Hiss~!
The small green snake opened its fangs and suddenly attacked like a flash of lightning.
Chen Chao's pupils contracted, and his body instinctively shrank his head, compressing his cervical spine to his chest. His head immediately pulled back a few inches, as though he had no neck at all.
This small distance narrowly avoided the snake's strike.
The cell energy within Chen Chao's body was instantly activated, increasing his speed!
Whoosh!
His body flickered like a phantom, and his hand accurately grabbed the snake's body. He didn't use the iron rod to strike; that would allow the snake to coil around him.
After gripping the snake with both hands, its triangular head immediately twisted its smooth body, trying to bite Chen Chao's hand.
Chen Chao released one hand and grabbed its tail with one hand, swinging its body around like a green whirlwind.
This small green snake was clearly a mutated creature. Though it hadn't grown in size, it clearly carried terrifying venom. While swinging its body to prevent its soft nerves from twisting and coiling, Chen Chao quickly reached for his waist, pulling out his handgun and aiming at the edge of the green whirlwind.
Bang!
The bullet erupted with a roar, and hot blood splattered out in a few spots, dripping onto his arm, corroding it like lava, leaving dark green spots that gradually expanded.
Chen Chao stopped swinging, the snake's head completely destroyed by the bullet, but its body was still twitching and writhing, wrapping itself around Chen Chao's arm.
Chen Chao immediately drew a throwing knife and pinned the snake's vital spot to the tree trunk, then with his other hand, pulled its tail, straightened its body, and drew a second throwing knife to cut open its belly, squeezing out its dark red snake gall and swallowing it.
Although the snake gall couldn't fully detoxify, it could decompose a significant amount of the venom. Since he had only been infected on the surface of his skin, the dark green spots quickly faded.
Chen Chao skinned the snake and soon found a small green soft mass in its long, slender meat.
Chen Chao's eyes lit up. He didn't expect this to be a Green Source mutated beast.
Though small, the genetic energy it contained was very high. Just this small mass was equivalent to all the white genetic energy he had gathered before!
Without hesitation, Chen Chao threw it into his mouth and swallowed.
A few minutes later, Chen Chao felt his vision become much clearer, and his body felt lighter. His physique improved, and the physical strength and cellular energy he had expended were fully replenished.
Chen Chao immediately descended the tree and continued hunting.
In this herbivore region, there were zebras, elephants, monkeys, and various bird species. Chen Chao quickly spotted his next target: an ostrich!
He saw it pecking at the corpse of a spotted deer. The deer had been dead for a while, its flesh decayed and blurred. The majority of its white skeletal frame had been completely picked clean, with only some rotting meat left on its neck and legs, crawling with maggots.
Chen Chao immediately moved stealthily toward it.
The ostrich was focused on feeding and didn't notice anything unusual. Chen Chao quickly reached a position about three meters behind it, the perfect distance for an ambush!
Chen Chao tightened his grip on the iron rod and suddenly sprang into action!
Speed Boost!
His body surged forward like a predatory beast, lunging at the ostrich. As it panic-strickenly raised its head, the iron rod struck heavily at its long neck.
Bang!
The rod hit, and the pink neck instantly snapped, folding into a V-shape.
Chen Chao's other hand held a throwing knife and swiftly sliced through.
With a whoosh, the sharp blade, combined with lightning speed, immediately severed the ostrich's neck. Its head rolled off and fell to the ground, and fresh red blood shot out from the long neck.
The ostrich staggered, and after a few seconds, collapsed beside the spotted deer's corpse.
Chen Chao immediately used the throwing knife to disassemble its body and quickly extracted a large chunk of white genetic energy.
Chen Chao swallowed it in one gulp, feeling the genetic energy soften as it slid down his throat. A few minutes later, his physique grew again, and with the previously consumed green genetic energy, his body had now reached about seven times the strength of an ordinary human!
If he activated Speed Boost, his speed would immediately hit fourteen times normal speed!
At this stage, even a cheetah would only match that speed!
Chen Chao quickly left the area. Just as he was about to enter the forest, he suddenly heard something move behind him. Turning around, Chen Chao was surprised to see that a large portion of the ostrich's body was sinking into the soil, as if the ground there was a swamp, slowly pulling it down.
Chen Chao had just passed by there and knew the soil wasn't quicksand or wetland.
His eyes flashed, and he immediately moved to investigate.
About eight meters away, he saw that most of the ostrich's body was buried in the grass. Green vines were wrapping around its body. These vines, like poisonous snakes, had small mouths with sharp teeth that were continuously gnawing on the ostrich's corpse.
Chen Chao froze.
"A plant-based monster?"
Under the virus's influence, not only animals mutated, but some special plants also did. They could develop simple forms of intelligence, and these plants were as dangerous as golden mutated beasts.
Chen Chao hadn't expected to encounter a plant-based monster here. His eyes flashed, and he immediately moved to the edge of the ostrich's corpse, about two meters away.
He gripped the iron rod tightly, and seeing that the plant-based monster hadn't noticed him, he suddenly surged forward and swung the rod down hard at the edge of the ostrich's body!
The tip of the rod plunged into the soil, and with his immense strength, despite it being a blunt instrument, it still sunk about half a meter deep into the ground.
The green vines wrapping around the ostrich's body immediately began to thrash violently, trying to coil around Chen Chao's ankle. Meanwhile, the soil beneath the ostrich's body suddenly erupted, and a green vine shot out. Its upper part resembled small grass, but its lower part had roots like a monster's claws, gripping the soil tightly. From its root grew tendril-like vines, and on one of its leaves, a huge tear appeared, revealing ferocious fangs.
Chen Chao, instead of being startled, was delighted. As expected, it was a plant-based monster. These types of creatures were extremely rare, as valuable as golden beasts. Their bodies contained life energy that could heal any injury. Even if someone became disabled, they could regenerate limbs, making them treasures for survivors!
After all, besides a few people with abilities like "immortality" or "healing," most survivors who got injured would become useless!
In a world like the apocalypse, where survivors had to fight monsters every day, injuries were a regular occurrence, so life energy that could heal all wounds was a treasure that everyone coveted!
Chen Chao's eyes lit up. The energy contained in this life energy far surpassed green genetic energy, comparable to the golden blood of golden beasts. Aside from healing, it also had the ability to modify genes, greatly enhancing their resilience.
Chen Chao immediately pulled out his handgun. A plant-based monster was worth using bullets on!
Upon seeing the handgun, the little grass-like plant monster immediately began to tremble, as if recognizing what a gun was. The deadly aura around it vanished instantly, and it quickly shrank back into the soil.
Chen Chao wouldn't give it the chance to escape underground. He immediately pulled the trigger, firing three rounds that pierced through the root that had sunk halfway into the ground.
Screech—
The small grass monster's mouth on its leaf opened wide, releasing a sharp, painful scream. Thick, green fluid began to ooze from the root where it had been pierced.