Chapter Sixty-One: Encounters Without End

“A filter mouthpiece? What’s the use of this thing?”
Li Shang looked at the gene he had just acquired, feeling rather disappointed.
After all the trouble of evolving, this was all he got?
He wasn’t an aquatic creature; what possible good could this serve him?
After a quick experiment to confirm the filter wouldn’t interfere with his watermelon seed attacks, Li Shang lost interest entirely.
Instead, he focused his attention on the remaining player count displayed in the upper right corner of his vision.
As time ticked by, the rate of player elimination accelerated.
Just moments ago, he’d seen over eighty people remaining, but in the blink of an eye, that number had dropped to sixty-seven.
“Even the creatures on the map are dwindling fast.”
Watching the rapidly shifting creature markers on his minimap, Li Shang sensed that the final confrontation was drawing near.
“I have to speed up my evolution, or I’ll just be running in place this round.”
With that thought, a sense of urgency welled up inside him.
He shook off the stream water still clinging to his feathers, rose to his feet, and flew in the direction where the minimap showed the highest concentration of life forms.
Where the creatures were sparse, he knew without a doubt that some tough customers lurked; with his current strength, he’d be asking for trouble.
Flying swiftly, he soon left the area where that swarm of bugs had “looked after” him.
Green once again stretched below his field of view.
But…
Li Shang didn’t spare even a glance at the plants below.
After all, it wasn’t just animals that were evolving—plants were too.
Poisonous ones were considered ordinary now.
In his last life, he’d even encountered a giant tree that could run, jump, and fire a barrage of bullets.
Absolutely absurd!
“Hm? What’s going on?”
Li Shang’s flight suddenly halted.
He looked at the rapidly changing direction indicator on his minimap.
That could only mean a large number of creatures nearby had either died or moved away.
Li Shang glanced downward. He was surrounded by plants, so it was impossible anything had simply left.
But death…
He stared hard at the plants below for a long moment, but couldn’t spot anything amiss.
“Something’s off…”
A chill ran down Li Shang’s spine. It was always most terrifying when you could sense something wrong, yet couldn’t detect the source.
The creatures in this world were evolving into things beyond comprehension.
He didn’t dare linger. Instantly, he spread his wings and shot off into the distance.
Not long after he left, the area he’d just vacated was soon covered by a mass of black thorns erupting from the ground below.

...

Leaving that place behind, it wasn’t long before Li Shang arrived at a mountain valley.
The vegetation here, though beginning to take on odd new forms, was still relatively normal compared to elsewhere.
Seeing this, he let out a breath of relief.
He began to search the valley for prey to devour and fuel his evolution.
It didn’t take long for him to catch a few insects.
Unfortunately, luck wasn’t on his side—
They weren’t enough to trigger another evolution.

“Thud, thud, thud!”
Just as he was growing frustrated, a series of knocks echoed from not far away, accompanied by the faint sound of voices.
The distance made the words indistinct.
“Players?”
Li Shang was intrigued.
This was the first time he’d encountered other players in this mode.
“I wonder how far they’ve evolved?”
With that thought, he cautiously crept toward the source of the sounds.

...

Atop a rocky outcrop, a gibbon sporting a perfect center-parted hairstyle and a black-and-white coat was holding an orange, round object, bouncing it repeatedly against the ground.
It was incredibly springy, rebounding instantly each time it hit.
“If you’ve got guts, stop curling up and face me one-on-one!”
“Then put down your weapon!”
“Why should I? I found this with my own skill!”
“Then why should I stop curling up? That’s my skill!”
“...”
Hiding among the trees, Li Shang watched the two bickering players with a twitch of his lips.
There were always weirdos, but this year there seemed to be even more than usual.
Apparently, the game was full of goofballs—after all, with so many bizarre creatures, a handful of eccentric players couldn’t account for it all.
After observing for a while and confirming the two were oblivious to their surroundings, Li Shang hesitated briefly, then decided to ambush them and cut down two competitors.
But just as he prepared to move, calamity struck.
The rock beneath the two players began to shudder violently.
In the blink of an eye, a dense spiderweb of cracks spread across the entire outcrop.
“Boom!”
A tremendous crash split the air.
From Li Shang’s vantage, the two players barely had time to react before a massive maw swallowed them whole.
It was a beast that looked like the unfortunate offspring of a crocodile and a mole—
Powerful forelimbs, razor-sharp claws, radiating sheer menace.
After devouring the two, its body began to morph rapidly.
It inherited the gibbon’s center parting, and its physique shifted as well, leaving it a good deal reminiscent of the mythical Kun.
“Gulp!”
After witnessing this monster’s evolution, Li Shang did only two things:
Turn around—
And flap his wings like mad!

Good heavens!
What kind of abominations were these?
Utterly outrageous.
And this was only the mid-game—who knew what horrors would emerge later on?
Li Shang doubted he’d survive to see that stage.
“Maybe I should just hole up somewhere and wait it out?”
He’d originally aimed for first place, but now…
Just making the top ten would be enough.
Leaving the valley, Li Shang set his sights on the unmanned areas of the map.

“Ptui!”
He hadn’t flown far when he heard the sound of spitting from below.
Instinctively, he glanced down—
A web of white, silky strands was shooting up at him with terrifying speed.
“What the—!”
Crying out, Li Shang dodged to the side just in time.
He peered down at his attacker.
It was an alpaca with eight legs.
Its mouth worked incessantly, and after a few seconds—“Ptui!”—a glob of thick, white phlegm shot from its lips, instantly transforming into a massive web aimed straight at him.
This time, prepared, Li Shang dodged easily.
Seeing the spider alpaca preparing another assault, he dove in a steep arc—
In that moment, he became as sharp as an arrow, his beak the tip, rocketing toward the creature’s forehead.
Thud!
Thud!
Bang!
After two dull thuds and a final crash, the alpaca collapsed, Li Shang’s sharp beak having pierced its brow.
He pulled his beak free and immediately set about devouring its flesh.
[Prompt: You have devoured the Octopedal Alpaca]
[Evolution: You have gained the ability to spin silk]
Li Shang’s heart leapt at the notification.
Now he had both offense and control.
If he could just acquire a speed gene, his solo combat ability would soar.
Indulging in this fantasy for only a moment, Li Shang began quickly familiarizing himself with his new spitting ability.
Picking a random target, he tried it out.
“Hrmm… ack—cough cough.”
Phlegm, unlike watermelon seeds, was incredibly sticky—
It couldn’t even pass through the filter mouthpiece.
He ended up with a wad of phlegm stuck in his throat…