Chapter 285: 281. Temper

281. Temper

Having solved a mystery, Fang Mu felt no joy, only worry and fear.

Even among people, there are distinctions of ability levels, seniority, and status; surely, it is the same among Alien Gods.

Whether it is the Toad God, the Frog God, or the never-before-seen Daughter of Evolution, their existence is so insignificant compared to the Master Who Transcends All Things who dwells in the Ultimate Abyss. The gap between the Toad/Frog God and the Master Who Transcends All Things is like the gap between Fang Mu and the Toad/Frog God; perhaps that gap is even greater than he imagined.

Even now, bathed in sunlight, the image of the Master Who Transcends All Things kept repeating and reappearing in Fang Mu's mind. He could even faintly sense some kind of connection between himself and that entity. That being whose full form could not be looked upon directly must be watching him from some corner of space-time at this very moment; he was like a little person under a paintbrush, left to be depicted by the Master Who Transcends All Things.

Croak, croak, croak... Ribbit, ribbit, ribbit...

Turning off the water, after finishing a hot shower, Fang Mu was wiping his hair with a towel when, before he was even halfway done, he suddenly heard an unusual sound coming from the drain. Without needing to listen closely, he immediately guessed it was the sound of toads and frogs.

Those toads and frogs were right under the drainpipe, perhaps right at the drain opening.

Fang Mu turned his head, slightly stiff, and looked down. He saw that in the damp, dark hole of the floor drain, there were now several large, fleshy eyes. The owners of those eyes were letting out strange cries, constantly pushing up against the grate covering the drain, causing the metal to emit a series of clanging sounds.

"How the hell did they follow me here?" Fang Mu's expression darkened. He could now clearly feel that ever since he read the *Night Wanderer's Notes*, his connection to Abnormal things seemed to have grown stronger in the dark. This seemed to have amplified the "Blessing" on his body, and the Toad God's Blessing was affecting him even more severely.

Before, they were only observing him from afar, setting up subtle, eerie signs around him, but now they were almost trying to shove themselves right into his face. These toads were like soldiers who had received orders from a general; they had begun a frontal assault!

"Damn it!" Seeing this, Fang Mu felt anger on top of his fear. He stepped into the shower stall, took down the showerhead, deliberately turned the water heater to its highest temperature, and aimed the spray directly at the drain to launch a fierce attack. "Even a clay figurine has three parts of temper. It's one thing for the Toad God and Frog God to bully me, but you stinking toads dare to jump in my face? See if I don't scald you all to death!"

As it turned out, the toads and frogs clogging the hotel room drain were just ordinary wild beasts, far from comparable to the mutated toads seen at Nong Mountain. Under the pouring of the scalding hot water, they had no power to resist, letting out bursts of shrill cries. Before long, they were scalded and swollen. Some didn't die, still staring at him with their deformed eyeballs, but their scalded, swollen bodies blocked the drain, and the toads and frogs beneath them could no longer push their way out through the opening.

After doing all this, Fang Mu wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. Don't let his heroic display fool you; in reality, he was also afraid that doing this would further provoke the Toad God, causing the Toad God's Blessing to be further strengthened, leading to more and more eerie phenomena appearing around him.

To avoid further complications, Fang Mu changed his clothes and went to the hotel front desk to check out, taking the *Night Wanderer's Notes* with him when he left.

Perhaps not wanting people to see him unable to hide his anxious and terrified expression, Fang Mu deliberately turned into a less-traveled street, his footsteps hurried.

Fang Mu felt that something was following him. He didn't know if it was a person or a frog-man disguised as a human, but in any case, they were ill-intentioned toward him.

"Fang Sen."

Just as Fang Mu turned into a dark alley, head down and hurrying along, he suddenly saw a pair of old, flat canvas shoes enter his field of vision. The voice ahead was so familiar.

Fang Mu slowly raised his head, his gaze gradually focusing on that gentle, scholarly face. He forced a grin. "Heh, isn't this Teacher Wang Zheng? What a coincidence, to run into you here."

"Indeed, what a coincidence," Wang Zheng smiled.

"I don't believe it. You're following me, aren't you?" Fang Mu took a deep breath and decided to have it out with him.

Hearing this, Wang Zheng stopped pretending. He lowered his eyelids slightly and said, "Yes... after thinking about it all night, I finally made up my mind just now."

"What do you want to do? Kill me?" Fang Mu looked at him defensively.

Wang Zheng approached step by step, neither admitting nor denying it. "No... that would be too wasteful. I won't do that. I actually have a better idea. I want to ask you to help me."

"You want me to help you pray to the Toad God and Frog God, right?" Fang Mu immediately pierced through Wang Zheng's inner thoughts. "It seems everything you said yesterday was true. You want to find someone blessed by the Toad and Frog Gods to help you make a wish to them and fulfill your desires."

Wang Zheng looked excited. He opened his arms as if to embrace Fang Mu, or perhaps as if preparing to pounce on him. His clawing, gesticulating movements made him look even more eerily intense. "Don't you want to? Just by making a wish to the gods, there is a high probability it will actually come true. This is having one's wishes fulfilled, being omnipotent!"

Fang Mu's speed in retreating was not as fast as Wang Zheng's speed in advancing. Not only did he fail to immediately put distance between them, but he was quickly closed in on and grabbed by the shoulders.

Fang Mu was still refusing. "I don't believe in such pie-in-the-sky good fortune. Things like having wishes fulfilled must surely come at a price."

"You're right," Wang Zheng smiled. A beaming expression appeared on that scholarly, refined face. In the dim light and shadow, the smile became eerie and ferocious. "So, you just need to sacrifice yourself properly so that everyone's wishes can be fulfilled."

No sooner had he finished speaking than Wang Zheng's seemingly frail body suddenly erupted with great strength, pushing Fang Mu against the wall in an instant. The arc of the smile on his face became increasingly deformed. "Be obedient. Help me fulfill my wish, and I'll let you go immediately."

"Impossible!" Fang Mu resisted with his life, wanting to struggle, but felt Wang Zheng, who was gripping his upper arms, suddenly exert more force, lifting him into mid-air in one go. "Why should I do this? Don't be so arrogant, you bastard!"

Fang Mu could only kick out, landing a heavy blow on Wang Zheng's stomach. "Let go of me!"

This kick was very heavy and aimed at a vital spot. Fang Mu had thought Wang Zheng was some kind of Terminator or enhanced human, but this kick immediately left Wang Zheng without the strength to get back up.

Croak, croak, croak...

The dense sound of toads and frogs rang out inopportunely all around. Fang Mu looked around in all directions and immediately broke into a cold sweat. He discovered that in those dark and unexpected corners, one, two... even hundreds of toads had appeared. They stared fixedly at Fang Mu, completely surrounding him.

"Look, these messengers of the Frog God are urging you to hurry up and complete the ritual," Wang Zheng hissed in pain while clutching his waist, which felt as if it had been kicked to pieces. "Offerings and prayers are indispensable!"

"Go do it yourself, you bastard!" Fang Mu kicked Wang Zheng away, literally using Wang Zheng to kick open a bloody path, then stepped on Wang Zheng to jump out of the circle of toads and frogs, fleeing for his life.

However, before Wang Zheng could say anything, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his body. Looking at the stinging area, he saw that the group of toads that had approached at some unknown time were actually biting him.

Wang Zheng tried to crawl up to pursue, but as soon as his legs straightened, his whole body could no longer support the strength, and he fell, covered in wounds.

These toads, influenced by Abnormal factors, were clearly no longer ordinary mortal beasts; they possessed even more terrifying and unknown toxicity.

The toad venom quickly eroded Wang Zheng's body. Wang Zheng only felt his body was both cold and painful. He felt his whole body twitching in pain, as if something was moving inside him.

He took off his clothes, revealing a large patch of toad-skin-like bumps.