CHAPTER 37: CHAPTER 6: DROPS

After killing the Golden Wing Eagle and the Dragon Scale Python, Yan Luo searched everywhere but didn’t find a single ordinary-level demon.

This surprised him greatly, because although the Iron Shattered Hills had fewer demons compared to other areas of the Crimson Abyss, it shouldn’t have been this sparse.

Yan Luo was confident in his tracking skills. Previously, in the Dark Forest, he relied on the knowledge in his mind to quickly find demons. But today, no matter how he searched, even following the traces left by demons, he couldn’t find a single demon.

It was as if all the demons in the Iron Shattered Hills had disappeared in an instant.

This wasn’t like the sign of a fatal-level demon’s presence. In their range of activity, there might not be dangerous-level demons, but ordinary and harmless-level demons weren’t affected.

Fatal-level demons wouldn’t spend time hunting weak demons because the magic power gained from weak demons wouldn’t even compare to the magic power expended in the process. Unless weak demons delivered themselves to their mouths, fatal-level demons generally wouldn’t even glance at demons weaker than dangerous-level.

Yan Luo found a new campsite. He didn’t let his guard down because of the demons’ disappearance. Such a situation was even more eerie. If he wasn’t confident that this wasn’t caused by a city-breaking level demon, he would have left the Iron Shattered Hills long ago.

Adjusting the exoskeleton to ’rest mode’, Yan Luo relaxed completely and silently pondered what exactly was happening.

There was no similar case in his knowledge base, meaning this was the first occurrence of such a situation.

——At least the first in the Crimson Abyss.

However, it might not necessarily be the first occurrence, and the reason Yan Luo didn’t know about it was that he hadn’t collected related information. It might have occurred before, just that the information about similar situations had been concealed.

Yan Luo didn’t dwell on this matter for too long; he needed to rest, so he only thought about it for ten minutes before deciding to give up.

Without any related information, no amount of pondering could yield a definite answer. It was better to give up.

After a nap at the campsite, Yan Luo packed his camping gear and prepared to wander around to see what was going on with these demons.

As he was putting away the camera, he was surprised to find that it had captured footage of two demons passing by.

No way, when I was looking for you all yesterday, you were nowhere to be found, but when I’m resting, you come out again?

With a head full of question marks, Yan Luo packed all his equipment into the truck compartment and started today’s patrol.

Today was his third day in the Iron Shattered Hills. Officially, it was his second day hunting in the Iron Shattered Hills. According to his plan, he had one more day to spend there.

If possible, Yan Luo wanted to figure out what exactly was wrong here.

Driving his motorcycle away from the campsite, Yan Luo soon encountered a moth demon perched on a stone pillar.

This puzzled him even more.

This creature, called the ’Petrified Moth’, was an ordinary-level demon. Their hunting method mainly involved spraying scales over their target, causing the target’s body to stiffen and become immobile, as if petrified.

At this point, the Petrified Moth would come down and eat the flesh of its prey one bite at a time.

Though it’s only a meter long, its weight can reach 10 kilograms and it can consume an amount of flesh equivalent to thirty percent of its own body weight.

The prey, though petrified, would still possess awareness, helplessly watching as its body was eaten bite by bite.

Of course, the Petrified Moth posed little threat to hunters because hunters rarely removed their exoskeletons in the Abyss. As long as their skin didn’t touch the scales sprayed by the Petrified Moth, the moth couldn’t do anything to them.

Yan Luo parked his bike, gazing up at the Petrified Moth quietly perched on the stone pillar, and had more questions in his mind.

The Petrified Moth releases its scales while flying, and their scales are shiny, akin to small glass fragments. With careful observation, they could be discovered.

Yan Luo did not find any similar substances near the stone pillar, suggesting that this thing had stayed here without moving.

The problem was, ’last night’ when he passed by here, he hadn’t discovered this Petrified Moth.

If the Petrified Moth had been here all along, he couldn’t have missed it. The only explanation was that this Petrified Moth appeared here out of thin air.

Disappear into thin air, then reappear out of thin air?

Yan Luo’s brows furrowed slightly. He gave up on further observing the Petrified Moth, started his motorcycle, and went searching for dangerous-level demons.

There are priorities in everything. He came to the Abyss this time to enhance his strength, not to investigate the mystery of demons disappearing and then reappearing out of thin air.

Despite feeling a bit of an itch to get to the bottom of this, he didn’t have the time to spend here.

Magic power doesn’t stave off hunger. Even if he consumed the flesh of demons, it would only turn back into magic power in his stomach and wouldn’t sate his hunger.

The food and fresh water in his backpack were limited, and Yan Luo didn’t intend to use the demons he hunted to convert into food and water in the Abyss.

At least for this hunt, he intended to proceed as planned.

Next, he needed to focus all his energy on hunting demons. If he could investigate the mystery of the demons disappearing and reappearing out of thin air in the Iron Shattered Hills on the side, that would be great. If not, so be it.

Yan Luo rode his motorcycle around the Iron Shattered Hills, during which he found traces of possibly a fatal-level demon, which frightened him, making him dodge them immediately.

He had indeed killed a fatal-level Silent Hunting Lizard, but that was sheer luck; that Silent Hunting Lizard had underestimated him.

If the Silent Hunting Lizard hadn’t recklessly acted and had been patient like it was hunting a dangerous-level demon, he might have died.

Yan Luo’s previous weakness had indirectly saved his life. Now he was much stronger than before. Demons could sense this shift in strength, and if he were to confront a fatal-level demon again, it might try to hunt him with full force.

Being able to defeat the Silent Hunting Lizard was a miracle pieced together from countless coincidences. Yan Luo didn’t think such a miracle would happen a second time.

Avoiding the area where fatal-level demons were active, Yan Luo continued to explore the Iron Shattered Hills.

Yan Luo needed to carefully observe the surrounding environment, so his motorcycle didn’t travel fast.

The bike’s rear compartment was equipped with a few batteries, allowing Yan Luo to keep the perception module switched on at all times.

Radars emitted pulsating waves, perturbing the magnetic field in the air. Sound waves rippled out along with them, scanning everything around Yan Luo, leaving no part uncovered, even the underground.

The Iron Shattered Hills had some demons that could move underground. These were the only type of demons that Yan Luo couldn’t foresee in advance; other demons, even those capable of flight, he could perceive in advance and gauge their intent.

Only those that could move underground, Yan Luo had no way to leverage his knowledge to discover and identify their true identity in advance.

The demons in the Iron Shattered Hills had disappeared for an entire day and then all returned.

After avoiding that fatal-level demon, Yan Luo soon discovered the tracks of a dangerous-level demon and gave chase.

When he found the demon, it was in a slumber due to digestion.

What followed was simple. Yan Luo approached as stealthily as possible, minimizing his footsteps, and when he got close enough, he sprung up and gravely injured the goat-like dangerous-level demon with his long knife.

The Goat Demon awoke instantly, but it awoke only to face a heavy punch right at its face.

Yan Luo floored it with a punch, then stripped away its excess fur and slashed it again, severing the major artery of the demon and causing blood to spurt out.

The Frost Horned Goat was pinned to the ground by Yan Luo’s long knife, with Yan Luo bending near its wound to drink its blood.

Unlike the warm blood of other demons, the blood of the Frost Horned Goat was cold like drinking ice water. With each gulp, Yan Luo felt invigorated.

The Frost Horned Goat attempted to struggle, but Yan Luo held it firmly.

As the blood flowed, its struggling force diminished and it slowly edged towards death.

Yan Luo gouged a few openings into the Frost Horned Goat to let it bleed, waiting until no more blood could be drawn before finally killing the barely breathing Frost Horned Goat.

He pulled out a collector and stood aside waiting.

A moment later, the Frost Horned Goat’s body began to dissipate when Yan Luo hadn’t activated the collector yet, and heard two thumps as objects fell to the ground.

His eyes shifted to see two goat horns quietly lying on the ground, emitting a chilling aura.

Yan Luo blinked and his mouth slightly opened.

"...What’s going on here?"