Chapter 934: The Crab

After a brief skirmish, Su Xiao was unharmed, but Bubu Wang had been unusually injured.

Bubu Wang limped out from behind the tree; the tree it had hidden behind was riddled with holes—dozens of fist-sized punctures marred its trunk.

Bubu Wang’s injury was on the rear thigh, near the buttocks; what was strange was that its face and body were caked in dirt.

Under normal circumstances, such a dense barrage should have severely wounded Bubu Wang—but what kind of dog was it? In the instant it took cover behind the tree, it had already plunged its head downward and started digging, carving out a pit large enough to conceal most of its body in less than 0.2 seconds.

Due to the angle of attack and Bubu Wang’s posture, its rear end had inevitably taken the hits.

Bubu Wang limped out from behind the tree, ignoring its own wound, instead scanning the entire area for the roasted leg of meat.

“Here.”

Su Xiao picked up the meat leg from the ground, shook off the leaves clinging to it, and Bubu Wang immediately hobbled over.

Su Xiao examined the wound on Bubu Wang’s hind leg—the gash was deep, but fortunately, no bone was damaged.

“First, treat the wound.”

Su Xiao pulled out a narrow, slender dagger; Bubu Wang, who had been rushing toward him, suddenly turned and limped away, clearly remembering some unpleasant memories.

Ten seconds later, Bubu Wang was pinned to the ground by Su Xiao.

“Aww～”

Bubu Wang let out a long howl, its tear-filled eyes seeming to plead: “I won’t take medicine～”

“No nonsense. Those creatures’ scales are still inside you. If you don’t remove them, you’ll be limping for a long time.”

Su Xiao’s words failed to “calm” Bubu Wang; it had been with him long enough to know just how brutally he handled wounds.

After Su Xiao was hit, his wound-treatment process was as follows:

For shallow wounds, he simply dug out the projectile with his fingers; if the projectile was deeply embedded, he first slit the wound open with a sharp tool, extracted the projectile, then stitched and bandaged it—simple and brutal.

After Bubu Wang howled for three minutes, Su Xiao pulled out the blood-soaked scale, then applied medicine, stitched the wound, and wrapped it up.

Bubu Wang’s eyes were full of tears, but without the scales grinding against the wound, it was no longer limping—its legs moved much more freely.

Overall, this battle provided Su Xiao and Bubu Wang with enough food for one day; in the Forest of the Strong, eating three meals a day was clearly impossible—just one meal’s worth was enough to maintain strength.

Combined with the dried meat in his backpack, they now had enough food for two days.

Su Xiao and Bubu Wang hurried away; the bloodstain here was too strong. As for the corpses of the silver-scaled creatures, not only were they humanoid—psychologically hard to accept—but more importantly, their flesh carried a strange odor, and even if not outright poisonous, they contained trace toxins.

“What a painstaking setup. If I’m not mistaken, nearly ninety percent of the creatures in the Forest of the Strong carry toxins.”

Su Xiao’s expression was grim; these toxic creatures were surely deliberately placed by Alice or the Wolf Steward.

Compared to food shortages and wandering intruders, Su Xiao was more concerned about one thing: Alice’s clone. The clone was also inside the Forest of the Strong, meaning she would inevitably come looking for him—only a matter of time.

“Wang.”

Bubu Wang barked, its expression excited.

“Hm?”

Su Xiao looked at Bubu Wang and quickly understood its meaning.

“Found water?”

“Wang.”

Bubu Wang dashed toward the eastern side of the forest; Su Xiao followed close behind.

Ten minutes later, Su Xiao and Bubu Wang arrived at a small mountainous area—only two peaks, with sparse trees nearby.

One peak was completely covered in vines, their tangled roots forming countless natural vine cages—impossible to climb. The other peak was barren, not even a blade of grass growing on it.

Between the two peaks lay a three-meter-wide stone valley, dozens of meters deep, packed even thicker with vines; faint sounds of running water could be heard from within.

After searching, Su Xiao discovered the water source: a spring emerging from the mid-slope of the vine-covered peak, a stream as thick as an arm flowing down into the stone valley between the two peaks, where it had pooled into a stagnant pond.

The water in the stagnant pond was undrinkable—teeming with microbes and parasites. The springwater flowing from above, however, was different: it had been filtered through rock and carbon layers.

Unfortunately, the tangled vines on the peak blocked the path. To reach the spring, one had to either climb through the vine gaps or force a way through.

Su Xiao grabbed a vine and tried to snap it.

Crack. The vine snapped cleanly—seemingly easy, but Su Xiao had used sixty percent of his strength.

He didn’t know what kind of vine this was, but it could root into rock and was incredibly tough. Using the Dragon-Slicing Flash to clear a path was possible, but it would consume too much energy and time—not worth it.

What’s the biggest difference between humans and beasts? Humans use tools. Su Xiao pulled a remote-controlled drone from his storage space, tied a bucket beneath it, and had no intention of climbing up with a blade—that was the act of a brute. He had so many tools in his storage space he’d forgotten how many.

Vrrrm～

Su Xiao held the remote; the drone lifted into the air. Beside him, Bubu Wang leaned in, clearly signaling: “Master, I want to play too.”

Su Xiao tossed the remote to Bubu Wang, who immediately perked up—its butt didn’t hurt anymore, its back didn’t ache.

While Bubu Wang operated the drone to collect water, Su Xiao took out a piece of dried meat from his backpack. With food and water scarce, he couldn’t wait until hunger struck to eat; small, frequent meals best preserved strength.

He tore open the dried meat, threw half to Bubu Wang, then began chewing his own small piece. It wasn’t tasty—and whether Alice had deliberately made it this way or not, it was extremely hard.

Bubu Wang chewed the dried meat with grim determination; if food weren’t so scarce, it would have spat it out—it simply wouldn’t soften.

“Chew a few times and swallow.”

Su Xiao’s voice was muffled; he gulped down his piece with a loud swallow, eyes rolling back. Bubu Wang swallowed its mouthful too, eyes rolling back in perfect sync.

Vrrrm～

The drone returned, its bucket filled with water—enough for at least two days of drinking.

Bubu Wang had lost a lot of blood and was now parched, but it dared not drink—not out of politeness, but because it didn’t know if the water was safe.

Su Xiao pulled out a transparent carbon sphere—a white-rank consumable specifically designed to test water quality.

If the sphere turned red, the water was undrinkable; yellow meant drinkable but contaminated; green meant safe; colorless meant ultra-pure.

The carbon sphere sank into the water. After a few minutes, it turned green—safe, potable freshwater.

“Good. Get more freshwater—enough for at least five days…”

Su Xiao hadn’t finished speaking when he heard an extremely faint sound.

Pata, pata…

It sounded like the tapping of insect legs against stone.

A pure white crab crawled out from a crack in the rock—no larger than a palm. If it stayed still on the stone, it was nearly invisible, and it possessed perception-blocking abilities; Su Xiao hadn’t sensed it until it came within seven meters.

“Food.”

Seeing the crab, Su Xiao smiled—water found, and now food replenished. But in the next instant, his smile vanished.

Pata, pata, pata, pata…

A dense barrage of tapping echoed. Su Xiao’s pupils contracted—he witnessed something astonishing.

Moments ago, there had been two peaks: one covered in vines with a spring, the other barren, not a single blade of grass.

Now, the barren peak was disintegrating—it wasn’t a mountain at all, but a mass of countless white crabs.

“Wang.”

Bubu Wang barked excitedly, clearly meaning: “Master, so much food!”

“Food your sister, run!”

Su Xiao grabbed the bucket and turned to flee. Never mind the crabs’ strength—there were millions of them. Who was the prey now? Unclear. These white crabs survived in the Forest of the Strong—could they possibly be weak? Of course not. These white crabs were among the apex predators of the Forest of the Strong.