Enemies Are All Nourishment for My Fungi..

It truly was dead, not moving a muscle.

"It seems rather easy to hit?"

"You have to hit its eyes, its skin is too thick and tough."

"It’s best to attack it from distance. If we engage in close combat, we’ll all be down without breaking through its defenses."

"Then we can only rely on snipers. If we encounter another one later, we’ll use the same method. Don’t let it jump up. I don’t want to know at all what kind of attack power such a big thing will have when it jumps."

Everyone nodded in agreement, and logistics collected the giant frog into their emptied Space.

"There’s no prey here left. Back to the vehicle, let’s move to a new spot."

Once back on the trailer, Ye Nai drove to a new place. When they disembarked, she quietly placed two double-layered octagonal traps among the aquatic plants, lining them with waterbird innards, to see if she could catch fish, shrimp, crabs, or other aquatic creatures.

Where did the waterbird come from, of course, Fungus had caught it in the morning and stored it in Space, specifically asking to keep the innards.

It didn’t take long after the traps were set in the water before there were signs of activity—a creature, either an eel or a water snake, entered the trap and feasted heartily.

The strong scent of fresh blood was something that no carnivorous animal could resist.

Protected by Fungus, Ye Nai wasn’t afraid of being attacked by mutant beasts, and stood still, munching on jerky while she waited.

Not far away, Sister Da Ma and her team were cautiously toiling among the aquatic plants, afraid of scaring away the animals. This time they didn’t use fire but cut the tops of the aquatic plants with Gold Element.

Although the fallen dead grass startled some creatures, not many ran away. Many waterbirds, after squawking and flapping their wings a few times, shrank back into the deep recesses of the plants.

"There’s a nest over there."

The team members cautiously approached that patch of aquatic plants, fearful of scaring off the waterbirds again. Logistics took out a sickle to cut the grass; it was slow, but effective. They found a bird’s nest with eggs in it.

"Do wild birds lay eggs during this season?"

"Laying eggs regardless of season, isn’t that just like egg chickens and egg ducks?"

"Who cares what kind of eggs, we’ll take them first, let the scientists rack their brains later."

Logistics collected the whole bird’s nest into Space.

They continued cutting grass and searching, creating all sorts of noises. Although they wanted to catch a few waterbirds, they were more afraid of creatures like snakes suddenly darting out. The old method of ’startling the snake by beating the grass’ was old, but effective.

After cutting a large patch of water grass, they collected quite a few bird nests, all seemingly from the same species based on the pattern of the eggs.

Just as they thought to return to the vehicle and move to another spot for more searching, a cry of alarm came from the rear of the team.

"There’s a snake!"

Everyone quickly turned around. One of the members was sitting on the ground, clutching their calf. Black blood that was alarming to see was seeping through their fingers. The sickle they’d been using to cut the grass lay beside them.

"It’s venomous!"

They urgently dragged the person out of the aquatic plant area and cut open their pant leg to check the wound.

The wound had two tiny puncture marks, and the skin around it was turning black just like the blood.

"Quick, call for Ye Nai."

Panic set in, and they immediately called for Ye Nai over the walkie-talkie to come pick up the wounded.

Ye Nai quickly collected the traps from the water, rushed back to the vehicle, jumped down from the driver’s seat, and took out the medical kit she had prepared in her Space as a backup.

"We need the mini fridge; there’s an antitoxin in there."

Ye Nai then pulled out the mini fridge. The medic quickly used scissors to cut the injured member’s pant leg all the way to the upper thigh. In the brief time it took her to arrive, the poison had acted rapidly on the victim, and the leg below the knee was already showing signs of turning black.

The medic hurriedly took out a syringe from the mini fridge and injected it directly into the root of the victim’s thigh.

The part of the vein where the needles were injected was so painful that the injured soldier cried out.

"Good to know you feel pain."

The medic hurriedly treated the wound, but clearly, this kind of emergency aid was useless; they needed to rush back and get the patient to a hospital, and it was uncertain if there was an antidote available.

"Exploration over, prepare to return," Sister Da Ma decisively ordered, though she looked regretfully towards the water’s edge, "If only we could have caught a water snake, at least then we’d know what kind of toxin it is."

"I’ve got water snakes."

As Ye Nai spoke, she pulled out two octagonal cages and placed them on the ground, inside were a bunch of creatures large and small, not clear if they were eels or water snakes; at first, there were some shrimp and crabs, but they ended up as food for these beings, not a single one left.

"Ah! Where did you get these?!"

"While you all were hunting, I wasn’t just waiting around."

"You caught them with this cage? What bait did you use?"

"The innards of water birds, quite the catch, no need to wait when thrown into the water, they came one after another, really liked the strong blood scent of the bait."

Ye Nai shook the cage, showing everyone the few remains of the entrails left inside.

"But there’s no knowing if the one that bit her is in here."

"No time to catch new ones, we’ll have to make do with these. Leave two people to carry the injured, everyone else get on the truck and wait."

Ten minutes later, the medic finished bandaging the patient’s wound, a stretcher was lowered from the vehicle, and the injured soldier was secured and pulled onto the truck.

Ye Nai and Sister Da Ma sat in the driver’s cabin, and as soon as a signal came through the intercom, they immediately started the vehicle and rushed back at full speed.

Once they broke free from the muddy area, the entire team switched back to off-road vehicles. They didn’t stop for rest, drove relentlessly day and night, only pausing to use the restroom and move their limbs when changing drivers, and then they would continue on the journey.

After racing at full speed for a day and two nights, they finally reached the highway. Ye Nai got off the truck, mounted a motorcycle, and, carrying a logistics member on the back, raced to the nearest army town to request a military doctor to be ready to receive the injured soldier.

This logistics member was Ye Nai’s civilian pass to enter the military base.

Ye Nai twisted the throttle to the max, the wind howled past, the team member on the backseat clung to Ye Nai’s waist in terror, not daring to make a sound, for fear of disturbing her and causing a crash that would end them both.

The motorcycle slowed down only as it burst into the town, skidding to a stop right in front of the military base’s entrance, accompanied by a scream from the passenger.

"Team from Zone 5 Hazard Area, we’ve got a patient en route who has been bitten by a water snake."

The rear-seated team member followed by pulling out their personal identification for inspection at the gate.

"The convoy is right behind us; we came forward to inform the doctor."

After inspecting the identification and handing it back, the guard added a comment,

"As you know, the treatment options in the town aren’t very effective against poison."

"We know, thank you."

Ye Nai restarted the motorcycle, heading into the compound, steering towards a building with a Red Cross not far away.

The doctor frowned upon hearing it was a water snake bite.

"All we can do is wait for the patient to arrive and clean her wound, the rest is up to you to act quickly."

"That’s fine, we only have a medic on our team, and there’s not much more we can do. On the way here, we’ve used up all the antitoxin, and it has kept the toxin limited to her lower body."

The doctor’s frown relaxed a little.

"Then I’ll prescribe you some more antitoxin, hoping you have a smooth journey ahead."

"Thank you."