Chapter 11 – The Blood Line

“It’s okay, it’s over…” Su Lifeng patted Cheng Xiaomei gently on the back, offering a few words of comfort before asking naturally, “Are you hurt?”

Cheng Xiaomei sobbed as she replied, “No, I… hic… waah…”

“Does anything feel different?”

Cheng Xiaomei thought for a moment and shook her head vigorously. “Sob…”

It seemed he wasn’t going to get any answers out of her.

However, Su Lifeng noticed a few things about her that were different from before. When she shook her head, her strength seemed significantly greater, and her originally pale complexion had suddenly become quite flushed.

Of course, it could have just been the result of her emotional state.

Additionally, Su Lifeng caught a glimpse of what appeared to be a blood-red line in the whites of Cheng Xiaomei’s eyes.

This blood-line ran straight through the center of her eye, looking somewhat eerie, though it would be hard to notice without looking closely.

Was it always there? Or had it just appeared?

Su Lifeng set these thoughts aside for the moment and helped Cheng Xiaomei up. He then looked down at the terrified Feng Shen. “You’d better learn how to save yourself.”

He then glanced at the others. “The combat strength of these Xenospecies isn’t actually that high right now. As long as you overcome your fear, even Xiaomei can kill them, can’t she?”

After saying this and comforting Cheng Xiaomei with a few more words, he took the lead and walked ahead.

He had a feeling that the Xenospecies’ Lair wasn’t far from here.

Feng Shen remained in a daze, looking like he’d lost his soul. Just moments ago, he had been inches away from death.

At this moment, it wasn’t just the Xenospecies that terrified him, but the island itself.

What kind of place could give birth to such monsters?

The way that beautiful woman had looked at him just now… it was as if she were looking at something fresh and interesting.

Feng Shen was familiar with that look. It was the same look he’d had as a child when he caught a bee and happily tore off its wings, pulling out its stinger and entrails along with it.

It was a natural sense of indifference that higher organisms felt toward weaker ones.

However, experiencing that feeling from the perspective of the prey made Feng Shen feel utterly horrified.

Could they really make it out of a place like this alive?

“Come on, Feng Shen, get up.” A boy named Han Fei walked over and pulled him to his feet.

“Han Fei, did Su Lifeng’s words rub you the wrong way? Was he saying we’re not just worse than him, but even worse than a little girl?” another person said in a low, resentful voice, glancing at Su Lifeng’s back.

“Yeah, we’re all classmates. He’s taking it too far. We’re all just ordinary people; no one can be like him…” Han Fei nodded in agreement. After a moment’s thought, he added, “Forget it, don’t let it get to you. We have to help each other if we want a chance to survive…” As Han Fei spoke, his eyes involuntarily drifted toward Cheng Xiaomei, and then toward the corpse.

“I just wonder how Su knows so much information that we don’t. It’s almost like he’s familiar with these Xenospecies… Heh, I’m just talking to myself.”

Han Fei suddenly dropped that meaningful remark, let go of Feng Shen, and walked forward.

The remaining students looked at each other, unable to stop themselves from overanalyzing the implications of Han Fei’s words.

Thud!

A Xenospecies that had appeared dead suddenly lurched upward. Su Lifeng reacted instantly, driving a chair leg down into it.

A Black Thread immediately entered Su Lifeng’s body. His eyes brightened slightly, and he discreetly clenched his fist.

There was no change in strength, but the wound on his abdomen began to tingle with a slight itch.

“My strength didn’t increase, but my Self-Healing Ability is getting stronger…” Su Lifeng thought to himself.

By now, his initial apprehension regarding the changes within his body had transformed into a sense of anticipation.

If his fears were correct-that the Spatial Gate would never close again-then increasing his strength was of paramount importance.

Even setting aside the Spatial Gate, he needed to become as strong as possible just to survive on this Island and eventually return to the human world.

“That’s the third one…”

Han Fei stood not far away, observing Su Lifeng and muttering to himself.

Starting with Cheng Peng, this was already the third Xenospecies Su Lifeng had killed.

After Feng Shen encountered that Xenospecies that hadn’t quite died, the rest of the group had become much more cautious. It didn’t take long for them to discover a second one that was still alive.

Without a word, Su Lifeng had stepped forward and finished it off instantly.

No one else really paid much attention to his behavior; in fact, they were secretly relieved that they didn’t have to do the dirty work themselves.

Han Fei, however, felt that something was wrong with Su Lifeng… very wrong.

He tried to find suspicious points in every one of Su Lifeng’s actions, and right now, he was focusing on the way Su Lifeng went out of his way to kill the Xenospecies.

The second one was one thing, but this latest one was quite a distance away from them. Was it really necessary to rush over just to kill it?

All the other survivors were giving those creatures a wide berth.

Unlike the Xenospecies that had boarded the ship earlier, these ones were all mangled and incomplete…

Han Fei narrowed his eyes slightly, deep in thought.

The Island was not particularly large. Su Lifeng and his group had initially landed on the opposite side, but as they pushed deeper into the forest, they gradually closed the distance between themselves and the other survivors who had fled here.

“A miracle…” Zhang Hai muttered incessantly as he pushed through the brush, though he didn’t walk with the other escapees. After staring at them for a while, he suddenly found a spot nearby and stood there blankly.

The others had no intention of calling out to him. In a situation like this, everyone was struggling to survive; no one had the energy to worry about him.

“What are we going to do?” a female tourist asked, sobbing.

A crew member nearby looked around and said with some semblance of confidence, “We head inland, to the highest point, and find a way to call for help! Staying here on the shore isn’t safe. Who knows if they’ll swim over? Those two aquatic monsters were clearly working with them!”

This suggestion immediately gained the support of many tourists. At this point, any plan was better than nothing, as long as it took them further away from those monsters!

As the crew member and the others entered the forest, Zhang Hai suddenly followed them.

He clenched his fists, the corners of his mouth twitching neurotically. “There must be more of those creatures. If I follow you, they’ll definitely come out…”

The tourists soon ventured deep into the woods.

They also encountered many corpses, as well as… things that were still alive.

Because there were so many people moving together, no one noticed a living Xenospecies, nor did they see it pounce on a female tourist and pin her to the ground.

By the time that female tourist stood up again, her expression had changed.

“A sound… over there,” she said suddenly, pointing toward the front-left.

“A sound? Should we go check it out?” The tourists hesitated for a moment before starting to discuss it.

If they knew for sure it was just other people, they probably wouldn’t bother going over. 

But a sound… on this unknown Island where they saw nothing but corpses and black plants, they hoped to find something else.

“Should we go take a look?” one tourist suggested cautiously.

The crew member thought for a moment and finally nodded. “Fine, let’s go see, but be careful.”

“We’ll just take a look from a distance; it should be fine.”

“Yeah…”

No one noticed that on the hand the female tourist kept at her side, a bite mark had appeared. From within that wound, a large amount of red Gelatinous Substance was oozing out.