Chapter 1 Along the Way

As Fang Senyan engaged in combat, two nearby Cockatrice flapped their wings and took flight, only to be easily swatted back down by Ramtas with his makeshift tree-trunk staff amidst their ear-piercing cries.

Clearly, the Cockatrice seemed to prioritize targets based on appearance, likely believing that larger creatures were more formidable.

Furthermore, the three artificial humans performed admirably. Each was designed to carry up to 40 kilograms. Since the equipment they needed to transport was only sixty kilograms when divided, they also carried weapons and armor. They stood back-to-back in a triangular formation, holding what resembled riot shields in their left hands and MP5 submachine guns in their right.

Fang Senyan's instructions were not to help fight but to ensure their own safety and avoid causing trouble.

The Cockatrice and other animals could also clearly sense that the artificial humans were made entirely of plastic and cold synthetic rubber, which meant no more to them than dirt and stones, so they didn't directly attack them.

Because they needed to wait for the disease to worsen and take effect, Fang Senyan and Ramtas chose a cowardly, drawn-out battle strategy. Suddenly, the strong wind that had been sweeping across the plains died down, and several heavy raindrops struck Fang Senyan's hair, making his scalp tingle.

A bolt of lightning snaked across the sky, followed by a booming thunderclap.

At that moment, a torrential downpour began, with rain pouring like a waterfall, momentarily obscuring everything in a white haze!

The frenzied Cockatrice, adept at using the weather to their advantage, immediately pounced from the grass again, their eerie cries rising and falling. However, Fang Senyan was now well-prepared for their simple attacks.

Although their sudden pounce was swift and stealthy, it lacked any subsequent variation once launched. This might be fatal for ordinary animals, but for a seasoned veteran like Fang Senyan, it was easy to handle.

After maintaining a defensive posture for a while, the disease began to take effect frequently. It began to viciously torment the Cockatrice's health from within their internal organs, causing a variety of symptoms to erupt. Only then did Fang Senyan and Ramtas launch their counterattack. Strangely, these creatures fought to the death without retreating, driven to a frenzy.

After fighting for a while, Fang Senyan suddenly retreated, then raised his leg and stomped down, pinning a Cockatrice to the ground. He reached out and grabbed its neck!

At that moment, the silver liquid metal on Fang Senyan's high-energy gauntlet flickered strangely. Fang Senyan suddenly exerted his strength and effortlessly snapped its neck. The crisp sound of the fracture couldn't be masked even by the wind and rain.

The death of one of their own drove the remaining Cockatrice into a frenzy. They attacked desperately as if injected with adrenaline, but the powerful virus kept creating massive openings in their movements.

As time passed, the Cockatrice were killed one by one. Fang Senyan, momentarily careless, slashed at a Cockatrice's neck with a backhand stroke. But the severed head drew an arc in the air and, like a centipede that remains dangerous even after death, bit down on Fang Senyan's arm with a venomous strike!

An intense numbness spread from Fang Senyan's arm, and he stumbled backward. He immediately noticed that the area where he had been bitten was numb and insensible, causing excruciating pain that rapidly spread outward. Upon closer inspection, his health points were plummeting by four hundred in an instant!

Fang Senyan was shocked. Given his defense, even being crushed by a power drill shouldn't cause such significant damage.

In the light of a lightning flash, Fang Senyan raised his arm and saw that the area where he had been bitten had turned grayish-white. Cracks appeared in an area about the size of three coins. When he tried to pick at it, it crumbled and fell off like dirt, stone fragments, and powder!

However, the healthy flesh around the wound was rapidly wriggling and growing, peeling off these mutated areas from the body, accompanied by intense stinging pain.

"This kind of attack... is it petrification?" The thought flashed through Fang Senyan's mind.

Petrification wasn't just a myth. It often occurred in everyday life, such as kidney stones, gallstones, and muscle calcification. Even tuberculosis lesions could be cured by calcification. Accelerating this process a hundredfold would be true petrification.

If a creature had a psychic ability in this area, it wouldn't be difficult to understand the ability to petrify.

Fang Senyan then recalled the Cockatrice's information he had previously scanned and noticed that its bio-ability section now included the following explanation:

Bio-ability: Petrification. When attacking, there is a chance that the attacked area will petrify. The angrier the Cockatrice, the greater the chance of petrification. When it is depressed or has low stamina, the probability of the ability appearing is greatly reduced.

After reading these descriptions, Fang Senyan became even more vigilant. Although Cockatrice weren't particularly powerful creatures in this world, they possessed such potent abilities. He imagined being surrounded by a dozen Cockatrice pecking at him... The thought made him believe that quickly reuniting with his allies was a good idea.

After a brief sweep of the battlefield, Fang Senyan realized that no key had dropped. Strictly speaking, keys were extra spoils granted by the space, so the natives of the world couldn't see them at all. Fang Senyan wasn't fighting under the guidance of the space at this time, so of course, there wouldn't be a key.

But no key didn't mean there were no gains.

The three artificial humans consciously stepped forward, skillfully dismembering the dead Cockatrice and preserving them. They had an offline database with a wealth of information, providing Fang Senyan with many useful details:

The Cockatrice's beak is believed to hold the secret to petrification, making it the most valuable part, purchased at high prices by numerous research labs.

Cockatrice thigh meat is delicious, chewy, and considered an upscale upgrade to turkey during Thanksgiving, so its price remains high on the cosmic version of Taobao.

Given that Eastern culture has a strong market in the Interstellar Alliance and the concept of "eat what you need" is deeply rooted in people's minds, the male Cockatrice's kidneys are always snatched up as soon as they appear on the market.

In short, these five Cockatrice would bring Fang Senyan at least ten thousand universal points. If he was lucky, it could be fifty thousand universal points.

In addition, Artificial Human Number One humbly suggested to Fang Senyan that if animals fought to the death, it often indicated that their nest was nearby and contained young or eggs that they had to protect.

Fang Senyan considered the earlier description that mentioned, "Because they like shiny things, their nests contain many glass shards and pebbles, sometimes also ores and gems," and decisively chose to go there.

Fortunately, the Cockatrice's nest was located at the mound that Ramtas was leading Fang Senyan to, which was completely on the way. By the time the group arrived, the wind and rain had gradually subsided, but the lightning that tore through the sky was like golden snakes dancing wildly, rampaging frantically, with increasing frequency and intensity, striking the ground from time to time with a deafening crash! Dense smoke billowed, and it seemed likely to develop into a thunderstorm!

Fang Senyan suddenly understood why the trees he had noticed along the way were sparse and not tall, and why their bark looked the way it did. This was a planet with a turbulent and powerful magnetic field, so the probability of thunderstorms was quite high. The trees had to face the frequent risk of being struck by lightning. Over time, the trees naturally became what they were now. Those that didn't adapt had obviously been eliminated by the cruel nature.

Thinking of this, Fang Senyan broke out in a cold sweat as he looked at the metal instruments carried by the artificial humans. He immediately issued an order, and everyone began digging into the high side of the mound, aiming to create a cave that could provide shelter from the lightning as quickly as possible.

The mound was about seven or eight meters high. Fang Senyan dug at a height of two meters from the ground, not fearing the threat of rainwater backflow. The three artificial humans were out of the question. Fang Senyan himself and Ramtas could be considered human-shaped bulldozers. They quickly created a crude cave in a few minutes. The three artificial humans also chopped down three trees and brought them back to reinforce the cave, finally creating a shelter before the thunderstorm fully arrived.

At this time, Ramtas, too large to fit inside, lay down next to the fire, chewing noisily and regurgitating the discarded Cockatrice remains he had eaten earlier. Fang Senyan knew everything about his physical condition. This big guy was a monster born from this harsh natural environment. He deserved to be the King of Gluttons, possessing a full five stomachs!

His first two stomachs were called the rumen. He swallowed food quickly when eating, so he didn't need to chew it. The food was softened in the rumen by gastric juices and saliva and fermented by other bacteria.

After fermentation, the food entered another chamber—the reticulum—and then returned to the mouth for thorough chewing.

Finally, it entered the other two stomach chambers for complete digestion.