Chapter Seventy-Six: The Giant Leech

Upon hearing this, everyone immediately retreated behind. Pulse raised his long-barreled rifle and fired a shot at the dragonflies. His intention was to draw the distant dragonflies closer. The entire mine echoed with the buzzing of their wings, and in an instant, all the dragonflies in the cave swarmed toward Pulse's position.

Pulse patted the devil frog crouched by his leg. The large green frog looked up at its master, then hopped to block the entrance with its bulk. It extended its tongue and gently curled it through the swarm. Those dragonflies nearest to the devil frog were swept into its mouth in a flash. Without even chewing, it swallowed them whole.

Though the devil frog stood barely half a meter tall, its tongue could stretch over a meter long. The passageways of the toxic gas mine were narrow, and with the frog’s lengthy tongue, so long as it guarded the entrance, not a single dragonfly could escape. Each time the frog flicked its tongue, at least a dozen dragonflies vanished into its maw. The dragonflies stationed near the entrance numbered barely a hundred total...

Under the devil frog’s relentless lapping, the dragonflies diminished visibly. The surface of the giant dragonflies was armored in a keratinous shell. After swallowing them, the frog’s stomach digested only their flesh, expelling the shells directly. These shells, corroded by its gastric juices, were excreted as sticky white paste.

This paste was not excrement. Highly adhesive, once its moisture evaporated it hardened greatly, bearing a strong resemblance to cement. Cement was a valuable resource. Qin Fei and the others crouched behind the devil frog, steadily collecting the cement-like paste secreted from its rear.

[Devil Frog Secretion: The chemical properties are remarkably similar to cement.]

Once the devil frog had cleared all the mosquitoes from the entrance, several ancient millipedes and spiders emerged from deeper inside the cave. The firepower of Qin Fei and his companions swiftly disposed of these poisonous creatures. Though the millipedes and spiders were individually far stronger than dragonflies, their numbers were few, their bodies large, and a few blasts from the shotguns dealt with them all.

After exterminating the pests, the group pressed onward into the depths of the cave. Like all mines, the toxic gas mine was shrouded in darkness. Qin Fei lit a torch to illuminate their path. Pulse took the lead, directing his devil frog to clear out lingering giant dragonflies from every corner.

In the blackness, the occasional hiss and screech of unseen insects echoed through the tunnels.

Those screeches sent chills down their spines. They hadn’t walked far when Qin Fei suddenly halted everyone.

“Pulse! What’s that bulge on your back?”

At that moment, Pulse, who was at the front, had a huge lump protruding from his back, stretching his clothes tight. From afar, it looked like a tumor.

“Huh?” Pulse instinctively reached back to touch his own back.

“What the hell is this?” He felt something horrifying on his back, and his whole body shuddered.

Quickly, Pulse stripped off his shirt and threw it to the ground. On his back, six giant leeches, each the size of a fist, were latched on. They appeared engorged, swollen to bursting from drinking their fill. Qin Fei could even see the crimson liquid flowing inside their bodies—utterly revolting.

Pulse’s face was pale, likely from blood loss.

“I feel so sleepy…”

Before anyone could rush forward to remove the leeches, Pulse wobbled and collapsed, presumably from shock. Leeches secreted an anesthetic while feeding, numbing their victims to the sensation. Thus, Pulse had no idea he’d been drained for so long.

Caesar, seeing Pulse fall, immediately pulled a dagger from his backpack, intending to pry the leeches off with the blade.

“Wait!” Qin Fei stopped him.

In the Ark World, these giant leeches, once attached to human skin, cannot be sliced off unless the entire patch of flesh is excised. Cutting won’t work. Of course, excising flesh is not an option—one would bleed out before the leech finished its meal.

Their only weakness is fire.

Qin Fei brought his torch close to Pulse’s back. Under the heat, the leeches quickly shriveled, just like ice cream melting under the sun. Soon, they dissolved completely, leaving only a large puddle of blood on the ground.

Qin Fei carefully reached out to check Pulse’s breathing.

He was gone.

It seemed he was dead for good. But Qin Fei wasn’t particularly saddened. In the previous battle, Qin Fei, Pulse, and Caesar had all survived to the end, each carrying a substitute doll in their backpacks. Pulse should be able to revive and rejoin them soon.

The leeches had probably crawled up Pulse’s pant legs from the ground. To prevent further infestations, Qin Fei instructed everyone to tie their sleeves and pant legs tightly, leaving no gaps. With this precaution and a little vigilance, leeches should no longer slip inside their clothes.

Since Pulse was still considered a teammate, even after his death, the devil frog remained with the group, helping to clear giant dragonflies as needed. Aside from the swarm at the entrance, which had been troublesome, the party faced little difficulty deeper in the cave.

At a bend in the tunnel, they found a golden treasure chest. Treasure chests in the mine were graded by color, just like the supply drops. Red was best, white the worst. Gold ranked just below red, and usually contained valuable loot.

[Black Pearl x50: Rare and precious resource from the deep sea…]

[Mercury-Driven Shotgun (Epic): Extremely powerful at close range, unreliable at distance, rapid-fire capable.]

Two items in total.

Since Qin Fei and Xie Nainei already had shotguns, the Mercury-Driven Shotgun was given to Caesar. The two shared the fifty black pearls between them.

Having distributed their spoils, Qin Fei suddenly felt dizzy.

What’s going on? Could there be leeches on me too?

He checked himself thoroughly, but found no sign of leeches.

If not leeches… what was causing this dizziness?

After a while, Qin Fei’s head grew even heavier, the dizziness intensifying.