What a Huge Loss

The Giant-Toothed Crocodile perched on the edge of the mudflat, most of its body submerged in the water, only its scaly back and massive head visible. It didn't attack immediately, but stared intently at Lu Heng on the shore, drool dripping from its mouth, its cold, vertical pupils reflecting the piles of Giant Otter carcasses on the ground.

Lu Heng stood on the mudflat, holding his bone knife, staring at the giant beast that refused to leave the water, and a strange sense of irritation welled up in his heart.

These wild beasts in the water are truly ungrateful.

If only we could be like some of the creatures on land, possessing a spirit of contract and cooperation. Everyone would rely on their own abilities, guard their own territory, and keep to themselves. But instead, they are all preoccupied with stealing others' spoils. The prey you painstakingly kill comes smelling right away, brazenly barging in because it has the upper hand in the water.

It's one thing to be unable to beat them, but even though I have the strength to crush them, these guys keep causing me trouble.

Lu Heng didn't want to continue this pointless stalemate and waste time.

He closed his eyes, channeled his Mental Energy, and transferred the power through his arm to the Rat King Bone Knife in his hand. A faint glow appeared on the surface of the blade, and a nearly transparent energy film enveloped the sharp edge, humming softly in the dim light of the river bend.

He opened his eyes, gripped the bone knife tightly, and charged directly towards the Giant-Toothed Crocodile at the water's edge.

Lu Heng was determined to dismember this troublesome Bronze Tier Giant-Toothed Crocodile alive.

The Giant-Toothed Crocodile was surprised that this two-legged creature would dare to go into the water. A look of astonishment flashed in its vertical pupils. Then it opened its blood-red maw and bit down hard on Lu Heng's waist and abdomen with its sharp teeth that carried a foul smell.

Lu Heng neither dodged nor evaded, but instead slid forward, brushing past the side of the Giant-Toothed Crocodile's open snout. Using the momentum of his charge, he slashed down with his bone knife, the blade landing precisely at the base of the Giant-Toothed Crocodile's right forelimb.

The bone knife, imbued with Mental Energy, is incredibly sharp.

With a muffled "crack," the bone blade sliced into the gaps in the scales, severing the bones and Giant-Toothed Crocodile's right forelimb, along with half of its forearm, was severed at the root, and blood gushed from the cut.

The Giant-Toothed Crocodile let out a deafening scream, its massive body thrashing violently in the water, its tail sweeping out waves half a person's height.

Lu Heng steadied himself and unleashed his second and third strikes in quick succession.

Left forelimb, severed.

Right hind limb, severed.

The Giant-Toothed Crocodile's screams had changed; it tried to escape into deeper water, but its limbless body could only spin in place. Lu Heng chased after it, stepping through its churning blood, gripping his knife with both hands, and with a heavy slash, severed the Giant-Toothed Crocodile's thick tail.

Its tail slammed into the water, splashing up a large spray of blood.

The Giant-Toothed Crocodile remained conscious, writhing in excruciating pain. Its massive body convulsed and struggled, emitting muffled cries. The ferocity in its vertical pupils had been replaced by fear.

Lu Heng grabbed the crocodile's remaining body and, with a burst of strength, dragged it to the dry muddy shore.

Having lost its limbs and tail, the Giant-Toothed Crocodile was no longer able to roll away; only its head could still sway from side to side, emitting a mournful cry from its throat.

Lu Heng raised his foot and kicked it hard in the body.

"I told you not to cause trouble here."

Since arriving in this world, he has always relied on the Wristband to decompose corpses with a single click, which is convenient and quick. But today, he plans to use this Bronze Tier Giant-Toothed Crocodile as an experiment to try decomposing it manually.

Lu Heng gestured for the Bone Demon to step forward.

The burly Bone Demon extended its bone claws and pressed down firmly on the writhing body of the Giant-Toothed Crocodile. Its five bone fingers embedded themselves in the mud, fixing it firmly in place and preventing it from moving around.

Lu Heng gripped the Rat King Bone Knife and began skinning the Megalodon from the upper Giant-Toothed Crocodile on its back, using a very crude method. The blade cut along the edge of the scales, and with force, he tore the entire thick, scaly skin off the flesh.

Bronze Tier creatures are incredibly resilient. The Giant-Toothed Crocodile was still alive, constantly writhing in agony. Its agonizing roars echoed across the riverbank as it struggled desperately under the Bone Demon's claws, only managing to leave streaks of blood on the muddy ground.

The blood from the skinning process flowed down the riverbank, and the pungent smell of blood continuously flowed into the river.

Lu Heng deliberately carried out the decomposition on the riverbank, allowing the stench of blood to spread into the water.

He thought to himself, "I want to see if these guys in the water are truly inexhaustible, each one so greedy."

After the skinning was completed, the Giant-Toothed Crocodile died completely from the continuous excruciating pain, and its massive body finally stopped convulsing.

Lu Heng shook the blood off his bone knife and turned to look at the Giant Otter carcass beside him. Many of the bodies had been gnawed and ravaged by the Bronze Giant-Toothed Crocodile, severely damaged and unrecognizable.

He ordered the Bone Demon to devour the damaged corpses to replenish the damage he had suffered in the previous battle with the Giant Otter.

The Bone Demon released the mangled remains of the Giant-Toothed Crocodile, walked to the pile of Giant Otter carcasses, bent down, grabbed a mutilated corpse, and opened its jaws. The Bone Demon's jaws opened to an unbelievable, exaggerated angle, swallowing the entire Giant Otter carcass whole. A faint gray light shimmered on its skeletal surface, and the shallow scratches left by the Giant Otter's claws on its ribs repaired and healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Lu Heng withdrew his gaze and began to dispose of the Giant-Toothed Crocodile's remains.

He first opened up the skull and found Energy Core the size of a longan, with a faint Bronze luster, deep in the cranial cavity; then he opened up the chest cavity and found a Flesh Core that was dark red in color and covered with fine blood vessels on its surface, in the location of the heart.

Lu Heng stared at the two cores in his palm, a sense of doubt arising in his heart.

Does this mean that every monster will contain both types of cores simply by manually disassembling it?

Thinking about it that way, he instantly felt like he'd gotten the short end of the stick.

In the past, I killed a large number of monsters and simply handed them over to the Wristband for dismantling, probably missing out on countless treasures like these.

Lu Heng immediately selected a well-preserved Giant Otter carcass, abandoning the Wristband for dissection, and personally began dissecting it with a bone scalpel. He carefully sliced open the Giant Otter's body layer by layer, and sure enough, he found a smaller Energy Core inside the skull and a similarly smaller Flesh Core in the heart.

Having witnessed the result firsthand, Lu Heng was filled with remorse.

It turns out that the Wristband's one-click decomposition function directly converts corpses into resources, with many valuable cores being consumed and destroyed during the process. In the past, using the Wristband for decomposition was far too wasteful.

Lu Heng carefully collected and stored all the Energy Core and Flesh Core of the Giant-Toothed Crocodile and the Giant Otter.

The strong smell of blood spread far and wide along the river. Below the surface, many small fish could be seen swimming in groups downstream, attracted by the smell of blood, forming a dark mass.

Lu Heng knew that the small fish were just an appetizer, and there was no guarantee that even larger underwater creatures wouldn't follow the scent.

He didn't leave immediately; instead, he stopped on the riverbank, took precautions, and planned to stay there.

He refused to believe that all the creatures in the water were asking for trouble.

Lu Heng on the mudflat, his eyes fixed on the undercurrents of the river, waiting for the visitor from underwater.