The end of the world: mountain and sea disasters

The assembled airboat slid into the branch of the water marsh.

Yu Ke stepped on the branches of the tree that extended to the river surface, and jumped up with his backpack and weapons.

Sitting at the back of the airboat, holding the joystick with his left hand, he turned on the propeller to stir the water.

Moving forward at a slow speed for the time being, bypassing the bushes in the water in front, Yu Ke checked the operation of the equipment according to the instructions.

The propeller runs smoothly and without noise; the indicator light of the airboat joystick is green, and there is no hysteresis when swinging left and right; the camouflage coating on the edge of the airboat is military green, and there is no water or air leakage in the hull.

After the inspection, it was confirmed that everything was normal.

Yu Ke then drove the airboat away from the deep pool in the forest and turned into the branch of the water marsh in front.

The Mirror Lake Water Marsh network is spread throughout the forest, and its branches are of different widths. Basically, the closer to the core area, the wider and deeper the river channel is. For example, the river channel connected to the deep pool in the forest in the southwest corner is about ten meters wide.

The giant trees on both sides are surrounded by aquatic plants, and the treetops on the high ground are connected to each other, forming an arch under the gray sky.

Fine snow fluttered down from the gaps, forming a green and white curtain with the drooping vines.

This is a fantasy scene that Yu Ke has never seen before. Unfortunately, under this beautiful appearance, there is a crisis that is enough to bury any living creature, so he dare not be distracted for a moment.

The airboat swept away the dead branches and leaves covering the water surface and kept moving at a constant speed.

Frankly speaking, it makes people feel very insecure to move forward alone in such a deep forest waterway. The slightest movement nearby and even the ripples created by the fish on the water surface will attract Yu Ke's attention.

He didn't know how deep this waterway that seemed narrow but actually connected the forest pools on both sides was, and he didn't know whether there was a terrifying water monster infected by Pandora hiding in the dark pool nearby, waiting for an opportunity to launch a surprise attack on him.

Yu Ke was thankful that the river didn't have too many twists and turns, otherwise it would take him a lot of time just to control the direction.

Now he only needed to control the general direction, so that he could free his hands to extract water samples.

This time it was grayish yellow.

Yu Ke took out a notebook from his pocket and recorded the results on it.

The direction he was heading now should be correct. The degree of infection in the water was getting worse and worse. Even if it wasn't Pandora in front, there should be a monster that was affected and distorted.

Raising the telescope, Yu Ke observed the movement of the nearby water surface.

The current gloomy sky was a good opportunity to find Pandora. Its own color should be extremely conspicuous in this environment, and there was basically no possibility of mistaking it.

Similarly, large clusters of gorgeous flowers would grow on the surface of the distorted beast, which was also easy to find in the woods with gray-green or dark green as the main color.

Every time he drove a distance, Yu Ke would stop the airship, stand up, raise the telescope and look around.

Not to mention, the most abundant thing in this Mirror Lake Forest is all kinds of strange things.

He saw a giant tree that was used as a nest by ants, with all kinds of holes and holes made of wet mud from top to bottom; there were yellow-brown water birds that grabbed vines like bats and hung upside down on the water surface disguised as branches, and immediately killed fish or other animals that swam by; there were also lizards with slender and light bodies that could run on the water surface, with their limbs spread wide.

The camera on his chest had been turned on.

Yu Ke collected all kinds of information about the depths of the Mirror Lake Forest to prepare for his future hunting operations.

He paid special attention to some special landforms along the way.

Just like the vine jungle and mushroom communities on the outskirts of the forest, there must be a reason for the formation of special landforms, either hiding some spiritual plants or some special beasts living in them, and these are the resources Yu Ke needs.

The former can enhance his physical fitness in all aspects, and the latter, if he is lucky, can provide skills and characteristics, which are also urgently needed.

For example, this forest area in front of him.

Yu Ke noticed that the types of giant trees and water quality in the forest on the right side of the river had changed significantly.

Unlike the bare-branched trees he had seen along the way, the trees in this area were not only larger in size, but also had thicker branches and thicker branches. The treetops actually still had a lot of green leaves. If you look closely, you can see the sedimented fruits under the leaves.

The key lies in the change in the water quality of the forest. When he got closer, Yu Ke was surprised to find that the pool of water in the forest was constantly bubbling and steaming. It was clearly a hot spring. There was probably geothermal heat or something else that could raise the water temperature.

Yu Ke couldn't understand the principle, but one thing was certain, this environment was obviously against common sense.

Wait.

What was that?

Just as Yu Ke was observing the abnormal area, he was ready to come over and investigate when he had the chance.

Suddenly, several gray-white furry corpses appeared in the field of view of the telescope, drifting from the river ahead.

That alone would be fine. The most abundant thing in Jinghu Forest is the corpses of wild animals. What really concerns Yu Ke is the gorgeous flowers on the backs of these corpses. Obviously, they have been infected by Pandora.

Putting down the telescope, Yu Ke turned around and held the joystick to adjust the direction of the airship, keeping a certain distance from the corpses and ensuring that he can observe them.

Picked up a dead branch from the water and stopped a corpse.

Its size is not much different from that of an adult man. It looks like the corpse of an ape. It has not been long since it died. Blood around the corpse keeps spilling into the water. Many fish and shrimps have come over.

If it is a corpse that has been dead for a long time, it would have been swollen after being soaked in water for a long time.

Yu Ke twirled its gray-white hair and adjusted its position to facilitate further observation, so that the detection of leaks and filling of gaps could take effect.

Soon the corresponding information came to mind.

Abnormal Beast: A monster that mutated after being infected by the Mizusawa Wild Monkey. It has excellent water properties and is good at launching attacks from the water.

‘It is indeed an aberrant beast. ’

The speculation in his mind was verified. Yu Ke roughly counted around and found that there were five corpses here.

Now the question is how did they die?

The hunting group passing by, the ferocious beasts nearby, or...

Half-crouching on the edge of the airship, Yu Ke used a dead branch in his hand to push back the hair on the back of one of the wild monkeys' heads. There were several deep scratches with bone visible there, which were undoubtedly real fatal wounds.

"Killing with one blow, this method is cruel enough. I just killed so many monkeys, why don't you eat them?"

His eyes passed over several other corpses nearby. Without exception, there was no obvious mutilation of limbs. The ferocious beasts that hunted them had no tendency to hunt at all. This was pure killing, or in other words, elimination!

This phenomenon reminded Yu Ke subconsciously of what happened outside the Jinghu Forest.

The Shadow Moon Leopard was frantically hunting all kinds of infected aberrant beasts, so thinking about it, there should be similar ferocious beasts deep in the Mirror Lake Forest.

While thinking, Yu Ke's eyes wandered around unconsciously.

The sound of branches falling to the ground suddenly sounded in my ears, and I suddenly turned back to check the situation.

The next second, his pupils suddenly shrank, and his figure also took a fighting stance, clenching the sharp-toothed long bow in his hand.

On a low-hanging branch about ten meters away, the Shadow Moon Leopard, whom I had seen once before, lurked here at some point. Its crimson eyes were already locked on Yu Ke!

Its fur was wet, as if it had just been swimming, and it clung to its body, making it look rather embarrassed.

The moment they looked at each other, Yu Ke was sure that this Shadow Moon Leopard must be the guy who hunted the aberrant beasts on the outskirts of the Mirror Lake Forest not long ago.

Yu Ke never expected to encounter it in such a place.

It seems that its hunting range is far beyond what Yu Ke thought. In order to hunt down those aberrations infected by Pandora, it even went to the depths of the Mirror Lake Forest.

The two sides fell into a confrontation.

Yu Ke, who was on the swamp river, didn't want to conflict with the Shadow Moon Leopard.

On the one hand, the Shadow Moon Leopard itself is doing things that are beneficial to the Mirror Lake Forest. The current goals of the two are actually highly overlapping.

Yu Ke has no psychological burden on hunting ferocious beasts.

But this ferocious beast that was willing to run around to save Jinghu Forest inevitably made him hesitate.

On the other hand, it is because the current environment is really unable to exert force.

Neither Yu Ke nor Shadow Moon Leopard actually have the ability to fight at close quarters in the swamp river, so they would be helpless in a fight.

The former can only rely on a bow and arrow, but the Moon Leopard is not the poacher last night. It is somewhat unrealistic to use long-range sniping to kill the Shadow Moon Leopard who comes and goes like the wind and can attack from the shadows.

If it were really that easy, the forestry protection bureau's hunting team would have succeeded long ago.

At least Yu Ke didn't want to waste the few arrows here. It seemed that the Shadow Moon Leopard had no intention of attacking. Its current target was the aberrant beasts, not humans.

Maybe just leaving like this is the right choice?

Yu Ke thought this in his mind, and touched the joystick with his right hand, preparing to withdraw first as a courtesy.

Now is not the time for them to show off.

The distance between one person and one leopard continued to lengthen. Just when Yu Ke thought the crisis was over, several rapid roars came from the direction where the corpses had drifted down, followed by noisy roars in response.

Yu Ke's expression was a little confused at first, and then his expression suddenly changed.

Monkeys are social animals by nature. If the Shadow Moon Leopard hunts several infected wild monkeys, it will inevitably attract a siege from the monkeys. And a monkey group that can survive in such a place does not need to be thought about to be an easy existence to get along with. .

No wonder the Shadow Moon Leopard looks a little embarrassed

Damn it, what should I do?

The Shadow Moon Leopard appears here, and the monkeys will come here soon. When they see Yu Ke, an outsider, Bao Buqi will regard him as the target of venting his anger, but he is still on the boat now.

The river is only so wide, and the target of the airboat is too big to hide.

Moreover, judging from the information provided by checking and filling in the gaps, these monkeys are very good at water. If they capsize the boat, how can we continue to explore Pandora later?

No, we must reach the shore immediately and find a place to hide.

As long as the propeller is turned off, the airship itself will be dead. If you cover it with some dead branches, you will most likely be able to get through it.