122: Chapter 122 Advancement to Level Three!

"Water? So that's how it is!"

Hearing what Xingzhe Sun said, Chen Ze realized it instantly.

No wonder the Anteater was running for its life like that; it turns out this fellow was planning to use water to force out the Grade D flying ant inside its ear.

"It has some brains, but really not much!"

The three of them continued to accelerate and chased forward for several hundred meters, and the originally dense and oppressive forest suddenly opened up.

A large-scale swamp abruptly appeared before their eyes.

The dark brown stagnant water was quietly stagnant, its surface floating with layers of rotting leaves and dark green algae, while countless dead tree branches of varying thicknesses were half-submerged and half-floating, scattered all over the swamp.

Just a few dozen meters away from where they stood, a cluster of fine bubbles was gurgling up from underwater, bursting on the turbid surface and dissipating in a flash.

"There are bubbles; the Anteater should be right down there!"

Fatty pointed over there and said in a low voice.

Chen Ze nodded, leaned forward, and poked around in the swamp with the longyin saber.

The tip of the blade easily pierced the surface algae, and just one meter down, it crashed into viscous and heavy sludge, causing the resistance to suddenly skyrocket.

He used a little force to pull the longyin saber back, the blade stained with pitch-black, putrid-smelling mud.

"This underground is all deep mud; if a person sinks in, I am afraid it will be very hard to get back out!"

"Then what should we do? Are we just going to wait here idly?"

Fatty was clearly getting a bit anxious.

"How about I go down? Once I take care of that fellow, Brother Ze, you can pull me back up!"

As Fatty spoke, he stepped forward directly, making a motion to enter the water.

Without even thinking, Chen Ze grabbed him by the collar and forcefully dragged him back.

"Are you out of your mind, kid? Do you have any idea how good the Anteater's swimming skills are?"

"What? That big guy can swim too? Really or fake?"

"Nonsense! The Anteater is a notoriously great swimmer. Rushing down blindly like this, what is the difference between that and feeding the enemy?"

This time, Chen Ze was genuinely a bit angry.

When this fellow Fatty got impulsive, he relied entirely on a surge of recklessness without using his brain at all.

Seeing that the latter was about to explain, Chen Ze spoke up sternly.

"Get to the back! If you act up and crowd forward again, see how I deal with you later!"

Scolded like that, Fatty shrank his neck, swallowed the words at the tip of his tongue back into his stomach, and sullenly retreated several steps backward.

Right at this moment, a pitch-black snout suddenly floated up to the surface of the water, with traces of blood still on it.

It was precisely the Grade D Anteater!

This fellow only exposed its nose to breathe, while its head, ears, and the rest of its body remained hidden at the bottom of the water, just like a crocodile lurking in the water.

"The flying ant probably has not been forced out yet!"

Chen Ze squatted down and carefully retreated behind a tree trunk.

"When the flying ant comes out later, it definitely will not be able to fly. That beast will most likely come ashore from our side and then look for a chance to escape."

"Let us wait right here and catch the Grade D flying ant first!"

"Brother Ze, are we not here for the Anteater? Why did we change targets again?"

Fatty scratched his head and asked in a low voice.

"What time is it, and you kid are still being greedy."

Chen Ze gave him a blank look and continued speaking.

"If my guess is right, we might have already reached the true core of the forest here."

"Putting aside whether we can beat the Anteater or not, once the commotion of the fight is too big, it might just attract other high-tier Mutated Beasts, and nobody will be able to leave then!"

Hearing this, Fatty shivered all over, subconsciously scanning the surrounding gloomy dense forest, and the slight thought in his heart just now of forcefully confronting the giant beast instantly cooled down by more than half.

"Alright, alright, alright! Brother Ze, rest assured, I will definitely not cause any trouble."

As soon as his voice fell, the swamp water surface suddenly stirred!

The two men and one monkey immediately looked over in that direction.

They saw a pitch-black shadow surface with a gurgling sound, a pair of membranous wings damply stuck to its carapace—it was precisely that Grade D flying ant!

It tried vibrating its wings a few times, realizing it could not fly at all, and then paddled with its six jointed limbs, swimming towards the shore.

At this moment, the Anteater also discovered the other party, abruptly surfacing and instantly spitting out its long, mucus-covered tongue.

Chen Ze inwardly let out a soft exclamation of alarm: "Oh no!"

Once the flying ant was swallowed, the only path left for him to obtain the Grade D beast core was to go all out in a fierce battle with the Anteater!

At this critical juncture, that Grade D flying ant frantically vibrated its wings!

Its mud-covered membranous wings were desperately shaken open in part, and leveraging the kicking force of the water surface, it leapt fiercely, stumbling into the air for several meters, flapping crookedly, and actually managed to land squarely on the muddy ground of the shore!

"Thud!"

The flying ant heavily crashed onto the mud bank, narrowly dodging the Anteater's strike.

"Holy crap? There is still this twist?"

The long-awaited Grade D beast core was right in front of him; how could Chen Ze hesitate even a fraction of a percent?

He stood up abruptly, hacking out with the longyin saber in his hand with full force, and purple thunder instantly burst forth.

The Grade D flying ant had just escaped and was still lying on its back with its six legs facing the sky without having flipped over. Facing such a fierce attack, there was simply no possibility of dodging.

"Pfft!"

The sharp blade instantly pierced the flying ant's shell, forcefully chopping it into two halves.

A pitch-black bead slipped out from within, and Chen Ze immediately stepped forward, clutching it tightly in his hand.

[Ding! Congratulations on obtaining a Grade D Mutated Beast core!]

[The upgrade requirements are currently met. Do you wish to upgrade?]

"Yes!"

Chen Ze did not hesitate in the slightest and directly chose to upgrade.

"Hum! ~"

The Grade D Mutated Beast core suddenly burst forth with brilliant radiance, instantly transforming into a visible stream of black energy that rapidly drilled into his body along his palm.

A wave of heat swept through his limbs and bones, his skeleton emitted subtle cracking sounds, and the muscles throughout his body were flushed and reshaped by a majestic force.

[Ding! Congratulations on successfully upgrading!]

Current attributes:

Survivor: Chen Ze

Level: 3

Strength: 50+10 (Slowly growing...)

Agility: 50+10 (Slowly growing...)

Constitution: 50+10 (Slowly growing...)

Evaluation: Grade D! A formidable survivor; even in the Light Curtain Forest, you can be considered to have a certain degree of self-preservation ability.

Required for next upgrade: All attributes reach 100, one arbitrary Grade C beast core.

[Ding! Congratulations on becoming the first survivor in the entire district to break through to Level 3. Reward: Ability Extraction Stone * 1]

Now making an announcement to the entire district!

"Finally! I have broken through!"

Chen Ze felt incomparably exhilarated in his heart.

Successfully upgrading not only lifted the attribute restrictions but also granted him another Ability Extraction Stone.

He raised his eyes to look at the Grade D Anteater not far away, discovering that the other party's upper half was protruding out of the water, its small eyes staring fixedly at him without blinking, not knowing what it was thinking.

At this moment, Chen Ze unexpectedly gave rise to a thought.

This fellow actually seems quite cute too!