Community Traversal: I Have a Daily Rescue Kit

33: Contrast

The ethereal and melodious singing voice drifted on the wind, like a clear mountain spring flowing through the heart, both soft and captivating.

It's so relaxing to listen to, it brings a sense of joy to your heart.

It's really wonderful.

But just then, information from the intelligence rescue package suddenly popped into Su Chen's mind: beautiful and attractive creatures are often extremely dangerous...

Isn't this singing the most direct form of "attraction"?

His first instinct was to turn around and leave, to get as far away from the singing as possible.

But as soon as he lifted his foot, he abruptly stopped.

No.

He knew far too little about the Black Forest.

If we avoid it now, and then encounter a similar situation in the wild again, we still won't even know who the other person is. Wouldn't we die without knowing why?

Instead of running away now, we should seize this opportunity to figure out what we are facing.

This way, you can obtain useful intelligence and also gain more survival points at the end of the game.

Fortune favors the bold!

Su Chen's eyes darkened, and he looked in the direction from which the singing was coming—in the depths of the dense forest not far away, he could vaguely see a low wooden house, from which the singing was coming.

He moved slowly, hiding behind a thick old tree, his eyes fixed on the window of the wooden house, his fingers already touching the hammer at his waist.

He carefully scanned the area around the cabin, as if he had mentally prepared himself, and nodded.

Then, he reached for his backpack.

But what he pulled out wasn't a weapon, but a palm-sized black drone from the side pocket of his backpack. He quickly pressed a few buttons on the remote control.

buzzing-

The drone's propellers spun rapidly as it flew steadily toward the cabin.

The live feed from the drone immediately appeared on the remote control screen.

"Thank goodness I had the foresight to bring this guy along!"

Su Chen's lips curled slightly. This drone didn't need a network; it supported direct local connection, making it an absolute reconnaissance marvel in this desolate wilderness.

He maneuvered the drone like a nimble black swift, silently gliding through the woods and hovering precisely outside the cabin window.

Su Chen stared down at the 2K high-definition screen in his hand. The 4K camera on the drone captured the interior of the wooden house clearly, even showing the dust accumulated in the corners of the walls.

On the screen, a woman in a pure white dress is sitting in front of the stove. She is slender, with long hair that reaches her waist, and her profile is so exquisite that she looks like she stepped out of a painting.

Her eyes were slightly lowered, a faint smile playing on her lips. She held a spoon in her hand, slowly stirring the contents of the pot. That alluring song was humming from her lips.

"Damn, this woman's appearance..." Su Chen muttered subconsciously. He was about to wonder how a woman like this could be in such a godforsaken place when his gaze suddenly fixed on the pot.

He frowned and zoomed in on the drone. The next second, his stomach churned, and a feeling of nausea rushed to his head.

What's stewing in the pot isn't some rare delicacy, it's clearly chunks of bloody human flesh!

Some of the pieces of meat still had bits of clothing fibers stuck to them, and as the woman stirred, blood bubbled and bubbled.

The woman in white seemed completely oblivious, her eyes even gleaming with greed as she stirred the food slowly and with relish, as if she were cooking some exquisite delicacy.

She stirred it a few times, put down her spoon, and got up to walk to the table next to her. The table was piled with a jumble of things: an old radio, a dead smartphone, and several empty hiking water bottles.

Su Chen's eyes narrowed, and he immediately understood. These things were clearly looted from other explorers who had entered the Black Forest!

Could it be... that all those people who went missing before were killed by this woman?

The moment that thought crossed your mind, the woman on the screen did something even more horrifying.

She stretched out her slender, pale fingers and curiously poked at the radio's buttons. As her fingertips traced the surface of the radio, Su Chen suddenly noticed a layer of extremely fine downy hair covering her cheeks. These hairs weren't still; they were subtly wriggling, like the antennae of some kind of insect!

Even more terrifying, she seemed particularly interested in these modern objects, and slowly stuck out a dark red tongue—what kind of human tongue was that?

It's clearly a tentacle covered in slime!

The tip of its tongue, still with tiny forks, licked the phone screen with a "smack," leaving a pool of shiny, disgusting slime.

"This isn't even human!"

Su Chen gasped; the contrast was too great. He found it hard to accept that someone with such a beautiful voice and such stunning looks was actually a monster in human skin!

He suppressed his fear and continued to operate the drone to investigate.

Soon, his gaze was drawn to a map hanging on the wall—it was a detailed map of the Black Forest! Several locations were marked on it in red, which looked like some kind of stronghold or danger zone.

I've searched high and low, but I can't find it anywhere!

This map is absolutely priceless in the Black Forest.

Su Chen was overjoyed and was about to control the drone to zoom in on the map for a closer look when the woman in white on the screen suddenly stopped all her movements and turned her head sharply!

Her eyes weren't human pupils at all, but a pair of pitch-black vertical pupils, as cold and piercing as a snake, staring straight at the direction of the drone!

The next second, her originally delicate mouth suddenly opened wide, the corners of her mouth splitting all the way to her ears, revealing a mouthful of dense, gleaming, sharp fangs that sent chills down one's spine!

It was discovered!

Su Chen reacted extremely quickly, without having time to think or care about the drone. He grabbed the remote control and turned to run desperately into the depths of the dense forest!

"boom!"

A sudden explosion came from behind.

The drones are finished!

Unbeknownst to Su Chen, countless dark red tentacles were shooting out of the wooden house, chasing after him like madmen. The tentacles were tipped with barbs, and wherever they swept past, trees were snapped in half, branches and leaves flying everywhere!

He felt like he was being pricked with needles in his back!

The sound behind him grew closer and closer. Su Chen turned around and glanced back quickly, feeling as if his scalp was about to explode!

The tentacles were densely packed and moved at an alarming speed, faster than he could run at full speed, getting closer and closer to his back!

"Hiss! What kind of monster is this?!"

Keep in mind that with his current physique, he can run at full speed like a cheetah!

But these tentacles are even faster!

Su Chen cursed as he charged forward with all his might.

At that moment, he only regretted not bringing enough supplies. Even a machete would have been helpful.

The red-tasseled spear on his back was completely useless, and the other equipment was also of no use.

He dared not turn back and fight head-on, and could only use the dense trees in the dark forest to dodge.

Seeing a dense thicket of trees ahead, he suddenly made a sharp turn and darted behind a large tree.

"Smack!" A tentacle slammed hard against the tree trunk. But it seemed to have a life of its own, automatically tracking Su Chen's figure, making a sharp turn, then passing through another large tree, and turning again to chase after him.

The tentacles continued their relentless pursuit, forcing Su Chen to run in circles through the woods, using the trees to block their attacks. Several times, the tentacles grazed past his body, making his heart leap into his throat.

Eventually, all of these long tentacles were tangled up by the dense trees and vines, and tied to the thick tree stump, unable to move for a while.

Upon seeing this, Su Chen bent over and gasped for breath. But he dared not relax, his mind racing as he reached into his backpack.

Soon, he found a small bottle—it was the alcohol lamp he had brought with him, filled with high-concentration alcohol.

He used to be particular about his lifestyle. Even when camping in the wild, he liked to use an alcohol lamp to heat some milk and cook some simple meals.

I used to even enjoy brewing tea, but I never imagined it would come in handy today!

Su Chen's eyes lit up, and he immediately had an idea. As he continued running, he pulled out an alcohol lamp, unscrewed the cap, and poured the alcohol inside at the tentacles that were chasing him the closest.

He then took out a lighter and held it to the spilled alcohol on the ground.

"call--"

Flames erupted instantly, burning fiercely along the trail of alcohol towards those dark red tentacles!

The moment the tentacles touched the flames, they sizzled and burned, filling the air with a pungent, burnt smell.

The tentacles seemed to have encountered a natural enemy, twisting and twitching wildly before rapidly retracting back towards the cabin, never daring to pursue them again.

Seeing this, Su Chen finally breathed a sigh of relief, leaning against a nearby tree and panting heavily. He looked down at the empty alcohol lamp in his hand, and his lips twitched involuntarily.

Unexpectedly, my habit of pursuing a refined lifestyle actually saved my life at a critical moment.