Chapter 30: Chapter 30: Extreme Heat, Pillbugs

Her sudden scream nearly scared the life out of everyone.

When they turned to look, the sight of swarms of pillbugs, each as thick as a human thigh and tangled together, almost made them charge out of the cave, forgetting all about the fire outside.

Pillbugs, also known as millipedes, look very similar to centipedes. They are herbivores that prefer to hide in dark, damp places. They have stink glands, and contact with their secretions can cause redness, swelling, and allergic reactions on human skin. Severe cases can lead to ulceration and amputation.

They like to move in groups and reproduce with incredible speed.

The giant pillbugs of ancient times were larger than pythons and could devour an adult human in a single bite.

At the sound of Shen Baoying’s scream, the pillbugs before them instantly coiled into tight balls, piling on top of each other like a mountain of hard-shelled tires.

Qin Shen remained as calm as ever, as though nothing in the world could faze him. "Pillbugs are timid. As long as we don’t attack them, there’s no danger."

’That may be so... but... there are just too many of them here.’

They were packed so densely together that it looked, at first glance, like they had stumbled into a den of snakes.

Niu Niu’s face was pale. Worried the girl might scare herself sick, Jiang Si took out two creamy hard candies to comfort her.

Niu Niu accepted them politely. "Thank you, big sister." The gesture eased some of her tension.

As they stood at the cave entrance, the stench released by the pillbugs became overwhelming.

It was worse than the smell of thousands of maggot-ridden corpses left to ferment under the sun for forty-five days.

The smell of gasoline was completely overpowered.

They wanted to leave the cave, but they couldn’t.

These spiders were remarkably intelligent. Unable to approach the group directly, they had spun an inescapable web around the cave entrance. To go out now would be to walk right into their trap.

Jiang Si knew the spiders would leave during the day, but she feigned ignorance and asked Qin Shen, "When will they leave? During the day?"

Qin Shen nodded. "Yes."

Lu Zhifeng immediately voiced his concern: "But the temperature during the day is too high for us to go out. What happens if the spiders just come back again tomorrow night?"

Qin Shen looked back at the pillbugs. "We can use them to draw the spiders away."

With dawning comprehension, the group looked back at the stinking pillbugs, which suddenly seemed far more tolerable.

Having run for so long, everyone was exhausted. They sat down to rest. Besides, even if they managed to get water, it was too late to return home now.

Jiang Si took food from her pack and distributed it to her family.

Food was precious, so Lu Zhifeng and Niu Niu would never dream of mooching off others; they had brought their own flatbreads, corn buns, and rice crisps.

Qin Shen sat motionless. Jiang Si suddenly remembered that the small bundle he used to wear at his waist had come off while he was fighting the venomous snakes.

It had probably contained his food and water.

Jiang Si took two boiled potatoes, an egg, and a piece of dried meat from her bag, poured a cup of warm water, and placed it all in front of him. "Here, have something to eat."

’Qin Shen saved Shen Baoying. He’s the family’s savior. He earned this, and he should take it.’

Qin Shen nodded. "Thank you." With reserved politeness, he picked up a potato and began to eat.

His refined, scholarly way of eating made it difficult to associate him with the word "killer."

Jiang Linhai inquired casually, "Xiao Shen, you’re so skilled. What did you do before all this?"

Jiang Si’s eyes flickered up. Qin Shen glanced at her, the corners of his lips curling into a slight smile. "I was a doctor."

A doctor!

Jiang Si was stunned speechless.

’Does that mean he knew about the serum I injected him with all along?’ 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Jiang Si’s entire family froze. Had he discovered that she’d injected him with a serum?

’Even if he is a doctor, there was no label on the vial. He couldn’t have possibly identified it just by its appearance and smell, right?’

’What’s more, Jiang Si had deliberately thrown him off by saying it was an antibiotic and that he wouldn’t die if he was lucky.’

They exchanged glances, each seeing the same nervousness and guilt reflected in the others’ eyes.

’If Sisi’s pocket dimension were exposed, she could be captured and experimented on. Regardless of whether Qin Shen had noticed anything, they would have to be more careful from now on to protect her.’

The air suddenly fell silent. It was Lu Zhifeng who finally broke the eerie atmosphere, lavishing praise on Qin Shen. "A true talent! It doesn’t matter what kind of blade you’re holding, you’re just as deadly with it!"

Jiang Linhai quickly chimed in. "Exactly! Your skills are amazing. I thought for sure you were a professional martial arts coach, Xiao Shen! But it turns out you’re a doctor!"

"Mm."

Qin Shen only glanced at her, but there was nothing unusual in his gaze. He was just an unflappable person by nature.

Jiang Si relaxed slightly. Seeing that the pillbugs behind them had uncoiled and were squirming about again now that the perceived threat was gone, the group started up a new discussion. "Pillbugs this big... are they mutants, or is this some kind of evolutionary throwback?"

Jiang Linhai said, "Those spiders outside are just the common brown spiders we have around here. They weren’t this big even in ancient times. They must have mutated from something!"

As Niu Niu relaxed and ate her candy, Lu Zhifeng also eased up, chuckling. "Maybe there were giant spiders like this in ancient times, and they just never left any fossils."

"Then how do you explain the mosquitoes and rats? It has to be mutation!"

Lu Zhifeng suddenly posed a terrifying question: "If all these animals are mutating... could people mutate, too?"

In an instant, the air seemed to freeze.

Many of those present understood the truth all too well.

People could, and did, mutate.

It was already happening, quietly, in corners of the world they knew nothing about.

The topic had suddenly become heavy. Jiang Si changed the subject, turning to Qin Shen. "How much farther is it to the water source?"

Qin Shen looked up, the firelight dancing in his deep eyes like swirling vortexes.

"Half an hour if we’re quick, an hour if we’re slow."

"That much farther?" Lu Zhifeng asked worriedly. "Will we run into any other dangers?"

Qin Shen seemed like a cold and unapproachable person, but when people initiated conversation with him, he answered without a trace of impatience.

’You could really tell he was a well-mannered person. Like a doctor.’

’But... his superhuman combat skills were just too strange.’

’Perhaps he was taken away as a child and trained as a spy. A doctor on the surface, but secretly ’Twilight’—a top-tier secret agent hunted by international organizations.’

Lost in her wild imagination, Jiang Si found her gaze lingering on his face a little too long.

So long, in fact, that Shen Baoying had to give her a gentle nudge to bring her back to her senses.

The group took turns resting through the night. Before dawn, the rapidly rising temperature had them all breaking out in a sweat, their hearts palpitating uncomfortably.

To prevent heatstroke, Jiang Si boiled a pot of herbal soup for everyone to cool them down.

Qin Shen drank his portion in one go and handed the plastic cup back to her.

Jiang Si took it back and said, "I need to change your dressing."

’As long as the wound doesn’t get infected, it only needs to be changed every three days.’

’But in this heat, keeping it covered for too long could make it fester.’

Qin Shen’s expression faltered for a moment before he shook his head in refusal. "I can change it myself."

Jiang Linhai, assuming he was just shy about having Jiang Si do it, stepped forward. "Your right hand is injured; it’ll be too awkward to change the dressing with your left. And since you were injured saving Bao Ying, please, let me do it for you!"

Qin Shen frowned, a rare look of resistance on his face. "Really, there’s no need!"