Chapter 22: Battle Beneath the Water

The third day of Baichuan's search for the Electric Eel.

In the early morning, dense white fog shrouded the forest, as if draping it in a veil of transparent gauze.

Within it, a pitch-black great snake drifted along the shore, appearing and disappearing intermittently.

This was none other than Baichuan, who had been searching all night.

Unfortunately, although in his past life he had studied the habits of the Electric Eel, theory sometimes falls far short of practice.

Just like that, after several days of searching and expending countless energy, Baichuan still hadn't found a thing.

But fortunately, Heaven rewards the diligent — at last, at this moment on the morning of the third day, he finally found it.

"Not easy at all, but I've finally found you."

Baichuan gazed at the faintly visible Electric Eel in the murky water and sighed to himself.

This was no longer the great river where he had first begun his search, but a certain tributary of it.

He glanced at the shimmering water surface, did not enter the water directly, but instead chose to turn and look toward the rest of the forest.

Before long, his gaze locked onto a monkey in a tree. He lowered his snake head and began silently slithering up the tree.

Relying on his speed — far greater than that of an ordinary snake — Baichuan once again bit the monkey before it could react, then seized it tightly with his sharp claws.

Honestly, ever since Baichuan had evolved various abilities that snakes don't naturally possess, hunting all kinds of animals had become much easier for him.

Because most animals possess no real intelligence, they can only rely on instinct and a smattering of experience.

The snakes they had encountered in the past had taught them how snakes hunt, how fast they move, and at what distance they should flee to avoid danger.

Yet this very experience often caused them to fail to react in time when facing Baichuan, resulting in being bitten.

Because this time it wasn't for food, Baichuan — relying on his greatly increased strength — used those sharp claws to grip the monkey and carry it all the way to the shore.

The next moment, with a forceful swing and toss, amid the monkey's panicked cries, he hurled it toward the Electric Eel in the water.

In an instant, the monkey plunged into the water, sending up a huge splash, and began flailing about in its struggle.

But the more it struggled, the more it sealed its own death.

The startled Electric Eel in the water, seeing the unknown creature thrashing wildly beside it, was so frightened that it immediately released an electric current.

In an instant, a powerful current began radiating outward from the Electric Eel in all directions.

Accompanied by a shrill scream from the monkey, its body began convulsing violently.

By this time, Baichuan had already left the shore once again, preparing to continue catching monkeys.

Unfortunately, the monkeys in the other trees had witnessed this horrifying scene too, and amid panicked cries they fled in droves, carrying their families with them.

Baichuan could only sigh helplessly at this and look toward other animals once more.

But the other animals were still too small — nowhere near as effective as the monkey — and they had been scared off by now as well.

"Looks like I'll have to take care of it myself," Baichuan sighed inwardly. Even so, he casually grabbed a snake that hadn't escaped in time before leaving.

Returning to the shore, Baichuan didn't even spare a glance for the thoroughly dead monkey, and directly flung the snake in his claws down into the water.

Once again, a violent current was unleashed with a surge, and within mere seconds that snake was declared dead.

But this was enough — the Electric Eel's stamina should have been partially depleted.

After all, to electrocute a monkey to death, the Electric Eel still needed to expend a great deal of stamina.

Not to mention that the Electric Eel he had chosen was only just over a meter long.

If it were over two meters, Baichuan daresay he would turn tail and leave without a second word.

One must know that an Electric Eel over two meters is already close to a peak individual — not only in current intensity, but its stamina is also beyond what ordinary ones can compare to.

He first chose a position relatively far away, then quietly slipped into the water, advancing all the way along the riverbed.

Because most Electric Eels have very poor eyesight.

Very soon, before long, he had approached the Electric Eel.

He first observed it for a moment, adjusted his position, and then suddenly lunged toward the Electric Eel.

The next moment, he raised his snake head, lifted his vicious claws high beneath him, and then smashed them down hard onto the Electric Eel's head.

The idea was to knock the Electric Eel out in an instant.

However, the plan was good, but the water's resistance was too great. Even though Baichuan had gathered his strength, the speed of his claw strike couldn't be all that fast.

The Electric Eel, which constantly maintained a faint magnetic field around itself to sense its surroundings, immediately detected it.

With a flick of its thick, round body, its head dodged Baichuan's claw, causing his strike to land on its body instead.

In an instant, the Electric Eel was sent flying far away, and the next moment a powerful current radiated out from its body.

At this moment, Baichuan, who had just delivered his strike, even from a great distance suddenly felt his entire body go numb and weak, about to sink down into the water.

Yet at this moment, Baichuan's heart was cheering.

Success! His plan had worked.

Because ever since gaining claws, he had been thinking of avoiding close-quarters entanglement, avoiding being shocked by the Electric Eel's current.

One must know that water's electrical resistance is very low — the farther away he stayed, the less current damage he would take.

And as long as the current's intensity dropped, with his current physique he should be able to endure it for a short while. During that time, he could exhaust the Electric Eel's stamina completely.

One must know that generating electricity with Biological Energy is no easy feat — it inevitably consumes a tremendous amount of stamina.

So he could completely wear the Electric Eel out. If, during the process, he got lucky and knocked the Electric Eel out directly, that would be even better.

At the same time, even in the worst-case scenario, he could now breathe underwater thanks to Underwater Breathing, so he didn't have to fear being knocked out by the current and drowning — he could simply wait and slowly regain consciousness.

His defense could, for a short while, keep him from being taken advantage of, and he believed that under the intense pain he should wake even faster.

This was Baichuan's plan!

……

Five minutes later.

The violently churning water surface finally calmed down. A wisp of bright red blood spread through the water, and a slender black shadow slowly emerged onto the surface, revealing a terrifying snake head.

Soon, the great serpent left the water's surface and crawled back onto the bank; water drip-drop, drip-drop slid down its jet-black scales one droplet at a time.

And at this moment, a thick, round fish over a metre long lay limp and floppy in its ferocious claws right before it; the head and body, which had always been unblemished, were now bruised and swollen in patches — a thoroughly wretched sight.

The great serpent's razor-sharp claws had even accidentally gouged a series of bloody scratches across its body, blood slowly dripping down.

"That wasn't easy!"

Baichuan gazed at the Electric Eel in his claws and sighed, feeling his body still numb and tingling; in his heart, both relief and a strange sense of pride and satisfaction welled up.

He had successfully defeated the Electric Eel!

After examining this hard-won Electric Eel carefully for a while, Baichuan, to avoid any complications arising overnight, simply used his sharp claws to rip it open and devour it with astonishing speed.

Only then did he relax and survey the surrounding environment.

(End of chapter)