Meeting on a Narrow Path

Xiang Kun didn't want to catch up with the Mutated Creature immediately. Instead, he wanted to use time to wear down the Mutated Creature's rationality, let it be overwhelmed by the frenzy brought on by its bloodlust, and make it unable to resist turning back to attack Xiang Kun.

Xiang Kun initially judged that those "branches" scattered everywhere could not be created at will; they would require a lot of time to prepare in advance. They might even be similar to the items that allowed him to establish "Super-Sensory Link" and "Emotional Injection," and could only be truly "activated" after the next blood-drinking.

Judging from the many actions of that Mutated Creature, it relies heavily on these "branches" and will not easily abandon this territory it has cultivated and flee unless absolutely necessary.

Moreover, knowing that a humanoid Mutated Creature like Xiang Kun exists, it probably wouldn't dare to drink blood and sleep outside so casually—even if it could temporarily shake off Xiang Kun.

Xiang Kun is now that spark, constantly igniting it, constantly provoking it until it bursts into flames.

However, if it rains, it will definitely have a significant impact on Xiang Kun's ability to track objects by smell.

If he can't consistently pinpoint the direction of the trail, he won't be able to maintain pressure on the Mutated Creature, and it might actually find an opportunity to drink blood and go into a deep sleep.

If they can't find where the Mutated Creature is sleeping, they'll have to run away from Xiang Kun —because his blood-drinking period is almost over.

But as Xiang Kun worried about how the rain would affect his scent tracking and how he would find the Mutated Creature, he suddenly sensed something and abruptly looked up.

He was standing on the connecting strip between two forests, with no branches or leaves overhead to shield him from the storm. He could see the dark, abyss-like night sky, as if a storm was brewing.

Suddenly, a ball of light streaked across the sky, making Xiang Kun's eyes widen in disbelief. What was that? A drone?

However, after quickly switching to infrared imaging mode, he was astonished to find that the glowing object flying by had a blue light at its core, and judging from its shape, it was clearly the Mutated Creature he was searching for.

Although Xiang Kun had previously witnessed the Mutated Creature rushing out of the cliff and flying from afar, he knew that it had a certain ability to fly.

However, Xiang Kun previously believed that this Mutated Creature's flight ability was quite limited, at most possessing some gliding ability and the ability to control its gliding direction. Otherwise, every time it was chased, there was no need for it to deliberately fly to a high place; it could simply take off directly from the ground, allowing it to taunt Xiang Kun from the air. And sometimes, when it needed to spy on Xiang Kun, it could simply appear at high altitude, without needing to sneak up stealthily like before, only to be discovered and then flee.

But at this moment, the Mutated Creature was indeed flying in the sky, and judging from the terrain ahead, it was unlikely that it would first run to some high place, jump down, glide, and then fly over. The only possibility was that it took off directly.

Not only did it take off, but it was also surrounded by a halo of light?

How did this suddenly become so sci-fi?

Is this thing possessed by an alien?

The situation before him prompted Xiang Kun to start brainstorming.

But where is it flying off to? Back to its lair?

The next second, Xiang Kun saw the ball of light circle around and come back, then swoop down towards him.

Xiang Kun remained calm. He nocked an arrow, raised the bow, aimed, and waited for the arrow to close the distance rapidly before releasing it.

Only after sensing that the distance was close enough that the bird wouldn't have enough time to react and dodge did Xiang Kun release the arrow.

Xiang Kun's attention was highly focused, and his dynamic vision was maximized. It could be seen that the arrow he shot was indeed heading straight for the incoming ball of light, and normally it would have hit its target.

But to his surprise, just as the arrow was about to make contact with the ball of light, it suddenly seemed to be pushed by something, deviating slightly from its original direction and grazing the edge of the ball of light as it shot into the air at an angle.

The ball of light slowed its charge towards Xiang Kun, but he sensed danger because, in infrared imaging vision mode, the ball of light became brighter than before, and the blue color in the center of the ball of light became extremely intense.

"Damn it!"

He realized what the Mutated Creature was about to do, cursed instinctively, threw down his bow, covered his head, and rolled to the side.

The ball of light swept past Xiang Kun at a height of four or five meters, spraying a large amount of highly corrosive liquid at him.

Although Xiang Kun reacted quickly, covering his head and rolling away, he was still splashed with a lot of the spray, and white smoke rose from his body and the surrounding grass.

Enduring the excruciating pain caused by the corrosive liquid, Xiang Kun immediately leaped up from the ground. Without taking off his clothes to alleviate the ongoing damage from the corrosive liquid, nor checking his wounds, he took out one of the two pebbles he always carried with him and swallowed in advance to suppress his stomach when he had to eat with others. He pushed off the ground, twisted his waist, swung his arms, and threw it with all his might at the ball of light that had not yet had time to rise in altitude.

This time, the pebble didn't veer off course as strangely as the arrow had just been shot; instead, it struck the ball of light squarely with a muffled thud, accompanied by a piercing, sharp scream.

The halo around the Mutated Creature vanished instantly, and its body plummeted to the ground like a quail struck by a slingshot.

Xiang Kun gritted his teeth and quickly tore off his clothes, which were still covered in corrosive liquid. Ignoring the scalp on the back of his head, arms, hands, and other parts of his body that were still sizzling from the corrosive liquid, he ran bare-chested towards the place where the Mutated Creature had fallen.

Now it truly is a case of the brave surviving when paths cross.

With the infrared thermal imaging visual mode, Xiang Kun easily located the Mutated Creature. It was also badly injured, with a large hole in its body and various body tissues spilling out onto the ground. It was screaming in agony, but it could still move, and quite quickly at that.

After closing the distance and switching to night vision mode, Xiang Kun could finally see the appearance of the Mutated Creature clearly—it really was a spider the size of a washbasin!

Compared to ordinary spiders, it is not only much larger in size, but also quite different in appearance. Its mouthparts are much larger in proportion to its body, making it look extremely ferocious. Its body is covered with green roots of various thicknesses, as if some kind of plant is "growing" directly on its body. There are also two long green tendrils next to its mouthparts that are longer than its body, like the antennae of an insect.

The mutated spider clearly didn't want to engage in hand- Xiang Kun, and disregarded its injuries, desperately trying to escape.

But instead of taking off, it darted into the forest, shot out long spider silk, and used tree branches to fling itself out.

However, perhaps due to its injuries, its speed had decreased significantly, and it was being closely followed by Xiang Kun, unable to shake him off at all, and there was even a tendency for Xiang Kun to close the distance.

Suddenly, a bolt of lightning struck from afar, and the mutated spider's body landed on the ground and stopped abruptly. Its body tilted slightly back, and it once again emitted the same white light that it had when it was flying in the air, only much weaker.

Taking advantage of his sprinting momentum, Xiang Kun used all his strength to throw the last pebble he had been holding, the one with which he had established a "Super-Sensory Link," at the mutated spider.

The pebble arrived in an instant and hit its target precisely.

If hit by a bullet, a piece of body tissue exploded from the mutated spider's body, and the pebble embedded itself directly into its body, extinguishing the white light that had just been emitted from its body.

At the same time, a thunderous roar came from afar, almost perfectly synchronized with the pebble hitting the spider, as if the thunder was providing a soundtrack for the pebble.

However, Xiang Kun didn't have time to fantasize about his "Thor's Strike" and continued charging forward without stopping.

He knew that for this Mutated Creature, no matter how badly it was injured, as long as it could escape, it would have a chance to make a comeback, and those injuries would heal in no time.

Even though the mutated spider's body had been smashed by his two pebbles, he still dared not let his guard down.

As expected, upon seeing him approach, the spider, which had been struggling on the ground, suddenly sprang to its feet and sprayed out a corrosive liquid using a ring of ejection organs on its tattered body.

However, for Xiang Kun has an infrared thermal imaging vision mode, its similar behavior and the changes in its body during preparation are too obvious to achieve any surprise effect.

Moreover, unlike the overwhelming attack that just swooped down from the sky, there wasn't enough time to completely dodge it.

Given preparation and prior knowledge, and with Xiang Kun's reaction speed, the corrosive venom wouldn't have been able to touch him at all.

Moreover, the mutated spider's venom is now significantly insufficient, and its spray distance is only a little over one meter.

The mutated spider seemed to know that this wouldn't hurt Xiang Kun. After spraying him, it landed and continued to flee with its shattered body, still studded with pebbles.

The mutated spider had not only exhausted its venom but also its silk. It tried to go to narrow and difficult places, but Xiang Kun always anticipated its movements and blocked its way.

Finally, just as the rain began to fall in a light drizzle, the mutated spider was firmly held down by Xiang Kun as it once again attempted to burrow into a hole.

The rain fell, washing away the wounds that Xiang Kun had suffered from the corrosive liquid, which brought him a sense of relief.

He had been so focused on chasing the mutated spider that he had no time or energy to treat his wounds. Although he had a strong self-healing ability, the corrosive liquid was still causing damage. The wounds on his arms and the backs of his hands had already exposed bone and flesh, and the pain was constantly stimulating his nerves.

The rainwater quickly relieved the continuous damage from the corrosive liquid, making him feel much better.

The mutated spider, which was being held down, suddenly spat out a thin, long object with incredible speed, aiming straight for his eye.

Xiang Kun dodged with ease. Due to his superior visual perception, coupled with his extremely fast reaction speed and powerful strength, he was almost completely overwhelmed in close combat with the spider.

Xiang Kun casually grabbed the slender object that had been shot out of the spider's mouthparts, preventing it from retracting.

Upon seeing the organ in his hand, covered in hard armor, with a tip like a flathead screwdriver and surrounded by many small holes, Xiang Kun knew that the wild boar and the leopard earlier had both been pierced by this thing, and that the wild boar's blood had probably been sucked away by it.

What is that? A tongue? Or a mouthpart that evolved specifically for sucking blood? It looks a bit like an alien.

The spider, whose long mouthparts he had grabbed, struggled wildly and let out a piercing scream. Xiang Kun, already driven mad by the corrosive venom, used his right hand to forcefully pull the long mouthparts out of the spider's mouth.

Then Xiang Kun was astonished to find that the mutated spider he had been suppressing suddenly shrank in size, then slowly stopped moving, as if it had simply died?

Thanks to book friends Beasts Travel Thousand Miles, Tokyo, Hot or Not, Ha Wife is Hungry, Book Friends 20170707111805862, Black Cat on a Rainy Night, Thousand Days 1, Book Friends 20191013180037972, Ade Waste Cat for the reward.