Female Novel
Chapter 776 The Deadly Adventure (Part Two)
"What's wrong?" asked Howard.
"Oh my God!" Diana turned her head away immediately and began to retch.
From the reaction of the people around him, Howard finally realized that something was terribly wrongon his back, but he couldn't see anything. He could only see the horror in the eyes of others as theystared at his back with their dilated pupils. "What on earth is wrong, Harper?" he asked anxiously.
"Fire starter!" Harper instructed the secret guards, ignoring Howard's question, as if she did not feel itwas important to answer him at the moment. Harper stretched out her hand. Without wasting amoment, one of the secret guards handed her a fire starter. Harper blew the fire starter to light a firefrom it. Then she put it straight to Howard's back. His back was covered with blood-sucking insects.The scene was so gory and bloodcurdling that it made everyone go speechless. It seemed as if theinsects had been on his body for a long time because they had sucked so much blood that they hadbloated. Their skin had become thin as if it would break out any moment to let out the excess blood.novelbin
"Your Highness, what kind of insects are these?" asked a secret guard in a trembling voice.
"These are leeches. I should have been more cautious. I had forgotten that such hot and wet placeslike swamps are infested with such bloodsucking insects. All of you, check each other's bodies for suchleeches. If you find them, don't try to pull them out with your hands. Instead, you should burn them withfire. When they feel hurt, they will fall from your body. Otherwise, their poisonous tentacles will be left inyour body. And if that happens, even I won't be able to save you."
The secret guards were left aghast to witness the dense covering of leeches on Howard's back. Theyhad goose bumps all over their bodies and their faces turned pale the moment Harper asked them tocheck each other. Immediately, they gathered in small groups, took off their upper clothes quickly, andchecked on each other. Leeches were found on the bodies of quite a few of them. Fortunately, therewere not so many as they were found on Howard's back.
When Howard saw the leeches falling to the ground from his back, he was freaked out too. Had it notbeen for Harper who had made him take off his clothes to check if there was anything wrong with him,Howard wouldn't have even realized until all his blood was sucked away.
After getting rid of the leeches on Howard's back, Harper passed a general instruction for everyonewithout considering anything. She said, "Take off your pants and check your whole bodies to see ifthere is any leech left elsewhere. Take off all your clothes and shake them for a few times, to makesure that there is no leech left on your clothes as well."
"Yes, Your Highness,"
the twelve secret guards answered in a unified voice. But Howard felt too embarrassed to take off hispants in front of Harper. After a moment of hesitation, he said, "I will check myself with the secretguards. After all, you are a female."
Harper stared at Howard for a moment and then realized that what he said was right! It was not untilthen that Harper realized the gender difference between Howard and her. She had almost forgottenthat she was a woman. Immediately, she turned away and walked to Diana. "Take off your clothes," shesaid.
There was no leech on Diana's body. Perhaps that was because she practiced voodoo arts every day.As a result, low-grade poisonous insects such as leeches dared not get close to her. However, a largepart of her skin was exposed to the air, so she was likely to be bitten by some poisonous insects.Harper thought that it would be more troublesome if she was bitten by some unknown poisonous insectand got infected.
"Brother, take off your coat and give it to her!" Harper waved her hand pointing towards Diana. Shegestured Howard to make haste. Among all the men present there, only Howard wore a coat. Thesecret guards wore tight clothes, which made it easy for them to make a quick movement.
After the leeches had been removed from Howard's body, his back was left dripping with blood. Whenhe heard Harper's order, he took off his coat immediately and threw it at Diana.
"No... Err... I don't need..." Diana stammered as the coat landed on her lap before she could evenrefuse properly.
"There are too many poisonous insects here. And you have too much of your skin exposed to the air.You know better than me what will happen if you get attacked by the poisonous insects of the swamp,"Harper explained to Diana in a stern voice. Harper then took a bottle of medicine and threw it to thesecret guards. She took another bottle in her hand and approached Howard. "Apply it to your wound,"she ordered.
Howard reached out his hands for the medicine. Harper looked at him in a meaningful manner whilehanding over the medicine to him. "Can you apply it by yourself?" asked Harper.
Howard turned towards the secret guards with the hope that he could avoid being touched by Harperonce again. However, to his dismay, he found that none of them was available to help him apply themedicine. Having no other option left, he turned back and allowed Harper to apply the medicine on hisback. Harper applied the medicine in a very rough and violent way. Howard squirmed his face in pain,but dared not complain. After all, it was only because of his own negligence that he had landed up insuch an awkward situation.
When they finally settled down after dispelling the insects and applying medicine on the wounds, thesecret guards took out the dry food they were carrying with them. But to their utter disappointment, theyfound that the food had gone bad after getting wet in the rain and could no longer be eaten. Theyturned to Harper and said, "Your Highness, please wait for a moment. We will find something to eat."
"No, that's not necessary," Harper said, shaking her head. She looked around the place, thencontinued, "No need to wander around in this place. Otherwise, it's easy for you to get lost in such a
dense swamp. Just look around in the nearby places. If you can't find anything to eat nearby, you cantake pills for the time being."
Upon Harper's words, the corners of the shadow guards' mouths twitched. They resisted the urge toexchange looks with each other in front of Harper. They doubted that the pills could satiate theirhunger. Harper looked at them in their eyes in a way as if she could read their minds. Then she threw abottle of pills to each of the secret guards and said, "Take one pill three times a day. You won't feelhungry."
No matter how convincingly Harper said that the pills would satiate their hunger, it was hard for them tobelieve in what she said. Yet, they obeyed her orders because they dared not question her. After theyswallowed the pills, they were indeed taken aback by the sheer magic of the pills. Neither did they feeltired nor heavy. Rather, they felt as if they just had a full course meal that made them more energeticthan before.
A faint smile appeared on Harper's lips to see all the secret guards satiated after taking the pills. Thenshe moved her gaze towards Diana. Her eyes fell on Howard's coat in Diana's hand. "Tie your neckline,cuffs, and legs tightly to prevent anything from getting into your clothes." Harper cautioned Diana.
"Yes, Your Highness."
Diana put on the coat of Howard's, which hung loose on her body, making her look a little funny. Butshe thought that it still was better than having her skin exposed to the air in this ghastly swamp. AsDiana pulled the coat a little tighter around her body, she could not resist being curious about whyHarper hadn't checked on her own body.
"Don't you want to check on yourself? I can help you!" asked Diana.
"No poisonous insect can get close to me," Harper said as her face broke into a wide smile.
Hearing that, Diana immediately remembered that a drop of Harper's blood could propel death for themost poisonous insect. All the insects inside this swamp would not even come close to Harper,because the stronger the venomous creatures were, the better equipped they would be to identify whatwas harmful to them.
With such thoughts in her mind, Diana turned her face away from Harper and mumbled, "Monster!"Harper heard that, but she simply pretended not to. All of a sudden, she shot three silver needles in thesame direction at the same time. The secret guards, Howard and Diana turned towards the direction inwhich the needles were shot. The needles ended up piercing the bodies of two thick poisonous snakeswho were struggling in pain. Harper had hit them in their hearts in one go.
"Here! We have our supper now," Harper said in a serious tone. "Let's have the snake meat soup thisevening."