149: Arrival at Dayang Lake

Although the Mutated Creatures, along with Lin Fei and others, possessed decent strength, the Infected's biggest advantage was their sheer numbers, and they never tired.

Moreover, as the battle continued, Mutated Creatures were constantly bitten and turned into Infected.

As a result, Lin Fei and the others found themselves in a precarious situation.

"No choice, we need to find an opportunity to retreat!"

Chen Xu shouted, the disparity in numbers between the two sides was too great; there was no way to win.

Old Man Zhang had also retreated to the front lines of the battlefield, observing the entire scene with a deep frown.

"Whoosh!"

Just then, a sharp cry echoed across the battlefield.

The giant bird resting on the banyan tree flew over, moving at an astonishing speed, instantly reaching the battlefield. As its massive wings flapped, giant wind blades were generated and descended at extremely high speeds.

A large number of Infected immediately fell, all of them decapitated by the wind blades, losing their ability to move.

"Oh, it even has special abilities."

Su Yuan smiled. Creatures with special abilities were quite rare, and since he encountered one, he couldn't let it go.

However, there was no rush; it wouldn't be too late to act once it left.

"Holy crap, this giant bird attacked, and it even has special abilities!"

Everyone was startled.

Especially Brother Niu, who felt a chill down his spine. Earlier, he had been dissatisfied with being ignored.

Fortunately, he was stopped; otherwise, he might not have been able to participate in this battle.

The giant bird's wind blades were incomparable to the tiger Brother Niu had encountered before. They were numerous, swept over a large area, and precisely avoided Lin Fei, the others, and the normal Mutated Creatures.

With such combat power joining the fray, the situation immediately reversed.

"Damn it! There's a big shot, everyone counterattack!"

Brother Niu shouted excitedly.

Lin Fei and the others were energized, seeing hope for victory.

Not only them, but all the Mutated Creatures also unleashed their maximum combat power. Those who couldn't sever the Infected's heads tried to break their limbs, disabling their mobility, demonstrating no small amount of intelligence.

However, the most dazzling was still the giant bird; its skills were incredibly effective against the Infected.

After an unknown amount of time, the battle under the heavy rain finally ended. Blood stained the grass, and the stench of gore was pungent.

The giant bird, having single-handedly killed more than half of the Infected, finished the battle and flew back to its branch to rest.

"Big shot! Thank you, big shot!"

Lin Fei and Chen Xu both expressed their gratitude, regardless of whether it understood them.

Dragging their exhausted bodies, they returned to the banyan tree and lay directly on the grass to rest, utterly spent.

But from the heads of the decapitated Infected, the Parasite soon crawled out, varying in size.

Many Mutated Creatures were wary, especially some smaller mutated animals, who extended their claws and easily crushed these Parasite.

After losing their Host, these Parasite were very weak, not much different from ordinary insects, but they were very good at burrowing into living organisms.

Lin Fei and the others also got up to help. The larger Parasite were five to six centimeters long, while the smallest were nearly one centimeter long, clearly visible to the naked eye if one looked closely.

Especially the Awakened Ones, whose vision surpassed that of ordinary people, could clearly see these Parasite.

These Parasite could be easily crushed with a casual stomp, or even directly killed with a forceful slap.

However, their movement in the grass made them difficult for humans to spot.

But for some Mutated Creatures, this posed no problem at all.

In fact, some mutated insects were even hunting these Parasite.

In this first combined effort of humans and animals, almost all the Parasite were annihilated.

Su Yuan watched this scene and thought of his Parasite dependents.

"My subordinate dependents will only grow in number. Will there be a day in the future when all humans and Mutated Creatures worldwide unite against me?"

Su Yuan suddenly thought of this question.

Su Yuan chuckled. If he truly became that powerful, he would not be far from his goal of dominating the entire world.

Time passed. By around one o'clock in the afternoon, the heavy rain gradually lessened, returning to the level of ordinary heavy rain.

At this time, some Mutated Creatures began to leave the banyan tree and ran towards the distance.

"Let's go, time to continue."

Old Man Zhang said.

The team also resumed their journey.

After this battle, the team changed its route.

They no longer proceeded in a straight line, preferring to take a detour and avoid towns and villages, traveling through the wilderness instead.

Compared to the wilderness, human settlements were clearly more dangerous.

Conversely, the Mutated Creatures, perhaps sensing the threat of the Parasite, were united against a common enemy at this time and did not harm anyone.

Thus, they walked and stopped in the heavy rain, enduring multiple battles until nightfall, when they had no choice but to stop and rest in a dilapidated old house.

For dinner, everyone ate various snacks and bread, drank bottled water, and also discussed the upcoming route.

"We only traveled twenty kilometers today. At today's speed, we won't arrive until the night after tomorrow."

Gu Xiong said, pointing at the map in his hand.

"Our stored fresh water will last us until tomorrow night at most, and that's with conserving it. Unless we collect rainwater directly."

"I think the rainwater should be clean; otherwise, those Mutated Creatures wouldn't be able to endure it and would have been Infected long ago."

Dr. Jia hesitated before speaking.

"Indeed, I also agree with Dr. Jia's idea. After all, these are just Parasite, not bacteria or viruses."

Dr. Du also said.

"Regardless of whether this water is drinkable, we need to speed up tomorrow. I think it might be light rain or overcast tomorrow."

Old Man Zhang looked up at the night sky, seeing the dark clouds seemingly fading away.

In the night sky, Su Yuan remained hidden in the clouds, feeling no discomfort whatsoever.

His enhanced Survival of the Fittest allowed him to be out of the water, and even now, he felt no discomfort.

Su Yuan let the Two-Winged Dark Python continue to watch while he descended to the grass, blending into the environment with his Camouflage Ability, and began to rest.

Around him, several eerie giant pythons vigilantly watched everything. Any approaching creature would be met with chilling killing intent.

The night passed uneventfully.

The next day.

Indeed, the heavy rain gradually thinned, resembling the misty drizzle of Jiangnan.

This light drizzle was negligible even for Lin Meng.

The team's travel speed also increased significantly, and the further they moved from the city, the fewer Infected they encountered on the road.

At the same time, the group encountered more and more large Mutated Animals.

These large Mutated Creatures were no longer like the previous ones; they initiated attacks the moment they saw the group.

At noon.

Lin Fei and the others were traveling on a mountain when they suddenly heard an astonishing roar.

"Get down!"

Old Man Zhang's expression changed drastically, and he shouted.

Old Man Zhang climbed a large tree, looking into the distance from above.

Upon seeing it, his brows furrowed.

"What's wrong?"

Lin Fei and several other Awakened Ones also climbed up. Upon seeing it, they were all astonished.

Because they saw a massive leopard, with copper coin-like markings all over its body, larger than an elephant, exuding a powerful aura.

This enormous leopard was slaughtering a group of Infected. Not only that, but it was also eating these Infected.

This was the first time Lin Fei and the others had seen a Mutated Animal eat an Infected.

Before, none of the numerous Mutated Creatures had ever eaten an Infected.

Moreover, even after more than ten minutes, this Giant Leopard showed no signs of being Infected by Parasite.

"Roar!"

Suddenly, the Giant Leopard roared towards them, its voice like a spring thunderclap, making Lin Fei and the others tremble.

"Run!"

Old Man Zhang shouted. The imposing presence was too terrifying; it seemed even more formidable than yesterday's giant bird.

Lin Fei and the others ran for their lives, completely unaware that the Giant Leopard, after running for a while, stopped, and its entire body underwent strange changes.

Because the number of Infected encountered on the road decreased, and later the rain stopped directly, by sunset, the group was less than ten kilometers from Dayang Lake.

After discussing, everyone decided to risk continuing their journey at night.

The situation at night was beyond their expectations; they encountered neither Infected nor powerful Mutated Creatures.

They arrived at Dayang Lake unimpeded.

"What's going on? We didn't encounter any powerful creatures or Infected tonight."

Brother Niu said, somewhat surprised.

"Brother Niu, don't jinx it! Night is already dangerous enough!"

Lin Fei quickly interrupted, afraid of setting up a bad omen.