I was worried that the pain and exhaustion would affect Dorjee's judgment of direction, and he seemed to understand what I meant, nodding vigorously.

With the direction in hand, the next step is how to judge the distance. For example, when we walk towards the northwest, we know where we are going, but we don't know how far we have traveled, and then we will get lost in the darkness if we go too far.

I discussed it with Liang Houzai, and Liang Houzai said that now, the only tool we can use to measure the distance is our steps, and we can only rely on the method of calculating the steps to determine the approximate walking distance.

And Liu Shangang took the initiative to undertake such a complicated work.

The purpose of measuring the direction and distance is to mark our location on the map at regular intervals, so the distance I need is not to measure the actual distance we have traveled, but to put this distance on the map, about how far it is.

I found another stone tablet not far from here and said, "Dorjee, take us to this place." Skinny monkey, remember the number of steps. ”

Liu Shangang nodded at me, and Dorjee walked towards the stone monument I had chosen.

When Liu Shangang counted about 4,000 steps, we finally came to the vicinity of the stele, and I connected the marking point we were just on with the point where the stele was located, and wrote "4000" on it.

Okay, the direction and distance are all right, and we are all ready, and the next thing is to wait for the magnetic field on the stone tablet to explode and attract those monsters over.

At this time, the monster blood I had stored before came in handy, and I took out the blood-stained cotton wool and placed it near the stone tablet. After that, we began to wait quietly.

I hope that this blood, like the blood on Liu Shangang's body, can also be absorbed by the stone tablet, and it can also attract a large group of monsters here.

After a long time, the stele did not change its magnetic field, during which we ate something, and since we didn't know how long the food shortage would last, we didn't dare to eat too much, but simply replenished a little energy to keep the hunger pangs in a less intense state.

Dorjee was not as greedy as usual, he simply ate two pieces of air-dried meat, and then lay down and took a nap.

It wasn't until we were about to eat the second meal that the magnetic field on the stele finally changed, and the huge magnetic field attraction force suddenly caused the three backpacks on the ground to slide quickly towards it, and several of us hurriedly hugged the backpacks while staring at the sponge that had been attached to the surface of the stele.

In just a few seconds, the stele had absorbed all the blood that had not yet dried out of the cotton, and then the sound of footsteps could be heard in the darkness behind us.

Compared to the last time, the chaotic footsteps were far away from us, and I could only hear a very small sound with my ears pricked up.

At first, I thought I had misheard, but when Liu Shangang turned around and cast his eyes in the direction of the voice, I was sure that I had heard correctly.

"Be careful, the magnetic field may change. ”

As soon as he finished speaking, the pull of the backpack disappeared.

But after a few seconds, this force reappeared, and it was even stronger than the last time, and I looked at the cotton wool that was stuck to the surface of the stele again, and the dried blood that stuck to it was also sucked away by the stele.

It wasn't until the red color on the cotton wool almost completely disappeared that the stele seemed to be satisfied, and the magnetic field returned to calm.

Recall that the last stele also seemed to have undergone two magnetic changes in a short period of time, but in terms of intensity and frequency, it was not as high as it is now.

At this time, I felt the sound of footsteps in the distance approaching us at a faster speed.

I pulled out the green steel sword, Liu Shangang pulled out the Tibetan knife, Liang Houzai still had a mountaineering pickaxe and a handmade shovel in one hand, only Dorjee changed places and continued to lie on the ground and nap.

Before the monsters came to us, Liang Houzai said to Liu Shangang: "If you guess correctly, these monsters should exist in the form of small races, and each group is not involved in each other, and each group has a leader. ”

Liu Shangang blinked: "What are you talking about." ”

Liang Houzai said: "I'm going to tell you, when you can do it, only kill the small ones, keep the leader and don't kill them, we need to borrow it to find a water source." ”

Liu Shangang said "um", but he obviously didn't understand Liang Houzai's intentions.

I smiled helplessly and continued to be on my guard, keeping an eye in the direction where the footsteps were coming from.

After a long time, the footsteps reached the vicinity of the firelight, and I whispered to Liang Houzai, "There are not as many as last time." ”

Liang Houzai smiled: "Fortunately, there are not so many, we are all hungry now, and we can't deal with so many monsters." ”

The monsters in the darkness seemed to be watching us, and the footsteps were gone, but I could faintly hear their breathing.

This time, Liu Shangang and I still touched the weapons in our hands with each other, and this trick really worked again, and when the crisp impact sounded, the monsters also launched an attack.

The process of the battle was lackluster, because they lived in the darkness all year round, their limbs were far from strong, and their strength was about the same as that of children of seven or eight years old, and the battle turned into a one-sided slaughter from the beginning, and the three of us took up and fell with knives and slashed monsters to the ground like chopping vegetables and melons.

Seriously, I don't want to kill them at all if I could, but if we don't kill them, they'll kill us, and some things are just so helpless.

There were about a hundred monsters rushing out of the darkness this time, and when we sent the last monster to Lord Hades' house for tea, we stopped all movements and listened carefully to the sounds in the darkness.

Hopefully, Liang Houzai's speculation is correct, if the leaders of these monsters are not hiding in the dark, or if they don't have leaders at all, then we can only wait for the next magnetic change.

A moment later, there was a very faint sound of snorting in the darkness, and my hanging heart was finally relaxed.

I asked Liu Shangang and Liang Houzai to put away their weapons, and then I took them out of the stele, this place was full of dead bodies, and I really couldn't stay any longer.

Before leaving, I told Liu Shangang to pay attention to his steps. I didn't let everyone rest until we barely smelled blood.

Dorjee used his thick furry paws to point out the direction of our journey on the map, and Liu Shangang said that this time he had walked more than 200 steps, so that I could find our general location on the map and mark it.

As we walked, there were footsteps behind us, and the leader of the monster followed us all the way.

I took out a little food and distributed it to everyone so that everyone could replenish their strength.

Liu Shangang asked me, "Brother Dao, you say, why are these monsters attacking us?" ”

I glanced into the darkness behind me and said, "I don't know, maybe it's protecting the stele, maybe it's hunting." ”

Liu Shangang: "Hunting? They're taking us as prey? ”

I nodded: "It's possible." However, even if they don't hunt, they have other food, such as fish from the river. When it gets hungry, it will go to the water source to find fish, and then we can find the water source as long as we follow it. ”

At this time, Liang Houzai said on the side: "I think they should be to protect their own territory, they buried fish bones near the stone stele, and they should regard that area as their own territory." When there is a magnetic change in the stone monuments there, they immediately rush back. In other words, these monsters can perceive changes in the stele from a great distance. ”

I thought about it for a moment and said, "The change of the stone tablet...... Every time they come back, it's because the stele has sucked blood. ”

Liang Houzai: "I think the reason why they can sense the change in the stele is that they have reached some kind of blood pact with the stele. As long as the blood pact is reached, it can resonate with the stele like a psychic, and if other blood enters the stele, it means that other races are coming to fight for territory with them. They will rush back in a hurry. ”

Liu Shangang was puzzled: "But why did they grab such a stone stele?" ”

Liang Houzai: "I think that place is like a lighthouse for them. After thousands of years of mutation, these monsters have an excellent sense of hearing and smell, but these two senses are not as good as sight after all, when someone breaks away from the large army in the dark, they can return to their stronghold through the perception of the stone tablet, waiting for everyone to return. The water source here is the only place where they can be fed, so I guess only the most powerful will be able to occupy the stone monument closest to the water source. ”

I understand what Liang Houzai meant, he said that the closer you get to the water, the stronger and more numerous the monsters will be. So our journey to find water will become more and more dangerous.

As he spoke, I heard footsteps behind me, and the leader of the monsters had begun to move away from us.

Liu Shangang's keen sense of hearing was the first to notice the abnormal movement, and he immediately stood up and said, "It moves very fast. ”

I quickly got up from the ground and made a forward gesture while telling Liu Shangang: "Don't forget to count the steps." ”

Liu Shangang nodded, and chased after the footsteps in the darkness.

I felt like my stomach was empty, my chest was almost against my back, but even then we couldn't help it, we had to catch up with the monster in the dark, and only by following it could we find the water and the food in the water.

It was so fast that I couldn't hear its footsteps for a long time, but Liu Shangang was still firmly chasing after it.

I didn't know where the target was, I just kept up with Liu Shangang's pace, and we ran a long way until my legs felt a little heavy, and Liu Shangang suddenly slowed down and said to me, "It's slowing down!" There seems to be something in front. ”

As he spoke, Liu Shangang stopped running and switched to a normal walking speed.

As I walked, I took out a map, asked Dorjee to point in the direction, and asked Liu Shangang how many steps he had taken.

Liu Shangang said at a very fast pace: "Ten thousand steps, when I run, the pace is two and a half times that of normal walking." ”

I nodded, and from where we found out that I had drawn a straight line for the initial point, and as I drew it, I kept an eye out for the length of the line marked "4000", until I felt that the newly drawn line was almost "25000", and I circled the end of the line.

After walking forward for a while, Liu Shangang suddenly said, "It stopped." ”

I asked Liu Shangang, "Can you hear the sound of water?" ”