Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Zhang Lisheng was considered deep within the Amazon rainforest right now. Although the giant lizard’s aura could scare most of the living things away, it was a complete and utterly rude provocation to the overlord of this jungle. Just when Island Dragon stood on the giant tree, a gigantic light-green anaconda with spots all over its body gradually surfaced on the Amazon River water supply line.
Its color blended perfectly with the surroundings, gliding towards the giant lizard like a specter following the dense trees in the jungle. It attacked Island Dragon while Zhang Lisheng was mumbling to himself. The giant lizard mauled the anaconda with its sharp, curled nails on its enormous claws when it was attacked. The claws easily pierced through the anaconda’s body.
Subsequently, it jumped high up into the air and pressed onto its attacker’s body hard. It then opened its mouth, revealing a mouth which was full of sharp teeth, tearing the anaconda’s tough body into pieces right away. As its body was torn apart, the anaconda with a strong will to live did not die just yet. Its body that was torn into pieces jumped blindly and madly on the giant branch.
Zhang Lisheng, who had the same expression on his face since the attack of anaconda, cursed all of a sudden after getting a closer look at the remaining snake whose head was glaring at him. “Sh*t, I can’t believe I’ve just encountered an Amazon anaconda. Where exactly am I right now!?”
The Amazon anaconda is the biggest snake in the world. Compared to usual oviparous snakes, the Amazon anaconda is viviparous. The Amazon anaconda is as thick as a pencil when it was born and spanned 60 to 70 centimeters in length. It was cute like a bamboo chopstick. In Amazon rainforest’s horrible environment, the baby snake would become the carnivorous beasts’ food since they couldn’t protect themselves. They would die at the moment their mother overlooked. The survival rate for them was extremely low.
However, the Amazon anaconda would slowly grow into a giant that was over ten meters long as long as they survived the first few years. By then, they would stay by a muddy shore or shallow water and would strangle every living thing that they saw whenever they became hungry. It would break its prey’s bones and swallow it whole. It ranked the highest in the food chain.
Seeing the Amazon anaconda, Zhang Lisheng realized that he was in the Amazon rainforest’s danger zone. Although he was a Rank-3 Wizard, just like ordinary people, it was very dangerous for him to enter deep into the rainforest without any preparation. He controlled the giant lizard to eat the anaconda while feeling annoyed. He thought about it and decided to release Mountoad out of his backpack, letting it hunt as it desired in the dense jungle.
Zhang Lisheng then rode on the giant lizard and went back where he came from on top of the trees in the jungle. He did not realize that he was deep inside the jungle when he came, but the journey back was definitely bumpy. Depending on his blurry memory and good luck, Zhang Lisheng finally saw a city from far away once the sky got dark.
He rushed to the street he saw from the jungle. Zhang Lisheng could not help but feel relieved when he finally arrived. He stepped on the mud strenuously and walked onto the street. It seemed like an extraordinarily barren area. The roads were filled with potholes; there were only a few wagons with buffalos pulling slowly. There were crude mud houses on both sides of the street.
There were no cabs anywhere when Zhang Lisheng looked around. He then picked a direction and walked along the street without stopping. He saw a mud house with a sign, not knowing how far he had walked. He walked in without bothering if it was a store or not.
It was a small house with dimmed lights. He could see a rectangular earth table that was half a meter long after only taking three to five steps. On it, clean, green banana leaves were spread on the table. A bunch of burnt grilled lizard, squirrel and worms were arranged neatly on the banana leaves, as well as packets of seasoning powder that had a weird smell.
The wall behind the earth table looked like it was soaked in rainwater. There were grimacing masks and strange wooden sculptures all over it. The rainwater dripped from the wall to the ground. Under the dimmed, yellow bulb, the same thing happened to the masks and wooden sculptures, whereby they looked like they were crying. One could not help to have goosebumps if they were to see this.
Scanning around, he saw a native young man who looked even skinnier than Zhang Lisheng. He presumed that he was the one looking after the store. Zhang Lisheng stepped forward and spoke English in a testing manner, “Hi friend, do you speak English?”
“Of course sir. As one of the ten greatest stores in Lunuk, I’m well-versed in six languages. Ni hao peng you, konnichiwa tomodachi…” The young man tried looking like an adult when he saw a customer walk in, combining different languages and spoke in an odd tone. He was trying to showcase his knowledge to win the customer’s trust.
Tatetutu was a small rainforest country that was upgraded from a barbaric primitive society straight into a modern society thanks to external forces, without any transitions in between. The influence coming from the advanced civilizations out there was almost unstoppable like cancer. Without the heritage coming from a long history, it was natural for the young Tatetutu people who were determined to get out of poverty to do this. They would use tenfolds more patience in learning foreign languages than what they use in learning their native language, which gave them all sorts of opportunities.
“Okay, I’m Chinese but I’m trying very hard to understand your English, “Zhang Lisheng said while smiling, “Do you know how I can get to Paradise Hotel?”
“Paradise Hotel, isn’t that in Tuikano? Sir, we’re in Lunuk City now,” the native young man said while feeling odd, looking at the young foreigner who looked messy before him. Zhang Lisheng was stunned. He turned around and looked at the dirt road outside the door. He realized he was not in a barren suburb around the Tuikano jungle, but he actually arrived in another city.
“How far is Tuikano from here?”
“Around 100 kilometers, you can get there directly on the big bus tomorrow. It’s only 15 soros, or $3.”
Zhang Lisheng was relieved to hear that Tuikano was not too far away. “May I know if there’s any hotel around Lunuk?”
“Of course there is, we have the Grand Forest Hotel. Although it’s not as luxurious as the Paradise Hotel, it’s a three-star hotel. I can bring you there, as long as you buy one thing from me.”
Zhang Lisheng looked at the burnt skewers on the earth table and lifted his head to look at the crude and ugly sculptures on the wall. He then said while smiling, “I could pay you a hiring fee directly.”
“Sir, I’m a store owner, not a driver. My dad once told me that we should only help customers as Lunuk’s store owners. So if you want me to bring you to the Grand Forest Hotel, you’ll have to be my customer first.”
“Oh, a person of principle. Alright then, I’ll get… one skewer.” Zhang Lisheng did not talk more and picked up a grilled skinned frill-necked lizard from the earth table. He said while eating, “I didn’t expect this grilled lizard to be delicious. Let’s go, I only have a credit card with me, so I can only pay you when I get to the hotel.”
He was a young man from a mountain village in Western Sichuan. Even though he did not want to eat that local Amazon food, it did not mean that he could not eat them.
“Sir, you’re the coolest tourist I’ve ever seen to eat a grilled animal like that.” The native young man was surprised when he watched Zhang Lisheng finish the grilled lizard skewer quickly. “But buying a $0.50 skewer is insufficient for me to send you to the hotel.”
Zhang Lisheng filled his stomach a bit after eating the skewer. He began to understand the young man’s trick. “So what do you have to sell me so that you could bring me to the hotel?”
“Hmm…” The young man looked around his crude products quickly, his eyes lighting up without him saying anything. He took out a colorful pebble from his pocket. “I’m selling you something that’s one of a kind. Look, it’s a jelly gem that I excavated when I saw a supernatural dimension by chance. If you like it, I could sacrifice it and sell it to you.”
“We usually call your jelly gem a pebble or a pebble dyed with colors. Alright, no matter what it is, how much is it?”
“It’s definitely not a pebble sir. Look, it’s soft. It could stick on your hand and its form is changeable.” The native young man slammed the colorful pebble on his palm and shook it hard for a few times. He showed his palm to Zhang Lisheng with pride. “Look, it stuck firmly on my palm without using any rubber cement. What’s more amazing is that you could pull it into a thin rope and tie it around your wrist. Or you could slam it like a biscuit and stick it on your body, you won’t feel its presence if you’re unaware.”
“You can try it. This gem’s as astonishing as where it comes from. Over ten days ago during midnight, I saw a dark yellow glow appear in the jungle out of nowhere when I was peeing behind the house. I couldn’t help but go after it. I found out it was an enormous glowing door that was even bigger than 10 trees combined. The door connected to an island with strange rocks, river, and houses. I’ve never seen those square wooden houses with long roofs and sharp tips before, but they looked beautiful. Oh yes, there were many strange animals and big birds carved on those houses which looked like they were alive. I was very curious, but I didn’t dare to go closer. However, the door felt like it had legs. It was walking around the enormous island and stopped when it arrived before a gigantic colorful rock that looked like a mountain. Noticing that the door stopped moving, I couldn’t help but extend my arm to touch that big rock. In the end, the door disappeared when I retreated my hand from the pain. However, I was lucky that I grabbed this piece of jelly gem which I have no idea how it happened.”
The young man said vividly and removed the deformed pebble from his palm. He then handed it to Zhang Lisheng.
“So it’s not a pebble, but a piece of rubber.” Zhang Lisheng took the pebble that looked like a piece of biscuit and looked at it turning back to its pebble-shape slowly. He pulled it and tied it on his finger then said, “Alright, it’s pretty interesting. I’m willing to pay you a reasonable price.”
“It really is a gem…” The young man argued immediately. However, he sighed after seeing Zhang Lisheng’s cold expression, “Alright then, you’re a man with no imagination. $80, no, $100 sir. I risked my arm to get it, it’s worth $100.”
“No problem. As long as I manage to get a hot shower and grab a hot dinner within the shortest amount of time, your jelly gem will be worth $100.”
