Qiaoqiao Tianyi discovered the shining moth almost at the same time as Yaleriga. She flew upwards and spun like a Frisbee. Yaleriga never knew that wings could be suspended in this way.
"Swamp gas!" she shouted, "There is swamp gas here! Let's go from higher ground!"
Yaleriga called her back. Things are not worth making a fuss about. Their protective clothing is enough to filter out most poisonous gases, and the light emitted by the moths is not strong. But the situation does seem a bit strange. In all the records she found, no one mentioned toxic gases, perhaps because methane was not something worth guarding against in this area.
She looked around, still feeling that Tan Moth's reaction was a bit strange. Although there was peat-like material accumulated in those swamps, the muddy water in the swamps was still very thin. When she walked up with her buoyant shoes, she even sank in a little, indicating that the density of the swamp surface was not much different from that of water. She hasn't officially tested it yet, but suspects that the composition of the swamp water doesn't contain that much decaying vegetation, feces, or other substances that would release large amounts of toxic gases. She also noticed that there were almost no air bubbles on the surface of the bog.
"Look at this." Qiaoqiao Tianyi said floating in the distance, "Did this little thing do it?"
Yaleriga walked towards her. She saw Qiaoqiao Tianyi flexing one front hoof and pointing with its knuckle at a small reddish-brown bush at the edge of the quagmire. It has a capsule and cone-shaped inflorescences, and leaves are densely packed and as thin as scales.
The plant is small and thin, almost the same color as the earth. At first glance, it looks more like a multi-limbed insect lurking on the hunt. Qiaoqiao Tianyi looked at it suspiciously, as if he was monitoring a murder suspect.
Yaleriga squatted down to check. "It doesn't look like that."
"It doesn't look normal, right?" Qiaoqiao Tianyi said, "In my hometown, a plant that grows like this will definitely crawl into your bed at midnight, and it will probably suck your blood."
Yaleriga has indeed heard about some customs and customs about the most peaceful country in the dream world, and now she knows that it is probably true. There is a place in the universe where everything good is consistent with its outward appearance, and everything dangerous is revealed in its image. It must be a suitable place for a vacation, and maybe she will go to enjoy some relaxation one day after leaving the Silence. But outside of the dream world, she doesn't think this rule is universal.
"We were quite some distance away from it," she analyzed. "There was almost no wind, and it didn't look like it was in bloom. It didn't look like it had anything to do with pollen."
"Maybe it doesn't need to pass pollen." Qiaoqiao Tianyi said, "The pythons in the Vicious Forest don't need pollen. They can spray directly from the leaves. You'd better be careful of its leaves, it may suddenly jump up and cut. You. It would be better if we locked this little thing up."
Yaleriga complied. She took out a machete from her pocket and shoveled up the slightly vicious plant by its roots. Put it into an airbag-style storage bag. Qiaoqiao Tianyi immediately forgot about the strange plants and became interested in this ancient sacrifice.
"This knife is making my horn tremble!" she said in amazement. "It must have strong magic power. Where did you get it?"
This was the misunderstanding that Yaleriga had planned to clear up before, and now was a good time to confess. She first cut off a small branch and placed it outside the bottle containing the moth. At first, the light green fluorescence showed no change, but then gradually disappeared. The moth with black and white wings fell back to the bottom of the bottle and rested as if nothing had happened.
"Maybe it's the roots of this plant?" Qiaoqiao Tianyi speculated.
"At least the poisonous gas is gone now."
"I think there must be more than one of these. If we move forward, we might encounter it again. Then your moth will have a more obvious reaction."
Yaleriga agreed with her and wanted to collect more samples. She threw the twig to the ground and moved on.
"About this knife," she showed the weapon to Qiaoqiao Tianyi as she walked, "I think it is an ancient thing. Do you recognize the symbols on it?"
"Symbol? Let me see."
Qiaoqiao Tianyi leaned over and looked hard at the inscription on the blade with the eyes on the left side of her head.
"Well, I don't know much about ancient culture. It's never been my talent. But I think they are like elves' writing. Every year in the last month of summer, there will be many elemental elves going to the void passing by us. They are all riding Little guys that walk on the wind. Sometimes they leave us some thank you notes, and they freeze the lake water, or make the plants bloom in advance, and write words like this that are enough for us to see clearly. I think your knife is The symbols are very similar to...yeah, I bet it has something to do with some kind of pan-elf, the words they create from leaves and wind are always similar."
Her judgment was consistent with Yaleriga's knowledge.
"Can you guess what they mean?"
"No, I am not an expert in this field. I think if the venerable Princess Wenshi Katira of the Secret Source, or her most famous disciple, the royal mage Miaomiao Oyong, were here, they might be able to provide an interpretation. This Is it important to you?"
"I feel like there's some big secret going on here."
"Then maybe I can write a letter to Princess Wenshikatira. She and her great library can be of greatest help to you - but then again, how could you not know the meaning of these words? It's not the elves Was it given to you?"
"No, this is what I just wanted to tell you. This knife is..."
Yaleriga decided to completely clarify this misunderstanding, so that Qiaoqiao Tianyi would not talk about his "father of poor character" in front of Jing Huang. But then she heard some slight movement. Far behind them, there was a soft crack of a twig breaking.
She raised the knife a little higher and used her reflection to observe the situation behind her. She saw the blade reflecting large and small swamps and the dim blue sky. Regardless of their depth, their surfaces are calm and devoid of any signs of life.
"What's wrong?" Qiaoqiao Tianyi asked, "Where did this knife come from?"
Yaleriga didn't think she heard it wrong. She never gets it wrong. She put down her machete and pretended to be calm.
"I remembered something," she said. "I forgot to bring the beacon."
"Can we use it?"
"There may be caves here. And I want to mark the swamp area just now."
"Okay. We can bring the aircraft down as well. I don't see any obstruction here."
Qiaoqiao Tianyi was ready to take off, but Yaleriga suggested that they return to the original landing point to avoid encountering new accidents at high altitudes.
So they walked back to the return road. However, Yaleriga deliberately kept a certain distance from the original route they came from, as if she was deliberately retaining her own footprints. Those shallow round marks, because she was wearing buoyant shoes, could barely see the shape of the hoof, but they could still be identified in the wet mud. Apart from this, there was no trace of the second animal, and Qiaoqiao Tianyi kept flying low.
When they passed the pit where the plant was dug out, Yaleriga saw what she was looking for. The little twig she had discarded lay in the wet mud. The soft mud is still flat, but the branches have been broken from it, and the two ends are slightly tilted towards the sky.
She looked away and continued walking back. While Qiaoqiao Tianyi was flying smoothly, he put his head under the wings and yawned.
"I'm a little sleepy," she said. "Do you mind if I sing a song to cheer you up?"
"I like the sound." Yaleriga replied, "It's very inspiring."
"Oh, then you are really in the perfect place for you."
Qiaoqiao Tianyi shook his mane and began to sing a song that was obviously made up on the fly, about wet and annoying swamps and dangerous and ugly branchy plants, as well as precious friendship and adventure. While listening, Yaleriga shook the blade in rhythm, like a loyal listener expressing support. Her eyes are still staring at Tan on the other hand? ? Moth bottle, moth with black and white wings seems to be asleep. They walked around the swamp, almost losing sight of the mud pit where the tamarisk trees had been dug out.
"Mud puddle, annoying mud puddle," Qiaoqiao Tianyi sang, "but if you have friends, today is another wonderful day..."
Yaleriga waved her dagger. She saw a small sinkhole appear in the dirt behind her. It was almost the size of one of her fingers, but Yaleriga recognized its shape - it was an irregular triangle composed of three circles, with the middle circle larger and the two sides smaller.
The pit disappeared in the blink of an eye, leaving only the smooth mud surface in the same position. Yaleriga continued to swing her scimitar, while also swaying her head to the melody of Qiaoqiao Tianyi. She decided not to talk about it and to make plans again when she returned to the Silence.
"How do I sing?"
"Excellent." Yaleriga said, "By the way, about the gift my old lover gave me, it was not a child..."
She felt a breeze behind her.
Yaleriga dodged. She has a full understanding of her body transformation, and at the same time she has no lack of primitive training and honing, and is not afraid of close combat with any martial artist. At the same time, she violently fired back at the target with her scimitar to prevent the invisible threat from attacking Qiaoqiao Tianyi.
The machete hit a hard metal object. Her opponent parried her with equal strength. Yaleriga also felt an iron whip suddenly hit her calf, causing her to almost lose her balance.
"Who!" Qiaoqiao Tianyi shouted, the horns on his head emitting bright light.
A vague shadow emerged against the light. But Qiaoqiao Tianyi did not attack. Instead, he rushed towards Yaleriga before flying away quickly, taking her with him into the sky. Then she stayed there, spreading her huge wings and hovering, supporting Yaleriga's legs that were numb from the blow.
"Show yourself." Her rumbling voice echoed in the swamp, "Or let me show you something awesome!"
"Come on, you noisy mare," a voice replied.
The shadows that had once been illuminated by the light became darker, gradually turning from the empty air into a clear entity. The first thing they saw was that the thing had a tail as black as ink, and fur as white as ice and snow covered under the scales. Its sharp claws were equipped with carefully crafted weapons, and there were launch ports on the upper part of each joint. similar device. It raised its head and looked at them. Its small and pointed face had a pair of vicious eyes that were as fierce as topaz. The murderer's true appearance matched perfectly with the footprints observed by Yaleriga.
"What?" Qiaoqiao Tianyi stuttered, "You, you, you?"
"Don't make a fuss, mare. Or I'll cut off your fat ass and roast it."
The killer on the swamp swung his dark tail. Its milky voice revealed that it was not a special species of small size, but a real and unquestionable cat-man who had just entered the early childhood stage.
"A child! A child!" Qiaoqiao Tianyi shouted, "Why is there a child here who wants to kill us!"
The catman raised his paw towards them, revealing the black muzzle of his gun.
"Don't waste your time, mare, think about your last words," she cried, "Huanwo says hello to you!"
