Chapter 30: Setting Out [Second Update]

The red envelope had refreshed again.

Who knew what fortune it might hold this time?

Luffy stood up, scanning his surroundings, but found no sign of the red envelope. Clearly, he would need to search elsewhere. He turned and walked to the side, circling the area, and soon spotted a patch of purple flowers blossoming ahead, radiant and beautiful. With the sun setting, their hues deepened into a rich violet, transforming the scene into something out of a fairy tale.

Fragrance filled the air, intoxicating the senses. Butterflies danced gracefully among the blossoms.

In the apocalypse, the most beautiful places were often the most perilous—Luffy did not venture in, but turned away instead.

Suddenly, a pool appeared before him, ten meters across and unfathomably deep. Without warning, a giant serpent, five or six meters long, lunged from the water. Its enormous, menacing head snapped toward Luffy with lightning speed.

Bang—

The monstrous head swallowed Luffy's silhouette whole. Dirt sprayed everywhere as the serpent instantly recoiled, retreating back into the pool and fixing its gaze on a tree nearby.

Luffy stood unharmed beside the tree.

A massive hornet, clutching a huge black stinger, charged at Luffy.

Bang—

Luffy’s figure vanished abruptly; the tree was impaled and toppled, letting out a mournful cry.

Swish, swish—

Countless petals, sharp as daggers, flew at Luffy as he landed nearby. Once again, his form disappeared, leaving heaps of fallen leaves and punctured trunks in his wake, revealing the uncanny power of the petals.

Luffy now stood atop a tree, surveying the hornet, water serpent, and a flower spirit.

Each possessed third-tier strength, two hundred times that of an ordinary human.

“Interesting. Are you all trying to kill me? Have you beasts and plants formed an alliance?” Luffy, hands clasped behind his back and eyes narrowed, regarded them with surprise at their coordinated attack.

“Humans are merely our food. You’re unlucky to have run into us,” the giant water serpent spoke with a deep, humanoid voice.

“Chuckle... prey...” The flower spirit, graceful and alluring, sneered.

“Prepare to die, human. How dare you trespass on our territory,” the hornet spirit hissed coldly, wielding its black stinger.

“Amusing. You’ve all gained intelligence, but your wit is lacking. Those ambushes just now didn’t even scratch me. Do you really think you’ll win if we fight head-on?” Luffy mocked them.

“You humans grow stronger by consuming our crystal cores. We, too, can gain power by eating human flesh. It’s the food chain—the weak are meat, the strong are kings,” the water serpent declared.

“Oh, how unfortunate. To me, you are the weak, destined to have your crystal cores dug out. I never sought you, but you’ve brought your cores right to my door.”

Luffy shook his head, amused. Oddly enough, the flower spirit had a red envelope nestled between her legs—its placement was as bold as the system itself.

“Enough talk. Let’s show him our strength—he’s only a second-tier weakling,” the hornet spirit growled, charging at Luffy with its black stinger.

The water serpent whipped its long tail at him, swift and fierce.

The flower spirit conjured countless vines, aiming to ensnare him.

Swish—

The giant tail missed. The black stinger struck nothing. The green vines wrapped around empty air.

The serpent, hornet, and flower spirit froze, baffled by Luffy’s disappearance.

“When power reaches a certain level, speed follows,” Luffy’s voice echoed as he suddenly appeared above the serpent’s back, brandishing a Crimson Dragon Sword ablaze with fiery heat. He raised it high and brought it down.

Slash—

The sword cleaved through the serpent’s body with a red blaze, slicing it cleanly in two. Blood poured from the wound, staining the pool red as the massive body and head tumbled into the water, churning up bloody waves.

Only in death did the serpent realize the human’s true might—a single strike had obliterated him. He died with eyes open, uncomprehending.

The hornet and flower spirit gaped in shock, unable to comprehend what they had witnessed.

“How is this possible? When did that human get behind the serpent? He’s... terrifying!” The hornet spirit turned to flee.

“So powerful! Is he even human?” The flower spirit’s face went pale as she tried to escape.

“Running? Impossible,” Luffy’s cold voice rang out. His sword ignited, and he sent a fiery blade-shaped blast at the fleeing hornet spirit.

Then another at the flower spirit.

Two sharp sounds—

Both hornet and flower spirit fell, their heads pierced.

Only now did they realize they had provoked an unimaginable foe—far beyond their ability to contend with.

Luffy approached the serpent’s corpse and dug out its crystal core.

He then moved to the hornet spirit’s body, extracting its core.

Finally, he came to the flower spirit, claimed her crystal core, and tapped the red envelope between her legs.

“Ding, opening red envelope, please wait fifteen seconds. Fifteen, fourteen, thirteen...”

“Ding, red envelope opened successfully. Congratulations, host, you have received three invisibility talismans. They have been placed in your temporary storage.”

“Invisibility talismans—not bad,” Luffy nodded, then dragged the serpent’s body back. It would make excellent food.

Seeing Luffy return with the massive serpent, Zeng Hongsen was astounded—he hadn’t expected their leader to bring back such a bounty after a single venture.

“Take it to be cleaned and roasted,” Luffy told Zeng Hongsen and the others. Once cooked, they could eat some and store the rest for future meals.

After cleaning and roasting, everyone enjoyed the serpent meat as a midnight snack. When they finished, they did not rest.

Instead, they set out directly for Jiuzhou City.

They’d already delayed a day.

Luffy didn’t bother searching for the remaining red envelopes.

Along the way, every zombie and wild beast they encountered became resources for their growth.

Luffy’s crystal cores now numbered over twenty thousand. Having already slain three third-tier wild beasts, he had earned over ten thousand cores. Combined with those gathered from zombies and beasts on the road, he had made a fortune.

Leading thirty people, Luffy reached a small town. It was quiet, but danger lurked beneath the surface—something powerful seemed to be hiding there.

Luffy suddenly called a halt.

In the distance, a figure streaked across the village at incredible speed, leaving blurred shadows behind. Moments later, a white figure chased after it.

Under the twilight, moonlight draped the town in gauzy silver. Beyond this place lay the city, but Luffy did not hurry onward.

Instead, he used the Samsara Heavenly Eye to observe the town. He saw it shrouded in a layer of black mist, eerie and foreboding.