Chen Ke neither dodged nor flinched, letting the toad's tongue wrap around his waist and swiftly pull him toward its gaping mouth.
"Fallen into the trap, huh!"
Right then, a short sword suddenly appeared in Chen Ke's right hand!
The toad's eyes, originally narrowed to slits, snapped open wide in fear, looking towards the short sword in Chen Ke's hand. The tongue coiled around Chen Ke also suddenly loosened, attempting to fling Chen Ke aside.
But due to momentum, Chen Ke still rapidly fell towards the toad. He switched the sword to his other hand, plunging the blade into the toad's left eye.
"Owwwww!!!" the toad screamed in agony.
Chen Ke, holding onto the hilt and with the sharp blade and his body weight, not only stabbed the toad's eye but also sliced a horrifying gash across its left cheek. Purple blood gushed out like a fountain, and at that moment, the sword finally crumbled under the strain, turning into diamond dust in Chen Ke's hand.
Chen Ke wasn't sure whether the toad's blood was poisonous, but judging from its filthy body covered in tumors, it was certainly vile even if not toxic. A flash of white light swept over him, and suddenly, an old coat appeared.
This was the first time Chen Ke used a clothing-type Holy Relic. He had always wondered, if one was already wearing clothes, how would these relics appear? Clothes over clothes, shoes over shoes? That would be too uncomfortable!
But as the coat appeared on him, he understood instantly.
His own clothes changed in appearance to match the Holy Relic, but the feel of wearing them remained unchanged. That is, the clothing-type Holy Relics simply replaced the look of his existing clothes.
The purple blood splashed onto Chen Ke's body, but neither his face nor the old coat got wet. The blood droplets rolled off his clothes and skin like water off a hydrophobic material.
Definitely poisonous.
He fell back, sitting in the filthy water, having achieved his goal. The sword had inflicted a massive, bleeding wound on the toad, and now it was time for the shield to take the stage.
Suddenly, a pair of worn boots appeared on Chen Ke's feet. Even submerged up to his knees, the 25% speed boost from the combat boots was effective, significantly increasing Chen Ke's pace through the water.
He ran on the blind side of the toad, leaping and splashing like a deer, stirring up splashes of water.
The toad, turning in circles trying to locate Chen Ke by sound, bore a continually bleeding wound on its left face, looking quite miserable. It yelled, "You think blinding me in one eye will defeat me? I have fought countless battles! You freelancers, don't think having Holy Relics can do anything to me."
Now!
Chen Ke leaped towards the toad, a spiked round shield suddenly appearing on his right arm. He positioned the shield in front, charging towards the underbelly of the toad.
The toad spotted Chen Ke, screeched, and its tongue shot out again.
Chen Ke glared fiercely, a killing intent trigger!
"Killing Intent -50"
"Killing Intent: 0/50"
A pale red aura of killing intent rose from Chen Ke, surging towards the toad with incredible speed.
"Eh? What is this…" The toad was stunned for less than half a second.
"I'm not like them!" Chen Ke shouted, crashing into the toad's belly with his shield.
A muffled thud sounded, like nails piercing flesh.
Just a second had passed when Chen Ke suddenly felt a strong repulsion that bounced him right back.
He sat up from the filthy water once again. The anticipated scene where a nail pierced through the toad's stomach, causing a grotesque spill of organs, did not occur; however, the toad vomited a large amount of purple blood, mixed with partly digested human limbs.
"I'll kill you now!" the toad roared furiously, but it immediately vomited more mess, indicating that the attack had indeed damaged its viscera.
Chen Ke stood up, ready to lift his shield for another strike, but he suddenly noticed something—lifting his foot out of the water, he saw that his combat boots were broken, replaced now by ordinary shoes.
"Damn it…" Chen Ke cursed under his breath as he shifted the shield to his left hand and drew his Colt Python, firing continuously at the toad.
"Have you finished with your tricks? A nice attempt! But don't think you can wear me out! I am not afraid of flames," the toad laughed boisterously.
The large-caliber Flame Magnum Bullets, at that moment, were like little plastic pellets. Even striking the grievously injured toad, they were completely absorbed, simply wasting the ammunition.
It made sense that the Administration Bureau developed eighteen types of bullets across six categories, it seemed that different monsters required specifically attributed bullets to inflict actual damage.
"This time I'm definitely going to eat you!" the toad's tongue swiftly lashed out and coiled around Chen Ke's neck, pulling him into mid-air.
At that instant, Chen Ke pulled out his M1911A1 and pulled the trigger at the toad's gaping mouth.
The bullets, imbued with the Punishment attribute, traced a holy white trajectory across the green-tinged underworld, burrowing into the toad's mouth.
Five .45acp Punishment rounds entered the toad's mouth—one after another—all genuine products from the Administration Bureau!
A burst of white light exploded within the toad's mouth, giving off a sun's heat, incinerating the toad from the inside out. Its tongue was the first to burn off at the root, causing Chen Ke to lose count of how many times he had fallen into the filthy water.
Unlike the effect of the Flame Bullets, the searing effect of the Punishment bullets was not that of burning but more like "purification". The white flames slowly devoured the toad's flesh and bones, causing them to vanish into thin air.
The toad, continuously losing limbs, struggled futilely in the filthy water, helplessly watching its obese thighs and stomach slowly disappear, until finally, what remained of its half-body quieted down.
Chen Ke approached the toad, its only intact eye blinking at him, its mouth opening slightly to gasp two words.
"… Damn… why?"
With that, it breathed its last.
The toad's fragmented corpse lay in the dirty water like a big blob of purple excrement, from which suddenly a purple mist began to rise and fly towards Chen Ke.
"Even in death, you disgust me?!"
Chen Ke was startled, thinking it was toxic gas, and turned to run. However, the mist entered his body quickly, and instantly, a white flash appeared before his eyes, revealing fragmented memories of the toad!
He saw himself squeezed among a crowd of toads.
Turning his head, he realized he was inside a netted bag.
The toads were all silent, but Chen Ke sensed their anxiety—being ingredients, being bought by customers meant death.
People of the United Federation did not eat toads, but the Fei Huang people residing within the Federation relished them.
It raised its toad head to look at the buyer, a Fei Huang…
This Fei Huang person was a skilled chef. He was adept at killing fish and toads.
He squatted inside the net, silently watching his companions being slaughtered.
Their heads were nailed from the crown to the chin, and then the Fei Huang person yanked their legs to disembowel and skin them.
Everything inside their bellies was thoroughly emptied and thrown beside the chopping board.
As the number of comrades in the net dwindled, it was finally his turn...
It was unclear whether it was divine favor or the Fei Huang person's carelessness.
He escaped, breaking free from the hands of the Fei Huang, leaping toward the bathroom.
Along the filthy sewer pipes, in the dirty water filled with filth, he was flushed into the drainage system of Opportunity City.
The toad hopped along in the pitch-dark underground world, surviving on decayed matter washed down from other pipes...
He grew larger and larger, even bigger than the person who had once wanted to eat him.
His skin developed toxic tumors that occasionally secreted poisonous fluids.
However, because of this, he could no longer jump.
In this narrow space, jumping was meaningless.
He was satisfied, he was happy, he had gained freedom and power.
A homeless man appeared in the sewer, Asian, the same skin color as the person who once wanted to eat him.
They had once wanted to eat him, now, he wanted to eat them.
The taste of humans was really good, and ever since eating a human, he could speak.
The more people he ate, the more knowledge he acquired.
His power grew day by day, and some new abilities gradually unlocked.
He could turn the homeless into toads, and also cast magic on some objects.
This ability did not come from nowhere, this was Divine Revelation...
He began to believe that fate had chosen him, letting him wield Divine Power to defeat humans.
And he, only lacked an army...
"Kneel."
"Listen to my call, become my servant, fulfill your desires."
"Speak your wish."
"I grant you a miracle."
In the dark tunnel, he extended a ladle afflicted with a mutated curse and foul Magic into the woman's hand.
Everything was proceeding according to plan...
Chen Ke came back to his senses, breathing heavily. He felt that this memory flashback was much longer than before. That purple mist turned out to be the soul of the toad!
As the memory faded, the life countdown on the top-right corner of his vision changed, popping up a line of text:
"Life Limit +5 hours"
"Your lifespan now remains 9 hours 59 minutes 59 seconds..."
Staring at this text, Chen Ke was too shocked to speak. When he looked again at the body of the toad, a pop-up appeared in his view:
[Mutated Individual Level: Transcendent]
[Status: Deceased]
[Form: Biological]
[Category: Corrosion]
[Attributes: Acid, Magic]
Chen Ke recalled the mutated ladle, realizing the aberrant curse originated from this toad.
It all became crystal clear: a toad, lucky to escape from a human kitchen, had been infected with corrosive Spiritual Energy in the filthy underground drainage system and had become a monster possessing acid and Magic-related abilities.
It could gain knowledge and power by consuming humans and unlock new abilities. After eating a considerable number of people, it harbored many thoughts.
Coincidentally, female Diners and such starving individuals had also been infected with unknown attributes of Spiritual Energy and turned into monsters.
Even after death, the female Diner could not let go of her resentment toward the world, setting fire to kill the employer who made her jobless and her family, and in a half-demolished apartment complex in the Lower District, she became companions with a group of likewise starved-to-death transformed homeless.
The female Diner fought against post-mutative amnesia in various ways and strived to help other homeless. One day, she met the toad in the sewer.
Compared to the female Diner, this toad was like the protagonist of a fantasy novel! Who knows what it could become if it kept eating people and leveling up?
Chen Ke holstered his gun and pocketed the Holy Relics restored to diamonds. Although he lost a sword and a pair of boots in this great battle, he gained 5 hours of life, allowing him future actions with more ease, which was not bad.
However, he had used Parker's Spiritual Ability Pistol, firing five shots, essentially sending his location coordinates to the Administration Bureau five times. Now, he had to hurry away!