Chapter 1654 - 1654
Covered in scars, with a face full of blood and mud, Liu Zhizhong's appearance was no longer recognizable.
His singed hair, tangled with twigs, dead leaves, and silt, was a pitiful sight.
His tattered clothes and pants showed traces of excessive scorching.
Flies buzzed around him, landing in large swarms on his wounds, frantically feeding on blood and laying eggs.
Subtropical mosquitoes also gathered in waves to join the chaos.
Occasionally, a breeze would blow by, scattering the flies and mosquitoes. But soon after the wind passed, they returned.
Moreover, a significant number of blood-sucking leeches crawled over Liu Zhizhong, a truly terrifying sight.
He was tied with a parachute cord, hanging on the thick roots of a large tree suspended over the river, with sunlight streaming through dense foliage onto his body, forming an incredibly desolate figure.
A small black-and-white bird occasionally flew over, perching on his body, pecking at the flies, mosquitoes, and leeches, creating a temporary natural ecological food chain.
Liu Zhizhong was deeply unconscious, his wounds infected, his physical strength massively depleted, almost insensible, with only faint breathing left.
If no one discovered him, as the sun climbed higher and the temperature rose, he was likely to truly perish here from the dual torments of dehydration and infection.
The flood receded rapidly, and when the sun was halfway up, it no longer washed over his body, nor touched his feet.
Moreover, the water of the East Pa River quickly cleared up.
Looking into the distance, the subtropical rainforest after the flood had receded appeared like a beautiful painting.
Under the sunlight, a gauzy mist rose above the river.
Within the clear river channels, beneath the emerald ripples, appeared huge stones, spanning between sand pebbles and silt.
Along the banks, the gnarled banyans and the massive redwoods unique to Vallebang dropped countless aerial roots, dripping with water, weaving into a crystal curtain over the shallows.
Between these thousands of roots, broken hornbill feathers and various broken branches, fallen leaves, and petals were caught.
Ferns grew on rugged cliffs, like patches of green carpet.
Wild melastomas and wild cotton protruded their scarlet flowers from cracks in decaying wood.
Swarms of blue morpho butterflies glided over the water's surface, their wing tips stirring up fragmented iridescent lights.
Schools of grouper fish formed beautiful silver arcs as they moved in the clear waters where depths varied.
Kingfishers shook dew from pine needles, diving toward the water, picking up some unknown small fish, creating ripples of colorful light.
In the jungle, the unique mournful cries of tropical birds sounded, shaking the water droplets hanging from plantain leaf tips.
In the hot, humid air, the sweet and rich scent of ylang-ylang mingled with the pungent smell of humus.
The entire river astonishingly wove the scars from the torrential rain into a ribbon embellished with emerald fragments, winding gently toward an unseen distance.
In the distance, at the confluence of the East Pa River and the West Pa River, rumbles could be heard. There, the converged waters plunged into a hundred-meter-deep underground river entrance, raising sheets of mist, forming enchanting fragmented rainbows in the endless blue sky.
Of course, the dangerous entrance to the underground river was fifty to sixty kilometers away from the crash site.
The world was so beautiful, yet the promising Liu Zhizhong was in such a miserable state. The harrowing suspension was so out of tune with this magnificent scenery.
Even more deadly, by mid-morning, a terrified head emerged from the jungle swamp on the opposite bank…