The Lost Tomb : Sea Of Sands

Chapter 180: Escape

I had experienced this kind of situation many times before, so Black Glasses had taught me a lot of tricks on how to deal with them. While in the jungle or dealing with something smaller than myself, the first thing to do was to protect the two most vulnerable points: the ankles and the neck. Protecting your neck in particular was one of the most important things to do, because that was one of the first places an aggressive animal would attack.

Since these things were so small, and tended to be more flexible than people, their attacks were more covert. As such, the first blow was often unavoidable. Dealing with this kind of thing was different from utilizing the eyelash skill, because the eyelash skill was meant to eliminate a conditioned reflex, while dealing with this required developing a series of complicated conditioned reflexes to protect the neck.

There were arteries on both sides of a person's neck, the throat was in front, and the brainstem was in the back. It could basically be said that the neck was the most defenseless part of a human's body. I didn't have Fatty's natural leopard neck [1], and Black Glasses said that the curve of my neck was more feminine than that of a woman. With his leg strength, he could directly break it with one kick, and if it was Poker-face, then he could directly kick my head right off.

I always felt that I had been a strong person since I was young, so I didn't understand what he was basing his judgment on. Either way, I couldn't defend myself using the strength of my neck. Fatty could crush walnuts with his chin, but if I tried, the walnuts would get stuck.

If my strength wasn't enough, then I could only rely on my body's movements. As soon as that thing wrapped around my shoulder, I grabbed my collar with both hands and yanked it forward until the back of my collar pressed against the back of my neck. Then, I immediately pulled my collar up until it was over my head.

The key to this action was to be quick and ruthless, and not give the thing attacking you a chance to grab on. If it did, you wouldn't be able to grab your collar, and would have to grab hold of your shirt at the pit of your stomach instead. In the end, it would end up stuck around your ears.

After lifting my collar up over my head, I immediately shrank my neck back, and pulled my shirt forward until my head was free. Then, I twisted my hands and grabbed the bottom of my shirt.

If you moved fast enough, you could instantly trap the thing attacking your neck in your clothes.

There wasn't anything else I could do. Undressing was something that could be practiced repeatedly, and I had earned a certain rank after working so hard. It was this thing's bad luck to have met me.

The moment it landed on my neck, I yanked my collar up and pulled my shirt over my head, trapping the thing in my clothes.

But I forgot that I was wearing a dress shirt. I hated the feeling of cheap cufflinks shaking when I walked, so I always fastened the cuffs. As a result, I found that when I had finished yanking my shirt off, my hands were stuck in the cuffs and couldn't be pulled out.

I shook the shirt a few times and rolled it up. I wasn't afraid of that thing finding my hands and biting me, but it was definitely very strong. It kept twisting around inside, making me worry about whether the shirt was strong enough.

I swung the two sleeves in tandem and used this thing as a meteor hammer, smashing it into the rocks. When I hit it the third time, the cuffs finally broke. I dropped the meteor hammer, picked up a nearby rock, and went over and smashed it against the dress shirt.

After beating it more than ten times, I suddenly found that it didn't feel right, and stopped. I quickly found that my clothes were flat.

I smashed it twice more to make sure there was really nothing in it, and then I lifted the shirt with my hand and found that it was really empty. There was a blood stain in the crevice of the rubble I had smashed. It looked like that thing had escaped into a crack in the rocks.

It was rather large, so it must have been difficult for it to get into such a small stone crevice.

When I smelled my shirt, it had a fishy odor. I didn't want to wear it again, but I didn't know how cold it would be at night, so I tied it around my waist.

I sheathed my Kukri, and then proceeded to jump a few times against the broken rocks, trying to squeeze them and force that thing out. The rocks didn't loosen, and all I ended up doing was making my legs hurt.

The rock slope I had picked was too good, and it looked like the internal structure was very stable.

But that thing was so big that it was unlikely to move in the crevice of the rocks unless it was a mollusk. It had to be hiding under the rocks.

I went back and looked at the fox, but it had almost been burned to ashes by this point. I was only injured in three places, which was definitely an improvement compared to the past.

I picked up some rocks and built a small stove-like thing around where the strange bei creature had burrowed into the crevice. Then, I brought all the charcoal and hay over and burned them for a while until the stones below were hot enough to fry eggs. I peed on the burning pile, stamped my feet to put it out instantly, and then added another layer of hay to the fire. As all the smoke was forced into the rock crevice, I noticed a large amount coming out of the cracks in the rocks below, making it look just like a hot spring.

It definitely wasn't my style or desire to be so ruthless, but I had let the root cause of a lot of trouble go unchecked before. This kind of evil thing was mostly human, and considering the fact that I had killed its fox, it may follow me all the way back. I didn't like the feeling of something plotting against me in the dark.

I stepped to the place where my previous cigarette had fallen after only a few puffs, and lit another one. Just as I was about to smoke, however, I saw a rock to the left of me start bulging. It looked like that thing was going to be forced out.

I didn't move, and just continued smoking. This was probably the last bit of compassion I would afford it. I won't plot against you in that place. I'll give you two meters— four or five seconds at the most—and if you can run, run. If you can't run, don't blame me for being rude.

While the rock was bulging and shaking, I unexpectedly noticed another spot in the distance where several more rocks started to bulge.

I frowned. There was only one of those things, so how could it move the rocks in two separate places?

Then, the gravel in three consecutive places on the other side all started to bulge.

Ah, fuck me, there are five of them.

It appeared the bei wasn't the only thing under this stone; there were a lot of other things as well.

No matter who the other party was, I didn't have the ability to do 1v5, so I had to completely give up my curiosity at this time. I turned around and ran all the way through the plant smoke from before. The smoke over there had almost dispersed, so I covered my nose and rushed over.

After leaving the fire, the temperature difference began to press in around me. I ran to the grass at the bottom of the mountain depression, found a place to hide, and looked over towards the fire, but could no longer see it.

It didn't matter. I would give up my curiosity and focus on fixing myself first.

But this place was really very strange, and clearly not as simple as I had first thought. When the time came, I would call my people over, have them bring all the necessary equipment, and blow this place sky high.

I hid in the grass, and finally took the chance to check my wounds, and determine which direction to go. I had to return to the original road, but the possibility of finding my way back at night was zero. But it wasn't safe to stay here, either. The forest was very strange, and the way back might not necessarily be safe. I didn't have any lighting equipment, and the forest was completely dark. I might have perfected my skills, but I didn't have the courage to walk through the woods in the dark. Not even the threat of death could make me do it.

This situation was troublesome. I turned my head and looked around, knowing I had to find a safe place. I didn't find one, but I did see something four or five meters away from the place where I was squatting that I had apparently missed during the day. It was a large stone disk with an ancient luster.

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Note:

[1] Apparently leopards have saggy necks. He's basically saying Fatty's fat rolls save him. (Lol!)