The Cause

Spicy strips!

A strange word surfaced in Zhu Jiusi's mind.

The python saw Zhu Jiusi turn around. It flicked out its tongue and lowered its head. Its upper body had already reached the ground, while its lower body remained coiled around a branch three meters up.

A giant spicy strip!

Zhu Jiusi wasn't afraid of tigers, hungry wolves, zombies, or strange beasts, but soft, wriggling spicy strips like this were his true nemesis.

Impact attacks had little effect on pythons. Those things were far too good at dissipating force.

The Beast Nest behind him folded away and turned into a backpack, which he slung over his back. Zhu Jiusi slowly retreated, putting distance between himself and the python.

Snakes made up a huge proportion of the monsters in Journey Survival. In his previous life, he hadn't given them much thought. Whether by blade, sword, or spell, they were easy enough to take down.

This was his first time facing one with nothing but his own body, and he had almost no experience with that.

But Journey Survival had only just begun, and the monsters were relatively weak. If he didn't take this chance to gain experience, he would surely pay dearly later on.

Unless he had no other choice, Zhu Jiusi didn't want to hide in his nest and wait out the night.

Once he had retreated far enough, Zhu Jiusi lowered his eyes, dug in his hooves, and suddenly charged. The snake, however, went limp like a ribbon, and its tail whipped down like a lash.

"Smack!"

A rotten log was smashed to pieces, but the Wild Boar was nowhere to be seen.

Zhu Jiusi's charge had been a feint. He had darted into the open ground nearby.

Given the python's size, moving the fight into open ground wouldn't affect it much. But Zhu Jiusi needed room to build up speed and unleash his full strength.

The python flicked out its tongue, swung its tail, and slithered after Zhu Jiusi.

The moment it reached him, it suddenly accelerated, its body blurring as it pounced on him and coiled around him.

Beasts never hesitated when hunting!

The instant the python landed on him, it coiled tight. The River Mud Armor covering his body crackled and popped.

At the very moment the python wrapped around him, Zhu Jiusi activated Assault. He surged forward and slammed the python into a boulder nearby.

Boom!

The force coiled around him slackened, but the next moment, the coils tightened even more.

The python reared its head and lunged down to bite him.

Up close, he could see row upon row of teeth inside its mouth.

It wasn't venomous, but getting bitten would still hurt like hell.

"Open!"

Zhu Jiusi grunted. His nest suddenly opened around him, forcing the python apart like a car jack. Its thick body was stretched into a thin strip.

Assault!

The python froze for a moment, not knowing what had happened. Zhu Jiusi had already activated his skill again. Using the tiny gap created by the nest forcing the coils apart, he charged forward and drove his horn into the python's belly, then lifted.

Assault came with an explosive effect. The snake's body, stretched to its limit, couldn't take it.

"Snap!"

A sharp crack rang out. It was like an elastic band snapping clean in two, and blood sprayed down.

The two severed halves slid limply off the Beast Nest and writhed on the ground.

The thing was incredibly tough. Even now, it still tried to turn around and bite Zhu Jiusi.

Zhu Jiusi took a step back and withdrew into his nest, quietly waiting for it to die.

There was a small horn about to sprout from the snake's brow. It clearly wasn't an ordinary beast, and killing it should yield materials.

While Zhu Jiusi waited, a private message came through on his Scroll.

It was Fake Chef.

Heals Stomach Not Body: "Boss, the wolf-pelt mattress is ready. Want me to send it over?"

"Sure!" Zhu Jiusi replied.

He suddenly wasn't expecting much. This guy's cooking had already disappointed him once.

A trade arrived moments later, and a wolf-pelt mattress dropped into the nest. It was a little too big, but the nest would expand eventually.

It wasn't all that soft to lie on, and the wolf fur was prickly. But as a Wild Boar, he didn't mind. In Journey Survival, it was the height of luxury.

The wolf pelt had been treated, with as much of the odor as possible removed. But to a Wild Boar, the stench of wolf still hit hard.

Yet lying on it didn't feel strange at all. In fact, falling asleep on the pelt of his natural enemy felt wonderful!

He even had the strange sense that he could look down on the whole world.

If he got the chance to kill a couple of tigers and skin them to line his nest, that would be the true pinnacle of having his natural enemies beneath him.

As he thought this, the python outside finally died for good. Just as Zhu Jiusi had suspected, it was no ordinary beast.

Beasts that had embarked on the path of strange creatures and attacked at night didn't leave behind corpses when killed. Instead, they dropped the unusual things that made them unique.

A snake gall and a small, delicate horn.

[Monster discovered. You may name it.] The Scroll appeared at just the right moment.

[Horned Snake] Zhu Jiusi named it without much thought.

A piece of grilled snake roll suddenly appeared in front of Zhu Jiusi's nest.

Naming a monster came with a small reward.

Not bad at all. Rewards like this were only available at the very start of Journey Survival. As time went on, there would be fewer and fewer unnamed monsters.

Zhu Jiusi carried the snake roll aside and crunched into it like a spicy strip.

It tasted far better than the cook's grilled meat.

As he ate, Zhu Jiusi's eyes fell on the snake gall beside him.

He had learned quite a lot during three years of Journey Survival. Snake gall usually had to be processed, but with the pair of hooves he had now, he probably couldn't manage it.

Besides, the rules of Journey Survival were clear. Human vehicles could be fitted with equipment for specific functions.

Workbenches, medicine-making stations, furnaces for crafting, and so on.

Yao-class creatures usually fitted their nests with things that directly enhanced themselves—feeding troughs, spirit-nurturing platforms, and the like.

Until he took human form, he probably wouldn't get the chance to operate any of them himself.

By then, a snake gall like this wouldn't mean a thing anyway.

With that thought, Zhu Jiusi bit straight into the snake gall and swallowed it whole.

The thing was too bitter to chew.

As for the small horn, he had no idea what he could do with it.

Soak it in liquor?

Zhu Jiusi posted a message in the chat asking to buy liquor.

The mood in the chat had improved a lot. No one was arguing anymore.

A few blood-soaked corpses had brought everyone back to their senses.

The Scroll flashed, and Sword Seven sent the Moon Essence Dew back. She must have just finished fighting.

She had also included a message: "Fine. Don't come to me for spit again."

The last time, he had asked her for spit, and it had clearly left a deep impression.

Back in his nest, Zhu Jiusi tipped his head back and swallowed all the Moon Essence Dew. The cool sensation returned, along with those little hands massaging his mind.

The feeling was addictive. Zhu Jiusi thought he might never be able to give up Moon Essence Dew.

His eyelids grew heavier and heavier, and he gradually drifted off.

But this time, he didn't fall completely asleep. The days of living from one moment to the next in Journey Survival had truly begun.

The two districts had merged, and he had just killed six people from the other side. Someone might take the chance to attack him.

Half-asleep, Zhu Jiusi remained on guard.

There were advantages to being a yao, too.

In his previous life, he had been a human cultivator. During the early days, this half-asleep state had nearly broken him.

For a Wild Boar, though, this was normal. He could even rest quite well like this; he just needed more sleep.

Zhu Jiusi breathed evenly.

On another path to survival, an ox cart stood in the night. A young man of about twenty-two or twenty-three sat and lay restlessly inside it.

The name above his head shone brightly in the dark: No Bottle.

He had already given the list to Master of Cloud Stack Cave, and a long time had passed. Why hadn't that pig made a move?

Had he been injured in the earlier fight? Or had he run out of Dao Discussion Cards?

If he was short on supplies, he could just say so! What was with sitting there motionless? A turtle?

Or had that pig caught on to his clever little trick of admitting he had an ulterior motive?

All kinds of thoughts jostled around in his mind. In the end, he couldn't lie still any longer. He got down and paced around the ox cart again and again.

"No, no! I have to get Master of Cloud Stack Cave and those people in District 33 fighting each other."

No Bottle muttered to himself.

The three Enforcers had given him a task. No matter what, he had to make Master of Cloud Stack Cave pay a steep enough price—preferably his life!