A Crocodile Appeared on the Way

He had barely eaten anything for almost three days.

These past few days, he had been hurrying along to avoid being caught, so he hadn't gone out of his way to hunt. He'd only occasionally eaten small fish or snakes he came across along the way.

But that wasn't even enough to get stuck between his teeth.

He wasn't the only one, either. Little Mouse was nearly starving, while Ice Silkworm was locked in the little wooden box and still unaware of the situation.

Still, Bai Chuan guessed things couldn't be much better for it. All living things needed food, didn't they?

Even if it could absorb solar energy, it still needed to be let out to bask in the sun.

The only thing he could be sure of was that Ice Silkworm was still alive.

Whenever it was even a little far from Little Mouse, the little wooden box would shake incessantly.

Aside from that, he also needed to find a good spot to start evolving his abilities.

As he considered this, Bai Chuan climbed ashore again and set Little Mouse down. Then he handed the little wooden box to the mouse.

Nowadays, Bai Chuan wasn't particularly worried about the mouse running off with his things. He'd already obtained the most important ability model.

Even if the mouse ran away right now, he wouldn't panic in the slightest.

Of course, he couldn't be too sure.

The ability model he'd analyzed in this scan was rather strange, so unless he had no other choice,

to be safe, Bai Chuan still wanted to keep the two little fellows around until he'd finished strengthening his abilities. Then he could decide what to do with them.

After settling the mouse in a concealed tree hollow, he plunged into the water and slowly vanished amid a splash.

Once more in the familiar underwater world, Bai Chuan first quietly surveyed his surroundings. Only then did he release a slow, faint current.

This was an ability he had picked up naturally after learning to generate electricity: Current Detection.

Of course, though it was called an ability, Bai Chuan thought it was more like a rudimentary application of his electricity-generation ability—a technique that could only be used underwater.

The principle was to take advantage of how readily electricity traveled through water. By continuously releasing a weak current with himself at the center, he could sense whether obstacles or living creatures were nearby.

That was because the changes produced when the current passed through a living creature differed from those produced when it passed through the lifeless objects in the surrounding environment.

That was why this ability could only be used underwater.

And speaking of this, it was worth mentioning Bai Chuan's strengthened electricity-generation ability.

First of all, the ability he had strengthened wasn't like the powers found in the cultivation myths and other worlds he'd known in his previous life. He couldn't manipulate electricity at will, shaping it however he pleased or turning it into Thunder Spears and lightning lances to attack from afar.

His ability came from the electric eel, so the way he generated electricity followed scientific principles.

The current his body produced came from contracting his specialized Electric Muscle. These thin, battery-like muscles linked together in series, allowing the tiny amounts of voltage and current from each individual muscle to combine into a surging, high-voltage attack.

So he could only release electricity, not control it. At most, he could direct the path of the circuit and fix the location from which the current attack was emitted.

That was why he always carried the current in his claws when using his electricity-generation ability to attack. For now, it was the best option.

Of course, he could also cover his entire body in electricity indiscriminately, but that would be like killing a thousand enemies at the cost of eight hundred of his own. It wasn't worth it.

So ever since he had strengthened this electricity-generation ability, Bai Chuan had wondered: was there some way he could freely control the current?

Unfortunately, given his current lack of knowledge and accumulated abilities, he hadn't found a better solution.

Sigh~

Bai Chuan, a hopeless student, let out a long sigh. He'd have to keep studying and working hard.

He shook his head, then swam toward the large prey he had sensed through the current.

Keeping to his invisible state, Bai Chuan quickly swam along the riverbed.

Invisibility wasn't all that useful underwater, since many aquatic creatures could sense changes in the current.

Still, Bai Chuan figured the ability was practically passive. He might as well use it. It cost him nothing, and even a little effect was better than none.

Before long, he had swum several hundred meters. Suddenly, he sensed a violent disturbance in the water ahead.

Bai Chuan's eyes narrowed. He turned to look and carefully sensed the state of the water. A moment later, a glimmer of understanding flashed in his eyes. He realized what was happening.

"Some ferocious predator is hunting underwater."

Should he go or stay?

He thought about it and decided he might as well take a look. Perhaps he could pick up some leftovers.

There weren't many animals he needed to fear these days.

With that thought, he swayed his long, slender body and swam toward the disturbance.

It wasn't long before he reached the area where the water was churning violently, close to the shallow waters near the bank.

At a glance, Bai Chuan smiled.

Wasn't this an old acquaintance of his?

A crocodile!

Bai Chuan remembered the days of the torrential rain and flooding at the very beginning, when he'd nearly been bitten in half by one of these underwater brutes. For a while, it had even left him with a psychological shadow of the water.

But this crocodile probably wasn't the one that had ambushed him back then.

This one was nearly 1.7 meters long, its whole body a brownish color. It looked somewhat like the Caiman he knew.

The one that had ambushed him earlier, on the other hand, had looked like a Chinese Alligator but been two meters long.

Then again, this world was so vast. How could he have traveled so far and still run into the same crocodile? That would've been ridiculous.

At that moment, the crocodile was clamped onto a small monkey with long, slender limbs and gray-brown fur. The fur on its head formed a crest. It was trying to drag the monkey completely underwater.

The tremendous disturbance Bai Chuan had sensed earlier had been caused by the gray leaf monkey struggling wildly in the crocodile's jaws.

It was strange. Didn't gray leaf monkeys live in trees? How had a crocodile from the water managed to ambush one?

Bai Chuan wondered, puzzled. Only after surveying the surroundings did he spot a branch hanging down close to the water not far away, and then he understood.

He watched the crocodile in the distance for a while. By now, the gray leaf monkey had drowned, and the crocodile was preparing to drag it back onto shore to eat.

Should he make a move?

At that moment, Bai Chuan felt both apprehensive and eager to give it a try.

He feared the crocodile's strength and its terrifying jaws, yet he wanted to test whether he could kill it and obtain its ability model.

Perhaps carrying a sharp weapon had stirred his killing intent.

Now, when Bai Chuan encountered powerful animals renowned far and wide, his first thought was no longer to retreat. Instead, he wanted to test himself against them and obtain their ability models.

After thinking it over for a while, Bai Chuan looked at his own enormous body: 6.7 meters long, as thick as an adult's waist, with hard scales that gleamed like metal, a pair of Sharp Claws beneath him, and all his other abilities.

Then he looked at the crocodile, a mere 1.7 meters long, and remembered the obvious weakness of crocodiles he'd known about in his previous life.

This was absolutely worth a try!