Chapter 121: Starving

As Yunxiao Huan shattered the opponent's skull, the thing hiding behind the wooden house stumbled out, revealing its full form to everyone.

At first glance, this thing looks like a centaur.

The lower half is a horse, while from the neck upward it becomes a human upper body.

It should be within an acceptable range, not causing anyone to feel their SAN value plummeting upon seeing it.

But if the human upper body is not fully connected to the body, instead "floating" in midair?

The upper and lower bodies are separated—torn apart by force, with only a single spine connecting them, like a thread linking the two.

The human torso is emaciated, skin ashen like a corpse.

As for the head, it is a white deer skull, shattered by Yunxiao Huan.

This deer-headed, human (upper)-bodied, deer (lower)-bodied thing, with its head shattered, staggered and collapsed to the ground, its hands clawing wildly at the earth.

Its vitality is surprisingly tenacious—it can still live even without a head.

"Hungry..."

A weak, breathless voice came from it.

"Hungry?" Everyone froze for a moment, not expecting this thing to utter such a word.

Clearly, seeing you makes one lose their appetite, right?

"And!"

This deer-headed monster is obviously just beginning.

As it appeared, behind the surrounding huts, other monsters gradually emerged.

In style, they closely resemble the deer-headed monster: human upper bodies, emaciated, with movable hands, but non-human heads.

A single spine connects the upper body to the lower beastly torso, floating in midair like a balloon.

Not only deer-like beasts and deer bodies, but also pigs, dogs, chickens, ducks, geese, etc. —not their original size, but enlarged to a certain extent.

The heads are not all white bone; some remain relatively intact, others are "half white bone."

Deer heads and deer bodies are not numerous.

The upper bodies revealed are both male and female; though each is emaciated, their differences can still be discerned.

"Did the villagers here merge with their livestock?" Zhao Gailun felt his stomach churn.

Others' faces also showed some discomfort.

What exactly happened in this village, and how does it relate to our mission?

"Won't the grandfather we're looking for be here?" Zhao Gailun swallowed and said.

The old man's features would be hard to find among these monsters.

"Hungry, hungry..."

A horde of monsters moved sluggishly, hands outstretched, continuously emitting sounds.

"No matter! Kill them first and talk later!" Jin Gang roared, charging at the nearest monster and punching forward.

Like a hammer smashing a watermelon, Jin Gang's fist exploded the dog-headed monster before him.

The monster likewise staggered and fell, struggling.

"Their strength isn't strong." Jin Gang paused—these monsters look truly terrifying, enough to give timid people nightmares.

But in terms of actual strength, they seem not so strong.

One punch, one small pancake—nothing compared to the toad from that day, just greater in number.

"Kill them all!" The original breakout idea instantly changed; Jin Gang roared again.

This way, even the Ascending Dragon Fist isn't needed.

The others also began acting; Yunxiao Huan continued throwing his small stones, basically one hit, one headshot, extremely accurate.

He looked calm and relaxed—except that his small stones were soon exhausted, leaving him slightly embarrassed, forcing him to move and search for a "weapon"; fortunately, his agility was decent, and weaving through the sluggish monster horde posed no problem.

Zhao Gailun directly used his skill·Judgment.

Both hands similarly gripped an illusory golden great sword, his body spinning like a windmill, still able to move around.

Monsters struck by the great sword were torn in two, collapsing and struggling on the ground.

Qin Menglan held the Tiangou on her shoulder, summoning the Po-Mo Cold Ice Spear; with her enhanced physique and the weapon's edge, she had more than enough to handle the surrounding monsters.

Li Qing did not summon the Xuanwu, likely still in cooldown, nor did she use the Wind God Leg.

Instead, she reached out with her right hand, fingers spread, continuously moving, feeling like she was playing the piano.

One monster directly "defected," being controlled by Li Qing to charge toward other monsters.

This is one of her skills, the String Puppet Play, making her temporarily act like a puppeteer—looking the easiest, but in terms of kill efficiency, Li Qing's side is the lowest.

After a few minutes, Zhao Gailun stopped, his steps staggered, nearly falling to the ground.

It wasn't that he was tired, but a hand had tightly grabbed his ankle.

"Get lost!"

Zhao Gailun roared, instinctively kicking; the monster under his foot was kicked flying.

It smashed into the nearby wooden house—strange, really.

Upon contacting the wooden house, the monster's body suddenly became illusory, passing straight through the house.

The two never actually made contact.

Zhao Gailun noticed this anomaly, but had no chance to ponder, as his feet, calves, were already firmly gripped by over seven or eight hands, nearly reaching his thighs.

Zhao Gailun then realized the monsters he had "waist-chopped" earlier had not truly died.

They continued to wriggle slowly in place, emitting the "hungry..." sound.

"Can't kill them?"

Zhao Gailun's heart jolted; he shouted loudly, "Are these monsters only killable by blowing up their heads?"

This scene reminded him of zombies.

"Shooting them in the head doesn't work either," Qin Menglan said, firing a shot that pierced the monster's head in front of her.

A layer of white frost quickly covered the monster's body, and it collapsed to the ground, motionless; upon closer inspection, one could actually see it was still struggling.

But the movements were extremely minute, almost negligible.

This is the freezing effect inherent to the Demon-Breaking Ice Spear; for these slow-moving, weak yet hard-to-kill monsters, it is just the right counter.

"Then what should we do?" Zhao Gailun again forcefully shook off the monster on his foot, then stepped on the nearest one.

The monsters had no flesh or blood to speak of; they were essentially just skin and bones.

Even if their heads were blown off or they were severed, not a drop of blood appeared, like desiccated corpses.

Therefore, crushing them did not feel overly nauseating.

If the scene were filled with fresh blood and minced flesh, even if it wouldn't nauseate, it would create an extremely slippery surface, causing inconvenience.

"Increase the force!"

Jin Gang shouted, "Not being able to kill them is just because our strength isn't enough!" Pouring through muscle and strength, this is his unwavering path!

Only by breaking off six limbs, or even crushing the torso, can the monsters' activity be maximally halted.

The pressure on everyone suddenly increased, and consumption rose sharply.

Fortunately, the monsters around them were also finally nearly eliminated by them, and the crisis was resolved.

Fortunately, the monsters around them had also been mostly eliminated by them, and the crisis was resolved.

Jin Gang's body was covered in sweat, and the others were also somewhat fatigued.

This time it wasn't a life-or-death crisis, but more like a test of endurance.

"This time, splitting up should be fine, right?" Gailun said, everyone's skills weren't used much, the monsters were already dealt with, and splitting up to search would be more efficient.

Everyone nodded; they had already spent considerable time.

Whether they found useful clues early or not, returning to the lakeside, now altered in appearance, to see if they could wait for Tang Luo would be the plan.

Although the monsters were all wiped out, everyone still felt an inexplicable pressure weighing on their hearts, unwilling to linger here.

"Hurry up, there might be clues here," Li Qing said, and just as she stepped forward, her foot suddenly "took a sharp turn downward," stomping hard onto the ground.

The ground "remained utterly still," not even showing the footprints that should have appeared.

The ground remained "undisturbed," with not even the footprints that should have been there appearing.

"They disappeared!"

Nearby on the ground, those still slightly wriggling and struggling, yet now useless, fragmented corpses, vanished without a trace in the astonished gazes of the few.

On the nearby ground, the fragmented bodies that were still twitching and struggling but had lost all function vanished without a trace in the astonished gazes of the few people.

The sound that had stopped earlier rang again; behind the wooden house, that group of monsters reappeared, intact and unharmed.

"Damn!" Zhao Gailun cursed, having finally eliminated them all, only to find they even had resurrection armor?

And it's resurrection armor with no cooldown?

What the hell are we even playing at!

"Break out!" Li Qing said.

If we don't break out, these monsters will literally wear us down to death here.

"Alright——damn!" Zhao Gailun's response turned into a loud curse, golden light appeared on his body, and a three-legged shield blocked the monster charging at him.

This monster's speed was more than a notch faster than before.

It rushed forward suddenly, already not inferior to the sprinting speed of an ordinary person, and its strength was also hardly different.

Does power increase after resurrection?

Not just one— the remaining monsters also shouted "Hung..." with weak voices but great speed, rushing forward and instantly forming a complete encirclement.

"There are fewer than before!" Qin Menglan said, her doppelganger appearing.

Although the monsters gained strength after resurrection, their numbers are much fewer than before.

Moreover, some monsters' appearances have changed, such as growing an extra pair of hands and a beast's brain, as if two or even more monsters had fused together.

"To the hut! They seem unable to touch the hut!" Zhao Gailun shouted loudly, his courage skill still active.

He simply took the shield hovering before him as a "weapon" and charged forward head-on.

The monsters' strength is now only at the level of an ordinary person; even if several crowd together, they cannot stop Zhao Gailun's advance.

The others immediately followed up, with Qin Menglan's doppelganger bringing up the rear.

Before completely losing the advantage and falling into a "human sea tactic," they rushed into the hut.

Qin Menglan's doppelganger then knocked down over ten monsters, but was grabbed by a pile of monsters, torn apart frantically, soon exceeding its limit and turning into specks of starlight.

Fortunately, the doppelganger's pain does not transmit to the main body.

Those monsters still wanted to rush into the hut, but upon contact, they became illusory and passed straight through.

Together with the people inside the hut, they "passed through."

Everyone could feel wave after wave of bitterly cold "wind" blowing past, but could not touch the monsters' physical forms.

Unable to touch, yet the monsters' movements were not hindered; they frantically surged toward the hut, passed through, lunged again, and passed through again.

The sound of "Hung..." never ceased, relentless.

"I know why there's no grass here," Qin Menglan said, her face sinking.

"Why?" Zhao Gailun asked.

"Probably anything edible has already been eaten by these monsters," Li Qing answered for Qin Menglan.

"I'm afraid anything edible has already been eaten by these monsters." Li Qing answered the question for Qin Menglan.