Chapter 18

At this moment, Xu Dong's entire body was a pitiful sight. At a glance, his hair, eyebrows, clothes, shoes, and socks all looked as if they had been scorched by fire. Furthermore, one of his arms hung limply by his side, with a noticeable swelling in the middle, and the front part was bizarrely bent downward. He was lying on the ground, so exhausted from the intense battle that he didn't even want to move a finger.

But... he had not forgotten for a moment the day he first entered, when the ugly, bloody, yet incomparably powerful arm of the North Corner Bear! How did the flesh armor on that arm come to be? It was obtained through a Divine Power Fruit. Xu Dong would never forget that there were still two of these fruits on the tree, capable of granting immense strength!

Faced with such temptation, how could Xu Dong not be eager? How could he not be passionate?

He struggled to get up, enduring the intense pain, and used a wooden board and rope to make a crude splint for his left arm. The pain it caused was almost unbearable, and even Xu Dong himself couldn't believe he could endure it. After completing this task, he didn't rush back immediately.

Running from the forest ranger's hut back to the Divine Power Fruit tree, even at his fastest speed, he might not catch up to the other person eating the fruit. On the other hand, Xu Dong also knew that in most cases, one could only consume one Divine Power Fruit the first time. Based on this, he had never hoped to obtain two Divine Power Fruits!

His only thought was to intercept Gray River and snatch one of the fruits!

After securing his broken arm, Xu Dong quickly doused the flames with water and then rushed into the fire to drag out the large dog's corpse. The strange dog had been burned alive for at least fifteen minutes, and its surface was carbonized black. Tapping it with a small knife produced a crisp sound, like the clay shell of a beggar's chicken.

Xu Dong didn't care about anything else. Using an iron knife, he cut through the charred skin, and the slightly bloody, half-cooked dog meat was exposed. Without hesitation, he bit down, and soon a tearing sound was heard as a large piece of muscle was pulled out. In the splashing of juices, Xu Dong, like a man at the top of the food chain in a survival situation, chewed and swallowed piece after piece of "protein-rich" bloody meat.

At the same time, the Devouring skill activated.

A familiar sensation arose from his stomach. Xu Dong could clearly feel that his stomach began to secrete a large amount of digestive fluid, and the speed of peristalsis also increased significantly. Piece by piece, the bloody meat fell into his stomach, instantly decomposed and digested, and then transformed into nutrients for synthesizing his own flesh and blood.

Ten seconds later, a tingling sensation began in the broken arm. With experience, Xu Dong knew this was due to the bones in his arm beginning to regrow. He immediately increased his eating speed, focusing on the muscle-rich parts of the dog's limbs and chest. In just a minute, under Xu Dong's frenzied actions, the dog's body was almost like a salted chicken, revealing bare bones.

Under the terrifying effect of the Devouring skill, although Xu Dong's arm was not fully healed, it had already reconnected.

Wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth, Xu Dong pressed his lips together, and his eyes sparkled with intense light, like a man who had abstained from sex for a long time encountering a seductive woman in a black miniskirt. "Faced with such an opportunity, I will not return empty-handed!"

He whistled, and soon there was a rustling in the nearby grass. The clever Wind-up quickly ran over.

Xu Dong glanced at Wind-up, then quickly ran in the direction of the Divine Power Fruit tree.

From the time he was chased by the strange dog to now, twenty minutes had passed. Xu Dong didn't expect to see Gray River or the two fruits hanging on the tree when he returned.

In fact, as he had predicted, when he returned to that strange place, the surroundings were eerily quiet, with not even a ghost in sight. Xu Dong's eyes immediately focused on the Divine Power Fruit tree. The branches where the two fruits had hung were indeed empty. Although he had expected this, he still felt a bit disappointed.

Eh!

Xu Dong's peripheral vision caught something, and he was slightly stunned.

In the next second, a bright green leaf on the Divine Power Fruit tree suddenly lost its luster, then withered and turned yellow as if the moisture had been drained, and soon it fell from the tree. Like the first domino to fall, as the first leaf drifted down, the second, third, and subsequent leaves fell in a chain reaction. In the end, even the tree trunk, which should have been full of life, withered at a visible speed.

In just a minute, the once healthy Divine Power Fruit tree had completely withered before his eyes, giving a sense of stark desolation.

"Could it be that improper planting and the massive life force drained during the fruit's maturation caused the Divine Power Fruit tree to wither?"

Of course, with a clear goal, Xu Dong had no desire to delve into the root cause. He just glanced at the withered tree, then turned and called Wind-up, instructing it to track Gray River's trail. The clever Wind-up immediately understood his meaning, sniffed around Gray River's footprints, and suddenly dashed off in one direction.

Seeing this, Xu Dong was overjoyed, pressed his lips together, and pursued with all his might!

The man and the dog first ran out of the forest ranger's residence, then sprinted north. Gray River's father was a skilled mountain man, and although he hadn't taught him sophisticated hunting techniques, Gray River had learned some skills to hide his tracks. Despite his efforts to hide his trail, Xu Dong, with his keen eyesight, couldn't find even a single footprint!

As the saying goes, even the most careful can make a mistake. Gray River never guessed that Xu Dong had a mountain dog that had consumed a Divine Power Fruit. Moreover, he was confident in his ability to move stealthily in the mountains, so he proceeded at a leisurely pace. Under these circumstances, it was only a matter of time before Xu Dong caught up with him!

After chasing for at least ten kilometers, Wind-up, who had been leading the way, suddenly stopped, growling low in his throat, as if sensing the presence of a fierce beast. The air was filled with a distinctive odor that put him on alert.

At first, Xu Dong thought he had caught up with Gray River, but then he realized it wasn't the case. He hesitated, unfolded the map, and muttered to himself, "The map shows that we need to travel at least another kilometer to enter the territory of the Yellow-striped Saber-toothed Tiger. I stayed at a resting point near here yesterday and didn't notice anything unusual."

However, Wind-up's expression was not feigned!

As the saying goes, a journey of a thousand miles is half over when ninety percent is done. Xu Dong, who was naturally cautious, preferred to pause and understand the situation rather than rush ahead recklessly.

So, Xu Dong carefully examined the map again and recalled the direction Gray River had taken.

Soon, Xu Dong noticed a clue: following this direction, after a short distance, they would reach the Gray Cloud River flowing from Gray Cloud Mountain!

Impossible!

These three words flashed through his mind.

Xu Dong muttered to himself, "Gray River went to great lengths to obtain the Divine Power Fruit, even killing many villagers to prevent the news from leaking. Logically, after obtaining it, he should find a safe place to either digest the fruit's power or plan his next move to convert it into wealth. Even if he had planned everything in advance, he should wait until nightfall before going down the mountain..."

Xu Dong's mind raced, and he quickly came to several conclusions: either the Divine Power Fruit couldn't be stored for long; or he was afraid of Xu Dong revealing the truth; or he had a pressing reason to return to North Corner Village immediately!

With the limited clues available, even if Xu Dong were Sherlock Holmes, he couldn't deduce more facts.

Xu Dong examined the map again, almost holding it less than ten centimeters from his eyes. Soon, his expression changed, first in surprise, then in shock, and finally in a sense of relief, as if a puzzle solver had uncovered all the secrets!

In the next second, a deafening tiger roar echoed from nearby, making his eardrums vibrate. Xu Dong glanced at his arm, which was covered in goosebumps due to the tight pores, and even his hair stood on end!

One crisis after another, Xu Dong could easily guess that the maturation of the Divine Power Fruit had attracted the attention of the Yellow-striped Saber-toothed Tiger in the area, and Gray River, in his haste, had run right into it!

If the mountain dog had been intact, he wouldn't have feared even a pair of Yellow-striped Saber-toothed Tigers. But he never expected to encounter such a fierce enemy like Xu Dong, who had killed all the mountain dogs, and the goddess of fortune had already left, taking his last bit of luck with her...

For the Yellow-striped Saber-toothed Tiger, this was like a pillow delivered to a sleepy person, too comfortable; but for Xu Dong, it was a disaster, leaving him with nothing. One could imagine how furious he was after the shock of almost being thwarted!

Faced with this situation, Xu Dong had no choice but to run madly in the direction of the roar, praying in his heart, "Damn it, please leave me some scraps!"

Seeing Xu Dong face the challenge head-on, Wind-up tilted his head, seemingly pondering something, and then followed.

The straight-line distance was not far. Soon, Xu Dong pushed aside the obstructing shrubs and saw a white cloth package draw a graceful arc in the air, landing with a thud in the center between him and Gray River. The package scattered, and two strange fruits, one red and one white, rolled out!

Xu Dong's breathing quickened, and his eyes turned bloodshot.

However, at that moment, he noticed that he, Gray River, and a Yellow-striped Tiger, which was two fists larger than the strange dog, formed a perfect triangle, with the fruits in the center!

This Yellow-striped Tiger was no different from the tigers Xu Dong had seen in his previous life, except for one thing: the two canine teeth on its upper jaw had broken through the lips, growing out like swords, giving a shocking and terrifying impression.

How to break this deadlock?

For a moment, Xu Dong's head spun!

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