When Zhou Chen stood up and picked up his iron rod, it was almost half an hour later.
His condition had not completely returned to normal, but he was not far from it.
"Fortunately, the snake venom's effect on me is gradually weakening. The wounds on my body from the snake bites are also very small, and I didn't lose much blood."
Zhou Chen's luck was really good. When he was lying on the ground and pretending to be dead, no new monsters appeared, and the invisible creature that was chasing him did not come either.
He turned off the corpse poison and patted the dust off his clothes. Then, he wiped his face and bent down to sit on a large stone.
He needed to rest for a while.
Using his consciousness to open the inventory space, a transparent plastic bottle quickly appeared in his hand. It was filled with dark brown liquid.
This was the coke reward he had obtained after surviving the previous Survival mission. There were a total of 1.5 liters.
He opened the bottle and took a sip. Zhou Chen's mouth was quickly filled with a pleasant taste.
"Not bad. Not only can it quench my thirst, it can also replenish some energy."
When he had obtained this reward, Zhou Chen had looked down on this coke. He had thought that it was a very perfunctory reward. Now that he had taken a sip, he realized that it was not really useless. It had some value.
After resting for about five minutes, Zhou Chen drank some cola, put the bottle in his inventory, and set off again with the iron rod.
In fact, he wanted to sit for a while longer, but more than ten rat-type monsters suddenly rushed in from the far side of the tunnel. He felt that it was best not to fight so many cat-sized sharp-toothed rats in his current state, so he chose to avoid them.
He could see a fork at the end of the tunnel, so he chose to head there.
He entered the fork before the rats became interested in him and continued walking slowly.
Everything he did now was based on caution.
The passage he was in was slightly different from the one he had walked through before. There was a thin stream flowing among the rocks all the way to the depths of the cave.
"There might be water ahead."
Zhou Chen thought to himself, wondering if he should continue or choose another path. He did not want to fight monsters in the water.
He slowly walked beside the water stream, paying attention to his surroundings at all times, searching for the next passage.
After walking for about fifteen minutes, he made a new discovery. At the place where the water flow increased, a monster that looked like a Salamander but had protruding teeth was drinking water.
The monster was rather large. It was about two meters tall and seemed to weigh at least fifty kilograms. At this moment, it was extending its thin tongue to drink water.
"It's not small, but there's only one."
Seeing this, Zhou Chen immediately bent down and gently walked towards it with the iron rod in his hand. As he walked, he added the corpse poison on the end of the iron rod.
If there were two of these monsters, he would definitely not provoke them, but with his corpse poison ability, even if he was not in a perfect condition, there was a high chance that he could successfully hunt one.
One step after another, Zhou Chen slowly walked towards the salamander monster with the iron rod in his hand in the dark cave passage. He was careful to make as little noise as possible, and let the sound of the flowing water hide the soft sound of his footsteps.
He did not expect himself to be able to approach the other party with this method, but even a meter closer would be helpful.
The distance between Zhou Chen and the salamander monster gradually shortened. Before long, they were about five meters apart. At this moment, Zhou Chen had already entered a highly vigilant state, ready to defend against the monster's sudden attack.
Soon, the salamander monster stopped drinking. It tilted its lizard-like head and looked at Zhou Chen with its red eyes. Then, it ran in the opposite direction at a very fast speed.
"Why are you running! Do you have the wrong script?!"
Zhou Chen was instantly stunned. He had guessed several attacking methods of this monster, such as charging straight at him, climbing the wall to pounce on him, or jumping directly at him. But he had never expected it to directly escape, and it was even extremely decisive.
"Something's wrong, the monsters in this cave were all brainless and fearless idiots, but this one actually knows fear."
Zhou Chen did not chase after the salamander monster. Instead, he stopped and began to think.
His biggest demand for himself was to be cautious, even if he might lose some gains.
"Let's go a little further. If the terrain isn't good, I will retreat."
Zhou Chen slowly walked in the direction the monster was fleeing. The water on the ground gradually increased. He crossed a large number of rocks and arrived near a pool.
Thanks to his Low Light Vision, he realized that the water in the pool was relatively clear. It looked a little deep, and it was only slightly muddy near the edge.
"That thing ran straight into the pool? Looks like I have to give up."
Zhou Chen would not run into the water to fight the monster.
He immediately turned around and prepared to leave.
But at that moment, his ears heard a rustling sound. It was a slight sound, but it could not be ignored. It came from afar and became stronger rapidly. It sounded like the sound of some kind of insect crawling on the ground.
Zhou Chen immediately had a very bad feeling. He realized that his previous judgment might have been wrong. That monster might not have fled because it was afraid of him. It might have sensed some huge danger.
Zhou Chen looked in the direction of the sound and waited for the creature to arrive. Or it might not come at all. That would be the best outcome.
He was now sandwiched between the pool and the source of the sound. He was in a passive situation and could only wait for the situation to develop.
Finally, amidst the rustling sounds that were becoming more and more obvious, Zhou Chen saw the source of the sound on the other side of the path: a dense group of monsters that were the size of peanuts and looked more like red ants were swarming towards him!
"F*ck!"
Zhou Chen felt like his soul was about to fly out when he saw this. He instantly realized that this group of monsters was not something he could deal with. He would definitely die very miserably if he was surrounded.
Without hesitation, Zhou Chen quickly ran to the front, where the pool was.
As he ran, he sensed the red ant-like monsters chasing after him. The distance between them was gradually decreasing.
Zhou Chen immediately felt his back turn cold. He began to squeeze out all his strength, ignoring the fact that his body was not in good condition as he fled with all his might.
In the end, when one red ant at the front reached him and crawled up his pants, he jumped into the pool.