Fire Condensing Oil

No one expected Xia Hong to get injured, because his attacker was just an ordinary person.

Even up close, that middle-aged man was still just an ordinary person.

He had no cultivation, so even though Xia Hong was already injured and somewhat exhausted from fighting the Frost Beasts, it didn't matter.

The Lumbering Realm wasn't just about being able to go out and chop trees.

The improvement in basic strength meant his physical condition far surpassed that of ordinary people.

The crowd's panic was partly due to their own disarray in the heat of the moment, and partly because they couldn't understand why.

Why would an ordinary middle-aged man from the camp attack Xia Hong?

Bang...

However, when Xia Hong raised his hand, caught the middle-aged man's punch, and was sent skidding back over ten meters, everyone in the camp's expressions changed drastically.

Xia Hong was currently the strongest person in the camp. Even setting that aside, everyone had witnessed the strength he displayed fighting that Frost Beast just now.

To be able to send him flying back over ten meters with a single punch.

How could that person possibly be ordinary?

"I know him, isn't that Wang Ping?"

"How could it be him? It's fake."

"Fake?"

Great Xia had only about a hundred people, and they all basically knew each other. Someone quickly recognized the middle-aged man and called out his name.

But even faster, everyone immediately realized that person wasn't Wang Ping.

"You were guarding against me, you little thing, quite cautious!"

That Wang Ping spoke again, but this time his voice sounded like wood rubbing together, grating and unpleasant, making one's heart churn.

Xia Hong shook his hand, which still stung, and looked up at the middle-aged man. His expression wasn't one of surprise, but rather a cold smirk.

"I knew something was off, why would this Frost Beast suddenly come to this hillside. So you drove it here. You didn't dare show yourself, so you sent a Frost Beast instead. What a waste of your skills."

Xia Chuan, Yuan Cheng, and four others had already walked over, their faces wary as they surrounded the middle-aged man.

After hearing the strange voice the middle-aged man emitted, the six of them knew instantly that the person before them wasn't human at all, but the Grotesque from Redwood Ridge that had brought them immense disaster three months ago.

"Hee hee hee hee, I originally thought I could deal with you all with it, but who knew this beast was too weak. It still took some effort. Those six are basically done for. How much of your strength is left? All one hundred of your lives will be mine, mwahahaha..."

The middle-aged man's laughter was bizarre and twisted, just like the demeanor he displayed during the massacre of the camp earlier. This Grotesque seemed to have a peculiar fetish for killing.

Although Xia Hong's eyes were fixed on the middle-aged man in front of him, his peripheral vision was constantly scanning the surroundings. The middle-aged man before him only solidified his previous guess.

That Grotesque was indeed controlling these imposters from behind the scenes.

It had never shown itself.

It seemed to be afraid of the fire he used last time.

This time, not only did it send the Frost Beast as a vanguard, but it also disguised itself as one of the camp members during the chaos, attempting to ambush him.

Perhaps that punch just now confirmed that Xia Hong's strength was greatly diminished. The Grotesque's laughter grew more rampant. It surveyed the more than a hundred people in the camp, its eyes gradually revealing an abnormal, bloodthirsty glint.

"Don't celebrate too early. Look at your own hand."

Xia Hong's slightly mocking voice made the Grotesque's laughter pause.

It looked down at its palm in confusion, only to discover that the spot where it had just hit Xia Hong was now stained with a layer of yellowish oil.

"Trying to trick me, what kind of... Ah..."

The Grotesque's eyes were confused, thinking Xia Hong was bluffing. But before it could finish speaking, the oil stain inexplicably ignited, bursting into flames just like the situation in the cave last time. It let out sharp, pained screams and wails.

"Ah... Ah... This fire again... Ah..."

Xia Hong, sitting on the ground, breathed a slight sigh of relief.

In the past few days, the Iron Melting Furnace had only produced one batch of Fire Condensing Oil. If he hadn't smeared the oil on himself beforehand, he might have actually fallen for it.

From the very beginning, when the Frost Beast inexplicably charged towards the cave, Xia Hong had already sensed something was wrong.

This Golden-Eyed Demonic Sheep had always lived in Redwood Ridge. Xia Hong had seen it many times when leading expeditions at night. This meant the Demonic Sheep rarely ventured elsewhere. How could it suddenly come to the camp?

Combining this with the discovery of Wang Ming's corpse that night, he couldn't help but suspect that Grotesque was behind it.

Therefore, even before he started fighting the Golden-Eyed Demonic Sheep, he had secretly coated himself with Fire Condensing Oil, fearing that the Demonic Sheep was also controlled by the Grotesque.

If the Grotesque could control people, it could naturally control Frost Beasts as well.

As it turned out, while the Frost Beast wasn't directly controlled by it, it was indeed driven to the camp by the Grotesque. Smearing the Fire Condensing Oil on himself beforehand was the right move.

This Grotesque was truly afraid of the system's fire.

"Ah... Ah... You little bastard, I will definitely kill you."

"You, and all of you people, not a single one will escape."

"Ah... I will be back, none of you will escape..."

The screams didn't last long before the Grotesque completely dissolved, leaving only a few resentful, hateful words echoing in the cave.

Xia Hong watched the Grotesque consumed by flames, a flicker of anger rising in his eyes. This Grotesque had targeted their camp for the second time, yet he still hadn't even seen its true form.

While its methods were terrifying and bizarre, its personality seemed a bit… overly cautious.

"It'd rather disguise itself as an ordinary person to sneak attack than confront me head-on. Is its strength too weak, or is it truly afraid of the system's fire?"

Xia Hong was filled with confusion. Logically, the best time for it to act would have been during his fight with the Frost Beasts; the campfires were out then, and all eight of them were pinned down by the Frost Beasts.

He couldn't figure it out, so he decided to stop thinking about it. Xia Hong turned to the others and said:

"Hurry and start a fire, take a headcount, and see if Wang Ping is still around."

Speaking of which, from Wang Ping's sudden outburst to the Grotesque's identity being exposed and its ashes scattered by the flames of the Fire Condensing Oil, it had all happened in less than fifty seconds.

The others were still immersed in the scene, which had ended without any real danger, and were only jolted back to reality by Xia Hong's shout. They quickly began searching for Wang Ping in the crowd.

"He's gone. Wang Ping is gone. We can't find him in the cave."

Soon, Wang Ping was confirmed missing.

Upon hearing this, a look of gravity flashed across Xia Hong's eyes.

The fake Wang Ping appeared, and the real Wang Ping disappeared.

If his guess was correct, the Grotesque must have first infiltrated the cave, silently killed Wang Ping, and then impersonated him.

This meant that as long as the Grotesque killed anyone, it could use some method to transform into that person and control them remotely?

Xia Hong's worries didn't end there.

"Wang Ping was just an ordinary person, but that punch he just threw had the genuine strength of someone above the Lumbering Realm."

So it could not only transform into someone but also enhance their original strength?

Even more crucially, the Grotesque could control many people simultaneously.

"If this Grotesque isn't eliminated soon, it's likely to become a great menace!"

To the brothers reading this, please continue to follow along. Today is the first day of the push for the top, and the PK period for a new book is very important. Thank you all.