Bait and Ambush

At noon, Bai Chuan finally succeeded in taking down the Gray Wolf model.

He examined his injuries, feeling that only a few scales had been broken and a few bloody scratches left—relatively minor overall.

After some consideration, he decided to continue and go for the next eagle-type target.

Right now, he desperately wanted the eagle's abilities, and if he wanted to strengthen his digestion and absorption in the future, he'd likely have to deal with all kinds of birds anyway.

Better to get used to it early.

But before heading out, there was one thing he hadn't done yet.

That was to catch a small snake—after all, how could he hunt an eagle without bait? Without bait, what would he use to lure the eagle down?

With that thought, he slithered northwest, flicking his tongue to pick up the scent molecules of snakes.

In that area, he'd seen eagles landing several days in a row, and there were plenty of small animals around too.

He guessed it might be the eagle's hunting ground.

Soon enough, he caught a small green snake that had been preying on a rat.

Bai Chuan carefully identified it and found it seemed to be a member of the Elaphe genus.

Speaking of Elaphe snakes, Bai Chuan felt they were real unlucky bastards—as snakes, they had no venom, weren't large enough, lacked constriction ability, and worst of all, had too many natural enemies.

Not only were they eaten by their own kind, but they were also bullied by cranes, eagles, hawks, ospreys, cats, geese, and so on.

But maybe because of that, after enduring so much oppression, the Elaphe finally gave birth to their king—the King Python.

Yet he wondered if this king had been bullied too much in its youth.

That would explain why they were generally so ferocious, with obvious territorial behavior—attacking any other snake they encountered, even randomly striking at unrelated creatures passing by. They were a very neurotic kind of snake.

Bai Chuan recalled the sparse snake knowledge he had, comparing it to his current self—how would he fare against a King Python now?

He wondered if he could effortlessly crush all snakes at this point.

He was quite curious about that. Since evolving, he'd lost a clear sense of his ecological niche.

In short, he didn't fully understand his current strength, because he'd experienced too few real battles.

Soon, he arrived at his destination.

Looking around, the trees were sparse—mostly tall conifers or dead trees—with an extremely open view. Fortunately, there were still some shrubs on the ground.

As long as he didn't raise his head and kept low, he could still hide.

Bai Chuan carefully surveyed the area, then aimed for the spot with the most active animals—the left side.

There, not only were there many animals, but also plenty of bushes.

In no time, he slithered into the bushes and released the little green python he'd been holding by the head the whole way.

Since it was bait, he hadn't bitten it to death, only restrained it.

The moment he let go, the little green snake gave him a panicked glance, not even daring to raise its head or bare its fangs, before fleeing backward in terror.

On the yellow-brown earth, a green python over a meter long was especially conspicuous.

Especially now that it was darting around openly, making quite a commotion.

Soon, it caught the attention of predators—and inevitably startled many small animals like pheasants, wild hares, turtledoves, and rats.

For a moment, some hid, some fled, some ran, some flew—the scene was chaotic.

Before long, the once lively little slope fell completely silent, leaving only the dazed little green snake.

High in the sky, the circling eagle was also a bit stunned. It had already locked onto a wild hare.

But unexpectedly, an uninvited guest had barged in, startling all the prey.

At least that stupid snake was still there. Years of snake-hunting experience told this eagle that the target wasn't venomous—safe to enjoy.

The next moment, the sharp eagle eyes locked onto the snake's vital spot, then it folded its wings and dove.

With a faint whoosh of air, a handsome and imposing eagle stood before the little green snake.

Before the snake could react, the eagle spread its wings slightly, shot out its sharp claws like lightning, and in an instant grabbed the green python's vital spot. Then its razor-sharp beak curved, dipped, and lifted, gutting the green python in one swift motion.

Meanwhile, Bai Chuan, hiding not far away, took this chance to slowly approach the feeding eagle.

One meter... two meters... three meters...

Step by step, he closed in. When Bai Chuan felt he'd entered his attack range—about thirteen meters—

The next moment, his snake body silently coiled, then exploded forward!

In an instant, a black shadow burst forth like a shot.

At that moment, the feeding eagle snapped awake and immediately tried to spread its wings and take flight, but—

Too late.

With Bai Chuan's current speed, he could close nearly twelve meters in a second, plus his five-meter-long body.

Thirteen meters—covered in less than a second—just barely catching the eagle's neck before it could lift off.

Then the eagle was sent flying by the impact of Bai Chuan's rapid strike.

Unable to take off, its neck bitten, sent flying by a massive impact—the chain of blows left the eagle stunned for a moment.

And during that time, Bai Chuan naturally wouldn't let the opportunity slip. His venomous fangs, already poised and ready, began injecting toxins wildly.

A flood of venom poured into the eagle's body. No need to explain what that meant, right? After all, the Eye King was famously known for being generous in both quantity and quality.

Having finished the job, Bai Chuan successfully withdrew his fangs and quickly distanced himself.

He had to avoid getting hurt by the eagle's final desperate counterattack.

Now, all he needed to do was wait for the poison to take effect.

It was only then that the eagle snapped back to its senses, but the venom had already coursed through its entire body.

It wobbled unsteadily to its feet, flapped its wings weakly, and then collapsed with a thud.

Cautious as ever, Bai Chuan first tossed the corpse of the green Python over to test the waters. Only after confirming the eagle was truly dead did he step forward to begin his gluttonous feast.

By evening, having finished everything, Bai Chuan dragged his round, bulging belly back to his nest.

Today had been a bountiful harvest for him. His points had now accumulated to '1 (92%).'

Yes, that's right.

In just one day, his points had naturally increased by 1%. All of this was thanks to the previously enhanced "Digestion and Absorption" ability.

This powerful digestive capability meant he no longer had to rely solely on the panel's built-in "Rapid Digestion." Instead, he could depend on his own fast digestion of food to steadily increase his points.

He believed that as long as he kept strengthening this ability, one day he would no longer need the panel's digestive function at all, perfectly absorbing every bit of energy from his food.

He was confident that one day, gaining one point per day—or even several—wouldn't just be a dream.