Mutated Creature Legion (Five Thousand Words)

"What do you mean it's all my credit?"

Xiao Xiao was momentarily surprised and found it hard to accept. At the same time, in a state of Mind Burst, he also realized a problem:

"These Aberrant Creature... no, they're my clients..."

"Could they really be a match for those Branders?"

"..."

At first glance, the ground was covered with Aberrant Creature of all kinds, which was quite astonishing. However, Xiao Xiao immediately realized a problem: these were natives who had just shown signs of mutation. At most, their mutations were just more perfect. But according to their level, they were usually easy for outsiders to deal with, even if they had just awakened.

The remaining eight Branders, aside from the power of the brand, are already exceptionally mature outsiders. For them, these novice monsters are destined to be harvested. Even if there are many targets to harvest, why should they be afraid?

Imagine a person who loves pork suddenly seeing ten thousand pigs charging towards them...

... Okay, that's not a good analogy, but the scene was still quite terrifying.

But in the end, can such a diverse array of Aberrant Creature really be a match for the Branders?

As this question arose in his mind, the swarming, Aberrant Creature had already engaged the Branders in battle.

Just as Xiao Xiao had imagined, the vast majority of the Branders did not take them seriously at all. They casually unleashed terrifyingly powerful Enhancement Element, preparing to kill them. The disparity in strength was so great that even Xiao Xiao felt that the two sides were not on the same level. However, what he did not expect was that the type of Aberrant Creature played an unexpected role at this time.

That violent force was unleashed, a casual strike comparable to Ruan Ruan's.

Logically, this attack should have killed a whole group of Aberrant Creature. However, it did kill the first few, but then the Aberrant Creature swarmed over him, and countless tentacles and hands attached themselves to the Branders. Although he was strong, he could no longer easily shake them off. Countless different abilities enveloped him at the same time.

Each of these Aberrant Creature possesses unique abilities.

It's like the Rat-Man's innate ability to make people nauseous and disgusted.

The Pain Vines have the ability to evoke painful memories.

The Suffocation Puppet makes people forget their ability to breathe without them even realizing it.

The ability of a ripper to affect his own heartbeat.

The street-end banshee's ability to arouse people's primal desires...

These abilities are only minor, because most of these Aberrant Creature are only Class D.

But when these countless abilities intertwined and surged forth, they instantly formed a nightmare for the Branders. Xiao Xiao opened his eyes wide and saw that the Branders was first to be hit was suddenly overwhelmed. He screamed and struggled desperately, trying to hold up the Branders's ripples, but the effect was extremely weak. Even the door-shaped brand could only deal with enemies coming from one direction, and...

... It can only dissipate one to three types of abilities.

He was almost instantly engulfed, and horrified screams, along with the sounds of flesh being chewed and sucked, rang out from the crowd.

"This..."

Xiao Xiao felt that the visual impact was too strong.

Why don't their abilities affect each other?

"Why are they able to suppress such a powerful level as the Branders?"

"..."

He had already observed the first problem using his keen intuition.

Even among the Branders, their abilities are affected when they join forces, but these Aberrant Creature are not. Each of them possesses a weak yet distinct power that can be precisely applied to the Branders without affecting or harming each other... This is probably because, although they are of low rank, their shapes are all perfect.

How the hell can this be described?

Are all of my clients abnormally standardized?

Xiao Xiao wasn't sure whether he should create an award for these customers at the bar when he got back...

... The Best Pervert Award?

As for the second question, before he could even ask it, the Shepherds excitedly gave the answer:

"It has begun, the reverse devouring of the Aberrant Creature..."

"..."

"Can Aberrant Creature also devour Mysterious Source?"

Xiao Xiao saw the scene of the Branders being devoured by countless monsters. He watched as these originally weak and Aberrant Creature swarmed towards the Branders, just like hyenas, wolves, mosquitoes, leeches... They excitedly and greedily devoured the Branders's flesh and blood. Even though the Branders had a violent power that even he himself feared, he was gnawed down to the bone by them.

During this process, Xiao Xiao clearly sensed that the spiritual energy fluctuations emanating from the Aberrant Creature that had squeezed into the innermost part of the feeding circle and devoured enough flesh and blood were becoming increasingly turbulent. They were actually growing rapidly, and many of them were already showing signs of further mutation, growing towards a more perfect form and generating even stronger power...

They're forcing it!

Strengthened by consuming those Branders, even without points!

"Didn't I already tell you?"

The Shepherds's voice held both pride and a hint of excitement. "We can't quite comprehend how powerful and mysterious the Mysterious Source is in the eyes of strangers, but in our understanding, the Aberrant Creature are essentially no different from the Mysterious Source!"

"The harvesting of Aberrant Creature in the city by the Mysterious Source is, in our eyes, a form of devouring."

"Since the Mysterious Source can devour Aberrant Creature, then the Aberrant Creature can also devour the Mysterious Source. However, the difference in power between the two is too great, so such a situation is difficult to occur... It's just that it's difficult to occur under natural conditions. What humans are best at is interfering with the operation of natural laws. As long as the conditions are right, any bizarre thing can happen."

"Your plan was very successful, trapping the Mysterious Source within the Black Gate City mother body. So, if this trapped Mysterious Source wants to protect itself, it can only divide itself and enter the body of the Branders to avoid direct contact with the power of the Black Gate City mother body. But doing so is tantamount to reducing itself to a lower dimension, from being untouchable and unimaginable to becoming a physical existence."

"The Branders possessed his power, but was unable to fully utilize it."

"This gave other Aberrant Creature an opportunity. As long as they could restrain the Branders, they would instinctively devour it. So, we witnessed a rare scene... the Aberrant Creature' reverse cannibalism of the Mysterious Source..."

"..."

"You can do that?"

The Shepherds had tried his best to explain it clearly, but Xiao Xiao still found it somewhat bizarre.

As for the others, it was even more unimaginable. Little Four and Ruan Ruan were both pale with fright. The two dared not approach the battlefield at all. Little Four shrank into the trash can, and the trash can seemed to have grown legs and was stealthily retreating. Ruan Ruan, on the other hand, had initially gripped the metal wrench in her hand, eager to try, wondering if she should rush forward to help.

Until an Aberrant Creature, or rather, one of Xiao Xiao's old clients, suddenly glanced at her.

Ruan Ruan immediately hid the wrench behind her back and gave a slightly embarrassed smile.

It has to be said that this was the most adorable smile Ruan Ruan Xiao Xiao had ever seen on Ruan Ruan's face.

As for the Serpent Sisters, they hid even further away, staring blankly at the terrifying scene before them, trembling as they spoke:

"We...we originally thought that feeding people to dogs was terrifying enough..."

"But unexpectedly, he secretly upgraded again..."

"He was actually secretly raising Aberrant Creature..."

"..."

"Was this also part of the plan?"

Red Eyes Ling Ping and Old Zhou Under the Bridge also returned to the edge of the battlefield, but only watched from afar, not daring to approach.

"What terrifying thing did our Old Chairman leave behind...?"

"..."

Red Eyes Ling Ping, sighed softly, "Why are so many unreasonable phenomena appearing in our Black Gate City?"

"Perhaps it's because our Old Chairman was so eager to escape the fate of being a stranger in a foreign land?"

Old Zhou Under the Bridge sighed, "So while others were busy exchanging for more Enhancement Element to improve their strength, he was always thinking about what these Enhancement Element were, where they came from, and where these beings that had become part of the city came from and what their purpose was... This kind of thinking, perhaps, was just a waste of time."

"But sometimes, it can actually help people achieve remarkable breakthroughs..."

"..."

Seeing Old Zhou Under the Bridge talk so much for the first time, even the Red Eyes Ling Ping couldn't help but glance at him.

Then he whispered, "You're right."

"So..."

"... Our new president is truly remarkable!"

"..."

Nobody's a fool. The new president always says he learned all these things from the Old Chairman.

Then just believe him.

But if the former Old Chairman truly possessed so many remarkable abilities, how could he have died so easily at the hands of the Hell Organization? Of course, the exact details weren't important to these two men who spanned two generations of chairmanship. They had simply begun to vaguely establish a complete trust relationship in their hearts, convincing themselves of the value of that promised ticket...

In an instant, everyone had different thoughts.

But those Aberrant Creature, or rather, the luxurious hellish meal the Shepherds spoke of, had already swarmed towards the Branders. Almost half of the Branders were instantly overwhelmed by them, their chaotic mental energy intertwining into a vast ocean. Yang Jia was among the Branders, and he was also targeted by many Aberrant Creature. Countless blood-red tentacles could be vaguely seen reaching out to Yang Jia.

Xiao Xiao couldn't help but be startled. "Sigh..."

At that moment, he almost rushed out to stop them.

Yang Jia certainly couldn't be eaten by these Aberrant Creature; on the contrary, she couldn't stand being touched by others!

"Choose your goal..."

But before Xiao Xiao could actually make a move, a blood-red shadow suddenly blocked the Aberrant Creature that were trying to rush towards Xiao Xiao. It was the Rabbit Boss. She was now in a form that Xiao Xiao had never seen before. Countless blood-red threads trailed behind her, but she herself still vaguely maintained her original appearance, looking eerily beautiful and terrifying...

It's the kind of person who, upon seeing her, would evoke endless desire.

Yet, I instinctively fear her type.

Her eerie smile met the Aberrant Creature that were about to swarm towards Yang Jia, exuding an indescribable sense of dread. "The Iceberg Bar's customer appreciation event is here, so we can all have as much fun as we want, but we still need to respect the boss's girlfriend..."

"Ah, it's the boss's girlfriend..."

From within a heap of flesh and blood that could hardly be called humanoid, an excited and surprised voice rang out:

"Is he the owner of the Iceberg Bar, who used to be a male escort?"

"No, it's the boss who was noticed by the Pink Maiden Gang's BOSS and then promoted..."

"..."

Amidst the strange and mocking sounds, suddenly a heavy and chilling voice rang out. "You are all wrong."

"It's that boss who once wielded a chainsaw and cut up dozens of people on the Jin Biao construction site..."

"..."

The mocking voices vanished instantly, and one could vaguely see that the writhing flesh was moving away from Yang Jia.

"That one, the number one assassin of the Pink Maiden Gang..."

"The Chainsaw Prince of Black Gate City..."

"Can't afford to offend them..."

"I'm outta here..."

"..."

"..."

"They..."

Xiao Xiao's ability as an observer allowed him to control the battlefield far beyond others. Even in such a chaotic scene, he still noticed these strange details. He didn't care about these people's misunderstandings of him, since he was already used to being misunderstood. However, seeing those Aberrant Creature actually moving away from Yang Jia, he felt extremely surprised. "They actually have their own consciousness?"

Aren't Aberrant Creature all just spreading unconsciously?

"Aberrant Creature should naturally possess their own consciousness, shouldn't they?"

The Shepherds chuckled softly.

Xiao Xiao was surprised. "But I haven't encountered any like this before."

"It's just that you didn't encounter this when you were a stranger in a foreign land..."

The Shepherds spoke with a mixture of excitement and suppressed emotion, "What you encountered were merely individuals whose power spiraled out of control due to their inability to endure the pain. Their mental fortitude has collapsed, and the remnants of their will and spiritual bodies have formed a composite spiritual mutation fruit. This has become the food for the Mysterious Source, and of course, the Enhancement Element you speak of..."

"However, in our eyes, these are essentially just a kind of surreal spiritual unit."

"We in the Black Forest have always been dedicated to enabling people to simultaneously possess a supernatural spiritual unit and will. The purpose of the Farm Project, and even the earliest Pioneer Project, was all for this goal. Of course, most of our plans have failed..."

"There's nothing we can do; we can't find that many people with potential."

"Unlike you..."

"..."

He exclaimed in admiration, expressing his respect for Xiao Xiao once again. "Where did you find so many Gu poisons?"

"..."

Xiao Xiao always felt that he seemed to have a natural tendency to be misunderstood.

But by this point, he was powerless to explain so much. He possessed the composure and calmness brought by his insight and Mind Burst abilities, so he could talk to the Shepherds and observe the changes on the battlefield in this chaotic battlefield, like an outsider. But in fact, this battlefield had never been quiet. The surging Aberrant Creature and the fearful and angry Branders were constantly attacking.

Throughout the entire exchange, Xiao Xiao was constantly subjected to the counterattacks of the Branders and the effects of various Enhancement Element.

However, he was in no hurry to make a move. While dodging, he observed that the battlefield was rapidly tilting in his favor with the addition of this Aberrant Creature army. He also understood that he was about to reach the final step of his hunting plan.

The Aberrant Creature army was indeed powerful, but Xiao Xiao also understood that it could only be used as a surprise force.

He could sense a profound change. As the Branders were devoured one by one, the remaining Branders were gradually becoming stronger. Even though part of "Mister Du's " power had been devoured by the Aberrant Creature legion, most of it was distributed among the other Branders. Therefore, their average power was getting stronger and stronger.

Like an individual whose power keeps soaring from 10,000 points, to 100,000, 200,000, 300,000...

Beneath this apparent advantage lies a terrifying shadow.

What Xiao Xiao should have done was to use his current rationality to prevent this most terrifying outcome from happening.

But he didn't; he simply observed the battlefield silently, waiting for this scene to unfold.

At the same time, among the Branders, there was another person quietly waiting for this scene to unfold.

Yang Jia, who has always given the impression of being reckless and brainless, was surprisingly calm at this moment. When she saw the Aberrant Creature army, she did not panic or get excited. When she saw that the Aberrant Creature army only rushed towards other Branders and stayed away from her, she did not show anger or impulsiveness at being slighted. Instead, she simply withdrew from the battlefield and waited quietly.

Their gazes met across the battlefield, and they instantly understood each other's thoughts.

"Mister Ye..."

Xiao Xiao let out a low breath, then suddenly asked softly, "If a unique Branders is born, what level will it be?"

"Unpredictable".

Mister Ye's gentle voice indeed appeared beside him. He patiently and softly explained, "The reason why the Branders are stronger than other outsiders is because they directly received authority bestowed by the Mysterious Source. Authority itself is a power that has reached S-rank. And when the only Branders appears, it means that she has become the only person who possesses authority..."

"The power of the emperor belongs to only one person."

"Then, regardless of this person's original identity, she will immediately possess..."

"... Power comparable to that of an emperor!"

"..."

The voice was calm, but one could faintly detect a hint of excitement.

"Emperor..."

Xiao Xiao lowered his head silently, pondering these words, and vaguely felt his heart pounding.

"If she becomes the empress, then what am I?"

"..."

As I pondered this question, in a secluded corner of Black Gate City, beside an old brass record player, a slender figure stood quietly. Her posture was elegant, her temperament mysterious, and she exuded an ancient aura, as if awaiting someone's coronation.