Chapter 10 Aftermath

Having confirmed that an aerial route was impossible, the five entered the dense forest beside the beach.

Tianma Xingkong led the way, with Feichai Shu close behind, followed by Honghu, Feng Bujue, and Young Master Atobe. The group hacked and slashed their way forward, slowly advancing towards the heart of the island.

The first step of the main quest was time-limited, which was a good thing. From this, they could deduce that the "Shrine of Faith" was not too far from the players' starting point, at least in theory...they should be able to reach it within three hours.

"Is it possible...that the shrine is near the coastline? Maybe we don't need to go deep into the island at all, and we can find it just by walking along the beach," Young Master Atobe suddenly wondered, asking aloud after they had walked for a while.

"It's possible," Feng Bujue replied with a smile, "But...if that's the case, a new problem will arise..." He turned his head and said, "When we're on the beach, should we go left or right?"

"Um..." Atobe was a little confused by the question. After hesitating for two seconds, he replied, "Are you just being difficult?"

"No," Honghu interjected before Feng Bujue could answer, "Brother Feng is right. There's no real difference between going left, right, or into the island." He paused, scratching his neck, "We don't have a map, and we haven't received any clues. Wherever we go is just a matter of luck."

Jue-ge picked up the thread, "However, based on experience and common sense, the probability of the shrine being inland is higher than it being by the sea." He pointed to Tianma Xingkong in front of them, "Little Ma's first reaction was also to go inland, so...I also..." His words stopped abruptly.

The next second, Feng Bujue's expression changed, and he shouted, "Don't move!"

The others didn't know who he was talking to, and all four stopped at once.

"Honghu, don't move," Feng Bujue added in a firm, steady voice.

"What's wrong?" Honghu responded nervously. At that moment, he was like a statue, his body almost completely still, with only his lips moving to speak.

"There's something on the back of your neck," Feng Bujue said as he stepped forward and stood behind Honghu.

The other three, knowing it didn't concern them, breathed a sigh of relief and turned their attention to the scene.

"Hmm...that's strange..." Feng Bujue paused, just as he was about to reach out.

"What is it?" Honghu remained calm. By now, he realized there was a reason his neck was itchy.

"It should be a leech..." Feng Bujue replied.

"Judging by your tone...it's not an ordinary leech," Honghu said.

"No," Feng Bujue said, "Because I can't see it..."

"What do you mean?" Honghu asked.

"I can see the wound on your neck wriggling and oozing blood..." Feng Bujue replied, "But I can't see what's sucking your blood..." He moved closer, "I'm just guessing it's a leech...based on the shape of the wound."

"A transparent leech?" Feichai Shu interjected.

"No...it's definitely not transparent..." Honghu refuted himself, "If the leech were transparent, then when my blood entered its body, it would reveal its outline."

"And what we have here has sucked in blood, but hasn't become visible," Feng Bujue continued Honghu's thought, "Well...let's call it a ghost leech for now."

"Is this the time to be naming things?" Honghu responded quickly.

Clearly, Honghu was getting anxious. That's how people are; some things don't feel special when you don't know them, but once you do...it's like thorns in your back and fish bones in your throat.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of it," Feng Bujue said, tilting his head and sniffing the back of Honghu's neck. "Hmm, a slightly fishy smell, definitely a leech."

"Hey...what are you doing...are you planning to eat it or something?" Atobe glanced askance at Jue-ge. To be honest, if Feng Bujue really ate the "ghost leech," Atobe wouldn't be too surprised.

"Just reconfirming," Jue-ge replied, "What if it's something else?" As he spoke, he took out the [Compound Anti-Gravity Catapult] from his bag. "With leeches...it's not appropriate to forcibly remove them. If their mouthparts break off under the skin, it could cause an infection."

Buzzing...

As the sound of the catapult starting up rang out, the wound on the back of Honghu's neck loosened, and then blood flowed down his skin, indicating that the leech had been removed from his neck.

"Using this kind of gravity device to remove it avoids problems like that," Feng Bujue said, holding up the catapult and glancing at Honghu's wound. "Hmm...judging from your wound, this one was quite large. Curled up, it would be a lump, but stretched out, it could be ten centimeters long."

"Hoo...I was careless," Honghu breathed a sigh of relief, quickly covering the wound with his hand to stop the bleeding. "I just felt a little itchy and didn't pay attention to my survival points." He paused for two seconds. "Fortunately...the loss wasn't too great, only 7% in total...I just don't know how long this thing has been attached to me."

"The problem hasn't been solved yet," Feng Bujue muttered with a strange expression, "I've been thinking about it...since this leech can fully interact with us on a physical level, calling it a 'ghost' doesn't seem accurate."

"Are you still hung up on the name?" Atobe said, "It's not important, is it?"

"He's not hung up on the name," Honghu adjusted his glasses and continued, "He's hung up on the nature of the creature." He thought for a few seconds and offered a hypothesis, "Could it be...that it changes the color of its skin according to the surrounding environment?"

"A chameleon?" Tianma Xingkong, who had been listening for a long time, finally interjected.

"Much more powerful than a chameleon (the scientific name for chameleon)," Feng Bujue replied, raising his arm and aiming the catapult at a nearby tree trunk (the compound catapult can activate both suction and illumination functions at the same time). "Look, there should be a leech stuck to the front of my catapult now, but it's in the beam of light, and there's no shadow of it on the tree trunk. This means...it's either distorting the surrounding light or directly interfering with our vision."

"That's not surprising," Honghu replied, "The background of this script is clearly in the main universe of the game, which means...a magical setting. Therefore, it's normal for creatures to appear that cannot be explained by common sense."

"Hmm..." Feng Bujue pondered for a moment and asked, "Feichai Shu, can you see this leech?"

"No, I can't," Feichai Shu replied immediately.

"Can't see it under the light, can't see it with sunglasses on..." Feng Bujue said, then looked up at Honghu, "Doesn't show up when attached to a surface at thirty-seven degrees Celsius, doesn't show up at a normal temperature of fifteen degrees..." He added, "Does anyone have a device or skill that can emit infrared light?"

"You really ask for a lot," Honghu complained, but his hand had already reached into his bag and started rummaging. "You have to make this invisible thing reveal itself? It's just a leech; we've already taken it off, just throw it aside, right? Wasting time on such a small matter might become a hidden danger later."

After complaining, he took out the item. Honghu held up an egg-shaped metal object, pressed the switch, and the object immediately unfolded, emitting a sheet of light.

In an instant, everything around them was covered in infrared radiation.

"Holy crap!" In that second, everyone except Jue-ge experienced a sudden spike in fear.

Under the infrared light, the players finally saw the leech, and...incidentally, they also saw thousands upon thousands of its kind.

At that moment, the players were surrounded by an ocean of invisible leeches...the canopy above their heads, the mud under their feet, the tree trunks beside them, and the grass and rocks...almost everywhere was crawling with these creatures, including the five of them. Many had already attached themselves to their clothes.

"Fortunately, our clothing is relatively tight, and there isn't much exposed skin," Feng Bujue said calmly, "And these leeches move very slowly; it takes them a long time to wriggle even a little distance." He looked at Honghu. "As for you, Brother Glasses, it seems you're out of luck..." He raised the catapult in his hand and gently shook the leech that was being levitated. "This one...most likely fell from a branch and landed right on the back of your neck."

"Why are you still talking so casually and making jokes?" Atobe looked at the things on his body and was nearly going crazy. He didn't dare to slap them off, so he could only shout in a panic, "What do we do now?"

"There's no need to do anything special..." Feng Bujue casually flicked the leech on the catapult away, then looked around and said, "Judging by the density...there's no need to rush to clean off the ones that have already attached to us; we'll just get more attached after a few steps." He shrugged. "Let's just keep moving forward, and we can clean ourselves off when we get to a place without leeches."

"Hey...what if the forest ahead is like this too? What if all the forests on this island are covered in these creatures?" Atobe asked.

"Then we can consider...how to turn these invisible leeches into emergency food," Feng Bujue said, tilting his head.

"Anyway...let's just move quickly," Tianma Xingkong's face had turned very ugly. "I have trypophobia..." It seemed even heroes had their fears.

"Okay, let's keep moving forward then," Feng Bujue replied in a light tone.

Honghu took a deep breath and shook his head, "Brother Feng, there's one thing I have to admire about you...you really are incredibly resilient mentally."

"Yeah, how can a normal person be so nonchalant after knowing that this is the situation around them..." Atobe responded.

"Heh..." Feng Bujue smiled playfully, "If you're really that scared, why don't you sing a little tune to distract yourself? Come on, sing with me..." He opened his mouth and sang, "Little Ma goes west, leads Feichai Shu, followed by three idiots."

"Hey! You even cursed yourself to make it rhyme!"