Ruling the Historical Romance Novel as the Female Supporting Character-Chapter 152: The Dangerous Mountain Area

It’s not that there were no locust trees; it’s just that there were no old locust trees. Since the formula provided by the system specifically emphasized an "old" locust tree, it had to be at least ten years old. But when she looked around, there was not a single tree that appeared to be over three years old.

Su Yijia contemplated and finally decided that she would head towards that old tree. From the way 666 had spoken last time, it was clear that she would be lucky in the mountains. She proved this by successfully hunting a wild chicken. Therefore, she believed she would be able to extract the tree-heart worm from this tree safely.

Although she had this optimistic thought, Su Yijia was still cautious. She took a hemp rope and tied one end to a large tree nearby and the other end securely around her waist. In case the system deceived her, she had a backup plan. If she fell into a mountain valley without any technological rescue available, and no one knew she had entered the mountain, death would be her only fate.

Carefully, she climbed up the tree and cautiously tapped on the trunk. The tree-heart worm, as the name implied, was a bug that hollowed out the core of the tree. Solid wood, which was full of moisture, produced a plump sound when tapped, with no echo. However, hollow wood, which had some dryness inside, would produce a sound similar to knocking on a half-ripe melon.

Su Yijia quickly climbed to the front of the tree, staring at the thicket-covered hillside. She licked her slightly dry lips nervously. Could she be that unlucky? After finally finding an old locust tree, would there be no tree heartworm?

Having come this far, Su Yijia was reluctant to turn back. She tugged on the hemp rope tied around her to make sure it was secure. Then, she took a large stone, roughly the size of her palm, which she had picked up before climbing the tree. She tossed it into the valley below, estimating the height by the sound of its impact and the time it took to hit the ground. She wanted to make sure the rope tied to her would not cause her to fall to the ground. With this assurance, she continued to climb forward.

She was less than a meter away from the top, and the branches ahead looked precarious. Su Yijia finally found a hollow section. A triumphant smile crossed her face as she quickly pulled out her knife and began chiseling.

The old locust tree was thick, and the tree heartworms grew deep inside. It was like she was a woodpecker, carefully chiseling her way inward. Her hands developed blisters, but she was finally greeted by the sight of the tree-heart worm, white and tender, resembling a silkworm.

In the past, Su Yijia would have felt disgusted and perhaps even vomited at the sight of the tree heartworm. However, at this moment, she saw them as adorable little creatures. She was even eager to take them out and have a closer look. Carefully expanding the hole, she uncovered not just one but six tree-heart worms. She wasted no time and the moment her fingertips touched them, she put them in her storage space.

As she straightened up to stretch, a chilling sight met her eyes. Less than three meters away, nestled in the leaves, was a black snake with a white ring around its neck, a silver banded snake. It was staring intently at her.

Oh crap! It’s a silver banded snake! This is the fourth most venomous snake on land!

Su Yijia’s bad luck seemed to have reached an unprecedented level. How else could she end up facing such a dangerous serpent among all the snakes in the forest?

Su Yijia felt her body break into a cold sweat, and her mind raced to figure out how to evade the attack of the silver banded snake, her heart pounding with fear.

However, the snake had no intention of giving Su Yijia the time to come up with a solution. Just seconds after Su Yijia spotted it and made sure she had no aggressive intent, the snake, like a released arrow, shot straight toward her. She quickly pulled out her small slingshot and, as the short arrow was released, Su Yijia tilted her body and jumped into the valley. During her descent, she used another short arrow and fired it at the silver banded snake.

Due to her extensive training, her first shot was already quite accurate. It went straight through the snake’s mouth and pierced through its head. Just to be sure, she fired a second arrow into the snake’s "seven-inch point." For someone with her level of skill, shooting a falling snake was child’s play. The second shot lodged the snake into the mountain wall, and Su Yijia finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The hemp rope was rapidly running out of length. She quickly tugged on it to slow her descent before the rope painfully yanked at her waist.

With the pain pulsing in her hand, she managed to reduce her speed. Once again, her vision tilted downward as she tried to assess her landing site.

Her feelings of relief quickly turned to fear. The ground was much closer than she anticipated. Below her was a two-meter deep pit with sharpened steel bars positioned at regular intervals, each bar extending one and a half meters in length. They had been ground into sharp hexagonal edges. The rust-covered appearance didn’t conceal the horror of these deadly traps. If she had dropped directly into the pit, there would have been no chance for her to survive, as she would have been instantly impaled.

But she had luckily managed to grab the hemp rope, preventing it from dropping all the way to the bottom. She stared at the extra meter of length, silently grateful for her fortunate escape.

The question that lingered was, how ruthless was the person who dug this pit? This was a killing trap intended to snare anything approaching it, causing immediate death. The grim white bones scattered around were from animals, but there had been no human casualties, at least not yet.

But what was the purpose of this pitfall? Even if someone wanted to protect something, why not cover it securely with dirt? Why go through the trouble of creating such a deadly trap, and what could it possibly be protecting?

Su Yijia couldn’t fathom the intention behind this sinister creation. She clung desperately to the hemp rope, refusing to let go, hoping to decipher the mysterious purpose of this pitfall. She wound several turns of the rope around her wrist to ensure a firm grip, then used all her strength to pull herself out of the pit.

Exerting every ounce of her strength, Su Yijia managed to make her way to the edge of the pit. She tightened her grip on the rope and wound it around her wrist several more times for added security before attempting to pull herself out of the pit. It took a tremendous amount of effort, but eventually, she was able to lift herself out of the trap.

Finally back on solid ground, Su Yijia realized just how terrified she had been. Her entire body felt weak, and she had to take a moment to regain her composure. Even a tough individual like herself had been shaken by such a harrowing experience.

She stood there, shaking, as a rush of emotions coursed through her.

Was she here to go through the test of ordeal?

No matter how tough she was, at the end of the day she was a spoiled and pampered girl from a wealthy family.

Her vision blurred, and she let out two silent screams from the depths of her chest, which finally calmed her down a bit.