Parasites again
The last whiff of struggle in the yard completely disappeared.
The ground was littered with the corpses of wild beasts, ice shards mixed with mud and water, and the stench of blood mingled with the stench of the animals in the air. The fighting that had raged all night was finally over.
Lu Heng loosened his grip on the Bronze Hunting Blade, drops of blood clinging to its edge falling into the muddy water. He stood there for a moment, his arms and back, which had been tense for so long, slowly relaxing. After confirming that there were no more living beasts around, he walked towards the corpse of the three-headed leader, intending to Wristband to dismantle the body and recycle materials.
Just as I approached the Wolf King's corpse, a slight tingling sensation suddenly came from the back of my hand.
Several thin, almost invisible, transparent threads emerged from under the corpse, quickly wrapping around the exposed back of his hand, their needle-like tips burrowing into the pores of his skin.
Lu Heng froze.
He instinctively raised his hand to pull off the thin threads, but halfway up, he hesitated, intending to open the Wristband panel to examine the unfamiliar creature. Immediately, the image of the same Thread Parasite he had encountered at the hot spring flashed through his mind—the exact same method of invasion.
In the brief moment of his hesitation, the Geothermal Talisman within his body began to operate spontaneously.
A gentle warmth spread from my chest and abdomen. There was no glaring firelight or burning pain. The Thread Parasite that had burrowed into the superficial layers of my skin were melted away by the warmth in just a few seconds, and the itching sensation on my skin disappeared instantly.
Lu Heng let out a long breath; a thin layer of sweat had already broken out on his back. He had managed to salvage some of his luck.
He looked down at the corpse on the ground, slowly piecing together all the unusual things that had happened last night.
Jackals, wolves, and wild dogs usually fight for territory when they meet, but yesterday they huddled together peacefully, not provoking each other. After rushing into the yard, even though most of them were dead or wounded, they refused to retreat. The three-headed leader even kept scratching at the door despite his wounds, completely abandoning the instinct of wild beasts to seek advantage and avoid harm.
Lu Heng carefully scanned the pile of corpses, seeing everything clearly. These Thread Parasite disregarded the bodies of ordinary wild beasts, only infesting the three Black Iron Tier leaders. The parasites didn't directly control the entire herd; they merely amplified the leaders' ferocity and hatred. Furthermore, he had cleared many wild beasts from this forest recently, so in their minds, he was their common enemy. Old grudges combined with the ferocity intensified by the parasites fueled this relentless attack.
Thinking about this, I don't know if it's really true, but I'll just think about it this way.
However, Lu Heng secretly rejoiced. If he hadn't had the Geothermal Talisman in his body, the consequences of the parasite entering his body today would have been unpredictable.
He paused, a thought popping into his mind: should he go to the global chat channel to warn the other survivors to be aware of the parasites that might be hiding in the animal carcasses?
The thought had barely crossed his mind when he suppressed it.
He's already been under a lot of scrutiny and criticism in the channel lately, with unfounded accusations and suspicions never ceasing. If he tries to kindly remind people, most people will probably not appreciate it; instead, they'll seize on the opportunity to mock and smear him. There's no need to actively seek out trouble.
Lu Heng stopped dwelling on the matter, raised his wrist to light up the Wristband interface, aimed it at the corpse of the three leaders, and activated the Wristband's dismantling function.
Faint rays of light enveloped the corpse, and bones, fur, and flesh were disassembled and categorized, stored in the Wristband's Storage Space. When the Jackal King was disassembled, a dark red, dense Flesh Core separated from the disassembled remains and was automatically put into the backpack.
Lu Heng glanced at the inventory in his Wristband, knowing full well that the drop rate of the Flesh Core was low, and he had hit the jackpot this time.
After dealing with the three Black Iron Leaders, a large pile of ordinary beast remains remained in the courtyard. Lu Heng followed his usual method of disposal: two-thirds of the basic materials were donated through his Wristband, and the remaining third were taken out of his spatial storage and piled at the base of the Bloodthirsty Vine in the corner of the courtyard.
While arranging the materials, he noticed that the Bloodthirsty Vine had grown longer than it had a few days ago. Last night, the blood on the ground seeped into the soil, and this vine, taking advantage of the chaos and the lack of attention, quietly absorbed the blood and nutrients, silently completing a stage of growth.
The sky gradually changed color; the hail that had been falling all day slowly thinned out and finally stopped completely. The gray clouds pressed down, and fine snowflakes began to drift down slowly, melting instantly in the puddles and accumulating a thin layer of white on the corpses and the soil.
Lu Heng looked up at the snow-covered sky and couldn't help but sigh. The peaceful days had only lasted a few days before the bad weather came knocking again. The climate of this world is always unpredictable, never giving people a chance to rest.
Looking at the chaotic courtyard, the parasite threat he had just uncovered, the quietly growing Bloodthirsty Vine, and the endless snowflakes falling from the sky, a pile of miscellaneous tasks lay before him. Lu Heng felt a headache coming on. He lowered his head, raised his hand, and began to tidy up the post-war site little by little with the help of his Wristband.