The Informal Tomb Raiding Diary: She is the occupant of the tomb!-Chapter 120: Jungle

Beyond the beach is the forest, the island’s vegetation is dense, and surely no one visits this island regularly, allowing plants and animals to grow freely.

Chen Qinghan uses his sword to chop away the branches blocking the path, thick tree roots sprawling across the ground, carpeted with bryophytes, making any trace of footsteps particularly obvious.

From time to time, something jumps around us or swoops overhead, hidden by thick branches and leaves, making it difficult to see what exactly it is.

I’ve read some jungle adventure novels, featuring cannibal trees, man-eating ants, and human-devouring pythons.

In short, the exploration team is like a long-legged gourmet takeaway, personally rushing into the jungle to feed all sorts of animals.

I observe the surrounding plants, searching for those suspected to be cannibal trees and cannibal flowers.

Bi Shi noticed my actions and asked, "What are you looking for?"

I naturally replied, "Cannibal flowers."

To my surprise, Bi Shi responded with an "Oh" and pointed above, "Are you talking about that?"

Qinghan and I followed her direction and looked up, seeing two feet dangling in mid-air.

Besides the two feet, the rest of the body was engulfed by an oversized flower bud, it felt as if a flower had grown two feet.

But those feet wore shoes, so it couldn’t possibly be the flower’s feet, unless it grew feet and happened to pick up a pair of Adidas sneakers. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Due to the abundance of tall plants on the island, we tend to overlook the higher tree crowns, only focusing on shorter vegetation.

At most, we looked a foot above our heads to avoid accidentally hitting snakes coiled on the overarching branches.

The cannibal flower discovered by Bi Shi was different from what I had seen in videos or read about in books.

It grew on a very thick old tree, its girth would require about seven or eight people to encircle the trunk.

Trees like these are common in the forest, thus they hadn’t garnered my special attention.

Now, looking closely, I can see on its branches a super-sized flower bud.

The length of the flower bud could easily swallow someone who is 1.7 meters tall, so the person with their feet exposed must be taller than 1.75 meters.

Those feet remained motionless, likely indicating that person is dead, and next to this flower bud are several others, each with feet protruding outside.

Either they haven’t eaten anyone, or the people they consumed were too short.

"These plants aren’t found outside, probably native to the island. Should we cut one down to study it?" I suggested.

"Don’t disturb it, tread gently." Chen Qinghan whispered.

The flowers trembled slightly, as if breathing, as though they were drowsing after a meal.

The three of us stepped softly past the tree, as survivors hadn’t disturbed the flowers to rescue their companion’s corpse, nor did we need to bother those flowers.

We walked for about half an hour, but the jungle showed no sign of ending, and on the ground, we found a human head.

Indeed, there was a human head on the ground, buried among the fallen leaves, with no blood around it.

Chen Qinghan suddenly halted, retracting his leg previously stretched forward, appearing a bit strained.

Once he pulled out his leg, I saw his shoe smeared with black mud; the space ahead wasn’t a clearing but a marsh.

It was camouflaged with thick fallen leaves, making it indistinguishable as a swamp.

"Why hasn’t that person sunk completely?" I asked, puzzled at the human head.

In such a swamp, regardless of struggle, a body would gradually sink. Could it be that the swamp isn’t deep, with decaying mud less than a person’s height?

"Be careful and go around it, try not to make noise." Chen Qinghan advised.

I understood the need to go around and wondered what he meant by ’not making noise.’

Could there be creatures in the swamp that get awakened by noise?

Though my mind was filled with questions, I followed his instructions, picking up a tree branch to test the path bypassing the swamp.

As we rounded the side of the swamp, I inadvertently caught a glimpse of the side of the human head, only to find myself staring at its face.

We had rounded to the side, and should have seen its profile, so if our direction was correct, the face must have turned towards us.

I grabbed Qinghan’s arm, signaling him to look at the person, and after he did, he merely whispered for us to hurry.

Once we passed the swamp, I glanced back at the human head, still facing us directly.

It was as if he was like the periscope of a submarine, the lens constantly swiveling towards us.

This thought made me wonder if there might be something alive underneath controlling him.

Indeed, that person was over ten meters away from the swamp’s edge. If he accidentally stepped in, would he continue moving forward?

Moreover, if his companions discovered he’d stepped in, they could easily pull him out, unless they couldn’t, or were unable to.

"I wonder, when we catch up to them, will there be anyone left?" After walking for just half an hour, their team lost two people, not to mention anything hidden from our sight.

"We’re close, they’re just ahead." Qinghan said.

Qinghan was correct; there were people ahead. After walking another ten minutes or more, four cold, dark gun barrels were aimed at us.

Those holding guns certainly weren’t passengers from the cruise ship; seeing these armed men reaffirmed they weren’t tourists.

These four individuals wore jungle combat uniforms, not domestic versions, and they were foreigners.

Four foreigners emerged from behind large trees, surprising them more than us, seemingly not expecting anyone to appear.

Chen Qinghan greeted them in a foreign language, explaining that we were tourists from the cruise, unfortunately caught in a shipwreck and washed ashore.

Qinghan only had a sword, and Bi Shi and I held tree branches, clearly not resembling a regular army, dressed in casual wear; the foreigners lowered their guns with little suspicion.

They led us back to their camp; these four were sentries, with the camp just ahead.

It took a few more minutes to reach; upon arrival, I was slightly taken aback. It was a clearing in the jungle, with stone pillars and statues standing on the ground, battered by the elements yet still resilient.

This place had once been inhabited, though it was a long time ago.

The camp members wore the same clothing as the four sentries, most were armed, a unit composed entirely of adult males, equipped with weapons, certainly not regular civilians or an amateur expedition team.

These men appeared fatigued, with half asleep and the remainder dazed.

Seeing the four sentries return with us, they perked up somewhat, as a Big Beard stood up from a stone stool and walked towards us.

"Hello," the Big Beard spoke, surprisingly in Mandarin.

"Hello," Qinghan briefly greeted, and the sentries informed Big Beard of our situation as cruise ship passengers swept ashore by a shipwreck.

"We too, unfortunately, suffered great loss." Big Beard said, gesturing an invitation towards us.

We followed him to sit on a stone bench; their people formed a circle, with a bonfire burning in the center.

"This place is fraught with dangers." Big Beard remarked.