During the epidemic, they were locked in their homes for several months. The children were a little stuffy, so they had to expand their imagination and go on an adventure in the Amazon rainforest.
Chapter 1 Getting Ready to Go
"Why is this guy cannibalistic?" As I talked to myself, I left the breeding box of the yellow fat-tailed scorpion. On the table was a letter from the United States, which I had received ten minutes earlier.
Dear Mr. Zhang Zihao,
Our "Sulfuric Acid Expedition" will be heading to the Amazon jungle to investigate the creatures of the rainforest before 2 p.m. today, and we invite you to go with you.
If you are interested, please meet at the Shanghai Entomological Museum by 1:30 today.
S.H. Smith
While the cannibalism of the yellow-tailed scorpion is indeed worth studying, for a young entomologist who has just turned 20, the Amazon rainforest is a rare and good place to visit. I looked at my watch, and now at 12:45, it's time to get ready to go.
At 1:30, I arrived at the entrance of the Shanghai Insect Museum on time and showed my ID card. I was just about to go inside when the conductor stopped me and said, "Wait a minute, sir, there are a few people who want to see you." I followed the conductor to the door of an inconspicuous room.
The conductor knocked on the door, and the man who opened the door was a middle-aged man with a very white complexion, a thick beard, and a burly figure, who looked like a Western gentleman. When he saw me, a warm smile broke out on his face, and he said happily: "Mr. Zhang, I am Smith, and I have been waiting for you for a long time!" Come in! "His Chinese is very fluent, which surprises me a little.
I followed him into the room, where there were four other people, and when they saw me enter the room, they clapped and invited me to sit in the only chair that was still empty. I looked around quickly, the room was small, like a conference room, and in the middle of the room was a large round table with chairs arranged around the table.
After some self-introduction, it turned out that the middle-aged man was S.H. Smith, who signed the invitation letter, and was also the captain of the sulfuric acid expedition team. Sitting to my left were Wilderness Survival Specialist Phoenix and Biology Researcher Sino, and on the right were Mycology Specialist Jonathan and Team Doctor Johnny.
Phoenix, with short blonde hair, a tight protective suit and a topless cap, looks both beautiful and heroic. Next to her, Sino was wearing a vest with countless small pockets and a pair of goggles that looked a bit like a pilot in an old-fashioned airplane. Jonathan on the other side was wearing a pair of gloves that looked special, not knowing what material was made, looked tough and soft, and was wearing a floral undershirt. Johnny looked quiet, his hands on the tabletop, his fingers slender, his goggles, and a small medical kit tied around his belt.
S.H. Smith described the mission of our trip, in order to assess and study the biodiversity of the rainforest, the destination of our trip is the Amazon rainforest, and each person collects a biological specimen from the rainforest and brings it back for study. We each packed our bags, and Dr. Smith called a taxi and took us to Shanghai Pudong Airport.
Chapter 2 Rainforest In Distress
When we came to the edge of the rainforest, a fresh breeze came to the surface. In front of you, there are dense and unknown plants growing madly, from towering trees to shade the sky, to small bushes growing savagely against the ground, and all kinds of unknown colorful flowers, which occupy the three-dimensional space of various heights. They are all trying to stretch upwards, trying to grow faster and taller than the plants next to them, so as to grab more precious sunlight.
From time to time, there are some large and small sounds in the rainforest, from the low roar of cats to the distance, the crisp cries of birds echoing in the sky, and the occasional sound of branches being crushed not far away. Looking around, the rainforest can't see the edge at a glance. A few beautiful blue butterflies flew past us, flew glittering deep into the rainforest, and soon disappeared.
The beautiful scenery in front of us made us relax suddenly. Captain Smith didn't think so, and he quietly walked up behind us, took out a small speaker, and played a raguar roar at maximum volume, trying to make us vigilant, but our reaction was a little too extreme, which really surprised him a little.
The squad, which had been looking lazy, suddenly became vigilant: Phoenix quickly pulled out a folding knife tied with a thin one-meter-long thread, and the other end of the line was tied to her bulletproof vest, making a flying knife, and the sharp edges shone with dazzling light. Sino quickly felt for a slingshot and an anesthetic bullet, put the anesthetic bullet on the slingshot, and prepared to attack. In the blink of an eye, Jonathan pulled out a large handful of crusty ground stars (a fungus that burst open at the touch and emitted a large number of spores) and quickly threw it around; Johnny draws an anesthetic injection gun from the medicine cabinet; I also quickly pulled out a trap net, removed half of the net head, and the rest became a steel fork. The team members had a tacit understanding, slowly forming a circle, all of them facing outward, posing a typical defensive formation.
Smith looked at it and was happy: "No wonder you dare to relax, it turns out that you all came with guys!" You guys..." He pointed to the other four members and said, "I'm not surprised. But Mr. Zhang, how come you also carry a weapon? I smiled and replied, "As an entomologist, I often go to various parts of the world and know that there are many dangers lurking in the rainforest, not to mention the Amazon rainforest!" This is known as the forbidden area for humans, not only there are dangerous animals such as Brazilian wandering spiders, marching ants, poison dart frogs, etc., but also a variety of extremely dangerous plants, each of which may kill you at any time! Smith nodded, "It seems that you know a lot of things!" Let's go, let's go into the rainforest! And Jonathan, who would see the target before attacking, and those hard-skinned stars almost hit me. ”
The rainforest is full of green plants, and there is very little sunlight that can reach the ground after layer after layer of plant blockade, and our eyes look very dim. We turned on the headlights, and the snow-bright pillar of light broke through the dim rainforest, like tearing open a passageway, and the scene in front of us instantly brightened.
I was observing a stick insect next to me, and the afterglow glanced at Sino. He raised an axe and was about to cut a vine, but without warning he was suddenly pulled up the branch by a mysterious force. "Sino is in danger, help!" As I shouted, I rushed over and held Xino's leg in one hand and the insect trap net fork in the other hand, and stabbed at the "branch"!
Johnny rushed over, motioned for me to stop, quickly applied the anesthetic to my steel fork, and then slammed it into the "branch." I saw that the "branch" wrapped around Xeno and fell down together, writhing on the ground. It turned out to be a python with thick thighs and more than three meters long! I saw that the python was dark green, looking like a vine, and there were many black spots on its back, which allowed it to blend perfectly into the light and shadow of the tree. A strange stench rushed over, and the closer we got to Sino, the stronger it became.
Smith whispered, "Oh my God, forget that this stuff is secreted on the grasshopper." ”
Curious, I asked, "What?" ”
"The forest hopper will secrete a kind of bodily fluid, which smells like rotten meat that has rotted for five days, and stinks of thieves!" Smith couldn't help but cover his nose as he spoke.
Even though I was anesthetized, the silkworm was still tightly wrapped around Sino, and Smith and I exerted all our strength to release it to rescue Sino. I was about to fork it when Smith took out a large cage, motioned for me to put it in the cage, and threw a dead duck into it.
Seeing our surprised expressions, Smith smiled and said, "This is the largest snake in the world, the forest hopper." It's the target creature I'm going to collect, haha! ”
This means that we have completed one-sixth of the mission and we continue to explore into the forest.
"To be continued"