Chapter 333 - 166: Mountain Forest and Verification

Chapter 333: Chapter 166: Mountain Forest and Verification

Realizing he couldn’t go on like this, Xu Mo made a snap decision and ran.

The mutated creatures gave chase, their roars echoing one after another, drawing in more of their kind. Xu Mo glanced back as he fled. The number of his pursuers was growing, a black mass that looked like a surging torrent.

Xu Mo had no choice but to fight as he ran, his Triangular Spike stabbing out and retracting again and again. He cut down the mutated creatures blocking his path, but more pursuers rushed in from behind.

Xu Mo lost track of how long he’d been running. All he knew was that the sun had slowly moved from its zenith to the west, and the sky was beginning to dim. Meanwhile, the horde behind him hadn’t shrunk at all; it had only grown larger.

Finally, Xu Mo realized the problem: the farther he ran, the more mutated creatures he attracted.

These mountains were their territory. If he kept running, he’d end up luring every mutated creature in the entire region. Then he wouldn’t be facing dozens, but hundreds, or even thousands.

So, as he ran, Xu Mo began searching for a defensible position and eventually settled on a large boulder. The rock was a good four or five meters high and over ten meters wide. It was backed against a steep slope, leaving only its front exposed to attack.

No sooner had Xu Mo dashed behind the boulder and spun around than the mutated creatures were upon him.

Leading the charge was a massive, mutated mandrill. It stood nearly two meters tall, its body covered in black fur. Its face was a terrifying, ferocious mask, with fangs a good ten centimeters long. Seeing Xu Mo had stopped, it let out a roar and was the first to lunge.

Xu Mo sidestepped its attack, plunging the Triangular Spike into its skull from the side. The mandrill let out a choked grunt and its massive body crashed to the ground, but the next wave of pursuers was already in his face.

Two mutated leopards lunged at him simultaneously. Xu Mo ran one through with his weapon and kicked the other away. Before the second one could even hit the ground, it was trampled by the horde surging from behind.

More mutated creatures charged forward, some of them familiar, others that Xu Mo couldn’t name.

But now, Xu Mo had no path of retreat. All he could do was kill.

The Triangular Spike became a vortex of death in Xu Mo’s hands. The mutated creatures threw themselves at him in a frenzy, only to fall one after another. Their corpses piled up in front of the boulder, quickly forming a small hill. The creatures behind them clambered over the bodies of their fallen comrades to attack, only to be slain by Xu Mo in turn.

Flesh splattered and severed limbs flew. Roars and screams intertwined, composing a bloody symphony.

Xu Mo’s clothes were long since torn to shreds. Claws and fangs scraped across his body time and again, leaving white lines on his skin. The defense of the Iron Bone Realm was formidable, but it couldn’t completely negate the force of the impacts. Bruises began to form and parts of his body ached dully, but he had no time to worry about it.

An unknown amount of time passed. When the last mutated creature fell, Xu Mo’s combat suit was hanging off him in tatters.

Seeing that no more creatures were charging, Xu Mo leaned against the boulder, gasping for air. The Triangular Spike was still clutched in his hand, but his fingers trembled slightly.

Before him lay a mountain of corpses and a river of blood. The bodies of over a hundred mutated creatures were strewn about, some piled high, others scattered in the distance. Black blood flowed like a river, soaking the earth and releasing a stench so thick it was nauseating.

Xu Mo stared at the corpses, silent for a long time.

After recovering some of his strength, Xu Mo took a deep breath and got to work. He needed to test his theory and see if these mutated creatures had Crystal Cores in their heads.

Deep down, Xu Mo hoped to find Crystal Cores inside them. That would simply mean the chances of a Crystal Core forming were low, nothing more.

But reality was often disappointing. Xu Mo checked them one by one, his expression growing more and more grave. By the time he had broken open the skull of every last creature and confirmed there wasn’t a single Crystal Core, the sky had gone completely dark.

Xu Mo stood amidst the pile of corpses, silent, the Triangular Spike still in his hand. Over a hundred mutated creatures, and not a single Crystal Core. This was no longer a matter of probability.

’If Crystal Cores form randomly,’ he thought, ’even with a one percent chance, there should have been at least one in a hundred creatures. But the reality is, there are none.’

’What does this mean?’

’It means the condition for a Crystal Core to form isn’t mutation itself.’

’The Black Panther Saber-toothed Beast had a Crystal Core in its head, but these native mutated creatures don’t. The only explanation is... the Black Panther Saber-toothed Beast isn’t a creature from this world at all.’

"Not a creature from this world..."

Xu Mo repeated the phrase, fragments of memories flashing through his mind.

’Red Star Industrial Zone,’ he thought. ’The place I was assigned to as an Observer. Zombies would respawn periodically. I thought it was strange back then. We’d clear an area completely, but a few days later, new zombies would appear. Where was the source? Nobody knew.’

’And that time we explored the core of the industrial zone... that fog we ran into. There was something in the mist. I couldn’t see it clearly, but I’ll never forget that eerie feeling.’

’Now, the appearance of the Black Panther Saber-toothed Beast connects all these pieces.’

’What if this world isn’t just dealing with a zombie virus? What if there’s an invasion from another world?’

’A world where zombies exist has somehow linked with this one. Those periodically respawning zombies, those mutated creatures that don’t belong to this world... they’re all coming through that connection point.’