.That night, the gunsmith and John chose to rest in the cave.
After eating and drinking, John regained his physical strength, but his mental fatigue was probably incurable. If there are people in the world who even sleep with one eye open, then John has undoubtedly joined this team.
The gunsmith did not propose taking turns to keep vigil. He knew that the cannibal natives would not search at night, because that would be half the effort and carry high risks. Hunters would not make such a choice unless they had to.
Darkness is the dividing line between civilization and primitiveness. People in modern society may be able to hide themselves quietly in the dark with the help of advanced equipment, but the only way for cannibal savages to travel at night is with torches. Any prey that has lost its brain will be scared away by the light and heat of that thing, not to mention the frightened John.
More than half of the rainforest animals forage at night, but humans cannot do this. In the long process of evolution, humans have not been given the ability to move at night, which is why our biological clocks are born to adapt to life during the day. In this specific savage environment, the innate abilities of the species are more reliable than any sophisticated tools.
This was the gunsmith's second night in the rainforest, and he still didn't sleep well.
The gunsmith originally only had to think about how to make his way through the jungle back to the civilized world outside. But now, there is an explorer who has no equipment and is exhausted physically and mentally as a burden; he is also blind looking at the skylight about what is going on with the mysterious metal spire that was dug out earlier; there is a group of trees deep in the rainforest. The cannibal natives with deep roots and strong soldiers may give themselves a dart in the dark at any time.
Being in such a situation, I am afraid that the only way to make things worse is to encounter a development like the Predator.
Of course, I was just talking about an idea and had no intention of actually writing it.
The gunsmith didn't sleep soundly. He had another dream, and it was still a dream he had when he was a child. It was also a night, a cold snowstorm night, in a room, in front of the fireplace, wrapped in a blanket, waiting for his grandfather to return. That day, little Charles had a cold, so he did not go hunting with his grandfather.
At first, he was full of hope, hoping that his grandpa's harvest today would allow him to drink hot broth. However, the sun was gradually obscured by dark clouds, the sky became hazy, and a blizzard arrived at some point. From noon to evening, expectation turned into worry, but fortunately it did not turn into despair, because grandpa still came back. When old Luo Er opened the door, a strong wind rushed into the house, and the old man used his His tall body blocked the wind and snow behind him and closed the door again.
The flickering fire in the fireplace became stable again, and a large piece of tied animal meat was thrown on the ground. Old Rolle obviously encountered a difficult prey, and the bad weather prevented him from bringing back most of the loot. That day, the old man not only lost most of the beast's body, but also his right eye. When he returned home, the blood flowing out of his eye socket had already frozen into ice...
"Hey, Charles, wake up, Charles!" John called the gunsmith's name.
Poor quality sleep resulted in an immediate headache. He replied in a daze: "What's the matter?"
John hardly fell asleep, but he seemed to be quite energetic: "I heard noises outside, maybe cannibals were chasing me."
As soon as he heard the word "cannibal", the gunsmith became more energetic. For creatures like humans, a small fright can refresh the mind, but a big fright can destroy the soul. A fright may cause a heart attack.
"I'll go out and have a look." After the gunsmith said that, a carp stood up and hurried away. When he reached the entrance of the cave, he took a look around and saw nothing unusual. He grabbed a few stones and pointed towards them. He threw it in three or four different directions in a fan shape, and soon there was a rustling sound in the woods.
He turned back to John and said, "It doesn't sound like a human being. It might just be an animal. What did you hear just now?"
John replied: "I'm not sure, oh, by the way, it came from the tree. Could it be that these savages sent people to climb the tree to investigate?"
The gunsmith moved his gaze upwards and threw a few more stones, this time flying high. Except for a few birds, no other living creatures reacted to the flying rocks.
"Maybe it's just monkeys, or maybe I alerted the snake when I threw the stones for the first time. They have already escaped." The gunsmith said: "It is not suitable to stay here for a long time. We should hurry up as soon as possible. Moving forward is the best way to escape pursuit."
John naturally raised his hands in agreement with this suggestion.
The two came out of the cave and judged the direction based on the position of the sun. They had agreed the night before to continue heading north, as John's expedition had originally explored from north to south, and of course their compasses had not yet broken.
With the gunsmith opening the way in front, the difficulty for them to travel through the forest was greatly reduced. John was a professional explorer, and his physical fitness and survival skills were naturally better than ordinary people. He had not been injured or contracted any disease. After a night of rest and respiration, 70% to 80% of his physical strength has been restored. Following the gunsmith, traveling becomes very effortless.
Even in this unfamiliar environment, they will never move slower than the cannibal natives. According to John's experience, as long as you walk like this for about three days, even if you haven't left the rainforest, the pursuit of cannibals must have stopped. The scope of action of primitive tribes generally does not exceed their own territory, and transportation basically relies on walking. Help the savages, they will never go to places that are too far away. For them, going out of their territory requires the same courage as Columbus sailing to the "end of the world".
After walking for half a day, there was no sign of anyone following them along the way. It seemed that John was indeed too suspicious in the morning, and everything was gone.
The farther away from the tribe's village, the more secure the two people's safety is, because from a mere survival perspective, they don't have much to worry about.
By noon, the two of them did not stop lighting the fire. In order to prevent the reserved meat from deteriorating in the hot environment, they had roasted it until it was medium cooked last night. This would also make it easier to rush on the road today. So they just took a short break, took a few bites of tasteless bat meat, and then continued on their way.
These bats are really unlucky. They originally lived in that low-lying cave and didn't bother anyone. But they happened to meet the gunsmith. He threw things without any mistakes, regardless of the birds in the sky. , the fish in the river, he found, generally cannot escape the clutches of the devil.
By the afternoon, the two of them had basically relaxed their nerves. They drove for most of the day, crossing swamps, crossing rivers, and cutting through thorns. They hardly stopped, and then their speed slowed down.
At an unexpected moment, when the gunsmith unconsciously looked back to talk to John, he suddenly caught sight of something from the corner of his eye.
His expression couldn't help but change. He knew that the scene he saw was definitely not an illusion, so at this moment, he only felt creepy because the black shadow that flashed just now was obviously not an animal in the jungle, but a person.
"John, there is a dark shadow following us." The gunsmith said directly.
John's face turned pale instantly. He immediately turned around and looked around warily: "Where are they? Are they cannibals?"
The gunsmith said: "No... that... how can I describe it to you..." He organized his words a little: "I said it was a 'black' shadow, not because I didn't see it clearly. In fact, I saw it very clearly, just However, 'it' is black... It is not far behind, on a tree... I suspect that the sound you heard this morning was made by it."
"What do you mean? Is it a cannibal? What is black?" John's panic was written all over his face.
The gunsmith had already taken out the bone gun, and his intuition told him that the thing in front of him might be more dangerous than the cannibals: "He is as tall as a ten-year-old child, but his body shape definitely looks like an adult, but he is not a dwarf. It's very strange... He is like a small-sized person, and his whole body is black from head to toe. It is not the kind of skin color that black people can have, but the kind of pitch black that can be sprayed with paint. 70% of it may be the whole body. Every inch is coated with black dye, 20% of it is because he is wearing a special costume, and 10% of it is... he was born like this."
While the gunsmith was explaining to John what he saw, he was also analyzing what the thing was.
John nervously replied: "What are you going to do... If it is not in direct danger, I think we should not take the initiative to provoke unknown creatures and run away quickly."
The gunsmith said: "There is no danger? Then does it follow you along the way to propose to you?"
John gradually retreated behind the gunsmith and lowered his body, as if a poisonous dart would be 'shot' at him at any time: "Charles, now is not a good time to joke and hurt others."
The gunsmith couldn't help but smile: "I'll introduce someone to you another day. You can learn what it means to harm others..."
Before he said the last word, he pulled the trigger. The sound of the bone gun startled the birds and beasts in a large area of the rain forest. The next second, a black shadow fell from the dense tree branches and fell to the ground.
John looked up and said, "How did you hit it? I didn't see anything."
The gunsmith did not answer the question, but waved for John to follow him. As he approached the unknown creature, he said: "I shot the legs, which will make it survive, but it will not be able to escape." He smiled and said: " If it really just wants to propose to you, it can still get down on one knee and give you a ring.”
John curled his lips: "This joke is not so funny the second time."
When they came under the tree, the scene in front of them was indeed not that funny, because the unknown creature was not here.
"It looks like it can escape even if it's shot in the knee, doesn't it?" This time it was John's turn to make sarcastic remarks.
The gunsmith glanced around, and there was no trace of the black creature. He squatted down and stared at a small pool of black liquid on the ground, not daring to touch it with his hands. He just leaned in and took a sniff: "Do you think this is its blood?"
John also observed the surrounding environment and replied: "If it is blood, it will drip all the way when it escapes, but look, there are no footprints, no black blood drops, not even traces of climbing up the tree. No."
The gunsmith continued: "So... it stopped the bleeding within a few seconds, and then flew out quietly, escaping directly for a distance of more than fifty meters."
John spread his hands: "There is another explanation. As long as part of it is shot, the entire body will evaporate instantly, leaving only a little black water in the end."
The gunsmith stood up and said, "Let's go on our way... I hope you are right."