Monster Hunter: I can hear the monsters' thoughts

Chapter 446 Ten Thousand Meters of Skeletons
(The image shows a campsite in the primeval forest. It seems that the design of the current Wilderness's Crimson Forest during its bountiful season was also inspired by the primeval forest to some extent.)
Lin Lin Yezi possessed heat- and cold-resistant protection, making her almost completely unaffected by temperature changes. However, with Yezi and Nia Lu beside her, Nia Lu submerged her face in the water. After two seconds, she raised her head again, shaking the water droplets off her fur, and said with great certainty:
"That's right, meow! This area is much warmer, meow! The water is so warm and cozy, meow!"

To get a more accurate sense of the water, it deliberately used its most sensitive nose tip to touch the river. After entering the primeval forest area, the water temperature here is at least four or five degrees higher than that of Jiangbo Village.

Lin Lin was taken aback. This was strange. Both were near the sea, separated only by a dense forest, so how could the temperature difference be so great? Could it be geothermal activity? But he remembered that there weren't any volcanoes in this primeval forest, right?

"Anyway, this place is quite safe. I think we can set up a temporary camp here first. What do you think, Brother Lin Lin?"

The presence of such a large population of cobalt morpho butterflies, and the presence of four-leaved mayflies nearby, is enough to show that this place is indeed quite safe. The only thing to be careful about when setting up camp here is to make sure the water doesn't get flooded, and Lin Lin naturally had no objections.

Soon, Lin Lin and his group set up camp. While resting and eating to replenish their strength, they discussed their next course of action.

"Should we look for traces of that Black Corrosion Dragon first?"

Lin Lin turned to look at Tiao Tiao, "Do you have any connection to that guy?"

Jumpy scratched its smooth head with its wing claws and let out a helpless growl.

Black Eclipse Dragons all possess the ability to sense scale dust, so they can often sense each other's presence. This was partly the reason why Jumpy was able to land precisely in the center of the battlefield between Lin Lin and the Black Eclipse Dragon after fighting the Thousand Blade Dragon in the Unknown Tree Sea.

However, the Black Eclipse Dragon's sensing ability is limited. Unlike the Sky Returning Dragon that appeared in the Dawn, which could chase a Black Eclipse Dragon directly from Sky Mountain to Elgard's fortress highlands if it wanted to escape the influence range of its scales, the Black Eclipse Dragons need to get close to each other within a certain range to sense each other.

Seeing Tiao Tiao's reaction, Lin Lin couldn't help but shrug.

"All we know is that Senior Julius and his group came to the primeval forest, but we don't have any more detailed clues. The primeval forest is such a large area that we don't know where to start looking for them all at once. Let's start by looking for the traces of the heavy beetles."

“Unlike Jumpy, wild Black Erosion Dragons can’t rely on scattering scales to gather information about their surroundings. As long as it’s still within the primeval forest, we’re sure we can find it.”

Yoko naturally had no objection to this and completely agreed, but Nial raised a question:

"So, where should we start looking for the heavy beetle, meow?"

If the Black Eclipse Dragon is nowhere to be found, are the Heavy Beetles really that easy to find?
"You don't even know that, meow?"

Date palm crossed her arms, a hint of smugness on her face:
"Never mind, meow. After all, you haven't been trained as a hunting cat for very long, meow. It's understandable that you don't know about monsters like the heavy beetle, meow."

"This kind of monster can't fly. It mainly moves by digging and crawling, so where the heavy beetle has been, there will definitely be very obvious dents and digging marks, meow!"

"Furthermore, although the heavy beetle is powerful and has outstanding defense, speed is not its forte, so compared to other large carnivorous monsters, the heavy beetle does not hunt as frequently. They are scavengers, meow!"

"And meow, there are almost always beetles around the heavy beetle, meow. If you can find traces of beetles, you're probably not far from the heavy beetle, meow!"

Listening to Date's clear, logical, and well-reasoned judgment, Nia's eyes shone with admiration, twinkling like stars as she stared at Date.

"Date Senior is so amazing, meow!"

Hearing such praise, Yezao seemed quite pleased, her expression becoming rather smug.

"Hehe, it's nothing special, meow. As long as you work hard, you can be as amazing as me someday, meow..."

Of course, it wouldn't say that it was only after Lin Lin picked up the axe beetle Gujia that it specifically sought out and studied a lot of ecological information about beetle species. For example, the dietary habits mentioned earlier were information that Lin Lin and Gujia looked up together when preparing nutritious meals for Gujia.

Lin Lin: Stare—

Feeling Lin Lin's gaze, Yezao guiltily looked away and changed the subject:

"Now that we have a direction, shouldn't we set off to find the heavy beetle, meow?"

Lin Lin waved his hand:

"You guys go ahead first, Tiaotiao and I will catch up later."

They were able to set up such a temporary camp entirely thanks to Tiaotiao carrying a large amount of supplies, but these supplies did not include Tiaotiao's own rations. They could replenish their strength by carrying food, but Tiaotiao was still hungry at the moment!
Although the snacks fed by the Elder can provide a considerable amount of energy, after consulting Sophia, it was suggested that it should eat normally when it is time to eat, so that the effects of the few Dragon Jade it swallowed can be maximized and used to enhance Jump Jump itself, rather than being used for daily activity consumption.

Given Jump's current size and appetite, it can eat at least one Maru Bird or one Herbivorous Dragon in one meal. Such a large amount of dry food cannot be carried around, so Lin Lin has to take Jump to the hunting grounds to eat it. Due to Jump's lost eyesight, Lin Lin has to follow it every time it hunts.

However, the rider and monster worked together very efficiently. Jumpy carried Lin Lin into the sky, and Lin Lin used his experience to judge where the raw meat monsters would appear. After Jumpy flew into the air, he provided vision and target locking. Then Jumpy swooped down to accurately kill the monster. The whole process took less than ten minutes. Jumpy had already firmly pinned a drooping dinosaur to the ground.

At this moment, they had flown away from the area bordering the dense forest, where the trees were particularly lush. They were now in a wetland plain with almost no cover. The sky was a clear, bright blue, and the distant mountain peaks were a vibrant green under the sunlight. Lakes and puddles were scattered throughout the area, and various herbivores leisurely basked in the sunlight, grazing on the emerald green aquatic plants that sprouted from the edges of the pools. This rich and livable environment attracted a large number of flamingos to roost here to survive the harsh cold season.

—Of course, this was the scene before he and Jump arrived. After Jump descended from the sky and slapped the drooping dragon he had his eye on to death, the other drooping dragons finally reacted and scrambled to their feet in a panic, fleeing into the distance. The flamingos that had built their nests and bred there also took flight in a flurry amidst the commotion, escaping the area.

Lin Lin watched as the tranquility of this place was shattered, and a subtle sense of guilt suddenly welled up in his heart. He should have just flown a little further in; this ancient forest was lush and verdant, and there must have been plenty of raw meat inside.

Hmm... never mind, it's only been to the primeval forest once anyway, it won't have a big impact.

Jumping was happily tearing at the flesh of the Drooping Leviathan when Lin Lin shifted his attention to the mountain range ahead. As he looked, his gaze subtly shifted. He hadn't noticed it from the sky, but now, from this angle, the arrangement of those sword-like peaks seemed a little off.

It's as if it weren't rocks, but the remains of an extremely large monster after its death?

Once the thought arose, it lingered in Lin Lin's mind. The more he looked, the more he felt that the cliffs covered with moss, vines, and trees were actually a rib of a large monster.

If it's true, then the owner of this skeleton must have been incredibly tall, probably over ten thousand meters in size... Compared to that, the Peak Dragon and the Mountain Dragon are nothing, even the Lava Dragon seems tiny, and even the two-thousand-meter-long Serpent King Dragon that perished in the Miasma Valley looks like a spicy snack compared to it.

(As shown in the picture, I wonder how many of you noticed this big guy in the primeval forest when you were playing 4G and XX.)

Lin Lin's shocked gaze lingered on the outline of the primeval forest for a long time. He remembered that before his transmigration, he had once stumbled upon a Monster Hunter fan art piece. The creator, inspired by Pangu creating the world, had designed a colossal ancient dragon called "Celestial Creation Dragon," which was itself a massive ecosystem and continent... If the owner of this skeleton were still alive, it might be quite similar to the "Celestial Creation Dragon" envisioned by that creator...

After a long pause, Lin Lin's gaze suddenly shifted slightly. He turned to look at the sky behind him, and then looked forward again.

Two seconds later, it turned its head back to look, and then returned to the center position.

It wasn't an illusion; the mountaintop of the primeval forest was indeed shrouded in a dark cloud, and that cloud was confined to the vicinity of the mountaintop, while the surrounding sky was clear and blue.

What a unique climate...

Lin Lin took out his binoculars and carefully examined the thick, dark clouds for a while. He could vaguely see arcs of electricity flashing between the dense cloud layers, but they just stayed around the mountaintop area and didn't seem to fall.

Lin Lin thought carefully for a moment and finally pulled out some impressions from the corner of his memory. When he was playing the game, it seemed that every time the monster went to the eighth area to sleep, the screen would darken. Although he did not pay special attention, he thought it should be similar to the scene of thunderclouds condensing and not dissipating that he saw now.

For a moment, Lin Lin was shocked and filled with intense curiosity. He wondered if he could bring Sophia with him and she would be able to figure out the reason behind this phenomenon, or even what the owner of the skeleton was...

"Roar?"

Suddenly, Lin Lin felt a bump on his buttock and stumbled. When he turned around, he found that Tiao Tiao had already eaten and drunk her fill.

Sensing Lin Lin looking over, Tiao Tiao tilted its head innocently, "Huh?"

Don't blame me, I called you softly several times but you didn't respond, so I gently nudged you with my head.

"Hiss... So fast?"

Lin Lin rubbed his bottom and involuntarily turned his head to look at the outline of the primeval forest again. However, he quickly realized that it wasn't that Tiao Tiao was eating too fast, but that he had been staring at that place in a daze for too long.

"Alright, let's go, let's catch up with Yoko and the others quickly."

……

"call--"

Aiden sat on the ground, panting heavily, stuck his one-handed sword into the soil beside him, and pulled out a sugar pill wrapped in oil paper from his pocket. He unwrapped it, put it in his mouth, and chewed it vigorously.

As the sweet, sugary shell cracked open, the viscous liquid inside flooded into his mouth. Aiden scrunched up his face, took out a water pouch from his waist, took a swig, and swallowed it.

However, as soon as the sugar pill went down his throat, his pale face regained some color, and his breathing became much stronger.

Aiden slowly exhaled:
"Phew—when will the director be able to improve these pills again? The taste is truly indescribable..."

"The antidote we received was clearly the improved second version. Who told you to chew it up? You could have just swallowed it directly and been fine."

Nadia hugged her heavy crossbow, wiping the gunpowder from the muzzle while complaining about Aiden.

"I was thinking that if I chewed it up before swallowing, I could absorb it faster..."

Aiden ran his fingers through his messy hair:
"The faster it's absorbed, the faster the detoxification takes effect. Ugh—this mad dragon disease is really unpleasant. I don't know how Lin Lin can withstand it..."

Julius, who was diligently sharpening his twin swords, replied without looking up:

"When the director brought the antidote, he also brought a lot of new information. I took a look, and it said that the symptoms of different people infected with the mad dragon virus can sometimes be very different. Maybe his symptoms are different from ours?"

The elite squad was tasked with pursuing and defeating the Black Devouring Dragon from back then. Since their parting in Barbare, they had been relentlessly tracking the dragon's footsteps, and they had finally clashed with it not long ago. As for the outcome...

As soon as the Black Corrosion Dragon Scale Powder was activated, all four members of the elite team were infected with the Mad Dragon Disease, reducing their combat power by at least half. Facing the Black Corrosion Dragon's attack, they were in grave danger. Although they had learned from Lin Lin that they could use explosive attacks to influence and promote the body's metabolism, allowing the immune system to temporarily suppress the Mad Dragon Virus, this risky approach was not suitable for Julius and his team's habit of fighting according to pre-planned strategies. Therefore, after each of them took a Dispelling Fruit, they suppressed the symptoms of the virus and temporarily retreated.

"However, since we've already been infected once, everyone should be somewhat accustomed to the virus's onset, right? And according to the director, our bodies have developed a certain level of resistance, so the time from infection to onset won't be as short as before. In the next battle, let's finish it off!"

(End of this chapter)