[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-i-start-with-a-mysterious-island":3,"chapter-i-start-with-a-mysterious-island-i-start-with-a-mysterious-island-chapter-41":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","I Start with a Mysterious Island",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1664999,2132,"Chapter 41: So Ruthless to Itself","i-start-with-a-mysterious-island-chapter-41",41,"\u003Cp>The corpse of a white ape Mutant Beast lay there, most of its white fur scorched by fire and its body covered with burns. Just as the middle-aged man’s hand reached for the Spiritual Artifact Dagger, the creature’s eyes snapped open.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Fuck! It was a trap. The bastard was playing dead.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The moment he saw the \"dead\" white ape Mutant Beast open its eyes, the middle-aged man instantly snatched his hand back and retreated.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the white ape Mutant Beast had endured for so long to reach this point. It wasn’t about to let the middle-aged man get away unscathed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"ROAR...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The white ape Mutant Beast let out a furious roar. The deafening sound made the middle-aged man’s head swim, and his retreat faltered for half a second.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In that half-second window, the white ape Mutant Beast thrust its right hand—tipped with long claws—toward the middle-aged man’s abdomen like a bolt of lightning.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The beast’s claw glowed with a faint golden Spiritual Light and was incredibly sharp. A single strike would have undoubtedly pierced straight through the man’s abdomen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the nick of time, the middle-aged man bit his tongue, forcibly snapping out of his daze. He twisted at the waist, using every ounce of his strength to jerk his body to the side.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"RRRIP...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The claw, glowing with a faint golden Spiritual Light, raked across the man’s abdomen. His camouflage uniform was instantly shredded, and the beast’s claw tore off a large chunk of his flesh.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"AARGH!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The middle-aged man cried out in pain and scrambled away from the white ape Mutant Beast.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He didn’t stop until he was more than twenty meters away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Blood gushed from the grievous wound in his abdomen. The man trembled from the pain, sweat pouring down his forehead.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He pressed his right hand to his abdomen, trying to stanch the bleeding, but the gash was too wide. Despite the pressure, blood still seeped out between his fingers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The experienced man knew he had to find a safe place to treat his abdominal wound immediately. Otherwise, he would soon bleed to death.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The injury to the man’s abdomen was nothing compared to the dagger plunged into the ape Mutant Beast’s heart.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, a human body is no match for a Mutant Beast’s.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The white ape Mutant Beast had managed to fight the middle-aged man to this point, all while having a dagger stuck in its chest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And then, to top it off, it had feigned death to launch a last-ditch counter-attack. That was a move no human could ever pull off.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the dense bushes some distance away, Lin Li, who had been reduced to a mere spectator, was dumbfounded by the sudden turn of events. He was so shocked he forgot to even breathe.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>’Damn... this Mutant Beast wasn’t dead? After all that, it still came up with a plan to feign death and counter-attack.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>’It turned the whole situation around in a single move... That’s too smart! No, it’s more than just smart. To pull off a scheme like that, you have to be incredibly cruel to yourself.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Beyond his shock, Lin Li now felt a pang of shame for complaining about the man’s cautiousness earlier.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The scene that had just played out was a vivid lesson for Lin Li: the man’s earlier caution had been entirely necessary.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unfortunately, despite his caution, the man had still fallen for its ploy. The white ape Mutant Beast was simply too cunning, too vicious.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A flicker of regret flashed in the white ape Mutant Beast’s eyes when it saw that its last-ditch counter-attack hadn’t had the desired effect.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"ROAR...\" With a fierce cry, the white ape Mutant Beast charged at the grievously wounded man.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the white ape Mutant Beast charged, the man immediately raised his left hand and thrust his palm toward it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>An orange-red light flared in the man’s left hand. With the palm thrust, a torrent of scorching fire shot from his palm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The white ape Mutant Beast saw the column of fire coming and dodged aside. The searing flames struck the ground with a dull thud.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"BOOM.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Splattering flames scorched the surrounding green plants. Luckily, there were no piles of dry grass nearby, or the man’s Superpower attack might have started a massive fire.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You damned Mutant Beast, I’ll give you this one. But our paths will cross again. Next time we meet, I swear I’ll rip your head off and make sure you stay dead!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Having forced the white ape Mutant Beast back with a single move, the man spat out his threat. Then, clutching his wounded abdomen, he turned and fled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"ROAR...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The white ape Mutant Beast watched the man flee and let out a loud roar at his retreating back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing the roar behind him, the fleeing man’s steps grew even more frantic.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the white ape Mutant Beast’s roar was an empty threat. It didn’t actually pursue the injured man. It just stood there, motionless, watching him run.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Having watched the whole thing from the bushes, Lin Li silently admonished himself, ’I can’t believe it... The situation was completely reversed. I can never let a Mutant Beast turn the tables on me like it did to that man.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then, after the man had disappeared from sight, a new problem arose for Lin Li.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After its last-ditch counter-attack had driven the man off, the white ape Mutant Beast remained standing in the same spot. A long time passed, yet it showed no sign of leaving.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only the faintest sliver of afterglow remained from the setting sun, which was about to sink completely below the horizon. In a few more minutes, night would blanket the wilderness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>’What the hell is this white ape Mutant Beast up to? Why isn’t it leaving? What’s so interesting about staring in that direction?’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>’Its enemy is gone and it’s badly hurt. It should be finding a place to treat its wounds, not just standing there like an idiot. What kind of bizarre tactic is that?’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There were mosquitoes in the bushes, and once they found Lin Li, they swarmed him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before long, his hands and face were covered in bites.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The mosquito bites were incredibly itchy, but Lin Li didn’t dare make a single rash move.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was terrified that the slightest sound from a small movement would alert the fearsome white ape Mutant Beast to the fact that another human was hiding in the grass.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Based on the fight he’d just seen, Lin Li didn’t have to be a genius to know what would happen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If that terrifying white ape Mutant Beast discovered another human hiding in the grass, it would undoubtedly tear him to shreds just to vent its fury.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>...\u003C\u002Fp>",1121,"2026-06-06T12:43:53.640Z",1,"novelbin.me","cf0bb5909043906b87a481b727f50240bcbec6fa13751d62b5bc599b889defdb","i-start-with-a-mysterious-island-chapter-42","i-start-with-a-mysterious-island-chapter-40",305,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fi-start-with-a-mysterious-island-cover.jpg"]