Chapter Ninety-Two: Total Annihilation

By the time the transformed anacondas appeared again, they had already swum to the edge of the pool. One after another, their eyes burned with savage intent as they surged toward the shore.

“Damn it, they’re coming after us! Fire!” a human shouted, squeezing the trigger once more.

But they had underestimated the snakes’ speed. With the jungle trees blocking the line of sight, most of the bullets missed their mark. In just over ten seconds, two anacondas broke through the curtain of gunfire and drew near.

A black shadow suddenly sprang up, baring a maw of red-fanged ferocity as it plunged into the crowd with an enraged hiss.

A stench of blood swept through the entire forest. Terrified, the humans scattered in panic.

“No... damn it, help!”

“Run!”

Rat-a-tat-tat...

Gunfire, cries for help, and screams of agony rose one after another.

In Lu Chen’s eyes, a human body suddenly burst apart like an overripe melon, spraying blood and viscera in all directions.

This was the fate of prey seized by the transformed anaconda: once captured, it was crushed to pieces by sheer strangling force.

The horrifying, bloody scene drove the remaining humans completely out of their minds. They all turned and fled down the mountain at full speed, even the two men armed with guns no exception.

Their speed was even greater now, and as they ran they continued shooting back over their shoulders, hoping to keep the anacondas from closing in.

Soon, two more humans were overtaken... and the result need not be said.

Where was the anaconda queen? Lu Chen looked down into the valley below with curiosity. Among the group of anacondas pursuing the humans, he could not see its figure.

That creature, after being attacked moments earlier, seemed to have vanished entirely.

To avoid inhaling the pollen of the Blood Serpent Orchid, Lu Chen had kept his breath held the entire time. Naturally, he could not smell the anacondas’ scent, so he could only rely on his eyes to search for the queen’s trace.

Just as he watched those humans tumble and scramble their way down the mountain, Lu Chen felt deeply disappointed.

He had originally wanted to use them to kill a few more anacondas, ideally leaving both sides badly wounded so he could take advantage. But now it was clear he could no longer rely on them at all.

Rat-a-tat-tat...

At the foot of the mountain, gunfire suddenly became urgent again in the forest.

And at last, Lu Chen saw the anaconda queen.

It had emerged from nowhere and blocked the humans’ path.

With a sudden spring from the bushes, it launched itself through the air, crossing seven or eight meters in the blink of an eye.

Before the humans could react, one of their companions had already been struck by its sharp fangs.

The anaconda queen then whipped its broad head, flinging the prey more than ten meters away. The body crashed into the jungle, its fate unknown.

The next instant, it had coiled around another human body...

In just over ten minutes, every human who had entered the valley was wiped out.

This ending was utterly different from what Lu Chen had imagined. He had never expected the humans to be so weak, their firearms rendering themselves almost meaningless.

Perhaps before entering the primeval jungle, they had not imagined they would encounter a whole swarm of transformed anacondas. If they had known it would end in total annihilation, they would surely have brought grenades, explosives, and other powerful weapons.

Still, the barrage of gunfire had not been entirely useless. At the very least, Lu Chen could see four or five anacondas with blood holes in the surface of their scales.

One was even hanging on by a thread, likely not far from death.

The anaconda queen did not linger long. After swallowing its prey, it led its few surviving companions back into the deep pool.

Only then did Lu Chen finally see its true size.

It was about thirteen meters long, its dark scales like polished black jade, gleaming with a crystalline luster. When it swam, its massive head lifted slightly, and in its snake eyes flickered a cruel, cunning light.

Clearly, this was a ferocious creature of intelligence.

Fortunately, the anaconda queen’s attention was still fixed on the petals of the Blood Serpent Orchid, and it had not discovered that another predator was hiding in the cave within the cliff above.

The strange scent emitted by that peculiar plant seemed to have a notorious power of temptation over the anacondas. In only a short while, the surviving transformed snakes had once again turned their eyes crimson and resumed their revelry upon the water.

Taking advantage of the moment, Lu Chen quietly climbed out of the cave.

His limbs and clawed toes, like those of a gecko enlarged countless times, gripped the rock wall steadily as he crawled slowly toward the mountain forest on the other side.

Only after he had completely left the cliff did Lu Chen exhale the stale air from his lungs and begin breathing slowly again.

By then, he could no longer smell that strange floral pollen.

Not feeling any change in his mood, Lu Chen finally relaxed and dashed toward the lone transformed anaconda in the nearby jungle.

Since gorging himself the night before, Lu Chen had been on the road the whole time. He had not eaten until now, and his stomach was already ravenous.

When he passed those scattered human remains, he paused briefly before moving on again.

People die for wealth, birds for food.

Since those men had chosen to open fire on the anaconda swarm, they should have been prepared for death.

A heavily wounded transformed anaconda was naturally no match for Lu Chen.

At the first clash, he bit through the prey’s neck. With one more death roll, he finished it completely.

The queen was in the crucial moment of its revelry and would most likely not notice what was happening in the jungle by the shore. Even so, Lu Chen did not dare remain there to eat.

Better safe than sorry.

This place was too close to the pool, and the smell of blood could easily be sensed by the anacondas.

For safety’s sake, Lu Chen still dragged the prey farther away.

After circling several thousand meters, he returned to the stone cavern and began to enjoy his meal.

“Black-Scaled Anaconda, anaconda species, provides 1,106 energy points.”

Seeing the new words on the system panel, Lu Chen instantly understood. Just as he had guessed, the energy contained in the flesh of these anacondas was about the same.

In other words, the time of their transformation had probably been quite close.

After filling his stomach, Lu Chen once again turned his gaze to the enormous cavern beside him.

He had an instinctive feeling that this place was not as simple as he had imagined.

Earlier, because his target had been that injured anaconda, he had merely followed the scent all the way. He had not had time to explore the many branches within the cave.

Now that he was full and had nothing else to do, he might as well investigate further.

The cavern’s passages were tangled and complex, so Lu Chen remained extremely cautious and did not intend to rely entirely on scent markers.

To be safe, at every junction he passed, he left claw-mark arrows to indicate the direction.

Half an hour later, Lu Chen discovered that this underground limestone cavern was far more intricate than he had imagined. By now he had already traveled dozens of miles, yet he still had not found its end.

In his previous life, the world’s largest limestone cave was called Tenglong Cave in Lichuan. It consisted of a dry cave, a water cave, an underground stream, and an ancient river channel. Preliminary surveys placed its total length at over sixty kilometers, with a cave area of more than two million square meters.

The cavern before him was probably comparable in complexity.

In one of the passages, Lu Chen once again caught the scent of anaconda.

He was startled at first, but soon realized there were no anacondas there. Instead, he saw many gray-white serpent skins caught between the cracks in the stone. Each one was as thick as a water bucket, its texture tough yet supple.

The longest of them was over ten meters long, and should have been left behind by the anaconda queen.