Chapter 37: The Malay Crocodile

While everyone was handling the bamboo rats and the otter-civet, Fang Moqi returned.

He was seen holding a piece of honeycomb, jumping down from a tree.

“Holy crap!” everyone exclaimed in fright, quickly scrambling away.

Lan Mu also felt a bit panicked, but he didn’t dodge in the end, thinking that Fang Moqi wouldn’t be reckless.

Sure enough, it was an empty honeycomb; the bees inside were nowhere to be seen.

“Hey, not bad,” Fang Moqi said.

He picked up the otter-civet and noticed it was still alive. Just then, the otter-civet woke up, saw it was in human hands, and struggled violently.

Fang Moqi chuckled, walked aside, and released the otter-civet.

The otter-civet bared its teeth, putting on a fierce expression, then nimbly ran away.

“Ah! Brother Fang, why did you let it go?”

“Yeah! Otter-civet meat is really tasty!”

Fang Moqi waved his hand and smiled. “Since it was still alive, let’s not eat it. We have enough food anyway. Even if you killed it, you couldn’t eat it all, and the leftover skin and meat would just be a burden. We still have to keep moving.”

“As compensation, this honeycomb is for you. Who caught the otter-civet alive?”

Everyone looked at Lan Mu. Fang Moqi had a look that said he expected it.

“It seems you’re not just good at archery. Catching an otter-civet alive shows you have decent skills.”

Lan Mu smiled. “Just lucky. I picked it up casually.”

Everyone gave him a look that said, “Are you kidding me?”

Fang Moqi broke the honeycomb in half, handing one half to Lan Mu and dividing the rest among the others.

He said to Lan Mu, “Eat it. A piece of honeycomb this size provides a lot of calories.”

Lan Mu looked at the palm-sized honeycomb filled with almost solid amber honey and scooped some out with his hand to eat.

As soon as he tasted it, his eyebrows shot up. The flavor was surprisingly delicious, much better than any honey he had tried before.

Du Yu also got a share and asked while eating, “Brother Fang, did you use a torch to drive the bees out of the hive and then bring the honeycomb back?”

“No,” Fang Moqi replied. “Earlier, I found a honeycomb about the size of a car. I reached inside and grabbed a few pieces from the center. I tried a bit myself and brought the rest back for you.”

“Huh? Wow! Are you okay? Didn’t the bees sting you?” Everyone was shocked. Reaching directly into a honeycomb?

“Oh, I did annoy them, but I managed to run away. I even grabbed a few to snack on along the way,” Fang Moqi said casually.

Lan Mu was curious now. He couldn’t figure out how Fang Moqi had escaped. Facing a massive swarm of bees, even if he transformed, it would probably be hard to handle.

Fang Moqi was happy to answer Lan Mu’s question. “After finding the honeycomb, I scouted the nearby area and discovered a patch of bee-eating grass about a kilometer away. So, I went back and grabbed the honeycomb.”

“Bees have many natural enemies, and there are also conflicts between different bee colonies. A honeycomb as big as a car must have many predators nearby; otherwise, they would spread out and build nests everywhere.”

“If they’re forced to stick together, it doesn’t mean they’re strong—it actually means they’re weak. Just feeding such a large hive is a huge challenge if they only forage in one area. These bees are working themselves to death every day… heh.”

After hearing Fang Moqi’s explanation, Lan Mu understood and quickly finished licking the honey clean.

Seeing Lan Mu casually toss the honeycomb on the ground, Fang Moqi was taken aback, then smiled and picked it up.

He broke off a piece, stuffed it into his mouth, and said, “You’re really picky. Such a good thing, and you threw it away.”

“Wild honeycomb is a precious medicine. It’s secreted by bees, but it doesn’t taste bad at all.”

“For bears, this is a rare delicacy—something they’d risk their lives to get!”

After saying that, he broke off another piece and chewed it.

Lan Mu was stunned. He realized he was ignorant, thinking only the honey was edible, and had thrown away the honeycomb.

Zheng Hui was also chewing on the honeycomb and added, “Amateurs will be amateurs. The honeycomb is full of treasures. The honey, the bee larvae, the bees themselves, and the comb—all of it is edible.”

“For hunters surviving in the wild, this is an incredibly generous gift from nature. Every hunter knows several ways to deal with bees. Finding a honeycomb is like being saved for a hunter.”

Lan Mu rubbed his nose, feeling a bit embarrassed. He really hadn’t known that.

Zheng Hui looked at him disdainfully, but Fang Moqi didn’t mind at all. Seeing that everyone had eaten enough, he told them to light torches and continue forward.

Along the way, animals and insects were everywhere.

At one point, Fang Moqi suddenly lunged and reached for a tree branch, as if grabbing something.

With a sharp shake, he pulled down a patterned snake. It made a rustling sound and was left half-dead from the shaking.

Then, he pinched the snake’s neck, bit off its head, and pulled out the dark snake gallbladder, which was about the size of a pinky fingertip. Fang Moqi swallowed it raw.

He casually tossed the snake backward, and Zheng Hui immediately caught it and stored it away.

“Hmm, not bad, just too small,” Fang Moqi muttered to himself after swallowing the gallbladder.

This was just a minor episode along the journey. Very few animals attacked humans, and the jungle was relatively friendly to people. Many of the terrifying creatures they had expected didn’t appear.

“This is so boring! I thought the depths of the Tropical Rainforest were supposed to be dangerous?” someone finally complained. Walking in the Tropical Rainforest was torture—it was damp everywhere, and it was easy to slip if you weren’t careful.

There were constant bug bites, and the hot, stuffy climate made everyone uncomfortable, as if a heavy stone was pressing on their chests.

“We’re almost there. Look! Along the way, we passed several traces of large animals. Judging by their direction, there should be a water source not far ahead.”

About three minutes later, everyone indeed heard the sound of flowing water.

“Wow!”

Hearing the water, everyone perked up and quickened their pace.

Soon, they reached a river. On the other side was an even denser jungle, with roots tightly intertwined and trees forming a continuous canopy that blocked out the sky. It was pitch dark inside, and the average height of the trees was about sixty meters.

“This is a single tree forming a forest. Many trees in the Tropical Rainforest grow like this. Sometimes, it’s even a dead end for humans because the jungle is too thick. Unless you chop down the trees, it’s like prison bars—people can hardly get through,” Zheng Hui boasted, showing off his knowledge.

Then, he walked to the small river, observed for a while, and was about to drink.

After a few sips, he exclaimed, “There are so many fish in the water!”

After shouting, he rushed into the water, wanting to catch fish.

Fang Moqi yelled, “Wait! Come back!”

Zheng Hui paused, saw it was Fang Moqi speaking, and hurriedly ran back to the shore without encountering any danger.

“What’s wrong?”

Everyone was confused, unsure what Fang Moqi had noticed.

The camera was back in Lan Mu’s hands by then, and he pointed it at Fang Moqi.

Fang Moqi chuckled. “Didn’t you see that muddy log at the shore?”

Lan Mu turned the camera toward it. There was indeed a muddy log on the shore, looking like it had rotted for a long time, covered in mud, moss, and even water plants.

The log was only about four or five meters from where Zheng Hui had just entered the water.

“What’s wrong with that log?”

Everyone was puzzled, but Zheng Hui suddenly realized and said awkwardly, “I was careless. I really didn’t recognize it earlier. With so many fish in the river, I never thought there’d be a crocodile lying in wait.”

“Crocodile?” everyone gasped, quickly looking again. But no matter how they looked, it still seemed like a log.

Fang Moqi smiled. “The fish are bait left by this Malay crocodile on purpose.”

“Didn’t you notice the small animals in the forest hesitating to drink from the river? They’re much more experienced than you.”

“But this crocodile is really sneaky, herding so many small fish to the shore. It’s a deadly temptation for some animals. Soon, something won’t be able to resist, like a salamander… heh.”

“But I don’t have time to waste…”

After saying that, Fang Moqi threw the dead patterned snake into the water, right in front of the “log.” But the “log” didn’t react at all.

“Hey… it’s really bold!”

Fang Moqi directly chopped down a bamboo stalk, then picked up the bamboo pole and walked toward the “log.”