Chapter 1

In a desolate land, fierce beasts roar.

This is a different continent, a world unlike the modern civilization. It is a world of savagery and survival of the fittest, the world of beasts.

The wild grass was withered and yellow, reaching up to a person's waist. In a bowl-shaped valley, Liu Weian was facing off against a rotting corpse. He rolled to avoid the corpse's claw, using his hands and feet to leap two meters away. Liu Weian quickly retreated, creating distance. He swept his fingers behind his back, and a wooden arrow appeared in his hand, his movements astonishingly fast. He drew the bow like a full moon, and the arrow shot out like a meteor.

Swoosh!

It hit the rotting corpse's left eye, penetrating two inches deep. Dark red blood spurted out, and the eyeball was shattered. If someone had seen this, they would have been greatly shocked.

The rotting corpse is formed from a corpse that has undergone a mutation. Its muscles are withered, and its moisture has evaporated, making it abnormally hard. Ordinary wooden arrows cannot penetrate it. However, Liu Weian's wooden arrow is not ordinary. The shaft is made of wood, but the tip is made of animal bone, sharpened to a fine point. The fletching is made from the feathers of a wild pheasant, which increases its speed.

Liu Weian reached behind him but found nothing, his face changing. A gust of wind came from his ear, and without hesitation, he raised the bow to block. There was a crack, and the hard bow made of peach and poplar wood broke into two pieces. A powerful force came, and his tiger's mouth was immediately torn. Liu Weian twisted his body, curling into a ball, and rolled under the rotting corpse. He rolled several times on the ground, creating a distance of several meters. He stared at the rotting corpse, breathing heavily.

There were two rotting corpses. One had been hit in the left eye, standing about 1.7 meters tall, but because it was not standing straight, its back was slightly hunched, making it look about 1.63 meters tall. Its body was already half-rotten, with a color that was a mix of ashen gray and dark red, making it look chilling. Its clothes were tattered and stained with blood, turning black. Its hair was dry, and white maggots could be seen wriggling, crawling from one nostril to the other, leaving a wet, dark red trail.

The other one was shorter, at least half a head shorter. Its body was even more rotten, and the bones could be seen where the chest clothing had fallen off. Maggots were crawling in and out of the rotting flesh, and the eyes had already rotted away, leaving two black holes. The only thing that remained sharp were its claws, which were as sharp as knives.

This was hard to understand; every part of the body was rotting, but the fingers, though withered, were not damaged. The nails had grown to nearly three inches, sharp and gleaming.

Liu Weian took a few deep breaths and immediately controlled his breathing, making it as gentle and slow as possible. Although this was the outer area of a cemetery, after thousands of years of erosion, the corpse gas had already spread. After entering for less than five minutes, Liu Weian already felt chest tightness and a decrease in strength. However, the rich rewards made him reluctant to leave.

He had been lingering around the cemetery for a week, already familiar with the general movement patterns of the rotting corpses. They usually do not act alone; once there is any movement, they all come out. These two rotting corpses had been separated from the main group, which took a lot of effort to lure out. Unfortunately, the mission failed, and a twelve-person team was completely wiped out. Liu Weian had decided to leave if he couldn't find an opportunity today, so he was grateful to the previous group.

Liu Weian is an archer. He chose to be an archer because he was afraid of death. Archers are ranged attackers, and when they can't fight, they can run away, giving them a safety distance of several meters. This was the main reason he chose to be an archer. The secondary reason was that other weapons were too expensive. Knives, spears, swords, and halberds were all made of metal, which he couldn't afford and didn't know how to forge. Only bows and arrows could be made from local materials, and they were free. After a few seconds of careful consideration, he became a proud archer.

However, to his pleasant surprise, he had a high talent for archery. After a few days of practice with a makeshift hard bow, his accuracy within ten meters reached an astonishing 90%, and within fifteen meters, it was 60%. However, the drawback was that beyond twenty-five meters, the arrows had little power.

For an archer to engage in close combat with a rotting corpse, Liu Weian was also helpless. The rotting corpse's body was hard, and beyond ten meters, even his specially made animal bone arrows could not cause much damage. More importantly, the rotting corpses were too lazy. Beyond a certain distance, they could not sense the presence of a living person and would return to their nests to sleep. There were no rotting corpses that would come out to bask in the sun for no reason.

The two rotting corpses wobbled toward Liu Weian. If someone were fooled by their speed, they would surely die a terrible death. Liu Weian had seen a previous team suffer heavy losses because of this.

When the two rotting corpses were about five meters away from Liu Weian, they suddenly lunged forward like two black shadows, moving as fast as lightning. Their sharp claws sliced through the air, creating a whistling sound. Liu Weian was prepared, leaning back and making a move similar to a bridge. The four claws grazed his clothes, the cold sharpness making his hair stand on end. He gathered all his strength and threw a rock the size of a human head with all his might.

Bang!

The rock hit the wooden arrow in the left eye of the taller rotting corpse. The powerful force made the arrow penetrate the corpse's head, revealing white animal bone and a section of the arrow. The rock continued its momentum and shattered the rotting corpse's head, collapsing its nose and crushing several maggots. The rotting corpse staggered and fell to the ground, twitching but unable to get up.

After throwing the rock, Liu Weian rolled on the ground. After observing for some time, he found that the rotting corpses, due to their stiff muscles, lacked flexibility, especially in bending over, which was a blind spot. He held the two broken pieces of the bow with both hands, using the bowstring to lock the shorter rotting corpse's ankle and pulled hard. The shorter rotting corpse fell to the ground with a thud. Liu Weian jumped up, picked up a rock the size of a basin, and smashed it on the rotting corpse's back of the head.

Bang!

The rock shattered, but the rotting corpse was not much affected, a few strands of withered hair slowly falling. The rotting corpse's body, stiff, rose up. Liu Weian did not have time to find another rock. He jumped up and stepped on the rotting corpse's back. As soon as he made contact, an irresistible force pushed him away, and his body flew out.

Thud—

Liu Weian landed hard on the ground about five meters away, his back hitting a rock the size of a human head. He felt a sweet taste in his throat and spat out a mouthful of blood. He felt as if his body was falling apart, his head dizzy. However, while he was dizzy, the rotting corpse was not. Smelling the blood, it became frenzied, moving like a black shadow, twice as fast as before.

In his dizziness, Liu Weian felt the black shadow move. He knew the danger was imminent. Relying on his instincts, he rolled 360 degrees. The sound of the wind and the metal scraping was unbearable. The rock was shattered by the claws, the cut smooth.

In the crisis, Liu Weian bit his tongue hard, the pain quickly clearing his mind. He found himself rolling under the rotting corpse's foot, which was about to stomp on his abdomen. The shock was immense. Despite the rotting corpse's half-rotten body, it had incredible strength. If the foot landed, it would tear his abdomen apart. Using all his strength, he rolled again, and a dull sound echoed.

The rotting corpse's foot grazed the edge of his body and landed on the ground, dust flying. The series of actions almost exhausted Liu Weian's strength, but he had no choice but to fight for his life. As he rolled, he noticed the broken bow still wrapped around the rotting corpse's ankle. He had an idea, barely managing to jump up, grabbing one end of the broken bow, and quickly wrapping it around the other foot. The rotting corpse, just as it was about to lift its foot, lost balance and fell toward Liu Weian. Liu Weian rolled away in panic.

If he touched the rotting corpse's rotten flesh and maggots, it would take hours to clean up.

Liu Weian quickly got up and ran to the taller rotting corpse, which was still twitching but unable to get up. Liu Weian ignored it and quickly pulled out the animal bone arrow. However, he used too much force, and a drop of liquid splashed onto his thigh. Instantly, his clothes started to smoke and a hole appeared. The liquid burned through the flesh, causing excruciating pain throughout his body.

Liu Weian's face changed. The liquid from the rotting corpse was as toxic as a strong acid. In the previous group, two people were splashed with the liquid and turned into skeletons within ten minutes, a terrifying sight. In a few breaths, a hole the size of a thumb appeared on his thigh, rapidly expanding, the pain like a tidal wave.

Liu Weian gritted his teeth, pulled out a small dagger about six inches long, and with a determined look, cut a piece of flesh the size of an egg from his thigh. The pain was intense, and sweat poured down his face. Blood gushed from his thigh, but he had no time to tend to it. Without a sound, he ran to the shorter rotting corpse and thrust the dagger into its eye socket. At that moment, the rotting corpse rose, and the two forces combined, driving the arrow deep into its head, though not completely through. The blood from his thigh made the rotting corpse even more frenzied, jumping a meter high.

Liu Weian, however, was overjoyed. As he crouched, he reached out and flicked the broken bow. The bowstring, which had just loosened, wrapped around the rotting corpse's feet again. When the rotting corpse landed, it lost balance and fell forward with a thud. The animal bone arrow pierced through its skull, but the arrow broke under the force.

The shorter rotting corpse, like the taller one, twitched but could not get up. Liu Weian, gritting his teeth, approached a corpse and picked up a large machete.

Scattered around the valley were the bodies of the previous group, about a dozen in total. The people were dead, and their weapons were left behind. Liu Weian's face changed slightly when he saw some stains on the blade, as if it was being corroded. The machete had cut through the rotting corpse, and the liquid was responsible.

The liquid could corrode even steel, giving Liu Weian a deeper understanding of the rotting corpse's toxicity.

It took him more than half an hour to cut off the heads of the two rotting corpses. Liu Weian was almost exhausted, lying on the ground, too tired to move.