Chapter 51: Tyrant Leech

When Master Chen heard the young woman accuse him of being a criminal, he was first taken aback, then responded with a hint of disbelief, “A criminal? Miss, have the leeches sucked your sense away? In this old forest, whose crime could I possibly have committed? If he’s bitten by leeches to the end, he’ll only die a more miserable death! Now that I’ve shot him, he probably doesn’t even know how relieved he is!”

The young woman pressed her lips together, tears welling in her eyes.

Seeing her like this, I spoke up first, “Um... Miss, I think the first thing to do is to remove the leeches from your body.”

Master Chen glanced at me thoughtfully, then sighed and said to the young woman, “You should go inside and lie down.”

After much hesitation, she slowly walked into the adjoining room.

Master Chen and I then lifted the man’s corpse and threw it into the stream; the current quickly carried the body away.

Turning my head, I saw the young woman crying bitterly inside the room.

After a moment’s thought, I whispered, “Master Chen, what you said earlier is true! I didn’t know leeches could actually kill someone.”

Master Chen puffed on his cigarette and said quietly, “Sanqi, haven’t you noticed those leeches aren’t ordinary ones?”

I was momentarily stunned.

After some reflection, I frowned. “Well... these leeches do look much bigger than usual, but I didn’t think they could kill a person.”

Master Chen sneered, “Sanqi, that’s because you don’t understand. These leeches aren’t native to the Greater Khingan Range. They’re invasive—called Tyrant Leeches.”

“Tyrant Leeches?” I’d never heard such a name before and was taken aback.

“Yes! I’ve studied them before. They come from the Amazon and can be called the kings of leeches. They grow up to seven or eight centimeters, but when stretched, they can reach thirty centimeters. Their teeth are four times larger than those of ordinary leeches.”

I swallowed hard and murmured, “That terrifying?”

“Hmph! The moment I saw those two, I knew their fate was sealed! Sanqi, look closely at their hands and faces; there’s not an ounce of color left. Especially the man... The woman might still be saved, but the man is surely doomed.”

I said, “That doesn’t make sense! Master Chen, if these leeches are from the Amazon, how did they end up in the Greater Khingan Range?”

Master Chen pondered briefly and then said simply, “Species invasion.”

...

When we entered the adjoining room, the young woman had stripped down to just her undergarments. I noticed at least a dozen plump leeches clinging to her body, clearly engorged with blood.

Seeing Master Chen and me enter, she choked out, “What about him?”

“Thrown in the river,” Master Chen replied coldly.

She muttered, “We promised—once we left the Greater Khingan, he would marry me...”

Unfortunately, neither Master Chen nor I could sympathize with her words.

After all, when we first encountered them, Master Chen had already warned them to leave the forest immediately.

They refused, and this was the inevitable consequence—reaping what they had sown.

There is an old saying: a lost cause is hard to reason with; the bigger the fool, the bigger the trouble—or else, in the end, the shorts only tighten around your own balls...

“Sanqi! Go get the vinegar and salt!” Master Chen said after inspecting the leeches more closely.

“All right!”

Actually, leeches in our country aren’t so fearsome.

If you get bitten, just apply salt and vinegar, and they’ll fall off quickly.

...

After Master Chen applied salt and vinegar all over the young woman, the numerous leeches soon fell away.

But then the worst part came: the wounds began to gush blood like fountains, and no matter how much we pressed with paper or cloth, it wouldn’t stop.

Master Chen’s voice turned firm. “Sanqi, hold her down!”

I was taken aback, unsure what was happening, but obediently pressed down on the young woman.

Her face turned pale and panicked. “What... what are you going to do?”

Master Chen heated a knife over the fire and said coldly, “There’s nothing to stop the bleeding in the mountains now, so we’ll have to use the old way.”

Ten minutes later, a piercing scream of agony filled the entire room.

She thrashed wildly, and I had to muster every ounce of strength to hold her down. The sizzling sound of flesh being seared rang incessantly in my ears.

I don’t know how long it lasted before her screams suddenly stopped and she fainted from the pain.

I slowly withdrew my hands and exhaled in relief.

Master Chen’s old-fashioned method was something most seasoned hunters and soldiers knew—cruel but effective. Even now, the smell of searing flesh seemed to linger in my nostrils.

...

Having finished everything, Master Chen finally breathed a long sigh.

“That should do it. The bleeding’s mostly stopped.”

I felt drenched in sweat and draped a wolf pelt over the young woman.

Master Chen paid little attention to my gesture. Instead, he puffed on his cigarette and examined one of the leeches on the ground closely with a pair of chopsticks.

“Master Chen, what’s wrong with this leech?” I crouched beside him, whispering.

“Hmm, big problem,” he nodded, frowning as he stared at the creature. “Though it looks like a Tyrant Leech on the surface, it’s actually different. Strange. I haven’t been here for months, and suddenly things have changed like this!”

I had no answer and fell silent.

While we were talking, the young woman stirred and softly spoke, “Thank you.”

Master Chen glanced at her coldly. “Don’t thank me. If anyone deserves thanks, it’s Sanqi.”

I scratched my head, feeling embarrassed since I hadn’t really done anything.

But later I realized she truly owed me gratitude. The forest had no order—if she had met other people, or been alone with Master Chen, her fate would have been far worse.

From the 1990s into the early 2000s, many who broke the laws of nature flooded into the northeastern forests and Xinjiang deserts. Why? Because the Northeast was filled with vast old-growth forests, and Xinjiang was a barren wasteland. Anyone with basic survival skills could live there for years.

Imagine a man who has lived for years in the wilderness suddenly encountering a woman as beautiful as a flower...

How dangerous that would be.