Survival of the Nation: My luck was a tiny bit worse.

The eldest brother actually said he wanted to run away—you know, even when he encountered the Abyss Bone Demon, he never said he wanted to run away.

Chen Hao asked nervously, "And what about you, big brother?"

"I'll cover the rear."

Ou Yun stuffed the communication stone back into his pocket, gripped his sword with both hands, and looked quite serious.

"I'll play with these broken trees."

"But--"

Before Chen Hao could finish speaking, a very strange creaking sound suddenly came from above his head.

The sound was like someone snapping your joints, making your teeth ache.

Chen Hao subconsciously looked up—

The branches of the trees overhead were slowly bending down, each bend pointing directly at the two of them, like hundreds of spears about to be fired.

"Alright, alright, let's run!"

Ou Yun shoved Chen Hao aside and simultaneously flicked his longsword!

The sword light exploded in mid-air, cleanly slicing off the nearest row of tree branches.

A viscous liquid began to ooze from the broken area, emitting a strong, sweet, and fishy smell.

Chen Hao was pushed so hard that he stumbled several steps and almost fell headfirst into the fern bushes.

He quickly steadied himself and looked back at his older brother—Ou Yun had his ankles entangled by more than a dozen tree roots that had sprouted from the ground, and was cursing as he chopped at the roots.

"..."

Holy crap, did they trigger some kind of switch that activated all these trees?

Chen Hao took a deep breath, drew the electrified short knife from his waist, and slashed down at the nearest tree root.

"Sizzle—"

The electric arc spread along the tree roots, and the roots that were struck twitched violently a few times, loosening their restraint on Ou Yun's ankle.

But soon, even more tree roots surged in from all directions, densely packed, like a snake pit had been disturbed.

"Big brother! That's too much!"

Ou Yun remained silent, only continuing to pull out his spatial ring—

The next second, a gleaming, straight, sharp spear, crackling with electricity, was pulled out of the spatial ring.

Chen Hao was shocked. His older brother had actually... pulled this out!

Ou Yun shouted, "Brother Chen, you'd better get away!"

Damn it, I didn't want to use this in the first place.

This thing is a spear that was forged from Stormhawk feathers.

They could all tell that Black Hawk's feathers looked valuable; they'd taken quite a few from that guy and refined a considerable amount of items from them.

Chen Hao picked out a variety of popular melee weapons, including electric shields, electric knives, electric bows and arrows, and electric darts, and distributed them evenly between the two of them.

This spear was the one that looked the most impressive but was actually quite mysterious. Leng said that he would definitely need it when he came out to jungle, so he gave it to him.

I never expected it would actually come in handy.

Ou Yun slammed the thunder spear into the ground—

Boom!

A thick blue arc of electricity exploded from the tip of the spear, spreading wildly outwards from the two lightning spears as the center.

The tree roots struck by the electric arc instantly stiffened, and the thick sap that had been extracted was also electrocuted and began to boil and bubble.

Even the trees in the distance trembled violently, and a chilling hissing sound emanated from their canopies—

When Ou Yun turned his head to look, even his cheerful expression faded a bit.

No, you're serious about this forbidden area!

What else is there to say?

"Run!"

Without a second thought, Ou Yun grabbed Chen Hao's arm and dragged him toward the river.

The two men weaved and twisted through the dense crevices of the tree roots.

Ou used his spear to clear the way, while Chen Hao used his short sword to patch up the gaps.

Electricity can indeed temporarily paralyze these tree roots that are behaving like they're having an epileptic seizure, but it's only a temporary paralysis—

Well, after all, we can't just open our mouths like that guy Storm Blackhawk and send a lightning bolt to turn this thing into dust.

New tree roots kept rising from the ground behind them, chasing after them like waves.

After running two or three hundred meters, the reflection of the river finally appeared ahead.

"We're here! We're here! We're here!" Chen Hao practically shouted.

But the next second, his shout got stuck in his throat.

The things floating on the river were neither markers indicating when they arrived, nor the raft they had built—

Instead, it was a huge, completely black turtle.

The tortoise shell is at least ten meters in diameter and is covered with dark green moss.

It was floating leisurely on the river, chewing on a large clump of water plants. Seeing the two people rushing out of the woods, it slowly turned its head and sized them up with its beady eyes.

Ou Yun and Chen Hao stood on the shore.

Look at the tree roots that are still standing behind you, then look at the giant turtle on the river, and then look at the tree roots again.

"..."

My turtle!

"Big brother..."

"What's wrong?"

Are we living in a dream?

"It shouldn't be."

Ou Yun looked quite serious.

"I never dream of such a big turtle."

"..."

Chen Hao tilted his head back and let out a breath that reached his heels.

"So, what do we do now...?"

Before he could finish speaking, Ou Yun suddenly took two quick steps and shouted at the giant tortoise:

"Hey buddy, can you give us a ride?"

Chen Hao: ...

Brother, you adapted way too fast!

Then look at that giant tortoise.

As if they actually understood what Ou Yun said, they slowly turned their heads in their direction.

Chen Hao thought to himself, "Wow, my older brother really lives up to his name. He seems to have an innate affinity for living beings even in the forbidden area."

But he was too happy too soon.

After the giant tortoise turned the car around, it slowly opened its mouth wide towards them.

It grows bigger and bigger.

Zhang was tilted to an unbelievable angle, the entire upper half of his head flipped over, revealing his throat, which looked like a black hole.

next second.

whoosh-

A tremendous suction force erupted from the turtle's mouth.

The water plants, driftwood, and pebbles on the river surface, as well as the ferns, branches, and mud on the bank, were all swept up by this suction force and poured into the turtle's mouth!

Ou Yun and Chen Hao were both stunned—then they were sucked off the ground.

"Holy shit! Aaaaaah, holy shit—!!!"

This is outrageous!

Ou Yun struggled frantically on the ground, grabbing a tree trunk that had been uprooted with his left hand, and slamming the long sword in his right hand into the ground, the suction force tearing a long and deep gash in it.

Chen Hao grabbed Ou Yun's ankle, and Ou Yun was almost in mid-air when his glasses were sucked in with a whoosh.

The two of them were like socks in a washing machine, getting all tangled up and rolling around.

"Big brother! Did we just provoke it?!"

"How should I know!"

The giant tortoise remained unmoved and continued to inhale.

"It's okay, let's hang in there. It can't keep sucking like this forever!"

"Damn, that's hard to say!"

"What time is it, bro? Stop jinxing it! Ugh!"

really.

Just as Ou Yun said.

The suction force of that giant mouth not only did not weaken, but instead became stronger and stronger!

Even the tree roots that had been chasing them on the shore were picked up and flew one after another into the turtle's mouth.