Chapter 171

Before I could even ask, Kan Jian dropped a mass of things from above. They fell at our feet and kicked up a cloud of dust that was full of fungal spores. My throat immediately felt itchy and I yelled, “Behave yourself! Don’t be so rash! You’ll kill people!” Kan Jian was startled by my sudden scolding.

We stepped backed a little and waited for the dust to slowly disperse before approaching again. That mass of things turned out to be the skin of wild animals, probably a Siberian roe deer or something similar to it. Kan Jian said that there were still many more up there, and they were all well preserved. They were probably the skins of beasts from around the area.

This place was full of poisonous fungi and it was so dangerous at night that it shouldn’t be the masterpiece of hunters or snake catchers. The locals in this valley should rarely get involved here, and the surrounding villages probably had various legends that had been passed down.

But it appeared that both the snakeskins from before and the animal skins now seemed to follow the royal poinciana. The snakeskins and animal skins hadn’t completely rotted in the valley despite the heavy amount of rainfall Fujian usually got. Moreover, they were even well preserved and must’ve been processed in the last three to five years.

In other words, these things should have been left here by someone three to five years ago.

But why? If it was to make money, then these skins were definitely worth more than the meat itself. But if it was for the purpose of eating meat, then the risk was too high since it came from a forest full of poisonous fungi.

As I was thinking all of this, I came to a sudden realization and told Kan Jian to help pull me up the tree. When I climbed to the top of the canopy, the sunshine was exceptionally bright. I saw countless skins drying in the tree canopy, all fixed to the tree’s branches. But they weren’t only on the royal poinciana; they were also in the trees all around us.

“This is a marker,” I murmured.

“What?” Kan Jian asked.

This tree stood between the poisonous forest and the outside forest. There was also a stream beside it, which meant that it was a very important geographical indicator. Since it was easy to get lost when walking under the trees’ canopies, this royal poinciana was an important marker. And it was marking this dividing line between the two parts of the forest. If that were the case, then the royal poinciana before was also one of these markers. We didn’t observe that area very carefully at the time, but it was definitely very important. Maybe that royal poinciana was marking the location of the secret underground space.

“But what about these skins? The markers don’t need to be so exaggerated. Isn’t it just wasteful?” Kan Jian asked.

I had a sudden flash of inspiration and said to Kan Jian, “It’s the smell. These skins are here to emit a smell. Snakeskin and animal skins have different smells. All the tree canopies here are intertwined, so you’re supposed to move between them. And you find the route by smell. Someone designed a path here that we wouldn’t be able to see or recognize using ordinary means.”

The different key points here were marked with different strong smells. This was because there was a difference in how the fat of various creatures smelled.

But my sense of smell was probably my weakest bodily function right now.

I called Liu Sang and Baishe up and asked them to smell the skins. “What are you doing?” Liu Sang asked me.

I touched his head and said, “Smell it carefully. Is there any special scent around here? That should be the direction we need to go in. Good boy.” (1)

Liu Sang slapped my hand away but also agreed with my idea. “I think what you’ve said is reasonable, but we can take it a step further than that. If the tree with animal skins represents danger, then the tree with snakeskins represents refuge. As long as you bring a well-trained dog with you, even the blind could survive out here.”

I sighed, and Kan Jian said, “Doesn’t this sound like the Wu family’s technique?”

I thought about it. It was true that the Wu family had specially trained fox-shaped dogs that were very dexterous and could move among branches, but it was useless to guess now. We had to find Poker-Face’s mark; otherwise, it would be really hard for us to keep moving.

Not only were these skins very old and probably didn’t have a smell, but I didn’t have a dog with me, which was a mistake.

We were right back at square one.

The four of us began looking for Poker-Face’s mark. We first checked to see if there was an underground space under this tree. When we didn’t fine one, we began to circle around. After looking around for a while and not seeing any marks, Liu Sang said, “If we can’t find it, then let’s just follow the stream. Otherwise, we’ll waste another day.”

I was feeling a little irritable. If this dragged on, I wouldn’t be able to save anyone, let alone collect their corpses. The most I would be able to do was pick up their bones. Kan Jian suddenly snapped his fingers and told us to look into the depths of the forest. When I looked over there, I saw something standing in the shade of the trees. It appeared to be white, very dirty, and very tall. I figured it had to be at least four meters tall.

<Chapter 170><Table of Contents><Chapter 172>

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TN Notes:

(1) lol Wu Xie. The “good boy” bit was in English in the raw if you all care. Not sure why he’s so obsessed with touching people’s heads…