Chen Mu was naked, his hands constantly rubbing his clothes, which had already become rags.
In order not to leave any smell of blood, Chen Mu repeatedly scrubbed and washed, until his clothes, which had already become rags, were no longer recognizable.
Even so, he still didn't seem satisfied, as though he wanted to rub them into mush.
He didn't know if it was because of the stimulation of the cold water, but Chen Mu's physical strength had finally recovered a little, and his exhausted perception had also recovered a little.
Chen Mu remained vigilant as he struggled with his clothes.
Suddenly, he seemed to see a flicker of a dark shadow in the water not far away.
The darkness of the night was thick in the jungle, and if it weren't for the reflection of the water's surface, as well as the recent increase in his ability to adapt to the dark, he certainly wouldn't have been able to see that shadow.
His movements abruptly stopped, and he looked at the surface of the stream, almost unconsciously activating the bipolar thunderball card.
In the instant that the five little thunderballs came out, a dark shadow suddenly shot out of the water toward Chen Mu's chest.
A perfect pentagonal glowing shield appeared in front of Chen Mu's chest.
Ping ping ping!
The three sounds of the glowing shield shattering were as dense as one.
The dark shadow's power was so great that the first glowing shield shattered with a ping sound, and the shadow continued to shoot toward Chen Mu with its remaining power.
It was a good thing that the bipolar thunderball card was extraordinary, and formed a second glowing shield in the blink of an eye. There was another crisp ping sound, and the second glowing shield shattered.
Then came the third glowing shield, and it shattered!
Finally, the fourth glowing shield forcibly blocked the dark shadow, and under the faint glow of the glowing shield, the shadow's appearance was finally revealed.
It was a little thicker than a finger, about 30 centimeters long, and looked like an eel or a water snake at first glance.
There was a thin line on both sides of its head, which was its mouth.
Its mouth was about a third the length of its entire body, and when it opened, two rows of sharp and fine white teeth could be seen, which was chilling to look at.
Its mouth was wide open, and its two rows of sharp teeth were firmly pressed against the glowing shield, as though it wanted to bite through it, and its body was twisting wildly in midair.
Chen Mu could even hear the sound of its teeth scraping against the surface of the glowing shield, which made his blood run cold.
Its two little eyes stared at Chen Mu, revealing a crazed longing that startled Chen Mu.
He had never seen such a terrifying and strange creature. In the dim light of the night, those two rows of snow-white teeth were so eye-catching.
The most frightening thing was the madness and extreme thirst that the little creature had revealed. Even someone as daring as Chen Mu had lingering fears.
After a while, it seemed to know that it couldn't break through the light shield. It twisted its body and shot back into the water like an arrow.
That series of unforeseen events had happened so quickly that it was too much for the eye to take in. Chen Mu hadn't been able to react.
He subconsciously backed away from the stream, still holding the wet clothes in his hands.
When the water from his wet clothes dripped on his feet, he woke up with a start.
There was a wave of lingering fear in his heart. If he hadn't activated the bipolar thunderball card in time, then he would have died under the jaws of that scary little thing.
Those two rows of fine and sharp teeth could easily cut through his skin and flesh. Once they entered his body, he would be dead for sure.
Chen Mu looked at the surface of the stream with lingering fear, and quickly backed away.
He had originally thought that there wouldn't be any danger in such a small stream, since the larger aquatic creatures couldn't survive. How could he have known that such a frightening creature existed?
The lightning-fast speed, the fine and sharp teeth, and the crazed longing that it revealed, left a deep impression on Chen Mu.
The jungle was a place with a high danger index, and any place that looked safe could be hiding unknown dangers.
The dangers of the Outer Reaches had always been a headache for humans.
Although humans were constantly getting stronger, they still paled in comparison to those wild beasts in the Outer Reaches.
There weren't many card artisans in the entire Heavenly Federation who would dare to go deep into the Outer Reaches.
Ever since Heiner Van Sant, the development of the card system had entered a low tide, which had continued until then.
Although the system was constantly being refined, there were no new theories that could bring about fundamental changes.
Up until then, there hadn't been anyone who could stand shoulder to shoulder with those two great masters, Rosenberg and Heiner Van Sant.
That kind of phenomenon existed at the same time in the world of card masters and card artisans.
Individual powerhouses weren't enough to change the relationship between humans and wild beasts.
Or it could be said that the so-called powerhouses then only had great individual power, and they couldn't be like Rosenberg and Heiner Van Sant, who could bring about fundamental changes in society.
They still weren't strong enough!
Most of the current cities had been opened up during the time of those two great masters. After the death of the great master Heiner Van Sant, no new cities had been opened up in the Heavenly Federation.
The power of wild beasts was beyond compare. For example, the power of that little thing's collision was enough to pierce through a shuttle car.
Chen Mu wasn't in the state of breath control then, where he could be influenced by negative emotions.
He was full of fear for the jungle by then.
But it was a good thing that the things he was thinking about in the state of breath control were imprinted in his brain, and he knew that what he was thinking about in the state of breath control was correct.
So, even though he was afraid, he still mustered up his courage. No matter how dangerous the jungle was, he would live on no matter what.
He couldn't help but smile bitterly. He had originally thought he could successfully escape the base, but he hadn't thought that he would end up in such a mess, and that he would end up in such a terrifying place.
If he had known it would be like that, he would have stayed on the base, at least for a short time without having to worry about his life.
The price of freedom was really high!
But when he thought about it, he didn't know for sure.
He had always been curious about one thing, which was why Bo Wen had been so ruthless toward him.
Was it because of the "weak water" pen set?
Impossible. Chen Mu immediately rejected that conjecture.
Bo Wen didn't seem like that kind of person in terms of bearing and cultivation.
Chen Mu had thought at first that he was someone from the Ning family, but after thinking about it, he didn't think so.
If he had been one of the Ning family, he would certainly have thought of a way to capture him alive, and wouldn't have mercilessly killed him as soon as they met.
If he had stayed on the base, he wouldn't have ended up any better.
Why?
Just why?
Chen Mu racked his brains, but didn't have the slightest clue.
As for that woman, he hadn't thought she would show him any mercy, and he couldn't remember where he had seen her.
He didn't know whether or not Bo Wen and the rest would follow him into the jungle, but that wasn't important.
That was only the outskirts of the jungle, which was still considered a relatively safe place.
Maybe they wouldn't dare to come in just then, but once it was daylight, they would certainly conduct a large-scale search.
Then he would be in danger, so he needed to take advantage of the night to go deeper into the jungle.
He already understood that if he were to fall into the hands of the Ning family, or into the hands of Bo Wen, he wouldn't have any chance of survival.
Chen Mu couldn't guess Bo Wen's identity, but he knew that Bo Wen and the Ning family had a close relationship, since it was Ning Peng who had given Bo Wen his room number.
His own fate was still best in his own hands, even if the chances of success were small.
Thinking of that, Chen Mu's heroic spirit rose, and the fear in his heart abated quite a bit.
Bo Wen and Cheng Ying were having a smooth journey, but their progress was slow, since they didn't have Chen Mu's ability to see in the dark.
They had to constantly go through all kinds of tracks to determine whether they were going in the right direction.
Cheng Ying was an expert in that regard.
Bo Wen was inwardly rejoicing in his decision. If it weren't for Cheng Ying, he would have been even slower by himself.
But they still hadn't found any trace of Chen Mu, and the two of them had already been walking for more than half an hour.
They would never have thought that Chen Mu would be using a high-speed jet stream card to fly in the jungle.
That was completely unimaginable, since the probability of being killed in a crash in Amay City at such a high speed was frightening.
Flying like that in the jungle wouldn't have any possibility of survival.
Chen Mu had once again exceeded their expectations.
They still hadn't realized that Chen Mu had already pulled away from them.
A distance of more than ten seconds by high-speed flight would require quite a long time on foot.
What made Bo Wen's face darken was that he had already gotten the news that the card artisans closest to them had run into some trouble.
They had run into a swarm of iron bees, and if it weren't for the fact that some of them had brought along repellent incense, they would have all been finished there that day.
The flying speed of the iron bees was pretty fast among the bees, and their bodies were as hard as steel, each the size of a fist, and their stingers were a full 15 centimeters long, sharp enough to make one's scalp numb.
Those stingers could even be used as weapons by some assassins and killers, so one could imagine how hard and sharp they were.
There were about 300 iron bees in that swarm, and they had tightly surrounded the group of card artisans.
Although they weren't rushing in because of the repellent incense, they didn't show any signs of flying away.
Bo Wen didn't intend to turn around, and he didn't want to touch a swarm of iron bees. He didn't care about the fate of that group of card artisans.
What he cared about was that if he were to turn around, he would most likely not be able to find Chen Mu.
Their luck really wasn't good to run into iron bees there, and a swarm at that. Bo Wen could only smile bitterly to himself.
He decided to go deeper with Cheng Ying. Chen Mu was seriously injured, and his threat had already been minimized. All they had to do was be careful not to run into any powerful wild beasts.
Even if they did run into wild beasts, he would still kill Chen Mu!
That was the first time he had experienced such a feeling from someone!
So, he decided to kill Chen Mu at all costs.