Chapter Ninety-Three: Not a Native Life Form of Blue Star

Around them lay many remnants of fish and wild game, scattered hides and bones that must have been the leftovers of the python pack’s meals. Earlier, Lu Chen had already noticed that the crisscrossing underground rivers were home to many large fish. It seemed that even if those mutated anacondas lived for long years in the limestone caverns, they would not lack food.

Their kind was holding a feast in the deep pool outside the cave, and for the time being they would not be returning to their nest. So after a brief inspection, Lu Chen paid it no mind and continued deeper underground along another dark river.

Soon, after winding and twisting his way onward for more than ten miles, he emerged into even deeper reaches of the earth.

By now, no one could tell how far below the surface he was, but the temperature around him had dropped by at least ten degrees. The water in the underground river, in particular, exuded a chill so bitter it seemed to pierce straight through the bones.

Fortunately, Lu Chen’s current temperature tolerance ranged from zero to fifty degrees Celsius, so he could still bear it.

What the hell... Is that some kind of dead dinosaur, or an unknown creature?

When Lu Chen saw a massive animal skeleton appear beside the underground river, a look of disbelief surfaced in his beast-like eyes.

His guess had been right: this cavern was far more mysterious than he had imagined.

In his previous life, the largest land vertebrate on Earth had undoubtedly been the elephant. An adult male African elephant could reach about seven meters in length and over four meters in height, typically weighing around four to five tons, with the heaviest on record reaching even ten tons.

It was precisely that immense bulk that made them invincible across the great savannas, with almost no natural enemies. Lions, cheetahs, hyenas, and other fierce beasts all regarded them with fear.

Yet the skeleton before him was several times larger than an elephant’s. By rough estimate, it was at least twenty meters long from head to tail.

The skull alone was as large as a bed, with sharp, massive teeth exposed in its jaws.

There were also four thick leg bones, each one like a pillar.

The entire skeleton lay scattered in pieces along the bank, with no sign of struggle or combat nearby. It was likely that the creature had died a natural death. More than that, it faintly radiated a trace of primeval aura.

Most importantly, it was not preserved in the form of a fossil, but as a gray-white skeleton.

The formation of a fossil requires at least ten thousand years. This mysterious creature had therefore died within that span of time.

Lu Chen carefully reached out with his claws and tapped it a few times. The texture was hard, the sound dull. It was nothing like he had imagined, crumbling to dust at a mere touch.

How many years can animal bones survive intact in the natural world? Lu Chen did not know.

Perhaps in dry, sealed conditions they could last for hundreds, even thousands of years. The mummies of his former world were the clearest example.

But this underground cavern had moving air, and decay-causing bacteria would naturally thrive here... so the mysterious giant creature had probably not been dead for very long.

Perhaps only decades, or even less.

A thought suddenly flashed through Lu Chen’s mind.

This thing... probably was not native to Blue Star!

For a species to survive and multiply, it could not exist as a lone individual. If such a massive creature had once lived on Blue Star’s land, there would have been at least a population of them, and humans would very likely have discovered their skeletal remains.

After all, even mermaids hidden deep beneath the sea, rarely seen by anyone, had left behind many half-true legends in the human world.

And when he had previously searched through records, he had found nothing mentioning a mysterious giant creature like this.

So how had it appeared on Blue Star?

With deep suspicion in his heart, Lu Chen was about to investigate further when he suddenly heard a faint, unusual disturbance from the dark river not far away.

He immediately turned his head and saw massive waves rising on the several-zhang-wide water surface.

Crash... a ferocious head surfaced.

Borrowing the faint glow cast by the cave walls, Lu Chen made out its appearance.

It had a dark, hideous head, with two pairs of dark red, coral-like fleshy tentacles growing from the sides of its crown. Its thick body was covered in three flame-like cloud patterns that extended all the way to the tip of its tail.

If one ignored the dagger-sharp teeth in its mouth, it looked at first glance like a giant salamander enlarged several times over.

So... some kind of mutated giant salamander?

First he had found the anaconda shedding grounds, then a mysterious skeleton of unknown origin, and now a giant salamander... not to mention that strange blood-vine orchid outside.

Lu Chen’s curiosity about the surrounding mountains and forests only deepened, and a vague suspicion began to take shape in his mind.

Still, for now, he had to kill this extra-large salamander first.

In his former life, the largest salamander had lived for more than a hundred years, reached two meters in length, and weighed around seventy kilograms. But such creatures had four short legs, were extremely clumsy when crawling, and could not pursue prey at all.

They relied mainly on passive hunting, waiting for prey to come to them.

The one before him was about six meters long, with thick, powerful limbs and a mouth full of sharp teeth. It looked anything but easy to deal with.

Chances were high that after mutating, its hunting abilities had increased dramatically.

While Lu Chen was thinking, he slowly retreated farther into the cavern. He was not planning to turn and flee; he merely wanted to choose a battlefield that favored him.

This creature was clearly amphibious and probably spent most of its time in the water, so its speed on land surely could not be too great.

However... Lu Chen was wrong!

The mutated salamander suddenly burst from the water with a thunderous splash, its body launching out like a cannon shell.

Thud, thud, thud!

In the blink of an eye, it had charged seven or eight meters.

Its speed was no match for Lu Chen’s, but it was by no means slow.

If it were an ordinary crocodile, it would probably not even have time to react.

In a flash, Lu Chen’s limbs struck the ground, and with a nimble leap he landed four or five meters away.

“Chirp, chirp, chirp!!” The creature opened its huge mouth and let out a shrill, piercing howl.

At the same time, its belly bulged and contracted, as if it were gasping for breath.

Then, with a spit, it launched a large mass of foul-smelling water straight toward Lu Chen.

Damn... a hidden weapon?!

Instinct told Lu Chen that the filthy water was strange, and he did not dare block it with his body.

With another burst of movement, he dodged aside.

Hiss, hiss, hiss... The black water splashed onto the rocks and gave off a pungent cloud of smoke.

Lu Chen froze for a moment, then stared closely and saw that the stones stained by the black water had been eaten through with holes.

This thing carried severe corrosive power, likely some kind of mutated ability. He finally understood why it had dared to attack him so boldly.

The probing was over; it was time to finish off this oversized salamander.

Having made up his mind, Lu Chen lunged forward at full speed.

The giant salamander opened its mouth again, trying to spit out black water to stop him.

But Lu Chen was simply too fast. It never had the chance. With a heavy impact, its body was sent flying three meters away. It smashed through two stalactites in succession, rolled several times, and then stopped.

After landing the blow, Lu Chen did not pause. He flashed forward again, opened his jaws, and clamped directly onto the creature’s body, unleashing his terrifying biting force in an instant.

Crack... one of the oversized salamander’s thick legs was bitten cleanly off.

“Chirp, chirp” it let out wave after wave of pitiful screams.

Crash... from deeper within the dark river, another huge head surfaced.

There was another one?

Lu Chen was startled, but the motion of his forepaw did not slow in the slightest.

Thud, thud!

With a few consecutive blows, he smashed the prey’s head apart.

Then he turned to look at the other salamander rising from the water.