wandering planet

"For 500 years, the survival of the fittest and the strong prey on the weak are all natural laws." Lin Ni answered Jiang Che's question as he continued to walk forward, "What we see now is the animals that survived the law of elimination, and only a small part. And there's a lot we just never had the chance to—"

He stopped talking suddenly, and everyone stopped at the same time.

There was a strange whistling sound coming from above the canopy.

That is definitely not wind.

After standing still for a moment, the sound disappeared.It seems to pass by from a high altitude and gradually go away.

The canopy swayed slightly, because it was too dense to see anything passing through it

"It's so big..." Tang Mo couldn't help whispering, "What is that?"

Everyone was silent for a moment, thinking of the golden pheasant that escaped just now.

It's not that it doesn't live here, it just wants to escape from here.

"Quick battle and quick decision." Lin Ni scolded Song Junxing as usual, and took the gun on his shoulder in his hand, "Move forward cautiously."

He confirmed the current time. He originally planned to enter the forest to explore for three hours, but now the plan has changed. Even if there is no harvest in half an hour, they must leave immediately.

For the sake of prudence, they did not give Tang Mo any large-caliber lethal weapon when he came out to explore for the first time: they gave Tang Mo the Wuft machete worth 350 Maasai coins, and told her that it was a very expensive and powerful weapon. , cutting meat like a sharp blade for chopping melons.

Tang Mo snorted.She wants to get a gun.But the marksmanship she learned from Ovid was not even at the level of a beginner. In order to be able to go out to explore, she had no choice but to accept their conditions.

The fog in the forest was thick, and the sunlight penetrated through the treetops into the forest, leaving clear light traces, and the fine dust rolled continuously in the beam of light.

A group of people walked for half an hour and found nothing.

Linney got a little nervous.As they went deeper, they saw many traces of animal activities: tooth marks, feces, shed fur, discarded egg shells...but they couldn't see even a single bird.

The animals are hiding.

He turned around and signaled everyone to keep quiet, and immediately left along the way he came.

The animals are hiding for only the most obvious reason: their predators are here.

Linney's nervousness affected the rest of him, too. "Nothing found...how about we get some fruit mushrooms back?" Ovid said, "I haven't eaten fruit for a long time."

Tang Mo: "I want to eat meat..."

Lin Ni ignored Tang Mo's request: "Go a little further and pick some fruits."

Not far from the edge of the forest they had seen a dozen trees laden with fruit.These fruits are all orange-yellow, oval in shape, and each is about the size of an adult's fist.Jiang Che took a few glances and was sure that they were all edible things: there were many traces of animals climbing and picking food around the fruit trees.Not only are they not poisonous, they should also taste pretty good.

But Jiang Che doesn't think now is the time to stop and pick the fruit.

"We don't know what it was that just made the noise, and I think it's better to get out as soon as possible."

"Whatever it is, it's gone, hasn't it?" said Ovid.

Jiang Che: "How do you know it's gone? Just because we can't hear it, doesn't mean it's not nearby."

Ovid: "I think you're thinking too much. We haven't eaten fruit for a long time, and vitamins are very important and precious to us."

Jiang Che looked at him: "Of course it's important, of course it's precious. But do we have to pick it now? Isn't it the same for us to go back to the lifeboat first and come back after making sure it's safe?"

Ovid: "I disagree with you."

Jiang Che: "Why don't you agree?"

Ovid: "I disagree."

Jiang Che: "...why don't you agree?"

Lin Ni and Tang Mo had already arrived under the fruit tree.While picking the fruit quickly, the two watched Jiang Che and Ovid argue.

"Why did they fight?" Linney asked. "Aren't they a couple?"

Tang Mo frowned: "Even if it's a couple, quarrels are unavoidable. I'll turn on the communicator and let Pierre listen to it too...Huh? Can't connect?"

The signal light of the portable communicator flashes red, which is a sign of signal connection failure.

The same is true for Linney's communicator. He bent his fingers and tapped a few times, but there was no response. "It may be affected by the magnetic field here, and it has failed."

Tang Mo gave up the idea of ​​broadcasting to Pierre, touched the bush a few times, and found that the place touched by his fingers was very smooth and cold.

"What is this?" Tang Mo tugged, "Lin Ni, is it a big fruit?"

With a sudden force, she pulled out a gray-white tail from the bushes.

The fruits fell to the ground one after another, Tang Mo shook, and immediately threw away his hand.Lin Ni threw the fruit in his hand and covered Tang Mo's mouth.The two stepped back step by step.

Jiang Che and Ovid, who found something strange, also stopped talking.

The tail hanging from the tree is covered with dense scales, which reflect fine luster in the erratic sunlight.

The owner of the tail seemed to be harassed, and was slowly getting up from the bushes.

They could not see the animal in its entirety, except for glimpses of its writhing, glistening scales through the gaps in the leaves.

It's a big gray snake!

run!Lin Ni yelled silently, dragged Tang Mo and rushed out of the forest.Ovid's face turned pale, he grabbed Jiang Che by the shoulder, and pushed him in front of him: "You guys run! I..."

Jiang Che snatched the little fox from his hand: "You are crazy!"

He directly hit Ovid with the butt of the little fox's gun, and ran out grabbing his collar: "Run! I don't want to die here with you!"

There was a rustling sound from behind, the branches and leaves being crushed by the heavy body of the giant snake.

"Run!" Linney yelled. "It's too big! It's hard to get out in the woods! Don't be afraid! Run!"

Everyone was out of breath, and it was too difficult to run here.

There was an endless sound behind him, accompanied by a strange whirring wind.Jiang Che couldn't help but look back, and was shocked to find that the snake jumped up!

It jumped out of the towering forest, as if hovering in the air for a moment, and then the snake shook its body, shaking out two huge wings!

"It...it can fly!!!" Jiang Che yelled, "Fuck! It can fly!!!"

"The most powerful animal on Nini? It must be a winged snake." Song Junxing leaned comfortably among the ruins, eating almonds while chatting with Pierre, "It's very, very big, and one can overwhelm it. An entire forest. But because the chance of survival is very small, there are probably only a dozen or so in the entire Nini."

"Where do they all live?" Pierre ate shredded squid slices, listening with gusto.

Winged snakes generally build their nests on steep cliffs, which is very similar to the habits of eagles.It is an oviparous animal. After mating, the female winged snake and the male winged snake will eat the male winged snake to obtain nutrients for production, and can produce about [-] eggs at a time.The eggs of the winged snake are large and have a hard shell, which is very tightly protected by the female winged snake.Generally, a winged snake can only lay eggs three times in its life, and then it loses the ability to hunt and prey due to its heavy body, and hangs alone on the cliff waiting to die.

Winged snakes that break out of their shells need to absorb a lot of nutrients, so when they build their nests, they must choose cliffs surrounded by forests and lakes.Winged snakes will leave the nest after they are sexually mature, and go alone to find suitable partners to build a nest with, mate, eat or be eaten.Relatively speaking, the appearance of the male winged snake is more beautiful than the female winged snake, but the aggressiveness of the female winged snake is several times that of the male winged snake.

"The wings and body of the male-winged snake have patterns of various colors, which are very beautiful. I still have photos here, and I will show you when the time comes." Song Junxing chewed almonds, "The female winged snake is usually gray-white. Yes, very fierce. Especially after laying eggs, it will lurk in the forest, catching prey anytime and anywhere for the little snake that is about to come out."

Pierre stopped his hand: "They don't have natural enemies?"

"How could it not be?" Song Junxing said with a smile.

The winged snake is the largest animal on Nini, but its natural enemy is a small creature on Nini: carnivorous ants.

The whole body of this little ant is golden yellow, with a circle of black fluff growing around its waist, and its teeth are sharp.But it's very, very picky: They don't like to eat anything but the female winged snake and the female's eggs.

These carnivorous ants live on the edge of forests and prefer moist and steamy soil environments.They can distinguish the smell of the female winged snake, and climb up the cliff mightily, find the female winged snake's nest, and enjoy her eggs while the female winged snake leaves the nest.

"So winged snakes have twenty eggs in a nest, and it's good if one survives." Song Junxing picked up an almond and threw it into his mouth, "Originally, the whole ecology is very balanced: the number of winged snakes is sufficient, and they can eat meat. The number of ants is also sufficient, and the two groups check and balance each other. Although many eggs are eaten, at least a few hundred eggs can survive each year. But after the crash of the seventeen transport ships, the situation began to change. "

New creatures have disturbed the Nini ecosystem and started to disrupt the balance between species.They changed the soil environment that carnivorous ants prefer, causing the number of carnivorous ants to increase hundreds of times in more than 200 years.

The number of winged snakes began to decrease sharply. After 300 years of wits and courage, they finally managed to maintain the current balance.

"So the female winged snake has become more and more fierce." Song Junxing frowned slightly, "They must be careful when they are looking for meat."

Pierre was stunned for a moment, and put down the squid slice in his hand: "Song Junxing, have you told Lin Ni and the others about the winged snake?"

Song Junxing thought for a moment: "Didn't I say that?"

Pierre jumped up, he didn't even bother to curse, and immediately opened the communication channel with Lin Ni and the others.

But there was a busy tone on the channel, and there was no response.

He couldn't sit still anymore, ran to the weapon compartment and grabbed two guns and put them on his shoulders, picked up a few hands mixed with anesthetics, and Lei was about to jump out.

After opening the hatch, he immediately saw a gray-white giant snake flying and swimming in the sky in the distance!

At this time, the portable communicator that had escaped from the magnetic field around the forest finally returned to normal, and Lin Ni's voice came out sharply: "Pierre! Don't come down! Go up! Go up! Open the camouflage barrier!"

Pierre grabbed the communicator and shouted: "We are not military ships! Linney, we have no camouflage barriers!!!"