Chapter 15 Harvest

Of course, showing off was only temporary; the most important thing was the harvest.

Although Su Zhou couldn't be considered exceptionally intelligent—he still had a full head of hair—he was smart enough. He was fully aware that the commotion he caused while fighting the centipede demon was bound to arouse suspicion. If any other superhumans could use spiritual vision, they would quickly discover his location.

"First, see what spoils there are, quickly get it sorted, then retreat… and I'm starving."

Although the centipede demon was dead, it was, after all, a demon with both insect and wood attributes. Even if its spirituality was destroyed, its corpse itself might contain a 'seed' that could maintain some activity.

Su Zhou speculated that if the centipede demon's corpse came into contact with soil containing a large amount of black moss, it was very likely that a new centipede demon would be born from its remains—this was also a characteristic of plants.

After all, his own regeneration ability and vitality were so strong, even if the demon was a little weaker… wait.

Seeming to think of something, the teenager blinked and said in a somewhat ethereal tone, "Hey… Yala."

"What?" The snake spirit was humming the nonsensical lyrics 'I'm a snake~ but not a snake~' in a rap tune. Hearing Su Zhou's voice, it asked with some confusion, "What's the matter?"

"I was saying—since demons are the dependents of evil gods from other worlds, and you're also an evil god, then wouldn't I also be considered one of your dependents?"

At this time, Su Zhou had already squatted down, preparing to start from the wound on the centipede demon's head, searching for the 'demon crystal' within. His logic was reasonable, with a strange tone: "Then, conversely, am I actually a kind of 'demon'?"

"It always feels like the enemy and I have the same origin…"

"What same origin?"

Yala was a little dazed at first, obviously not understanding the extent of Su Zhou's mental leaps, but soon, it was furious, its body swelling in a circle: "It's a Celestial God! If you can't speak properly, don't talk nonsense, don't lump me together with those deadbeat bums!"

"Besides, you are my contractor. How can dependents be mentioned in the same breath as you!"

Yala was only angry for a moment because, in fact, Su Zhou wasn't wrong. It coiled on the teenager's head and explained a little: "In fact, the term 'demon' is just a derogatory term used by one Celestial God's forces for the forces of another Celestial God. Just like this centipede demon in front of you, in its Celestial God's world, it might even be an auspicious beast."

"Putting aside everything else, the black moss's ability to purify sewage has no aftereffects. Regardless of how disgusting it is, that's enough for this centipede demon to obtain the Lingge (divine title) of 'God of Water Purification' in a low-magic world."

Speaking of this, Yala's tone carried a hint of pride: "As for you, you're at least my champion, an eternally chosen one. How can you be lumped together with ordinary dependents and demons!"

"It's actually that powerful?" Su Zhou couldn't help but be a little surprised, but looking at the nearly ten-meter-long giant worm in front of him, and thinking of how he had killed it, he couldn't help but nod: "It's not strange at all—you definitely made the right choice in choosing me."

The centipede demon's body was unexpectedly tough. Su Zhou poked at it for a long time with the remnants of the gun barrel, and even cutting it with the small knife he carried with him didn't work, which made him a little annoyed. Without saying a word, he put down all his tools, and just like how he had broken the centipede's limbs earlier, Su Zhou directly tore apart the opponent's carapace with his bare hands!

—Isn't it normal for a well-trained body to overcome steel?

Although it wasn't exactly steel.

Even if it was a demon's carapace, it was ultimately just a carapace. With the centipede demon unable to struggle and resist, Su Zhou's strength erupted, enough to tear it apart little by little. In the explosion of white liquid, the demon's skull was torn open.

It could be seen that a large amount of浆水 (jiangshui) body fluid exploded from the centipede's body, which Su Zhou dodged.

The centipede demon's bodily fluids had a corrosive quality, it should be some kind of acidic liquid. It didn't smell fishy, but instead had a strange sweet fragrance of plants.

"This should also be considered demon blood, a spiritual liquid, right?"

After filling several bags of wood liquid with the portable compressed plastic bags prepared by Shao Qiming, Su Zhou, who was tearing apart the opponent's body with his bare hands, searching for the demon crystal, clearly felt a little numbness and itching on the skin of his hands. Even with his resistance, he felt numb and itchy. If it were an ordinary person, let alone flesh and blood, even their bones would probably be softened.

"Yes, this is spirit blood." Yala guided Su Zhou to tear open another piece of the centipede demon's carapace, and had him pierce a capsule inside with the spear, collecting the liquid within: "Ordinary spirit blood is already enough. This capsule is full of the purest wood-type spirit liquid in the centipede demon's body. Even drinking it directly can strengthen vitality and regeneration."

"Judging by the amount, half of it should have been consumed during your battle, but the remaining half is also very good."

Speaking of this, the snake spirit began to teach earnestly: "Remember this, Su Zhou. Next time you encounter a demon, try not to get entangled. Only by using the most powerful force to kill it at the beginning can you obtain the greatest harvest!"

"I will."

Su Zhou naturally didn't need to argue with this kind of suggestion. On the contrary, this suggestion was too agreeable! After all, he was the kind of person who, when watching Ultraman as a child, would always ask, 'Why doesn't Ultraman use his ultimate ray to blow up the monster from the beginning?'

Su Zhou continued to search for the location of the demon crystal. It wasn't too troublesome. He found a black-cyan spindle-shaped crystal in the centipede's forebody ganglia.

This crystal was about the size of half an adult man's palm, with a deep darkness residing within. Its black core was like a small entrance to the abyss, exuding a black-cyan spiritual aura, while the cyan outer layer released a mist-like light.

Holding this gemstone, Su Zhou felt a shock to his spirit. He felt that every part of his body, his soul and body, were craving the high concentration of spiritual energy contained in this crystal—the same feeling had appeared on the jade orbs transformed from the eyes of the Lian Dao Hui high priest and the man from Zhuguo, but it was far inferior.

"This feeling…"

The teenager had a premonition that even if he swallowed this crystal directly, he could immediately succeed in opening his spirit and become an 'Awakened One'. And there seemed to be a voice in this crystal that was tempting him to do so, tempting him to do so, and he would gain supreme power and…

"You think you can tempt me with this? What a joke."

But Su Zhou just shook his head, not paying too much attention to it, and directly threw it into his pocket—he didn't bother with the scam small ads from the abyss. Not only did he turn it off before finishing it, he was even thinking about what to eat for dinner.

This battle was so draining, Su Zhou was really starving. If it was a temptation with delicious food, it would be fine, but tempting him with power was simply ridiculous… Not to mention the contract with the snake spirit, Su Zhou's greed has never been great, at least not as great as his appetite.

After finding the demon crystal, the gains that could be easily taken away from the centipede demon were roughly these:

Four bags of essence demon blood, which could be used to irrigate the Wisdom Tree.

One bag of pure wood spirit liquid, which could be used for irrigation, and could also be made into a magic potion to strengthen physique and regeneration.

One demon crystal, containing an extremely large amount of pure spiritual energy, and a trace of the 'aura' of an unknown Celestial God.

"Don't forget those mandibles and the tail stinger." Yala reminded Su Zhou: "Other things are basically useless. For example, the centipede demon's carapace is also a good wood-type material, but it's not only heavy but also poisonous, and you don't have the means to process it."

"But the mandibles and tail stinger, because they are smaller, can be refined and processed with secret methods—aren't you lacking spearheads? These are the best raw materials, and unlike the carapace used to make armor, it's a good thing for weapons to be poisonous."

So, the centipede demon's mandibles and tail stinger were also broken off by Su Zhou and hung on the bag around his waist—now the things around Su Zhou's waist were hanging like a skirt armor. Thanks to the combat belt that Shao Qiming gave him, otherwise he really wouldn't be able to fit them.

"Should we go?"

Su Zhou muttered to himself casually, already listening to the surrounding movements, looking for an unmanned exit.

At this time, more than five minutes had passed since Su Zhou killed the centipede demon. If this battle had been discovered from the beginning, then the official superhumans of Zheng Nation should also be on their way.

It wasn't that he was unwilling to contact the official Zheng Nation—to be honest, this was actually a perfect opportunity to join the Zheng Nation system. No one would refuse a superhuman who could kill demons before the recovery of spiritual energy, and who was a well-rooted and upright youth.

But the problem was, after confirming that he was indeed Yala's dependent, or even some kind of 'Chosen One', Su Zhou was a little worried that he would be regarded as a 'monster possessed by a demon'… and if he joined the official organization, Yala's matter would not be easy to explain.

"Let's wait until we've confirmed the official attitude… although I guess they should be very nice to me, I really don't like this feeling of being planned for." The seventeen-year-old boy thought: "At least wait until my high school sophomore syndrome is cured, until this world reaches a point where it's not strange for a talking snake to appear."

—Wait until I become strong enough, at least strong enough to have the strength to choose and maintain independence in front of the government, wait until that time.

But if I'm discovered in advance, then I'll just join, there's nothing to hesitate about. Maybe I can scare the people around me.

"Don't worry, we'll go by waterway at that time, through the entrance that the centipede usually uses to enter and exit the river and sewers. There's still time now."

Compared to Su Zhou, who was thinking about how to reveal his identity in a way that would surprise people, the snake spirit was not in a hurry: "Let's go, let's take a look at this centipede demon's nest. There should be other valuable things there."