This Little Thing Looks Pretty Tasty

As one of the few Kobold Shamans who had inherited some of the tribe's knowledge, Salong had finally confirmed Li Wei's true species.

A dragon!

And an extremely rare Metal Dragon of the Underdark—a Silver Dragon!

But none of that mattered now.

In their understanding, dragons had always been infamous for being narrow-minded and vindictive.

For example, some Red Dragon had once been hunted during its youth by an adventuring party calling themselves "Dragon Slayers," then openly burned an entire town to the ground after reaching adulthood.

Metal Dragons were even more troublesome. Hit the young one, and the old ones came running—that described them perfectly! And it was often a whole damn group of them!

With Salong's limited intelligence, he could only make a snap decision. Since they had already offended it, they might as well snuff out any possibility of future retaliation while it was still in the bud.

Although they would lose the tribe's most needed golden thigh, the blood of a young dragon, when used in the tribe's Ancestor Sacrificial Ritual, would be enough to awaken the racial talents of many hatchlings and set them upon the path of Dragonblood Sorcerers!

Not to mention that for this Silver Dragon to grow strong enough to dominate a region and shelter the tribe, it would need at least several decades to gradually pass through the Young Dragon and adolescent stages before developing into a juvenile dragon with some Spell Ability.

And during those decades, it would not only be weak, but its enormous appetite might become a burden their tribe could not bear.

As the Old Kobold shouted, an almost imperceptible ripple of magic seemed to spread through the air. The previously panicked Kobolds instantly changed. Their eyes became bloodshot, their pupils visibly dilated, and even the muscles and blood vessels beneath their skin bulged as if they had gone berserk.

For a moment, they all dropped to all fours and charged forward with an "Awoo!" Their speed and power were nothing like before.

Meanwhile, although Li Wei could not understand what that Old Kobold had shouted, he could tell something was wrong.

Having just let out a roar that gave him a bit of a Silver Dragon's noble air, he wasted no time. He bit down on the Stone Spear nailed through the membrane of his Right Wing, yanked it out, flung it aside, turned around, and fled!

Farewell!

As for facing this pack of Kobolds who seemed to have rabies head-on?

He could consider it if he could breathe a second blast of dragon breath, but he could clearly feel that the first one had nearly drained his young body dry. If his life had not been at stake, he would have wanted nothing more than to lie down and sleep immediately.

Following his heart, Li Wei displayed agility and speed that left the Kobolds dumbfounded. He frantically pumped his four little legs while desperately flapping the pair of wings that made him intensely uncomfortable.

How should one describe that posture? It was probably like a duck fleeing desperately after being chased by a farmer, unable to fly no matter how hard it tried.

Li Wei did not care whether he looked elegant or whether he was disgracing the noble Silver Dragon race of this world. At that moment, only the most primal desire of all living things remained in his mind:

Hungry!

Intense movement brought intense physical exertion. The pot of food the Kobolds had painstakingly prepared did not last long in Li Wei's stomach before being completely digested. It did not even have time to become feces or fat before it was burned into Kinetic Energy and spent away!

Dizzy with hunger and ringing ears, Li Wei could only keep running on instinct while constantly changing his escape route according to the sounds of projectiles slicing through the air behind him.

Since Salong had decided to eliminate the roots and leave no future trouble, the Adult Kobolds no longer held back. The stone stalagmite spears they threw with all their strength were like a barrage of grenade launchers, erupting in deep booms around Li Wei.

Shattered stone fragments sprayed everywhere like sharp shrapnel, continuously leaving savage wounds across Li Wei's body.

If not for the scales covering his body blocking most of the impact, he would have long since been blasted full of holes.

One side chased while the other fled, and they ran for over ten miles until they reached a riverbank where the terrain suddenly became extremely steep. The Kobolds, equally exhausted and spraying spit everywhere, abruptly stopped when the leader raised a claw.

The leading Adult Kobold looked toward the dark, silent riverbank with a grave and wary expression. After giving the Silver Dragon, still fleeing wildly in panic, one reluctant glance, it snorted in frustration, then decisively directed the equally unwilling Kobold hatchlings to slowly withdraw from this eerily silent riverbank.

Li Wei had already entered the riverbank's territory without realizing it. Though he noticed that he had finally shaken off those damn Kobolds, he still did not dare relax. He kept his head down and ran for an unknown amount of time before finding a natural cave just as his strength was about to give out.

Only after cautiously checking several times and confirming that there were no traces of any other creatures having lived inside did he finally collapse to the ground in relief.

Still uneasy, Li Wei forced his heavy eyelids open and glanced at the overly quiet riverbank outside. All he could see was thin gray mist floating above the river and the empty marshland along its shore.

Theoretically, plenty of species should have lived near such precious water sources in the Underdark.

Li Wei instinctively sensed that there was something unusual about this riverbank, but at that moment, he had no other choice.

His physical strength had been severely overdrawn, and waves of irresistible drowsiness washed over him. It felt as though the instant he closed his eyes, he would fall into deep sleep.

"This won't do!"

Already unbearably sleepy, Li Wei felt another wave of hunger surge up from his stomach, as if it could digest his very body. Instinctively, he sensed danger.

Although he had previously eaten nearly his own body weight in mushroom-like food from the Kobolds' Soup Pot, along with most of his eggshell, the frantic escape had already consumed most of that energy.

If I just lie down and sleep like this, I might never wake up again, Li Wei thought numbly, his mind feeling like a rusty machine about to seize up.

He forced his eyelids open, trying to find something edible to stuff into his stomach before he suddenly fell asleep. But all he could see was the tranquil riverbank in the distance, the mottled stone walls inside the cave, and patches of faintly glowing moss on the rock layer beneath him.

The idea of fishing in the river was the first to be ruled out. Leaving aside whether his exhausted body, unfamiliar with swimming in this form, would die the moment he entered the water, even in the animal documentaries he had watched in his previous life, riverbanks like this were prime spots for apex predators to rest and ambush prey. Going there recklessly before understanding the situation would only get him killed without knowing how.

Could it only be...

Li Wei stared blankly at the moss growing stubbornly on the slightly damp stones before him and swallowed with difficulty.

I wonder if those fantasy novels from my previous life were right about dragons being able to digest rocks, metal ores, and other inorganic matter. Whatever. I don't have a choice.

Nearly driven mad by hunger, Li Wei hardened his heart and licked downward. His tongue, covered in countless tiny barbs, scraped the moss clean off the rock, leaving behind countless pale marks.

It did not taste like seaweed as he had imagined. The fishy smell was rather strong, but it was barely edible.

Feeling the gastric acid flooding his stomach, Li Wei stopped caring about anything else. He opened his mouth full of uneven baby teeth and began viciously gnawing at the rock and soil beneath him.

The moment a huge mouthful of rock and soil went down his throat, Li Wei's vertical pupils widened round.

"Blech... what the hell..."

Even with a dragon's altered sense of taste, the dry, astringent texture was still indescribable. It was like biting into sand while eating, magnified hundreds of times. The uneven stones not only grated against his teeth but scratched his throat.

Li Wei forcibly suppressed the instinct to vomit and swallowed the chunks of rock and soil mixed with moss.

It works. Feeling the "food" in his stomach being rapidly digested, Li Wei finally calmed down somewhat.

As time passed, Li Wei's feeding efforts brought a few surprises.

Beneath the layer of rock and soil he dug apart were quite a few soft-bodied creatures resembling earthworms, along with amphibious shellfish and crabs. Before they could even escape their forced eviction, they were usually swept up by his tongue's countless barbs and dropped into a certain Silver Dragon's Multichambered Stomach, full of powerful acid.

Li Wei had no idea how long he continued eating. With his entire upper body stuffed into the pit he had dug, he finally could no longer resist the waves of sleepiness after filling himself halfway. As his eyelids slowly closed, his vision gradually narrowed and blurred.

Perhaps it was an illusion, but as sleep descended, he instinctively raised his upper body to find a more comfortable position. He seemed to see a round, glistening creature emerge from the river, slowly hopping toward him.

"What is that? That little thing looks pretty unusual. Blueberry Pudding? I'm so hungry..."

At that point, Li Wei's mind completely shut down. With a bang, his entire upper body plunged back into the pit he had dug. His consciousness sank into boundless darkness as he began the first sleep of his dragon life in this Different World.