Chapter 117 Light

Chapter 117: Chapter 116: Light

The Black Snake Monster opened its mouth wide. Its dense, fine fangs flashed with a cold light. Carrying a foul, bloody wind, it lunged at Xu Ming, who was at the very front.

"Watch out!" Professor Ye shouted in a low voice, instinctively wanting to step forward and help.

Xu Ming was no longer an ordinary person. He reacted swiftly, quickly sidestepping to avoid the snake’s head while sweeping his crowbar out horizontally. With a crisp SMACK, the weapon smashed heavily into the Black Snake Monster’s body.

The monster stumbled and sank into the water. Seizing the opportunity, Xu Ming stomped on its torso and ruthlessly plunged the tip of the crowbar into its skull.

HISS!

The Black Snake Monster struggled madly beneath his foot.

STAB STAB STAB!

He used all his strength, stabbing continuously until the Black Snake Monster under his foot gradually stopped moving.

"Phew..." He panted heavily, fine sweat seeping from his forehead.

A faint blue Energy Ball floated up from the snake’s corpse and flew into his body. Nourished by the Energy, the muscle lines on Xu Ming’s arms became faintly more defined.

The commotion seemed to attract the attention of nearby Black Snake Monsters. Two more slithered out from the corner ahead.

"Professor Ye, we’ll take one each." Xu Ming charged forward first, chopping his crowbar at the Black Snake Monster on the left, forcing it to rear its head in evasion.

Professor Ye seized the chance, thrusting his steel pipe diagonally toward the right Black Snake Monster’s eye socket. The monster nimbly dodged. With a swing of its body, its clawed arm swept toward Professor Ye. Caught off guard, he could only hastily raise his steel pipe and retreat.

Despite his best efforts to evade, the tips of the Black Snake Monster’s claws grazed his arm, leaving a long, bloody gash. The edges of the narrow wound immediately began to emit a faint black mist.

The realization hit him—it was poisonous!

Having landed a hit, the Black Snake lost its balance. Professor Ye grasped the opportunity, switched the steel pipe to his left hand, and smashed it forcefully against the Black Snake Monster’s back.

BAM BAM BAM!

The Black Snake Monster was slammed ruthlessly into the water by Professor Ye’s tremendous strength. He took the opportunity to straddle it, viciously bashing the Black Snake Monster’s head over and over again.

Finally, with a loud POP, the Black Snake Monster’s eyeball was forcefully ruptured. Taking advantage of the momentum, Professor Ye jammed the steel pipe into the eye socket and stirred it relentlessly.

Meanwhile, Xu Ming, whose combat experience was relatively richer, had slain his enemy at the cost of a slash to his abdomen.

Two blue Energy Balls flew out and burrowed into their respective bodies.

"Good job," Han Ning praised. He shot out two vines that wrapped around them, glowing with a faint green light. Their wounds healed at a visible rate.

These two Black Snakes were about 2.5 meters long. Even newly Awakened individuals would struggle against them, let alone two merely enhanced ordinary people. Throughout the entire process, Han Ning hadn’t intervened; the pair had defeated the Black Snake Monsters entirely on their own. All he had to do was act as a healer, providing heavy support while power-leveling his teammates.

"Let’s keep going," Han Ning said.

Having experienced two instances of close-quarters combat with the Black Snake Monsters, Xu Ming and Professor Ye had enriched their combat experience and developed some synergy. Xu Ming tied the enemies down from the front while Professor Ye looked for openings. When they encountered a particularly tough opponent, they would gang up on it together.

Their movements weren’t masterful—perhaps even a bit clumsy—but combat experience was built through accumulation. Over half an hour later, they finally arrived downstairs at the main building where their luxury suite was located.

The damage here wasn’t too severe. The first-floor entrance was simply blocked by debris, and broken furniture and bedding floated on the surface of the water.

Han Ning pointed to a second-floor window. "I’ll go up and clear the way. You guys follow."

Xu Ming and Professor Ye nodded. Fighting their way over, they had accumulated a lot of Energy. Though their stamina was somewhat depleted, their Spirit was exceptionally high.

Han Ning slipped in through the second-floor window first, casually dispatching two Black Snake Monsters in the hallway. Xu Ming and Professor Ye followed closely behind.

Quite a few Black Snake Monsters still lurked within the main building. The trio made their way up along the corridor and arrived in front of their suite. As soon as they reached the door, the three of them frowned. The door had long been smashed open and lay crookedly to one side.

The living room was a complete mess. The table holding the experimental equipment had completely collapsed. Microscope lenses were shattered, petri dishes were smashed to pieces, and several precision tweezers had been bitten out of shape.

"These animals!" Seeing the ruined experimental equipment, Professor Ye was furious.

If the equipment was destroyed, the food in the storage room fared no better. Various types of food were scattered haphazardly all over the floor. Most of the packaging had been bitten open, and food scraps were dragged everywhere.

"Who knew Black Snake Monsters also liked processed food?" Although Han Ning had expected this, he still felt a pang of pity seeing all the wasted food covering the floor.

Amidst the wreckage, they scavenged for edible food and salvageable equipment, packing them into the burlap sacks they carried with them. Besides that, they also grabbed some pillows, blankets, and other necessities.

"Let’s go check on the planting area."

Seeing there was nothing left to take in the suite, they headed to the planting area on the fifth floor. The once-lush space was now reduced to a floor full of broken branches and rotten leaves. The newly cultivated spinach and sprouts had even been uprooted completely.

HISS!

Two Black Snake Monsters that were gnawing on a pot of tomato seedlings noticed the intruders and immediately slithered over.

"What a waste of crops!" Professor Ye’s shoulders trembled slightly, a trace of fury lacing his tone.

"Hmm?" Trailing behind, Han Ning sensed a peculiar fluctuation radiating from Professor Ye.

Along with this fluctuation, a faint golden halo suddenly blossomed around Professor Ye. At first, it was just weak specks of light flowing over his body like the glow of fireflies, but it gradually Gathered into a hazy, luminous mist.

"This is..." Professor Ye stared blankly at his own hands. A golden sphere of light the size of a ping-pong ball was Gathering in his palm, its warm glow dispelling the surrounding chill.

He instinctively pushed the sphere of light forward. WHOOSH! The golden light shot toward the nearest Black Snake Monster like a meteor. The sphere exploded against the snake’s scales, Scattering into a shower of luminous fragments. Struck by the intense, blinding flash erupting from the sphere, the Black Snake Monster let out a miserable, agonizing howl, its slithering speed slowing drastically.

"Huh?" Professor Ye focused his Spirit, and his palm lit up with a faint glow once more. This time, the sphere of light was smaller and more condensed as it shot toward the other Black Snake Monster’s eyes.

The sphere flew incredibly fast, leaving the Black Snake Monster almost no time to react.

HISS!

The Black Snake Monster thrashed madly as the sphere of light scorched its eye socket.

Xu Ming took the opportunity to charge forward, ruthlessly smashing his crowbar into its eyeball. Under the cover of the residual golden light on his body, Professor Ye gripped his steel pipe and thrust it at the Black Snake Monster enveloped in the Scattered luminous fragments.

Affected by the golden light, the two Black Snake Monsters seemed to have lost their senses, barely putting up any counterattack. The pair dispatched the two Black Snake Monsters in a few quick strokes.

"Professor Ye, you’ve Awakened!" Xu Ming said in pleasant surprise.

"It seems so..." Professor Ye looked at his palm, which was Scattering golden light, and then turned to Han Ning as if seeking help.