Chapter 54: Section 55: Swarm of Scorpions Pursuing


    The sun mercilessly baked the yellow-brown desert.


    Under the torment of the sunlight, the sand dunes could only slump and spread their bodies.


    The air, twisted by the scorching heat, a man slowly trudged on the burning sands, step by step.


    This man was gaunt, with swollen eye bags and a vacant gaze, panting heavily as he walked, like a mechanical puppet.


    He was not alone; on his back, he carried another man who was unconscious.


    The man being carried had his eyes tightly shut. Even in his unconscious state, his eyebrows were tightly furrowed, twisted into a knot.


    ...


    This was because he had a wound on his back, which continuously tormented him.


    In comparison, the unconscious man was more muscular, while the walking man was a bit thinner. Though their physiques differed, their faces were very similar, indicating their close blood relationship.


    It was Huang Zao and Lan Zao, the brothers.


    Since seeing Zi Di and Cang Xu cornered by a group of lizards on the sand dunes, under Huang Zao’s insistence, the brothers had stealthily escaped from the green lizard’s nest.


    However, on the way, they still encountered stray lizards. To save Huang Zao’s life, Lan Zao bravely blocked the incoming acid liquid for his brother and, as a result, was seriously injured and fell into unconsciousness.


    The desert stretched endlessly, seemingly boundless.


    Huang Zao, carrying Lan Zao, had been on the move for a long time.


    He was both thirsty and hungry, his stomach had been rumbling for quite a while, but what tormented him more was the feeling of thirst.


    His throat was nearly smoking now, his lips were dry and cracked, and with each breath through his nose, the scorching air felt like magma being poured down his throat.


    “Water… water…”


    The feeble and weak call from Lan Zao reached his ears. Sear?h the N??elFirё.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.


    Lan Zao was still unconscious, and this call was purely driven by his instinct to survive.


    The call snapped Huang Zao out of his dazed state, he blinked, stopped in his tracks, and stood still.


    Then, he braced his brother with one hand and freed the other to touch Lan Zao’s forehead.


    Lan Zao’s forehead was hotter than the sand beneath their feet.


    Huang Zao’s heart sank.


    Lan Zao’s unconsciousness and high fever were definitely not a good sign.


    Under normal circumstances, if a patient’s condition was severe, one would seek treatment from Divine Arts. In the Holy Bright Empire, priests from the Holy Temple were highly skilled in healing.


    But now, the brothers were in this deadly and unpredictable island, in the middle of a desert, with no trace of human presence, where could they find a priest from the Holy Temple?


    “Maybe, I should have tried harder to save Miss Zi Di with my brother earlier. She has potions, and even if not, she could prepare them.” Huang Zao thought to himself, feeling a hint of regret.


    But then he shook his head secretly: “No, Miss Zi Di, and Cang Xu, they’re definitely dead by now. Eaten by the lizards, consumed and then excreted. No matter how beautiful, how noble, how knowledgeable, or how young one is, they’d only end up as a pile of excrement.”


    “I don’t want to end up as a pile of excrement.”


    “Brother, you have to hang in there,” Huang Zao silently prayed in his heart.


    He stepped forward and resumed his journey.


    “Water… water…” Lan Zao still occasionally uttered his calls, each one weaker than the last.


    Huang Zao wanted to force a bitter smile, but he lacked the energy to even twitch the muscles of his face.


    “I want water too, I’d give anything for it!” Huang Zao cried internally.


    “But all our water was used to clean your wounds, my brother.”


    “I swear, if I find water now, even if it’s a lake, I’d dare to drink it all!”


    Huang Zao, fiercely determined, suddenly stood frozen in place the next moment.


    Turning past the sand dune in front of him, his view suddenly widened, and there indeed appeared to be an oasis.


    Huang Zao was stunned, then quickly regained his composure, his eyes widened, and his mouth fell open in ecstatic joy.


    He shouted.


    “An oasis, it’s an oasis!”


    “Brother, we have water, we have water!!”


    “Just like the last time, when we were transported here and found an oasis. Now we’ve encountered another one.”


    “Ha ha ha. We’re saved! Brother, we’re saved.”


    Huang Zao, carrying Lan Zao, rushed towards the oasis with unprecedented speed.


    His ecstasy seemed to endow him with limitless physical strength, and Lan Zao, who normally felt heavy now seemed as light as straw.


    However, no matter how frantically he ran, the distance between him and the oasis didn’t seem to grow any closer.


    Suddenly, Huang Zao’s legs gave out, and he fell to the sandy ground. Lan Zao, whom he was carrying, also fell, rolling several times, still unconscious.


    Huang Zao lifted his head, his face smeared with sand, but the vision of the oasis had completely vanished from his sight.


    Huang Zao was dumbfounded.


    Due to the intense sprint, his chest heaved with rapid breaths.


    “No, no!” Huang Zao knelt on the ground, clutching his head, grasping his own hair, the despair following the hope made him more agonized.


    “This isn’t real, this can’t be real.” He stretched out his hand, fingers spread, reaching towards the direction where the oasis mirage had appeared, but couldn’t grasp anything.


    “It’s fake, all fake…” Huang Zao had no strength left.


    The frantic run had drained his last bit of physical strength, but due to his heightened emotions, he had ignored his real condition.


    Eventually, he collapsed to the ground as his body could no longer bear the strain.


    There was no oasis, just a mirage.


    Everything turned to naught.


    The sun still beat down intensely, the desert vast and endless, and within it, Huang Zao appeared just like a tiny insect.


    Insignificant, pitiable, laughable.


    The elder brother he had once relied on was now unconscious, lying motionless on the sandy gravel not far away.


    At this moment, a sense of helplessness enveloped Huang Zao’s body and soul like never before.


    The pressure of surviving alone hit him clearly and unmistakably, no longer could he fend it off with his previous oblivious state.


    Breathe.


    Breathe.


    “Don’t be afraid,” Huang Zao told himself.


    Breathe.


    “I feel like I can’t breathe…” In the next moment, Huang Zao clutched at the clothes on his chest.


    Fear, helplessness, desolation, sadness, and other emotions were so intense they blocked his chest, his throat, his mouth and nose, almost suffocating him!


    “I, I don’t want to die…” Finally, Huang Zao burst into tears.


    Breathing heavily…


    Zhenjin’s chest heaved tumultuously as he gasped for air.


    His condition was not good either; the wound on his arm had not improved under Zi Di’s treatment, oozing pus, and he ran a mild fever.


    Though water and food were prioritized for him, it was hardly enough to satisfy.


    Thus, he was still thirsty and hungry.


    Whether it was hunger or his injuries, both made him feel weak in the limbs.


    But now Zhenjin pushed all these aside, focusing all his attention on the formidable enemy before him.


    His adversary was the leader of the Golden Spear Scorpion Group, a Silver Level Magic Beast.


    After successfully breaking through and shaking off the green-scaled lizards, Zhenjin’s worries quickly turned into reality.


    Under the leader’s command, the scorpion group fiercely pursued Zhenjin and the others, overtaking them.


    Zhenjin had no choice but to step forward and confront the leader of the scorpions.


    This was their fifth confrontation.


    Both sides were still evenly matched.


    The Silver Battle Scorpion screeched and slowly backed away. After a distance, it turned and left.


    It had several fresh wounds inflicted by Zhenjin.


    But the scorpion shell was really too hard; even when Zhenjin exerted all his strength in his chop, he could not completely cut through the shell.


    “If I could muster my Fighting energy, whether to amplify my own strength or to coat my weapon with sharpness, I could kill this scorpion,” Zhenjin sighed inwardly.


    Seeing the scorpion leader retreat, the others did not cheer, all wearing grim expressions.


    Initially, when they saw Zhenjin repel the scorpion leader for the first time, they cheered and jumped for joy. But soon they realized that the Silver Magical Beast did not truly leave but followed Zhenjin along with its group.


    Every so often, as if getting its breath back, the scorpion leader would charge again and engage Zhenjin in combat.


    The repeated intense fights exhausted Zhenjin greatly.


    He had spent too much physical and mental energy; even after regrouping with Zi Di, Cang Xu, and the others, he never really rested.


    But he dared not show the slightest weakness, for fear the swarm might see and surge forward.


    Zhenjin could barely fight against the scorpion leader, but if a full-scale battle broke out, he could barely save himself, let alone protect others.


    “My Lord, please let me check your wounds,” Zi Di immediately came up to Zhenjin after the battle and carefully inspected his wounds.


    Many new wounds covered Zhenjin’s body, some eroded by Acid Liquid, but most were inflicted by the scorpion leader.


    She drew out potions and sprinkled them over Zhenjin’s wounds.


    However, she was helpless against the arm injury.


    The young lady frowned deeply, shaking her head repeatedly: “My Lord, the wound on your arm is worsening. My potions have no effect on it. Ah, if only I had sufficient materials, perhaps I could concoct a potion to alleviate the injury.”


    Zhenjin patted the young lady’s hand gently and smiled, “Miss Zi Di, you have already done well enough. My strength grants me an extraordinary body, which requires highly effective potions to heal once injured. But the low-level Magic Potions available here are useless.”


    “The herbal medicine you’ve produced is surprisingly effective. You’ve done all you can.”


    The girl was silent for a while, then seriously analyzed, “Actually, the scorpion’s golden spear has no toxin. Although the wound on your arm is large, your innate Recovery Power should suffice for self-healing. It’s just now, we can’t shake off the scorpions. My Lord, you have to continuously battle the scorpion leader, constantly draining your energy and physical strength. Each fierce battle aggravates the wound, with no rest or time for recovery.”


    “Yes, My Lord, at this rate, we might all die at the hands of these scorpions,” someone interjected.


    The rest were visibly worried.


    Everyone could see: Zhenjin was getting progressively worse.


    The ongoing scene relied on Zhenjin for survival. If Zhenjin fell, even if they resisted with all their might, they would only end up as a feast for the scorpion swarm.