Chapter Ninety-Five: The Trap

Because he knew that in the world of humans, he stood no chance against the army and the synthetics. Only in the jungle, that perilous expanse, did he have even the faintest hope of survival. With this thought in his heart, Liu Chang stepped once more into that treacherous abyss. The jungle had grown even more dangerous than when he first crossed it—each passing day brought greater hazards, all the creatures evolving relentlessly. This was their domain. A long time had passed since he last traversed the forest, and now its perils were beyond ordinary imagination. Thus, before entering, Liu Chang made careful preparations.

First, he firmly secured the “bandage” around his head, ensuring it would not become a problem during any upcoming battle.

Second, he masked his entire body’s scent once more.

Third, for the first time on the road from Zhengzhou to the outskirts, he committed an act of banditry—robbing a small group of their military canteens, filling them with water, and then eating his fill from their supplies before swiftly departing.

Once these tasks were complete, he found himself, in the afternoon, once again standing beneath the “Welcome to Zhengzhou” sign, gazing at the lush, primeval forest before him.

Compared to a month ago, the jungle had grown even more magnificent and intricate. The towering trees seemed taller still, the variety of shrubs had multiplied, and fungi and ferns now carpeted the landscape. Even by day, the jungle no longer lay quiet; from the edge, one could clearly hear the myriad layered “buzzing” noises—a symphony of life, a cacophony of insect and bird calls all blended together. It was the true rhythm of life, and at the same time—a summons of death.

Taking a deep breath, Liu Chang rubbed the bandage on his head, gripped his military crossbow, and slowly stepped into the jungle.

He was ready to face death’s test for the second time.

Half an hour after he entered, the hook-nosed woman arrived with three gene-altered synthetics and a large squad of soldiers, following his trail to that very spot—the “Welcome to Zhengzhou” sign.

“Boss, did he really go in there?” Standing outside the jungle, listening to the cacophony within, the burly crew-cut man swallowed hard.

“There’s no mistake. Don’t you trust my nose?” The woman frowned, staring into the mist with tightly furrowed brows. “The kid’s got guts. Is he really going to fight us to the bitter end?”

“What now? Do we follow him in?” The crew-cut man hesitated, fear creeping onto his face.

“After him!” the woman commanded.

“We’re really going in? That guy might already be dead in there,” the man protested.

“We have to check. You know what Zhao Zhuo is like—if we fail this mission, what do you think will happen when we return?” The woman rapped her knuckles on the bodies of the three synthetics standing beside her. “I’ve heard he’s short on test subjects for his live experiments. That man will do anything. If we go back empty-handed, who’s to say we won’t end up like them tomorrow?”

The three synthetics, sensing her touch, let out a sudden roar, making the woman hastily withdraw her hand.

“All right, all right,” the crew-cut man said, glancing at the beastly figures before him. Swallowing hard again, he turned and barked at the soldiers, “Move out! Into the jungle!”

Under his command, the soldiers followed him into the forest. The further they went, the denser the jungle became. Even though none could see more than a few meters ahead, the light around them grew dimmer. The canopy blocked out the sun, and their already limited visibility shrank further, making each step a struggle. The deeper they went, the more uneven the ground became, with mushrooms, roots, and waist-high shrubs hindering every move.

The woman led at the front, sniffing the air for traces of Liu Chang’s scent, her progress cautious and slow as they pressed deeper into the jungle.

“The smells here are incredibly complex—so many different creatures, most of which I can’t even identify. It’s almost impossible to pick out our target among thousands of scents. My sense of smell is nearly useless here,” she said, frowning. “And I’ve noticed our numbers are more a burden than an advantage. These regular soldiers are just slowing us down.”

“So what do you suggest?” the crew-cut man asked, having noticed the same thing.

“You take them back—I’ll go with the three synthetics to capture our target.” She had just finished when her brow furrowed sharply again. “Why is the air so thick with blood?”

“Where?”

“About a hundred meters ahead.”

“A bit of blood in the jungle is normal—animals hunt each other, there are always traces.”

“It’s not the same. Animals rarely waste food, and even when they hunt, the scent doesn’t spread like this.” She sniffed the air intently. “This reeks of something being dismembered and its blood deliberately splashed over the area. An animal wouldn’t do that—this is manmade!”

“You mean the kid?”

“Yes, he did this!” she exclaimed. “This is fresh—I just caught the scent. He’s nearby!”

“What now? He must be setting a trap!”

“Chase him!” she shouted, and, leading the three synthetics, sprinted forward. “The longer we linger here, the more danger we’re in. If he’s not afraid with all of us and the synthetics, what should we fear?”

“One, two, three—target’s that way!” she called out, giving orders to the synthetics and supplementing her words with gestures to ensure they understood.

The three synthetics immediately broke into a run, moving several times faster than the woman, and in the blink of an eye they had covered over a hundred meters, reaching the blood-soaked area. They began leaping among the branches, searching for Liu Chang’s figure, their bodies quickly smeared with blood.

Hidden in the foliage, Liu Chang watched and curled his lips into a slight smile—he had already learned how sensitive animals were to the scent of blood. Seeing this, he knew trouble was not far behind.

Sure enough, within three minutes, the jungle’s first wave of predators arrived. The fastest were a swarm of flying insects—not huge, but the size of a fingernail, each armored and ferocious, their wings beating out a deafening buzz as they descended in a dark cloud upon the area.

The three synthetics, searching for Liu Chang’s silhouette, were the first to be attacked. A mass of black shadows dropped from above, and the insects swarmed over them, sinking their fangs into their bulletproof hides.

The bugs couldn’t break the synthetics’ skin, but they caused immense trouble. The creatures flailed their arms in the air, but could not scatter the black clouds; one by one, they were forced from the branches and fell to the ground. The insects, undeterred, began crawling into their ears and nostrils, blinding them.

Though the insects could not harm the synthetics, they overwhelmed their senses, the incessant buzzing and crawling rendering them wild with irritation and driving them to scatter in all directions.

Other insects, having driven off the inedible synthetics, circled the area, searching for their next target.

Bang!

A gunshot rang out in the forest, giving the bewildered insects a new signal. Drawn by the scent of blood, they surged in that direction.

For Liu Chang, a hundred meters was only a few seconds’ sprint. After setting his trap and seeing the insect swarm attack the synthetics, he doubled back toward the direction from which they’d come—where the main group of soldiers had been left behind.

He hurried there and, from a distance, fired his heavy rifle at the first soldier he saw. The massive bullet tore a gaping hole in the man’s chest, a spray of blood instantly filling the air with its scent—an irresistible lure for the predators.

He did not linger after firing. Before the soldiers could return fire, he fled the area. He did not look back—he trusted in the predators’ sense of smell.