Taking Stock of the Spoils

Liang Qu laughed until he was out of breath. Blood seeped from his wounds, making them hurt even more.

He steadied his breathing, sat upright, and untied the cloth around his waist.

Hiss!

Liang Qu's mouth twitched.

The coarse burlap was soaked through with blood. Blown by the cold wind, it had quickly hardened and stuck fast to the scabbed wounds.

Tearing it off meant forcibly ripping open the scabbed wounds.

But he had no choice. The burlap was not only covered in blood scabs; it had also absorbed plenty of mud and grit kicked up during the fight.

That was why he had not eaten lotus root right away and had bandaged himself first. There were gravel fragments in his wounds—if he ate the lotus root, the wounds would grow together with the stones still inside.

At the time, he simply had not had the chance to properly clean the wounds and pick out the gravel.

After peeling away the bloody burlap, Liang Qu casually tossed it into the water.

Only after washing his wounds again did he gnaw through two sections of lotus root, watching the injuries slowly close.

Still too poor, Liang Qu lamented.

If he could afford brocade and silk, he could use them as gauze. Burlap was far too rough and would grow together with flesh and blood.

Fortunately, only some muscle and skin had been injured. It was nothing too serious, and the lotus root took effect quickly.

After waiting for roughly a quarter of an hour, the red muscle tissue was no longer visible. The dermis had completely regrown, the bleeding had stopped, and a thick layer of scab had formed. All that remained was a faint ache and an intense itch.

The powerful tingling itch made Liang Qu desperately want to peel off the scab, but he knew it was proof that his cells were rapidly dividing to fill the wound. He endured it, only scratching the skin around the injury to ease the itch.

No matter what, tingling was far better than pain. Without pain constantly stimulating his brain, Liang Qu felt comfortable all over.

It was like severe stomach pain suddenly vanishing. He had merely returned to normal, yet by comparison, he felt inexplicably refreshed, as though he had floated up to the Cloud Top.

With his wounds mostly healed, Liang Qu impatiently got up and entered the water.

If there was one thing he had looked forward to most after this battle, it was undoubtedly the spoils, just as he had thought from the start.

How much Marsh Essence could a Spirit Monster provide? In his previous life, he had lived for over twenty years without even seeing an emperor crab in person, much less eating one. Now, he was about to eat a super-sized Giant Crab taller than a man. It was enough to make his mouth water.

Back at the bottom of the water, the two beasts guarded the Crab Monster's corpse like watchdogs. One lay atop the nearby rocks, while the other crouched in the silt.

Seeing Liang Qu, both beasts rose and shook off the dirt, equally excited.

By the old pattern, the heavenly god would bestow whatever scraps he did not want upon them. This crab was so huge that there would surely be plenty of scraps this time.

But the two beasts had guessed wrong.

Liang Qu intended to share the plump crab meat with them. It was not because he had suddenly become generous.

The Crab Monster was simply too big!

He could not possibly finish all its meat by himself before it spoiled.

One man and two beasts began dismantling the enormous Crab Monster.

Liang Qu pulled the broken spear embedded in the Crab Monster's body free, removed the flint from its tip, and used it to cut through the joint membrane connecting the Giant Pincers.

Below, Cannot Move clamped its jaws around the Crab Monster's legs and performed death rolls, dismantling them one by one.

Fat Catfish, meanwhile, retrieved the two crab legs that had been removed earlier. Its bite was not as strong as Cannot Move's, and it could not tear anything apart, so it could only cheer from the side and wait for meat.

After removing both Giant Pincers, Liang Qu sliced through the joint membrane on the Back Shell. He thrust his hand into the huge shell covering the Crab Monster's upper body and heaved upward.

It was too difficult—harder than hauling loads at a construction site.

Liang Qu's face flushed red. Bubbles rose from the corner of his mouth as he used every ounce of strength to lift it bit by bit.

Crack, crack.

The flesh and connective membranes inside tore away from the Back Shell. The resistance steadily weakened, and at last Liang Qu gritted his teeth and violently wrenched it open, finally removing the entire Back Shell.

In an instant, enormous crab roe—an arm's length long and as wide as a human head—filled his vision. Liang Qu stared until his eyes blurred.

The two beasts drooled. Cannot Move had even forgotten what it was supposed to do, only recalling that it needed to report something when Liang Qu came to his senses and prepared to collect the crab roe.

"Mm? Cannot Move, what did you find?"

Receiving the information through the Mental Link, Liang Qu stopped what he was doing.

The Zhu Po Long stood half upright, raising its short claws to point repeatedly at the belly of the Crab Monster's lower body.

Following the direction of Cannot Move's short claws, Liang Qu discovered that beneath the Belly Cover on the Crab Monster's front half, it was holding more than a dozen fist-sized, semi-transparent spheres.

Crab Seed?

Liang Qu was stunned. He hurriedly lifted the Belly Cover and took out one sphere for a closer look.

The Crab Seed was huge, as large as an adult's fist. Semi-transparent and orange-yellow, it resembled the Dragon Pearls from Dragon Ball. And because it was large enough, he could directly see the fully formed little Crab Monster inside.

Crabs differed from fish. Fish underwent external fertilization, laying eggs before they were fertilized, while crabs were fertilized before laying eggs. As long as they carried seed, every one of them was a fertilized egg.

The little Crab Monsters were almost exactly the same as the adult one: their upper bodies stood upright, their lower bodies had Six Legs, and they resembled Fearless Chariots, except their shells were milky white.

Normal crabs carried thousands upon thousands of eggs. There were only thirteen here, and Liang Qu guessed it was because the crab had become a Spirit Monster.

After growing stronger, the Crab Monster had naturally transformed from an r-strategy organism—an opportunist that relied on numbers to win—into a K-strategist, advancing steadily and treasuring every life.

Otherwise, would not tens of millions of Crab Monsters have conquered the Jianghuai Marshlands long ago? How would humans survive? Could I control the Crab Seed?

A bold idea rose in Liang Qu's mind.

Directly controlling the Crab Monster was impossible. The mental backlash would probably flood him to death. But unhatched hatchlings should be no problem, right? Liang Qu's Mental Link capacity was roughly equal to two or three Cannot Moves. Fat Catfish was somewhat stronger than Cannot Move, and after controlling the two of them, he only had space left for another 0.2 to 0.3 Cannot Moves.

Though that was not much space, controlling fertilized eggs should not be a problem.

"No rush. Leave them for now. We'll talk after I finish eating the Crab Monster's meat."

He had hurried from the Martial Arts School to the marshlands that morning without even eating lunch. Liang Qu was already starving.

He took the crab roe and one crab leg back to the boat, set up a stove and boiled water. Once the water boiled, he added the crab roe and meat.

After they were thoroughly cooked, he scooped out the roe and meat and made them into two meatballs of equal weight.

The flesh of aquatic creatures rotted very quickly after death, especially that of crustaceans. Their Internal Organs contained many bacteria and a great deal of liquid. Once death disrupted the body's balance, they would spoil completely within hours.

Liang Qu's stomach had limited capacity, so he had to select the most valuable parts and eat them as soon as possible.

He ate the two meatballs in turn. The golden crab roe was rich and mellow, while the snowy white crab meat was fresh, fragrant, and sweet.

Marsh Essence +0.9

Marsh Essence +0.5

The first notification had appeared after eating the crab roe, while the second had come from the crab meat.

The crab roe truly was more valuable, but the amount gained was absurdly high—almost no different from half a Treasure Fish!

With the result confirmed, Liang Qu's eyes reddened. He immediately put more crab roe into the pot and tossed the remaining crab meat to the two beasts.

Marsh Essence +1

Marsh Essence +1.1

Marsh Essence +1.2

Compatibility! Compatibility! Raise my compatibility, all of it!

Liang Qu ate with fierce determination. Watching the Ze Cauldron shine without end, an unprecedented sense of satisfaction surged onto him.

He was going to become invincible.