A Floral Monster!
Hiss!
The green snake bared its fangs as it shot over like a bolt of lightning.
Lin Chao's eyes narrowed as his head ducked in reflex, his cervical vertebrae compressed to his chest, and his head shrunk a few inches as if he had no neck.
The difference of several inches was all it took to avoid being mauled by the snake.
Lin Chao's cell energy triggered instantly to Speed Enhancement – Swoosh!
He moved speedily like a projection and seized hold of the snake accurately; he did not resort to smashing it with the steel bar as doing so would allow the green snake to entangle him, leveraging on the weapon instead.
Both hands grappling the snake, the back of Lin Chao's hand was bitten when the snake's triangular head twisted its slippery body around.
Lin Chao let go of one hand and used another to grab its tail and swing it in a circular motion, twirling it like a green whirlwind.
The green snake was obviously a mutated creature. Although its size did not grow, it contained heinous venom. While Lin Chao swung it around so it's flexible body could not twist and turn, his hand went toward the pistol at his waist and aimed it at the other end of the green whirlwind.
Bang!
The bullet was shot loud, as a few heated droplets of blood spluttered. It corroded the arm like the lava when it dropped on the surface, leaving a few dark green spots that showed signs of expanding.
Lin Chao stopped spinning the snake that lost its head from the bullet, the creature's body was still trembling and thrashing about, wrapping itself around Lin Chao's arm. He took out a flying knife immediately to pin the seven-inch body onto the tree trunk while pulling the body taut with one hand. Reaching for the second flying knife, he cut the snake open and squeezed the dark red snake gall out before swallowing it with a tipped chin.
The snake gall was not a complete antidote but it could break down most of the venom. Moreover, the snake's blood had only infected the skin. The dark green spots faded eventually.
Lin Chao skinned the snake and found a green soya bean-sized lump in the long narrow flesh.
His eyes sparkled. He did not expect this snake to be a green mutated beast.
The ball of green genetic zest was small but its content was rich. A small lump like this was parallel to the total of white genetic zest Lin Chao had obtained earlier!
Lin Chao slurped it down decisively.
A few minutes later, he felt his vision turn clearer and his body felt lighter. His physique was enhanced and the exhausted stamina and cell energy were filled up again.
Lin Chao came down from the tree and continued hunting.
There were zebras, elephants, monkeys, and various birds in the herbivore area – Lin Chao locked on his next target in an instant. It was an ostrich!
The ostrich was pecking at a dappled deer's carcass. The deer had long been dead as its flesh was a decaying mess and most of it was devoured clean, leaving some carrion on the neck and legs that had maggots infesting them.
Lin Chao sneaked over promptly.
Focusing on feeding, the ostrich did not notice anything unusual; Lin Chao reached about three meters behind it swiftly, an effective ambushing distance.
He held his steel bar tight and attacked with Speed Enhancement!
Like a predator, he sprung toward the ostrich and launched his steel bar harshly on its thin neck just as it looked up in a panic.
Wham!
The pink neck was broken like a V shape.
Gripping the flying knife with another hand, Lin Chao lightly ran it through the corpse. The sharp blade and lightning speed broke its neck, its head rolling down the ground with a plop while its neck sprayed blood.
The ostrich wobbled a little and collapsed beside the deer a few seconds later.
Lin Chao cut its body open with his flying knife swiftly and managed to dig a big lump of white genetic zest out.
Gulp.
The genetic zest was pillow-soft, sliding into Lin Chao's stomach when he swallowed it. Several minutes later, he could feel his physique growing again; in addition to the green genetic zest he consumed earlier, his physique was already seven times stronger than a normal person!
If he executed the Speed Enhancement, he could reach a speed of fourteen times faster!
That was the speed of a normal leopard, more or less!
Lin Chao left the place quickly but before he entered the forest, he heard a strange noise behind him. Turning around, he was shocked to see the majority of the ostrich carcass being embedded inside the field, as if it was a swamp, and was slowly sinking.
Having just crossed that area, Lin Chao was well aware that the soil there was no quicksand nor swamp.
He blinked and immediately stalked over.
Approximately eight meters away, Lin Chao saw that most of the ostrich was already sunk inside the grass while its side was enveloped in green tendrils. These tendrils were as if little green snakes as tiny sharp-teeth mouths split open from the appendage and masticated the dead ostrich.
Lin Chao was confounded.
A floral monster?
During the virus outbreak, it was not only living creatures that had mutated, but certain floras would also mutate as well and grow simple cognition. Such plants were no less dangerous than the Golden mutated beasts.
Lin Chao did not expect to meet a floral monster here. Swiftly thinking, he furtively moved until he was two meters away from the ostrich carcass.
When the floral monster did not notice him, he gripped his steel bar and raised it to hurl it downward fiercely beside the dead ostrich!
The steel bar pierced half a meter deep into the soil from his enormous strength despite being a blunt weapon.
The green tendrils that wrapped around the carcass waved around aggressively and went for Lin Chao's ankles. At the same time, the earth under the ostrich spattered as a green tendril shot out; its upper part looked like a shrub but its lower root was securely grasping the soil like a monster's claw. The root was fully grown with tendrils. A large slit opened on one of its leaves and was currently showing menacing sharp teeth.
Not alarmed, Lin Chao was delighted with his correct guess. The floral monster was incredibly rare in number and was as precious as the Golden beasts. The energy of life contained in it could heal all injuries, even those crippled with broken limbs could grow new appendages! It was a treasure to the survivors.
One must understand that other than people with abilities like Immortal or Healing, the rest of us were disabled once they were handicapped.
The survivors had to fight the monsters daily in the apocalypse; being injured was normal. Therefore, the energy of life that could heal all injuries was everyone's coveted gem!
No one could guarantee that they would not be injured forever.
Glee glowed in Lin Chao's eyes. The potency of the energy of life was much higher than the green genetic zest. It was on par with the Golden Blood of the Golden mutated beasts. Other than healing, its other use was for genetic modification, enhancing the genetics' resilience.
Lin Chao instantly took out his gun. A floral monster was worthy of his bullets!
Seeing the pistol, the shrub-like floral monster quivered as if it could recognize what a pistol was; its bellicose mannerism dissipated by half as it shot back to the soil.
Of course, Lin Chao would not spare it the chance to escape. He pulled the trigger at once, shooting thrice and piercing its root that was halfway sunken.
Eek!
The mouth on the shrub's leaf went wide as it cried shrilly in pain, thick green juice was flowing from its pierced root.