Volume One: Planet of Ten Thousand Beasts Chapter 30: Blue Enchantress

Everything happened too fast. Li Juxu watched helplessly, unable to do a thing. The rope Lin Lu threw landed precisely on the yellow sand where Dandelion had vanished, but there was no one there to grab it. Shark rolled on the ground, pulled his half-buried leg free, and retreated several steps. He stared fixedly at the spot that had swallowed Dandelion, his expression grim. The faces of the others were equally dark.

They had traveled the whole way without incident, only to lose a member just before reaching their destination. It was difficult for everyone to accept. Li Juxu wanted to offer comfort, but he did not know how to begin. A living person had disappeared right before his eyes—no body, no corpse, nothing left behind.

Quicksand. It was quicksand!

"Move out!" After a long while, Shark composed himself. He took the lead, responsible for scouting the path. No one spoke; even Lin Lu, who usually loved to joke, remained silent. The team was enveloped in a heavy quiet. The desert night was not pitch black; one could still see vaguely, but not very far. They knew they were walking on yellow sand, but no matter how hard they strained their eyes, nothing was clear. It was deeply unsettling.

Li Juxu understood why Shark forbade the use of lights. After the human eye adapts to certain light conditions, a sudden change causes a blind spot. They were almost at their destination, and it was best to let their eyes adjust to the darkness during this final stretch. Shark moved slowly, a rope tied around his waist, the other end held by Stone.

"There’s a wolf following us, about 200 meters back!" Li Juxu suddenly spoke up, and the team stopped instantly.

"Number?" Shark continued walking after a two-second pause, acting as if nothing were amiss.

"One," Li Juxu replied.

"It’s a scout. Once we stop, it will return to report. Can you take it out? A single shot, preferably," Shark asked.

"I need a shoulder," Li Juxu said.

"Use mine!" Lin Lu did not hesitate. Li Juxu turned and unslung the Breaker-002B from his back; he had already assembled the sniper rifle while in the tent. He braced the stock against Lin Lu's right shoulder. Two seconds of aiming—it was a gray wolf, the size of a calf. Gray wolves were extremely alert, and sensing danger, it was about to turn and flee. Just then, the gun fired.

*Pfft—*

The sniper round pierced the gray wolf’s neck. The immense impact caused the wolf's head to snap at a ninety-degree angle. It crashed heavily into the yellow sand, twitched a few times, and then went still.

The sniper rifle was equipped with a silencer provided by Shark. Even so, the sound was not negligible, though it was much better than the ear-splitting roar it would have made otherwise.

"Nice!" Shark praised. Anyone capable of being a sniper had good accuracy, but the standard for an elite sniper was the time taken to aim; anything under three seconds was elite, and Li Juxu had taken two. Although Li Juxu had been recommended by Blackhead Bee—who never lied—Shark had still harbored some doubts due to Li Juxu's youth and lack of fame. This shot, however, dispelled them.

Li Juxu noticed that the atmosphere in the team had eased considerably after the shot. He looked at Lin Lu with some unease; the recoil of a sniper rifle was not light, and it pushed not only backward but also downward. Lin Lu had taken the brunt of the recoil, and she was a woman. To his surprise, Lin Lu didn't seem to care at all; there was not a trace of pain on her face.

The team stopped to wait for Stone to dispose of the wolf's carcass before moving on.

"Gray wolves are highly intelligent animals. Even in death, their kind can gather a lot of information from the body. Disposing of it won't eliminate the risk entirely, but it will buy us some time," Shark explained, mainly for Li Juxu’s benefit.

The rest of the journey proceeded without further incident, and they arrived at their destination safely.

Li Juxu had always thought of the desert as an endless expanse of yellow sand, until he saw clusters of plants. It turned out that plants did exist in the desert, and they grew quite densely.

"This plant is called the 'Blue Enchantress.' It’s not the flower we usually call by that name; in the desert, this is a unique type of grass. Our target lies beneath these plants. 'Desert Scorpion' is just our colloquial term; the scientific name is the Desert Blue-Striped Fat-Tailed Scorpion. The scent emitted by the Blue Enchantress attracts them, so where you find the grass, you find the scorpions. If the plants are damaged, the scorpions will scatter and vanish forever, which is why we can't use heavy firepower like explosives," Shark said with a hint of helplessness. "Their shells are too hard for standard pistol rounds. Sniper fire works, but we aren't allowed to use light sources. It’s up to you. Shoot the majority of the adult scorpions, and the young ones will be forced to emerge as they relocate. That will be our chance to catch them."

"I'll do my best." Li Juxu set down his bag and began to prepare. Shark and the others did the same. Once he was ready, the others were too. Four members took up positions in four directions to keep watch, while the rest held fishing rods. The bait was mice—Li Juxu hadn't even noticed they had brought them along.

Lin Lu crouched beside him with binoculars, acting as his spotter.

The mice ran across the sand, their slight vibrations attracting the scorpions. But the scorpions were patient, letting the mice run back and forth. Li Juxu remained motionless, his rifle braced, his only movement a gentle chewing—the chocolate Shark had bought tasted good, with a rich, milky flavor he quite liked.

Lin Lu stared unblinkingly, like a statue. Wafts of her fragrance drifted toward him. No one spoke. In the desert, apart from the sound of the wind, there was only the occasional squeak of a mouse. The temperature at night continued to drop. Li Juxu glanced at the thermometer hanging around Lin Lu's neck.

-27°C.

No wonder his fingers were starting to go numb; he couldn't feel any warmth through his gloves. He couldn't believe it—if he hadn't consumed the Mugwort Herb, he probably wouldn't be able to feel his legs at all.

The night seemed to grow even darker. Shark and the others felt uneasy, not because they worried the scorpions wouldn't emerge, but because they feared Li Juxu wouldn't be able to see clearly. The wolf had been large and somewhat blurry, yet he had hit it. The scorpions were only the size of two fists, and with the current visibility being much lower than before, combined with the extreme cold, no one felt confident.

Beneath a cluster of Blue Enchantress, the sand suddenly rose. Then, a bolt of blue lightning shot out—it was a Desert Blue-Striped Fat-Tailed Scorpion.

The scorpion instantly clamped onto a mouse, its arched tail snapping forward like a lethal arrow. The stinger pierced the mouse with swift, vicious precision. In less than a second, the mouse stiffened and died. The scorpion began to drag the mouse back into the sand. Just then, the gun fired.

*Pfft—*

The scorpion exploded, its fluids, crushed tissue, and shell fragments splattering across the sand. Shark and the others let out sighs of relief. Lin Lu tossed aside her binoculars and planted a firm kiss on Li Juxu.

"Nice work, handsome. You didn't let your big sister down."

She picked up the binoculars as if nothing had happened to continue spotting, but Li Juxu, face burning, found his heart racing. He was so old, yet this was the first time a woman had kissed him. His relationship with Zhao Hui'er had been strictly platonic, limited to holding hands, with no further physical contact.