Chapter 9

On the third day, at dawn.

A white ape carried a bundle of white animal bones on its shoulder and a leather bag slung across its body, moving swiftly through the forest, leaping nearly ten zhang in a single bound.

Yuan Ming began to retrace his steps along the route he had taken.

By mid-morning, he had returned to the place where he was attacked by the black bear.

Black bears are territorial animals and rarely leave their original habitat. Yuan Ming returned here because his target was precisely that black bear.

Upon arriving, Yuan Ming untied the bundle of wolf bones from his body, selected a thick tibia, and began digging a pit at the base of a slope.

Although Yuan Ming's strength had recovered significantly and he had adapted to his new body, he still did not intend to engage the black bear in direct combat. Instead, he planned to use a more reliable method—a trap.

The soil in the forest was soft, and it didn't take long for Yuan Ming to dig a pit about two zhang deep and six feet in diameter.

He then dug many small holes at the bottom of the pit, inserted the wolf ribs one by one, and compacted the soil.

The tips of the ribs had been sharpened by Yuan Ming, making them as sharp as blades.

Next, he found several dead branches, laid them across the pit in a crisscross pattern, and gathered some dead leaves to cover the opening, concealing it completely.

After completing these preparations, Yuan Ming tied a wolf shoulder blade to his chest with a vine, like a chest guard, and picked up the two tibia bones he had sharpened into short spears.

After waiting for a long time, the black bear still hadn't appeared.

After some thought, Yuan Ming stabbed his palm with a white bone spear.

Seeing the blood well up, he immediately smeared it on the trees around the trap, allowing the scent of blood to spread as much as possible.

He then grabbed some dirt from the ground, smeared it over the wound, and held the white bone short spear, waiting for the black bear to fall into the trap.

Climbing up an old tree, Yuan Ming didn't have to wait long before he heard the rustling of grass and leaves in the forest, accompanied by heavy breathing.

Following the sound, he soon saw the black bear's silhouette.

The black bear, with its massive body, pushed through a thicket and staggered toward him.

"Hmm, it seems to be injured?" Yuan Ming frowned.

He examined the black bear closely but saw no obvious wounds. However, its movement was clearly abnormal.

"Could it be poisoned?" Yuan Ming wondered.

If so, this would be a heaven-sent opportunity.

Yuan Ming, unsure of his luck, did not attack rashly but waited for the black bear to fall into the trap.

The black bear approached, sniffing the blood on the trees, and suddenly let out a furious roar. Its eyes were red, as if shrouded in a dark haze.

Seeing this, Yuan Ming became even more convinced that something was wrong with the black bear.

The black bear searched around but found no prey. It walked along the edge of the trap, always just missing it.

Yuan Ming, watching from the tree, grew impatient and decided to take action.

One arm wrapped in a vine hanging from the tree, he held a white bone short spear in the other hand, leaped down from the old tree, and swung toward the black bear, guided by the vine.

"Down with you."

Yuan Ming shouted in his mind, and his legs, like battering rams, charged at the black bear.

At that moment, the black bear sensed the danger from behind, turned its body, and, upon seeing Yuan Ming, attacked with its paws.

With a "bang,"

Yuan Ming's legs collided with the black bear's paws. The powerful force sent Yuan Ming flying backward and the black bear stumbling.

The black bear took a step back, and its hind foot landed on the branch of the trap, but it managed to stop itself from falling.

Yuan Ming, like a swing, was thrown back and then swung forward again.

Seeing Yuan Ming charging at it again, the black bear did not attack with its paws this time but stepped forward and swiped at his legs with its claws.

Yuan Ming, not willing to be caught, threw the white bone short spear with all his strength.

The black bear, seeing the spear coming at its face, tried to block it with its paw but failed, and the spear slid past its arm.

With a "thud,"

Yuan Ming's spear pierced the black bear's eye, splattering blood.

"Roar..."

The black bear, in pain, let out a roar.

At this moment, Yuan Ming had already rushed forward and kicked the black bear's chest with both legs.

Before the black bear could recover from the pain in its eye, it lost balance and fell backward.

"Crack"

The sound of the trap's branch breaking echoed as the black bear crashed through the loose soil and dead leaves, falling into the pit.

Then, a deafening roar, now filled with agony, echoed through the forest.

Yuan Ming jumped down and hurried to the edge of the pit. He saw the black bear lying on its back, with its forearms and one thigh pierced by the sharp bones at the bottom of the pit.

There were also wounds on its chest and abdomen, with white bone tips protruding slightly.

The black bear, bleeding from its mouth and nose, struggled fiercely, growling continuously.

Seeing this, Yuan Ming returned to the tree, fetched another white bone short spear, and intended to end the black bear's suffering.

But when he returned to the edge of the pit, he was stunned.

The bottom of the pit was in disarray, with the sharp bones scattered everywhere, covered in fresh blood, but the black bear was nowhere to be seen.

Before Yuan Ming could figure out what had happened, a sudden gust of wind came from behind.

Yuan Ming, realizing something was wrong, was struck in the lower back, as if hit by a heavy hammer, and was thrown forward.

He flew over the pit and crashed into a tree several zhang away before falling to the ground.

Yuan Ming, enduring the pain, struggled to stand and turn around. Before he could see what was behind him, a black shadow flashed past, and his cheek was struck with a burning pain.

He raised his hand and found it covered in blood. Looking ahead, he was stunned.

About seven or eight zhang away, hanging from a tree, was... an indescribable monster.

The reason it was indescribable was that its main body was the black bear, but from its wounds, thick, dark green vines, as thick as an adult's arm, were growing.

Two of the thickest vines, extending from its chest, were attached to the branches above, suspending the black bear in mid-air.

Even more bizarre was the six-petaled red lotus, filled with fleshy tissue, growing from the black bear's left eye, which Yuan Ming had pierced. The center of the lotus was filled with dense white stamens, writhing like a circle of white, fine teeth, sending a chill down his spine.

"What the hell is this thing?" Yuan Ming swallowed hard.

From the black bear's current state, it seemed to be parasitized by something.

At that moment, the monster moved again, and the vines extending from the black bear's body lashed out at Yuan Ming.

Yuan Ming quickly rolled forward to dodge.

But the vine, as if it had eyes, changed direction in mid-air and struck his back, tearing a fiery red wound.

Yuan Ming, in pain, stood up and decided to flee.

If he were facing the black bear, he would have known its strengths and weaknesses and had the confidence to fight. But this strange creature was completely unknown to him, and he had no idea how to kill it. How could he fight it?

Seeing him turn to run, the parasitic monster did not let him go. Two vines shot out from either side, attacking him simultaneously.

Yuan Ming tried to dodge, but his speed was not fast enough. He managed to avoid the one on the left, but the one on the right wrapped around his right leg, pulling him to the ground and dragging him back.

He turned over, facing the monster, and tried to attack with the short spear, but another vine wrapped around him, binding him like a mummy.

Now, Yuan Ming had no chance to fight back.

He was dragged to the "black bear" by the vines.

Up close, Yuan Ming was surprised to see that the black bear was still alive. Its other blood-red eye was still rolling, and it was breathing heavily.

Yuan Ming's eyes darted, and he immediately had an idea.

Since this thing was a parasite, killing the host would cut off its life force. If he could kill the black bear, it would die as well.

Unfortunately, it was too late.

Suddenly, a split appeared in the black bear's chest, and its ribs, like interlocking bone claws, split apart, revealing a pulsating, red heart.

Yuan Ming saw a black, fleshy growth on the heart, with several black threads extending into the heart, drawing blood to nourish itself.

Just as Yuan Ming thought he was about to be eaten, the vines binding him suddenly loosened, exposing his chest.

Yuan Ming immediately understood. The black bear's body was severely damaged, and to survive, the parasite needed a new host. It wasn't going to eat him; it was going to parasitize him.