Chapter 131 The Smoke Signal
Ling had to admit what a beautiful figure when Atessa moved between the mutated plants. Her movements were light and with a hint of dancing, and when she scampered, it seemed as if the heart of the world was beating, attracting the attention of onlookers.
Looking at her soft hands, beautiful waist shape and her slender and sturdy legs, when she moved, her body naturally displayed the beauty of rhythm. Ling could barely take his eyes off the beautiful figure.
This morning, Gutner asked the Semitic Clan Chief to let Atessa lead two men out of Death Ridge to save more time for them to cross it. She didn't wanted to, because as many of the Semitic people, she was naturally hostile to outsiders like Ling. But the same as the other people in the clan, she had the highest respect for Gutner, who had almost changed the fate of the Semitic race.
Since it was Gutner's request, neither the Chief nor Atessa could do anything that would make Gutner embarrassed. Thus, the black girl unwillingly brought Ling along with her. In order to vent her anger, she led the two of them towards the dangerous mutated plants. Fortunately, before they left, Gutner had given them some powder.
These unremarkable powder could cover up the smell of Ling and Monnie, so most of the mutated plants on the Death Ridge treat them as if they were ordinary trees. However, this kind of powder was ineffective to mutated beasts. This was why the two aboriginals were able to pass through the forest to find Ling last night but attacked by the shield snake.
After keeping on walking for half a day without stopping, Monnie could no longer continue going though Atessa and Ling were still doing well. The silver-haired girl's face was covered in sweat, and her body temperature rose due to the haste, her face blushing unnaturally. As for the girl, who was only twelve or thirteen, the hostility Atessa felt toward her diminished slightly.
Besides, Monnie had not grown up, but she had already shown the astonishing potential of a stunning woman. For the beautiful things, Atessa who lived in the woods all year long, better knew to appreciate. Although she didn't speak it out, she rather liked Monnie. Seeing how tired the little girl was, she couldn't bear to keep moving. Besides, Monnie could not even take a breath.
Judging from Ling's appearance, she knew that even if they kept walking for a whole day, Ling wouldn't necessarily fall down earlier than herself.
Thus, the three of them found a place to rest. Atessa had grown up in the Death Ridge, so she was not like an outsider like Ling. She could easily distinguish between normal plants and mutants. Under her guidance, the three found a relatively safe place and rested under a towering fir.
Ling took from his duffel bag a leather bag of clean water which they got from the source of life of the Semitic Clan. There were five or six more leather bags like this, but naturally Ling did not have such kind of things. They were all the equipment that Gutner used when he had been exploring the area before. He gave them all to Ling today.
After stuffing the leather bag into Monnie's hands, Monnie, who was extremely thirsty, took the bag of water but she only drank three mouthfuls before giving it back to Ling. The girl knew that there was not much clean water in the bag so that they'd been frugal enough to live on it for seven or eight days. Monnie drank very little, even though she was still dying of thirst.
But Ling drank less than she did. He only took a sip. However, his physique was different from Monnie's. Even though it was only a sip of water, it was able to meet his organs' needs for half a day.
Atessa did not rest. She stood on a tree top about twenty meters away from the ground. Pointing ahead, she said, "Death Valley is about to arrive. You guys rest for ten minutes, then we will continue."
Ling knew that Atessa didn't want to be with them at all. She only wanted to finish her task as soon as possible and return home. Ling climbed to the top of the fir tree, and Atessa immediately retreated. Ling tactfully stepped on the other side of the tree top, keeping a distance from her. Looking ahead, they could see that they were already at the highest point of a mountain. Beyond that was a steep downhill. The jungle that covered the entire Death Ridge seemed to have been cut off from the base of the mountain, disappearing in a flash.
Beyond the green which was like a borderline were red and brown rocks.
The reddish-brown carpet stretched all the way to what the Semitic people called the Death Valley. Although it was called valley, when Ling saw it, he knew that it was not a Valley at all. It was clearly a continuous mountain range, which was plough into ravines by something unknown. However, as the ravine was so large that it looked like the topography of a small valley.
In the valley, he saw countless blue lights floating around. They spread throughout the valley, filling every gap and crevice. Ling frowned. These blue lights were the Death Flowers. Why the valley was named Death Valley was due to the special topography of the valley. Every day, strong winds blew across it, causing the Death Flowers fly everywhere, forming a natural barrier in the canyon.
Looking at the valley, Ling guessed that it must be caused by huge meteors due to cataclysm. It was also because of the meteors that the valley was filled with large amounts of radiation. And it was precisely because of them that the Death Flower came into being. In fact, the reason for the intense radiation and mutated plants were probably due to the valley.
Ling was shocked by the natural scenery, he suddenly heard Atessa's scream. She had turned around, but she covered her mouth as she exclaimed looking into the direction they had come.
Ling also looked toward the direction which Atessa looked, and his heart jumped. In the mountains and forests of the Death Ridge, a dazzling smoke signal rose from the ground. From Ling's angle, the smoke was only as thick as an arm, but if one calculated the distance, it was a huge ten meter thick smoke dragon. In other words, there was a huge fire in that direction.
Could it be a wildfire in the mountain forest? As he thought, he saw that Atessa's entire body was trembling. Atessa had grown up in the mountains, so naturally she had seen fire before. Besides, the smoke was huge, but the fire was not fierce. Ling wondered what she was afraid of.
Just as he was about to ask, Atessa suddenly jumped down the tree. Ling quickly followed and shouted, "What's wrong!"
"It's our village …" "Our village is on fire!" The girl's eyes were already overflowing with tears. She could no longer care about anything else as she turned around and ran towards the village.
Ling immediately carried Monnie on his back and followed behind her. The fire that broke out in the village was abrupt. Even for an ordinary plant in the jungle, the water in its body was extremely high, making it very difficult to ignite naturally.
Besides, the village started to burn as soon as they left . It seemed that the fire was man-made.
They were burning with anxiety on the return trip, and both of them heightened their speeds to the limits. With the fifth rank Agility, Ling wasn't slow at all, even when he was carrying Monnie on his back. It was rare that Atessa's speed wasn't much slower than his. The two of them fleeted through the jungle, leaving behind only two traces. Not to mention the mutated plants, even the mutated beasts hiding in the mountains didn't notice them until they passed by.
They spent half the time in the previous journey before returning to the village. They arrived at the village more than one hour later. Looking at what happened, Ling was stunned.
The entire village was engulfed in flames of fire. Trees and wooden houses … All that can be burned were in the sea of fire. There were about thirteen stakes standing at the entrance of the village. On these stakes, some Semitic men were penetrated and crucified on the stakes. The stakes were in two rows, and one of them was not a Semitic, but Gutner, the prophet.
Gutner's clothes was stripped off; his hands, chest, throat, and legs were penetrated through by wooden nails and fixed to a wooden stake that had been deliberately placed in the shape of a cross. Blood poured all over the ground beneath the wooden stake. Someone had written a line of words on the side with blood.
"Ling, I'm waiting for you!"
At once Ling knew who had done it.