I Contracted Myself

The blood snake was weak, pitiful, and helpless.

Under the continuous trampling of the wolf pack, the soil was further compacted.

Although the blood snake still had a chance to burrow out of the ground, the wolves were running too fast. Each time it barely emerged, it was trampled back down.

After several minutes, the wolf pack moved away, and the blood snake slowly seeped out of the soil.

Under the moonlight, the small puddle of blood appeared particularly desolate.

Inside the safe house, Zhang Ping opened his eyes, feeling utterly hopeless.

He couldn't multitask; he had to either fully control the blood snake or shift his attention back to his own body.

However, even when his attention was on his own body, he could still sense the distant blood snake, as if it were an external organ.

At that moment, he felt a vibration, very faint at first. He was puzzled, then realized the sensation wasn't coming from his own body but from the blood snake.

He quickly closed his eyes, shifted his focus to the blood snake, and saw a large number of Corrosive Water Bullet Rabbits rushing towards him.

"Didn't a bunch of them just die a few days ago? They reproduce way too fast."

At a glance, there were at least a thousand Corrosive Water Bullet Rabbits, their red eyes glowing brightly in the night as they charged forward.

Zhang Ping quickly controlled the blood snake to lie flat, pretending to be a harmless puddle of liquid.

When one of the Corrosive Water Bullet Rabbits hopped past the blood snake, he immediately controlled the blood snake to infiltrate the rabbit's body.

The rabbit was startled, leaping high into the air, but when it landed, it found it wasn't hurt. Confused for a second, it quickly gave up thinking and continued running, following its instincts.

It didn't know that it now had a blob of blood inside its body.

As the blood snake merged with the rabbit's blood, Zhang Ping suddenly heard the distant wind, the sounds of the rabbits, the birds in the sky, the howls of wolves far away, and strange, terrifying roars behind him.

He could even understand what the rabbits were saying.

It was a bizarre feeling; he wasn't hearing the rabbits' language but understanding their meaning.

However, the rabbits' way of communicating was very unique, and because they were quite ignorant, their messages were simple: danger behind, run, run faster.

Zhang Ping could even feel the rabbits' fear; they were terrified of the danger behind them.

"What's behind?" Zhang Ping wondered.

Unexpectedly, the rabbit with the blood snake inside was startled again, its eyes darting around as if searching for the source of the voice.

"Can you hear me?" Zhang Ping asked curiously.

The poor Corrosive Water Bullet Rabbit leaped again, more paranoid after landing.

It clearly didn't understand Zhang Ping's question.

Zhang Ping thought for a moment and decided not to use words. Instead, he transmitted his thoughts through the blood.

His mind was filled with: Run, run faster, run as fast as you can!

Sure enough, the rabbit's focus increased, and it began to accelerate. It was already near the front of the rabbit herd, and now it surged ahead, gradually distancing itself from the others.

"It can indeed influence its behavior, but the effect isn't strong. It's mainly because it wants to run."

Zhang Ping tried to make the rabbit turn around and run back, but it only slowed down and showed no intention of turning around.

He continued urging the rabbit to run at full speed, monitoring its condition through the blood snake. If any issues arose, he would immediately heal it.

Half an hour later, he saw Mingzhu City and the dense corpses of wild wolves.

On the city walls, many adventurers were looking down, cleaning up the wolves. Clearly, the wolf pack posed little threat to Mingzhu City.

In fact, the adventurers had long noticed something was off in Mingzhu City.

Especially since a few days ago, when all members of the Patrol Guard were summoned to the City Lord's mansion and hadn't come out since. People couldn't help but speculate.

Several adventurers had tried to probe for information but were brushed off with vague excuses. Many veteran adventurers began to distrust the City Lord's mansion and the Patrol Guard.

With the Patrol Guard inactive, the adventurers took it upon themselves to keep watch and protect the city.

Tonight, when the adventurers on watch saw the wolf pack, they immediately alerted the others. They quickly organized a defense, and apart from a few wolves that escaped, most were killed on the spot.

"Is that... a Corrosive Water Bullet Rabbit?"

On the city wall, a young adventurer with a longbow squinted at a small white creature running in the distance.

A bearded man nodded, "It is a Corrosive Water Bullet Rabbit. That little thing tastes delicious when roasted. Watch this."

He drew his bow and aimed, releasing the arrow just as the rabbit leaped.

"Watch out!"

Seeing the arrow, Zhang Ping immediately warned.

Perhaps sensing Zhang Ping's urgency, the rabbit reacted. Just before the arrow hit, its fur stood on end, and its ears sprayed corrosive water.

The water corroded the arrow, and the rabbit quickly ran, using the wolf corpses as cover.

"Missed."

The bearded adventurer sighed, disappointed.

He had hoped for a midnight snack.

Below the city wall, the rabbit cautiously twitched its ears, its hearing exceptionally sharp. Through it, Zhang Ping could hear many sounds.

He heard the bearded man's muttering, the discussions of other adventurers, and the noises from the city.

Perhaps due to frequent harassment by the Wind Whisperers, Zhang Ping's ability to process sounds had improved. He could easily pick out the sounds he wanted to hear from the chaos.

"Your Highness, should we kill the humans on the wall?" a raspy voice, undoubtedly from a Tianchang Fox, asked.

The Moon Prince replied coldly, "No... let's wait and see."

At the City Lord's mansion, the Moon Prince sensed something unusual. Its tail monitored the entire city while also keeping an eye on the distant outskirts. It had a vague feeling of unease.

The Tianchang Fox clan, except for it and the Moon King, had weak combat abilities. Although they could infiltrate other races for hunting, compared to humans, other beasts had extremely keen instincts. Even if they disguised perfectly and twisted the beasts' common sense, they would still be inexplicably attacked.

It made no sense.

Thus, the Moon King decided to invade the human world, as humans were the hardest to see through their disguises.

But recently, after losing dozens of Tianchang Foxes, the Moon Prince began to question this decision, especially when facing Chen Junting. It didn't know why, but its guilt and regret grew daily.

Because of Chen Junting, it even started to dislike eating her kind.

It hadn't eaten for a day.

...

About half an hour later, a dense swarm of Corrosive Water Bullet Rabbits appeared.

On the city wall, the bearded man was delighted, "Oh, we're in luck tonight. These little things taste amazing. But don't waste arrows; use elemental attacks!"

Zhang Ping saw an opportunity and immediately urged the rabbit to run, using the wolf corpses as cover, heading east.

Sensing his goodwill, the rabbit started running. However, it didn't know which way was east and exposed itself to the adventurers. An ice shard hit its hind leg, causing it to tumble behind a wolf corpse, unable to get up.

"Don't worry, little guy, I'll heal you."

Zhang Ping quickly reassured it, preventing it from moving and worsening the wound.

He concentrated the blood around the wound, stopping the bleeding instantly. The blood snake then began repairing the injury, turning the gaping wound into tender new skin, and fur quickly grew back.

The rabbit, realizing its leg was healed, got up again.

This time, Zhang Ping's command was clearer. It cautiously emerged from behind the wolf corpse and ran east.

Zhang Ping was already exhausted.

Too much had happened tonight.

Earlier in the night.

He had first learned the Phoenix Claw Form at the Beast King Boxing School, then sparred with Wang Jieming.

Afterward, he dealt with a flower thief and then fought off a Tianchang Fox under the Moon Prince's attack.

Later in the night.

He left Mingzhu City, treated Liu Tiefeng after acquiring the Pureblood Body.

All these events drained his stamina and mental strength, so much so that he hadn't noticed the wolf pack's arrival until Liu Sishan reminded him.

Now, controlling the blood snake and coordinating with the rabbit from a distance was even more taxing.

Even though his main attributes were stamina and mental strength, allowing for quick recovery, he still felt overwhelmed.

But he was too worried about Qiu Qiang's safety.

Compared to his fatigue, Qiu Qiang's life was more important, so he gritted his teeth and persevered.

Suddenly, a fireball exploded near the rabbit, the shockwave blowing it away and severing his connection with the blood snake.

In the safe house, he opened his eyes, feeling dizzy.

He was about to fall back when Liu Sishan caught him. He was about to speak when she gestured for silence and pointed outside.

The door of the safe house was slightly ajar.

Under the pale moonlight, countless shadows swayed towards Mingzhu City.

Thanks to his Night Walker talent, Zhang Ping could clearly see that some of the shadows were tattered, decaying human corpses, while others were animals missing limbs or ears.

Human and animal corpses walked together, their eyes glowing eerie green, extremely terrifying.

Fortunately, their perception wasn't sharp, and they didn't notice the safe house fifty meters away. Otherwise, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Sweat beaded on his forehead as he quickly infused Nether Mist into the Ghost Lantern, which had only a faint ember left.

The Ghost Lantern had burned out while he was fully controlling the blood snake, leaving only a weak ember.

Now, with the infusion of Nether Mist, the lantern reignited with gray flames, turning the safe house into a black-and-white world.

"Sister Sisi, what are those things?" he asked Liu Sishan, unable to hold back.

Liu Sishan, crouching behind him, shook her head, "I don't know. This is my first time seeing them too."

First the wolf pack, then the rabbit swarm, and now even a horde of living corpses.

Tonight was anything but ordinary.