Qi Xing said he would not help her, and he truly did not.
The man simply leaned against the branches, closed his eyes, and rested, leaving Jiang Zhaosu glaring helplessly from the ground.
The bear had clearly caught the scent of both her and Qi Xing. It roared as it accelerated toward them.
Jiang Zhaosu had originally thought that with Qi Xing around, she would at least have some confidence. Instead, Qi Xing had decided to quit on her.
Her limbs were stiff. She could not climb the tree, and she was nowhere near as fast as the bear. She spun in circles below in panic.
"Help... help..."
Jiang Zhaosu hugged the tree trunk below and looked pitifully up at Qi Xing, begging for help.
"Fortune can handle it herself."
Qi Xing spoke calmly from the tree.
Jiang Zhaosu angrily punched the tree trunk several times.
But she used too much force. The flesh on her hand was immediately scraped away by the rough bark, exposing stark white bone. Startled, she hurriedly stroked her own skin and flesh in distress.
Within minutes, the black bear had entered even Qi Xing's line of sight.
As the massive bear approached, its rank, fishy stench grew stronger. Jiang Zhaosu could clearly make out its appearance.
It was an incomparably huge Mutated Black Bear.
Jiang Zhaosu had estimated it at two meters tall earlier, but she had underestimated it.
This enormous bear was larger than a polar bear, standing a full three meters tall and weighing over a thousand jin. When it ran, the ground shook and the mountains trembled. Every time its paws hit the ground, the fallen leaves and pebbles near Jiang Zhaosu's feet quivered.
Its flesh rippled as it ran. Its thick bear paws were bigger than Jiang Zhaosu's head, and the claws extending from them were as sharp as sickles.
Jiang Zhaosu's fangs and long pointed nails looked as ridiculous before such a massive, vicious beast as a child's water pistol facing a military sniper rifle.
If Jiang Zhaosu had not been a zombie, she would have wet herself by now.
The black bear stopped five or six meters away, warily studying the frail, petite Jiang Zhaosu on the ground and Qi Xing sitting in the tree.
Fortunately, it was clearly more interested in Qi Xing than Jiang Zhaosu, so it did not attack her immediately.
Jiang Zhaosu was so frightened that she had completely lost her appetite.
Her legs trembled nonstop, and she deeply regretted not listening to Qi Xing earlier and leaving with him.
Just then, Qi Xing moved in the tree.
Jiang Zhaosu thought he was finally going to help her. Overjoyed, she immediately looked up at him.
But Qi Xing merely stretched lazily, shifted into another position against the tree, and said to her in a languid tone, his voice slightly hoarse with sleepiness, "Hurry up, Fortune. I'm exhausted."
Damn it.
That bastard.
It was one thing not to help, but he was still teasing her at a time like this.
Qi Xing's words instantly stirred up Jiang Zhaosu's anger. Gritting her teeth, she pulled the remaining Crystal Cores from her pocket and swallowed them all.
Judging by the situation, either the bear would die or she would.
Since it was her life either way, she might as well risk everything.
The Crystal Cores slid down her throat and immediately transformed into a ball of heat that burned in her lower abdomen.
To encourage herself, Jiang Zhaosu squeezed her eyes shut.
For some reason, the instant she closed her eyes, a strange connection appeared in her mind.
In the boundless darkness, a group of tiny dark-gray dots squeaked as they called to her.
She tried responding to them.
The dots received her summons and rushed toward her.
In the blink of an eye, a group of goose-sized Mutated Giant Rats darted over from all directions like phantoms, gathering around Jiang Zhaosu.
Usually timid, Jiang Zhaosu did not fear these disgusting monsters this time.
When she opened her eyes again, her originally dark pupils had turned a bewitching, terrifying blood-red. She stared coldly and viciously at the black bear before her.
A strange creaking sound came from her throat. Without instruction, she had somehow mastered the language of the Mutated Giant Rats and began communicating with those beside her.
After swallowing the Crystal Cores, the burning pain and hunger surged over her like a tidal wave, stimulating Jiang Zhaosu's nerves until she had no attention left for anything else. All she wanted was to eat.
Kill it!
Kill this black bear! Then everyone will have food!
Like humans, Mutated Species frequently slaughtered one another.
Perhaps because Jiang Zhaosu had eaten too many Mutated Giant Rat Crystal Cores, these Mutated Giant Rats seemed to regard her as the leader of their pack.
At Jiang Zhaosu's command, the Mutated Giant Rats, their eyes glowing green and saliva dripping from their mouths, squeaked as they charged together at the massive black bear.
The black bear let out a roar that made the body and soul tremble.
Though enormous, it was agile. It immediately raised a paw and smashed the first Mutated Giant Rat to charge at it as though swatting a fly.
But there were too many Mutated Giant Rats.
As soon as one died, another immediately took its place.
Dark-gray, slender tails swayed through the air as the Mutated Giant Rats surged at the black bear one after another. The moment they landed on its body, they dug their sharp claws into its fur. No matter how the bear shook them, they refused to let go, opening their bloody jaws to tear at its flesh.
The Mutated Giant Rats' fangs were twenty centimeters long and incomparably hard. With a single bite, they sank deep into the black bear's flesh like steel nails.
Though the wounds were not fatal, they irritated the black bear immensely.
It rose onto its hind legs and kept swatting the Mutated Giant Rats on its body. Any rat caught by it was immediately torn apart or slammed to death against the ground.
For a time, the forest became a slaughterhouse. Shrill squeals echoed through the dead, withered woods, while broken rat limbs and carcasses lay everywhere and blood sprayed in all directions.
Jiang Zhaosu stood not far from the killing field, coldly observing the increasingly frenzied black bear. She noticed that although its movements were rough and violent, it had been protecting its neck the entire time.
Zombies only lost their ability to move after their heads were severed.
Mutants were probably similar.
The black bear did not protect its head, yet it guarded its neck. Could it have a wound there, just as she had earlier?
Jiang Zhaosu controlled the scattered rat swarm and had them attack the black bear's neck together. As expected, the black bear became even more enraged.
This black bear was quite intelligent. Before long, it seemed to realize that she was the one controlling the Mutated Giant Rat swarm. Roaring, it dropped to all fours and charged toward her.
Before such a huge monster, Jiang Zhaosu was as weak as a chick. Seeing the black bear rush at her, she turned and ran in terror.
But how could two legs outrun four?
Even as she fled, Jiang Zhaosu continued controlling the Mutated Giant Rats to attack the black bear, doing her best to obstruct it. Yet before long, the monster still caught up to her.
The thick bear paw, as large as a washbasin, was about to come crashing down on her. Jiang Zhaosu's entire body was swallowed by the shadow beneath it.
If that paw struck her, she would undoubtedly be smashed to pieces.
Despair rose in Jiang Zhaosu's heart, but her body continued running forward with all its strength, unwilling to give up even the slightest chance of survival.
At the critical moment, a vine suddenly shot over and wrapped around Jiang Zhaosu's ankle, dragging her out from beneath the bear's paw with lightning speed.
Smack—
The bear paw slammed heavily down, even splitting a deep crack in the ground.
Yet Jiang Zhaosu was like a gourd hanging from a vine trellis, her ankle hooked by a thick vine as she dangled safely high in the air, temporarily out of the black bear's hunting range.
It was Qi Xing!
Qi Xing had come to help her after all!
Jiang Zhaosu, who had just thought herself at the end of the road, saw Qi Xing standing in a nearby tree and smiling at her. Hope immediately rose in her heart again.
But she was hanging upside down. From this angle, the upward curve of Qi Xing's lips looked increasingly strange.
Just as she had feared.
The next second, the vine around her foot suddenly loosened, swinging her right in front of the black bear.
Jiang Zhaosu abruptly came face-to-face with the black bear at close range. She was directly before its huge mouth and could feel the beast's warm, foul breath spraying over her. Terrified, she screamed wildly.
The black bear roared furiously as well, reaching out to claw her apart.
The vine tightened again, lifting Jiang Zhaosu high into the air once more, to a height the black bear could not reach no matter what it did.
After this happened several times, the black bear was completely enraged and turned to attack the vine instead.
After suffering the black bear's claws, the vine tensed and flicked, throwing Jiang Zhaosu aside.
Dizzy from being swung around, Jiang Zhaosu felt the world spin before she fell into a warm, fragrant embrace.
Qi Xing held her from behind. His two warm hands gripped hers and placed a sharp Long Dagger in her palm.
"You did very well just now."
Jiang Zhaosu heard Qi Xing's smiling voice. Then the man released her hands and gently pushed her from behind.
Another vine suddenly sprang from the ground, coiling around her waist and catching her securely.
Jiang Zhaosu felt as if she had grown a pair of wings out of thin air. The vine carried her lightly through the air, and in an instant, she landed on the back of the black bear, which was still fighting the vines and Mutated Giant Rats.
The black bear roared in fury and reached up to claw her down.
But during those earlier rounds of torment, Jiang Zhaosu had already spotted the wound on the right side of its neck.
Standing on the black bear, she raised the Long Dagger high and drove it into the gash with all her strength, then slashed left.
Slash—
The existing wound on the black bear's thick neck rapidly widened, its throat torn half open. A great amount of scalding blood sprayed from within, splattering Jiang Zhaosu's face and body.
With a thunderous crash.
Amid the enormous sound of its collapse, the blood-covered Jiang Zhaosu was steadily lowered to the ground by the vine. Holding the equally bloodstained dagger, she panted heavily in shock and excitement as she looked at the mountain-like giant bear lying motionless before her.
She did it!
She had actually slaughtered this giant beast!
Before you continue