Mutual Slaughter

The ground was muddy after the rain, and Tu Ran trudged forward, her feet sinking with every step.

Where were the Paoxiao?

She had walked so far and still hadn't seen a single one.

Before, when she didn't want to run into them, they showed up in groups of three. Now that she desperately wanted to find them, not a single one was in sight!

Tu Ran vented her frustration by slicing through a sapling that hadn't grown tall yet as she passed.

It was so annoying to look at!

Just die already!

Walking too fast, Tu Ran's foot slipped, and she nearly fell.

Fortunately, her reflexes were quick enough that she used her blade to brace against the ground, barely avoiding a face-plant into the mud.

Pushing herself up, she stabbed the ground several more times to vent her anger.

"What a lousy mountain god! Cursing me! You actually cursed me! Hmph! I'll stab your face to bits! Stab it! Stab it! Damn it!"

After venting in one breath, Tu Ran felt considerably better.

She took two deep breaths, quickly steadying her emotions.

Anger clouded a person's judgment and dulled their perception of danger—neither of which boded well for what she was about to do.

Since she couldn't find the Paoxiao, she'd make them come to her.

She would lure them out, gather them all, and wipe them out in one go.

Climbing up a very tall tree, Tu Ran crouched on a fork in the branches and fired her gun at the sky.

The "bang bang bang" of gunfire stood out sharply in the rain-soaked forest, echoes bouncing back and forth.

After emptying one magazine, she swapped in another.

Crouching in the tree for ten or twenty minutes, she started firing at the sky again.

Once that magazine was spent, she loaded a fresh one but didn't continue firing.

Now came the long wait.

Half an hour later, the first Paoxiao wandered over.

It didn't notice Tu Ran in the tree. Instead, it looked around, sniffing the air, searching for traces of food.

Tu Ran yelled down from the tree, "Hey, the food's up here."

The Paoxiao heard the human voice and immediately raised its head, looking up at the tree.

Of course, for a Paoxiao whose eyes were in its armpits, looking up was just a trick to confuse its prey; the eyes in its armpits were what actually did the seeing.

The tree was over twenty meters tall, and the food was crouched on a branch—at least ten meters up.

It couldn't climb that high.

The food was right there, but it couldn't reach it.

It howled at Tu Ran, pacing anxiously in circles around the base of the tree.

"Idiot, are you waiting for me to fall down?" Tu Ran taunted coldly.

The Paoxiao below clearly understood her insult and glared up at her in fury.

"Human! You wait!"

After roaring at her, it turned and left.

Going to call for backup? Tu Ran guessed.

Then let it call more—hopefully, it would bring every Paoxiao out of their nest.

Another half hour passed, and still no Paoxiao returned.

Tu Ran was getting hungry. She took out the fruit she'd stored earlier that could keep her full for a day and started munching on it.

After finishing the fruit and washing it down with some nutrient solution, her energy was fully restored—and right on cue, a pack of Paoxiao arrived.

Just in time.

Tu Ran put the nutrient solution back in her backpack and looked down at the group.

"One, two, three... eleven."

Only eleven.

Far fewer than she'd hoped for.

But a clever idea struck her in an instant.

She bit her finger and let a drop of blood fall onto her left shoulder. A colorful mushroom sprouted and grew rapidly.

Tu Ran stared at the Paoxiao below and silently commanded: Go and lure every Paoxiao on this mountain here.

The eleven Paoxiao stared blankly, then scattered at her command.

Watching them leave, Tu Ran settled onto the branch and rested at her leisure.

She was a real genius.

Once all the Paoxiao were gathered here, she'd order them to slaughter each other, whittling down their numbers from within, and she'd deal with the rest herself. It would save her a ton of effort.

Paoxiao trickled in one by one.

Some were already under her control; others were newcomers who hadn't been. The moment they saw Tu Ran, they immediately scrambled to climb the tree.

One with gray fur was especially energetic.

It said to the Paoxiao beside it, "Crouch down right here. I'll run up from behind, jump onto your back, and you give me a boost. I'll bite her off that branch in one go."

It didn't know the Paoxiao beside it was already under Tu Ran's control.

Without an order from Tu Ran, that Paoxiao didn't move an inch.

"Hey, you don't want to? Then how about I crouch down and you jump up?"

The other still didn't respond.

The gray one got angry. "What's wrong with you? Why aren't you more proactive? Humans are cunning. If we don't hurry, what if she gets away?"

"Oh, I get it—you've never eaten a human before," the gray one shared its experience, trying every way to whet the other's appetite. "Humans are delicious, fat but not greasy, lean but not dry. The texture when you chew is incredible—especially the lungs, hmm, just one bite and you'll never forget the taste for the rest of your life."

Tu Ran was starting to get curious herself—were her lungs really that tasty?

Seeing how earnestly the gray one was pitching it, Tu Ran ordered the Paoxiao under her control to agree and crouch down where the gray one indicated.

The gray one beamed. "Now that's what I call a brother! I'll split the human's lungs with you, half each."

As it spoke, it backed up, found the right distance, calculated the angle, and charged.

Its rear legs slammed onto its companion's back.

If the Paoxiao beneath it gave it a boost while it pushed off with its own strength, it would definitely reach the human on the branch.

But there was no way Tu Ran would let it leap up so easily.

'Lie flat on the ground!' she commanded silently.

The Paoxiao under the gray one immediately collapsed its front legs and flattened out.

The gray one was caught completely off guard. All it could do was watch helplessly as it went from nearly pouncing on Tu Ran to slamming straight into the tree trunk.

"Thud! Smack!"

It hit the tree, then crashed to the ground.

Just from the sound, you could tell it hurt.

It lay sprawled on its back, dizzy and seeing stars.

More Paoxiao kept gathering at the scene.

Before long, the ground below was packed with them.

Tu Ran counted—easily over forty.

That was enough.

She activated Illusory Realm.

'Kill your comrades. Become the last Paoxiao standing.'

'Kill your comrades. Become the last Paoxiao standing...'

The two phrases echoed through every Paoxiao's mind, and they had no way to resist.

They turned their fangs on their own kind.

They had only one thought: kill!

A bloody massacre erupted, spreading outward from the tree Tu Ran was perched in.

The sounds of impacts, screams, roars, and tearing flesh...

So many sounds mixed together, yet none could snap a single controlled alien out of its trance.

Abilities truly were terrifyingly powerful.

Especially something like Illusory Realm—and this was only the beginner level. Tu Ran shuddered to imagine what kind of world-shattering effect an advanced Illusory Realm would have.