40: School of mosquito fish

The next day.

The sun rose, casting its light, and the continuous dark clouds of many days were gradually fading.

Su Yuan woke from his slumber, his two enormous eyeballs opening. His eight terrifying Claws twitched slightly, creating a turbulent current in the river that startled countless fish and crabs into fleeing in panic.

It was as if a prehistoric beast had awakened.

Su Yuan glanced at his evolution points.

"evolution points: 1295.6 / 2000" (Devouring spiritual energy, increasing)

"My evolution points increased by ten!"

Su Yuan was quite surprised. This was without him having spent a full day in Dayang Lake, only from morning until night.

This also proved the special nature of Dayang Lake, a place rich in spiritual energy.

"Alright, let's go out and test my defensive skills. It would be best to find a creature with special abilities."

Su Yuan's eyes gleamed as he looked at Dayang Lake. After two more upgrades, his body would grow by two meters. As long as he didn't encounter a Big Black Fish, he was confident he could defeat anything else.

His eleven-meter body began to move. In terms of length, he already surpassed all normal orcas. The river water churned, and the silt at the bottom was stirred up, spreading throughout the water.

"First, let's have some snacks."

His eight Claws, naturally over eight meters long, stretched out like giant pythons. His eleven-centimeter Claws popped out, instantly hooking dozens of fairly large fish.

"You devoured a Grass Carp and gained 2.3 evolution points."

"You devoured a Tilapia and gained 0.5 evolution points."

"You devoured a Suckerfish and gained 0.4 evolution points."

..."Soon, I'll be able to upgrade again."

After finishing his snacks, Su Yuan looked up at the river surface. The rain had significantly lessened, drizzling like the misty rain of Jiangnan.

Su Yuan suddenly recalled yesterday's events. The military had suffered such a great loss and would surely be furious. It was possible they would take action today.

Testing his skills wasn't urgent. It would be better to stay here for a few more days.

"Hmm, it's better to be cautious."

Su Yuan stopped his rush towards Dayang Lake, halting at the entrance to the lake. He took a deep look at Dayang Lake, then turned around to begin a new day of hunting.

The depth of this river was far less than Dayang Lake, only about three meters, which felt a bit restrictive for the current Su Yuan.

Excluding his Claws, Su Yuan's natural body length was already close to three meters. However, an octopus's body has astonishing flexibility and can even pass through a small hole.

Su Yuan flattened his body and was still able to move around in this river.

Compared to Dayang Lake, the fish in this river were noticeably smaller, with weights generally a little more than twice that of ordinary individuals.

At this moment, a beautiful fish entered Su Yuan's sight.

It was a fish over two meters long, entirely carmine red, with an exaggeratedly large dorsal fin shaped like butterfly wings, making it incredibly beautiful overall.

"What kind of fish is this? So pretty!"

Su Yuan drooled just looking at it. This was clearly a rare fish that ordinary folks couldn't afford to eat. He couldn't eat it before, but now he had to taste it properly.

Su Yuan excitedly swam over, startling the fish, which panicked and fled like a frightened bunny.

But unfortunately, Su Yuan's speed far surpassed it. A thick and ferocious giant Claw wrapped around its body.

"Hehehe! Little pretty fish, don't struggle. Let this big guy have a taste."

Su Yuan inwardly let out a laugh like an Elder from the Soul Hall. The carmine-red beautiful fish struggled desperately but couldn't break free, being pulled over by Su Yuan.

His beak opened, ferocious and terrifying. He bit off a large chunk of meat from the beautiful fish and savored it.

Unexpectedly, Su Yuan felt a rare freshness, even more savory than anchovies and silverfish.

"It's probably because it mutated and evolved," Su Yuan thought to himself, eating heartily. The delicious taste filled his mouth, causing him to unconsciously speed up.

Soon, the fish was completely devoured by Su Yuan, leaving behind only slightly crimson river water.

"You devoured a Ugly Fathead (Chinese name for a type of minnow/roach) and gained 40.2 evolution points."

"Ugly Fathead (Chinese name for a type of minnow/roach)? Not a bad name, a rare delicacy."

Su Yuan wanted to lick his lips, but unfortunately, he had no tongue, so he could only use his Claws to do the job.

At this moment, a large school of fish, an astonishing number, a dense swarm, swam towards him.

Most of these fish were about ten centimeters long, entirely bright yellow, and didn't look remarkable, but their numbers were terrifying.

Su Yuan carefully observed them. These fish didn't seem to fear him, surging towards him like a yellow tide.

Su Yuan extended his eight Claws, scooping up countless small fish and sending them into his mouth to devour.

"You devoured a Mosquitofish and gained 0.0016 evolution points."

"You devoured a Mosquitofish and gained 0.0017 evolution points."

...The number of these Mosquitofish was too astonishing; Su Yuan simply couldn't eat them all. Eventually, he just opened his mouth, and the Mosquitofish themselves swam into his mouth. The evolution points notifications were nonstop.

"Holy crap, are these fish stupid?"

Su Yuan was speechless. Although a single Mosquitofish provided very few evolution points, their sheer numbers made up for it.

Besides Su Yuan, this large school of Mosquitofish also attracted many predators.

A Chinese Chub over two meters long appeared among the distant fish, eating its fill of fresh meat.

A huge Water Snake also rushed towards the school of fish from afar, and there was a Hairy Crab over a meter long, waving its Claws.

Three-meter-long Black Carp, two-meter-long Big Black Fish, over one-meter-long Mandarin Fish, over three-meter-long Reeves Shad, and other fierce carnivorous fish all joined the feast.

However, they all tacitly avoided getting close to Su Yuan. The Mosquitofish school stretched for hundreds of meters, truly terrifying, which also gave them enough space to keep their distance from Su Yuan.

Otherwise, they wouldn't dare to come and snatch food.

With Su Yuan's current strength, in this small river, he was definitely the uncrowned king.

Su Yuan also didn't pay attention to these fish snatching food. The current Mosquitofish school was too numerous, far more than the Suckerfish and Tilapia could compare to.

Su Yuan had completely given up on using his Claws to grab them. He opened his big mouth, controlling the muscles around his mouth to expand, making his mouth open to a terrifying degree, like a whale devouring small fish in large gulps.

"You devoured..."

...About ten minutes passed before this batch of Mosquitofish finally passed through Su Yuan and swam towards Dayang Lake.

"Interesting, these small fish also know about the special nature of Dayang Lake."

Su Yuan swallowed the last dozen or so Mosquitofish in his mouth, looking back at the still astonishingly numerous Mosquitofish school swimming away, clicking his tongue in wonder, and not chasing after them to continue devouring.

With his current strength, he was absolutely invincible in this river. With his speed, only a very few fish like the Reeves Shad could escape his predation.

In this river, he never lacked evolution points.

It was just that he was afraid of the ecosystem collapsing, so he had always been relatively restrained in his devouring, with his main targets being invasive alien species.

This wasn't because he loved nature, but because once the food chain collapsed, it would affect his own growth through devouring. In severe cases, it could even cause the entire planet to experience another mass extinction of species.

The group of predators in front of Su Yuan, perhaps because of Su Yuan's presence, dared not continue devouring the Mosquitofish, or perhaps they were full, and scattered away.