Chapter Fifteen: Him

“So this is the Tumor Meat Mountain?!” From a distance, it seemed acceptable, but up close it hardly looked the part. Calling it a meat mountain was a stretch; it was more like an enormous lump of flesh. Still, the prompt could not be wrong—at least, it had never been before.

“The flesh of the Tumor Meat Mountain…” Mu Chen remembered clearly that this was one of the missing ingredients in the recruitment scroll for the Carrion Beast.

Yet the colossal creature before him left Mu Chen conflicted…

They were simply too large. Even with a five-meter proximity limit, if attacked, there might not even be scraps left. Circumventing them was certainly the safest option, but the materials needed for the scroll were right before his eyes.

He exhaled softly.

Shaking his head, he dismissed the thought of snatching meat from the jaws of danger. It was less practical to carve flesh from these monsters than to wrestle it from a tiger’s mouth!

Fortunately, it was not a fruitless venture. At least he had pinpointed the source of the needed material. He could return once his legs recovered.

He stroked his chin.

Now he pondered the information about the Tumor Meat Mountain.

When attacked, it would lunge at the attacker. That was intriguing—how did it respond to ranged attacks? Did it charge at them as well?

It lacked sight and hearing; perhaps this was the advantage hinted at in the prompt…

“Sade, find me some stones from the ground. Yang Zhiying, push me to the side so I can take a look.”

“Huh?” Yang Zhiying was surprised. She couldn’t understand why Mu Chen would bring her along, given she was the least experienced among them. But since he’d asked, she could only grit her teeth and comply.

Mu Chen’s reasoning was simple. They had only recently slain three juvenile abominations; now, with both Mu Chen and Mu Jiu’er activating their repulsion skills, it made sense to explore nearby while their abilities lasted. The absence of warnings suggested there were no other monsters nearby except these “lazy creatures,” so safety was not an issue.

…

Yang Zhiying trembled as she pushed the wheelchair, bumping over stones several times within thirty meters. Mu Chen said nothing, but inwardly regretted his decision. At the rate she was going, she might abandon him at the first sign of trouble.

They took a side path, advancing nearly fifty meters, only to find more Tumor Meat Mountains ahead. This truly communal gathering was giving Mu Chen a headache.

“Don’t panic… We’re this close and they haven’t reacted, so it’s safe for now,” Mu Chen reassured her.

Yang Zhiying: “Mm…”

“Trust me…” Mu Chen weighed the stones in his hand.

Yang Zhiying: “Mm…”

Bang! A stone struck the Tumor Meat Mountain.

“Push me back, run!”

Yang Zhiying: “Mm!!” Startled, she accelerated so rapidly that Mu Chen nearly flew off the wheelchair.

Boom!

The massive creature lunged at their previous position.

…

Mu Chen now understood how to trigger the Tumor Meat Mountain, reminding him of an idiotic “car-moving” game—except in the game, you risked points, and here, you risked your life.

Thinking it over, he realized that as a cripple, there was no need for such excitement; better to let those with legs take the risks.

“Let’s head back, there’s no point in circling further.”

…

Mu Chen turned his head; Yang Zhiying’s expression was so thoroughly rattled that he was at a loss for words.

Helpless, he sent a message to his sister for help, planning to find a way through the meat mountain together once they regrouped.

When Mu Jiu’er arrived with two servants, they found a giant Tumor Meat Mountain sprawled outside, creating a vast empty space where monsters had once crowded—a scene as peculiar as a missing brick in a tightly packed wall. Mu Jiu’er clicked her tongue in wonder.

“Brother, how did you get this big fellow to move? Didn’t it attack you?”

“Praise the master!”

Sade and Lilia bowed in unison.

“It’s nothing difficult. I’ll explain later. Let’s check on Yang Zhiying first; she seems a bit shaken.”

Mu Jiu’er: “…”

Leaving the comforting to his sister, Mu Chen surveyed the scene, his mind racing.

…

Mu Jiu’er supported Yang Zhiying, feeling the stiffness in her legs and the trembling throughout her body—she was rooted to the spot, unable to recover.

“Don’t panic… We’re so close to the monsters and they haven’t reacted; it’s safe. And don’t judge my brother by his current state—he’s extremely steady and cautious. You should trust him…”

Eventually, with Mu Jiu’er’s gentle persuasion, Yang Zhiying calmed down. Yet, for some reason, those words of comfort seemed oddly familiar.

Soon, they returned to the main road of the toll station.

After gathering along the way, their backpacks were filled with hundreds of stones. Since the number of meat mountains was uncertain, they collected as many as possible.

Mu Chen shared all the known information, and everyone took their positions.

Sade threw the first stone toward the road.

Boom!

The immense mass of flesh lunged at the spot where Sade had thrown the stone, exposing the road that had been buried beneath it.

[Upon discovering the flaw in the Tumor Meat Mountain, you realize a rare opportunity lies within. If you miss it now, you’ll likely never have another chance. After all, it has only recently arrived, and for it, the unfamiliar mosquitoes must all be eliminated.]

Mu Chen: “???”

This message made Mu Chen sense something was amiss.

“Opportunity? Helping it clear mosquitoes? Who is ‘it’… If I think differently, since ‘it’ wants to clear them anyway, why would the prompt mention it? Rather than clearing mosquitoes, it’s more like racing to…”

He had no time to ponder further; Mu Jiu’er and Sade had already tossed a second stone.

Another thunderous crash forced Mu Chen to focus ahead.

With each reverberating boom, the meat mountains scattered in clusters, revealing remnants of the toll station that had previously vanished beneath them.

“Brother, we’ve cleared the level!”

Hearing Mu Jiu’er, Mu Chen rubbed his forehead.

He knew his sister was treating the monsters as a game!

The main road out of the city was now completely cleared, a thirty-meter-wide passage fully revealed.

They walked on.

No matter how Mu Chen scanned the road, he found nothing amiss. As time passed, they drew ever closer to the exit.

Could something still be hiding beneath the unmoved monsters? Or was he missing the right approach?

If there really was something nearby,

how would he find it?