Chapter 262: Giant Creatures 20

"Looks like I won," Amber Sheridan said, a smug smile on his face.

Perry Yates was completely shocked. ’Is this the power of a father’s love?’

Still, a bet was a bet.

"Alright, I get it."

’It’s just a twenty percent discount. What’s the big deal? The wool always comes from the sheep’s back, after all. He’ll just end up spending the money he saves on my cards anyway.’

Amber Sheridan looked up and lopped the rooster’s head right off.

The massive rooster, which had been strutting proudly just moments before, collapsed with a thud.

Of course, he didn’t spare the hen and chicks either.

Because the two adult chickens were too large—a good two to three meters tall—Amber Sheridan stored them away. The chicks, however, were the perfect size. They were about twice as large as ordinary chickens, but their meat was tender. The two of them prepared the chicks and began to roast them.

The aroma of roasting chicken wafted through the air, soon attracting some uninvited guests.

Just as the chicken was almost cooked, a group of able-bodied young people emerged from the tall grass up ahead.

At the head of the group was a middle-aged man with a refined, scholarly air. He wore a designer suit and was impeccably clean, with not a single hair out of place.

In a world where most people were either bald or had haircuts that looked like they’d been chewed by a dog, this was an exceptionally rare sight. Maintaining such an appearance required not only a great deal of time but also significant resources and power.

The middle-aged man wore a kind smile, looking like an approachable and gentle, older gentleman.

"Don’t be alarmed. We mean no harm. We were just drawn by the aroma. We’d like to trade some of our food for one of your roasted chickens."

As he spoke, several people stepped out from behind him, their arms laden with a large amount of food.

However, the "food" consisted mostly of leaves and wild fruits, likely harvested after the world’s mutation.

"You found edible plants?"

Perry Yates asked, surprised.

Ever since the great mutation, she had also searched for edible plants. But whether through bad luck or some other reason, every single one she’d found had been poisonous.

Without any identification items, Perry Yates could only resort to the most primitive method of testing: using Ascension on the plants.

Each time, after using Ascension and discovering a plant was poisonous, she would obliterate it completely, leaving not even a trace behind.

The middle-aged man smiled faintly. "Yes, we did. But it came at no small cost."

As he spoke, he picked up a leaf that looked unremarkable, save for being the size of a human face, and took a bite.

A crisp CRUNCH echoed the next second, and juices even splattered out.

"Rest assured, this food is all safe. Absolutely no poison. The taste just might be a little lacking."

"These fruits are delicious, too. They just have a short shelf life, so you have to eat them right away."

But even after the refined man’s demonstration, Perry Yates and Amber Sheridan remained motionless.

The chickens were still sizzling over the fire. Golden fat dripped down, hissing as it hit the flames, and the tantalizing aroma made the people behind the middle-aged man gulp.

Although they had plenty of supplies, it was almost all foraged after the great mutation—mostly just plants and wild fruits.

It wasn’t that they hadn’t considered hunting animals, but the creatures nowadays were all grotesquely oversized, as if they’d been pumped full of hormones. Without any weapons, they stood no chance.

To survive, their only source of protein was eating insects.

But that only made them long for the days when they could eat meat even more.

"We really just want to trade for some meat. We haven’t had any in a very long time."

The middle-aged man’s tone was sincere.

Perry Yates watched the man, her expression unreadable, but she subtly made a gesture to Amber Sheridan beside her, warning him to be careful.

She could feel something approaching from beneath them.

Feeling a faint tremor from the ground, Perry Yates snatched the two roasting chickens and leaped away, clearing the danger zone in an instant.

At that exact moment, a flesh-colored creature erupted from the earth and swallowed the burning campfire whole.

Perry Yates stashed the chickens in her system inventory and turned to face the middle-aged man.

The smile had vanished from the man’s face, replaced by an expression of pure disgust and loathing. "Can’t even handle a simple task. Useless trash."

He then turned back to Perry Yates, his face once again plastered with that impeccable, refined smile. Yet, it now felt unnervingly artificial.

"My dear girl, that was just my pet. Did it startle you? Don’t worry, it’s harmless. It was just a little too hungry."

The middle-aged man spread his hands, as if to say he was completely innocent.

"Are you a Croupier or a Dealer Hunter?" Amber Sheridan moved to Perry Yates’s side, assuming a combat stance as he asked.

The corners of the man’s mouth stretched upwards at an impossible angle, revealing a mouthful of shark-like teeth. "Why don’t you guess?"

As he spoke, the young people standing behind him began to transform. Their bodies shriveled, their limbs and facial features vanished, and they morphed into the same kind of monsters that had just attacked.

They raised their flesh-colored bodies upright, swaying back and forth in a truly disgusting display.

"I don’t care who you are!"

Perry Yates glared at the man, her eyes sharp as daggers. As her voice faded, all the surrounding plants began to stir, and simultaneously, the Wargod Kai appeared, encasing her body.

Seeing the armor materialize around Perry Yates, the man’s eyes lit up. "Now that’s a nice Skill," he said, his praise genuine.

Innumerable vines shot from the surrounding plants, converging on the man’s location and wrapping around him.

But then, something bizarre happened.

The man’s body, constricted by the vines, was torn to pieces.

The sight startled Perry Yates. While her plants were capable of such a feat, she knew for a fact that she hadn’t used nearly enough force to accomplish it.

From her perspective, the man’s body had been as fragile as tofu, shattering at the slightest touch.

"Something’s wrong. Look at his body."

Prompted by Amber Sheridan, Perry Yates looked closer and realized that not a single drop of blood had been spilled as the man’s body was torn apart. Furthermore, the cross-sections of his wounds were pink, and if she looked closely, she could see the flesh within squirming.

Just then, the ground began to shake again. But compared to the previous, subtle tremor—which seemed intended to conceal its movements—this time, there was no pretense of stealth.

Perry Yates and Amber Sheridan leaped out of the danger zone in unison. The next second, a flesh-colored worm, two to three meters in diameter and with a maw full of sharp teeth, erupted from the ground.