AZI Volume 3 Chapter 38

"Li Xue! Wake up!"

Despite being tired, Li Xue's combat habits—that originated from the frontlines, are still there; for as soon as Ye Chen had called her, she snaps her eyes wide open.

"Qing Yue, wake up."

"Uh…?"

Giving Qing Yue a rough shake, Li Xue crawls out of the tent with her Relic in hand, and asks—

"What hap…-?"

Without finishing her question, vigilance emanates from Li Xue's eyes, while Ye Chen says—

"Wake up Yu Ji as well, and start packing up."

Nodding her head, Li Xue moves over to the other tent.

"…"

"…"

Standing closely together, Long Hua and Ye Chen eyes the sands around them with wariness.

Someone, or something is treating the sands like water, as they move beneath it, and circle the group's campsite.

"Shit…"

"…"

*Siii! Siii! Siii!* if one isn't already intimidating enough as it is, there are now more than ten of them swimming around.

From a bird's eye view, it looks as if the group is stuck on an island that is thoroughly surrounded by sharks.

As Qing Yue and Yu Ji exit their tents, and work to pack up as much of their supplies as possible, they can't help but occasionally direct a glance at whatever it is that is moving beneath the sands.

Eventually, Ye Chen asks—

"Surnamed Long, you want to try, and fish one of them up with that rod of yours?"

"Really funny, surnamed Ye, but…"

Pulling out his fishing rod, and casting a line towards the campfire, Long Hua picks up a burning piece of wood, and tosses it into the distance.

"Worth a try."

*Pah!* leaping out of the sands like a fish is—

"Uh…?"

"What kind of fish is that?"

The fish like creature's body is thoroughly covered in sharp scales, which allows it to efficiently slice through the sands; and as it comes into contact with the burning wood, it effortlessly snaps the wood into two—before diving back into the sands.

Having seen something so bizarre, both Qing Yue and Yu Ji stopped their hands from moving, and drew closer to the others.

"I didn't see eyes on that thing; it's possible that it uses other senses to detect its prey."

Sharing her observations of that creature, Li Xue takes aim at one of the moving bodies beneath the sands, and—

*Pah!* upon thrusting her spear forward, the weapon extends in length, and having impaled something, Li Xue lifts it upwards—throwing the creature's body into the air.

Simultaneously—

*Pah! Pah! Pah!* numerous creatures—the same as the one that was tossed into the air, leaps out of the sands, and similarly, to a pack of piranhas, they rip their dead kin apart, causing blood to rain down from above.

"Never thought I'd see piranhas in a desert…"

Just as Yu Ji had said this—

*Guuuuuuu!!!* the sand beneath their feet trembles, and patches of it are thrown upwards—making it seem as if the area around them had become a body of water that is currently boiling!

As more and more of the sands are tossed about, it becomes terrifying to think of just how many sand piranhas there are beneath their feet.

"Wh-What do we do?"

Looking around in panic, Qing Yue just so happens to catch sight of—

"The tents…"

In an effortless manner, the sand piranhas pierce through the tents with their blade-like bodies—ripping it apart in an instant.

Blinking his eyes, Long Hua adds to Li Xue's observation, and says—

"They either use smell, or sound to detect prey; worst-case scenario, they use both."

"And if they do use both?"

Towards Li Xue's question, Long Hua answers—

"Hope and pray that their sense of hearing is more developed than their sense of smell."

(Surnamed Long, you better not purposefully hold back here. If I die, I'll come back as a ghost, and haunt you for the rest of your life!)

Thinking of this, Qing Yue stares at Long Hua with evident desperation in her eyes—while her forehead is drenched in cold sweat. Due to how damaged her MAU was, it's still being serviced, so she doesn't have it in her Summoning Pouch right now.

"They can finish us off easily, what are they waiting for?"

"…"

Towards Yu Ji's question, Long Hua frowns, and replies—

"A bunch of sadistic assholes is what these things are. They're waiting for us to panic, so that we'd taste better."

"They're that smart?"

Widening her eyes in response to Long Hua's answer, Qing Yue sucks in a breath of cold air—whereas the others are a bit more skeptical about this conclusion.

(Dammit, I need to keep my trap shut a bit more…)

Thinking of an excuse quickly, Long Hua says—

"There's a famous saying—that goes, a lion uses its full strength when hunting a hare. It's simply a beast's natural instincts to demonstrate its superiority over its prey. I suggest you all—to read a few research papers done on the world's current ecosystem."

Shrugging a shoulder, Ye Chen replies—

"Maybe after this, if we live."

Turning his gaze towards Li Xue, Ye Chen says—

"Li Xue, I know for a fact that you can escape from this with another person."

Gripping her spear tightly, Li Xue nods, and replies—

"I can teleport to wherever my spear is, and I can also bring one additional person with me."

"So, there's hope then?"

Before Li Xue can answer Qing Yue's question, Long Hua raises his fishing rod—

"Hang on."

Without anything attached to his hook, Long Hua casts his line, and rather quickly, several sand piranhas chase after the whistling sound that is generated by the line's aerial traversal.

"Tch, they're this sensitive to sound…?"

Upon his hook landing into the sands, Long Hua is quick to press the blue button on the rod, severing the line, and remarks—

"The moment you teleport to your spear, you're going to have to start running. There won't be any chances to come back for the rest of us."

"…"

Hearing this, everyone's expression darkens.

Thinking quickly, Ye Chen says—

"If these bastards are so sensitive to sound, we can set our phones to it loudest volume, and scatter them."

"That won't last very long."

Nodding his head to Li Xue's remark, Ye Chen turns to Yu Ji, and says—

"Blast arrows, as many as possible."

Closing her right hand, a bow appears in Yu Ji's grip, along with a quiver—that is strapped to her hip.

Drawing in a light breath, Ye Chen remarks—

"…The dust cloud that is kicked up will make it difficult for us to keep track of one another. There's a high likelihood of us getting separated, but that also means we'll end up splitting this pack's attention between each other."

"What do we do about supplies?"

Without any hesitation, Ye Chen shoves his storage pouch to Li Xue.

"You-"

"Captain's orders, take Qing Yue and leave together. My life here is the most worthless out of everyone."

With a begrudging look, Li Xue takes the storage pouch, and shoves it into her pocket, prior to asking—

"…You're certain?"

"Never been more."