Lu Mingfei, who had read Dragon Clan before Dragon Slaying

Chapter 1085 Giant Tree (Two in One, please subscribe!!!)

"Those snakes were grayish white all over, and their pupils were golden. Each one was as big as a human fist. Those vertical pupils were like dragon eyes, cold and vicious, except not as bright." Chu Tianjiao described the scene at that time, "But it was still very creepy. The crew had never seen such a huge snake, and of course I hadn't seen one either."

"The snakes' eyes emit golden light, and they frequently spit out tongues from their mouths. They leave thick marks on the road where they pass. We didn't notice them before because the marks were too thick and dense. Countless marks overlapped each other like the natural unevenness of the ground." Chu Tianjiao paused, "But this time we saw it with our own eyes. I believe no one has ever seen such a terrifying scene. A group of huge snakes with a length of dozens of meters approach you at a rapid speed. The scene looks like a group of dragons returning to their nest!"

The people in the room imagined the scene and it was indeed quite creepy, especially the girls, who all got goose bumps.

For many people, snakes are disgusting enough. If the snake were magnified hundreds of times, people with weak psychological endurance would probably be scared to death on the spot.

"At that time, several crew members couldn't help cursing out loud. They were relatively brave. Some crew members who were not so psychologically strong were completely frightened and almost fainted on the spot. Sasha and several crew members in the front couldn't help but point their guns at the giant snakes." Chu Tianjiao said, "I noticed the abnormality of the snakes, and I shouted at them loudly not to shoot at them. Sasha calmed down, but several crew members still shot at the snakes out of fear. The bullets hit the gray-white scales of the giant snakes, and there was a sound of metal plates colliding. The scales of those snakes were as hard as iron. The giant snakes made a piercing hissing when they were shot. Can you believe that snakes can make roars other than spitting out their tongues!"

"Snakes don't even have vocal cords, let alone throats. They don't make any sound except for the friction between their limbs and external organs." Chu Zihang said, "The roars of those giant snakes you heard were probably because the sound of their tongues was too loud, and you mistook that sound for a roar because of fear?"

"No, that's a real roar, like the roar of a wild beast out of anger or fear. I can hear the emotions from their voices." Chu Tianjiao shook his head and said, "The dark golden eyes of those giant snakes are very bright, which looks very abrupt in the gray-white forest."

"Perhaps it's because the dragon blood changed their original body structure, causing those giant snakes to evolve into a body structure similar to that of mammals." Chu Zihang whispered, "But what happened to those giant snakes? Such a huge species that is not afraid of even bullets was actually frightened and fled in panic, making terrified cries. What is in the center of this island?"

"We finally saw what scared those monsters, but that's another story." Chu Tianjiao said, "When those soldiers opened fire, I pulled Sasha aside and pinned him down behind a tree. Soon, screams of fear and roars of pain rang out from all around us. They were all from the crew members who opened fire. When the giant snakes passed by them, some opened their bloody mouths and bit off half of the crew members' bodies, and some strangled people to death with their huge bodies. They killed the crew members who opened fire at the fastest speed. Blood and flesh flew in front of Sasha and I."

"Did those giant snakes only kill the sailors who fired the guns?" Caesar asked.

"Yes, there were also crew members fleeing in the direction we came from. I guess it was because their nest happened to be in that direction. I saw some crew members trying to climb up a tree to avoid the giant snake's attack. I cursed them for being stupid because snakes can definitely climb trees, and didn't we see snake remains on the tree when we came here?" Chu Tianjiao shook his head and said, "But the result was completely beyond my expectations. Those crew members who fled to the trees were also safe and sound, and the giant snake didn't attack them at all."

"These giant snakes seem to be running away?" Chu Zihang looked at Chu Tianjiao.

"Yes, I only realized this later. I originally thought they would attack all moving creatures, but in the end they only fought back against those who attacked them, and also attacked those who fled towards their nests." Chu Tianjiao said softly, "Whether it was the people who climbed up the tree or the people who stayed still, everyone escaped this disaster, except for a few unlucky people who were affected by the giant snake's huge body when it moved."

"The snakes quickly disappeared into the forest behind us, leaving behind a mess." Chu Tianjiao said, "In addition to the roads they crushed, there was also blood and corpses all over the ground. They appeared very suddenly and left in a hurry. They didn't even have time to take away the 'trophies' - I mean the remains of the crew members. It seemed that they were just in a hurry to get away from here."

"Snakes are not social animals, and it is very rare to see a group of snakes moving together." Chu Zihang said, "Snakes will deliberately lower their voices when they move, but these snakes actually made such a loud noise when they moved. It's very abnormal. And the snakes spitting out their tongues means they are either preparing to hunt or they are afraid. These snakes contaminated by dragon blood sound smarter than ordinary snakes, but they also have obvious reptilian characteristics. They are obviously scared by something."

"About half of the crew members are still alive, and many of them are injured, but fortunately they only have minor scratches." Chu Tianjiao paused, "No one is seriously injured. Those who were attacked by the snakes all suffered serious and fatal injuries. All the crew members looked at the horrific scene, all of them are still in shock. Sasha was also completely stunned. He looked at the direction where the snakes disappeared, and kept muttering, 'Oh my God, are these things really snakes?', 'Oh my God, there are such big snakes in this world!'"

"Snakes are reptiles. Their body structures are fundamentally different from mammals. Their cells divide every once in a while, and their bodies grow larger. That's why snakes need to shed their skin, because the cells will break through the original epidermis, and snakes tend to grow a lot bigger after shedding their skin." Chu Zihang explained, "This cell division is uncontrolled and has no end until they die. In other words, if they have enough prey, rich nutrition, and a long enough lifespan, snakes can grow indefinitely."

"That's how the legendary mid-earth python Jörmungandr came about, right?" Lu Mingfei couldn't help but interrupt, then suddenly realized that what he said was inappropriate, and quickly changed his words, "Besides, these snakes have had their genes modified by dragon blood, so it's not uncommon for dragon subspecies to grow larger than anacondas." "Snakes are animals that can adapt very well to the environment. I think they must have lived on the 'Isle of Death' for a long time, so their bodies are the same grayish-white color as the trees, which can be understood as some kind of evolution." Chu Zihang looked at Chu Tianjiao and said, "You didn't let the crew move. Besides being able to tell what the snakes were avoiding, you should know that snakes have poor eyesight, right?"

"Yes, the static vision of pythons is almost equivalent to that of blind people. They use infrared thermal sensing to identify living things. Snakes rarely attack stationary people, but if you move quickly, it is easy to arouse the snake's desire to attack." Chu Tianjiao nodded and said, "I looked at the direction where the snakes disappeared, and then looked at the center of the island. I can judge that those snakes escaped from the center of the island, and they did not live in the center of the island from the beginning. Remember, we passed those snake caves, they are on the outer edge of this island."

"Generally speaking, the closer a forest is to the center, the richer its resources are. These snakes live on the outskirts of the island, which means there are more powerful creatures in the center of the island." Chu Zihang murmured in a low voice, "What creatures are more powerful than these huge snakes and can scare them away in panic... Is there a dragon king living there?"

"I urged Sasha and the others to leave quickly, but the crew seemed to have lost their fighting spirit. They didn't dare to retreat because they didn't know if they would encounter the giant snakes again. They also didn't dare to go deeper into the island because they didn't know if there was something more terrifying than the snakes." Chu Tianjiao said, "Sasha also looked unhappy and suggested to me whether we could rest here for a while, because some crew members were injured and their wounds needed urgent treatment. There were also more dead crew members. Even if we didn't have time to deal with their bodies, we at least wanted to take away some of their belongings."

"This is human nature, and I also need time to think about what is hidden deeper in the island, so I accepted Sasha's suggestion." Chu Tianjiao said, "But an accident still happened. When a crew member was picking up the remains of his dead comrade, he suddenly screamed. Everyone rushed over to see that the crew member's finger had been corroded in half."

"What is that?" Caesar frowned slightly, "Is it the venom left by the snake?"

"No." Chu Zihang shook his head. "Logically speaking, the bigger the snake, the less toxin it contains. This is the law of nature. Pythons and anacondas are almost all non-toxic or contain only mild, non-lethal toxins. Moreover, the venom of venomous snakes is neurotoxin. No snake venom has such a strong corrosive effect."

"It's not poison, it's blood." Chu Tianjiao explained, "When the crew member was picking up things, he accidentally touched the blood of his comrade's body. He thought the blood was from his comrade, but some of it was left by a snake."

"Snake blood?" Caesar's brows frowned even deeper.

"Yes, it was then that I realized that the blood on the ground was not all from the dead crew members. There was also a small amount of blood left by the snakes. In the distance, red bloodstains could be vaguely seen on the road where the snakes passed. They were injured." Chu Tianjiao nodded and said, "This once again confirmed my guess. Something in the depths of the forest injured the snakes, so they were so terrified and fled there so hastily. Because these snakes are all dragon subspecies, and like Deadpool, their blood is corrosive."

Everyone's expression was a little solemn. The "Isle of Death" really lived up to its reputation. Even the blood left by an ant or a snake could be fatal. Even an experienced retired special forces soldier could lose his life here if he was not careful.

“We can’t continue collecting our comrades’ belongings now, because the snake blood and human blood are mixed together and we can’t tell them apart. We don’t know which blood will corrode the skin.” Chu Tianjiao said, “After bandaging the crew member’s finger, we moved deeper into the island. We took every step carefully and with difficulty, because we didn’t know if a more terrifying creature would appear from somewhere. After all, we all know that there are things more terrifying than snakes here.”

"But fortunately, nothing as terrible as the snake attack happened afterwards, and we didn't even see any animals on the road." Chu Tianjiao said, "The closer we got to the center of the island, the more lush the large plants became. Not to mention mosses and ferns, even shrubs and bushes were gone. Every tree was extremely tall, blocking out the sun, and it looked like they had grown for hundreds of years. Moreover, many of the tree species were difficult to identify. They were lush and their trunks were straight but not thick. It was like we had entered a prehistoric civilization."

"This is a normal phenomenon. Like I said just now, the closer you are to the center of the forest, the more abundant the resources. Large plants will block the sunlight and absorb more nutrients. It is difficult for low plants to survive under them." Chu Zihang paused and said, "No, mosses and ferns are not restricted by this condition. You should be able to see more or less moss under your feet."

"There is no moss, only huge trees. They are all truly towering trees." Chu Tianjiao shook his head and said, "Until we really reached the center of the island, we saw the largest tree we had seen in the painting of 'Isle of Death'. It was terrifyingly tall, at least two hundred meters, no, maybe three hundred meters."

"So far, the tallest tree in the world is the 368-meter Devil's Tower," Chu Zihang said. "But it's not certain whether it is a tree. Some say it is a stone mountain, while others say it is the roots left after the World Tree collapsed. If such a tree really existed in history, it would be at least several thousand meters tall, truly towering above the earth. The second tallest tree in the world is a Hyperion tree in Redwood National Park in California, USA, which is nearly 116 meters tall."

"Just like there are no giant snakes in nature, we have never seen such a giant tree in nature. What's different from other trees is that the trunk of that tree is very thick. I can't even estimate its diameter with the naked eye, and its leaves are more green than gray." Chu Tianjiao said, "This is the first time we have seen a color other than gray on a creature on this island."