Squealing. Hysterical pig squealing!
An Xi had attacked the Eerie Pig several times with her White Jade Spear, but those attacks had barely tickled it.
They could wound it, but killing it would take hundreds of strikes at the very least.
Now, however, things were different.
After that inexplicable fear had gripped it, a single strike had been enough to remind the Eerie Pig of its past.
It was as though it were no Anomalies at all, but an ordinary domestic pig.
"Oink!! Squeee!! Oink, squeee!!"
Its piercing squeals made quite a few survivors hiding in the back poke their heads out to see what was happening.
It sounded far too much like a pig being slaughtered for the New Year.
"Stop squealing. Pain is normal!"
Chu Sheng pulled out the Butcher Knife and, without another word, stabbed into the Eerie Pig's wound again.
Before the Butcher Knife, the Eerie Pig was nothing more than a lamb awaiting slaughter, utterly incapable of fighting back.
Every time the Butcher Knife struck, the Eerie Pig thrashed violently. Its struggles were stronger and wilder than before, even making Zhu Qing sway as he held it down.
Seeing how much damage Chu Sheng's attacks inflicted, Zhu Qing's eyes lit up. His strength had been flagging, but a fresh surge of energy came from somewhere, letting him pin the wildly struggling Eerie Pig firmly beneath him.
Clenching his back teeth, he forced a few words out through them.
"Hurry!! I! Can't! Hold! It! Down! Much! Longer!"
At that, Chu Sheng moved the Butcher Knife even faster.
He could see An Xi's White Jade Spear stabbing away furiously, striking at least two or three times a second. Each hit did relatively little damage, but still drew out wisps of black mist.
Chu Sheng had long since figured out what that black mist was. It was the very foundation of an Anomalies's existence, representing its health.
Once the black mist ran out, an Anomalies would die even if it had no wounds.
The Eerie Pig now seemed to have two taps constantly draining it, one large and one small, though the smaller one ran more frequently.
"Faster! Faster! Even faster!" Chu Sheng kept muttering, his hands moving faster and faster.
As an enhanced Sequence Transcendent, Zhu Qing could hear him while holding the Eerie Pig down. However quietly Chu Sheng spoke, they were close enough for him to catch every word.
The thought that Chu Sheng kept speeding up for his sake moved him.
What a good man!
And I actually misjudged him, thinking he was the sort of lunatic who would do anything to survive.
I never imagined he'd work this hard for me. Damn me for getting him so wrong!
He had no idea Chu Sheng needed to earn Survival Points from the Anomalies. He simply assumed it was all for his sake.
Another burst of strength surged through him, allowing him to pin the Eerie Pig down completely as its excessive loss of black mist pushed it closer and closer to a frenzy.
Anomalies were different from normal living creatures. They might look identical or similar to ordinary animals, but exhaustion simply did not exist for them.
As long as they remained alive, their strength and speed never diminished. In fact, injuries and the loss of black mist would gradually drive them berserk.
"You're really hard to kill!" Chu Sheng gritted his teeth as he stared at the Eerie Pig, its body already riddled with holes.
His earlier kill of the Eerie Cat had been pure luck, and that Eerie Cat had been much weaker than the Eerie Pig before him.
Only now did Chu Sheng truly understand just how difficult a real Anomalies was to deal with!
And this was with Zhu Qing, a Giant, holding it down!
"Squeee, oink, oink!! Oink, oink!!"
The Eerie Pig continued to struggle as Chu Sheng frantically punched holes in its body with the Butcher Knife.
Difficult as it was to handle, with Zhu Qing restraining it and a Sacrificial Item like the Butcher Knife perfectly countering it, the Eerie Pig vanished after just five minutes.
Like the Eerie Cat before it, it dissolved into black mist and dispersed.
The difference was that the Eerie Pig left behind four trotters and a three-meter-long spine.
When the Eerie Cat had vanished, it had left nothing behind.
No, apart from the eyeball Chu Sheng had gouged out and the four Cat-Claw Blades, it had left nothing behind.
Only after the Eerie Pig dispersed did Zhu Qing breathe a sigh of relief and return to his normal form. Bare-chested and wearing knee-length shorts, he lay on the ground, gasping for breath.
An Xi let out a relieved breath as well. It had not been easy for her either, but she was not exhausted enough to collapse on the ground like Zhu Qing.
Of the three, Chu Sheng had had the easiest time.
The Butcher Knife gave off an aura that terrified pig-type Anomalies, so the Eerie Pig had never targeted Chu Sheng throughout the fight. Instead, it had kept trying to break free of Zhu Qing's grip or ram An Xi as she attacked from the other side.
Only once the Eerie Pig vanished did Captain Hui and Old Man Li come over.
"Thanks for your hard work," Captain Hui said, looking down at the five pieces of supernatural material on the ground with a grave expression.
"Things aren't looking good."
"My guess was right. While our Sequences are advancing, the Anomalies are evolving too."
As he spoke, he picked up a trotter, then tossed it back onto the ground. He closed his eyes and worked through a calculation on his fingers before continuing, "This Eerie Pig had already reached Sequence 8 strength."
Everyone fell silent upon hearing that the Eerie Pig had possessed Sequence 8 strength.
Zhu Qing got up from the ground, swept back the red hair the fierce battle had left disheveled, and stretched his body. Letting out a heavy breath, he said, "No wonder that damn thing was so hard to hold down."
"I could take the Anomalies we ran into before head-on. This time, even after my Sequence advanced, I still nearly failed to restrain it. If it hadn't been for Chu Sheng, we would've been in trouble."
An Xi nodded. "That Eerie Pig could take far too much punishment."
Chu Sheng said nothing. His attention was entirely on the pieces of supernatural material the Eerie Pig had left behind.
"First the Ironclad Zombie, and now this Eerie Pig. These Anomalies are getting more and more dangerous. They could come out during the day before, but they rarely did. I thought that Ironclad Zombie last time was an exception, since it was an Armored Zombie, after all," Old Man Li remarked with a sigh.
Seeing their expressions, Captain Hui thought for a moment before reassuring them. "Whatever the case, Qing has reached Sequence 8, and we've gained a utility-type Sequence Transcendent like Chu Sheng. The Anomalies may be evolving, but our chances of surviving have still improved."
"Let's put that aside for now and divide up the supplies."
Captain Hui glanced at the five pieces of supernatural material on the ground. After a moment's thought, he said, "For this crisis, I gave the warning, Qing held the enemy down, Chu Sheng was the main attacker, and An Xi provided support. As for you..."
His gaze shifted to Old Man Li, but before he could finish, Old Man Li shook his head. "Split them among the four of you. I didn't contribute this time. I didn't even give you any Healing Fruit."
The Healing Fruit were the Little Supernatural Cherry Tomatoes he had given Chu Sheng and the others before.
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