"Buzz!" It sounded like an airplane gliding past.
Luo Zheng stared blankly at the group of mosquitoes that turned tail and fled just one ter away from him, tracing a beautiful arc through the air and swooping to the ground as if a squadron of fighter jets were roaring by. His mind went blank. What was that all about? Was it a burst of good karma? Were they frightened off by his fighting spirit?
In the woods, a Ninja was drawing closer when he suddenly ca to an abrupt halt, looking surprised at the swarm of mosquitoes that rushed over. His cold eyes filled with horror, which was the mont Luo Zheng snapped back to reality. With an incredulous look on his face, he couldn't fathom why the mosquitoes were diving in—to what end? Karma? To hell with karma. Fighting spirit? Could a swarm of wild mosquitoes feel the fighting spirit? Just what was going on?
"Ahh——" A scream rang out. Luo Zheng focused his eyes and saw the Ninja get engulfed by the dark mass of mosquitoes, soon becoming indistinguishable. Countless mosquitoes clung to the Ninja, covering him densely. Seeing this made Luo Zheng's head spin with the sheer bizarreness of it all. Why weren't the mosquitoes attacking him? Why were they attacking the Ninja?
On the ground, the Ninja rolled about, and Luo Zheng saw another Ninja approach from a distance. The second Ninja glanced at the scene, then turned and fled, evidently wary of the mosquitoes. anwhile, the Ninja being devoured by the swarm rolled on the ground for a while, crushing many mosquitoes until he no longer moved.
A scene even more bizarre unfolded: the mosquitoes, swollen with blood, had grown noticeably larger and now flew away, making room for others to continue feeding. Many more mosquitoes stood guard nearby, working in close cooperation. Luo Zheng knew that bees and ants were social, but he had never heard of mosquitoes displaying such social behavior. This was terrifying.
The situation was eerily strange. Luo Zheng dared not move rashly, hardly even daring to breathe heavily. The swarm of mosquitoes was terrifying. After watching intently for a while, they suddenly dispersed and continued flying forward. Luo Zheng breathed a sigh of relief and looked toward the Ninja on the ground, only to be horrified.
The grayish ground was hard to see clearly, but Luo Zheng could definitely tell that the Ninja's body had shrunk. Gritting his teeth, he slid down from the tree and walked over. Squatting down, he saw that there was no human likeness left in the Ninja's body. Not a drop of blood was visible; the entire body looked as though it had been drained of blood. The skin was full of red dots, and the Ninja clothes were riddled with tiny holes. The person was thoroughly dead, with even the eyeballs nowhere to be found—nothing was intact, only bite marks.
"Hiss?" Luo Zheng's scalp tingled, and the hairs on his body stood on end. He was horrified, it was just too bizarre. Were these still mosquitoes? The sowhat pale face turned towards the direction the mosquitoes had flown, and hearing another scream, he was greatly alard. Thinking that the mosquitoes might return, he quickly picked up the Ninja's handgun and long sword.
The sword was engraved with a cherry blossom pattern. Luo Zheng breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that it wasn't a Chrysanthemum level Ninja, which would be easier to deal with. He hurried into the deeper parts of the forest, but after only a few steps, he rembered that the mosquitoes had erged from deeper within the forest. There might be unknown dangers lurking inside—it might not be wise to go further.
On one side were pursuers; on the other, an unknown terror. After so thought, Luo Zheng decided to choose the pursuers. Pursuers, after all, were human, with familiar tactics. The unknown terror was different, beyond human resistance. With this in mind, Luo Zheng dared not continue forward, quickly climbing up a large tree to hide.
Hiding in the tree canopy, Luo Zheng saw a locust fall on his arm, which did not attempt to bite but instead scurried away frantically. Luo Zheng flicked his hand, throwing the locust off, and then a thought struck him. The mosquitoes did not bite him, not because of his good karma or fierce killing intent scaring the mosquitoes off, but because of the garlic juice on his body.
The wild garlic juice had a strong scent, unbearable not only to the locust but also to the mosquitoes. They hadn't detected it before, but once they ca close and caught a whiff of the pungent garlic odor, they imdiately retreated. Realizing this, Luo Zheng was overjoyed. With an idea in mind, since the mosquitoes were afraid of garlic juice, he could use them against his pursuers to stage a life-or-death struggle.
Luo Zheng wiped the long knife along his back, placed Tiger Teeth in his military boot, stowed the captured pistol at his waist, grabbed a vine to swing back the way he ca, moving as gracefully as a monkey. He swiftly landed on a tree, switched to another vine to continue forward, and advanced without making a sound. Soon, Luo Zheng saw a ninja lying on the ground, mangled and clearly dead, unmistakably the work of mosquitoes.
After swinging forward a distance, he found two more bodies, but the mosquitoes had vanished. Luo Zheng reached the edge of the forest and saw many soldiers on guard outside, not retreating. The ninjas had pulled back and were discussing sothing. Luo Zheng was startled, his expression growing grave. With the enemy not retreating, he had no way to get out. It seed he would have to wait longer. The woods were all around him, and once it was completely dark, there would be a chance.
┅┅
Outside the forest, Turul watched the assassins and ninjas retreat in panic and sneered to himself. Disrespecting nature always ca with a price, a belief Turul, who had lived for a long ti in the tropical rainforest, had no doubt about. A tall man approached Turul with a serious expression, "They encountered mosquitoes. Why are the mosquitoes here so fierce?"
"I warned you, this is Devil Forest. It's inhabited by devils, mosquitoes are just the common ones, and also the only ones known to us. What else is inside, no one knows. So, I suggest you don't act rashly. As long as you secure this area, preventing his escape, just wait three days. I don't believe he can last that long," Turul said with a cold laugh, his eyes flashing maliciously towards the woods.
"No, the forest is dense. Our military strength is limited. It's impossible to cover every aspect. Any negligence could allow the enemy to slip through our encirclent," a short-statured man from Japan said discontentedly, his narrow, sinister eyes radiating a malicious gleam. Five ninjas had entered, and only three returned. The death of two elite ninjas, silently and by the fangs of mosquitoes, was hard for the ninjas to accept. He continued, "Perhaps the target is already dead, maybe he's gone deeper, or maybe he's escaped from so other place."
"What do you want to do?" Turul asked disdainfully.
"Simple, burn down the mountain," the short ninja said coldly.
"Burn down the mountain?" Turul laughed scornfully, gesturing around him, "This here is a tropical rainforest, filled with moisture, the ground is damp. How are you going to set it on fire? It might be possible with tools or sothing flammable like gasoline, but unfortunately, we don't have that."
"I know, burning the mountain is only to create black smoke, to drive away the mosquitoes," the short ninja explained.
"If that's all, you don't need to worry. It's almost completely dark now. After dark, these mosquitoes won't be active anymore. It was just the mosquitoes' feeding ti, and you happened to run into them. I told you not to go, but you wouldn't listen," Turul said with a mocking sneer.
The short ninja gave Turul a cold look and fell silent with a sullen face.
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