63: Red Carp Demon Fish

The ground was covered in plant ash.

A layer of white frost covered the ground.

It was a beautiful sight formed by the white ash settling.

Two middle-aged men watched this scene, their expressions looking somewhat grim.

"This kid's bloodlust is too strong. To kill a single demonic creature, he actually burned down hundreds of hectares of forest."

"You could say he hates evil with a passion!"

"Stop trying to make him look good. He clearly doesn't understand trade-offs. A low-threat demonic creature versus a hundred hectares of healthy forest—can't he tell which is more important?"

"The Professionals devoured by that creature wouldn't agree. Report it honestly; those above will make their own judgment."

The two finished their notes and continued forward.

One of them caught something in his peripheral vision and suddenly realized something was wrong.

"Wait, why are your footprints a bit larger?"

???

Suspecting they were being tracked by someone invisible, the two immediately drew their weapons and unleashed skills at the location of the footprints behind them.

A black figure appeared out of thin air, dodging the strike.

As they were about to follow up with another attack, they felt a pain in their necks, and two heads rolled onto the ground... A wide river with rolling waves.

The wind blew across the waves, revealing schools of fish.

Beneath the emerald river water, schools of red carp swam leisurely.

If Old Zhuang were here, he would probably say: "The red carp swim about at ease; this is the joy of fish."

Then again, he might not, since Huizi would have rebutted him.

Xu Le, however, had no interest in admiring the red carp at this moment.

He kicked a clump of black soil into the river.

The leisurely red carp suddenly went wild, constantly tearing at the black soil falling into the water, feasting greedily.

In less than a second, the fist-sized clump of soil was devoured so completely that not even a grain of sand reached the riverbed.

These red carp weren't just demonic creatures; they were ruthless enough to eat even soil.

Looking at the thirty-meter-wide river before him, Xu Le had a faint bad premonition.

He flew upstream along the bank until he reached the boundary of Zone 11001, finding that it was just as he had expected.

This was merely a segment of the river; the source was even further away.

Even if he cleared out all the red carp in this area, more would still swim down from upstream.

Presumably, red carp from downstream would also make their way into the waters of Zone 11001.

To completely eradicate the demonic creatures, he would have to clear the entire river; otherwise, it would be a futile effort.

The bigger problem was how to kill the red carp in the water.

Little Yellow Chicken's flames were no ordinary fire, but the river water was perpetually tainted by Demonic Qi Contamination and was no ordinary water either. The red carp in the water were no ordinary fish; relying on it would be useless;

Little Dog's Clone could swim on the water's surface, but it was somewhat out of its depth fighting underwater;

Little Peach Tree... Little Silly Crow's health was already low, and its defense was poor; he couldn't bring himself to make a bird dive underwater to fight;

The only one capable of underwater combat was Little Black Snake.

Little Black Snake was itching for action; it was finally its turn to be the main force again.

Xu Le thought for a moment and decided to test the waters first.

"Little Black Snake, go into the water and bait them. You must lose, not win."

Little Black Snake: "..."

It obediently dove into the water, immediately feeling a surge of Devilish Qi desperately trying to burrow into its body.

Just as it was wondering how to fake a defeat, dense swarms of red carp surrounded it, biting from all sides.

-68.

-72.

-77... Little Black Snake had high damage reduction and decent defense, but the dense schools of fish swarmed it, biting frantically.

In just one encounter, it had already been bitten over a dozen times.

Though they looked like ordinary red carp, their mouths were filled with rows of tiny, sharp teeth.

Little Black Snake instinctively used its Deterrence skill, straightening its body, staring with its eyes, and flicking its tongue.

Despite its terrifying posture, the fish... had no reaction, continuing their fanatical biting.

Although their attack power was reduced by 20%, more red carp from further away swarmed in, joining the biting army.

-56.

-49.

-51... As more and denser red carp joined the fray, its health bar visibly dropped, soon losing a third of its HP.

With its eyes turning crimson, Little Black Snake used its Elephant Swallowing skill to gulp down one fish before turning tail and fleeing.

The master said it must lose, not win.

Perfect.

By the time it crawled onto the bank, its health had dropped by another third.

It really was a case of many ants killing an elephant.

Even the thick-skinned Little Black Snake couldn't withstand it.

Xu Le's eye twitched at the sight. He cast Life Recovery, instantly filling Little Black Snake's health bar and adding a red blood shield.

Dense swarms of red carp jumped onto the shore to give chase, and seeing things weren't right, they tried to jump back into the water.

But it wouldn't be that easy.

Blazing Shockwave!

Meteor Fire Rain!

Light of Punishment!

Earth Spike!

A pack of dogs swarmed forward, tearing and biting.

The red carp's strength was less than a tenth of its original once on land, and they soon turned into a dense shower of experience points.

[EXP +15821]

[EXP +15821]

...In less than three seconds, the battle was over.

Most of the red carp became corpses on the ground, while a small portion quickly retreated into the river.

Xu Le glanced at his experience. Out of a 28 million EXP bar, he was just a bit away from reaching level 56.

The Fallen Zone truly is a paradise for leveling up!

Among the dense piles of corpses, five or six points of white light shimmered.

They were all Rare-grade equipment—better than nothing. He tossed them directly into his space ring to sell for Credits later.

The five little ones began feasting on the red carp on the ground.

Unlike the digital corpses in dungeons, the red carp corpses here were real. If not dealt with and no other demonic creatures ate them, they would remain there indefinitely.

Little Peach Tree used Life Purification to cleanse the residual Devilish Qi from the corpses. Little Black Snake was the first to rush forward and feed, eating with a ferocious expression.

Then came Little Silly Crow, who was exceptionally fond of eating red carp.

Seeing his contracted beasts eating happily, Xu Le took a purified red carp for himself. He pulled tools from his ring to clean and season it, then called over a Little Yellow Chicken Clone to roast the fish with its fire.

The Little Yellow Chicken Clone's fire-breathing technique wasn't great, resulting in fish that was half-raw and half-charred. Xu Le took a bite with a frown, but surprisingly, it tasted exceptionally good.

Time passed.

The sky began to darken.

Xu Le picked through the pieces, eating only the relatively well-roasted meat, and unexpectedly ended up stuffed.

The other contracted beasts also ate to their hearts' content.

Little Peach Tree cast another Life Purification on Xu Le and its companions to prevent them from being unknowingly tainted by Demonic Qi Contamination.

Xu Le pitched a tent and went inside.

The five little ones stood guard outside the tent.

Little Peach Tree took root in the ground, while Little Yellow Chicken, Little Black Snake, and Little Dog lay beneath the tree on alert.

Little Silly Crow stood guard on the other side, its round eyes scanning for danger in the darkness.

The river water began to ripple.

Some red carp, attracted by the corpses of their companions on the shore, tried to sneak onto land for a feast, only to be met by Light of Punishment.

Little Silly Crow was the fastest and most diligent; the moment those red carp surfaced, they were met with death... A kilometer away, a transparent figure watched with a conflicted gaze, ultimately not daring to approach directly, and instead sent a message.

The contact's name was none other than Lord Ghost Executioner!