This rain lasted an unusually long time, pouring from night all the way until midday the next day.
After the rain stopped, the clouds still lingered overhead, looking as if another downpour could start at any moment.
The grassland outside the cave was soaked, water pooling everywhere as far as the eye could see.
Clearly, the grass had already reached its saturation point.
The rain had washed everything on the grassland clean—last night, the marks left by Han Pi and the Wild Boar Herd’s battle on the grass were now gone, as were the four Wild Boars that Qin Tian killed.
At this moment, Qin Tian and Ye Lin were inside the cave, discussing what had happened the previous night.
When Qin Tian shared his theory about why the Wild Boar Herd had rampaged, Ye Lin couldn’t help but be shocked.
“You’re saying that whenever there’s heavy rain, the Wild Boars in the Bamboo Forest will rampage?” Ye Lin was a bit skeptical.
“That’s just my guess.” Qin Tian nodded.
Before last night, Qin Tian had always thought the Wild Boar Herd’s unrest was just normal behavior, like the migration of cattle or sheep.
But when the Wild Boar Herd actually dared to break into Han Pi’s territory, he realized the Wild Boars’ rampage was entirely the result of external forces.
***
As for what that external force was, Qin Tian had speculated before that the Wild Boar Herd was rampaging to escape predators.
But later, he felt that wasn’t the reason—rather, it was the rain that caused it.
Between the two guesses, being chased by predators sounded much more reasonable.
In fact, the idea that rain causes the Wild Boar Herd to rampage sounded pretty far-fetched.
But thinking carefully, the predator theory didn’t hold up completely either.
After all, animals that can prey on Wild Boars are typically large carnivores, which consume huge amounts of energy every day.
To maintain their needs, they’d have to hunt frequently, which would mean Wild Boar Herds would be rampaging all the time.
Of course, some large carnivores have amazing starvation resistance—like lions, which can go over twenty days without eating, but that’s only when food is extremely scarce.
With so many Wild Boars in the Bamboo Forest, there was clearly no shortage of food, and the interval between the two rampages of the Wild Boar Herd was nearly a month apart—it was obviously not the work of predators.
The theory that rain causes Wild Boar rampages seemed like a mistaken correlation, yet Qin Tian couldn’t shake the feeling that the rain was to blame, all because those two heavy storms had truly terrified him.
If he had to describe it, those two storms felt to Qin Tian like Lord Yan’s Night Watchers—whenever they appeared, the Wild Boars would follow, and then Lord Yan would come to collect souls.
“But how could Wild Boars rampage because of rain?” Ye Lin didn’t really buy Qin Tian’s theory.
“Who knows?” Qin Tian shrugged. “I told you, it’s just my guess.”
The reason Qin Tian brought up the Wild Boar rampages was simply to share his thoughts with Ye Lin, to see if she had any other insights that could help him figure out the cause of the rampages.
But now, that seemed impossible, so Qin Tian didn’t continue the topic.
***
Looking out of the cave entrance, Qin Tian said, “It’s been a while since the rain stopped. I’ll go to the Bamboo Forest first, and when I’m back, I’ll deal with the Wild Boars. Can you look after Han Pi in the meantime?”
“You’re not taking Han Pi with you?” Ye Lin asked.
Qin Tian shook his head. “No, let Han Pi get some proper rest. Besides, it’s just a few bamboo shoots—it won’t be heavy.”
After saying that, both Qin Tian and Ye Lin looked over to the side, where Han Pi was snoring away at the cave entrance.
After that battle, Han Pi was covered in wounds of varying size, crisscrossing his body.
The longest one was on Han Pi’s leg, at least over ten centimeters long.
With the naked eye, Qin Tian could see the torn flesh curling outward.
Because of this wound, Han Pi’s haunch was soaked in blood last night, but after a night’s rest, the blood had already clotted and no fresh blood was flowing.
Even so, the muscles near the wound still twitched uncontrollably, bringing Han Pi a great deal of pain, causing him to groan occasionally even in his sleep.
***
After explaining, Qin Tian grabbed the Recurve Bow and left the cave, heading for the kitchen.
The four Wild Boar corpses lay silently in the kitchen.
Three had been killed by Qin Tian’s Poison Arrows, and one had been beaten to death by Han Pi.
The one beaten to death looked far more miserable than the ones poisoned, its body covered in scratches of all sizes—all left by Han Pi.
Among these random scratches, one wound stood out shockingly.
This wound looked exactly the same as the ones Qin Tian had seen on those three Wild Boars the other night—even seeing it a second time, it still looked terrifying to him.
Without looking any longer, Qin Tian slung the Bamboo Basket on his back and headed in the direction of the Bamboo Forest—the Camp’s bamboo shoots had been eaten up, so he had to get more for Han Pi.
The rain had just stopped, and the forest was muddy and full of puddles.
Even though Qin Tian tried to avoid them, he hadn’t gone far before his shoes and pants were soaked.
After a while, even his shirt was wet from brushing against branches and leaves.
In the end, Qin Tian simply stopped caring and trudged straight through the puddles.
Since he was already wet, what was the point in worrying anymore?
On his way to the Bamboo Forest, Qin Tian kept his eyes on the low shrubs.
He clearly remembered finding the Arrow Poison Frog near the bushes last time.
Now, Qin Tian only had three Poison Arrows left—he needed to find more Arrow Poison Frogs to make new ones.
Unfortunately, all the way to the Bamboo Forest, he didn’t see a single Arrow Poison Frog.
Then again, Arrow Poison Frogs were protected animals, some even on endangered species lists—it wasn’t easy to spot them.
Perhaps because it had just rained, the Bamboo Forest felt even quieter than usual.
In fact, it was deathly silent—there weren’t even bird calls or insect noises, making it extremely unsettling.
While searching for bamboo shoots, Qin Tian ventured deeper and deeper.
***
Suddenly, he stopped dead in his tracks.
Not far ahead, a track like the trail left by a steamroller cut through, as if an invisible wall blocked his way.
The track was over a meter wide and stretched far off into the distance.
It was very smooth, but rain had already washed it somewhat faint—maybe soon, it would disappear completely.
Such a trail suddenly appearing in the Bamboo Forest was truly curious.
But Qin Tian didn’t go closer to investigate—he knew curiosity killed the cat.
Without thinking, he immediately turned to leave.
But as the saying goes—disaster comes uninvited; sometimes you don’t look for trouble, but trouble finds you.
He hadn’t gone far when a rasping sound, like a brush scraping against tiles, came from around the Bamboo Forest.
In an instant, Qin Tian felt surrounded by the sound, and the ground began to tremble.
His nerves instantly tightened—without a second thought, he triggered his talent, the Leopard’s Shadow, and darted away at full speed.
His instincts screamed that he was in danger.
The Bamboo Forest streaked past on both sides as he ran, when suddenly, a black dot appeared ahead.
That black dot quickly grew larger.
***
In the next moment, Qin Tian’s pupils shrank—goosebumps broke out all over his body, and information about that black dot rushed through his mind.
“Titanoboa: Currently the largest known species of snake, essentially a scaled-up modern python. It appeared in the Paleocene epoch, going extinct nearly 58 million years ago. Titanoboa’s average length reached 12 meters, weighing over 1 ton. It favored living in swamps and rivers…”
Logically, a creature as big as Titanoboa shouldn’t move fast.
But the opposite was true—its massive body slithered side to side, charging at Qin Tian like a truck, growing larger and larger in his vision.
For a moment, Qin Tian’s mind went blank, but his body acted on instinct—turning sharply to flee in the opposite direction.
“Damn it, are you kidding me? It was already ridiculous enough to have a Primal Panda on this Deserted Island, now there’s a Titanoboa too—what’s next, dinosaurs on this island?!” Snapping out of it, Qin Tian cursed loudly, tossing his Bamboo Basket aside.
At this moment, he couldn’t help but wonder if he was dreaming, but the commotion behind him was all too real, leaving no room for doubt.
This was by far the greatest danger Qin Tian had faced since arriving on this Deserted Island—no exaggeration, if he so much as paused his steps, he’d be dead.
“Ding—The Titanoboa is very fast and has amazing stamina. It’s almost impossible to escape its pursuit, but there are still ways to deal with it.”
“First step: If you ever encounter a Titanoboa, absolutely do not run away. You should charge straight toward it.”
“Second step: When the Titanoboa sees you coming, it will open its mouth to attack. That’s when you seize the chance and leap into its mouth.”
“Third step: Since pythons swallow food whole, you don’t have to worry about being bitten to death. At that moment, crawl into the Titanoboa’s body.”
“Fourth step: Take out the small knife you carry and attack the Titanoboa’s internal organs with all your might, killing it from inside.”
Apparently worried Qin Tian would forget the contents of the Compendium of Beast Taming, the System screen suddenly appeared before him, displaying the method for dealing with Titanoboa.
“Screw your mother! Your ancestral graves have been dug up!” Slamming the System screen closed, Qin Tian cursed the System’s creator and all his ancestors.
Damn it, popping up now—are you serious?!
But in theory, the method the System described wasn’t all nonsense—if he actually tried it, there was a small chance of success.
But the odds were so tiny.
Just successfully leaping into the Titanoboa’s mouth, that alone had less than a one-in-a-thousand chance.
Trying it for real was no different from courting death.