Chapter 2 Unexpectedly Smooth Journey

The next day's journey was surprisingly smooth. The advance team was currently focusing on slow movement and camping deep in the rainforest, but Dodge's team's acceleration allowed them to almost catch up.

According to the advance team, they had left a total of twenty-three markers since entering the rainforest. Dodge's team reached the fifth marker on the first day, and surprisingly reached the sixteenth marker on the second day. They were getting deeper and deeper into the rainforest, and closer and closer to the advance team.

Derek warned them again to be careful this time. He had never gone so deep into the rainforest before, and he couldn't be sure if there were any other dangerous things further in.

On the second night of entering the rainforest, Dodge's team successfully set up camp near the sixteenth marker left by the advance team.

The area had a wide field of vision, which was conducive to observing the surrounding situation, and there was also a small, fast-flowing river at a high altitude not far from the camp, which made it easy for them to get water.

Dodge had been worried that there might be predators such as crocodiles, tigers, or jaguars near the water source, but Derek said that the upstream of the small river had a high water level and a fast flow rate, which would not attract large animals to fetch water and build nests. Large animals generally prefer to be active in the valleys with slow water flow in the lower reaches of the river.

Dodge and the others trusted Derek very much. After all, Derek was an expert in rainforest survival, so they set up camp and pitched their tents with peace of mind.

Derek used branches and grass ropes to weave several bucket-shaped nets and fixed them at several points in the rapid river.

The Fatty saw that there was no bait in the nets, and asked Derek, "If you just throw the nets directly into the river without any bait, can you catch any fish?"

Derek explained, "If it were an ordinary river, it definitely wouldn't work, but in a fast-flowing river, the water flow will automatically send the fish into the net. This is not an ordinary fishing net, it's a filter net."

After casting the nets, they waited for more than an hour.

Derek's nets really caught a lot of things, including fish, frogs, and water snakes, in abundant quantities, enough for Dodge's team to eat for two meals.

Derek brought the catch back to the camp, and everyone helped to process it. After all, they all had wilderness survival experience, and they were skilled at processing fish into food in the wild.

These fish, frogs, and snakes were quickly cleaned up, and then they set up a fire for cooking and grilling.

Close to the water source, water resources were abundant. The Fatty added some seasonings and cooked a pot of fish soup. Dodge had been craving the Fatty's cooking skills since the farm, and today he finally got to taste the fish soup made by the Fatty.

Although the fish soup was cooked temporarily in the wild and lacked tools and seasonings, the Fatty adapted to local conditions and successfully made a pot of delicious fish soup.

The fresh fish was gutted and stewed directly in the pot until it was mushy. The fish bones were soft, and the fish soup had a fragrant aroma. It tasted so good that it left a lingering fragrance in the mouth. Dodge even chewed the fish head and bones and swallowed them along with the fish meat.

Although Dodge still harbored hatred for the Fatty, a bowl of fish soup made him temporarily put aside his hostility towards the Fatty.

For the mercenaries in Dodge's team, a mere bowl of fish soup was definitely not enough to fill their stomachs. They gutted the fish, skinned the frogs, cut the snakes into sections, and grilled them over the fire.

The Fatty had eaten snake meat once during reconnaissance, which caused him to vomit and have diarrhea, almost dying on the spot. Since then, he had resolutely refused to touch snake meat.

Later, the Fatty and Jennifer encountered man-eating pythons in the underwater stone city again. The pungent caves, terrifying scales, and bloody mouths were still vivid in his mind. Once bitten by a snake, he was afraid of ropes for ten years. The Fatty developed a sense of resistance to snakes and deliberately distanced himself from the team members who were grilling snakes.

Jennifer was still in a coma, and her fever was completely dependent on injections. Now, anti-inflammatory drugs and antibiotics didn't seem to be working anymore. She couldn't eat either, and could only rely on the Fatty and Zoey to inject some clean drinking water along the corners of her mouth.

Jennifer's skin was gray and white, without a trace of blood. The stench from her incontinence attracted a large number of flies.

Derek and the former medical assistant were very pessimistic about Jennifer's current condition. In Derek's words, Jennifer was now exuding the stench of a dead person. Her body had begun to rot internally, and there was no hope of recovery. It was a waste of resources to use any more medicine on her.

The Fatty thought that bringing Jennifer to the rainforest would liberate her from the confined cage, but he didn't expect that it would push her into the abyss of death.

But the Fatty and Zoey didn't give up on Jennifer so easily. Jennifer still had a weak breath. The Fatty and Zoey were trying their best to maintain her vital signs, hoping for a miracle to happen.

Before going to bed, Zoey scooped a basin of water, intending to simply wash Jennifer's body. Derek collected some unknown fragrant plants nearby. He said it was a kind of spice, and the elderly Brazilians often used this spice to fumigate bad odors and repel insects. He crushed the plants and threw them into the water that Zoey scooped, mixing and stirring.

Zoey used the fragrant river water to clean Jennifer's body, and the putrid smell on Jennifer's body was eliminated, replaced by a faint fragrant smell.

After cleaning, Zoey applied the juice of the plants to Jennifer's exposed parts of the body to repel insects.

Dodge's team marched all day, and the team members were very tired, so they rested early after dinner.

In the two days since entering the rainforest, Dodge's team had experienced the mystery and horror of the tropical rainforest. One team member died tragically in the mouth of a crocodile and became the crocodile's meal. Then, Jennifer suddenly fell ill and became bedridden.

No one knew what would happen next, and everyone was apprehensive.

At night, the watchman in the first half of the night was dozing off by the campfire. The flames of the campfire were getting weaker and weaker, and the campfire was flickering as if it would go out at any time, but he forgot to add firewood to the campfire.

Before going to bed, Derek had repeatedly warned that the campfire in the camp must not be extinguished, because many wild animals were afraid of fire. The campfire could drive away the wild animals lurking in the darkness. Even if the wild animals discovered the camp, they would not dare to attack rashly because of the fire.

The flickering flames were like dancing little people, constantly repeating the same action. The watchman was successfully hypnotized by the flames. He was unable to resist the sleepiness, and his eyelids kept fighting. Exhausted, he tilted his head and fell asleep.

The light of the campfire was getting weaker and weaker. The last bit of firewood left in the campfire was burning itself vigorously, burning all its energy. The firewood was red, and the flame was only a small layer floating on the burning firewood. Finally, with a snap, the campfire was completely extinguished, leaving only a wisp of green smoke flying upwards.

The predators in the dark corners of the rainforest had been staying in the dark, waiting for an opportunity. The moment the campfire went out, it seemed to have received an instruction. It rustled and meandered, quietly approaching the direction of the camp.

In the camp, the people who were still dreaming did not know that danger was quietly approaching...