Chapter 268 – The Frog
“Then ordinary people must be living in terrible conditions,” Li Rui continued.
The girl in the white dress followed closely behind. Her name was Song Bai, and her voice was gentle and light, giving her a ladylike appearance. “The upper rulers have highly centralized power, with a significant wealth gap and severe social stratification.”
Tu Ran looked at them with newfound respect; in just a few words, they had summarized the current state of the Federation.
The girl in sportswear added, “If that’s really the case, then the upper rulers must have cultivated many loyal dogs to suppress the resistance of ordinary people.”
Her surname was Xiang, and her name was Sheng, making her full name Xiang Sheng.
“Exactly!” Li Rui clapped her hands excitedly, gesticulating animatedly. “That’s how it’s portrayed in movies! Those lackeys must be wearing very cool combat suits and wielding powerful weapons. When they encounter anyone who doesn’t comply, they just arrest them or shoot them on the spot. The laws in the Second World must be unfair, biased toward the ruling class. Even if those lackeys kill someone, they won’t be sentenced. Hey, why are you tugging on me?”
Having finished her excited outburst, Li Rui turned to look at Song Bai, who was gripping her arm tightly, and asked with concern, “What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?”
Song Bai’s expression was quite peculiar. She glanced at Li Rui and then at Tu Ran, giving Li Rui’s arm a pinch.
Only then did Li Rui realize what was happening. She stiffened her neck to look at Tu Ran.
It seemed… that what she had just said matched up with Tu Ran’s situation. The name tag on Tu Ran’s chest, with the words “Pioneer,” resembled the code for an organization or department.
Li Rui bit her tongue and said, “Um… I was just talking nonsense; don’t take it to heart, okay? I’ve just watched too many movies… Haha… my brain isn’t functioning too well.”
Tu Ran shook her head. “It’s fine; what you said isn’t without merit.” She stood up and brushed the dirt off her clothes. “Once we’ve rested, we’ll set off.”
The three of them stood up, cautiously watching Tu Ran’s back, thinking that her sudden suggestion to move on was because she was angry.
In reality, Tu Ran hadn’t taken it to heart at all.
…
In the afternoon, as they passed through a dense forest, Xiang Sheng stopped and looked around at the familiar scenery. “This seems like the place we came through!”
Tu Ran also halted. Her ability [Sense of Direction] was indeed quite useful, and she carefully observed her surroundings, searching for any suspicious energy fluctuations.
“It doesn’t seem to be here anymore,” Li Rui said. She jumped a few times in one spot, compacting the dirt beneath her feet. “This is where we came out.”
Everyone sighed, the earlier joy of potentially returning home evaporating in an instant.
“Let’s go,” Tu Ran said, having never held out much hope to begin with.
The group continued onward, with Tu Ran now setting her sights on finding Pangpang.
As they walked quietly, the three behind Tu Ran were no longer as tense as they had been in the morning; they had time to admire the scenery around them.
The sights here were vastly different from those in the First World. Untouched by humans, nature always seemed a bit greener and a bit more serene.
Until suddenly, a deafening “croak” rang out, and the four of them stopped in their tracks.
Li Rui and the others instinctively moved closer to Tu Ran, glancing around and daring not to make a sound.
Tu Ran tilted her head back at a forty-five-degree angle, staring at a large tree that was lush and leafy.
The sound had come from the tree canopy above.
Tu Ran caught a whiff of a putrid, decaying stench.
“Back away and find a place to hide, the farther, the better,” Tu Ran whispered.
Song Bai asked softly, “What about you?”
“There is an alien creature here; I can’t leave. I’ll kill it, and then I’ll come find you.”
“Just be careful,” Xiang Sheng said, quickly pulling Song Bai and Li Rui to retreat.
Seeing the three trying to leave, the alien creature hidden in the tree canopy couldn’t stay put any longer.
“Croak!”
A blood-red tongue shot out from the dense foliage, the tip forked and covered in a transparent slime, slithering toward Li Rui and the others.
In an instant, from the moment the tongue emerged to the point it touched the three of them, the speed was astonishing.
“Aaaah—” The wet sensation sent chills down their spines, goosebumps erupting as they screamed, their voices echoing through the dense forest. The three of them dashed forward like they were on fire, desperate to escape.
The tongue lunged after them, but Tu Ran charged forward, drawing her knife and slashing at the tongue.
It didn’t cut through; instead, the tongue curled back, ensnaring her arm and the dagger, dragging her toward the tree trunk.
“Ahh, Tu Ran is being pulled away! We need to save her!” Li Rui glanced back and saw this scene, immediately stopping and pulling the other two back. The three of them rushed toward Tu Ran to lend her support.
“Don’t come over!” Tu Ran shouted urgently.
As she spoke, she exerted force with her bound hands, forcibly loosening the grip of the alien creature’s tongue.
The alien creature recoiled in pain, temporarily retracting its tongue.
Li Rui and the others breathed a sigh of relief.
In the next moment, the blood-red tongue shot out again, this time aiming for Tu Ran’s head.
Tu Ran met it head-on, grabbing the tongue and wrapping it around her arm a few times. Then she spread her legs, firmly taking a stance. With a powerful tug, she pulled the alien creature hidden in the treetops out, causing it to crash face-first into the ground.
“Thud!”
The impact created a deep pit in the earth.
Tu Ran got a good look at the alien in the pit.
It was a frog-like alien.
“What a huge frog!” Li Rui blinked in disbelief. “Tu Ran’s strength is incredible!”
Xiang Sheng remembered Tu Ran’s instructions and pulled the dazed duo behind the tree trunk, hiding them away. Even though they were concealed, their heads peeked out in a line from behind the trunk to observe the battle.
After dragging the frog down, Tu Ran swiftly drew her laser gun, aiming it at the creature to begin firing.
The blue beams shot straight toward the frog’s head, resembling a lightsaber, but all of them were deflected by the scales on its head, sparking numerous little fireworks without causing it any harm.
Upon closer inspection, it became clear that its entire body was covered in a layer of scales. The scales were unevenly arranged, making its body appear bumpy like a frog. Under the laser gun’s illumination, those scales reflected light in different directions, which was the only reason they were even noticeable.
“What should we do? The laser gun isn’t working. Should we call Tu Ran and run away together?” Song Bai asked, tugging at her two companions’ hands for their opinions.
Xiang Sheng replied, “Let’s wait and see what Tu Ran does next. She might have other powerful weapons.”
“Yeah, look how calm Tu Ran is,” Li Rui said.
Since the laser gun had no effect on the alien’s scales, Tu Ran set her sights on its mouth.
Taking a few steps back, Tu Ran leaped into the air, using a nearby tree trunk to propel herself as if she could walk on walls, moving from the trunk to a tree branch. Meanwhile, she dragged the alien’s tongue along with her as she jumped down from the branch.
The frog was effortlessly pulled down to the base of the tree. Fortunately, its tongue was long enough that it didn’t get suspended in mid-air.
