I'm not just human!

Some mutants, though they look human, are covered in golden, spotted fur, and their hands have turned into leopard-like claws.

Some mutants have grown a pair of wings on their backs, looking as holy as angels, although they are picking their noses, which is a rather unseemly sight.

Some mutants even had heads that looked like eagles, their sharp eyes fixed on the bald thug who was holding the shop owner hostage outside the mutant crystal and mutant meatball specialty store.

Xia Fa was increasingly surprised as he looked. He knew that when he entered the Worm City last time, all he saw were mutants who looked like humans. If they didn't reveal their mutant abilities, no one could tell the difference between them and humans.

But now, hundreds or tens of thousands of years later, so many mutants with animal characteristics have appeared.

"and many more……"

Xia Fa suddenly realized something.

Combining clues such as "animal mutation training building" and "mutated flesh ball," he immediately deduced an obvious conclusion.

"Besides the mutated crystal source, after hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of years, the mutated people found the mutated flesh ball, thus giving rise to animal-type mutated humans?"

For some reason, after realizing this, Xia Fa's heart suddenly burned with uncontrollable passion.

An extremely bold idea popped into his mind.

"If I eat the mutated flesh ball, will I be able to gain new mutations?"

After consuming the top-tier mutated crystal source, the three major mutations he obtained—"Chaotic Destruction Lightning," "Pure White Chasing Light Holy Sun," and "Metal Accumulation Storm"—greatly enhanced his strength.

Especially after becoming a god, this kind of improvement is almost equivalent to three overlord-level secret contracts!

Now, if we could obtain a mutated flesh ball and swallow it, even if we could only obtain one type of mutation, wouldn't that be equivalent to signing another overlord-level secret contract?

Xia Fa became more and more excited as he thought about it. The only problem was where to get a mutated flesh ball.

Moreover, the higher the quality of the mutated flesh ball, the better.

Unfortunately, the only place that seemed to have a chance to get mutated fleshballs—the mutated crystal source and the mutated fleshball specialty store—was being held hostage by a thug.

This thug seems to be a fire element type mutant. If he acts impulsively and explodes on the spot, the mutant crystal source and mutant flesh ball in the store might be completely destroyed.

"I wonder how powerful the person I became this time traveled is, and what kind of mutations they have..."

Since he was only a little over a hundred meters away from the bald thug, Xia Fa guessed that the mutant he had become through time travel must be quite powerful, otherwise he would never dare to stand so close.

Just then, someone quietly patted him on the shoulder.

“Benil, how about I go and lure the enemy in from the front, and then you rush in to protect the store?”

It was a rather mature voice. Xia Fa turned his head and was slightly taken aback.

The person who patted him on the shoulder was a middle-aged man in a suit and tie, but his eyes were the color of holy light, and it was clear at a glance that he was no ordinary person.

Perhaps because of the conversation with the middle-aged man, a slight throbbing pain shot through his head, followed by a flood of fragmented memories.

"My name is indeed Beniel, as for my strength... I am an elephant mutant at the insect level."

"Wait, how come mutants are classified into the same rank as us superhumans?"

"Oh no, it's only possible that we superhumans and mutants have the same ranking system. After all, mutants have existed for billions of years... The ranking system might have been created by them."

"I am a member of the Animal Mutant Association. When I have nothing to do, I go deep into various islands or jungles with my mutant team to hunt monsters and earn money."

"As for this man in the suit, he is the captain of my mutant squad, named Lekotko, an Eagle-level Holy Light mutant..."

The Holy Light mutant is naturally not afraid of explosions, as long as its body elementalizes into holy light.

No wonder, Lecter said he went to lure the enemy head-on; he really wasn't afraid of that bald thug.

Just then, Lekot leaned down again and whispered:

"I just received an SSS-level mission from our Animal Mutant Human Association: protect the mutant crystal source and mutant flesh ball in the specialty store at all costs."

"As for the shop owner and this bald thug, we don't need to worry about them."

"Of course, the premise is that this bald thug at the Eagle level cannot actually self-destruct."

Upon hearing this, Xia Fa's heart skipped a beat:

"An SSS-level mission? What are the rewards?"

Lecter rolled her eyes at him:

"Benir, you haven't changed at all. When doing a mission, the first thing you look at is the reward. As for what the reward is—six million gold coins, a top-grade mutated crystal source, a top-grade mutated flesh ball, you can choose one of these three."

Wait a minute, doesn't this mean that a top-tier mutated crystal source or a top-tier mutated flesh ball is directly worth six million gold coins?

Having gained some fragmented memories, Xia Fan was able to vaguely determine that the purchasing power of six million gold coins in the mutant era was roughly equivalent to ten million gold pounds now.

From this perspective, the rarity of top-tier mutated crystal sources or top-tier mutated fleshballs in the era of mutants was in no way inferior to that of the overlord-level secret contracts of this era.

"Okay, I'll take the task!"

Xia Fa readily agreed. Since he was a time traveler, he wouldn't die even if he failed, so he might as well give it a try.

At the same time, he glanced subtly at the back of his right hand.

Sure enough, on the back of my right hand, there was the same hourglass as the one I had during the last time I traveled through time. It was still filled with gray mist, and about one-fifth of it had already flowed out.

After visually estimating the distance between himself and the mutated crystal source and the mutated flesh ball specialty store, he found it to be exactly a little over a hundred meters.

"So, my 1000-meter challenge for physical training turned into this?"

"Last time, we had to push a cart full of mutated crystals through a monster zone that was over a hundred meters long. This time, we have to take down that bald thug within a distance of just over a hundred meters and protect the mutated crystals and mutated fleshballs in the store..."

Based on the fragmented memories I just obtained, I am currently in the 60,000th year of the Elemental Calendar.

The Elemental Calendar is a calendar system established to commemorate the development of the technology by "Loret" that allowed people with elemental mutations to transform their bodies into elements.

In other words, the "Benil" he is currently in after time travel is more than 60,000 years older than the "Lorete" he was in after the last time travel.

No wonder Worm City has developed so prosperously.

"No matter what, I have to finish running these hundred meters to save the store, otherwise this workout might be considered a failure..."

Xia Fa's eyes flashed as he began to make plans.

He was just an insect-level elephant mutant. Although he had thick skin and flesh, it would be very difficult for him to withstand the bald thug's fiery self-destruction.

This is because the bald thug is an Eagle-level fighter.

Most importantly, this bald thug is currently extremely agitated, giving the impression that he would immediately self-destruct if anyone who could threaten him got close.

In other words, he might have only run a few dozen meters before he self-destructed.

Then, this workout will be considered a failure, and I'm afraid my energy will be exhausted, just like when I was only a few pull-ups away from finishing.

"Captain, what is the radius of the self-destruction of the Eagle-level fire mutant?"

Xia Fa asked cautiously, as this was the most needed intelligence at the moment.

Captain Lecter replied without hesitation:

"Hmm... the range is probably a few city blocks. After all, Eagle-level mutants are the strongest mutants. Otherwise, why do you think this mission would be the highest SSS-level?"

A few blocks?

Xia Faren was dumbfounded. How could there be so many reckless people in this neighborhood who dared to gather and watch within a range of one or two hundred meters?

Oh wait, it seems like all the onlookers are mutants. As long as you don't get too close to the very center of the explosion, you'll only suffer minor injuries at most.

Moreover, there's Captain Lycote, a Holy Light mutant who's completely immune to fire and explosions.

However, there is still a big problem.

"An Eagle-level mutant, is that the strongest being in this mutant era? This..."

Xia Fa couldn't help but feel astonished. After all, according to the Paradox Clown, the pinnacle of mutants was the Sun God King and the Moon Mother Goddess, the two pillars of the universe!

Especially the Sun God King, who is suspected to be even stronger than [Absolute Defense]!

So, he subconsciously thought that since he was already an insect-level mutant, there must also be whale-level mutants, angel mutants, and so on in this mutant era... But he didn't expect that the strongest one was actually just an eagle-level mutant!

Wait a minute, if the strongest beings right now are only Eagle-level mutants, then how did the ranks and statuses of bacteria, insects, eagles, wolves, elephants, whales, as well as demigods, angels, rulers, and even gods, outer gods, and true gods develop?

However, now is not the time to be curious about that. Xia Fa keenly noticed that several mutants had quietly approached the bald thug from behind.

Clearly, besides their own mutant squad, other mutant squads had also received the highest SSS-level bounty.

"Specialty stores for mutated crystal sources and mutated flesh balls... It seems that every city on Caligia has one, which is jointly opened by the Animal Mutation Association and the Elemental Mutation Association."

"That's why specialty stores for mutant crystal sources and mutant meatballs keep a large number of mutant crystal sources and mutant meatballs."

“Normally, no one dares to rob them, because robbing them is equivalent to provoking the Animal Mutation Association and the Elemental Mutation Association, which are behemoths comparable to the nine major churches…”

"But for some unknown reason, this bald thug actually attacked the Mutant Crystal Source and Mutant Meatball Specialty Store in Worm City."

"Moreover, he doesn't seem to want to steal the incredibly valuable mutated crystal source and mutated fleshball inside at all. So what exactly is his purpose?"

Xia Fa's brain was working at lightning speed, analyzing the situation bit by bit, and he had already discovered some clues.

"Don't come any closer!!! If you dare to approach again, I'll self-destruct immediately!!!"

Suddenly, the bald thug, still holding the shopkeeper in his arms, abruptly turned around and faced the few mutants who dared to approach.

A few sparks even flew from the horrifying vertical scar running down his face; clearly, he wasn't joking.

"Brother, relax. We didn't mean anything by it. We just wanted to watch the fun. We couldn't help but get a little closer."

A winged mutant raised his hands and began to back away, signaling to the bald thug not to be nervous.

The bald thug suddenly seemed to have been provoked, and his expression became even more agitated:

"Watching the show? I'm here to gamble my life with this bastard, and you think I'm just here to watch the show?"

As he spoke, the arm he was holding around the shop owner suddenly became hot and shiny, turning the color of burning steel.

The shop owner was immediately burned and screamed, his face contorted in extreme pain.

A look of triumphant satisfaction spread across the bald thug's face as he continued:

"Do you know, back then I worked diligently as a dockworker for more than ten years, and finally saved up 100,000 gold coins to buy a low-grade mutated crystal source and try my luck."

"But this bastard actually used inferior mutated crystal sources to impersonate low-grade mutated crystal sources, treating me like a pig!"

"I later realized something was wrong and went to confront him, but he called over a group of bodyguards who beat me half to death!"

The pedestrians on the street, who were there to watch the excitement, craned their necks and pricked up their ears when they heard there was some juicy gossip to be had.

Upon hearing the bald thug's accusations, the crowd immediately stirred.

"Yeah! I almost got ripped off by this shop owner back then, but luckily I was careful. I opened the safe on the spot, checked the goods, and then returned them. Otherwise, I wouldn't be a giant tiger mutant now!"