Earthworm

The Wilderness.

Inside a small cave somewhere.

Hi Dog hung his head, his face bruised and swollen.

Looking guilty, Little White Tiger offered him the rations in his hand.

Hi Dog slapped his hand away and cursed irritably, "I just don't get it. How the hell did you drive into a tree on a straight road? Were you trying to take off?"

"Fuck, eat it or don't. The car veered off while I was lighting a smoke. You fucking flew out because you didn't buckle up, and you're blaming me?"

Not long after they escaped, Little White Tiger had driven straight into a tree, wrecking the car on the spot.

His face bloody, Hi Dog cursed for ages before losing interest and going outside to piss, holding up his pants.

Bang!

Gunshots carried a long way in the Wilderness.

The sound instantly put both of them on alert.

Outside the city, even a moment of carelessness could cost you your life.

"What's going on?"

Little White Tiger ran out of the cave. Hi Dog had his ass sticking out as he furtively watched someone in the Wilderness.

"Out at night? Isn't he afraid the Blood Moon will transform him?"

Outside the city, nobody went out after dark.

Anyone exposed to the Blood Moon could become one of the Transformed. The city had a dome built to shield it from the Blood Moon, but there was nothing like that out here.

"That guy looks really familiar."

Hi Dog picked his nose. "Doesn't he look like that Driver?"

The Driver was sprinting with a gun in hand, turning to fire every so often.

A few dozen meters behind him, a Fearsome Humanoid Behemoth over two meters tall, with only half a head left, was hunting him down.

"One of the Transformed?" Hi Dog excitedly pointed at the behemoth.

The Transformed were people who had mutated after being infected by the Blood Moon. Bloodthirsty and impervious to blades and bullets, they were utterly terrifying.

As the Transformed closed in, Earthworm raised his gun and fired a burst.

Countless sprays of blood erupted across the Transformed's body, but none of the hits were fatal. They only enraged it.

"Fuck!"

Out of bullets, Earthworm drew the dagger at his waist, ready to make his last stand.

Facing a Transformed a head taller than himself, Earthworm chose to fight head-on rather than flee.

The kid certainly had guts. Most people would have pissed themselves in his shoes.

"CNM, I accidentally took a shit on your head, and you've chased me all fucking night! Just you wait! Once I get back to town, I'll round up some guys and fuck you up!"

Earthworm cursed between ragged breaths.

In truth, he was filled with despair. Ordinary people had no way to fight back against the Transformed.

Not even a one-star Transformed.

Stars marked the ranks of the Transformed, starting at one star and going all the way up to Nine-Star.

They corresponded to the Awakened's First Awakening through Nine Awakenings.

Roar!

The Transformed couldn't understand Earthworm. It leaped up and lunged at him.

Earthworm rolled aside and stabbed his dagger into its waist.

Clang!

The force was too great, and the dagger snapped in two.

With his last weapon ruined and no strength left to run, Earthworm could only stare at the Transformed in despair.

"Fuck, what a way to go down. If anyone saves my ass, I'll call him Dad."

Earthworm lay sprawled on the ground, limbs spread wide, and resigned himself to his fate.

The Transformed wasn't about to give up such a delicious meal. It pounced on Earthworm and opened its bloody maw.

Thick, disgusting saliva dripped onto Earthworm's head, and he shut his eyes in despair.

A long time passed, yet the jaws he had imagined never clamped down.

Oblivious as ever, Earthworm opened his eyes. A teenage boy had the Transformed's head locked in his arms.

"Stop fucking staring! Do you want to die? Move!"

Hi Dog dragged Earthworm out from beneath the Transformed while Little White Tiger shouted, "Get going!"

"That's a Trans-"

Still worried, Earthworm tried to warn him, only to see Little White Tiger lift the Transformed with one hand.

"Motherfucker, an Awakened?"

Earthworm's eyes went wide. "I spent all day chasing an Awakened? I'm fucking brave."

Hi Dog grabbed Earthworm by the collar and dragged him behind a boulder. Only then did he recover from his shock.

"Wait, if you're fucking Awakened, why did you run?"

Since when had the Awakened ever feared ordinary people?

Little White Tiger had actually been scared off by their group of ordinary people. It was unbelievable.

"My boss is planning to become a monk soon. He doesn't kill."

Hi Dog kept his eyes fixed on Little White Tiger and brushed him off distractedly.

Little White Tiger had only just awakened, after all. This was his first fight against a Transformed, and Hi Dog was worried about him.

Roar!

Silver-Patterned Tiger fur grew along Little White Tiger's arms. His nails became razor-sharp, and his strength was immense.

Little White Tiger completely outclassed the Transformed in physical toughness, and the two grappled on pure instinct.

Yet despite his terrifying physical strength, Little White Tiger had a limited arsenal. All he could do was pound the Transformed with his fists, leaving him unable to finish it off quickly.

Unable to watch any longer, Little Silver-Patterned Tiger reminded him, "You have Silver-Patterned Tiger genes in your body. You've got the world's strongest gifts for offense and defense, but you don't know how to use them."

"I exist as your ability. You can summon me or merge with me briefly. Give it a try."

"I don't like you, but if you die, I die too. Please try to be a little less useless."

Little Silver-Patterned Tiger kept bombarding Little White Tiger with nagging remarks.

Fed up, Little White Tiger shouted, "Get out here!"

Roar!

Little White Tiger had both hands clamped around the Transformed's neck when silver light shone from his chest.

Silver-Patterned Tiger's translucent body emerged from Little White Tiger's chest. One casual swipe split the Transformed in two.

"You're completely useless. I think Mom picked the wrong host for me."

Little Silver-Patterned Tiger didn't forget to insult him before leaving.

This time, Little White Tiger didn't argue. He had fought the Transformed for ages without killing it, while Silver-Patterned Tiger had finished it with a single casual swipe.

Little White Tiger silently resolved to make time to learn some Awakened combat techniques from the tiger.

Earthworm and Hi Dog came out from behind the boulder and excitedly gathered around him.

"That was fucking awesome, Tiezi!"

Earthworm familiarly patted Little White Tiger's chest, having completely forgotten that he had been trying to hunt them down just moments earlier.

"Let's hear you call me Dad."

Little White Tiger teased him.

"Fuck off. If I'd known it was you, I wouldn't even have let you save me."

Earthworm haughtily picked up his gun and slung it over his back. "You stole my car, but you saved my life too. We're even now."

"Sure."

Little White Tiger had a good impression of Earthworm. Maybe it was because they were the same age. Besides, the kid had dared to come after Little White Tiger alone with a gun and hadn't backed down against a Transformed. He was a real man.

After Hi Dog and Little White Tiger returned to the cave, Earthworm shamelessly followed them inside.

"Didn't you say we were even? Why are you following us?"

Hi Dog mocked him.

"Fuck, if I run into another Transformed out there and get killed, won't you have saved me for nothing?"

Earthworm sat down in front of them, spouting his flimsy logic, then snatched Hi Dog's cigarette and started smoking it.

Perhaps sensing the awkward atmosphere, Earthworm explained, "I'm not afraid of dying, all right? But you saved me, and I owe you for that. How about this? I overheard you talking in the car. You came out of the city to find Lei Zi, right? I know a badass bunch."

"Oh?"

Little White Tiger raised his brows, dismissing Earthworm's claim.

How could a petty punk who lived off extortion have connections to Lei Zi?

Seeing that neither believed him, Earthworm thumped his chest and promised, "Out here, my fucking reputation is built on honesty. You know Xiao Fei from Black Mud Mountain? He's my cousin. Just a couple of days ago, he robbed eight truckloads of supplies from the Ice Prefecture Police Bureau."

Black Mud Mountain was the largest mountain outside Ice Prefecture City, situated right along the main route out of the city.

The place could be called the ancestral home of Ice Prefecture's highway robbery trade. At its peak, Ice Prefecture City had sent five thousand people out to crack down on the highwaymen, only for over a hundred bandit gangs on Black Mud Mountain to rob them down to their underwear and send them scurrying back to the city.

Any gang that could establish itself on Black Mud Mountain was ruthless.

"Highwaymen aren't Lei Zi. Can they take this kind of job?"

Hi Dog was skeptical of Earthworm's claim.

Earthworm rolled his eyes at them. "Outside the city, as long as you can pay, highwaymen can be hired as Lei Zi too. It's all killing anyway. What difference does it make who does it?"