beast had caught the long beast and had chewed and eaten the whole thing.”

“It was probably full. When it was dawn, the giant beast swaggered away. We had been tricked once, so we didn’t dare to come down from the tree easily. We stayed on the tree and hid. And then, and then you guys found us.”

At this point, Hong Yong glanced at Mo Huaishan with dissatisfaction. “I know you were worried about us, but the Lord Priest was injured. You shouldn’t have brought him back. What if the black bear hadn’t left? Wouldn’t we have wasted all our efforts? Shi’an’s safety should always be the top priority.”

Without saying that it was Hua Shi’an’s idea, Mo Huaishan touched his nose and showed a look of apology. “You hadn’t found us all night. I was really worried. This is my fault, but I will do my best to protect Shi’an. I won’t, I won’t let him get hurt again.”

Hong Yong did not respond, nor did he intend to pursue the matter or lecture him. He gently patted Mo Huaishan’s back with the hand holding the bone spear.

“Qiuyu.”

Mo Huaishan glanced at the unconscious rock squirrel and asked again, “What on earth happened to Qiuyu? He hasn’t woken up all this time. Did he faint?”

At these words, a trace of embarrassment flashed in Hong Yong’s eyes, and he coughed unnaturally. “Cough, the giant beast was shaking the tree a lot when it was climbing. He didn’t hold on tight and accidentally fell from the tree. I grabbed his tail in time and pulled him back.”

“You can’t blame me for this. His tail is too long. It was swinging in the air, and with one careless move, it… hit a tree and he was knocked out.”