Chapter 136: The Strange Inhabitants in the Swamp (Medium)
The morning in the swamp is full of hazy beauty, a veil-like morning mist floating slowly on the water, and then radiating a colorful luster in the rising sun. It's just that everyone knows that the morning fog in the swamp is definitely not good for breathing, because many times the fog in the swamp usually contains a large amount of poisonous miasma.
When Chen Kai and the others climbed out of the tent, the entire swamp island was surrounded by this miasma-filled mist, and a faint mist continued to wrap around the camp, as if a pair of invisible hands were caressing them. A trace of white tulle was slowly lifted, and then slowly fell again. If it weren't for the magic array arranged by a few elven mages, which formed a curtain with very inconspicuous-looking plants to block these fogs, it is estimated that Chen Kai and them would have hung up in their sleep because of inhaling a large amount of poisonous miasma.
There is no doubt that it is absolutely impossible to travel early in the morning, even if Chen Kai can wear gas masks, those horses will not be able to move in the swamp with gas masks. Therefore, they could only wait for the sun to clear all the fog on the swamp before they could start their activities, before Chen Kai could prepare breakfast and even lunch together very easily.
When the choking smoke rose, the whole carriage camp was filled with busy figures. The elven mages are still maintaining the miasma-blocking plants that have been magically modified to keep all the poisonous miasma and mist out of the camp. Blades of grass more than two meters tall formed a formidable defense against the miasma blowing from the swamp water. However, there was no way to stop the moisture coming out of the swamp floor, so there was no doubt that the firewood that was placed in the open air was already wet. In order to get rid of the moisture in the firewood, Bai Shasha had to use a lot of magic to create fire elements early in the morning to dry the wood.
Although the drying speed with spells will be very fast, it can't avoid choking smoke, so early in the morning, Chen Kai and the others actually felt the atmosphere, which was very uncomfortable. As the choking smoke filled the air, Chen Kai began to add fodder to the pack horse's trough. Although the pack horses have already eaten some forage in the pet space, they still need to be fed a little more concentrate after being released from the pet space to make them more powerful.
One by one, the eggs are broken and mixed into the feed concentrate. Chen Kai even added some ale to keep the horses warm in the cold and wet swamp environment. Even the fine horses may not be able to eat this meal every day, but in order to keep these horses in the wasteland enough, Chen Kai and the others have to feed them almost every day. However, even after being fed the concentrate every day, these pack horses still can't avoid losing weight, after all, the journey in the wasteland is very difficult. Even if the merchants and guides are familiar with the road, at least a third of the horses pulling the cart will die at the end of the journey, and unless the mercenaries escorted are strong enough, it is not uncommon for them to lose one or two people at a time, and sometimes even the employers and mercenaries are all missing.
There is no doubt that this disappearance is basically equivalent to total annihilation, and the number of caravans and mercenaries reported missing every day at the height of the trade routes of the Western Wilderness was at least a thousand. If Chen Kai and the others don't want to become one of those thousands of people, then they need to be careful and careful. After all, though they are already in the depths of the wasteland. But in fact, even one-third of the journey of the Western Wilderness has not been completed. According to the records obtained by Chen Kai and the others, the fastest record for crossing the Western Wilderness was seven days, and that one was an archmage who flew over some places by flying skills. Chen Kai and the others had no way to fly, and in the case of traveling in a carriage, it would take at least half a month to a month to cross the Great Wilderness.
As for why the flexible time will be close to half a month, it is because if the map in Chen Kai's hands is completely reliable, then they can get through the western wilderness in half a month, and if it is not reliable, then the time will be extended to a month or even longer.
By the time the carriage began to move slowly, the sun had risen above the swamp. The scorching sun unique to the wasteland began to bake the ground. The humid and hot environment on the swamp made Chen Kai and the others eager to take off all the armor on their bodies, of course, if they wanted to be bitten by the mosquitoes in the swamp, they had to be wrapped in meat balls. Even if He Liwen had already prepared mosquito repellent medicine, Chen Kai and the others could still see the mosquitoes around them buzzing in the air.
Although these mosquitoes were taken from Chen Kai's body, they still habitually flew around Chen Kai and them. Once you find that there is an opportunity, then just stare at it. The targets of these mosquitoes were undoubtedly the pack horses pulling the carts, and although He Liwen had a lot of ointment, it was not enough to cover all the horses.
So these horses became the favorite targets of those mosquitoes, although Chen Kai wielded the whip and tried to do so. Even with spells to cover the attack, but there are still more and more mosquitoes. For such a large number of mosquitoes, Chen Kai and the others had no other way than to urge He Liwen to make more mosquito repellent ointment.
When the carriage moved slowly through the swamp, it looked more like a boat rowing in the water, and Chen Kai and the others had to climb under the carriage from time to time to push the carriage up stuck in the mud. Although Chen Kai they have identified the road in the swamp. However, since most of the roads were now submerged under the water, even how strong they were before were now blistered. If it's a rocky road, it's fine, but the problem is that there is no rocky road in the swamp at all, and it's all the most rubbish muddy roads.
In fact, Chen Kai and his team had wasted a day and a half in this wasteland swamp at most, but now it took them at least two or three days to get out of the wasteland, because the roads in the water-filled area became very difficult to walk. Even if the road surface looks dry, the carriage will sink into the mud when it goes up, and then Chen Kai and the others will need to use manpower to push the carriage out. The men who came down in the morning were covered in mud and looked dirty like mud monkeys.
"Phew! Fourth, take a look at the map, where are we now! Chen Kai spat out the mud in his mouth, and then rinsed his mouth with water. Although he had already spit out the water in his mouth, Chen Kai could still taste the faint smell of stinky earth in his mouth.
"Okay! Wait, boss! Fei Yun quickly wiped his wet hands with a dirty linen cloth, and then took out a map from his pocket, while at this moment Xu Fei was hiding in the carriage and using the various maps he had collected to draw a new map. The map in Fei Yun's hand is the game map drawn by Xu Feitong Guò Fei Yun under the influence of the two flying dragons pulling and shooting in the air, and the accuracy of this map is much higher than that drawn by ordinary players.
Fei Yun, who spread out the map, quickly found a reference around him, and then began to determine the location against the map, and in almost a minute, Fei Yun reported to Chen Kai where they were now. There is no doubt that their speed is clearly slower at the moment. Because according to Chen Kai's original speed, they had at least reached the next big swamp island now, but in fact, they were still at least a kilometer away from the next area.
"Then it's time to speed up!" Chen Kai looked at the sky and sighed, because although he said that, looking at the horses that had begun to breathe rapidly, everyone knew that it was almost impossible to speed up any more. Because of mosquito bites, these horses have lost some blood, although this blood is nothing for the whole horse, but the problem is that the mosquitoes around them have sucked no less than a thousand cc of blood, and the blood sucking is not only the mosquitoes, the wasteland leeches in the water, but also the deadly vampires.
With the vigorous exercise and the blood sucked out of a lot, it's a good thing that these pack horses don't froth at the mouth and die on the ground. Let them continue to move faster, although Chen Kai said this, he didn't actually do that, unless he wanted to go straight from riding in a carriage to walking after walking out of the wasteland swamp. Therefore, although Chen Kai and the others hoped that the speed could be accelerated, in the end, they could only maintain the current speed and move forward slowly. When they finally reached the swampy island, they were greeted by the barren crocodile basking in the sun on the ground.
Looking at Chen Kai, they pulled the carriage and walked towards the place where they were basking in the sun. Without hesitation, these crocodiles rushed up to defend their right to bask in the sun, and by the way, they wanted to enjoy a lunch. Of course, the end result was that they quickly became someone else's lunch, and Chen Kai and the others added a few very good crocodile skins that could be used as leather bags.
It's just that the strong smell of blood has once again attracted a large number of carnivorous fish, or rather, the Wasteland Man-eating Pomfret Pomfret is right. Therefore, Chen Kai and the others had to stay on this swampy island for another day, in addition to letting those horses rest and recuperate, they also instantly let Fei Yun continue to fly at high altitude to take photos to judge the road.
As a result, poor Fei Laosi had to endure the terrible flight without safety measures and only relying on two ropes to save his life, and flew above the swamp leading to the outside world for two full hours in a burst of screams. When Fei Yun landed, his whole body was shaky, because this journey was not safe. Although Wyverns are the overlords of the skies in ordinary areas, they are not absolute lords in the Great Western Wastelands, let alone two wyverns who have not yet reached adulthood.
There is no doubt that when the two wyverns are flying in the air with great arrogance. Nature has drawn the resentment of some of the indigenous flying species in the swamps. While the wyvern was happily taking Fei Yun for a ride, several bipedal pterodactyls roared and swooped down from the sky and attacked the two wyverns. Then poor Fei Laosi experienced an air battle with extreme reluctance, and his eyes were still rolling when he landed.
"Strange! Fourth, where did you shoot here! When Chen Kai and the others reviewed the video taken by Fei Yun from above. Suddenly, I saw a very strange place, it was a camp that looked a little large, and it seemed that the area alone could hold at least thousands of people, if not more.
"Huh? Have I photographed such a camp? How did I not know? Fei Yun looked at the video strangely, there is no doubt that the video screen is not particularly clear, but the appearance of the camp is still vaguely recognizable. But the problem is that Fei Yun doesn't remember photographing this camp himself. And then Chen Kai and the others saw that the video screen was full of upside-down images and the aerial battle of the two flying dragons, which made Fei Yun understand that at that time, he just heard the cry of the biped pterodactyl, so he didn't realize how important it was for him to see things.
"I don't know if it's a camp or a ruin!" Both the former and the latter are of great significance to everyone, and if it is a camp or a gathering place, then it is necessary to consider whether the race that can build a camp or gathering place of this size in the wasteland swamp is a friendly race. If it was a ruin, then Chen Kai and they might have a chance to have an adventurous experience. Although they don't necessarily have time to go there and explore the ruins.
"Let's find someone to take a look! Uh, do you remember the road, fourth? Chen Kai turned his head and asked Fei Yun, but the other party's blank expression made him pat his face and sigh, there is no doubt that Fei Yun didn't remember the road at all, and it was estimated that it was difficult to remember the road. Although they were able to determine the location of the camp using a map comparison, it would take quite a long time, and as for the two wyverns that were eating, they might remember the way, but passing through the sky and passing through the ground were two different concepts. Of course, even if Fei Yun remembered the road, it must have been the direction from the sky. And Chen Kai and their desire to pass through the sky is almost impossible, unless the group all goes through a very uncomfortable air journey.
When Chen Kai and the others embarked on the journey again, they had already forgotten all the scenes they saw yesterday. After making sure that there were no carnivorous fish around, the carriage and the horses pulling the cart once again cleared the swampy road that was already getting shallower, and this time Chen Kai and their speed was undoubtedly slightly faster. Although Cheng Dù, who was muddy due to being soaked in water for a long time, the ecliptic that opened the road in front of him could already change the hardness of part of the road with a spell, even if it was only paved with a layer of hard shell on the surface of the dirt road, which was an extremely fast increase in the movement speed of the group.
There is no doubt that the trouble caused by the heavy rain before is gradually subsiding, but Chen Kai and the others have not been happy for long, and the rain is floating in the sky again. Although the rain could not raise the water level of the swamp in a short period of time, it would undoubtedly make the road ahead of Chen Kai and them more troublesome.
"Go on! Speed up while the water level is not rising! Armand asks your compatriots to change horses! All the horses are in good shape, and we have to go a little longer before dark! Chen Kai lifted his helmet mask and touched the rain on the helmet. The icy rain slowly seeped into his body through the cracks in his armor. took away some of the body temperature on Chen Kai's body.
"No problem!" Armand quickly jumped out of the carriage. It's just that when he landed, his feet slipped, and his body instantly snapped and fell into the muddy water. When he stood up with his head shaky, a blood-sucking leech stuck to his nose made him scream.
When all the horses were changed, Chen Kai obviously noticed that the water surface under his feet had risen slightly, and the rain that had been dripping slowly became larger. When Chen Kai and the others walked nearly three kilometers in the rain, the original small rain had turned into raindrops the size of beans, and at this time, the swampy lake that had been shallow due to the sun exposure had regained from reaching the floor of Chen Kai's feet to more than his ankles.
"Boss! We can't go any further, we have to find a place to stop, or we'll get lost! Fei Yun wiped the rain or muddy water from his face, and there was no doubt that it was very dangerous to walk in the rain or in the swamp on such a rainy day.
"Alright! Then find a place to rest. Remember to find a high place above sea level, I don't want to be swept away by the flood in the middle of the night! Chen Kai lifted his visor, his helmet was more waterproof, so although some places on his body were already wet, there was still not much water on his face. But after lifting the visor. The bean-sized raindrops splashed directly into the helmet, causing his face to start to get wet.
Eventually, Chen Kai and the others found a small island, where all the carriages were pushed together, and all the horses were stuffed into the pet space, and the carriages were nailed to death with wood. A wooden carriage floated on the water and was washed away, as the crowd took refuge in the carriage. The rain outside was already falling like a dumping basin.
The surface of the swampy lake, which used to look calm, is now starting to become choppy, and the original swamp has now started to look at the sea. As far as the eye can see, there is no earth outcropping out of the water, only the waves of water shaking in sight. The crashing waves of the water kept lapping against the carriage. If it weren't for Chen Kai, they specially reinforced the carriage and made waterproof treatment, and it is estimated that there would have been water entering the carriage along the gap in the carriage.
Of course, the space-expanding carriage is very waterproof, even if the water outside has flooded the door, as long as the door is not opened, the inside of the carriage is still very dry. However, Chen Kai didn't believe that the water in the swamp could submerge a carriage that was at least two meters above the water, so it would be impossible for Chen Kai and the others to leave the swamp.
The pouring rain kept falling, Chen Kai and his family had no way to make a fire to cook, they could only rely on dry food to solve their stomach problems, and the space for everyone in the crowded carriage was pitiful. Even legendary mages from the past can only endure cramped conditions at the moment, unless they want to swim outside. There was no doubt that a few small elven mages would not want to experience the rain in the icy swampy lake waters, so they had to endure the small environment. (To be continued......)