Chen Chao's figure flashed, his quick reflexes allowed him to grab the root stalk of the plant, swiftly pulling it out of the soil. As the tendrils on its root detached from the earth, it immediately shriveled up like a fish deprived of water, its green glow fading and its form collapsing weakly.
"Creeeeek—"
The little grass monster screeched with a sharp voice, shaking its upper body of green leaves, and swung a few soft tendrils to slap against Chen Chao's arm. The attack didn't hurt at all.
Chen Chao ignored its desperate struggles and roughly crumpled the green leaves and root stalk into a ball. Its leaves were as smooth as human skin, and no matter how he folded them, the intricate veins inside the leaves remained intact. Soon, it was compressed into a small, fist-sized green bundle.
Using the tendrils to bind the creature's body, Chen Chao stuffed it into the back pocket of his pants.
The life energy inside this plant-based monster couldn't be directly absorbed like that of mutant creatures or corpses. It required some refining tools.
Chen Chao could only wait until he returned to refine it and absorb the energy.
To prevent it from dying, he added a few grains of soil into the pocket. This amount of dirt was enough to keep it alive for a while.
After completing this, Chen Chao patted his hands in satisfaction and quickly left the area.
Thanks to his increasingly proficient mastery of the Stealth Domain, Chen Chao's hunting speed had been rising rapidly. In just one afternoon, he had killed eight mutant zebras, one rabbit, and one wild goose.
Among these, the most troublesome was the rabbit. The mutated white rabbit had sharp fur that could stand up as a warning, much like a hedgehog's spines, and it was incredibly fast. With amazing jumping ability and a keen sense of smell, it detected Chen Chao's presence as soon as he got within three meters of it.
Although he could block the sweat glands, the pores in his eyes and ears still emitted small traces of human scent.
That slight scent was what the rabbit detected. Unlike other animals that would flee, it raised its fur and charged straight at Chen Chao's location.
If it hit him, the incredible force of its jump would be enough to send its spines into his body, piercing his heart with deadly precision.
Fortunately, Chen Chao reacted quickly, rolling out of the way just in time to avoid its attack, then swung a stick to strike its skull.
The rabbit's skull was exceptionally hard. The impact felt like hitting steel, and the recoil was severe, but Chen Chao managed to absorb the shock.
Instead of fleeing, the mutated rabbit's aggression was triggered. It began charging recklessly, crashing into everything.
Chen Chao relied on his ability to blend into the light, making his movements invisible to the rabbit. After several erratic charges, he struck it with two swift blows, killing it.
In comparison, the wild goose was much easier to deal with. It was resting on a tree when Chen Chao approached from twenty meters away and took it down with a well-aimed flying knife, hardly breaking a sweat.
After obtaining ten units of white gene energy, Chen Chao's physique doubled again, reaching about eight times the strength of an average human, though he still had some distance before reaching the next evolution.
By nightfall, the atmosphere in the zoo grew grim. Without any lights or moon, the world was swallowed by darkness, with even the stars obscured by the thick, polluted air.
From time to time, distant roars from monsters echoed in the air—some angry, others in pain. Some nocturnal monsters would come out to hunt.
Chen Chao had not yet evolved night vision, so he took cover on the trunk of a tree. His body blended into the darkness as if becoming one with it, his breathing so quiet it was almost imperceptible.
Familiarity with the wilderness life seemed to return to him.
Chen Chao held his iron staff, the cool wind brushing against him, as he entered a light state of rest. The slightest movement would immediately rouse him from his slumber.
When the first rays of dawn broke, a new day arrived.
Opening his eyes, the thought of seeing the world again filled him with a sense of happiness.
He tore a few non-toxic leaves from the tree and chewed them, using them to clean his teeth. This was his version of brushing teeth in this era.
After a light stretch, Chen Chao checked on the little grass monster. It was still alive, though its life force was weak. The soil he had put in its pocket yesterday had already been completely absorbed by it.
Chen Chao took a small handful of dirt and placed it in the pocket once more.
The little grass monster immediately activated its weak tendrils, wrapping around the soil and slowly extracting its nutrients.
Chen Chao gripped his iron staff, his body merging with the morning light as he moved deeper into the misty forest. Just a few steps in, a black figure suddenly leaped across his line of sight.
A gorilla!
Though the figure moved quickly, Chen Chao's dynamic vision allowed him to clearly spot its shape. It was a mutated black gorilla, its red eyes glowing, its sharp fangs visible as it chewed on the leg of a beast.
Clearly, it hadn't noticed Chen Chao hiding in the light.
Chen Chao noticed a patch of light green fur on its forehead, and a glimmer of realization flashed in his eyes. This was likely a mutant gorilla at the Green-source level.
The black gorilla's speed was tremendous, and within moments, it leaped out of the forest, munching on the beast leg, finishing it in a few bites. It casually discarded the bone, then sped off again, jumping a few more times before landing on an iron fence.
Beyond the fence was another area with a large water pool in the center. On the grassy area beside the pool, a large number of crawling mutant monsters lay there—mutant crocodiles!
As the gorilla entered the crocodile pen, one of the mutant crocodiles, sensing the gorilla's scent, immediately crawled toward it, opening its massive jaws to strike.
The gorilla was unfazed, nimbly jumping onto the crocodile's back, gripping its upper jaw with its sharp fingers, and forcefully pulling its head upward.
The mutant crocodile howled in pain, its tail, which had been mutated into a long, sharp weapon, swept toward the gorilla.
The gorilla reacted swiftly, not only dodging the tail strike but also grabbing the tail with both hands. It leapt off the crocodile's back, its black fur puffing up as it raised its massive muscles, roaring as it hurled the crocodile's body outside the fence.
After the mutant crocodile was thrown out of the iron fence, a deep, resonant roar suddenly echoed from the center of the water pool. The sound was deafening, shaking the air and causing Chen Chao, who was standing outside the fence, to feel a slight pain in his eardrums.
From the murky water, a massive wave suddenly erupted, reaching a height of seven to eight meters. A huge, grotesque mouth emerged from the water, and water flowed down through its jagged teeth, revealing the terrifying figure of the creature.
Chen Chao's pupils contracted in shock.
This was a super-sized mutant crocodile!
Though it looked similar to the mutated crocodiles around it, its size was beyond extraordinary—about the size of a heavy-duty truck. Its massive jaws alone were large enough to swallow four or five of the smaller mutated crocodiles. It resembled a giant predator, a true monster, lurking in the center of the pool.
The black gorilla shuddered in fear as it saw the giant mutant crocodile. With a quick leap, it sprang over the iron fence, abandoning even the mutant crocodile it had thrown outside. It fled for its life, disappearing into the forest in the blink of an eye.
The giant mutant crocodile let out a mighty roar, its greenish-yellow eyes locking onto Chen Chao's hiding spot.
"Shit!" Chen Chao's face paled as the realization hit him—the crocodile had evolved two or maybe three times, and it likely possessed heat vision. No matter how skilled he was in stealth, there would be no escaping the creature's gaze. Even if he buried himself in the ground, it would be detected.
Roar!
The giant mutant crocodile let out another furious roar, its massive four-legged form pushing through the water with astonishing force. It sent a huge wave crashing into the surroundings, and several mutant crocodiles that had been floating on the water were tossed out by the surge, tumbling onto the grass.
Boom! Boom!
The ground trembled with each step the giant crocodile took, its massive form charging toward Chen Chao with terrifying speed. In just a few strides, it covered several meters of distance.
The tall iron fence that had separated the areas now seemed as fragile as a spider's web in front of the massive beast.