Death Hunt

This area had relatively more large trees and fewer undergrowth bushes. In order to ensure sufficient living space, there were considerable gaps left between each tree by natural selection.

These gaps were precisely the "paths" for animal activities.

Luo Jun instructed the women to cut branches toward the south and west, while he wanted to inspect the trees to the north and east for any suspicious footprints.

He believed that something must have approached last night, otherwise why would that chorus of insect sounds have suddenly stopped?

He searched around the northern area for quite a while, trying to discover any clues.

Finally, through Luo Jun's meticulous observation, he discovered a large footprint on the ground that was about 28 centimeters long!

It was a footprint, not a shoeprint!

A twenty-eight centimeter long footprint meant that if it belonged to a normal person, then this person's height should be over one meter ninety!

"Damn it, none of the three men among us are one meter ninety tall, and besides, everyone is wearing shoes. Who else besides a native would walk barefoot in the forest in this kind of weather?"

A hint of fear flashed across Luo Jun's eyes.

As far as he knew, except for the natives in tropical rainforests, natives from other areas rarely came out in the winter. They would store enough food to get through the winter during the spring, summer, and autumn seasons.

The only possibility was that they had come out to scout targets, and then would lead a large number of members back to kill!

Luo Jun knew of these natives' strong territorial awareness. Since the island's resources were so limited, if there were invaders, it would involve a struggle for resources, and war would be inevitable.

If these natives had previous contact with human civilization, then they would not go to war directly, but would negotiate first.

But in this current situation, there was obviously no room left for negotiation.

Because they had already sent out scouts, which was the prelude to war. Thinking of this, Luo Jun's face alternated between pale and flushed.

Although they now had firearms, the number of guns was limited, and the ammunition was also limited. Those natives living in the jungle were all brave and skilled warriors. But they had only women here!

The natives might not kill the women, but the men would definitely not be able to escape.

Luo Jun immediately ran back to the camp and called the captain and first mate together.

"Mr. Luo, what's the matter?"

The captain had never seen Luo Jun with such an expression before. Even when Jones had taken the large ship previously, he had never shown such an expression.

So he unconsciously asked with concern.

"There are natives!"

Luo Jun said gravely.

"Natives? How do you know?"

The captain and first mate looked at each other. As seasoned seafarers, they certainly knew about natives living on deserted islands as well.

If those natives had no prior contact with outsiders, once they appeared on the island, they would view them as enemies and go to war directly without any room for negotiation!

"I found footprints over there, and they don't belong to any of us!"

Luo Jun said as he led the captain and first mate to the place where he had discovered the footprints.

They also saw this footprint imprinted in the yellow soil.

Judging from this footprint, this person was probably very tall. Most natives had poor nutrition and could hardly grow to such a tall stature.

"This person must be about one meter ninety, right?!" the first mate exclaimed in shock.

Luo Jun shook his head. "Not necessarily. This is probably a scout from their tribe. Scouts would never choose tall people, but rather those skilled at running with short statures. Not only are they nimble and observant, but they're also adept at escaping and climbing."

The captain's expression changed.

"Damn it, we have only women here. If their tribe has over a hundred people, we're dead for sure!"

Luo Jun's expression was also grim. Not to mention he didn't have much ammunition, even if he did, he wouldn't be able to kill them all. They were skilled at jungle warfare and very adept at concealment!

Moreover, their weapons were laced with deadly poison. Even a slight wound from their weapons would cause full-body paralysis within ten seconds or so.

Especially a weapon called a blowgun – they would feed wooden needles soaked in poison into long tubes and blow them over a hundred meters away, accurately hitting targets the size of an egg.

These were survival skills of the natives living in primitive tribes, which could not be achieved without ten or twenty years of training.

The poison could cause a monkey's heart to stop in seconds.

Luo Jun had witnessed this weapon in the Amazon and Indonesia. They would boil the sap from poisonous vines and soak the wooden needles in it to make these poisoned blowgun darts. Although the poison was deadly, the animals killed by it could still be eaten after being cooked properly without poisoning.

In the jungle where there was no open view, sniper rifles were not as effective as handguns.

Yet those natives could move freely and kill silently with their blowguns in such jungles!

If they swarmed over in droves, everyone present would have only one path – death!

This was the reason why Luo Jun's face had turned almost soil-colored when he saw that footprint.

"Mr. Luo, what should we do now? None of us have weapons or combat experience, we're no match for those natives at all!"

The captain's face was also deathly pale now. They all knew this meant death.

These natives were even more terrifying than those mercenaries. At least with the mercenaries, there was room for negotiation since they had value, but those natives would see them as absolute enemies.

The only way to feel safe was to kill them!

"Let me think..."

Luo Jun's mind was also racing now, analyzing why the natives hadn't attacked Jones and the others previously. Was it the mercenaries who were ambushed by the natives after entering the forest, not the monster?

If it was the former, then they must have been declaring sovereignty!

But this deduction wasn't absolutely accurate either. Even if they went back to the seaside now, if the natives still came to kill them, they wouldn't have anywhere to hide!

That would be like sending everyone to the executioner's block!

The natives might not have acted before because they were unfamiliar with these outsiders, and as long as they stayed by the coast, they didn't pose an immediate threat to the natives' living resources, so there was no need to go to war yet. They were in the stage of collecting information!

Moreover, the arrival of the large ship later must have made them feel even more threatened.

Now that the large ship was gone, and there were only three men with the rest being women here, the natives probably felt the threat had diminished and began to wage war to seize the women.

To the natives, women were also a resource. In most tribal massacres, young women of childbearing age would not be killed.

"Have everyone prepare to return to the seaside. Don't touch anything here. I'll go after that native scout! If I catch up and kill that scout, you can come back. That way, our safety can be temporarily secured. When they send another scout next time, we'll be prepared for defense and should be able to capture the second scout. If we can't capture them, at least we'll have some combat readiness!"

Luo Jun told the captain and first mate.

Their expressions did not improve, but rather showed concern over whether Luo Jun could catch up to the scout, who had already been gone for a night!