This villain is too popular.

Chapter 396 Anqin's Snake Form Awakening

[Outside the cave where explorers are being assessed]

boom!
The massive body of the gray-lined lizard crashed to the ground, the dust it kicked up causing Chen Kong to cough violently.

He slumped to the ground, blood still seeping from the wound on his arm, his stellar energy flickering like a candle in the wind.

At this moment, he barely had the strength to clench his fist.

After all, he had almost exhausted all his star energy to suppress the backlash from the 'Dreamer' within him, so he was now even more exhausted than before, let alone facing the unknown Cataclysmic-level Raccoon Administrator.

Even if another ordinary star beast came, he might not be able to withstand it.

Fortunately, after this period of time, there is very little time left before the end of the assessment.

If he perseveres for just a little longer, he will be able to pass the assessment smoothly.

"Brother, are you okay?"

Seeing that the crisis was over, the little girl whose eyes had been mutated by radiation from the occupied area timidly approached.

She gently touched Chen Kong's arm with her small hand, her milky white pupils filled with worry.

"That giant lizard shouldn't be coming back up, right?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Kong first glanced at the corpse of the gray-lined earth lizard, then turned to look at the little girl. He forced a smile, enduring the excruciating pain within his body, and patted her head, saying, "Don't worry, it won't get up."

But just as Chen Kong finished speaking, a familiar 'ding-a-ling' sound suddenly came from outside the cave.

The children inside the cave didn't understand what the bell sound meant, but Chen Kong understood it perfectly.

That was the golden bell around the raccoon keeper's neck. Its appearance meant that the raccoon keeper, the 'hunter,' had arrived in the vicinity.

As the distinctive, cold, and oppressive sound of bells outside the cave drew ever closer, Chen Kong's heart leaped into his throat.

He struggled to stand up, but his legs felt as heavy as lead, and he couldn't lift them for a long time.

With no other option, he forced himself to look out through a crack in the cave.

Before long, he saw a small figure slowly walking towards them into the cave.

As the camera focused on the raccoon keeper, everyone saw the changes in him.

It was surrounded by thick black mist, and its once cute face was now glowing with a faint, eerie red light. The golden bells were particularly dazzling in the black mist.

Upon reaching the cave entrance, the raccoon keeper unexpectedly stopped.

Its voice, tinged with a hint of mockery, slowly drifted through the surrounding black mist.

"Not bad, you actually managed to deal with the near-disaster level Grayline Earth Lizard. What a pity."

Seeing the raccoon administrator halfway through his sentence, Chen Kong struggled to his feet and asked curiously, "What's a pity?"

The raccoon keeper in the black mist slowly raised his paw, condensing a black energy ball in his palm.

"Unfortunately, your good luck ends here. After all, there is less than a minute left before the end of the assessment, but you obviously can't hold on until then."

Seeing the raccoon keeper's fierce-looking face, the little girl was so frightened that she hid behind Chen Kong and tightly gripped his clothes.

Chen Kong first glanced at the raccoon manager, then looked at the children not far away, gritted his teeth, and tried to use the only star energy in his body to activate his star core and star source.

But physical exhaustion and depletion of star energy prevented him from even doing this most basic thing.

At this moment, he was no different from an ordinary person without star power.

Am I really going to be eliminated here?
In a daze, Chen Kong's mind flashed back to An Qin's figure standing in front of the beast tide, and to the cameraman punching the shadow wolf. His heart was filled with resentment. If there had been no disappointment from the beginning, Chen Kong wouldn't have thought so much.

But now that he was so close to success, he was naturally somewhat unwilling to give up.

Seeing that Chen Kong seemed to have run out of ideas, the raccoon keeper didn't seem to have any intention of continuing to talk to him. He raised his hand and threw the black energy ball towards Chen Kong's location.

Just as the mysterious energy ball, filled with a nightmarish aura, was about to strike Chen Kong.

A figure suddenly appeared in front of him.

boom!
Amidst the deafening explosion, Chen Kong felt a wave of heat wash over him and instinctively protected the little girl's eyes.

When the smoke cleared, Chen Kong could finally see the scene before him.

Anqin stood in front of him, her hoodie torn to shreds, revealing shoulders covered in pale purple scales.

Her eyes transformed into the vertical pupils characteristic of snakes, gleaming with a cold light. Her tongue, when extended, was forked, gently licking the corner of her mouth. Her lower body had completely transformed into a thick snake tail, its scales gleaming with a metallic sheen in the sunlight.

The tip of its tail was dripping with transparent venom, which instantly corroded small pits when it fell to the ground.

Her right hand was covered in scales, and her fingertips were stained with the black blood of the Shadow Wolf, clearly indicating that she had just emerged from the beast tide.

"Your Star Source"

Seeing An Qin's drastically changed appearance, Chen Kong subconsciously asked her a question.

He clearly remembered that Anqin had said that her star source was the special type, Listening to All Things, but what he saw in front of him was clearly the form of a transformation type star source.

Anqin did not turn around. With a flick of her tail, she swept away the pebbles beside her, making a hissing sound characteristic of snakes.

"We'll talk about it after it's over."

After speaking, Anqin looked at the raccoon keeper not far away and said in a calm but unquestionable tone, "Your opponent is me. If you want to eliminate him, you'll have to get past me first."

Almost simultaneously, the cameraman's voice came from the other side. He dragged his injured left leg, the left leg plate of his android armor was deformed, revealing the metal gears inside, but he still ran quickly to Anqin's side.

He didn't speak, but simply activated the 'Global Lens' to firmly lock onto its range of movement.

"Count me in."

"you."

Seeing this, Chen Kong was stunned. He hadn't expected that when he was at his weakest, these two temporary teammates would risk their lives to come back and save him.

Upon seeing the two people who suddenly appeared, the raccoon keeper tilted his head and a strange smile appeared on his lips.

"The prey actually dared to run up to the hunter; it's just that you seem to have forgotten."

As they spoke, the black mist surrounding the raccoon keeper suddenly surged wildly, and his body grew larger at a visible speed.

Its original half-meter height instantly grew to three meters, five meters, and ten meters. Eventually, it became a behemoth as tall as a building!

The giggly raccoon is covered in black fur, and its claws are bigger than a door panel. With each step it takes, a deep trench is cracked in the ground.

The golden bell also grew larger and hung around its neck, its sound shaking the surrounding trees.

Its eyes turned blood red, staring intently at Anqin and the cameraman, its voice booming like thunder.

"The rules of this test are: I am the hunter, and you are merely the prey hiding in the shadows!"

(End of this chapter)