18: Chapter 18 Parasitic Relationship

The Ning Couple hadn't been entangled with wolves for several days, following them along.

When they learned that the next unlockable location was a shop, they were ecstatic. But their excitement quickly faded as they realized they had a big problem on their hands.

The ground was still covered in pristine white snow, and the only colors around were the brown tree bark and the occasional green leaves. And these were all the Ning Couple could see.

There was nothing else. They couldn't see anything.

"What should we do now?" Ning A was a bit troubled. At first, the problem wasn't big, and they didn't feel any urgency, but as things escalated, the problem grew bigger and bigger.

"A tree? Or wait for something to pass by?" Ning B said, also trying his best to think of a solution.

Looking around again, although everything seemed the same, the Ning Couple knew they were tens or even hundreds of miles away from the village with the giant wall.

They observed their surroundings, not to see what was there, but to see what was no longer there.

The wolves.

When they first jumped onto the Wolf King's body and saw that they could continuously gain 450 energy points, they were overjoyed, so they turned off notifications and lived freely, waiting for the shop to unlock within half a day. But when the shop didn't unlock, they became confused.

They asked the system to reopen notifications and found that they only received 5 energy points. At first, they were truly surprised and didn't know what was going on. But when the system explained what had happened, they finally calmed down, just shaking their heads.

According to the system, because they used the parasitic ability, they were now in a parasitic relationship with the wolves, which meant that only they benefited from this relationship, while the wolves, as hosts, were slowly becoming weaker and even had the potential to die.

As expected, it died. According to their calculations, this wolf gave them over 300,000 energy before it died. Without a host, the Ning Couple could only use their parasitic ability again to acquire a new host. Thus, they parasitized another wolf's body.

However, they soon discovered that these wolves only gave 300 energy, perhaps because they hadn't eaten for half a day and lacked energy, or perhaps because other wolves were not as good as the wolf pack leader who gave 400 energy. So when the wolf pack inevitably began to die, they only received 200,000, and then had to use the parasitic skill which cost 100,000 energy.

Ultimately, each wolf only brought them an increase of 100,000 energy. Although this was already a considerable amount of energy, looking at the scattered wolves around them, they knew that the energy within them was almost exhausted, and even the one they were currently riding would die in just a few minutes.

"We have to find a solution quickly," Ning B said with a helpless expression.

"Hmm... wait a minute." Ning A thought of something and asked, "Hey, system, if this wolf dies, will our energy decrease?" Previously, they always changed hosts when they were on the verge of death, so they didn't need to ask this question.

Now that they asked, the system finally answered.

"You will not disappear or lose any energy."

"You will remain in the animal's corpse until you switch bodies or seize another body like a parasite."

"However, it is not recommended to stay on a corpse for long, as the corpse will rot, and you will lose energy as a result."

"Oh, that's good. This way, we don't have to immediately look for the next corpse," Ning A said, sighing in relief.

"Yes. And it's winter now, so I think we won't have to worry about the wolf rotting for a while," Ning B's tone was more relaxed.

The wolf finally died, and the Ning Couple stopped. They didn't want to waste 100,000 firepower on an immovable tree, so they decided to wait for other animals to pass by. They fell unconscious and asked the system to wake them when an animal or monster passed.

The calls of dozens of birds around them immediately woke them. There were at least twenty similar birds, not large, but they looked incredibly bloodthirsty, flying to the wolf's carcass and beginning to tear at it.

"Oh no! We're running out of power!" Ning B shrieked.

"System, parasitize the nearest bird!" Ning A yelled.

They immediately transferred their consciousness from the wolf to the birds. Within minutes, they had eaten the wolf, leaving only bones. After eating, they began to fly away.

The birds flew in flocks, and Ning knew that the fate of the wolf would also befall these birds. As the birds flew, the Ning Couple discovered that these birds died once a day, unlike the wolves which died twice a day.

"I think it's because they've been eating food," Ning A said.

"Yeah, the wolves hadn't eaten anything after the first day, had they?" Ning B echoed.

But it didn't matter to them; they were here to replenish energy, and it didn't matter if these carnivorous birds went to their deaths.

Suddenly, the birds flew over a forest, and they once again saw the beautiful sight of the sea. Both sighed again, saying simultaneously,

"It won't happen again."