This assassin is upright

Chapter 470 The Bizarre Fourth-Order Mutant Beast
Almost as soon as Yu Zhun regained his footing, the leopard beast attacked like a shadow, its two blood-red claws tearing fiercely at Yu Zhun's face.

"Bear--"

A burst of intense flames erupted instantly. Yu Zhun staggered back a few steps, watching the leopard beast on the other side being forced back after his fire power was fully unleashed, and breathed a sigh of relief.

“If you have any other skills, then I’m out of luck.” He raised his dagger and spoke slowly, “However, I think that’s all you’ve got.”

"Suffer to death!"

With a low shout, Yu Zhun suddenly pulled back his feet and charged at the leopard beast amidst the blazing flames, repeatedly maneuvering against it using the high-temperature flames.

A fierce battle that alarmed the nearby jungle eventually came to a quiet end.

Yu Zhun, at the cost of a deep, bone-revealing wound to his chest, stabbed his opponent in the heart with a dagger, thus securing final victory.

Of course, he didn't spare the little leopard that had summoned the leopard beast either.

As the leopard died and the cub tried to run away, Yu Zhun raised his hand and threw a dagger, pinning the beast to the spot from a distance.

"A fourth-tier mutated beast." Looking at the leopard beast lying on the ground, a slight ripple flashed in Yu Zhun's eyes.

Including the strange fish in the lava, this should be the second one he has encountered.

However, compared to the strange fish, this leopard beast was clearly much stronger.

The reason for all of this is the opponent's inexplicable blood mist ability.

But for some reason, when the leopard beast used its blood mist ability, Yu Zhun felt a strong sense of unease, as if that power did not belong to the beast.

"I'd like to see for myself what your power is all about."

He spoke in a low voice, his dagger skillfully tracing the leopard's corpse, tearing it into pieces, searching for the mutated beast core hidden inside its body.

But as time went by, Yu Zhun's expression gradually turned gloomy.

He has located the core of the leopard beast, in a region at the back of its head. There are obvious cavities and energy fluctuations there, indicating that not long ago, a priceless fourth-tier mutated beast core was hidden there.

But now, it's completely empty.

The core of a mutated beast that Yu Zhun personally killed has vanished!

Combined with the opponent's strange blood mist ability...

"This forest is probably not as simple as I imagined."

After muttering something to himself, a thoughtful look appeared in Yu Zhun's eyes.

The strange situation in District 62, which he had only intended to pass through on his way, suddenly gave him the intention to investigate.

Just then, a very faint roar came from a distant direction.

Even with Yu Zhun's incredibly sharp hearing, he could only barely catch it.

Immediately pinpointing the general direction from which the sound came, Yu Zhun pondered for a moment and then strode towards that direction.

As he approached, the roars grew louder and louder, clearly divided into two distinct types, likely originating from two different beasts.

However, their roars also convey the same emotions: anger and greed.

Yu Zhun gradually slowed down, minimizing his movements, and crept closer. Soon, the situation at the source of the sound came into view.

Those were two beasts locked in a life-or-death battle. One was a mutated beast, and the other was a polluted beast. Their strengths were similar, both at the third tier. Although the polluted beast had the advantage of size, the mutated beast was clearly a step stronger.

But these are not the point.

The key point is that there is a clump of bushes near the two beasts, and at this moment a red fruit the size of a finger joint has grown on the top of the bushes, and the tempting fruity aroma continues to spread far and wide.

Yu Zhun stared intently at the fruit that faintly glowed red, smelling the aroma wafting over, his mouth watering, and an almost instinctive, intense craving for this fruit welled up within him.

He even had a strong urge to rush up and kill the two fighting beasts and snatch the fruit for himself; once this thought arose, he couldn't stop it.

The next moment, Yu Zhun suddenly realized something was wrong.

There's something wrong with this fruit!
That strangely alluring fragrance could actually affect him, a fourth-tier evolved being, and creatures below the fourth tier...

Almost the instant Yu Zhun had this thought, a series of earth-shattering commotions erupted around them, and almost every creature that had smelled the fragrance rushed frantically toward them.

With a slight change in expression, Yu Zhun quickly scrambled up the thickest tree next to him.

His tracks were not completely hidden, but almost all the attention of the creatures was focused on the fruit, so much so that no creature noticed him at all.

It was as if he, a fourth-tier evolver, was insignificant in the face of the red fruit.

All these unusual occurrences completely extinguished Yu Zhun's desire to seize that red fruit. He quietly squatted on the tree trunk, intending to carefully observe what would happen next.

He had a feeling, deep down.

What happened next might be related to the situation of the leopard beast, since the red mist was also red.

Tempted by the red fruit, countless beasts went mad and killed each other. Soon, a scene like a meat grinder formed around the red fruit. As more and more beasts perished, the red fruit became even more vibrant.

Ultimately, the appearance of a fourth-tier mutated beast brought everything to an end.

It was a giant python, a hundred meters long, which cruelly swallowed all the beasts in the area before rushing toward the red fruit.

Just before swallowing the red fruit, the creature seemed to sense Yu Zhun's location. Its cold, serpentine eyes glanced in Yu Zhun's direction with a hint of warning in them, and then it swallowed the fruit without hesitation.

The scent of the red fruit dissipated, and the giant python quickly left.

Only then did Yu Zhun leap down from the tree trunk.

"interesting."

He looked in the direction the giant python had gone, a thoughtful expression on his face.

From the giant python's glance at him before it devoured the red fruit, he could tell that the other was as calm as he was, or at least partially calm.

However, the other party still chose to swallow the red fruit, which shows that the red fruit did not only attract other creatures with its fragrance, but it was indeed of great help to creatures. Even fourth-order mutated beasts had a great need for it.

"Later, perhaps we can test that giant python," Yu Zhun muttered to himself. "If that giant python also has a similar ability to blood mist, then it can be basically concluded that the ability of blood mist is closely related to the red fruit."

If this is indeed confirmed, should I eat some myself?
After all, the instantaneous boost that blood mist provides is quite significant.

However, Yu Zhun suppressed the idea as soon as it came to mind.

Even after guessing the connection between the blood mist and the fruit, the eerie feeling the fruit gave him still lingered.

It's best to be cautious about things like this until you fully understand them.

With this in mind, Yu Zhun no longer hesitated and took off chasing after the giant python.

That giant python was moving quite fast; if he delayed any longer, he wouldn't be able to catch up.

After Yu Zhun left, the place fell into a deathly silence, and there was no more life around.

Before long, roots so thin they were almost imperceptible emerged from the ground and pierced into the mountains of flesh and blood that lay on the ground.

The flesh and blood deflated at a visible rate, until nothing was left in the end.

On the shrub that originally bore red fruit, a new bud slowly bloomed, its blood-red petals startlingly visible.
-
Yu Zhun was completely unaware of what had happened in the woods after he left; he had now successfully caught up with the departing giant python. "Hey!"

Yu Zhun called out to the giant python, giving it no time to react. He stomped his foot and instantly lunged forward, his dagger stabbing fiercely at the python.

"Pfft-"

With a painful hiss, a deep gash appeared on the giant python's massive body.

This attack, which came without warning, successfully enraged the other party.

The python's eyes instantly turned blood red. It stared intently at Yu Zhun, and its massive head lunged at him with a vicious bite.

Yu Zhun had seen how sharp this guy's mouth was before, so he dodged without hesitation. At the same time, a ball of blazing flame appeared in his hand, which he casually swung and transformed into a long flaming whip, lashing it fiercely at the giant python's wound.

The giant python tried its best to twist its body to dodge, but Yu Zhun still lashed its wound with a whip. The wound, which had not yet fully healed, instantly turned charred, and the air was filled with the smell of cooked meat.

Before swallowing the red fruit, the giant python had already devoured several beasts, and even with its powerful fourth-tier body, it hadn't had time to digest them.

Its body was thus several times thicker than before, and its movements became less agile, which gave Yu Zhun an opportunity to take advantage.

Realizing this, the giant python let out an angry hiss, and a light, blood-red mist quickly rose around its body.

Under the red mist, its wounds healed instantly, its body, which had grown several times larger, quickly shrank back to its original size, and the undigested food was almost instantly consumed. Moreover, an even more powerful and terrifying aura surged around it.

coming!

Yu Zhun's eyes suddenly lit up.

The same red mist.

Sure enough, the red mist wasn't the leopard beast's ability, but rather a power that could be obtained through some means within this forest. This power was most likely related to the red fruit that the giant python had just swallowed!
Having confirmed this, Yu Zhun smiled slightly at the other party.

"Farewell."

After saying that, he turned to leave.

This giant python, at its peak, was even stronger than the leopard beast, and he had no intention of confronting it head-on.

Having confirmed my guess, it's time to leave.

However, when Yu Zhun tried to leave, the giant python wouldn't let him go.

Having been provoked to madness by Yu Zhun, how could it possibly give up? After letting out an angry screech, it instantly chased after Yu Zhun.

The man and the snake engaged in a frantic chase through the jungle. Yu Zhun was quite fast, but the giant python was even faster. Fortunately, given the python's size, Yu Zhun was able to maneuver around it using his agility.

Only after a long time had passed, and the man and the snake were far from their previous position, did the giant python let out a reluctant hiss and slowly slow down.

Is this guy exhausted?

Yu Zhun immediately noticed the abnormality behind him. He turned around and saw that the blood-red mist around the giant python seemed to be gradually dissipating, and its aura was also fading, returning to its original state.

So that red mist was time-limited?
Yu Zhun recalled his battle with the leopard beast. At the last moment, the leopard beast seemed to have its bloody mist fading, but before the mist could completely disappear, he had already killed it, so he didn't pay much attention to it.

It now appears that the power of this blood mist has a time limit.

As the giant python came to a complete stop and began to retreat, a sharp glint flashed in Yu Zhun's eyes.

In this case…

Can he then retaliate?

Without the slightest hesitation, Yu Zhun stomped his foot, and the two daggers in his hands instantly heated up to a terrifying temperature of over a thousand degrees, before charging towards the giant python.

"hiss--"

The giant python let out a startled and angry hiss, but it was somewhat blustering and cowardly. In its hasty response, it was only a moment before Yu Zhun accurately struck its vital spot, and its life came to an end. Its massive body crashed to the ground.

"Have a safe journey," Yu Zhun muttered to himself, then without pausing for a moment, he used his dagger to slice open the giant python's massive body.

Last time, the leopard beast's core disappeared abnormally. This time, he wanted to see if the giant python would experience the same thing again.

Soon, Yu Zhun located the core of the snake at the gallbladder, but after cutting it open, his expression turned ugly once again.

The area that was once the core is now completely empty.

Another step late!
but…

Perhaps because Yu Zhun acted faster this time, he quickly discovered some unusual traces in the snake gall.

It was a very faint red mist.

Could it be that the core was secretly taken away by the Red Mist?

Yu Zhun's brows furrowed instantly.

What exactly is this red mist?
If that was just a special ability, why would it take away the core?
More importantly…

Where were these cores taken?

Thinking about these chilling possibilities, Yu Zhun remained silent for a long time.

He drew his dagger and was about to turn and leave when he suddenly remembered something. He then took out the stomach from the python's abdomen and pried it open with the dagger.

Having digested all the beasts it had swallowed, a nearly complete red fruit rolled out of its now empty stomach.

“It hasn’t been fully digested yet…” Yu Zhun carefully picked up the red fruit.

Perhaps because they had been picked, the red fruit no longer emitted the same fragrance as before, even when exposed to the elements.

However, that deep red color still gives people a strange sense of eeriness.

After wiping away the slime on the surface, and recalling his previous speculation, Yu Zhun didn't dare to swallow the thing directly, but instead stuffed it into his pocket.

Then, he carefully looked around.

During the chase with the giant python, he unknowingly entered a completely new area. The only thing he was certain of was that he was still within the secondary core area.

I just don't know which beast's territory I've entered this time.
But no matter where you are, you can never be wrong about your location.

Yu Zhun slightly raised his head and looked towards the core of the forest.

Red fruit...red mist...

Perhaps the answer to everything lies in the deepest part of this forest.

With a stomp of his foot, Yu Zhun's figure vanished from the spot.

500 meters... 1000 meters... 2000 meters...

He traversed the jungle at breakneck speed, and to Yu Zhun's surprise, he encountered no further obstruction or attack from any living creatures during this process.

Could this area not be the territory of some creature?
Without time to think it through, Yu Zhun stepped into the core area of ​​the forest.

What comes into view is a lake with rising mist.

(End of this chapter)