145: evolution

"Arghhhhhhh—!!!"

Zhou Zihui's miserable screams were no longer human, turning into a horrific cacophony of flesh being forcibly torn apart and bones being violently reshaped.

Shen Mingyuan's dark red goggles remained locked onto the target; the sight before him made his breath hitch beneath his helmet.

This was not a gradual growth, but a simultaneous explosion of biomass blowout and reconfiguration from the inside out!

Zhou Zihui's body was like a balloon gripped by an invisible giant hand and then frantically injected with scalding lava, swelling suddenly amidst violent spasms!

His skin was stretched nearly transparent by the tissues proliferating wildly beneath it, before being crudely torn apart by countless sharp, greyish-white new bone spurs and thick bone beams that erupted from his body with a continuous "rip"!

These bones were not arranged in an orderly fashion; they were like frenzied creations with their own independent wills—huge, curved prototypes of shoulder armor thrust out from his shoulder blades;

His spine rose and mutated section by section, extending into a heavy tail base with the silhouette of a bone hammer; the bones of his limbs twisted, thickened, and deformed amidst terrifying "clacking" friction, as finger bones fused and stretched into the skeletal frame of sharp claws... Almost at the same instant the bones protruded, muscle groups as dark red as living things spread, wrapped, and stacked frantically along every new bone like boiling mud!

They wriggled and intertwined, completely swallowing the original human silhouette and filling it into a rising mound of flesh pulsing with blood vessels and tendons.

Immediately after, a layer of tough, rough, grey-brown skin with a cold, damp luster "seeped" out from the surface of the flesh at a visible speed, spreading and covering it as if donning a layer of biological leather with its own life.

Beneath this skin, especially on the swollen back and flanks, harder substances rapidly deposited—thick, greyish-white bone plates with irregular edges, like grotesque mushrooms after rain, "pushed" out from under the skin layer by layer, hardening and splicing together to construct a formidable natural heavy armor in an instant!

The fastest and most terrifying change occurred in the head region.

Zhou Zihui's original face quickly receded and was enveloped by the swelling neck muscles, while in front—the jawbone became like a living battering ram, extending and expanding violently forward, downward, and to both sides amidst the scalp-numbing sounds of breaking and reorganization!

An exaggeratedly proportioned skull frame for a giant jaw, filled with crisscrossing new sharp teeth and entwined with flesh and fascia, outlined a terrifying silhouette that could devour everything within two or three seconds!

From painful spasms to protruding bones, from the filling of flesh to the covering of heavy armor, from the swelling of the torso to the formation of the giant skull... all these extremely uncomfortable and illogical upheavals were completed with a crash under Shen Mingyuan's gaze in just over ten seconds, like a horror growth documentary with the fast-forward button pressed a hundred times!

The night wind blew, carrying the stench from the rough skin of the newborn giant beast.

Shen Mingyuan slowly exhaled the breath he had been holding, his electronic voice carrying an unprecedented gravity as he whispered to himself:

"So this is... evolution. No, it's a forcibly catalyzed, out-of-control, super-accelerated evolution..."

His gaze swept over that already non-human, heavy-armored shell radiating a savage aura. "The power of the Progenitor Evolution Factor... a concentration of 1.5%... to actually support a morphological reconstruction of such scale and speed... truly... terrifying."

The massive body, having completed its evolution, swayed slightly, seemingly not yet fully adapted to this new shell containing terrifying power and heavy burdens. But an impulse more primitive and urgent than consciousness instantly took over everything—energy! Extreme biological energy, needed to fill the abyss-like emptiness and sustain this massive body and the runaway evolution!

"Gurgle... Roar—!!"

A strange sound, a mix of the hollow noise of intestinal peristalsis and a low roar, emanated from deep within its newborn giant jaw.

It didn't even spare a glance for Shen Mingyuan nearby; those eyeballs located on both sides of the new skull, flickering with a cloudy and greedy light, locked directly onto the nearest tree, which was as thick as a bowl's rim.

The next moment, the horrifying feeding began!

It didn't even perform a "gnawing" motion. That disproportionately large mouth, filled with crisscrossing sharp teeth, suddenly opened to a startling angle and then snapped shut as crudely as hydraulic shears!

"Crack! Boom—!!"

Amidst the tooth-aching sound of wood splintering, the tree trunk was bitten in half and crushed! Along with the branches, leaves, and unfallen fruit on the canopy, it was gulped down whole in one mouthful!

The incredibly powerful neck muscles and the newborn grinding structures worked in tandem; hardwood, fiber, leaves, berries... everything was rapidly mashed, mixed, and swallowed amidst the scalp-numbing "crunching" sounds of destruction.

In just two or three bites, a tree as thick as a bowl's rim along with its canopy completely disappeared into that bottomless pit of a mouth!

The roar of the digestive System sounded almost simultaneously. Meanwhile, the two auxiliary feeding limbs on the sides of its torso, tipped with bone spikes, shot out like lightning!

One stabbed into another nearby tree with a "pfft," easily snapping and lifting it; the other, like a high-speed plow, "swished" across the ground, digging up turf, roots, and insects in the soil!

The broken trees and the clumps of earth mixed with turf and insects were stuffed into the insatiable giant mouth by these two efficient "meal-delivery arms" at a dizzying speed.

The giant mouth opened and closed like the wind, devouring all organic matter that could be stuffed inside. The entire process was startlingly fast; from biting off the first tree to clearing all edible matter within several meters, it took only a dozen or so seconds!

However, this frantic replenishment was but a drop in the bucket for its abyss-like energy needs.

Almost the instant the surroundings were cleared, that hideous head, dripping with wet saliva and residual debris, turned ninety degrees heavily and swiftly.

Those cloudy eyes, burning with primitive hunger, locked onto the motionless Shen Mingyuan.

Even under this oppressive gaze, those two auxiliary feeding limbs did not stop for a moment!

Like greedy tentacles with their own independent consciousness, they continued to rapidly and mechanically pierce and scrape the ground beside the monster, digging up any luckily remaining grass roots, worms under stones, and even the plant debris crushed under its own feet, constantly "feeding" them toward the slightly open giant mouth in a subconscious, never-ending cycle.

The brief "fuel" replenishment was over. Now, its instinct told it that the silent and dangerous "existence" before it, radiating a unique energy signature, was a more efficient "high-quality prey" that could better satisfy its bottomless needs.

The air in the valley completely froze at this moment, leaving only the low, oppressive "purring" sound coming from the monster's throat.

"This is going to be a real problem," Shen Mingyuan said in a low voice, his words carrying a heavy tone as they transmitted through his armor.

He raised his right hand, and one of the black and red "twin stars" pointed steadily at the giant beast radiating terrifying pressure, the muzzle adjusting slightly with the opponent's minute sways.

"Hey, you in there, is the human consciousness still present? Do you recognize this?" His tone carried a hint of testing, and also a cold warning. "This thing is very dangerous."

However, the only response he received was the increasingly loud "purring" from deep within the beast's throat, filled with pure appetite and aggression.

In those cloudy eyes, no rational response could be seen, only madness and greed.