22. Silva Predonum

Ran jumped down from the last branch. The sun had risen halfway. Time to start the search. The supplies in his backpack could last for one day. At least. He could follow the jungle survival method to get through afterward.

The forest in front of him looked mysterious. Thick, black, and spooky. How long had his three friends been trapped in there? Were they still alive?

Ran didn't want to think any further. Whatever was ahead, he would deal with it. Whatever the results might be. With steady steps, Ran entered the forest. The trees in this forest were much bigger than the ordinary wilderness. The forest aura was unnerving. It felt as if there were thousands of eyes lurking and ready to ambush anyone who was caught off guard at any moment.

Ran had goosebumps. This adventurer who was also a doctor began to take precautionary measures. What should he do if he encountered a beast? How to save himself? What could he eat if he was low on supplies? And of course, where would he spend the night if he hadn't met his friends.

Through his alert eyes and trained ears, Ran tried to catch the slightest movement and sound around him. The forest was getting darker. Sunlight wasn't able to fully penetrate the thick canopy of giant trees. It was more or less like nighttime. Ran was a bit annoyed by his thoughts.

Although he wasn't a biologist, Ran saw a lot of peculiarity in the vegetation in this forest. He had been on expeditions many times, in various parts of the world, but he had never encountered the types of plants like these. Ran secretly smiled. Had there been a botanist here, he would have been dancing with joy at the sight of new, never-before-seen species.

The smile on Ran's face disappeared in an instant. He saw something very strange in front of him. A pile of bones under a tree that looked like a banyan but it wasn't because the leaves were very wide and the trunk oozed a lumpy sap. Oh my gosh! Ran hesitated to come closer.

But after he sensed the situation was quite safe and there was no sign of dangerous animal around, Ran approached the tree out of curiosity.

Oh right! These bones were still quite new. Not older than last night. Still fresh! Ran choked! Perhaps….

He threw away all the bad thoughts that were raging. He was a doctor. All things must be confirmed. And Ran tried. He examined the pile of bones carefully. Ran became a bit nervous. Among the piles of bones there were also human bones. Good Lord!

Ran stopped his activities. His heart sank imagining the horror if they were his teammates' bones. But the existing bones belonged to only one person. Ran tried to think positively. His friends were three. Maybe two survived. Or were these someone else's bones and all of his friends were still alive? But was there anyone else on this dreadful island?

His head was spinning wildly when he thought about it. He had to focus! Not to think about whose bones these belonged to, but to find out what had chewed up their flesh and left only the bones?

Ran looked around to check. He also examined the traces of animals around the bones.

There was no trace of anything. Suddenly Ran's eyes stumbled upon something strange, shocking, and terrifying at the same time.

The giant tree had a very large trunk and threaded leathery bark. There was a black spot on one of the threads and hey!... there was something white stuck in it. Ran took a twig and tried to take the thing carefully.

Ran's eyes went wide after finding out that the white thing that was stuck was a bone! Human bone! Ran's heart was beating fast. His mind flashed at one thought.

He stuck the long twig into the bark of the tree where the bone had been stuck. The tree bark was soft, not as hard as wood. Increasingly curious, Ran stabbed the end of the branch he was holding into the threaded gap of the stem. Good grief! The tip of the twig went in easily!

This was insane! The thread wasn't a year circle or anything. The thread was a big mouth! This tree had a mouth!

Ran stumbled backwards. So, the ones that preyed on these animals and humans were trees!

Ran's face turned white. He was determined to look closely at the characteristics of this tree. This tree didn't react at all when he thrusted the branch. Ran got it. It was daytime. That meant this tree was a nocturnal predator. It became a predator at nighttime.

It was a little relief for Ran. At least for now he wasn't a potential prey.

Carefully, Ran observed the characteristics of this tree. Dark in color with branches and twigs to the lowest stem. Hmm, apparently branches and twigs were the hands of trees to ambush their prey. Ran shuddered.

After making sure that he could correctly identify if he encountered the same tree later, Ran continued his journey. Go deeper into the forest.

This time Ran took his time. He was very alert. If trees could become predators, he thought there would be many more deadly things in this forest.

River! The sound of splashing water in front made Ran very excited. His water supply was running low. But all the excitements he had experience so far

made him forget about being tired. But water was still the main element of survival. He couldn't be careless about it. Dehydration could be deadly.

Ran, who was still keeping his guard up didn't dare to enter the river. He squatted on the edge of water holding the water bottle. As soon as he looked down at the amazingly clear river to fill his drinking water, he saw something terrible again!

The bottom of the clear river was littered with… Bones! Oh, my goodness! What was this? Ran backed away for a moment.

Based on his experience, Ran could immediately see that the pile of bones was at the bottom of a shallow river that became animal crossing.

Ran took the binoculars from his backpack. He was right. Several meters upstream was also a crossing, the pile of bones was clearly visible. Likewise, about 50 meters downstream, he saw the same thing.

So, if it was shallow, clear, and easy to cross, there would be piles of bones.

Ran frowned. So? Perhaps there was wild animal that lurked at every crossing, then ambushed the prey, and devoured it in the river.

If that was the case, it would be very unusual. Predatory animal usually dragged its prey somewhere safe for it to consume. If it couldn't finish consuming the prey, it would be hidden well somewhere.

This certainly was another kind of predator. Ran remembered the tree of prey he saw this morning. Automatically his eyes explored the right and left sides of the river. There were no trees of that kind anywhere here.

A thought quickly crossed Ran's mind. What if the predator was the river itself? Ran didn't want to think any further. One thing he was sure of was that this forest was full of nocturnal predators. It was still noon. It seemed safe enough to cross this shallow river that wasn't too wide.

Once again Ran used his binoculars to look around. His eyes caught a monitor lizard swimming and crossing on the upstream side of the river, and nothing happened. It looked safe to cross.

While not forgetting to fill his water bottle, Ran crossed the scary river. Once on the other side, Ran breathed a sigh of relief.

But his relief didn't last long. There was a loud roar that shook the entire forest in the distance. Whatever that was, it would be very dangerous for anyone to encounter.

The roar was getting closer. Ran hastily checked the surroundings. He saw a tree. After making sure it wasn't a tree of prey like this morning, Ran immediately climbed up by grabbing the vines of lianas that were wrapped around the tree trunk. The trunk of the tree was straight and didn't branch low. The only way was through the liana.

Just in case, Ran crushed the leaves he had brought with him and rubbed it all over his body.

Ran reached the nearest branch. At least this was more than 25 meters above the ground. Simultaneously with the arrival of a large tiger with black and yellow spots from behind the bushes which apparently attracted by his scene.

The tiger looked very hungry, roared loudly while gazing at Ran who felt safe sitting on the branch of the tall tree. After one more roar, the big tiger started…climbing!

Ran immediately went very pale! Where else should he go? The next branch was too high above it and there were no more lianas to climb. The tiger looked very agile climbing. My God!

Ran ran out of options. He would fight! Meanwhile, he prayed hard that the tiger would be reluctant to prey on him because of the smell of the Tree of Life and Death leaves.

His prayer wasn't answered. The big tiger already on the branch where he was standing at the other end. They faced each other. Ran grabbed the knife from his waist. Time to fight!

The tiger sniffed for a moment at Ran's body. Ran still hoped the scent of the leaf worked. Apparently not. With a short growl, the huge tiger lunged at him. Ran gasped.

Woooshhh! Snaaaapped!....grooowwl.

While flying on the air, a long vine of liana snatched and wrapped the tiger body tightly. The tiger tried to clawed and bite off the stem of the liana.

Ran couldn't help but stare in horror when he saw a large plant head similar to a pitcher plant appeared suddenly swallowing the tiger's body whole! The Liana had a head and it devoured the big tiger just like that!

It happened very fast. The tiger's entire body disappeared in an instant. Ran's heart almost stopped. The liana he was climbing earlier turned out to be a predatory one. He understood why he hadn't eaten earlier. The liana smelled the scent of the leaves of the Tree of Life and Death on her body and could not eat it.

Ran was safe for now.

But a conclusion was etched firmly in his brain. Not all predators were nocturnal. This was Predator ecosystem. Silva Predonum!

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