Chapter 332 - 166: Mountain Forest and Verification

Chapter 332: Chapter 166: Mountain Forest and Verification

In a mountain forest, Xu Mo was leaning against a massive boulder, catching his breath.

In the clearing before him and stretching into the distance, the bodies of over a hundred Mutant Beasts lay strewn about. Some were still twitching faintly, while others were already completely rigid.

Rivulets of black blood snaked across the dry earth, seeping between withered branches and fallen leaves. A thick, metallic stench of blood permeated the air, mixed with the foul odor unique to beasts—a smell so strong it was nauseating.

Xu Mo’s clothes were soaked with sweat, clinging tightly to his body. His combat suit was riddled with more than a dozen rips—some torn by sharp claws, others slashed by fangs. His skin was visible beneath some of the tears, marked with white welts. These were traces left by his Iron Bone Realm’s defensive capabilities; his skin hadn’t been broken, but bruises were inevitable.

This encounter hadn’t been an accident. Xu Mo had brought it on himself.

It had all started that morning. After leaving Linhai Town, one question kept circling in Xu Mo’s mind: Crystal Cores.

The Black Panther Saber-toothed Beast he had killed outside Mori Town had a Crystal Core in its head.

But what about the Mutant Beasts he killed afterward? The mutated leopard at the farmhouse didn’t have one. Nor did any of the Mutant Beasts he had helped clear out for Linhai Town.

’Why?’

At first, Xu Mo thought it was a matter of probability. Maybe only a small number of Mutant Beasts produced Crystal Cores, making the odds as low as winning the lottery. The Black Panther Saber-toothed Beast had just been lucky, which was why it had one.

But as he killed more and more of them, that theory began to hold less and less water.

’If that theory doesn’t hold water, then there’s only one other possibility—the Black Panther Saber-toothed Beast isn’t a creature from this world at all.’

Once the idea took root, it grew like a weed in Xu Mo’s mind. The more he thought about it, the more sense it made. The creature’s appearance was too strange—it resembled a saber-toothed tiger but had short black fur and dark-red stripes. Moreover, its combat prowess far surpassed that of other Mutant Beasts at a similar level. It had withstood five .50 Armor-Piercing Bullets and still managed a desperate counterattack on the brink of death. ’Could a Mutant Beast native to this world do something like that?’ He needed to verify his theory.

So, after leaving Linhai Town, Xu Mo took out a map and studied it carefully.

One route cut through a mountainous region. It was slightly shorter than the main road, and the map bore a warning: "Frequent Wildlife Sightings." That was a pre-apocalyptic label; by now, those "wild animals" had almost certainly become Mutant Beasts.

To others, this was a dangerous route. For Xu Mo, it was exactly what he was looking for.

So Xu Mo put away the map, cranked the steering wheel, and turned onto the mountain road.

The first part of the drive went smoothly enough. Although the mountain road was rugged, it was still barely drivable.

After driving for about an hour, Xu Mo encountered his first attack. It was three mutated wild dogs, a full size larger than their ordinary counterparts, with mottled fur and blood-red eyes. They burst out of the roadside bushes and lunged directly at his SUV.

Xu Mo slammed on the brakes and threw open the door, Triangular Spike already in hand.

The three wild dogs were fast, but to Xu Mo, they might as well have been standing still. He sidestepped the first one’s pounce, smoothly plunging the Triangular Spike into its skull. At the same time, he kicked the second dog away, using the momentum to pivot and sweep the spike across the third one’s neck. The second dog tried to lunge again, but Xu Mo had already spun back, driving the weapon straight through its forehead.

Dealing with the three mutated wild dogs took only a few breaths. It was an effortless, almost casual affair.

Xu Mo flicked the blood off his Triangular Spike and glanced at the three corpses, a small smirk playing on his lips. He then crouched down and used the spike to pry open the first dog’s skull.

There was nothing inside. It was the same for the other two.

Xu Mo stood up, unfazed. ’It’s only three,’ he thought. ’That doesn’t prove anything. I need more Mutant Beasts to confirm my theory.’

However, Xu Mo soon realized something wasn’t quite right. Five mutated badgers charged out from the roadside. After killing them, he found their heads contained nothing but brain matter.

He continued forward, encountered more Mutant Beasts, and found them empty. He encountered another group, killed them, and their heads were still empty.

Xu Mo’s brow furrowed. He began to realize that the density of Mutant Beasts in this mountainous area was much higher than he had imagined. Furthermore, they seemed to have been agitated by something, pouncing on him with suicidal fury the moment they saw him.

Xu Mo knew he had kicked the hornet’s nest.

The roars of the Mutant Beasts attracted even more of their kind. They swarmed in from all directions—some charged down the hillside, some burst from the undergrowth, and some even leaped from the trees. As soon as they arrived, they would charge madly at Xu Mo, letting out ear-piercing shrieks that drew in still more reinforcements.

At first, Xu Mo was able to handle the attacks with ease. The Triangular Spike in his hands became a flash of lightning, each thrust piercing a skull. The Mutant Beasts before him were like they were made of paper, swarming forward in waves only to be cut down in droves. His pace barely faltered as corpses began to pave both sides of the mountain road.

But as the number of Mutant Beasts swelled, the tide began to turn. Xu Mo could handle ten, twenty, even thirty of them.

But the Mutant Beasts were lunging from all directions, giving Xu Mo no chance to catch his breath. The moment he finished off one wave, the next was already charging him. He would turn to deal with an attack from the left, only for another to pounce at him from the right. The Triangular Spike in his hand flashed out and back relentlessly, yet the number of Mutant Beasts didn’t seem to decrease at all.