Chapter 145 - 112: Bodies Everywhere! A Sky Pit Flowing with Blood! Has the Blood-tooth Python Vanished Again?
The ground was stained with dried blood. Oxidized by time, its color had turned from bright red to a dark, brownish-black.
Traces of blood clung to the soil, the fallen leaves, and even the surrounding weeds and trees.
The sheer volume of blood was immense, as if a rain of blood had fallen from the sky, coating everything...
’Is it bleeding, too?’
Chen Chong’s eyes quickly scanned the surroundings, trying to absorb every possible detail.
Although the ground was covered in blood, the massive blood loss clearly didn’t come from humans alone. Given a python’s feeding habits, it couldn’t have spilled this much blood.
And even if it could, the bloodstains wouldn’t be spattered about like this. It was obvious they came from a much larger creature.
The Blood-tooth Python.
This meant that, just as the intel suggested, its wounds from the battle with the Stone Claw Eagle hadn’t fully healed. It might have even sustained new injuries from the previous group’s attack.
They weren’t fatal, but they only served to worsen its existing injuries...
Chen Chong walked forward slowly, drawing his Tang Blade and gripping it tightly.
As the ring on his finger flashed with a stream of light, his Perception Ability activated.
With himself as the epicenter, the movements of all living things within a hundred-meter radius surfaced in his mind...
The deeper he went into the Celestial Pit, the more signs of battle appeared on the ground.
Countless trees had been uprooted and lay on the ground, some shattered into several pieces. On the soil, piled high with rotting leaves, the drag marks of a colossal creature grew more distinct, and the bloodstains became more frequent.
Most horrifying of all, severed limbs began to appear here and there.
There was even a corpse missing its lower half, the unwillingness and terror on its face before death still clearly visible...
Fortunately, Chen Chong’s mental fortitude was strong enough. Otherwise, the sight alone would have been enough to make an ordinary person’s stomach turn and vomit on the spot.
The Celestial Pit was vast and eerily quiet.
Ever since he had entered, there hadn’t been a single sound, not even the chirping of birds.
The Extraordinary Artifact, made from a Unihorn Catfish’s horn, could sense the movements of all creatures within a hundred meters. This distance wasn’t great, but it was enough to let Chen Chong know instantly if any unknown enemies were hiding nearby.
Along the way, he saw many corpses.
Most were dismembered, but a rare few remained intact, simply lying motionless on the ground.
But Chen Chong didn’t go closer to check. Under the Perception Ring’s influence, he could tell they no longer possessed the life fluctuations that living beings should have...
’So many bodies... sigh.’
Chen Chong couldn’t help but sigh. Earlier that day, he’d had Zhang Meng pass a message to the Fishing Club, telling them it was best to give up on the idea of hunting Extraordinary Creatures.
’It seems they didn’t listen...’
Ordinary people were just too weak in a fight. They could handle some wild animals—even wild boars, brown bears, and tigers—with a decent chance of success using weapons and traps.
But when it came to fighting Extraordinary Creatures, it was absolutely impossible, even if their target was severely wounded and on the verge of death.
Not to mention, the Blood-tooth Python was merely injured, its life not yet in danger...
’So many corpses... It looks like the Blood-tooth Python ate very few of them. Was this slaughter more about venting its rage?’
’Hm?’
Just then, Chen Chong glanced to his side.
He sensed a faint life signature. ’Someone’s alive!’
RUSTLE—
As leaves and dirt were pushed aside, a pale young man’s face appeared. He was trembling uncontrollably, not unconscious, but had been hiding there, too afraid to show himself. He only cried out in terror when he saw Chen Chong appear before him.
"Don’t scream!"
"AHHH!!!"
"Stop fucking screaming!"
"AHHH!!!"
SLAP—
The young man finally quieted down, but his dazed eyes were vacant. He was still shell-shocked, clearly scared witless by what he had seen.
"What’s your name?"
"My... what’s my name?"
"Did you come with the Fighting Club and the fitness club to kill the Blood Python?"
"With... Blood Python? Blood Python! AHHH!!!"
The young man started screaming again, his voice filled with endless terror. He began to thrash about on the ground as if the Blood Python were already coiled around him.
Chen Chong frowned. ’Did the unbearable sight cause a complete mental breakdown?’
’I need to know everything that happened, the Blood-tooth Python’s exact condition, and where it went last. But judging by this man’s state, I won’t get any answers out of him.’
"AHHH!!!"
The young man was still screaming and thrashing, kicking leaves and dirt everywhere.
THWACK—
Chen Chong knocked him out with a single chop to the neck. He fell silent, unconscious on the spot.
To survive such a brutal massacre was a stroke of luck.
But if it meant being scared into a state of mental collapse, never to be normal again, it was a tragedy.
’At the very least, even if he did survive this, he’ll die because of his shattered mental state.’
’Unless this condition is only temporary and he can slowly recover after some care... If it’s permanent, then...’
But Chen Chong wouldn’t abandon him. For the sake of being fellow students, he would bring back anyone who survived this bloody incident.
As for whether they could recover, that would depend on their own fate.
’It’s too big...’
The Celestial Pit was simply too vast. Gazing up at the giant trees that nearly blotted out the sky, Chen Chong felt a sense of helplessness.
Not knowing the Blood-tooth Python’s last known location, trying to find it on his own would be incredibly difficult.
Most importantly, what was the Blood-tooth Python’s condition at the time?
’If I knew that, at least I’d have a better idea of what I’m up against.’
’If only the Perception Ring’s range wasn’t just a hundred meters, but the three thousand meters the Unihorn Catfish originally had...’