He saw dozens of pythons of all sizes lying inside the house. Hearing the door open, their cold, emotionless gazes swept over and landed on Shen Yuanzhou.
Apart from at the zoo, Yan Yu’an had never seen so many snakes. He couldn’t help shifting a pleading look onto Shen Yuanzhou.
Shen Yuanzhou noticed Yan Yu’an was a little afraid, but he didn’t know why. “These are my family.”
Yan Yu’an’s vision went black…
“So he’s lost his memory…”
After greeting his family, Yan Yu’an followed Shen Yuanzhou to another large house. He’d been prepared for a room full of snakes the moment the door opened, but unexpectedly there was only one large snake coiled around a stone in the room.
The snake doctor looked Yan Yu’an over carefully several times before slowly saying: “He needs God-Slaying Grass.”
Shen Yuanzhou frowned.
“His current condition isn’t as simple as just losing his memory. He’s already an adult mutant, but he has no ability.” The snake doctor shifted into an old man with graying hair. He stroked his already-white beard and continued, “If he doesn’t use God-Slaying Grass, then there’s a very good chance he’ll die from his body bursting apart.”
Yan Yu’an: “…” I’m going to die?
Shen Yuanzhou’s expression changed at once. Of course he knew that if a mutant didn’t awaken their ability, there was a very good chance they would die.
But Yan Yu’an looked like a cub no matter how you looked at him—how could he possibly…
“Snake Doctor, are you sure you didn’t look wrong?” Shen Yuanzhou’s voice turned a degree colder. Only after seeing the snake doctor shake his head did he take Yan Yu’an’s hand. “Thank you.”
He squeezed Yan Yu’an’s cold fingers and turned to leave without hesitation. “We’re going to find God-Slaying Grass.”
And so, Yan Yu’an once again dazedly followed Shen Yuanzhou onto the road to find God-Slaying Grass.
“What are you?”
At the cliff to the east, Xie Ji looked coldly at this huge, fanged beast, a trace of impatience flashing across his sharply defined face.
He’d learned from the red bird—the best-informed creature in this forest—that the general direction of God-Slaying Grass should be to the east, so he’d come here.
But unexpectedly, an animal he’d never seen before had blocked his path.
The beast didn’t answer Xie Ji. Its scarlet eyes glared fixedly at this creature who foolishly thought it could intrude on its territory. Its fangs dripped saliva, but sensing that this animal’s strength was not to be underestimated, it didn’t dare act rashly either.
For a moment, the two fell into a standoff.
“Are we really going to look for God-Slaying Grass?” Yan Yu’an looked at Shen Yuanzhou. He’d heard what the snake doctor said, but he hadn’t taken it seriously.
Shen Yuanzhou glanced at Yan Yu’an, neither confirming nor denying.
So Yan Yu’an said no more. Maybe I’ll even run into Xie Ji, he thought secretly.
Shen Yuanzhou knew that if they went looking for God-Slaying Grass, there was a good chance they’d run into Xie Ji. Though he didn’t want Yan Yu’an to see him, he absolutely couldn’t watch Yan Yu’an die from his body bursting apart.
He walked toward the east—when they’d left, the snake doctor had told him the general direction of God-Slaying Grass.
Suddenly, a whistling wind reached his ears. Yan Yu’an squinted, looking at the faint human shapes showing through the tree shadows in the distance, and felt something was off.
“Damn it.” Shen Yuanzhou cursed. He looked at the layered, overlapping figures and knew that thing had come. “Damn ape-men.”
Ape-men? Yan Yu’an frowned. He stared fixedly at the ape-men continuously surrounding them, and was slightly startled inside.
Soon the two of them were completely surrounded by ape-men.
“We have to get out of here as fast as we can. We can’t fight them head-on.” Yan Yu’an frowned and pointed to one side. “Let’s run that way.”
Shen Yuanzhou glanced that way, then gripped Yan Yu’an’s hand tightly. “Hold on tight.”
He wasn’t unable to beat this pack of creatures—there were simply too many of them. He wanted to conserve his strength for finding God-Slaying Grass, not waste it on these lowly things.
He grabbed Yan Yu’an’s hand and ran out swiftly. Seeing that they didn’t want to fight, the ape-men let out eerie, piercing shrieks, and immediately some ape-men ran to surround the direction they were headed.
A ceaseless stream of ape-men swarmed toward them. Shen Yuanzhou bit down on one ape-man in front, injected his venom, and fiercely flung it at the other ape-men.
Yan Yu’an gripped Shen Yuanzhou’s hand tightly, a trace of impatience flashing through his eyes. He shifted his gaze to the ape-men, searching for a way to defeat them.
Suddenly, he spotted a white-faced ape-man standing in a tree, screeching ceaselessly. Yan Yu’an said: “Get him down, and these monkeys won’t be able to do anything.”
Clearly, Shen Yuanzhou had also noticed that ape-man hiding in the tree, giving orders. He glanced at Yan Yu’an with some worry, and after receiving Yan Yu’an’s reassuring look, he suddenly shifted back into his true form and climbed up that tree.
Seeing Shen Yuanzhou leave, the ape-men all grew excited. They shrieked and rushed forward to grab Yan Yu’an. Though Yan Yu’an was weak, he had, after all, survived the apocalypse for so long. He grabbed one ape-man hard and laboriously flung it out.
Shen Yuanzhou was fast. The white-faced ape-man was still directing the ape-men below to attack Yan Yu’an, never expecting that when it looked down, it would see Shen Yuanzhou’s bloody maw.
In almost an instant, the white-faced ape-man stopped breathing. Shen Yuanzhou flung it down hard. Seeing their leader gone, the ape-men all fell still at once, huffing and grunting as they looked at each other.
Shen Yuanzhou didn’t linger in the fight either. He grabbed Yan Yu’an and swiftly left this place.
“Are you okay?” They didn’t know how long they’d run before the two finally stopped. Shen Yuanzhou circled Yan Yu’an carefully, looking him over, and only after confirming there was just a scratch on his hand did he let out a slight breath of relief.
A trace of ruthlessness flashed through his eyes, and then he stuck out his tongue and gently licked Yan Yu’an’s wound.
Shen Yuanzhou was the most vengeful beastman of all.
Yan Yu’an shook his head slightly to show he was fine. They found a relatively clean spot and started a fire, and only then did Shen Yuanzhou say: “I’ll go find something to eat first. Stay here and be careful.”
Yan Yu’an nodded. Large animals were all afraid of fire, so he was relatively safe here alone.
Shen Yuanzhou nodded, glanced at Yan Yu’an’s wound, and then walked off toward the other side.
…
“Why isn’t he back yet after so long?” Yan Yu’an didn’t know how much time had passed. Seeing Shen Yuanzhou still hadn’t returned, he couldn’t help muttering a few words.
After a while longer, Yan Yu’an caught a faint smell of blood. He looked in Shen Yuanzhou’s direction and, seeing him dragging a brown bear bitten into a bloody mess, finally felt relieved.
What he didn’t know was that on the other side of the forest, a ground full of ape-men corpses had brought the other animals of the forest a grand feast.
Shen Yuanzhou showed Yan Yu’an the wound on his hand. “I accidentally scraped it while catching the brown bear.”
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