Very quickly, Qin Tian figured out the source of the stench.
In the direction the Titanoboa was moving, there was a pile of feces forming a small mound.
At this moment, that mound of feces was still a hundred meters away from Qin Tian, but as the Titanoboa moved forward, the pile was drawing ever closer.
Just as the Titanoboa was about to roll over the pile, it suddenly tilted its head and veered off to the side. It looked as though even the Titanoboa didn’t want to sully its body with such filth.
But the Titanoboa didn’t change course by much. If it had been heading straight for the pile before, now it only passed by a few meters to the side.
Even from a hundred meters away, Qin Tian was already nauseated by the foul smell drifting from the feces. Now, being this close, the assault on him was overwhelming.
Even pinching his nose didn’t help much; traces of the odor still found their way in. But that was the least of it—the real suffering was to his eyes.
That mound of feces was over a meter high. Looking at it, all he could see was dung. What kind of feeling was that? Probably the kind that made you want to dig out your own eyeballs and rinse them thoroughly with water.
“This should be the center of the Wild Boar Territory, but there’s not a single Wild Boar in sight nearby. Looks like they’ve all run away.” With his eyes closed, Qin Tian thought to himself.
Wild Boars have a habit: they always defecate in a fixed spot at the center of their territory. It was precisely because he understood this that, upon seeing the pile, Qin Tian knew he’d reached the center of the Wild Boar Territory.
As he was thinking, Qin Tian suddenly lost his balance. The Titanoboa had sped up abruptly. Instinctively, Qin Tian opened his eyes and clung tightly to the Titanoboa, barely managing not to fall off.
The Titanoboa dashed forward at full speed. Within minutes, it had charged a full kilometer, and a Wild Boar appeared in Qin Tian’s line of sight.
Qin Tian couldn’t help but marvel at the Titanoboa’s ability to hunt prey—it had detected the Wild Boar from within a kilometer. What a terrifying skill.
That Wild Boar had also clearly noticed the Titanoboa. When Qin Tian saw it, it was running for its life, but it was limping badly, its speed unimpressive.
Looking closer, Qin Tian found that the Wild Boar’s right leg was severed somehow, and its body was crisscrossed with deep, horrifying wounds like cracked earth.
If it weren’t injured, this Wild Boar might still have had a chance to escape the snake’s jaws. But as things were, it was impossible.
In less than a minute, the Titanoboa had caught up to the Wild Boar. Just like when it had attacked Qin Tian, it opened its gaping maw and lunged for the Wild Boar.
Everyone knows that snakes can swallow prey several times larger than their own bodies. The reason lies in their skulls, which can open wide due to special bones, allowing their mouths to gape incredibly wide.
Just like now—the Titanoboa’s mouth was easily as big as the Wild Boar. If it had been a person, they would’ve been swallowed whole in an instant.
As the Titanoboa made its move, Qin Tian leapt off its back. At this point, he’d only recovered half his stamina, but with the Titanoboa’s attention focused entirely on the Wild Boar, there was no way it would notice him. This was, without question, his best chance to escape.
The moment his feet hit the ground, Qin Tian sprinted away with all his remaining strength. Even as he ran, he couldn’t help but look back—and saw the Titanoboa clamp the Wild Boar in its jaws, lift it high, and slam it to the ground.
“Bang!”
In that instant, Qin Tian heard a muffled thud. Looking again, he saw the place where the Wild Boar had hit the ground had split open, its flesh torn and cracked.
Now Qin Tian finally understood how those Wild Boars ended up with those horrifying, cracked wounds.
Despite that brutal slam, the Wild Boar didn’t die right away, but it was close, completely unable to resist. The Titanoboa quickly coiled its massive body around the boar, squeezed tightly, and strangled it to death. Then it opened its bloody maw and bit into half of the Wild Boar, swallowing it down bit by bit.
This scene made Qin Tian’s scalp tingle. He quickened his pace, fearing the Titanoboa might set its sights on him after finishing the Wild Boar.
***
Qin Tian ran as hard as he could, stopping only when his strength was completely depleted. He collapsed onto the ground, panting for breath.
In just over a minute, Qin Tian had covered over a kilometer—well beyond the Titanoboa’s range of detection.
The rain had only just stopped today, and the ground was still muddy. After two or three hours of struggling, Qin Tian was caked in mud from head to toe, looking like nothing so much as a mudman.
He didn’t dare rest for long. Once he’d caught his breath, he forced himself to his feet and staggered back the way he’d come. He didn’t want to spend another second in this bamboo forest.
But he had no choice. Over the course of the day, he’d used his Skill: Talent for long stretches, leaving his legs aching and numb. Every step was a struggle, and if he wasn’t careful, he’d stumble and fall.
After ten minutes, he’d barely made it a hundred meters. After some hesitation, he leaned against a bamboo stalk and slowly slid down.
At this rate, he wouldn’t make it back to the Camp even by tomorrow. Worse, right before nightfall, wild beasts would start to roam, and his chances of running into one would skyrocket.
In his current state, if he actually encountered a beast, he’d be nothing but meat on a chopping block, there for the taking.
After weighing his options, Qin Tian decided he’d have to hide in the bamboo forest for the night and return to the Camp tomorrow.
During his break, Qin Tian didn’t just sit idle—he summoned the System. Given his circumstances, only the System might be able to help him.
Right now, Qin Tian had just over two thousand Points—enough to buy a few books. But he was out of stamina and had nothing else, so books wouldn’t do him any good at the moment. Instead, Qin Tian called up the Lottery Wheel.
There were quite a few Talents on the Lottery Wheel—even an Experience Card would be extremely useful to Qin Tian, maybe even change his fate right now.
But when the Lottery Wheel appeared, Qin Tian was stunned to see that most of the prizes had been refreshed. The previous Talents had changed, and many blank spaces had appeared.
In other words, there was a real chance he’d get nothing at all.
Qin Tian fixed his gaze on the Nu Beast Mark and spun the wheel without hesitation. Of all the prizes available, the Nu Beast Mark was the only one of use to him.
The Lottery Wheel spun rapidly, but Qin Tian’s heart was calm as water, none of the excitement he’d felt his first time drawing a prize.
All along, Qin Tian only hoped the System could help him somehow. As for making it back to the Camp safely, he’d never pinned his hopes on the System.
Put simply, whatever the result, Qin Tian would find a way to survive and return to the Camp.
That’s just how things go in this world: the more you want something, the less you get it; stop caring, and it falls into your lap.
***
The Lottery Wheel gradually slowed, and the pointer landed on ‘Nu Beast Mark.’
“Ding—congratulations, Host, you have drawn the Nu Beast Mark!” As the System’s prompt sounded, his luck value on the Lottery Wheel increased from 1 to 2.
“Useless System, you finally came through for once.” Watching the runes flashing on the screen, Qin Tian managed a weak curse and tapped the ‘Receive’ button below.
Just like the first time, Qin Tian successfully obtained the Nu Beast Mark.
“With the Nu Beast Mark, even if I run into a wild beast, I’ll have some ability to protect myself.” Qin Tian clenched his fist.
Without further delay, Qin Tian wandered around looking for a place to spend the night.
But unlike a forest, the bamboo grove had nothing but bamboo—there was nowhere to hide.
Gradually, night fell. With no tools to light a fire, Qin Tian had no choice but to curl up in the bamboo thicket.
***
“Let’s hope I don’t run into a Wild Boar herd.” Qin Tian’s eyes scanned his surroundings, and he stayed on high alert.
The Nu Beast Mark only worked on a single beast. If he ran into a whole herd of Wild Boars, he was done for.
Blessings and misfortunes go hand in hand—or maybe Qin Tian just jinxed himself. No sooner had he spoken than he saw a group of Wild Boars cautiously approaching from afar.
“Damn it!” Qin Tian cursed silently.
He’d just barely escaped from the Titanoboa, only to have a herd of Wild Boars show up before he’d even caught his breath. Was Heaven itself out to get him?
Cursing was pointless. The moment Qin Tian saw the herd, they saw him as well.
Repeating his old trick, Qin Tian grabbed his stone axe and banged it against a bamboo stalk, shouting loudly, hoping he could scare the Wild Boars off like last time.
But it seemed all his luck had been spent on the Lottery Wheel—this time, his intimidation had no effect. Instead, it only enraged the Wild Boar herd.
With a snort, led by the largest boar, all eight Wild Boars charged at Qin Tian.
Gritting his teeth, Qin Tian turned and ran.
With the help of his Skill: Talent, he quickly lost the Wild Boars, but it was only temporary. With their sense of smell, they’d track him down sooner or later.
Knowing this, Qin Tian sprinted straight toward the pile of feces. Disgusting as it was, he had no choice but to do it to save his life.
He wasn’t far from the pile to begin with, and even though the bamboo grove was now pitch-black and visibility was no more than five meters, Qin Tian managed to find the mound by following the foul stench.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Qin Tian leapt straight into the mound of feces. The scene was beyond words, but as for Qin Tian himself, he felt no disgust or discomfort at all.
When your life’s at stake, you stop caring about such things.
The Wild Boars weren’t slow either. Soon after Qin Tian hid himself in the pile, the herd arrived. But with Qin Tian completely concealed and his scent masked by the dung, they had no way to find him.
Add to that the complete darkness, and the Wild Boars just sniffed around for a long while, unable to locate Qin Tian.
However, the herd had no intention of leaving. After searching for a long time, they simply lay down all around him.