Book 1: Chapter 170


    Following Liu Sang''s guidance, we walked along this hidden fungal line in the forest until we came across a stream. There had been plenty of rain recently, so the streams current was moving very fast. The water was clear enough that we could see a lot of fish swimming in it.


    "There are fish, so the water should be clean," Kan Jian said.


    I understood what Liu Sang meant. This forest wasnt normal to the naked eye, so it was probably safer to enter by following alongside the stream. It was running water, after all.


    This stream went all the way down to the mouth of the valley. I had drunk from it once before, so it should be rtively clean. I put my hand in it and found that the water was clear and bitterly cold. It mustvee from a cave in the nearby mountains. At this time, I didnt care that much about it and just went into the water to start washing the blisters and mud on my body. By the time I was done washing away the mud, my knees began to ache. The water temperature was too low to stay in for a long time. The blisters under my skin were terrible and much of my skin was red and festering. Our wounds werent as itchy after washing in the ice water, but at this time, we saw a lot of tiny maggot-sized leeches on our bodies that almost looked like moles. They had already eaten their fill.


    Back on the shore, the four of us burned each other with our lighters. But there were too many moles, so we couldn''t burn them all off. From a distance, we almost looked like we were covered in sesame seeds. Liu Sang eventually took out a stack of things from his bag, which turned out to be instant noodle bags. When eating hardtack in the jungle, it was best to use delicious seasoning since the biscuits would turn into a big mushy pot after being boiled in water.


    "I heard that leeches are most afraid of salt. These are salt and pepper packs, so well apply them to our bodies. Otherwise, well definitely get infected," Liu Sang said.


    I looked at the wounds covering all of our bodies and thought, <em>if you fucking force us to burn ourselves again, well basically be barbecued skewers</em>. Liu Sang had already opened one of the bags, poured the salt and pepper into his hand, and rubbed it on his armpit where the leeches were the most densely packed. We soon heard him scream and I got a whiff of the spices in the bag.


    The leeches under his armpit quickly melted off and fell into the water. Liu Sang clenched his teeth, but didn''t wash the wound. Instead, he fell next to a nearby stone in pain,cking the strength to continue wiping the salt and pepper on his body. His distorted expression made him look like some kind of evil spirit.


    Baishe sighed and said to me, "Boss, is this bro doing a live-stream or something? I want to double-click 666 (1). Charcoal-grilling yourself would definitely be a hot topic on the tform. As he spoke, he took out a small pot from his backpack that was about the size of roomba. All of our frying and cooking depended on this one pot. He lit the alcohol burner and fished out some water to start boiling, "We grew up in the water, so weve seen a lot of leeches. If the water is heated to more than forty degrees Celsius, the steam willpletely drive the leeches away."


    He heated the water for a while and then put his hand into the pot. The leeches quickly fell off, writhing wildly in the water as they tried to escape the pot. But if they climbed up the side of the pot, they would be burnt dry by the high temperature.


    We dealt with the whole thing very carefully and quickly finished removing all of the leeches from our bodies. The most terrible thing was handling our sensitive parts. It was absolutely terrifying putting them into the pot.


    The leeches were very small, so although the wounds were bleeding, they werent that serious. After we were done with our treatment, I went to help Liu Sang get the leeches off of his body. "You see? I said to him. This is what partners do. You have to trust others."


    "Cooking something like xxx, arent you afraid of other people''s jokes?" Liu Sang still wanted to look back. I nced at his bag full of spices and thought that it was better cooking xxx than putting salt and pepper on it.


    After I was finished, I heated more water and then put mud into the pot and boiled it. Once all the leeches were boiled out, I put the disinfected blob of mud into my Hundred Treasures Bag (2), thered it on again, and then walked back into the forest. When I arrived at the colorful second royal poinciana, I had Kan Jian climb up the tree like usual. It didnt take him long to shout, "Shit, this tree also has skin hanging on it. But its not snake skin."


    ****


    TN Notes:


    (1) Chinese inte ng used a lot in gaming. Basically means you really like something and think its amazing. The termes from the Kuaishou tform (a short videomunity). Its #2 here but I think the baidu exnation was better/more in depth.


    (2) Think this is a Doraemon reference. He has a fourth-dimensional pouch (or pocket) on his stomach that he stores food, money, medicine, desserts, and weapons in.