This Damned Thirst for Survival
chapter-45

In this moment, Jiang Luo was reassured – the blood of the female Venomtail scorpion was in hand.

The time is coming up to twenty-five minutes.

Jiang Luo deliberately counted the times faster, in case the subjective time was slower than the real time.

He’d better get away from Chi You in five minutes.

Jiang Luo is half out of the pool, the sticky blood slowly flowing through his body. Probably because the blood of the female scorpion has the effect of holding the soul in place, the evil spirit’s form is as solid as it has ever been, as if it already had a body.

In contrast, the sense of danger brought by the evil spirits grows with it.

The evil spirit bent down, Jiang Luo leaned back even more, and his waist hurt from the sharp stones, causing his foot to slide down almost uncontrollably as he stepped on the evil spirit’s waist and stomach.

How do I get out of Chi You?

Jiang Luo calmed himself down and tried to think of a workable solution as soon as possible.

The dark-haired young man’s lips were pursed, his black hair spreading ghostly, his whole body tensed into a beautiful arc.

Jiang Luo has only one golden rune on his entire body that can attack the evil spirit.

This golden rune can only be transformed into a dagger and, at most, into a mouse.

Damn.

One can only think of a way to trick the evil spirits.

The evil spirit’s attention had to be diverted from his theft of the female poison tail scorpion’s blood.

He must not let the evil spirits see his eagerness, must not let them know that he wants to save him, otherwise they will be so bad and cruel that Jiang Luo will miss the time to save Lu Youyi like a cat playing with a mouse.

“A lost bride?” The dark-haired young man’s posture was undermined, but the corners of his mouth tugged up in mockery, and he looked at the evil spirit as if he were some kind of fool, “No. Don’t you see that I’m here for you?”

Chi You raised an eyebrow and said with a low smile, “Looking for me?”

“Yes, it’s for you,” Jiang Luo looked lazily at Chi You, “to see why the famous Chi You has to play a god in such a small Shen Tucun.”

There was pure charming malice in the dark-haired youth’s smile, “By the way, let’s see how we can make this divine male, flee with his tail between his legs like a dog.”

Jiang Luo’s current appearance has a deliberate appeal. It was as if a surly blooming flower had blossomed out of the mud, emitting an extremely strong fragrance. The evil demon’s attention was drawn to his look, and he bowed his head, still smiling, and said gracefully, “Only looking at the current situation, Jiang students are the ones who look more like dogs that need to wag their tails at me.”

Jiang Luo’s eyes flickered and his face flashed with disgust.

The more unnerving he was, the more pleasurable the evil spirit really was. Chi You’s laughter rang out from low to high and only seemed eerie in the cave.

The water shakes and Jiang Luo catches a glimpse of a huge ghostly pattern behind the evil spirit.

Chi You’s body is undoubtedly as good as his face, and the gods seem to have given him a few favours in the creation of man. He dresses tall, with almost perfect proportions, and when he undresses, his body is covered with firm, not overly muscular bodies, each inch of which rises and falls like the rhythm of a piece of music, a beautiful sight.

Even if overly pale, even vaguely green, it only adds a few more moments of strange, sickly beauty to him.

At this point, a twisted ghostly pattern spreads across almost the entire spine of Chi You’s back.

The ugly, dangerous ghostly markings on the pale, firm spine send chills down the spine, turning even Chi You’s graceful, handsome face into a monster-like oddity, as if covered in a layer of magic.

But after the first terrifying glance, it was surprisingly difficult to look away. The more I looked at it, the more panicked I became, and the more panicked I became, the more I couldn’t control my eyes, as if my soul was going to be pulled out by this ghostly pattern and swallowed into my belly.

Jiang Luo forces his gaze back.

Jiang Luo had stepped on Chi You’s thigh, and he had to use the force of the evil spirit to keep himself from sliding into the pool.

In the original text, there was no mention of the ghostly mark on Chi You at all in what he had read.

In the early part of the original book, the three moles on Chi You’s side are written about, and there are thousands of words describing Chi You’s looks, figure, and wealth, how gentle and friendly Chi You is, and how many followers …… she has, and even the useless Chi You once saved a few feral cats. A few birds were written about, but nothing really useful.

This ghost tattoo, what is it again.

Jiang Luo’s brain hurts.

Chi You said ambiguously, “Maybe if you wag your tail, I’ll be willing to let you go.”

Jiang Luo snorted, he knew Chi You, if he really admitted defeat, he would only be killed by the evil spirits who found it boring in the next second.

He swept the end of his eyes provocatively over the evil spirit’s face, “I am in your hands now, so of course you can say whatever you want. Making me whisper? You might as well just kill me.”

The tone of his voice was firm and his expression unyielding, as if even if he were to die in the next instant, he would not be the dog wagging its tail in the mouth of the evil spirit.

It easily arouses the desire for conquest in the next person.

The evil spirit rubbed his wrist, the thought of seeing the dark-haired youth’s heartfelt admission of defeat rising suddenly, the dry wood burning as swiftly and passionately as the fire. He laughed silently; if the dark-haired youth had really flattered him just to stay alive, he would have found it meaningless.

And now, his dull and uninteresting mood fluctuated, his long-lost desire to conquer stirred and wrapped in a strong sense of interest.

The way the dark-haired young man was so defiant and daring in the face of death, I must say, made Chi You even more impatient to crush the dark-haired young man’s upright personality.

When the evil spirit was not looking, Jiang Luo built up his strength and raised his upper body violently, lunged at the evil spirit’s ear and bit it hard.

Dripping wet, he said grimly in the evil spirit’s ear, “If you won’t kill me this time, then wait until I kill you. See whether I become your dog or you become an obedient dog in my hands.”

The evil spirit allowed him to bite off a piece of flesh from his ear, and the flesh turned into a black mist as it detached from the evil spirit’s body. The evil ghost slowly arched his back, his upper body pressed against the dark-haired youth, and smothered a laugh. The nerves of warlike excitement were completely ignited, and the ghostly patterns on the evil ghost’s back trembled as the spine trembled, as if it had come to life with all the excitement.

There is no one, like Jiang Luo, whose every word, every look and expression makes the evil spirits so pleasant that their flesh and blood boils.

Almost thirty minutes to go.

Jiang Luo’s breathing heaved unnoticed and he closed his eyes, if this didn’t work, he would have to break out violently.

Instead, the evil spirit suddenly let go of him.

Jiang Luo opened his eyes and Chi You slowly backed away with a smile on his face.

Milky white blood against the waist and belly of the evil spirit. The female poison tail scorpion’s blood is not water after all, and the evil spirit’s waist and belly are still left with a blurred half-shoe mark.

“You have one hour,” the evil spirit smiled idly, retreating all the way to the other side of the pool, where he sat down calmly, “and in one hour, if you are caught by me, then ……”

His pale fingertips tapped the wall of the pool and his smile deepened, “Though I can’t let go, then I’ll have to kill you too.”

The evil spirit plays a little game with his prey.

The prey is given one hour to escape and if, after one hour, the prey does not succeed in escaping from the evil spirit, the game will end with the death of the prey.

Jiang Luo, the prey, does not hesitate to roll out of the pool and onto the shore, he looks back deeply at the evil spirit and turns away. Calmly, without a moment’s surprise or hesitation, he had disappeared into thin air.

The footsteps moved away and the evil spirit looked into the unoccupied cave, closing his eyes gently as he resumed humming in a good mood, his fingers tapping on the stone wall falling once a second, a countdown before death.

While his eyes were closed, a tiny golden mouse slipped in silently, dragging the god-duke’s black robe, which had been thrown at the edge of the cave, gently away through the gap.

Jiang Luo did not leave.

He hid himself near the pond, hiding his form as he saw the man in red escorting the dead ghost down the road ahead.

The man in red did not notice Jiang Luo as he grabbed Teng Bi and walked into the cave, “Master, I have brought Teng Bi back.”

The dead ghost was a miserable figure, bathed in blood, already looking like a lifeless dead man, and it was only thanks to the man in red that he was dragged into the cave.

The man in red throws Teng Bi unceremoniously to the ground, where he falls to the floor, his ragged breaths standing out in the quiet of the cave, his chipped fingers moving, still struggling to hold his greatsword.

The man in red kicked his knife aside and said in a cold voice, ” Teng Bi has got mixed up with two humans and he wants to betray his master.”

Aren’t the dead ghost and the man in red the right and left guardians of the idol? Why do they call Chi You their master?

Jiang Luo stares.

Chi You, however, was in a good mood, so good that even at this moment, his words came out with a smile on his face, ” Teng Bi , is it true what Hua Beaver said?”

The dead ghost coughed up a mouthful of blood and said, “My name is Dead Ghost, not Teng Bi.”

Chi You : “Hmm?”

The ice dregs fell out of Flower Beaver’s tone, “He’s even forgotten who he is.”

“Yes?” The evil spirit spoke with scarcity, ” Teng Bi , come here.”

Instead, the dead ghost gathered up his last strength and sprinted violently in the direction where the big knife had been kicked away. But he was so overdrawn that his strength was through the roof and his every move was so slow that a child could have knocked him down, and before he could take a step he was kicked against the stone wall of the cave by the Flower Beaver.

The dead ghost fell from the stone wall to the corner and was completely motionless.

But Beaver and Chi You had calm expressions, and Beaver put Teng Bi behind him and said, “Master, the idol is still in the hole in the ground, but I don’t know which piece it has run to.”

Chi You : “Hmm.”

Teng Bi and I didn’t expect the idol to become self-aware. After it became self-aware, it longed to become a living idol and kept driving us to find sacrifices for it. Since you had not yet come to Shen Tucun, Teng Bi and I felt that the stronger the idol was, the more suitable it would be to become your new body, so we did not reveal our identities and became the right and left guardians of the idol, following its orders to help it grow.”

Chi You said without a ripple in his voice, “Go on.”

While he was so calm, beads of sweat slipped from Hua Beaver’s temples as he whispered, “However, we raised an evil god. After the idol’s self-awareness became stronger, it was able to compel the villagers to come and worship it on its own, and by the time we found out, it was on the verge of coming to life.”

He paused and said more carefully, “Only one last sacrifice is missing before it will give birth to a soul of its own.”

Chi You chuckled softly, “So that’s why you informed me to come and asked me to pose as the Godfather?”

The flower beaver immediately bowed its head and said, “Master, we know we are wrong.”

Chi You said wistfully, “I show you a stone statue and you all make mistakes, and I end up having to step in and choose a sacrifice that won’t bring it back to life. Flower Beaver, all these years of good times have relaxed you.”

The Beaver didn’t say anything, but his hands were shaking slightly. As if remembering something, Chi You suddenly smothered a laugh, “Know why I chose that sacrifice?”

The beaver was secretly relieved, “Why?”

Jiang Luo replied for Chi You: “Because I am a man and my eight characters do not contain yin.

His blood was used, to no avail.

The evil spirit did not explain, and his muffled laughter rang out in a solitary voice. The beaver misunderstood something and he said thoughtfully, “Don’t worry master, I will kill the human and not make her a sacrifice to help bring the idol back to life.”

Chi You raised an eyebrow, “You’re going to kill him?”

The Flower Beaver nodded, her attitude not lacking in contempt, “A human is just a human, master, I will get rid of her as soon as possible.”

Chi You, however, said slowly, “Beaver, you’ll get bitten if you underestimate him.”

The beaver, however, clearly did not take Chi You’s words to heart; he has always been hateful and disdainful of humans, and after saying goodbye to Chi You, the beaver turned and left the cave.

Jiang Luo has left gingerly.

His face was expressionless as he flew back the way he had come.

By the time Jiang Luo found Lu Youyi, who was drenched in sweat, he was already unconscious, blue and covered in a layer of frost.

There was still time. Jiang Luo’s body was covered in the blood of the female Venomtail scorpion, which was so viscous that it was completely absorbed by his clothes.

Jiang Luo kept wiping Lu Youyi’s wound with the cloth on his body until the blood turned from black to bright red and he felt his heart hit the ground.

Lu Youyi’s face gradually returned to normal and he opened his eyes in a daze, saying weakly, “Jiang, Jiang Luo.”

Jiang Luo replied breathlessly, “You’re finally awake.”

Lu Youyi said confused, “I slept for a long time?”

“Fifty minutes,” Jiang Luo exhaled, scaring him, “ten more minutes and you won’t wake up.”

Lu Youyi was instantly revived by the shock, he sat up propped up on the ground and looked down at his wound, “What did I get bitten by?”

“Poison tail scorpions,” Jiang Luo joked, “Amazing Lu Youyi, to be bitten by a poison tail scorpion and still survive, you’re really lucky.”

Lu Youyi took a breath of cold air backwards, only to choke on his own saliva and cough violently, “Damn it’s a poison tail scorpion cough cough!”

Jiang Luo patted him perfunctorily on the back and when he had stopped, asked, “Do you remember where you and the dead ghost fell from?”

Lu Youyi nods his head.

Jiang Luo said, “Come on, I’ll get you out of there, you’re not fit to stay underground in your current state, it’s best to find a hospital and check for any toxin residue.”

Lu Youyi said somewhat hesitantly, “What about you …… and dead ghosts.”

Jiang Luo smiled, inexplicably cold: “I’ll do everything that’s left.”

Lu Youyi had just been detoxified and his limbs were still weak, so Jiang Luo carried him to the ground on Yin Hu’s back. There were people waiting on the ground, Wen Renlian and Ge Zhu pulled Lu Youyi up and Kuang Zheng picked him up and prepared to go to the staff.

Jiang Luo looked at the group fully equipped as if they were planning to go down to the cave and raised an eyebrow, “Is this an all out attack?”

Ge Zhu breathed a sigh of relief, “Now that you’re back, there’s no need to strike.”

Jiang Luo shook his head and reached out, “Give me a set of clothes and equipment.”

The crowd froze.

Zhuo Zhongqiu frowned and said, ” Jiang Luo, the first place or not is not so important, the most important thing is to get back safely.”

Jiang Luo smiled, he didn’t think that once he was out of the hole in the ground, Chi You wouldn’t be out looking for him an hour later.

No, it’s been less than an hour.

What’s more, Jiang Luo would not have been happy if he had been allowed to flee in disarray, even if he had escaped.

When he insisted, they gave him what he wanted. Luckily, Kuang Zheng was careful and before he received Wen Renlian’s thousand paper cranes and rushed to the mountain, he thought of what Jiang Luo was wearing and prepared three sets of clothes for them.

Jiang Luo took the stuff and was about to go down the hole when Zhuo Zhongqiu took a deep breath and made a split-second decision: “Wait, I’ll come with you.”

Wen Renlian said, “We’ll join you.”

Jiang Luo sat at the edge of the cave and waved his hand lazily, “I have a plan in mind. In an hour, if I don’t come back, you guys go back down and rescue me.”

He looked sideways at his companions and pressed two fingers in front of his lips, giving them a confident flying kiss, “Just wait.”

Having said that, he had jumped down the hole.

Sai Liaoer asked with a red face, “So what do we, what do we do?”

Wen Renlian smiled bitterly, “Since he has said so, let’s wait.”

Otherwise, if they went down there rashly, they would probably interrupt Jiang Luo’s plans and become a drag on him.

*

Underground.

Jiang Luo changed out of his clothes in a hidden corner.

The sticky, wet, ethnic clothes come off and the work trousers and hiking shoes are replaced. Jiang Luo holds a cigarette in his mouth and ties his belt, his stern side face glinting in the smoke.

He put the talisman paper away and was halfway through a cigarette when Jiang Luo rewrapped the black cloth around his right hand.

He glanced at the watch he had just put on.

Half an hour has passed.

Jiang Luo lifts his eyes, puts out his cigarette and looks into the darkness.

The moment of the hunt has begun.