I Start with a Mysterious Island-Chapter 42: Scavenging

BZZZZZ...

As the sky grew darker, the mosquitoes in the tall grass multiplied.

The mosquitoes that had already feasted on Lin Li seemed to be calling their friends, and more and more of them flew toward him.

’It’s so itchy! If this keeps up, I’m afraid I won’t be found and killed by the white ape Mutant Beast. Instead, I’ll be sucked dry by these damn mosquitoes first...’

’No, I can’t take it anymore... If the white ape Mutant Beast finds me, so be it! I’ll just hide on the Mysterious Small Island for safety.’

Hiding in the grass, Lin Li’s endurance finally reached its limit. Tormented by the ever-increasing number of mosquitoes, he couldn’t take it any longer.

He shot up from the dense grass. But just as he was about to will himself to the Mysterious Small Island, he noticed something was wrong.

He had jumped out of the grass, yet the white ape Mutant Beast in the distance remained standing perfectly still.

’Strange... I made so much noise. There’s no way that powerful white ape Mutant Beast didn’t hear me!’

Lin Li temporarily pushed aside the thought of escaping to the Mysterious Small Island. He stared suspiciously at the stationary white ape Mutant Beast in the distance.

’Could it be...?’

A bold theory surfaced in his mind. To test it, Lin Li prepared to retreat to the Mysterious Small Island at a moment’s notice as he raised his left hand.

POOF.

A faint golden Spiritual Light flashed across his left hand, and then a small, fist-sized Fireball materialized at his fingertips.

"Go,"

Lin Li whispered, his expression tense. He then swung his left arm, flinging the small Fireball forward.

WHOOSH... 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

The small, orange-red Fireball shot out, flying straight for the head of the motionless white ape Mutant Beast.

Faced with the incoming orange-red Fireball, the white ape Mutant Beast still didn’t move an inch, allowing the projectile to strike it right in the head.

BOOM.

The heatwave from the Fireball’s explosion radiated outward, and the relatively weak impact knocked the motionless white ape Mutant Beast to the ground.

THUD.

Seeing the white ape Mutant Beast fall to his Fireball, an expression of delighted surprise spread across Lin Li’s face.

The scene before him confirmed his theory: the white ape Mutant Beast’s desperate counterattack from before had been its final struggle before death.

’It was like a final burst of life! Before it died, it managed to severely wound the enemy it hated most and force them to retreat. Then, it could die without any regrets.’

’Stay calm. What happened to that middle-aged man earlier was a bloody lesson!’

’My power is nowhere near that man’s. If the white ape Mutant Beast pulls the same trick on me, I’ll be killed instantly.’

Lin Li watched the fallen white ape Mutant Beast with extreme caution. He backed up several more steps to increase the distance, then began to execute what he felt was the safest possible plan.

POOF.

WHOOSH.

POOF.

WHOOSH.

One after another, Lin Li created orange-red Fireballs and hurled them at the downed white ape Mutant Beast.

BOOM, BOOM, BOOM...

Every single orange-red Fireball slammed into the white ape Mutant Beast’s head.

Under the relentless bombardment, the white ape Mutant Beast’s head finally couldn’t take it anymore and burst open.

SPLAT.

Red and white matter splattered all over the ground. The intense heat from the fiery explosions even cooked the gore until it was half-done.

"Haaa..." Lin Li let out a long breath. Looking at the white ape Mutant Beast with its head blown open, he muttered to himself, "It’s like this now. It should be as dead as it gets.

If it can still come back to life and launch a desperate counterattack, then I’ll just accept my fate if it kills me."

With that, Lin Li tightened his grip on his Spiritual Longsword and slowly, deliberately, walked toward the white ape Mutant Beast with its shattered head.

SQUELCH, SQUELCH...

Once he reached the white ape Mutant Beast, Lin Li stabbed its vital spots a few more times with his sword.

It seemed the middle-aged man’s fate—having the tables turned on him so suddenly—had left a deep impression on Lin Li, making him this thorough.

’This white ape Mutant Beast is really, truly, deader than dead now.’

Looking at the white ape Mutant Beast—its head blown open by his explosions and its body riddled with new holes—Lin Li’s face finally showed a hint of relief.

At that moment, the last glimmer of twilight vanished from the horizon.

Darkness enveloped the land. The already desolate wilderness grew even more eerily quiet as night fell.

WHOOSH...

RUSTLE, RUSTLE, RUSTLE...

A sudden wind swept across the wasteland, causing the grass and trees to rustle. The chirping of insects began to skitter through the undergrowth.

Lin Li knew the wilderness was extremely dangerous at night. He immediately crouched down, placed a finger on the white ape Mutant Beast’s corpse, and with a thought, stored it on the Mysterious Small Island.

Then, without lingering, he immediately started running toward the safe zone.

Fortunately, there was a moon out tonight. The bright moonlight spilled across the land, allowing Lin Li to see the path at his feet.

Not long after Lin Li left, several figures arrived from a distance, stopping at the spot where the white ape Mutant Beast had died.

These people were all dressed in camouflage uniforms, carrying backpacks and wielding various kinds of Spiritual Weapons.

"Captain, it’s already dark. Let’s head back. It’s been so long, that heavily injured white ape Mutant Beast is long gone by now."

"To have the tables turned on him like that... Old Li really lost a lot of face this time."

Under the cover of night, the group exchanged a few more words, then turned and headed back to the safe zone.

...

「On the Mysterious Small Island.」

The corpse of the white ape Mutant Beast appeared out of thin air on the grassy ground of the Mysterious Small Island. Immediately after, a large amount of white mist began to drift out of its body.

Unlike before, the Magical Little Tree seemed rather impatient this time.

It didn’t wait for the white mist wafting from the white ape Mutant Beast’s corpse to coalesce into a cluster; it directly drew all the rising mist toward itself.

And so, the white mist pouring from the white ape Mutant Beast’s body surged swiftly toward the Magical Little Tree, enveloping its sparse branches and leaves.

A faint golden Spiritual Light flickered across the Magical Little Tree’s emerald-green leaves. Then, like a sponge, the verdant foliage rapidly absorbed all the white mist blanketing its canopy.

By the time all the white mist had been completely absorbed, the small green fruit growing on the Magical Little Tree had swelled to several times its original size, now roughly as large as a pigeon’s egg.

A faint golden Spiritual Light appeared on the surface of the pigeon-egg-sized green fruit, flickering from time to time. One look was enough to know that this little fruit was anything but ordinary.

...