Chapter 101: The Road of Exile, Part 43

The stones and rocks in the desert were nearly impossible to climb; they stood almost perfectly vertical, offering few footholds. In the end, the group resorted to forming a human pyramid—the bearded man stood atop the vehicle, Lin Yuan balanced on his shoulders, and Shi Xianyu climbed onto Lin Yuan’s, finally managing to reach the top of the rock layer.

The summit was limited in size and uneven, resembling the underside of a pot. Standing so high up all of a sudden, Shi Xianyu felt a bit dizzy. She steadied herself, scanning the surroundings in search of the bug monster’s hiding place, but all she could see on the sandy surface were crisscrossing ridges and depressions—nowhere that hinted at the creature’s lair.

Unexpectedly, amidst the dull gray and yellow landscape, she spotted a hint of green.

Stunned, Shi Xianyu raised the binoculars hanging from her neck and took a careful look—it was unmistakably green. In the distance lay a lake, emerald as jade, surrounded by dense woods, forming a truly spectacular oasis.

“Sister Ye, there’s an oasis over there!” Shi Xianyu called down to her companions.

“Oasis?” Ye Liuyun looked in the direction Shi Xianyu indicated. “I can’t see it. Where?”

Radish asked, “Could it be a mirage?”

Shi Xianyu scrutinized the scene again. “I don’t think so… Maybe the oasis is at a lower elevation, so you can’t see it from down there.”

The bearded man said, “It’s not unusual for there to be an oasis here. The bug monster is huge—it must need water. If there’s an oasis nearby, it means there’s plenty of underground water, so the bug monster won’t die of thirst.”

Radish’s interest was piqued. He rubbed his hands together and said, “If we could claim that oasis, recruit more people, we could build our own oasis base.”

Ye Liuyun shot him an irritated glance. “Let’s figure out how to stay alive first.”

She looked up and asked Shi Xianyu, “Little Fish, what’s this method you have in mind? What should we do?”

Shi Xianyu thought for a moment and replied seriously, “I can tell you, but you mustn’t be afraid.”

“Hah! Come on now, what could scare us?” Radish burst out laughing.

The bearded man chimed in, “Yeah, what could be more frightening than the bug monster?”

Shi Xianyu said, “Actually, I have a superpower.”

Radish: “???”

Bearded man: “???”

Shi Xianyu opened her mustard seed space at the top of the rock layer, explaining as she did so, “My superpower is that I can open a special space, and inside, I’ve stored a lot of water…”

Due to the height, Ye Liuyun and Lin Yuan, down below, couldn’t see the space Shi Xianyu opened above. All they saw was her figure disappear for a moment, then reappear, now holding a large plastic barrel filled with pure water.

Radish said blankly, “So? You’re going to drown the bug monster with water?”

Ye Liuyun smacked his head, annoyed. “You sure have some wild ideas!”

Shi Xianyu explained, “Here’s the plan—I have a bag of dried mushrooms. If eaten, they cause full-body paralysis and loss of sensation. But the bug monster is so big, the amount I have isn’t enough. So I thought, what if I soak the mushrooms in water and let the bug monster ingest them? These mushrooms start growing rapidly when exposed to water. If they manage to grow inside the bug monster, they’ll keep multiplying…”

People who’ve lived in the desert for years have only seen mushrooms in textbooks.

Ye Liuyun, Radish, and the bearded man were all astonished.

“But for them to grow… wouldn’t it take a long time?” Ye Liuyun asked hesitantly. “Even in the oasis plantation, the fastest crops take two weeks. Are we supposed to wait here for two weeks?”

“No, these mushrooms grow extremely fast,” Shi Xianyu recalled. “Just one night, really.”

In her memory, the white mushrooms were formidable—given enough moisture and darkness, they’d grow wildly. But… after so long, would they still be viable? Would they suffocate inside the bug monster’s belly? Would digestive fluids corrode them? She wasn’t certain about any of it.

Shi Xianyu pressed her lips together and said, “Let’s try it. If it doesn’t work, we’ll think of something else.”

But did they really have any other options?

It seemed now that desperate measures were all they had.

“Be careful.” Lin Yuan frowned from below, watching her. She was so high up, it made him anxious just to look.

Shi Xianyu nodded, unscrewed the barrel’s lid, stuffed a white mushroom inside, tightened the cap, tipped the barrel on its side, found the slope, adjusted its position, and gave it a hard push—

The water barrel sped down the slope!

With sand covering the path, there was no risk of it cracking open. She watched as the barrel rolled farther and farther, slowing as it went, and then that familiar vibration returned.

This time, from her high vantage point, she could see clearly: a curved ridge rose from the sand, something moving rapidly toward the rolling barrel!

The closer it got to the surface, the higher the rising sand dune, until finally it erupted from the earth!

Sand flew everywhere as the enormous bug monster thrust out its terrifying head—featureless, with no eyes, nose, or ears, only a gaping maw lined with jagged teeth, like a black abyss!

That mouth zeroed in on the barrel’s location and lunged forward, swallowing it whole—sand and all!

Despite the distance, Shi Xianyu’s heart pounded as if the bug monster had swallowed not the barrel, but herself.

She drew a quiet breath, fighting to steady her trembling hands, and repeated the process, pulling barrel after barrel of water from her space, each with a mushroom inside, pushing them down the rocky slope.

The bug monster devoured barrel after barrel, like an insatiable abyss.

Only when Shi Xianyu grew weary, when her strength failed and the mushrooms were all used up, did the bug monster show no sign of being affected.

Ye Liuyun, seeing Shi Xianyu motionless above for some time, finally called up, “Are you out of water?”

“There’s still water…” Shi Xianyu panted, calling down, “It’s the mushrooms that are gone. Let’s wait. There should be a change tonight.”

Lin Yuan looked up at her, worry creasing his brow. “Do you want to come down and rest?”

“It wasn’t easy for you to get me up here. I’ll stay put,” Shi Xianyu adjusted her position and slowly sat down, eyes fixed on the hollow in the sand where the bug monster had last disappeared.

“Later tonight…I’ll try pushing another barrel down. There should be some change,” she murmured.

Everyone looked at each other; from here on, everything was in the hands of time.

The sun sank completely beneath the horizon, night enveloping the land.

Every night after a sandstorm ended was especially clear and tranquil.

Shi Xianyu waited so long she was nearly drifting off, but she couldn’t sleep yet. She forced herself awake, debating whether to hurl another barrel now, when suddenly the ground began to tremble.

Everyone’s heart leapt; they tensed, searching for the source of the vibration!

Shi Xianyu, too, anxiously scanned the darkness, eager for the outcome.

She had thrown so many mushrooms, flooded the bug monster’s body with water—fungal mycelium could proliferate in spiders and scorpions, so surely it could grow inside the bug monster!

Boom!

On a distant sand dune, the Kros bug monster burst forth like a building rising from the earth, emerging from beneath the sand—its entire head covered in white threads!