Published: February 12, 2025
Ye Zhongming woke up with blurry vision, feeling a slight warmth beside him, suggesting there was a heat source nearby.
However, just as he opened his eyelids slightly, he closed them again, as he realized his body was bound.
This indicated that he had been captured while he was unconscious.
Since he was still alive, it meant there was still hope. The best choice now was to close his eyes and pretend to be in a coma, listening to the noises around him to understand the situation.
Around him, he could only hear sounds of slurping and eating; no one was speaking. Ye Zhongming waited quietly while also examining his physical condition.
Before losing consciousness, he had been frantically pouring his mental energy into the Luo Shen Cypress, ignoring everything behind him. The heyma, which were disregarding their own lives, caused him endless suffering.
Looking at Ye Zhongming's current state, it was evident that his defensive gear had been shattered, losing its effectiveness. This was all blue-grade equipment, along with various bonuses and skill protections from two elemental spirits. Yet, it still couldn't withstand the suicidal attacks from the heyma.
In just a short while, these seemingly insignificant lives had sacrificed themselves countless times, breaking through Ye Zhongming's solid and luxurious defenses.
The exposed areas, such as his head and neck, had become disaster zones, with some spots even revealing white bone.
If it weren't for Ye Zhongming's beautiful celestial body granting his skin excellent defense, he might have already died.
Of course, the most severe injury came from the insect monarch's last strike. Ye Zhongming had felt the sharp teeth pierce his body at that time, but he fell unconscious afterward, so he wasn't clear about the specifics.
Now, he was enduring excruciating pain from his back to his chest; clearly, that blow had nearly become a fatal wound.
However, even though Ye Zhongming knew he might be in the worst state since his rebirth, his heart felt calm and steady.
Because he knew he was back, back on Earth.
Here, he could sense familiar scents, familiar feelings, and familiar powers.
Everything had returned to normal.
Footsteps approached from a distance, gradually getting closer. The sounds of eating and drinking beside Ye Zhongming came to a halt.
“Boss!”
“Brother Huo!”
“Second Uncle!”
These people greeted each other, clearly indicating that the few who had arrived were part of the leadership.
“What happened?”
A steady male voice entered Ye Zhongming's ears.
“We aren’t sure either.” One person, only two meters away from Ye Zhongming, spoke up. “A few days ago, the beasts in the forest went wild, making a mess of our camp. This morning, while a few of us were cleaning up, we suddenly heard a loud bang over there by the edge of the forest. It startled us. After a while, we went to check and found this strange creature lying here, but it was already dead, with its belly exploded. There was also this person, who is still unconscious.”
This person spoke clearly, quickly explaining the situation, making it clear both for their boss and Ye Zhongming.
The leader hummed, and Ye Zhongming heard him take two steps before likely squatting down to examine the 'strange creature's' corpse.
“I’ve never seen this kind of mutated life, there’s no magic crystal,” the leader muttered to himself, causing Ye Zhongming’s heart to skip a beat. No magic crystal? Could this be another type of life similar to what the Red Hair encountered last time?
“Such tough skin?”
“Boss, don’t you think this thing, aside from not having horns, looks a bit like the bull-headed creature from the old League of Legends?”
“Come on, that bull-headed creature was much sturdier than this one.”
“This wound on the belly… it looks like it exploded from the inside out.”
“Boss! Stay back, what’s this? It looks like some kind of parasite!”
“Xiao Liu, can you not overreact? That thing should be some dead plant life; which of your eyes saw it as a parasite?”