Chapter 705 - 383: Giant Centipede 2

As someone from the modern world, he was fascinated by these ruins and extremely curious.

He had passed through Broken Armor several times before but never had the time to investigate. Now that such sights were everywhere along his path, Yang An was eager to satisfy his curiosity.

Most of all, he wanted to know why a place like the Land of Shattered Armor even existed in this world. And why was it filled with buildings and ruins from modern society?

He seemed to be on a street buried in yellow sand. The crumbling buildings looked as if they would disintegrate into fine sand at the slightest touch, but the silhouettes of some iconic structures suggested this had once been a district of skyscrapers.

A few hundred meters further, he saw a half-buried traffic sign. It was a triangular iron plate, covered in rust, but faint traces of blue paint were still visible.

Several kilometers later, Yang An saw a small hill. Innumerable Beng Birds were perched on it, and the oncoming wind carried a scent that made his head feel heavy.

As he drew closer, however, he realized it wasn’t a hill at all. It was a massive pile of a black substance that looked just like asphalt.

Innumerable Beng Birds perched on the black substance, squawking strangely. From time to time, they would use their sharp beaks to peck at the mass, pulling out small red insects from within and swallowing them.

Strangely, after a Beng Bird swallowed one of the red insects, a few wisps of the black substance would snake into its mouth and enter its body. Yet the birds seemed completely oblivious, as if they were simpletons.

’So many Beng Birds gathered on this pile, probably tens of thousands of them. This can’t be anything good. I should go around it.’

Yang An took one look and decided to detour around it. There was no need to rush in for a closer look.

But before he could circle around the hill of unknown substance, the Beng Birds perched on it suddenly shrieked and scattered in all directions, as if something had spooked them.

A bad feeling washed over Yang An at the sight. He immediately broke into a run, sprinting with all his might along his intended detour.

But just then, on the hill of black substance, red dots began to appear, growing more and more numerous. In the blink of an eye, countless red insects swarmed out from within.

The insects crawled toward the peak. They weren’t fast, but their sheer numbers were staggering.

The massive swarm of insects tangled together, quickly forming a grotesque shape. It looked like a giant humanoid figure, but with far too many limbs.

It resembled a creature with a human upper body, but its lower half was a long, trailing body. Rows of arms grew from its sides, making it look, at first glance, like a giant centipede.

At that moment, the surrounding temperature skyrocketed. The scent in the air grew thicker and thicker, until it felt almost solid.

Yang An had been sprinting at full tilt, trying to get past the area as quickly as possible, but he suddenly found his speed affected. He had slowed down considerably without even realizing it.

It was as if he were moving underwater. The air around him grew increasingly viscous, and his movements became more and more sluggish.

Noticing this, Yang An twisted his head to look back at the hill. The giant centipede’s lower body was still connected to the hill itself, while its humanoid head continuously spewed black fog. It seemed to be drawing the black substance from beneath it into its belly, only to expel it from its mouth as a fog, like a volcanic eruption.

After being spewed out, however, the black fog would quickly vanish into the air, becoming formless and invisible. But a pungent odor grew ever stronger.

Countless thoughts flashed through Yang An’s mind. Though his senses had failed him and he could only rely on his eyes, his combat experience allowed him to instantly grasp the situation.

’If I’m not mistaken, the area around this hill must be riddled with traps, like invisible quicksand or a formless spiderweb.’

’And my arrival startled the monster hidden inside.’

’The Beng Birds can’t see me, but the Primordial Stone I swallowed only prevents them from noticing me. Other monsters can see me just fine.’

Suddenly, a chill ran down Yang An’s spine, as if something terrifying had locked its eyes on him.

Ever since he advanced to the Insect Dao Realm, this feeling had almost never occurred, with the sole exception of when he faced Old Life Crane.

It was a premonition that only surfaced when facing an overwhelmingly powerful enemy.

’This is bad!’

The monster on the hill instantly made Yang An feel targeted, like an insect caught in a web, waiting for the spider to claim its prey.

To make matters worse, the air around him had grown thick and viscous, impeding his movement and leaving him unable to either advance or retreat.

’In this situation, if that monster gets close, it’s bound to be a brutal fight. The odds would be stacked against me, too; after all, this is the monster’s home turf.’

’What do I do?’

’What else can I do? Enter the 6th Floor of the Xian Origin Land, of course!’

Yang An didn’t hesitate for a moment. Old Life Crane had told him that when faced with an inescapable crisis, he was to enter the place called the Upper Demon on the 6th Floor of the Xian Origin Land to find a path to survival.