Wilderness Survival with Druid System-Chapter 474 - 23: Fever

Western Black-crowned Long-armed Ape.

The name made the three of them pause for a moment.

But soon, a trace of anger flashed in Mr. Li’s eyes.

The Western Black-crowned Long-armed Ape is an extremely rare animal.

Besides Hua Country, traces of them have only been seen in northern Vietnam and Laos.

In recent years, as development has surged over there, the presence of the Western Black-crowned Long-armed Ape is disappearing.

They have been listed as critically endangered (CR) species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Even in Hua Country, wild populations are only distributed in Ailao Mountain and nearby Wuliang Mountain.

This animal is elegantly formed, with clear and melodious calls.

But it is precisely because of these characteristics that some wealthy people view them as pets that reflect status and wealth.

Therefore, throughout the last century, poaching targeting the Western Black-crowned Long-armed Ape persisted.

It was only after the establishment of reserves that this situation was curbed.

Currently, the wild population of the Western Black-crowned Long-armed Ape does not exceed more than a thousand individuals, most of which are in Wuliang Mountain.

Ailao Mountain has at most a hundred, forming several groups.

And now these people are targeting these rare animals, how hateful!

Having grown up in the village, Mr. Li, deeply influenced by the forestry department’s education, cherishes these mountain-dwelling spirits immensely.

But at the moment he does not have the ability to resist, he can only force a smile while listening to this damned foreigner talk about his hunting plans.

Inside, he wishes he could punch this damned foreigner to death.

...

On Chen Wen’s side.

Following the traces left by Yan Bian and his group, he arrived near the mountain top.

Thanks to the improving weather, Chen Wen overlooked the surroundings, using vision enhanced through entry bonuses to look for clues.

But the undulating mountains and the expansive sea of trees made it impossible for Chen Wen to see the situation on the ground clearly.

However, Chen Wen noticed that on a mountain in front of him, there seemed to be some moving black dots above the tree line.

After closely identifying, Chen Wen said, "What are these monkeys? Swinging from tree to tree, running so fast. Could there be something chasing them?"

After watching for a while, Chen Wen withdrew his gaze.

He did not see signs of human activity.

"Let’s go, everything as usual, Huang Feng Desert, you two go ahead to scout the way, Gray Wing, you go up to search for traces of humans."

Upon hearing Chen Wen’s command, the three animals began moving.

But the scout Huang Feng Desert didn’t go far before Huang Feng suddenly halted.

Chen Wen caught up and asked, "What’s wrong?"

Huang Feng stood up, sniffed the surroundings’ scents, then said, "Food, I can smell food!"

Without waiting for Chen Wen to speak, Huang Feng immediately moved.

It swiftly navigated the bare rocky mountain area, persistently searching for the source of the scent.

Behind, the short-tailed cat also joined in the hunt.

The two animals, combining efforts, quickly found the so-called food.

A field mouse trapped in a crevice by the yellow-throated marten.

"What a big mouse!"

This field mouse was nearly twenty centimeters long, not counting the tail, and its body was round.

However, facing the slightly larger yellow-throated marten, this massive field mouse was exceedingly terrified.

It kept emitting sharp cries, attempting to drive away the yellow-throated marten.

The short-tailed cat was crouched on the other side of the crevice, blocking the mouse’s escape route.

Seeing this, Chen Wen didn’t stop the two animals.

It is perfectly normal for them to hunt for food.

But just as the yellow-throated marten was about to strike, the short-tailed cat suddenly said, "Wait, it seems to be on the brink of death. Do you smell it? There’s a decaying smell on it."

"Why care about that? As long as it can be eaten!"

The yellow-throated marten wasn’t picky, bit down immediately.

Crunch!

The field mouse’s terror ended in an instant.

The yellow-throated marten pulled the mouse, dragging it out of the crevice.

Chen Wen also approached the yellow-throated marten.

The yellow-throated marten, seeking credit, brought the mouse to Chen Wen, but Chen Wen focused on the mouse’s wounds.

"Wait, let me check the wounds on this guy first."

Chen Wen stopped the yellow-throated marten from feasting.

Under its puzzled gaze, Chen Wen reached out, turning the mouse’s lower half.

Just like the short-tailed cat said, the mouse’s rear half had obvious signs of decay.

The source of the rot, however, was a series of very orderly, clean-cut wounds.

"Your teeth couldn’t create such marks, these should be caused by some sort of sharp trap like a snare."

Chen Wen said, handing the mouse back to the yellow-throated marten.

The yellow-throated marten viciously tore the mouse in half, sharing with the short-tailed cat, both started feeding.

"A trap... Something feels off!"

Chen Wen thought, shaking his head.

...

Back with another team.

Everyone moved briskly, planning to get through this magnetic anomaly area as quickly as possible.

But during their journey, 01 was uneasily rubbing his shoulder.

"Shoulder sore?"

Medic 08 asked.

shook his head: "No, it’s itchy. Got bitten by mosquitoes last night, seems to have formed a layer of rashes."

"Mosquitoes here see us like we see food after special training ends, rushing at us madly."

joked from the side.

laughed twice along, but he still felt somewhat uncomfortable inside.

This discomfort turned into reality at night.

started to develop a fever.

After a careful check, 08 shook his head: "Just a fever, can’t see anything else for now. What should we do? Keep going or turn back?"

02, usually quiet, picked up the conversation, saying: "Turn back, we need to let the outside know about his current state."

"What’s about the second group? If we don’t continue, are they going to search by themselves?"

expressed his opinion: "Split into groups a and b, one group goes back, the other continues."

Some agreed, some opposed.

In the midst of everyone’s debate, 01 coughed: "Let’s do this, stay here tonight, I just took medicine, we’ll see how I feel tomorrow. If it’s better, we’ll continue, if not, split up."

Nobody opposed 01’s decision.

Everyone started to rest.

After a night, something unexpected happened for the team.

Although 01’s condition improved somewhat, the number of people with fever increased to four.

furrowed his brow deeply, looking at those with fever, a sense of foreboding in his heart.

Could it be malaria?

Malaria, a parasitic disease caused by Plasmodium infection.

It’s spread by mosquito bites carrying Plasmodium, blood transmission, and mother-to-child transmission.

But malaria has an incubation period, usually over a week.

They’ve been here just a week, and it’s only recently that the mosquito bites have increased.

"Let’s split up, those in relatively good condition continue trying to advance, we’ll go back."

issued the order, the team split up again, with those who had a fever returning.

The others continued their climb.