Chapter 8: Parasite

Chapter 8: Parasite

On the third day, early in the morning, a white ape carried a bundle of white bones on its shoulder and a beast skin bag slung diagonally across its body. It moved swiftly like the wind in the mountains and leaped nearly ten zhang in a single bound. Yuan Ming followed the route he had taken before and began to hurry back.

By noon, he had returned to the place where he had been attacked by the black bear. Wild beasts like black bears had a strong sense of territory and usually rarely left their original habitats. The reason Yuan Ming came back here was that his target for hunting was precisely that black bear.

After arriving, Yuan Ming untied the bundle of green wolf bones from his body and picked out a thick and sturdy shinbone. He held it tightly with both hands and began to dig a pit under a slope.

Although Yuan Ming’s strength had recovered considerably and he had already adapted to his body, he still had no plan to fight the black bear head-on. Instead, he planned to use traps, which were more reliable.

The soil in the mountains was soft, and in no time, Yuan Ming had dug a pit that was about two zhang deep and only six feet in diameter. He dug many small pits at the bottom of the pit and inserted the green wolf ribs one by one, compacting the soil.

The inserted ribs had been sharpened by Yuan Ming to be as sharp as knife tips. Then, he found several dry branches, crisscrossed them over the pit, and collected some dry leaves from the surroundings, evenly covering the hole and sealing the entrance firmly.

After doing all this, Yuan Ming tied a green wolf scapula to his chest with a vine, protecting his heart like a breastplate. He then picked up the two shinbones that he had ground to be like short spears and held them in his hands.

After waiting for a long time, Yuan Ming did not see the black bear appear. He thought for a moment and then used a white bone spear to stab his palm.

Seeing blood oozing out of his palm, Yuan Ming immediately wiped some of the blood on the trees around the pit, spreading the smell of blood as much as possible.

Then, he grabbed some mud from the ground and roughly smeared it on the wound before holding the white bone spear and waiting quietly for the black bear to take the bait.

Yuan Ming climbed up an old tree and didn’t have to wait long before he heard the sound of rustling grass and trees in the forest, accompanied by heavy breathing.

He looked towards the sound and soon saw the figure of the black bear. He saw that the black bear seemed to be injured, and his brows furrowed slightly.

After carefully observing the black bear for a moment, Yuan Ming did not see any obvious wounds on its body, but from the way the black bear was running, it was clear that something was amiss.

"Could it be poisoned?" Yuan Ming wondered. If that was the case, it would be a heaven-sent opportunity.

Yuan Ming wasn’t sure if he had such good luck, so he didn’t attack recklessly. He just waited quietly for the black bear to fall into the trap.I saw the black bear come over here, sniffing at the blood stains on the tree one by one. Suddenly, it raised its head and let out a roar of anger. Its eyes were tinged with an abnormal red, as if covered by a layer of gloom.

Yuan Ming became more and more certain that the black bear in front of him was abnormal.

The black bear looked around but didn’t find any prey. Its footsteps were always close to the edge of the trap, but it never fell in.

Yuan Ming watched anxiously from the tree. After waiting for a moment, he finally decided to take action.

One of his arms was wrapped with a vine hanging from the tree, and the other hand tightly held a white bone short spear. He jumped down from the tree and, guided by the vine, rushed towards the black bear.

Blood was flowing from the black bear’s mouth and nose, and it was still struggling violently, growling low in its mouth.

Yuan Ming turned back to the tree, took another white bone short spear, and planned to end the black bear’s suffering immediately.

But when he returned to the edge of the pit, he suddenly became dumbfounded.The bottom of the pit was in disarray, with white bones scattered everywhere, covered in obvious red bloodstains. However, the black bear was nowhere to be seen. Before Yuan Ming could figure out what was going on, a sudden gust of wind blew behind him. He immediately thought, "this is bad," but before he could react, he was hit hard in the lower back, as if he had been struck by a heavy hammer, and was sent flying forward.

He flew over the pit and crashed into a tree on the other side, before falling to the ground. Yuan Ming gritted his teeth through the pain and struggled to stand up and turn around, but before he could see what was behind him, a black shadow flashed by and he felt a sharp pain on his cheek.

He wiped his face and saw blood on his hand. When he looked forward again, he was stunned to see a monster hanging from a tree seven or eight feet away from him. It was difficult to describe the creature because it was a black bear, but there were thick, dark vines growing out of its wounds, some as thick as a human arm. The two thickest vines extended to a tree branch above, suspending the black bear’s body in mid-air.

What was even more bizarre was the six-petaled red lotus growing from the black bear’s left eye, with white stamens wriggling like white teeth, giving people a chill down their spine.

"What the hell is this thing?" Yuan Ming couldn’t help but swallow his saliva. From the black bear’s strange state at the moment, it seemed to be possessed by something.

Just then, the monster moved again, and the vines extending from the black bear’s body swung in the air, lashing out at Yuan Ming. He quickly rolled forward, trying to dodge, but the vine changed direction in mid-air and hit his back, tearing a bloody wound.

Yuan Ming stood up, intending to escape. He had some confidence in fighting the black bear, but he knew nothing about this strange creature in front of him, and didn’t know how to kill it.

As he turned to run, the parasitic monster didn’t intend to let him go. Two vines flew out, one from each side, attacking him at the same time. Yuan Ming tried to dodge, but his speed was not enough. He dodged the vine on the left, but the vine on the right wrapped around his leg, causing him to fall to the ground and be dragged back.

He quickly turned over and faced the monster, trying to attack with his short gun, but another vine had already wrapped around him, tying him up like a dumpling. Yuan Ming had no chance to fight back anymore.

In this way, he was dragged by the vine to the "black bear" in front of him.Upon getting closer, Yuan Ming was surprised to find that the black bear was not dead yet. Its other blood-red eye was still rolling, and its mouth opened and closed, emitting heavy panting sounds.

Yuan Ming’s eyes flickered, as if he had thought of something.

Since this thing was a parasite, as long as he completely killed the creature it was parasitizing, it would be equivalent to cutting off its vitality. As long as he completely killed the black bear, it would not be able to survive.

Unfortunately, it was already too late.

At the chest of the black bear, a slit suddenly split open. The rib bones inside looked like two rows of interlocking bone claws, splitting apart to both sides, revealing a bright red heart that was still throbbing "thump, thump."

Yuan Ming immediately noticed a black, tumor-like lump on the heart. Several black threads extended from it, piercing various parts of the heart, as if drawing blood from within to nourish itself.

Just when Yuan Ming thought he was going to be eaten, the vines that bound him suddenly loosened in circles, exposing his chest area.

Yuan Ming instantly understood. The black bear’s body was severely injured and broken, and only by finding a new host could this thing continue to survive. It didn’t want to eat him, but rather, it wanted to use him as a new host to parasitize.