Gourmet Hunter - Chapter 394 (Patreon)

Chapter 394: Phonograph Plant

In the ink-colored valley, the black clouds above matched the scenery, even in the dim light, highlighting the presence of numerous white bones along the mountain path.

Luo stared at the lifeless mountain path, releasing a 100-meter diameter En, quickly penetrating the path and encompassing everything within a 50-meter radius.

There were no moving objects, just piles of white bones, barely distinguishable as human skulls, but in considerable numbers.

The uneven mountain walls were filled with various protruding objects, with shapes as diverse as the objects themselves. Apart from the vines which were easily recognizable, the rest were hard to identify—some resembling scallops, some like yo-yos, and others like feathers.

Buhara, munching on a roasted insect leg, watched Luo maintain his En. Moments later, William approached, noticing Luo's En detecting the valley's surroundings, remaining silent.

Luo frowned, though everything within the 50-meter radius was stationary, he couldn't be certain these objects were lifeless, especially with so many bones piled at the mountain path entrance. How did so many creatures die here?

Thinking of this, he turned to Buhara and said, "Throw the shell in your hand inside, but no further than 50 meters."

"I haven't finished eating," Buhara hesitated, then replied.

Luo glared at him, urging, "Hurry up."

"Alright."

Reluctantly, Buhara glanced at the half-eaten roasted leg before tossing it into the path. The leg arced through the air, landing on the bone pile with a thud.

No movement...

Luo's brow slightly twitched. Within his perception range, everything remained deathly still. After a moment, he retracted his En, silently observing the mountain path.

"Is there anything alive inside?" William asked as Luo retracted his En.

William's En only covered seven to eight meters, making detection strenuous.

"I'm not sure."

Luo felt that under the deathly silence, something must be hidden, so he didn't give William a definite answer.

Hearing Luo's words, William stroked his chin, lost in thought.

Meanwhile, Ali had finished counting heads; no one was missing, but some supplies tied to the armored bull had been blown away by the sandstorm. They had to leave the sand sled behind when crossing the sandstorm, so they only had enough supplies for three to five days.

Ali gathered all the supplies, distributing them among everyone, then settled the armored bull on the sand outside the valley. The black clouds blocked most of the sunlight and heat, so the bull could survive several days even without food.

After settling the bull, Ali led the remaining people to the mountain path entrance.

"Any discoveries?" Ali asked Luo, holding a long spear.

Luo glanced at the approaching Eagle team, replying, "No."

"Is that so..."

Ali looked at the bone-covered valley, taking a deep breath, and said, "Light the torches."

As soon as he finished speaking, the twenty members of the Eagle team quickly lit their prepared torches, while others held their weapons.

"I won't say more; fame and fortune are just a mountain path away. Follow me!"

With those words, Ali led the way into the mountain path. The Eagle team silently followed, their expressions a mix of anticipation, greed, and fear...

The Eagle team marched in formation, torchbearers inside, shield holders outside, and those with long weapons in the middle.

Luo and Geru, without cold weapons, were placed in the center, the safest position.

"Test."

After walking about twenty meters, Ali cautiously observed the surroundings and suddenly commanded.

Hearing Ali's order, the torchbearers took out crossbows from their backs, shooting arrows wrapped with gunpowder ahead. With successive explosions, many bones were shattered.

After the noise faded for about ten seconds, the path ahead remained silent, and the team continued forward.

For caution, the team tested the surroundings every twenty meters with explosive arrows, to prevent hidden dangers from desert creatures.

After advancing a hundred meters and firing five waves of explosive arrows, only creating many pits in the bone path, nothing was discovered.

Since entering, Luo had been observing the surroundings. The black jade-like mountain walls on both sides had irregular white stripes, uneven surfaces, and oddly shaped protruding rocks, matching his previous perceptions.

Looking up in the mountain path, one could only see rolling black clouds, as if they were the valley's ceiling.

The most noteworthy were the yellow vine plants spreading on the mountain walls, the only identifiable life forms so far.

As the team neared 120 meters, Luo felt puzzled, wondering, "How did those bones form?"

At this moment, Ali's voice came from the front, "Stop, there's something."

The Eagle team immediately halted.

Luo squeezed through the crowd to Ali's side, looking at the blurry black shadows ahead.

"Giant trumpet flowers?" Ali muttered.

Luo glanced at him; the shadows indeed resembled giant trumpet flowers, about ten times the usual size, with over a dozen of them spaced more than a meter apart, blocking the path.

"Torch." Ali extended a hand to the team behind, receiving a torch quickly.

Ali took the torch, throwing it forward. As it spun through the air, the torch illuminated the mountain path, revealing the true form of the shadows.

They were over two meters tall unknown plants, resembling phonographs from the Republican era. The upper part was a huge trumpet-shaped mouthpiece connected to a thick arm-like pipe, slightly curved, leading to a bulging blood-red tumor below.

The trumpet-shaped mouthpieces faced the group.

Luo clearly saw the bulging blood-red tumor sending a spherical object through the pipe to the trumpet-shaped mouthpiece, like a candy being pushed through a throat, its shape visible from outside the pipe.

"Get down."

Without thinking, Luo shouted, opening his domain.

Puff, puff, puff!

The dozen plants suddenly ejected ball-sized unknown spheres from the trumpet-shaped mouthpieces, shooting towards the group.

Luo barely opened his domain when the spheres exploded mid-air into countless mini spheres, covering the entire mountain path.

The Eagle team instinctively dropped to the bone pile, while a few slower members didn't get down in time.

Luo blocked some mini spheres, but many more bypassed him, hitting the Eagle team.

Those who didn't get down were riddled with holes and exploded into a bloody mist.

"Something's wrong."

Hearing the muffled explosion, Luo's eyes narrowed. He redirected dozens of mini spheres towards the phonograph plants, shattering them and releasing a large amount of light red mist.

The mist appeared suddenly and dissipated quickly.

The Eagle team slowly stood, still shaken.

Geru also stood, staring at Luo with a strange expression. The next moment, her face changed slightly.

"It's poison."

Geru frowned.

As soon as she spoke, the team fell like dominoes.

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