IABI – Chapter 89 The Truth of the Jungle (2)

After that scream, the forest fell into a heavy silence.

Yu Xiang handed over the shaken saltwater, then got up and went to Jing Xiubai’s side. Together, they advanced cautiously toward the direction where the sound had come from.

Chi Xin’s attention flickered toward them briefly, but her hands didn’t stop moving. She carefully poured the saltwater onto the leech.

The moment it came into contact with the salt, the leech reacted as if a demon had touched holy water — it began to twist violently, and wisps of white smoke rose from its body.

Jiang Congyun let out a muffled groan, her brow tightening in pain even in her unconscious state. Her body trembled slightly.

“Congyun?” Chi Xin called her name softly, testing for a response. But Jiang Congyun didn’t wake — her expression only twisted in agony, while the leech on her shoulder writhed incessantly, unwilling to detach itself.

“It’s okay… it’s okay.” Chi Xin whispered, holding her tightly and pouring more saltwater over the wound.

“Ah…”

As the leech’s contortions grew more frantic, Jiang Congyun’s shudders intensified. Even Chi Xin — who could face any formidable enemy without blinking — now looked visibly flustered, though her hand remained steady, maintaining the flow of saltwater.

After two long minutes, the leech finally couldn’t bear it anymore. With a wet pop, it tore itself free from Jiang Congyun’s skin and darted toward the undergrowth.

A cold light flashed in Chi Xin’s eyes. She raised her machine gun with one hand — and with a burst of rat-tat-tat, the leech was instantly reduced to pulp.

Chi Xin didn’t even glance at it. Her gaze stayed fixed on Jiang Congyun’s face. She saw a flicker of relief when the leech detached, but soon after, Jiang Congyun’s brow furrowed again in pain.

A gaping black hole remained on her shoulder, dark veins spiderwebbing out from it.

Even without much experience in jungles, Chi Xin knew — she was poisoned.

Silently, she tightened her hold around Jiang Congyun.

At that moment, the sound of footsteps through the brush drew near. Jing Xiubai and Yu Xiang emerged, dragging a man dressed in combat gear, his face painted with camouflage.

With a thud, the man was thrown to the ground before Chi Xin.

Yu Xiang still held the rifle he’d taken from the man’s hands. He crouched down beside them. “How is she?”

“The leech was poisonous,” Chi Xin said tersely, glancing over the man and then raising her head toward Jing Xiubai. “Do you have any antidote for leech venom?”

Jing Xiubai examined Jiang Congyun’s condition and hesitated. “Normally, a leech bite wouldn’t cause something this severe. Just some iodine and disinfection would suffice. But these leeches seem mutated. If we use medicine carelessly, it might trigger a rejection reaction.”

Chi Xin pressed her lips together.

The captured man suddenly rasped out, “Your comrade was bitten by a leech?”

Aside from the unconscious Jiang Congyun, the other three turned to look at him.

The man’s strange eyes swept over them, and a hint of something flickered there. “You people came here dressed like that? Even if you cover your limbs, you’re basically offering yourselves as a buffet to the things in this forest.”

“Hey, you’ve got a big mouth for a prisoner.”

Yu Xiang’s temper nearly flared; he kicked the man hard in the stomach, stepping on him with a sneer.

“Watch your tone. You’re a prisoner now. Even if we made a mistake, it’s not your place to mock us. Got it?”

“Enough, Yu Xiang,” Chi Xin called out, then looked back at the man. “From what you’re saying, you seem familiar with this place. Tell us how to treat the venom, and we’ll let you go.”

At first, she had assumed he was from the lab, but his outfit and demeanor said otherwise.

Maybe part of some other faction — but that didn’t matter right now. Chi Xin focused on what was important.

However, the man just froze, staring blankly for a long moment without answering.

Yu Xiang raised his foot again. “She’s talking to you! Are you deaf?”

The man jerked his head up, his camouflaged face revealing only two wide, startled eyes as he stared straight at Yu Xiang.

“Your name’s Yu Xiang?”

Yu Xiang’s foot halted midair.

Jing Xiubai, who had been deep in thought, instantly realized something and grabbed the man by his collar, yanking him upright. “Who sent you?”

The man’s gaze slowly shifted from Yu Xiang to Jing Xiubai, then to Chi Xin, and finally to the unconscious Jiang Congyun in her arms.

“Two men, two women… all strikingly good-looking,” the man murmured under his breath. “You’re… Jing Xiubai, right?”

Chi Xin frowned. “You know us?”

Under the man’s watchful stare, Jing Xiubai gave a slow nod.

The man looked like he wanted to laugh, but the kick Yu Xiang had given him earlier made him cough instead.

“Cough—cough! You’ve got it wrong! We’re on the same side. Big water washing over the Dragon King’s Temple — we’re all family here. We’re from Houyi. You’ve heard of Houyi, right?”

Houyi?

The three of them were momentarily stunned.

Jing Xiubai spoke up, “Who’s your leader?”

A flicker of helplessness crossed the man’s eyes. “You’ve already got me at gunpoint. Think I’d lie to you now?”

“Stop the nonsense. If you don’t answer, we’ll treat you as an enemy,” Yu Xiang repeated Chi Xin’s earlier warning.

“Rong Feng!” the man blurted out. “Our leader is Rong Feng. You can contact him if you don’t believe me.”

Rong Feng?!

The name struck them like a spark.

Chi Xin’s breath hitched — so it was true.

Yu Xiang blinked. “Wait, Fengfeng sent you? Why didn’t she tell us?”

“Not just me,” the man — Zheng Junzhi — explained. “There’s a five-person team. I’m the acting captain. The boss said we were to wait here for you four and follow your lead once you arrived.”

He rubbed at his chest. “But honestly, the way you four came swaggering into Moliko like this… you’ve got guts, I’ll give you that.”

With his explanation, Zheng Junzhi successfully cleared himself of suspicion.

Jing Xiubai’s expression eased slightly. He released Zheng Junzhi’s collar and said, “Apologies. We thought you were the enemy.”

“Since we’re allies, you should’ve said so earlier.”
Yu Xiang reached out a hand to Zheng Junzhi, pulling him up from the ground and brushing the dirt off his shoulder. “Why hide from us like that? You nearly got yourself mistaken for an enemy and hurt by us.”

“Thank you, thank you,” Zheng Junzhi said. “It’s hard to pass messages in the apocalypse. The boss only told us you four were good-looking and refined—but no photos. Even if we saw you, we wouldn’t dare to approach recklessly. That’s why I stayed back to observe first.”

He paused, swallowing the rest of what he wanted to say.

The only reason he dared to watch them alone was because he trusted his own skills. Yet after just one encounter, he’d first been spotted by Chi Xin, and then taken down by Jing Xiubai and Yu Xiang working together.

Still, since they hadn’t captured him violently and he wasn’t facing more enemies, Zheng Junzhi decided to let that embarrassment go for now.

“Can we catch up later?” Chi Xin asked. “Maybe save our healer first?”

Yu Xiang’s expression instantly grew serious. He nodded earnestly at Zheng Junzhi. “That mess earlier was our fault. Brother, could you please take a look at Cong Yun’s condition first?”

Zheng Junzhi shook his head lightly. “It’s fine. I’ll take a look.”

He crouched beside Chi Xin, glanced at her delicate, refined face, then at the pale Jiang Congyun, and quietly sighed.

He really didn’t know what kind of people the boss was acquainted with—two young masters who had some skill, sure, but what were they doing bringing a beautiful girl into a place like this? Did they think this was some kind of fun adventure? His team didn’t sign up to babysit pampered kids.

He didn’t show those thoughts, though. Instead, he studied the wound on Jiang Congyun’s shoulder carefully. “It’s fine,” he said at last. “Just a regular leech. Some neurotoxin, but our team has the proper antidote. Bring her with us.”

Zheng Junzhi stood, and behind him, the three quietly exchanged looks.

“Let’s move,” Zheng Junzhi said, glancing back. “It’ll be dark soon. Staying here isn’t safe.”

Jing Xiubai nodded. Chi Xin helped shift Jiang Congyun onto Yu Xiang’s back, and the three followed Zheng Junzhi ahead.

Zheng Junzhi had naturally returned their confiscated gun to Yu Xiang. He led the way, rifle in hand, moving cautiously while often glancing back to make sure they were keeping up. He was, to be fair, performing his duties conscientiously.

“Captain Zheng,” Jing Xiubai said as they walked, “there’s something I didn’t get to ask earlier. You said you were hiding to observe us—to confirm if we were the ones you were looking for. Does that mean there are other people here?”

Chi Xin turned to look at him as well.

In her mind, this place was far too dangerous for ordinary people—aside from the lab personnel, there shouldn’t be anyone else around.

“You’re thinking too simply,” Zheng Junzhi said. “The rainforest is like a natural barrier. Everyone assumes humans can’t survive here, which ironically makes it a perfect hiding place for all kinds of dangerous scum. To them, this is a fortress—once they slip in, there’s no catching them.”

“You mean…?”

“Drug lords, fugitives—anyone you can imagine. So you’d better stay close and don’t wander off.” Zheng Junzhi glanced back at them. Chi Xin wasn’t sure if it was her imagination, but she thought she caught a flicker of disdain in his eyes.

With Zheng Junzhi leading, their progress indeed became much smoother. He seemed to know which plants to avoid and where poisonous insects lurked. Though the route wound in zigzags, they no longer suffered surprise attacks from branches or bites from unseen creatures.

“Brother Zheng,” Yu Xiang remarked, “judging by how familiar you are with this place, I’d say you’ve been living here ten years or so?”

Zheng Junzhi shot him a sharp glare. “No one wants to live long-term in a place like this. We’re only here on assignment. Probably the same reason the boss sent us this way.”

Yu Xiang chuckled. “Fair enough. By the way, there’s something I’ve been curious about—your organization, Hou Yi, what exactly do you guys do? I used to think you were arms dealers, but from the look of it, you handle mercenary work too?”

Zheng Junzhi was silent for a few seconds before replying, “Since you’re the boss’s friends, there’s no harm in telling you. ‘Hou Yi’ started as just a few sharpshooters banding together to survive the apocalypse. As time went on, more people joined, the structure became more organized, and we began taking on other missions—just whatever work kept us alive.”

He gave a brief overview of Hou Yi’s composition. The three didn’t pry further.

After all, they barely knew Zheng Junzhi. If they wanted details, they could just ask Rong Feng later—it’d be easier that way.

With Zheng Junzhi guiding them, they soon reached the squad’s camp.

Using enormous banana leaves as cover, the team had set up a simple cooking station.

The sentry on watch spotted them and immediately made a birdlike call.

Zheng Junzhi pressed his thumb to his lips and responded with the same sound.

Chi Xin watched as the green-painted muzzle of a hidden rifle withdrew into the foliage.

“Now this is what I call proper jungle expedition setup,” Yu Xiang said with admiration.

Normally, Chi Xin might have traded a teasing remark with him, but with Jiang Congyun poisoned, she had no mood for banter. Her face remained cold as she quietly took in her surroundings.

After Yu Xiang spoke, she noticed Zheng Junzhi glance at him again—this time, with a trace of familiar disdain.

That man…

Chi Xin narrowed her eyes slightly, making a mental note to stay cautious.

“Da Fei!”

Zheng Junzhi called out as he led them into camp. “Grab one of the antidote vials—someone’s been hit by leech venom.”

“Got it!”

The one called Da Fei was dressed similarly to Zheng Junzhi, but through the streaks of green and brown camouflage paint on his face, Chi Xin could make out the youthful features beneath—he couldn’t have been very old.

While Da Fei went to fetch the medicine, Yu Xiang gently laid Jiang Congyun on the ground. Chi Xin looked around. “Didn’t you say there were five of you? Where are the other three?”

“Young miss,” Zheng Junzhi said, “they don’t know we’ve found you yet—they’re out searching in other directions.”

Chi Xin gave him a look.

Whether or not Zheng Junzhi realized the condescension in his tone, he ignored her completely, taking the vial from Da Fei and crouching beside Jiang Congyun.

“Tell your friend to hold it in,” he said. “If she screams here, who knows what’ll come running.”

Chi Xin took off her jacket, rolled it tightly, and placed it at Jiang Congyun’s mouth.

Zheng Junzhi looked up in mild surprise, his eyes meeting hers—calm, cold, like snow and ice. He froze briefly before saying, almost involuntarily, “…Exposing your arms like that is dangerous here.”

Chi Xin was only wearing a thin camisole underneath, revealing her slender arms and delicate collarbones.

She cast him a faint glance. “No need to worry about me. Please just focus on detoxifying her.”

Zheng Junzhi’s lips twitched but he said nothing more, lowering his head to carefully clean and treat Jiang Congyun’s wound, then bandage it up.

When he was done, they moved her to a flat patch of ground. Chi Xin retrieved her jacket from Jiang Congyun’s mouth and spread it gently over her body.

“That’s it,” Zheng Junzhi said, putting away the vial. “She should wake up by tonight. Just be glad it was only leeches—and not something worse.”

Yu Xiang raised a brow curiously. “Like what?”

Zheng Junzhi frowned. “Don’t underestimate this place. Even in the apocalypse, Molico is still one of the most dangerous rainforests—perhaps even more terrifying than before. It’s filled with mutated plants and insects and beasts. And their level of danger has never been determined by size. You people just barged in without knowing a thing—it’s pure luck that you’re still alive.”

“Brother Zheng, are these four the ones Boss Rong told us to find?” Da Fei, who had been standing aside observing them, finally interrupted to ask.

“Should be. Unless they’re so good at acting they deserve an Oscar,” Zheng Junzhi replied, tossing him an antidote vial.

Jing Xiubai had walked a circle around the area and returned. “If you don’t have communication devices between you, how do you know whether the people you’re looking for have been found? Or whether to come back?”

“Any kind of communicator will fail here—the magnetic interference is too strong,” said Zheng Junzhi. “But we’re all skilled operatives. We can still judge time and direction in the rainforest.”

He looked up at the sky. The sunlight filtering through the thick canopy had turned faintly orange, no longer so bright.

“It’s getting dark. They should be back soon.”

Sure enough, before long, Da Fei—the one on watch—let out a high-pitched bird call, which was echoed by the same sound from outside.

The small squad Rong Feng had sent to support Chi Xin’s group officially gathered before them.

“You’ve already met Da Fei,” said Zheng Junzhi, pointing to each man in turn. “These three are A-Hu, Wei Shuang, and Yang Zi.”

He indicated a burly man with eyes like copper bells, a slim young man, and another bespectacled youth. “As you can see, we’re all mercenaries—gun hands for hire.”

Perhaps too lazy to explain further—or thinking they wouldn’t understand anyway—Zheng Junzhi summed up their group in those three words: mercenary soldiers.

“These are the ones the boss told us to wait for?”

A-Hu leaned close to Jing Xiubai, his deep voice rumbling like thunder. Even when he deliberately lowered his tone, it still carried a chesty resonance.

His fierce face was smeared with camouflage paint. He glared at Jing Xiubai with those tiger-like eyes, as if testing his courage.

Most people, faced with such a look, would have frozen on the spot.

But Jing Xiubai simply met his gaze calmly, his eyes unflinching, not even a ripple in them.

“Huh?” A-Hu scratched his bald head. “Interesting.”

“Now that we’ve found them, what do we do next?” asked Yang Zi—the bespectacled one—with a mild expression and gentle tone. “The boss only told us to find these people. He didn’t say what comes after.”

“Did he? Didn’t our boss say that once we found them, we were to follow their lead?”

Hearing Yang Zi’s voice reminded Chi Xin of Yu Pengcheng from the L base, so she deliberately teased him.

Yang Zi’s expression faltered slightly before he turned to look at Zheng Junzhi.

Zheng’s face stayed impassive as he said bluntly, “That’s all the boss told us. Nothing more. So why don’t you tell us what you plan to do?”

“Indeed,” Chi Xin said lazily. “Even if it’s dangerous, we should at least know what we’re getting into.”

Zheng Junzhi gave her a glance.

Jing Xiubai spoke at just the right time, drawing everyone’s attention back. “You’re all veterans of Molico. Surely you know what lies hidden inside, don’t you?”

“The Demon’s Womb,” said Wei Shuang softly—the one who had stayed silent until now.

“What Demon’s Womb? Wei Shuang, didn’t I tell you to stop reading so many comics?” A-Hu grumbled, eyes wide. “We don’t know much, but there’s a forbidden zone in the center of the rainforest. They call it ‘the place no creature with a brain would ever set foot in.’”

“That’s quite a long name,” Yu Xiang snorted.

“What are you bringing that up for?” Zheng Junzhi asked warily. “Don’t tell me you’re planning to go there?”

He only meant it as a test, ready to be refuted. After all, as that name suggested, no sane person would want to go.

But when he looked around the three of them, not one denied it.

When his eyes met Chi Xin’s, she raised an eyebrow at him—almost provocatively.

“…” He fell silent, and after a while, his expression turned to shock. “You’re insane.”

The other four mercenaries also looked grim.

“No offense, but going there is suicide,” Zheng Junzhi said urgently. “You rich young people—why can’t you just stay safe in your base? The boss sent us to protect you, not to watch you walk to your deaths!”

“Rong Feng sent you to ‘follow our lead,’ not to ‘protect us,’” Chi Xin corrected smoothly, catching his change of wording. “Don’t you think he already knows what we’re planning?”

That silenced the entire squad.

“Doesn’t matter what you plan,” Zheng Junzhi said coldly after a moment. “It’s not happening. You’re the boss’s friends, and I’m not about to stand by and watch you die. We’re not going along with this madness. Pack up—we’re taking you back. You can tell the boss yourselves.”

“You were acting so loyal earlier, treating his words like divine orders,” Yu Xiang said with a grin. “Looks like your devotion has limits. Just a mention of going to the lab and you all chicken out.”

“You—!”

The other four instantly flushed with anger and reached for their guns.

Zheng Junzhi, however, stayed composed. He raised a hand to calm them, then fixed Yu Xiang with a cold stare. “Listen, I don’t care how highborn you are. Your lives are in my hands now, and it’s my job to kick your pampered asses back from the edge of death. Got it? Or do you plan to die out here, young master who doesn’t even know how to dodge a leech?”

His sharp words didn’t seem to bother Yu Xiang at all. He only shrugged.

“I’m rather curious,” Jing Xiubai interjected. “What exactly is in there that makes you so afraid to even speak of it?”

At his question, all five mercenaries visibly paled.

“No one knows for sure,” Wei Shuang said quietly. “Everyone who’s ever tried to reach that place turned into a horrifying monster. They roam the surrounding area, waiting for the next batch of their kind to be born.”

As if to prove his words, a long, eerie wail echoed from the depths of the forest—drawn-out and bone-chilling.

Chi Xin didn’t react much. She already suspected it was a side effect of defective mutation serum—or perhaps a viral mutation. Both possibilities were within her expectations.

“That’s just the tip of the iceberg. Whatever’s in there, we don’t want to know,” Zheng Junzhi said flatly. “We’re leaving at dawn. Our boat’s not far from here.”

“You’re right,” Chi Xin said suddenly.

Everyone turned to her in surprise, only for her to continue calmly, “Someone will be leaving tomorrow morning. And that’ll be you, Captain Zheng.”

“What did you say?” Zheng Junzhi’s face finally changed.

“I said, you’ll go back first,” Chi Xin lifted her gaze sharply, meeting his eyes head-on. “Do you really think we don’t understand the danger? We just have reasons that leave us no choice. We never intended to drag anyone else down with us. You return tomorrow—Rong Feng will get our message.”

“You think we’re cowards?” Zheng Junzhi shot to his feet, fists cracking. “After everything we just said, you still— You have no idea—”

He didn’t finish. Chi Xin suddenly turned toward the trees.

“Are you done—”

“Captain! Python! It’s a python!”

Zheng Junzhi froze.

He whipped his head around—and saw two long, narrow, glowing pupils gleaming coldly in the dark, locked straight on them.

Once the creature realized it had been spotted, it slithered out from hiding with a harsh scraping sound.

Under the dim moonlight, its massive, blackish-purple body gleamed as it coiled forward—thicker than a man’s torso. Then, a second pair of those narrow eyes appeared.

A two-headed python.

“Prepare for battle,” Zheng Junzhi barked, raising his ever-ready gun. “Forget keeping quiet—go all out—”

He didn’t even finish before a blur of white shot past him, lunging straight at the creature.

Zheng Junzhi froze—then shouted, his voice breaking, “Chi Xin! Get back here!”