Parasitism

The third day, dawn.

A white ape carried a bundle of gleaming white beast bones over one shoulder, with a beast-hide pouch slung across his body. Swift as the wind, he raced through the forest, each leap carrying him nearly thirty zhang.

Following the route he had taken here, Yuan Ming began making his way back.

Near noon, he returned to the spot where he had first been attacked by that black bear.

Black bears were fiercely territorial beasts and rarely strayed far from the places where they lived and bred. Yuan Ming had returned because the black bear was precisely the prey he intended to hunt.

After arriving, Yuan Ming untied the bundle of green wolf bones from his body, selected a thick shinbone, gripped it with both hands, and began digging beneath a slope.

Although much of Yuan Ming's strength had returned and he had largely adapted to this body, he still had no intention of fighting the black bear head-on. Instead, he planned to use the safer method of a trap.

The forest soil was loose. Before long, Yuan Ming had dug a pit nearly two zhang deep and no more than six chi across.

He then dug many smaller holes at the bottom of the pit, inserting the green wolf ribs upside down one by one and packing the soil tightly around them.

The exposed ends of those inverted ribs had been ground fine and sharp by Yuan Ming, as keen as knife points.

Next, he found several dead branches and laid them crisscross over the pit. He gathered armfuls of dead leaves from the surrounding area and scattered them evenly over the branches, thoroughly concealing the opening.

Once that was done, Yuan Ming tied a green wolf shoulder blade to his chest with vines, shielding his heart like a breastplate. Then he picked up the two shinbones he had sharpened into short spears and gripped them in his hands.

Yuan Ming waited for a long time, but the black bear did not appear.

After a brief thought, he stabbed the palm of his hand with one of the white bone spears.

Once blood welled from his palm, Yuan Ming immediately smeared it onto the trees around the trap, spreading the bloody scent as far as possible.

Only then did he grab some dirt from the ground and roughly plaster it over the wound. Clutching a White Bone Dagger, he waited quietly for the black bear to take the bait.

Yuan Ming climbed an old tree. Before long, rustling vegetation sounded from within the forest, accompanied by heavy panting.

Following the sound with his eyes, he soon spotted the black bear.

The black bear's massive body burst through a thicket as it staggered toward him.

"Eh? It seems to be injured?" Yuan Ming frowned slightly at the sight.

He examined the black bear carefully for a moment but saw no obvious wounds on its body. Yet from the way it ran, something was clearly wrong.

Could it have been poisoned? Yuan Ming wondered.

If that was truly the case, then this was a heaven-sent opportunity.

Yuan Ming did not believe his luck could be that good. He did not rashly attack, merely waiting for the black bear to fall into the trap.

The black bear arrived and sniffed at the bloodstains on the trees one by one. Suddenly, it threw back its head and let out a furious roar. Its eyes glowed with an unnatural redness, as though shrouded in a layer of gloom.

Seeing this, Yuan Ming became even more certain that something was wrong with the black bear.

The bear searched around but found no prey. Its steps kept close to the trap's edge, yet it was always just short of falling in.

Watching from the tree, Yuan Ming could only fret helplessly. After waiting a while, he finally decided to act.

One of his arms was wrapped around a vine hanging from the tree, while his other hand tightly gripped a White Bone Dagger. He leaped from the old tree, swung toward the black bear on the vine's pull.

Get down there.

Yuan Ming gave a fierce shout in his heart, his legs slamming toward the black bear like two battering rams.

At that moment, the black bear sharply sensed the danger from behind. Its body suddenly twisted, and the instant it saw Yuan Ming, its ferocity erupted. Its two paws lashed viciously at him.

Bang!

Yuan Ming's legs kicked against the black bear's paws. The two powerful forces rebounded, first hurling Yuan Ming backward, then knocking the black bear into a stagger.

The black bear took a step back. Half of one heel had already landed on the branches Yuan Ming had laid over the trap, but it stopped its retreat and stubbornly refused to fall.

Meanwhile, Yuan Ming swung back again like a pendulum after being knocked away.

Seeing Yuan Ming charging at it once more, the black bear did not swat at him this time. Instead, it took a step forward and swept out both claws, grabbing for his legs.

How could Yuan Ming let it have its way? He instantly gathered strength and hurled the White Bone Dagger in his hand.

Seeing the short spear flying at its face, the black bear immediately swung a claw to block it. Yet it failed to stop the weapon, which skimmed past its arm.

Pfft!

Yuan Ming's short spear plunged straight into the black bear's eye socket, spraying a burst of blood.

"Roar..."

Pain wracked the black bear, and it let out an enraged roar.

By then, Yuan Ming had already rushed close again, his legs kicking viciously into its chest.

Before the black bear could recover from the searing agony in its eye, it lost its balance and toppled backward.

Crack!

The branches over the trap snapped. The black bear smashed through the loose dirt and dead leaves above it and fell in.

Immediately afterward came another earthshaking roar, but this one was incomparably shrill, like a wail of agony.

Yuan Ming jumped down to the ground and hurried to the edge of the pit to look. The black bear lay on its back inside, with the backs of both forepaws and one thigh pierced through by the buried white bone spikes.

There was also one wound each in its chest and lower abdomen, with only a tiny tip of white bone exposed from each.

Fresh blood streamed from the black bear's nose and mouth. It still struggled violently, low growls rumbling from its throat.

Seeing this, Yuan Ming turned and climbed back into the tree, taking another White Bone Dagger. He intended to end the black bear's suffering at once.

But when he returned to the edge of the pit, he suddenly froze in shock.

The bottom of the pit was a complete mess. White bone spikes lay scattered every which way, clearly stained with dark-red blood—yet the black bear itself had vanished without a trace.

Before Yuan Ming could make sense of what had happened, a fierce gust suddenly surged up behind him.

Not good! Yuan Ming cursed inwardly. The next instant, a heavy blow struck his lower back. It felt as though he had been smashed by a massive hammer, sending him flying forward.

His body sailed over the pit and slammed into a tree three or four zhang away before dropping to the ground.

Suppressing the pain, Yuan Ming struggled to his feet and turned around. Before he could make out what was behind him, a black shadow flashed past his eyes with a smack, and a searing pain immediately flared across his cheek.

He raised a hand and wiped at it. His face was smeared with blood. When he looked ahead again, he could not help but stare blankly.

On a tree seven or eight zhang in front of him hung... hung an indescribable monster.

The reason it was indescribable was that its main body was the very black bear—but from the wounds on its body now grew blue-black vines as thick as an adult's arm.

The two growing from its chest were the thickest. One extended to a branch overhead, suspending the black bear's body in midair.

Even stranger, from the black bear's left eye—the one Yuan Ming had pierced—grew a fleshy six-petaled red lotus. Its center was packed with dense white stamens that writhed frantically, like rings upon rings of fine white teeth, sending a chill crawling down his spine.

"What the hell is this thing?" Yuan Ming could not help swallowing.

Judging from the black bear's bizarre condition, it seemed to have been parasitized by something.

Just then, the monster moved again. A vine extending from the black bear's body lashed through the air once more, whipping toward Yuan Ming.

Yuan Ming hurriedly bent down and rolled forward, trying to evade it.

But the vine seemed to have grown eyes. It changed direction in midair and still struck him across the back, tearing open a burning bloody welt.

Gritting through the pain, Yuan Ming rose to his feet and prepared to flee first.

If he had been facing the black bear, he at least knew it inside out and had the confidence to fight it. But this bizarre thing before him was something he knew nothing about. He did not even know how to kill it—how was he supposed to fight it?

Seeing him turn and run, the parasitic monster had no intention of letting him go. Two vines shot out, one from each side, attacking him at the same time.

Yuan Ming dodged in haste, but he was not quite fast enough. He had only avoided the vine on his left when the other wrapped around his right leg, yanking him straight to the ground and dragging him back.

He rolled over to face the monster. Just as he tried to attack with his White Bone Dagger, another vine had already wound around him, binding his entire body like a zongzi.

This time, Yuan Ming had lost even his last chance to fight back.

The vines dragged him all the way before the "black bear."

Only when he got close did Yuan Ming discover in astonishment that the black bear was not yet dead. Its remaining blood-red eyeball still rolled about, while its mouth opened and closed, producing heavy, rasping breaths.

Yuan Ming's eyes shifted, as though he had suddenly thought of something.

Since this thing was a parasite, then killing the living creature it inhabited completely would sever its lifeforce. As long as the black bear was thoroughly killed, it would not be able to live either.

Unfortunately, it was already too late.

A slit suddenly split open across the black bear's chest. Its ribs, like two rows of interlocking bone claws, parted to either side, exposing a bright-red heart that still thudded, thump, thump.

At a glance, Yuan Ming saw a black, fleshy tumor growing on the heart. Several black filaments stretched from it, piercing into every part of the heart as though they were drawing out its blood to nourish themselves.

Just as Yuan Ming thought he was about to be eaten, the vines binding him suddenly loosened coil by coil, exposing his chest.

Yuan Ming immediately understood. The black bear's body was too severely wounded and ruined; only by changing to a new host could this thing continue to survive. It did not intend to eat him—it intended to parasitize him as its new host.