Chapter 45

Whoosh, whoosh!

An ice-cold gust of wind blew through the air the moment Ye Bei opened his eyes.

There was a sense of solemnity.

Creak, creak, creak…

Ye Bei’s body had expanded and molted, and there were heaps of pure-white snakeskin piled up around him. They were like small mountains, surrounding him completely. Thus, the moment Ye Bei opened his eyes, only his aura burst out into his surroundings—no one could see exactly what was happening under the pile of snakeskin.

The eight Blood Pythons—Spring, Flower, Autumn, Moon, Pursuing, Joy, Making, and Merry—stared straight at the pile of snakeskin.

“It feels like the air has gotten colder.”

“I’m just standing here… but it feels like my heart is beating incredibly fast.”

“How terrifying!”

“This… Is this our king?”

They flicked their tongues constantly, the sound seemingly neverending.

In truth, the thing that had flown through the sky just now was only a small piece of Reticulated Python flesh. The eight pythons thought they could move up a stage if they devoured the piece of meat, but the terrifying energy flowing from Ye Bei right now made them all slip into a dazed state, and they forgot all about the piece of flesh.

The crocodile king and Reticulated Python king stopped their frantic fighting and immediately set their sights on Ye Bei.

They were mutated creatures.

But more than that, they were kings who could develop such powerful beast factions within the Red Zone, and their alertness was nothing to scoff at.

They had a strong intuition that alerted them to danger.

It was as if a thin needle had suddenly pierced into the back of their heads.

Roar!

The king of the Reticulated Pythons let out a violent roar.

Huff, huff…

The crocodile king took in deep breaths of air through its mouth.

However, regardless of what they were doing at the moment, these two giant monsters had their sights locked on Ye Bei.

They temporarily paused their battle when they saw the mountain of snakeskin on the ground. Finally, the python weakened its stranglehold on the crocodile, while the crocodile stopped chomping down on the python’s body. Ten seconds later, the two king-level monsters, who had been battling each other for several hours, stopped fighting.

Their ice-cold gazes… were trained on Ye Bei.

And at the same time, they slowly moved toward him.

As for the ordinary mutated pythons and mutated crocodiles, fewer than 20 were still alive. When they sensed Ye Bei’s increased power, they all stopped fighting, their gazes, which were like bolts of icy arrows, landing on Ye Bei.

“We’re finished!”

“Protect the king well. We can’t let them attack, even if it costs us our lives.”

“The giant pythons and crocodiles have their eyes on us!”

“Tighten the defensive circle!”

The eight Blood Pythons naturally noticed the unfriendly atmosphere surrounding them. Realizing that the beasts had found out about the situation on their side and might attack, they quickly tightened their encirclement around Ye Bei and took up a stance that signaled they would fight anyone who came close.

However, it was clear that the crocodile king and Reticulated Python king were much faster than them.

While the eight Blood Pythons formed a defensive circle to protect Ye Bei…

Rumble, rumble…

The crocodile king and Reticulated Python king charged rapidly toward Ye Bei, crushing countless massive trees with their massive bodies. The sound was deafening.

The injured ordinary crocodiles and pythons, all of which were covered in blood, also moved quickly.

Slither, slither…

Creak, crack!

These sounds immediately engulfed the forests in the Red Zone.

When the eight Blood Pythons saw the humongous monsters charge toward them, their eyes opened wide.

“We’re finished!”

“They’re all coming over here… What do we do?”

“King has woken up! But he hasn’t come out yet!”

The eight Blood Pythons felt an overwhelming amount of fear. However, since the beginning, they had all been under Yei Bei’s mental control, so even if they were afraid or had to sacrifice their lives, they would always be loyal to him, no matter what. They would stay by their King’s side and protect him, even if he gave orders to retreat.

Whoosh, crash…

Time passed quickly.

The monsters were also very fast.

The eight Blood Pythons were ready to sacrifice themselves at any time. They constantly flicked out their blood-red tongues, their eyes bloodshot.

But…

What surprised them even more was that all the mutated monsters came to a complete stop when they reached the area five meters from where they were.

The forest, which had been shaking with all the noise, instantly became deathly quiet.

… Screech…

Occasionally there was the faint screech of a bird, which came from the opponent’s side, far away. Other than that, everything was deathly quiet.

What was going on?

The eight Blood Pythons were utterly confused when they saw the mutated beasts stop in their tracks.

Darn it, don’t scare us like that, okay?

Move a little, at least let me think about how best to retaliate…

These were the eight Blood Pythons’ thoughts.

In the end, they turned absolutely silent.

What should they do…?

Psychological stress!

This was a massive form of psychological stress… which instantly caused the eight Blood Pythons to shiver. They stared straight at the monsters but didn’t dare to make any movements. On the other hand, the monsters’ gazes landed on the pile of white snakeskin on the ground.

Creak, creak…

The mountain of snakeskin twitched and creaked.

Even though Ye Bei’s entire body was buried inside the mountain of snakeskin, and he couldn’t see what was happening outside it… he could clearly sense the current situation outside. This was a special function of his mental power. With the boost given to him by the system, he had a clear understanding of events that were happening close around him, even if his eyes were closed.

But…

Ye Bei himself was also shocked by the current situation outside the mountain of snakeskin.

Even though he had consumed the Reticulated Python and achieved an enhancement on the genetic level, which improved his abilities by severalfold…

Ye Bei still knew where he stood in terms of strength.

He was currently only 15 meters long…

If the mutated kings were truly going to fight Ye Bei, the crocodile king could easily tear Ye Bei’s body to shreds the moment it opened its mouth and swallowed him.

But it would be even easier for the Reticulated Python, who was more than 40 meters long, to kill Ye Bei. All it had to do was strangle him to death with its huge two-meter wide body.

Ye Bei muttered to himself under the pile of snakeskin. “I was too careless! I didn’t think they’d discover me so soon. I wanted to profit even more from how things were going!”

Fear?

He definitely felt that…

However, fear was useless in this situation. All he could do was try his best to keep calm.

After all, the monsters didn’t attack him immediately… For the time being, Ye Bei didn’t know what they were thinking, but their killing intent still lingered in the air.

Whoosh, crash!

Ye Bei slightly increased the strength in his body.

Then, the snakeskin that was piled on his body pittered and pattered, and Ye Bei slowly revealed himself to the mutated beasts.

But…

Ye Bei voluntarily spoke the moment he appeared.

Hiss, hiss!

He flicked out his tongue.

The Regional Beasts’ Tongue allowed him to freely communicate with any creature on Research Island.

“Crocodile king! Python king… I wonder why the both of you are standing next to me?”

Ye Bei’s voice was somewhat cold.

When it came to wild beasts… It was important to not seem like you were afraid. Ye Bei didn’t want to look cowardly to the two kings when he reappeared after his evolution. If he did, they would instantly murder him.

The moment Ye Bei said this…

The crocodile king and python king, who were sitting quietly, shuddered!

Their eyes widened into ferocious glares!!!