Chapter 130: Returning Home

Hu Huayao and Yang Shuo had survived in the apocalypse for quite some time. They had also encountered their share of mutated creatures, and had developed a certain degree of tolerance.

Yet now, both wore expressions of terror. In their field of vision stood a monster unlike anything they had ever seen before.

It was roughly two meters tall. Its skull formed a long, narrow arc, and its mouth hung perpetually half open. Saliva clung between its razor-sharp teeth, revealing layer upon layer of vicious inner fangs.

Its build was somewhat humanoid, but where flesh should have been, tightly interlocked plates of sturdy bone covered its body. It also possessed a tail formed from countless connected bone plates, one that stretched far beyond the length of its body.

At the sight of the creature, Yang Shuo and Hu Huayao felt their scalps prickle. They drew deep breaths, trying to keep themselves from trembling.

The monster seemed to be searching for something in the street. Its cheek twitched faintly, as though it were catching a scent. Then, in the very next instant, it sensed something. Its crimson gaze snapped toward the faces of the people spying on it.

“Hiss!”

Its mouth quivered violently as it emitted a strange, shrill hiss. A stream of white vapor burst from its maw, and great drops of saliva pattered onto the ground. The stone bricks beneath them, originally hard and durable, turned black at once and even sank several inches.

Its corrosive power was astonishing. Not even stone could withstand it.

The sight of the monster left them frozen. They felt as though they had wandered into a desolate, haunted forest and been targeted by some unknown beast—one that might bite their heads off and swallow them whole at any moment.

Compared with this creature, zombies were nothing more than babbling infants. They posed no threat whatsoever.

The monster lowered itself close to the ground. Its posture resembled that of an athlete preparing to spring. Clearly, it intended to attack the life-forms it had just discovered.

Even the usually composed Hu Huayao felt his scalp go numb as an intense sense of danger rose within him.

“Bullets…”

He clenched his teeth and forced himself free of his terror. Against a monster like this, ordinary weapons were useless. Only the two bullets lying on the table offered even the slightest chance of injuring it.

A firearm.

That was the last stubborn hope on their path to survival.

Yang Shuo nodded and was about to load the bullets when a familiar figure appeared in the distance.

The man carried a backpack and held a katana marked with red streaks. Unlike Yang Shuo and the others, who acted timid and obsequious as they struggled to survive the apocalypse, he looked more like a tourist admiring the ruined buildings along the road.

What was lamentable was that only a few months ago, this very district had been bustling with crowds and noise.

“Brother Li…”

Yang Shuo murmured the words. Then he realized that Fan Li might not have noticed the monster and was about to warn him when he saw Fan Li’s lips move.

The monster abandoned its attack and crouched down on the ground.

Fan Li walked over. Even while crouching, the alien was nearly as tall as he was. Looking at the obedient giant, Fan Li patted it on the shoulder in satisfaction.

Yang Shuo and the others stood upstairs, drenched in cold sweat. A strange thought surfaced in their minds.

Fan Li’s gesture looked almost as though he were patting a dog.

The vicious monster, whose very appearance was enough to make one tremble, had its shoulder patted—and promptly stuck out its tongue as if begging for affection.

Yet that tongue resembled a small snake, and tiny teeth protruded from its tip. It looked almost like a separate living creature.

The group shuddered before finally coming to their senses. They hurried downstairs and opened the door for Fan Li.

At the sight of the building, Fan Li’s spirits eased somewhat. Everything in this county town had changed, but this place alone still gave him a measure of comfort.

“Brother Li…”

Yang Shuo had been the first among them to follow Fan Li. He wanted to go forward and greet him, but he noticed the monster beside Fan Li watching him with ill intent.

“Hiss…”

As someone approached Fan Li, the alien let out a low growl. Even from a distance, Yang Shuo’s legs began to shake. The pressure radiating from the creature was almost unimaginable.

“These people are my companions. You cannot touch them. All right, go hunt on your own for now.”

Fan Li patted the alien on the chest once more.

At the mention of hunting, the alien gave several muffled grunts. It seemed reluctant to leave without killing Yang Shuo and the others, but it did not insist. Turning around, it sped away into the distance.

Compared with Ellie and the Butcher, the alien possessed a far simpler mind. From the moment it was summoned, Fan Li had begun feeding it. In a single day, its favorability had risen by twenty points, bringing their relationship to seventy.

The alien was powerful enough, but what left Fan Li with the deepest psychological scars was its incubation and birth. The entire process had been nightmarish, and it took him a long time to grow accustomed to its existence.

Believing that truth came from practice, Fan Li found a suitable zombie specimen and removed the alien egg.

Upon sensing a living organism, the egg slowly opened like a flower. Immediately afterward, a tailed, spider-like reptile crawled out from within. It seemed to possess no bones at all, and the moment it found its prey, it burrowed into the zombie’s mouth.

Before long, the zombie began making pained movements. Then an alien burst from its body and appeared before Fan Li.

From incubation to successful birth, the alien had taken less than a minute.

This had been one of Fan Li’s small experiments. Compared with the phantom that had appeared when it was summoned, this alien had darker coloration and a slightly hunched waist. After emerging from the zombie, it gained the ability to walk upright, and its overall form changed as well.

It was a monster capable of changing its appearance by parasitizing different organisms.

“Brother Li…”

Only after watching the alien disappear into the distance did Yang Shuo dare approach. He noticed that the backpack, which had been somewhat limp when Fan Li left, was now bulging with contents. He immediately reached for it, intending to carry it himself.

“No need. I’ll take it.”

To an ordinary person, the backpack was no less dangerous than radioactive material. For one thing, if an ordinary person touched the Obsession Textbook inside, it would immediately unleash an enhanced mental shock. At best, Yang Shuo would foam lightly at the mouth; at worst, he would suffer brain death and become a completely helpless invalid.

“What happened while I was gone?”

Fan Li had noticed the damaged entrance door and the bandages wrapped around Hu Huayao’s hand. His voice turned cold.

This was his territory, and Hu Huayao was one of his men. Someone had smashed his door and injured one of his people.

That was a direct insult to Fan Li.

He was determined to find out which blind fool had dared to bully his people.