Chapter 14: Predator and Prey
Eyes fluttering open, Liu Xiao's vision sharpened as if someone had fitted him with glasses—the world suddenly crisp and vivid.
Huh? Why am I in a forest?
Shrubs and dense foliage surrounded him. He distinctly remembered leaving the Origin Point on an open plain.
Just as he turned to survey his surroundings—
Thud.
His nose nearly collided with someone's chin.
"What the—?!"
Liu Xiao yelped and leapt backward, putting five meters between himself and the unexpected figure in a single bound.
"Li Tianjia?! Why are you here?!"
The man standing before him was none other than Li Tianjia, who looked equally bewildered.
"Uh..."
Li Tianjia gaped, seemingly as confused as Liu Xiao.
"I left on the plains. How did we end up in the woods?"
Liu Xiao had assumed the Origin Point would leave his body behind like a vegetative husk, similar to what happened on Earth. But clearly, that wasn't the case—unless Li Tianjia's group had dragged his unconscious body into the forest for some reason.
"I'm just as lost. Give me a second." Rubbing his temples, Li Tianjia sat down, struggling to process Liu Xiao's sudden materialization and his freakish leap.
Then his gaze dropped to his belt, where a torn pouch dangled.
"Wait… Did you just hatch from that stone egg?"
"Stone egg? What are you talking about?" Liu Xiao frowned.
"After you teleported away, this egg-shaped rock appeared where you'd been standing. About this big." Li Tianjia gestured. "I thought it was some kind of supply item, so I stuffed it in my pouch."
A realization struck Liu Xiao.
"Stone egg… You mean this?"
He pulled out a familiar object from his [Subpar Storage]: a smooth, palm-sized stone egg—the very one looted from the dark-red lizardman's corpse.
"Yeah! Exactly like that! Why do you have one too?"
The moment Liu Xiao placed the egg on his palm—
Crack.
Fissures spiderwebbed across its surface, and blinding white light erupted from within.
Liu Xiao and Li Tianjia locked eyes, mutual panic flashing between them.
What fresh hell is this?!
A violent force erupted from the egg. Liu Xiao barely yanked his hand back in time as the egg—now radiating light—thudded to the ground.
Then, from the void, a massive figure materialized.
Two and a half meters tall. Thick, scaly hide. Arms thicker than Liu Xiao's thighs, each gripping serrated blade-gauntlets. Five javelins strapped to its back.
And its skin—a deep, ominous crimson.
Oh, fuck.
Li Tianjia might not recognize it, but Liu Xiao knew this nightmare all too well.
It's a goddamn lizardman. The dark-red kind.
"RUN!"
Liu Xiao bolted into the forest.
Only an idiot would stand and fight this thing.
Li Tianjia didn't need telling twice, veering off in another direction.
"SKREEEEE!"
The lizardman's shriek pierced the air. Risking a glance back, Liu Xiao's blood turned to ice.
The monster had already drawn a javelin, muscles coiling like steel springs as it took aim—directly at him.
Oh, you bastard—
Liu Xiao threw himself sideways without waiting to track the projectile's path. By the time he saw it, he'd already be dead.
WHOOSH.
The javelin screamed past his ear, its passage howling like a vengeful spirit.
THUNK. THUNK. THUNK.
The sounds of trees being skewered one after another sent chills down his spine.
What kind of monstrous strength is this?!
And since when did these things use javelins?!
How is a ranged attacker supposed to cope with this?!
Scrambling up, Liu Xiao resumed his flight, now weaving between tree trunks to break line of sight.
He'd just ducked behind an ancient oak wide enough to shield five men when—
CRACK.
The second javelin punched clean through the tree, its tip bursting out mere inches from Liu Xiao's face. Splinters raked his cheeks, and the air pressure seared his eyes like acid.
"Liu Xiao! You okay?!"
Li Tianjia's voice rang out from behind a distant boulder. The lizardman's fixation on Liu Xiao had given him time to escape, but he'd stayed—watching.
"Go! Get out of here!" Liu Xiao shouted, eyes squeezed shut against the pain.
This lizardman was the strongest creature he'd encountered—its Strength surely exceeded 20, and its Accuracy (Agility?) had to be at least 10. Against such a foe, his only hope was to exhaust its javelins before engaging. Li Tianjia, still in his "primitive" state, stood no chance.
"SKREEE!"
With two javelins wasted, the lizardman abandoned ranged attacks and charged.
Liu Xiao zigzagged desperately, but the third javelin cut off his escape route. Swerving the opposite way, he met the fourth—
Slick.
A cold sensation pierced his right thigh.
Oh no.
Looking down, his vision swam with rage.
The javelin had blown clean through his leg, leaving a fist-sized exit wound. Bone remained intact, but muscle and flesh were shredded—his leg useless.
Gritting his teeth, Liu Xiao dragged himself behind the oak.
Hands trembling, he shoveled [Red Pills] into his mouth. Their efficacy was untested, but he had no choice. The lizardman was maybe 60 meters away—seconds from reaching him.
What now?!
CLANG. CLANG. CLANG.
Metal striking stone echoed through the woods.
"Hey, ugly! Over here!"
Li Tianjia's voice. Then Zhou Yuk's:
"Psst! Scale-face! Check out this dumpy!"
Risking a peek, Liu Xiao saw them—perched atop the boulder, Li Tianjia and Zhou Yuk waving their arms like lunatics. Zhou Yuk, in particular, was bent over, slapping his own buttocks at the lizardman.
Despite the agony, Liu Xiao choked out a laugh—then regretted it as pain lanced through his body.
The Yang brothers lurked behind the rock, Yang Zhao signaling Liu Xiao to stay quiet while Yang Zhe motioned for him to hold position.
"Which dumpster did your mom fish you out of? Bet your dad was a turtle!"
Zhou Yuk's trash talk escalated, each insult more creative than the last.
Does this idiot realize the lizardman might understand him through the system's translation?
Apparently, it did.
The lizardman hissed, its beady eyes locking onto the noisy humans.
And it turned.
To the lizardman, Liu Xiao was already crippled prey—easy to finish later. But these two? Loud, mobile, and infuriating.
As the monster stalked toward the boulder, Liu Xiao's teammates didn't scatter. They stood their ground, weapons raised.
The lizardman retrieved its last javelin, chuckling—a sound like grinding bones.
Laugh all you want, you overgrown gecko.
Liu Xiao nocked an arrow, venom glistening on its tip.
You've got the brawn, but I've got the brains.
[Camouflage] activated.
....
While Liu Xiao was preparing for battle, Li Tianjia's group had already engaged the lizardman in close combat.
The boulder created an elevation difference between the two sides. The lizardman leaped up, its massive tail sweeping toward Zhou Yuk while its blade-gauntlets slashed at Li Tianjia midair.
Zhou Yuk raised his rake to block, immediately feeling the overwhelming difference in strength. The brute force of the tail made him lose grip on the handle. In an instant, the rake's head was pressed against his chest before he was sent flying off the boulder with a loud thud.
Li Tianjia didn't fare any better. His ceremonial sword snapped cleanly upon clashing with the lizardman's gauntlets, without even the metallic screech of blades grinding. All that remained in his hand was a broken hilt.
"Damn it!"
As the lizardman's foot landed on the boulder, Li Tianjia somersaulted off the top.
After just one exchange, both men were stunned.
"This bastard is insane!"
Zhou Yuk shouted strangely, yet showed no intention of retreating. He swung his rake at the lizardman's calf, while simultaneous attacks came from a spear and sword - the Yang brothers, Yang Zhao and Yang Zhe, had been hiding precisely for this ambush.
The rake struck the lizardman's calf dead center, but none of its nine spikes could penetrate the bumpy scales. The spear met the same fate, its tip unable to pierce past the surface layer. Yang Zhe's sword suffered the worst - it broke outright.
The scene fell eerily silent.
"Skree skree!"
The lizardman snorted mockingly.
It kicked the rake away and flicked the spear aside.
"Aim for its belly and head!"
Li Tianjia yelled. He knew their weapons and strength couldn't breach the scaled armor, and the lizardman's chest was protected by additional plating. That left only the partially exposed abdomen and head as targets.
Yang Zhao's second spear thrust went for the abdomen, but the lizardman deflected it with its tail.
Unhurried, it jumped down from the boulder.
The four humans spread out but held their ground, surrounding the lizardman in a pincer formation.
Li Tianjia and Yang Zhe discarded their broken weapons, drawing machetes from their waists and holding them at the ready.
"Screw this! This thing's useless, I'm changing gear too!"
Zhou Yuk tossed his rake aside and pulled out a machete, crouching low and licking the corner of his mouth.
"Guys, pick and roll!"
The others looked at him in confusion.
"Gang up on it!"
Zhou Yuk roared and charged.
The lizardman turned its attention to this noisy anomaly that had been chattering nonstop.
But after just two steps forward, Zhou Yuk suddenly turned and ran back.
"Just scaring it, seeing if it gets scared."
He chuckled awkwardly, then suddenly kicked his right foot.
A clump of dirt flew toward the lizardman's face, but his aim was off - it only hit the chest armor.
Still, all four launched their attacks simultaneously.
Yang Zhao's spear thrust came first, aimed directly at the lizardman's eyes.
The lizardman ducked and closed the distance, having never considered defending against these weaklings' assaults.
Yang Zhe's machete came down, sparks flying as the blade struck scales.
Li Tianjia stabbed forward with his machete, only to be headbutted away, weapon and all, crashing heavily five meters away.
Zhou Yuk was smarter, flanking to stab at its waist, but got swatted away by the tail, his shouts trailing through the air before landing beside Li Tianjia.
The Yang brothers attacked again, but were slower - the lizardman backhanded them left and right.
Younger brother Yang Zhao fared better, blocking most of the force with his spear shaft, though it bent at a ninety-degree angle, becoming completely useless.
Older brother Yang Zhe hit a tree trunk headfirst when he landed. Though the wood wasn't hard, his head was now bleeding profusely, his left shoulder dislocated, the arm hanging limp.
Li Tianjia had taken the headbutt directly to his chest. His ribs were shattered, vomiting blood with each labored breath. Gritting through the pain, he used his machete to push himself up, only to vomit more blood and collapse to one knee, unable to rise again.
Now only Zhou Yuk - who stood up dusting his pants - and Yang Zhao - with his drawn machete - remained combat-ready.
"Skree skree!" The lizardman's maw split open in a mocking grin at these four foolish creatures.
In its eyes, these beings were less threatening than its usual prey. Yet instead of fleeing, they dared face it head-on.
Perhaps their intelligence was too low to understand that running was their only chance against a superior foe.
That first one had been much smarter, and noticeably faster - hence why it wasted four javelins to cripple it. As for these? Heh.
Its beady red eyes roamed over Zhou Yuk's body, evaluating which parts looked most succulent.
"Little Yang, I think it likes me!"
Zhou Yuk said innocently. "It wouldn't want to take me back as its mountain bride, would it?"
Yang Zhao scoffed. "Then your chrysanthemum might bloom."
"Fuck off!"
Before Zhou Yuk finished speaking, the lizardman pounced, gauntlet blades poised.
"Shit!"
Zhou Yuk cursed, crouching low with both hands on his machete. Even now, retreating never crossed his mind.
Whoosh! Thunk!
Zhou Yuk's eyes lit up - a feathered arrow now protruded from the lizardman's thigh, having pierced clean through the scales, one-third buried in flesh.
The lizardman froze in surprise.
Another arrow followed instantly.
This one went straight through its right arm, the shaft continuing onward to embed firmly in a distant tree trunk.
Now fully alert, the lizardman's head snapped toward the arrows' origin.
But there was nothing there.
Its pupils contracted sharply.
From the seemingly empty bushes, another arrow materialized midair. With a startled "Skree!", it jerked its head aside, barely avoiding the shot that still grazed its eye and blew clean through its nostril - not that its nose wasn't already perforated, but now air whistled through the new hole.
Enraged, the lizardman abandoned the four humans, charging toward where the arrows came from.
Another arrow came, but it blocked with its tail, the shaft sinking into flesh until only the fletching remained visible.
Finally it locked onto its enemy - a floating brown compound bow, behind it a figure nearly invisible against the environment. But those eyes fixed on it sent shivers of danger down its spine.
Swatting Yang Zhao aside with its tail, it barely noticed something was off - its normally unstoppable tail moved sluggishly, clearly impaired.
Another arrow whistled through the air. The lizardman raised its left arm to block - the arrow pierced through, embedding in its chest.
"Skree skree!" No longer mocking, these cries now held genuine pain and fury.
It yanked the arrow out, taking a chunk of flesh with it, then snapped the shaft with one hand before crushing the one in its thigh.
Another arrow came, but the lizardman ducked while drawing its last javelin.
It took aim at those hunter's eyes even as they locked onto it.
"Gonna stab your asshole!"
A furious roar came from behind!
The lizardman hesitated momentarily but still hurled the javelin with full force.
Thunk! An arrow pierced its neck, spraying green blood before flying into the forest depths. Its own javelin missed by a hair's breadth.
Gritting through the pain, it whirled around to see Zhou Yuk stabbing its abdomen, the blade already buried deep as he struggled to pull it free.
With a furious grab, it seized Zhou Yuk by the throat and lifted him. Zhou Yuk clutched at its wrist, legs kicking wildly.
The struggle proved effective - just as his face turned purple from suffocation, the lizardman's three-fingered grip suddenly slackened, letting him break free and crash to the ground.
The lizardman stared in disbelief at its right arm - the arrow wound oozed black blood, dark veins spreading through the limb.
Realization dawned. Its head snapped toward the distance, eyes filled with terror and rage.
There stood a figure removing its hood - the prey it had wounded initially. Now predator and prey had switched roles.
Liu Xiao strode forward, firing two more arrows - one nailed the lizardman's left leg to the ground, the other struck its left arm.
Until he stood right before it.
The lizardman could no longer stand, collapsing exhausted, one foot still pinned.
Liu Xiao looked down at the beast, his eyes devoid of emotion.
He tossed the bottle of red pills to Zhou Yuk. "Give these to everyone, quick." Having experienced their regenerative effects firsthand - his thigh wound already healing - he knew their value.
Watching the group swallow the pills with difficulty, Liu Xiao drew his machete and began hacking at the lizardman's left arm. One chop, two, until the limb was severed at the root. Then the right arm followed.
Finished, he squatted by the lizardman's head, meeting its dying gaze.
"I know you understand me."
"I don't want anything from you."
"Before you die, just know - I've killed many of your kind. Including another dark-red lizardman like you."
At this, the lizardman's eyes contracted sharply, neck straining as it tried to bite this human.
Liu Xiao smirked.
He glanced at the four gathering around him - Li Tianjia's complexion had improved, Yang Zhe's dislocated shoulder popping back into place with audible cracks.
"After returning to Earth, I learned something - consuming an evolved being's spirit can trigger your own evolution. So here's the choice - do you want to become evolved?"
His words brought contemplative silence.
"Becoming evolved means you can't stay long on Earth - it's goodbye to your old life. This decision is yours alone."
"Will becoming evolved make us like that?"
Zhou Yuk pointed at the limbless lizardman.
"Hard to say. Everyone has different talents. Some awaken innate abilities after evolving, others get nothing - like me. But evolution itself opens the path to becoming stronger. It's just the starting point."
"I... ugh..."
Li Tianjia tried to speak but vomited a mouthful of blood, then another.
"Zhou Yuk, how many did you give him?"
"A handful. Maybe four?"
"Damn it! Those pills supercharge your blood energy! You trying to make him explode?!"
As he spoke, Liu Xiao took out the golden liquid and fed some to Li Tianjia.
"You said to give them to him, didn't specify how many! How was I supposed to know they're so potent?"
Zhou Yuk's lips twitched as he examined the red pill bottle.
After taking the medicine, Li Tianjia's flushed complexion gradually normalized.
"I'll become evolved. You know my situation - makes no difference whether I'm there or not. And evolved can still return after dying."
Li Tianjia's tone was resolute.
"Alright. You three think it over. We're out of time - once it dies completely, the spirit's gone."
Without hesitation, Liu Xiao prepared to decapitate the lizardman for Li Tianjia to eat.
Then he paused.
Something felt off. Was eating its brain raw really how you consumed a spirit?
Seemed questionable.
When Long Yue mentioned roasting corpses to eat, he hadn't specified how to ingest the spirit.
Maybe cooking was key?
Attempting telepathic contact with Long Yue, the system promptly notified him the target wasn't in Origin Point - communication unavailable.
Damn, so telepathy has service areas? No wonder no one contacted him since returning.
Whatever. Desperate times.
The machete came down, splitting the lizardman's skull open.
"Take out its brain and eat it directly!"
Liu Xiao wasn't sure this was correct, but Li Tianjia could be the test subject.
Without question, Li Tianjia forced his hands into the cranium.
The others watched nervously while Liu Xiao privately celebrated his own cleaner evolution method.
Just as Li Tianjia's right hand reached into the brain cavity, he froze.
Stopped dead in this bizarre posture.
Hopefully this lizardman's final contribution would be worthwhile - it was undoubtedly the strongest creature Liu Xiao had encountered here. Without the team's fearless resistance, its underestimation of them, and ignorance of Liu Xiao's tactics, the outcome would've been very different.
Such was the way of predator and prey - one must die.
Though this one's death was particularly gruesome.
As Liu Xiao mused on the lizardman's miserable fate, Li Tianjia slowly stood up.
Liu Xiao patted his shoulder. "Don't worry, there'll be other chances."
"No," Li Tianjia said excitedly. "No need to wait. I'm already evolved."