Chapter 307 - 285: Great Harvest! The Beast King’s Bizarre Weakness

Chapter 307: Chapter 285: Great Harvest! The Beast King’s Bizarre Weakness

Near the East Suburb, more and more survivors were drawn to the area, staring in horror at the massive crater left by the nuclear weapon.

East Suburb Fortress.

Lu Feng, however, had already returned with Wang Cheng, and he had instructed Lin Jiao to lead her people back inside the fortress.

He then went straight to his quarters to take stock of his gains from this venture.

In total, more than 150 items had dropped.

Life Potions and Energy Potions accounted for over 100 of them.

Specifically, 63 bottles of Energy Potions had dropped.

He had a lot of them, but they were incredibly useful. He could now chug potions just like in a video game.

To be honest, with his wide array of abilities, he had yet to face an opponent who could force him to rely on potions.

Based on his current assessment, only the Flame Emperor and the Beast King were likely strong enough to force his hand. Later on, when the Hexagonal Beasts swarmed, the terrifying tides of zombies and beasts would almost certainly require it.

Next were the Backpack Space Expansion Tokens.

He got 23 of them.

They nearly doubled his storage capacity again.

Now, he could fit not just one car, but several.

Then there were the Ability Crystal Stones—a full 30 of them. They all contained various beastification abilities, which was the greatest reward for wiping out the Beastman Race.

As for the other items that dropped, Lu Feng found them rather surprising:

[This is a recipe for Special Refined Salt. It can be used to produce a special type of refined salt, granting Cooking Aroma +1!]

[This is a recipe for Special MSG. It can be used to produce a special type of MSG, granting Cooking Flavor +1!]

[This is a recipe for Special Sauce. It can be used to produce a special type of sauce, granting Flavor Infusion +1 and Appetite +1!]

Lu Feng stared at the recipes in surprise.

’What is all this?’

’What was the deal with a bunch of Beastmen dropping cooking recipes?’

Still, these would be incredibly useful in the real world.

Next, Lu Feng turned his attention to the Beastification Ability Crystal Stones. These items granted beastification abilities, and of course, he could use them too.

An extra ability would definitely be a huge boost to his power.

’The crucial part is, my Spiritual Power is already high enough. Does that mean I can directly unlock the second stage of this beastification ability, too?’

However, most of these 30 Beastification Ability Crystal Stones came with side effects.

For example, the Ability Crystal Stone (Hyena) would turn him into a damn sycophant. Even though he wasn’t loyal to anyone in particular, he wouldn’t touch that thing with a ten-foot pole.

Then there was the Wild Ox, which would turn his skin dark. He definitely wasn’t using that.

Besides those, the rest didn’t have much potential, so he wouldn’t choose them either.

After sorting through them for a while, Lu Feng finally found a Beastification Ability Crystal Stone that was perfect—it had great potential and no side effects.

[This is a special Ability Crystal Stone (Cang Hu). The Cang Hu is a special type of tiger-like Mutant Beast with extremely high potential to become the king of all beasts. Upon use, you will obtain the Cang Hu’s beastification ability, and your overall strength will increase!]

This Beastification Ability Crystal Stone had no obvious side effects and great potential. After all, the tiger was the king of the jungle.

Even the item description stated that the Cang Hu had immense potential and could become the king of all beasts.

With that thought, Lu Feng didn’t hesitate. He swallowed the Cang Hu Beastification Ability Crystal Stone. As the crystal dissolved into a warm current that coursed through him, his body seemed to be reformed by some unknown power.

[Congratulations! You have obtained the Cang Hu Beastification ability!]

[Congratulations! The second stage of your Cang Hu Beastification ability has been unlocked!]

Lu Feng’s eyes lit up as he saw the two notifications.

’Just as I thought,’ he mused, ’it unlocked the second stage right away.’

He called up his status panel and, with a thought, activated his Cang Hu Beastification ability.

The next moment, a special black marking began to appear on his forehead. It was clearly a marking shaped like the Chinese character for "King."

And that was it.

Lu Feng was surprised when he checked his reflection in a mirror.

Take One-Eyed Tiger, for example. He was also a tiger-type, but when he beastified, his whole body was covered in fur. You could tell he was a tiger at a glance.

’And my beastification just gives me the character for ’King’ on my forehead?’

’You can’t even tell it’s a tiger ability, can you?’

Wait, it wasn’t just the marking on his forehead. He subconsciously glanced down at a... certain area...

"Ugh!" Lu Feng felt a little... embarrassed.

’What is with this beastification ability?’

’Is it really this... improper?’

He quickly checked his stats. Sure enough, after entering the beastified state, his attributes had increased across the board.

His Strength, Agility, and Stamina had all increased by 10 points over his base stats.

That was an impressive boost.

Considering his base stats, a 10-point increase was equivalent to a 30% boost across the board.

Next, Lu Feng immediately unlocked the second stage of the Cang Hu Beastification. The next moment, his stats increased by another 10 points from their base.

After unlocking the second stage of the Cang Hu Beastification, two new markings appeared on his face. These weren’t like the "King" character on his forehead, but rather a black stripe on each cheek, giving him a bizarre look.

He glanced at his status panel again.

His Strength, Agility, and Stamina had all increased by a shocking 20 points, which was nearly a 60% boost to his stats.

But then, he glanced down again. Something seemed... off.

How could it have... again...

"..." Lu Feng quickly deactivated the beastification ability. ’Damn it,’ he thought, ’I’ve been had. This Cang Hu Beastification has side effects after all.’

But what was done was done. He had no choice but to accept it.

’Still,’ he mused, ’if I’m beastified like this, I wonder if doing... *that*... would be more exciting?’

Then, with a thought, Lu Feng "logged out" and hurried to a computer. He went online and started researching the background of the Beastman Race and the Beast King.

He was certain that after his scheme had wiped out so many of the Beastman Race and the Cannibal Race, the Beast King would not let the matter rest.

It was entirely possible the Beast King would show up at his doorstep, ready to fight to the death.

In the game’s lore, the Beast King was a powerful early-game boss, with strength on par with the Flame Emperor. Following the logic of this "real" game world, the Beast King must have also unlocked his second-stage ability.

Moreover, there was no telling how long he had been at that level. His true strength was a mystery, so Lu Feng couldn’t afford to be careless.

If the Beast King really did come for him personally, it would be best to find a way to eliminate him for good.

On the game’s forums, there were tons of descriptions of the Beast King and the Beastman Race, including many animated cutscenes featuring him.

The Beast King’s beastified form was incredibly imposing—a pure gold lion of immense power.

One cutscene depicted a war between the Beastman Race and the City East Alliance, in which even the Flame Emperor was largely ineffective against the Beast King.

But the lore about the Beast King’s fate was strange. He wasn’t killed by the Flame Emperor.

The backstory only said that the Beast King suddenly vanished and died. Without their king, the Beastman Race fractured. They scattered everywhere, becoming local warlords or bandits who preyed on survivors.

Whenever they were discovered, they would be besieged by survivors. It wasn’t until after the Hexagonal Beast disaster that a new Beast King emerged. With new Beastman camps, they once again became a notorious force among the survivors.

Suddenly, Lu Feng stumbled upon a very interesting piece of lore:

[Due to being subjected to long-term experiments and tormented by all kinds of needles, a deep trauma is buried in the Beast King’s heart. Rumor has it that the sight of a syringe will trigger extreme psychological fear in the Beast King!]

Below it were many player comments:

"So it’s not just me! The Beast King is afraid of getting shots, too!"

"Haha, so if you’re fighting the Beast King, should they add a syringe item?"

"I think that’s a great idea. Bring a backpack full of syringes and just bury the Beast King under them."

"..."

Reading these comments, Lu Feng’s eyes suddenly lit up. ’This just might work,’ he thought.

He immediately pulled out his phone and called Baguda. The moment the call connected, he ordered, "Go buy me a truckload of syringes."

"???" Baguda was momentarily stunned.

’Why on earth does the Governor want syringes all of a sudden?’ he wondered.

But the Governor had given the order, and he had no choice but to obey.

...

Back in the "game," the Flame Emperor had also led his people to the terrifying crater. The group stared at the enormous pit, their faces etched with utter shock.

"What in the world happened here?" the Flame Emperor muttered to himself.

One of his men immediately reported, "Flame Emperor, our detectors are picking up nuclear radiation from inside the crater. It might... it might have been caused by a nuclear weapon..."

"A nuclear weapon?" The Flame Emperor’s expression changed.

The others also looked on in disbelief.

Many members of the City East Alliance came from a military background; they knew that such a weapon should not exist anywhere in Celestial Sea City.

And yet, the terrifying, massive crater before them could only have been created by a nuclear weapon.

"The Beastman Race was heading for the East Suburb Fortress," the Flame Emperor said suddenly.

He recalled the people from Qingfeng Base deliberately spreading provocative words about the Beastman Race throughout the City East Alliance. ’They must have been preparing for this,’ he thought.

’But where did they get a nuclear weapon?’

「Meanwhile」

The Beast King had also led his men to another edge of the terrifying crater.

His face was grim as he stared at the horrifying pit.

A Beastman beside him was already trying to make contact on a communication device.

They were, of course, trying to contact Old Dog and the rest of the Beastman unit.

But no matter how they tried, there was no response. Old Dog and his troops had vanished without a trace.

Staring at the terrifying crater, their expressions grew even fouler.

They knew exactly what the lack of contact implied.

That was more than half of the Beastman Race’s forces. Even the Cannibal Race members were their lackeys, assimilated only after they had attacked countless survivors.

Not all humans could bring themselves to eat the flesh of their own kind.

Those who could become members of the Cannibal Race with a clear conscience and serve as their loyal lapdogs were few and far between.

And now, more than half of them were gone in one fell swoop.

"Damn it! We’ve been tricked by that Flame Emperor!" the Beast King suddenly roared in a fit of rage and humiliation. "Those provocations from the East Suburb Fortress... they didn’t come from that Lu Feng at all! It must have been the Flame Emperor’s doing!"

"He used the East Suburb Fortress as bait to lure our people out, then hit us with this!"

"Only a place with military ties like the East Suburb Fortress could have a weapon like this. No one else in Celestial Sea City could possibly control such a thing."

"And in the City East Alliance, the only one who could authorize the use of such a weapon is the Flame Emperor!"

The more he spoke, the more certain he became.

’No wonder the Flame Emperor is in control of the City East Alliance.’

"And his acting was superb! Back at the church, he seemed so tense and anxious that we all believed he was the one being set up."

’Who would have thought we were the ones being set up all along.’

"Beast King, we can’t let this go!"

"Indeed! Even if the Flame Emperor is behind this, and we can’t kill him right now, someone must pay the price!"

"The East Suburb Fortress!"

"That Guard Officer!"

The Beastmen were all seething with righteous fury.

The Beast King’s voice was cold as ice. "I will kill him myself, if only to preserve what little face we have left."