Chapter 217: Scouting by Kuaitui Maomao and the Monster Ruier'erui

In the pitch-black riverside Shulin, a small figure was moving rapidly and nimbly between the tree branches.

Unlike what Jier imagined about how Mao Maos moved on the ground, some of the highly skilled Mao Mao Warriors actually possessed the ability to move through the canopy layer. This method of movement not only allowed them to easily hunt the large number of birds and small-sized simian animals in the treetops and canopy, but also enabled them to avoid the vast majority of beasts and Monsters in the Shulin that were dangerous to the Mao Maos.

The pupils of Kuaitui Maomao's eyes dilated, taking in every slight detail within the Shulin. It moved sharply, using both hands and feet; its long tail was even more agile and powerful than that of some long-tailed monkeys, able to easily hook onto high branches, and then, by exerting force to swing, it could cross a distance of four or five meters in one go.

Do not be fooled by how fast the Mao Maos moved in the high parts of the Shulin, but it knew that Humans were a race that liked to live and move on the ground, and unlike them, the long-haired cat Beastmen, Humans were taller and stronger, possessing the ability to craft metal weapons and Armor; the vast majority of beasts in the Shulin were no match for groups of Humans.

Therefore, while it appeared to be moving rapidly in the heights, it actually kept seven-tenths of its focus on observing the situation on the ground.

A nocturnal bird of prey in the canopy caught sight of its figure, flapped its wings and took flight, hesitating as it aimed for the angle to swoop down and kill.

But Kuaitui Maomao changed its movement route, hiding in a place where the branches and leaves were dense, effectively avoiding the attack from the bird of prey in the sky. The nocturnal bird of prey let out a dissatisfied screech, its hoarse voice carrying far into the night.

"Hee hee—stinky bird, stinky bird!"

Mao Mao let out a defiant screech at the bird of prey flying away in the sky, then continued to wander and Scout within the range pointed out by Jier.

Suddenly, a pitch-black shadow shifted from stillness to high speed, biting toward the Mao Mao that had just landed on a thick tree branch.

But this cold-blooded Hunter thought it had hidden itself well, not knowing that from over ten meters away, Mao Mao had already smelled the fishy stench on the stinky snake, as well as the cold-blooded atmosphere unique to a predator.

Therefore, the moment this pitch-black Poisonous Snake made its lunging and biting motion, Mao Mao slapped its tail against the tree branch, and its entire body used the force to spring up, dodging the Poisonous Snake's attack.

"Stinky snake, stinky snake!"

But when dealing with this kind of cold-blooded fellow that couldn't tell who was the prey and who was the Hunter, Mao Mao knew it had to teach the other party a lesson.

While springing up, its furry hands pulled out the Steel Dagger obtained from the Humans from behind its back; like swinging a greatsword, it used its tail to slap against the branch above its head for leverage, and the entire Mao Mao fiercely killed its way back from top to bottom.

Mao Mao aimed for the back of the Poisonous Snake's head, but the snake's body quickly coiled around the branch; due to a hair's breadth of error, Mao Mao's strike only hit the other party's abdomen, breaking through the cold scales on its body and cutting a large gash.

The injured Poisonous Snake instinctively let go of the thick branch it was climbing and fell directly down from the canopy.

After a brief exchange, it was slightly inferior.

"Good luck, stinky snake, go away, go away!" Kuaitui Maomao cursed twice more, ignored the fleeing Poisonous Snake, and continued to Scout ahead.

If it hadn't been for the important Scout mission received from Jier, given Kuaitui Maomao's skills and temper, how could this stinky snake that ambushed it have been let off? It would definitely have been caught, its head chopped off, and the snake head along with the poison sac inside would have been handed over to other Humans as a trophy, while the delicious snake meat would have been entrusted to the cook in the team to be cooked, and it would have eaten happily for two days!

Such a large Poisonous Snake, for it, let alone not being able to finish it in one meal, it couldn't even finish it in a day.

Among the many Human cooking methods, it liked roasted snake meat the best. The snake meat roasted to a golden color, fresh and tender, hot and delicious, was a type of food Kuaitui Maomao particularly liked.

As for the snake meat thick soup that Humans liked, paired with some dry and hard Bread, it really didn't appeal to the Mao Maos. The main thing was that the portion size for one meal was too large; the Mao Maos basically couldn't finish it with their small bodies.

Thinking of eating, Kuaitui Maomao suddenly grabbed the trunk of a large tree nearby, the sharp claws on its fingers easily gripping the rough bark, while its ears subconsciously pressed against the tree bark.

Rustle, rustle, rustle...

The sharp-eared Mao Mao could easily detect some insect larvae moving inside the trunk of the nearby large tree through its ears and whiskers. Those fat, white, and plump larvae were not only delicious but also clean and non-toxic, and were very popular among the Mao Mao community.

Usually, it was the Mao Mao Hunters who went out and discovered traces and smells of larvae activity inside the tree trunk; they wouldn't rush to find them, but instead leave a special mark inside the Mao Mao tribe on the tree. After the Hunter returned to the tribe, the female Mao Maos responsible for gathering would follow the traces along the way to find the marked tree, break a small hole in the tree, and then use their long tails, unique to the long-haired cat Beastmen, to reach into the small hole to drive out and hook those plump and delicious insect larvae.

And these good things were generally provided for the young Mao Maos in the tribe to eat; after eating these plump and clean insect larvae, the young Mao Maos could safely and quickly grow up healthy.

But soon, Kuaitui Maomao realized that it was here to carry out a Scout mission, not doing the job of finding marked food collection points while out as it did before in the tribe.

"Dazed..."

Kuaitui Maomao let out a "meow-woo" sound, then continued to move forward.

In the pitch-black Shulin, small animals walked by on the dry fallen leaves on the ground from time to time, treading carefully.

They chirped as they flipped over piles of damp fallen leaves, looking for whether there were any insect nests underneath; if there were, these chirping little animals could have a delicious meal tonight.

But these alert little fellows soon froze, because they sensed that something terrifying was coming.

On a narrow animal path in the Shulin, a Huimao Hu Li was strolling along with a carefree gait.

Its eyes were cunning, and it was muttering some Human common language in its mouth, completely ignoring the small animals around it that were scared silly by sensing its scent.

The Monster Ruier'erui was muttering some words about the corpse of a giant crocodile, as well as quite a few words of dissatisfaction toward Jier.

"Really, not even letting me take a small benefit in advance before completing the mission! Stingy guy, the bloodsuckers in the mountains are more generous than him. Just one small bite of that Monster's brain matter, just one small bite of brain matter would do, and I could instantly turn into such a powerful Monster!"

Muttering and a bit angry, it stepped on a small rodent animal that had stood there stupidly after seeing it; this thing looked strange, its small body was full of mud, its four limbs and sharp claws still had some damp mud on them, and a tumor protruded from the center of the top of its head, which could even emit a faint light for illumination.

Oh, it looked like a poor fellow that was used to digging underground to eat tree roots and insect larvae.

The Monster had eaten who knew how many large and small animals in the mountain forest, but it still couldn't name this thing in front of it; it hadn't even seen this thing before, but it didn't care, nor did it care about the struggle of this thing as it realized death was imminent, simply lowering its head and swallowing it in one gulp.

The Huimao Hu Li smacked its lips, thinking that if this little thing could wash the mud off its body, the taste should be better?

But clearly, such a small animal was completely unable to satisfy the Monster's greedy desire after seeing the huge dead water-spraying crocodile corpse; it continued to curse Jier in its mouth, but cursing was one thing, yet it still followed the direction given by Jier, wandering in this mountain forest, looking for another group of Human Bandit who had delivered the water-spraying crocodile.

"They did a good job; without the actions of these people, how could that guy Jier have killed such an outstanding giant Monster? It's a pity, he actually didn't call me when he was dealing with a Sludge Monster two days ago! I wonder if I could turn into the Sludge Monster's appearance after eating it?"

The Huimao Hu Li muttered and guessed, but it felt it was unlikely itself; after all, when it heard people in the caravan describe the appearance of that Monster, it felt that the thing was mostly related to the gathering of Founengliang after a living being died. And a Monster like it, although it could change into various animals and Monsters, the Founengliang it possessed itself was very thin.

It wasn't that it didn't have any, but it was clearly not as good as the Founengliang produced after those dead bodies gathered together.

Therefore, moves like the powerful Founengliang diffusion impact possessed by the Sludge Monster were things it couldn't do either.

"But the water-spraying crocodile should be okay, right? Compared to the useless Lizardman, this kind of giant Monster is indeed more powerful. Stingy guy, he wouldn't even give me that one small bite, even though I'm working my life away for him."

Cursing again, the Huimao Hu Li suddenly stopped its movement, because a pitch-black Poisonous Snake suddenly fell from the tree in front of it.

This fellow seemed to be injured, and the fishy stench and the smell of fresh blood on its body stimulated it to excitement.

"Where did you come from? You actually dare to block your master's path even when you're injured? You poor fellow crawling on the ground without legs or hands, have you heard of the great name of Ruier'erui of the Monster Mushroom colony? Move aside!"

But the seemingly shrewd and cunning Monster completely forgot that ordinary animals couldn't understand Human common language at all.

Besides, a common Poisonous Snake didn't have the brain or information channels to know about the Monster colony hundreds of kilometers away or someone's name.

Seeing the Poisonous Snake raise its head toward it and open its fangs full of poison, looking full of provocation and intimidation, the Huimao Hu Li also became angry. Its four legs stood high, all its gray fur bristled up, and at the same time, its mouth opened wide, showing its teeth to the Poisonous Snake in a show of force, and a low growl came from its mouth.

Especially its pair of beast pupils, which were constantly changing at the bottom of the pupils from time to time.

Although Ruier'erui was a bit hot-headed after being provoked, the hunting instinct as a Monster was still there, especially as a Monster, it possessed some special abilities.

Seeing the Poisonous Snake still in a stalemate with it, the Monster's eyes rolled, and its fur and limbs twitched and rolled, its body quickly undergoing a change from the inside out as if it were curling and folding. Its own size remained the same, but the species it changed into turned from a fox into a type of badger in the mountain forest that specifically preyed on poisonous snakes.

"Ha, stupid, right? Your grandpa has now turned into a Snake-Hunting Badger that won't be poisoned to death by you poisonous snakes! Come on! Grandpa won't even be afraid if you bite me!"

After speaking, the Snake-Hunting Badger with thick black-brown fur stepped forward generously, and this immediately stimulated the Poisonous Snake to instinctively lunge and bite.

Puchi, the Poisonous Snake's big mouth bit directly onto the vital neck of the badger that Ruier'erui had turned into, and at the same time, the fangs in its mouth bit through the skin under the fur, injecting the poison that was fatal to Humans into the badger's body.

"Hiss, it's quite cold. But is that all?"

Just as Ruier'erui had predicted, a large dose of venom was injected into its body, yet it felt no discomfort at all. Of course, the peculiar body structure and composition of a shapeshifter are not inherently afraid of venom, but when it comes to being completely immune to toxins like a Snake-Hunting Badger, the Snake-Hunting Badger is still superior.

The Poisonous Snake injected all its toxins in one go, and seeing the guy in front of it standing straight without any signs of being poisoned, it immediately wanted to slink away and flee.

But the next moment, a heavy paw pinned it to the ground, and the hooked claws on the paw tore through its scales, digging into its flesh and hooking it, making it unable to crawl away or escape no matter how hard it tried.

"Be a good boy and come into my mouth!"

The Snake-Hunting Badger bit the Poisonous Snake's head off in one bite, then chewed the snake's head to pieces in its mouth in a few bites, and then proceeded to swallow the still-writhing snake body, scales and all, into its stomach in large gulps.

Having eaten this Poisonous Snake, Ruier'erui was barely satisfied; it did not change back into the form of a Huimao Hu Li, and just like that, wearing the appearance of a Snake-Hunting Badger, it swaggered toward the depths of the forest.

Kuaitui Maomao soon smelled the scent of ash from burning firewood in the treetops; although this scent was not dense and would likely go unnoticed by a Human's sense of smell, Maomao still confirmed the direction, determining that the source of the smoke was coming from the mountain forest ahead, far away from the Human Shanglu.

Kuaitui Maomao knew that the caravans traveling on the Human Shanglu, even when spending the night, would only set up their Yingdi near the Shanglu; it was impossible for them to place their Yingdi in a mountain forest so far from the Shanglu.

It is not safe.

Even if the groups gathered by Humans are very powerful, when facing the deep mountain forests where one never knows what might be lurking, Human strength is far from enough.

Humans and Maomao who lose their vigilance will be ruthlessly swallowed by the mountain forest; this is what the boss of Kuaitui Maomao—Yongqi Maomao—often says.

Knowing that it was approaching potential Human Bandit, Kuaitui Maomao lightened its footsteps, no longer running, jumping, or wandering about in the trees with large movements, but instead dropped down a few meters to a height with more branches and fewer leaves, carefully stepping on thick branches to move forward.

It had to be extremely careful of Human archers; as a melee Maomao, it was not afraid of close-quarters combat with Humans of average skill, but it was quite afraid of the Arrow shot from a Human Hunting Bow.

Because it knew that a single Arrow shot from who knows where could easily take its life.

It had previously summoned all its Yongqi to propose to its leader the idea of following the Human Jier. And its leader had agreed to its adventure; now that the adventure in the Human world had just begun, it would not lose its life in a place like this.

The caution of Kuaitui Maomao was useful; relying on its excellent night vision, it soon discovered warning mechanisms, dangerous snare traps, and a peculiar scent for repelling insects and snakes up ahead.

Maomao carefully distinguished it and could only roughly sense that it was the scent of the excrement of a terrifying bird of prey. The excrement of different animals differs greatly due to the different animals they hunt and their different digestive capabilities.

An excellent Herbalist or someone who makes Potion can use the excrement of these powerful Monster to make medicinal powders that repel insects, snakes, and even wild beasts.

And for a Maomao with a sensitive nose like it, it could even discern from the scent of the medicinal powder which species of Monster the excrement used to make the powder belonged to.

Haha, sorry, there is only one chapter today. I spent the whole day playing on my phone.