Chapter 36: Concentrated Fire Oil |
No one thought Xia Hong would get hurt because the one who ambushed him was just an ordinary person.
That middle-aged man, no matter how close he was, could not change the fact that he was merely an ordinary man.
He had no cultivation at all. Even though Xia Hong had just finished fighting a Frost Beast and still had wounds on his body, showing signs of exhaustion, it made no difference.
The Lumberjack Realm was not just about being able to go out and chop trees.
The enhancement of basic strength meant that the body's physical quality far exceeded that of ordinary people.
The reason everyone panicked was, firstly, because panic causes confusion, and secondly, because no one expected it.
Why would an ordinary middle-aged man from the camp make a move against Xia Hong?
Bang……
However, when Xia Hong raised his hand, caught the middle-aged man’s fist, and stepped back more than ten meters, the expressions on everyone’s faces in the camp changed instantly.
To be able to punch him back more than ten meters?
How could he be an ordinary person?
“I know him. Isn’t that Wang Ping?”
“No way, it can’t be him. Fake.”
“Fake?”
……
There were only about a hundred people in Greater Xia, and they basically all knew each other. Soon, someone recognized the middle-aged man and called out his name.
But even faster, everyone immediately realized that this person was not Wang Ping.
“You actually guarded against me, little thing, quite cautious!”
That Wang Ping spoke again, but this time, his voice sounded like wood rubbing against wood—both harsh and grating, making people feel disgusted deep down.
Xia Hong shook his aching hand, looked up at the middle-aged man, and showed little surprise on his face. Instead, a cold sneer appeared.
“I was wondering why that Frost Beast suddenly came over to the hillside. Turns out it was you who drove it here. You don’t dare show yourself and send a Frost Beast instead. What a waste of your skills.”
Xia Chuan, Yuan Cheng, and four others had already come over by now, cautiously surrounding the middle-aged man.
After hearing the strange voice the middle-aged man made, the six were well aware that this was not a person at all, but the Abomination from Redwood Ridge that had brought them great disaster three months ago.
“Giggling, I originally thought relying on it would be enough to get rid of you all. Who knew this wretched beast was too weak. I still have to do some work. They are basically all done for. How much strength do you have left? All of your hundred-plus lives belong to me now. Hehehehe……”
The middle-aged man’s laughter was eerie and twisted, just like when it had slaughtered the camp before. This Abomination seemed to have a special perverse pleasure in killing.
Although Xia Hong kept his eyes on the middle-aged man, his peripheral vision kept scanning the surroundings. This middle-aged man made him even more certain of his earlier guess.
That Abomination was indeed behind controlling these impostors.
It had never revealed itself.
Only that it seemed frightened by the fire Xia Hong had used last time.
This time, it not only sent the Frost Beast as a scout but also blended into the camp in the chaos, trying to ambush Xia Hong.
Perhaps the punch just now confirmed that Xia Hong’s strength was almost gone. The Abomination’s laughter became more rampant as it looked around at the over hundred people in the camp, its eyes gradually showing a bloodthirsty gleam.
“Don’t get too happy yet. Look at your palm.”
Xia Hong’s voice carried a slight mocking tone, causing the Abomination’s laughter to pause.
It looked down at its palm with some confusion, only to find that the place where it had just struck Xia Hong was inexplicably stained with a layer of yellowish oil.
“Trying to trick me? What the……ah……”
The Abomination’s eyes were puzzled. It thought Xia Hong was bluffing, but before it could finish speaking, the oil suddenly ignited by itself, bursting into flames, just like the scene in the cave before. It emitted sharp, agonizing screams of pain.
“Ah… ah… it’s this fire again… ah…”
Xia Hong, sitting on the ground, breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Over the past few days, the smelting furnace had produced some Concentrated Fire Oil. If he hadn’t applied it on himself beforehand, he might really have been caught off guard.
From the very beginning, when the Frost Beast strangely charged toward the cave, Xia Hong had sensed something was wrong.
This Golden-Eyed Demon Goat had always lived around Redwood Ridge. Many nights, when Xia Hong led the team out, they saw it. That proved the Demon Goat rarely roamed elsewhere. How could it suddenly come to the camp?
Combined with the night they found Wang Ming’s corpse, he couldn’t help but suspect that the Abomination was behind it.
Therefore, even before starting the fight against the Golden-Eyed Demon Goat, he had secretly applied Concentrated Fire Oil on himself, worried that the Demon Goat might also be controlled by the Abomination.
Since the Abomination could control people, it was naturally possible for it to control Frost Beasts too.
The fact proved that while the Frost Beast was not directly controlled by it, it was driven to the camp by the Abomination. Applying the oil beforehand was indeed the right move.
This Abomination really feared the system’s fire.
“Ah… ah… you little bastard, I will definitely kill you.”
“You, and all of you, none of you will escape.”
“Ah… I will come back. Not a single one of you will get away…”
The screams did not last long before the Abomination completely dissolved, leaving behind only a few words filled with resentment and hatred echoing in the cave.
Xia Hong watched as the Abomination was completely consumed by flames, a flicker of anger rising in his eyes. This was the second time the Abomination had targeted the camp, yet he still hadn’t seen its true form.
Though the Abomination’s methods were terrifying and strange, its personality seemed a bit… overly cautious.
“Rather than face me head-on, it disguises itself as an ordinary person to ambush. Is it really too weak, or is it genuinely afraid of the system’s fire?”
Xia Hong was full of confusion. When he fought the Frost Beast just now, it was the perfect time for the Abomination to strike. The camp’s fire was out, and the eight of them were tightly restrained by the Frost Beast.
Unable to figure it out, Xia Hong simply stopped thinking about it and turned to speak to everyone.
“Quickly light the fire, count the numbers, and check if Wang Ping is still here.”
Speaking of which, from the moment Wang Ping suddenly attacked to the Abomination’s identity being revealed and burned to ashes by the fire of the Concentrated Fire Oil, only dozens of breaths had passed.
Everyone was still immersed in the thrilling yet safe scene and only woke up when Xia Hong’s voice interrupted them. They hurriedly searched for Wang Ping in the crowd.
“He’s gone. Wang Ping is no longer here. No one else was found in the cave.”
Soon, it was confirmed that Wang Ping was missing and could not be found.
Upon hearing this, Xia Hong’s eyes flashed with a trace of gravity.
The fake Wang Ping appeared, but the real Wang Ping was missing.
No surprise, the Abomination likely sneaked into the cave first, silently killed Wang Ping, and then impersonated him.
This meant the Abomination could kill anyone and use some method to become that person, remotely controlling them?
Xia Hong’s worries went far beyond this.
“Wang Ping was just an ordinary person, but that punch he threw was truly above the Lumberjack Realm.”
Not only could it impersonate others, but it could also enhance the original strength of the person it took over?
More importantly, the Abomination could control many people at once.
“If this Abomination isn’t eliminated early, it will become a huge disaster!”
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