59: Chapter 59: Fat Insect 59: Chapter 59: Fat Insect Considering the encounter last time, Zhang Xiaoman didn’t jump to conclusions this time and didn’t rashly attack, instead observing from a distance for quite a while before making a decision.
“These insects don’t seem very fast.
I can try attacking them with the Soul Absorption Technique first.
If their speed is indeed as slow as it appears now, I can just run further away, wait for the Skill to end, and then come back to kill the next one.”
As he spoke, he thought of the scene when he encountered the Bone-eating Demon last time and couldn’t help but mutter:
“If these insects’ real speed is faster than they appear now, I must escape immediately and then keep rubbing the hearthstone to return…”
Zhang Xiaoman placed his hand on the Swift Stone in his pocket, feeling slightly more confident.
He took off his bullet-proof vest and steel sword to avoid increasing his load.
After making a map location on the spot, he quietly moved closer to the group of insects.
“The range of the Soul Absorption Technique is 20 meters.
I need to get a bit closer…”
Moving from behind one tree to another, he carefully made no sound, while also silently calculating the distance, fearing that he would fail to use the Skill later due to insufficient range.
“This should be close enough.”
By now, Zhang Xiaoman had entered the 20-meter range, which is roughly equivalent to the width of a six-lane dual carriageway.
Thus, he could now see those semi-transparent fat insects clearly in front of him.
These insects were round and plump, somewhat like chibi-style insects in cartoons.
They looked the same from front to back.
If they stood still, he couldn’t even tell which side was the head.
Unlike the colorless transparency of the Bone-eating Demons, these insects’ bodies exhibited a milky white halo, which could be easily spotted on this land.
“These things seem pretty dumb.
I’ve gotten this close, and they haven’t reacted at all…”
While Zhang Xiaoman was pondering in his mind, his actions were not vague.
He put his left hand in his pocket on the hearthstone, while his right hand slowly stretched out, opening his fingers towards the insect closest to him.
Soul Absorption Technique!
In his mind, he envisioned the intent to extract energy from the insect, and the Skill was immediately activated.
The insect’s body suddenly stiffened and became a blur.
Strips of visible energy were stripped from its body, all rushing toward Zhang Xiaoman.
The insect seemed very fragile.
In just two or three breaths, under the intricate extraction of the Soul Absorption Technique, it turned into streams of energy and left a thumb-sized spherical crystal in its place.
Listening to the somewhat piercing buzzing coming from ahead, Zhang Xiaoman couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.
If he wasn’t mistaken, these must mostly be Parasitic Spirit larvae.
At least from the abilities they displayed currently, he should be able to handle them.
Yet, before he could rejoice, he saw the several little insects around him all turn towards him.
Then they all stood upright, and the mouthparts hidden under their heads suddenly opened wide, exposing sharp teeth within.
The next second, Zhang Xiaoman heard a sharp and piercing buzzing sound.
It felt as though someone had fiercely pinched his brain.
He felt a wave of dizziness and nearly lost his balance, almost fainting.
“What a terrifying Spiritual Attack!”
He shook his head, not expecting these little creatures to also cast a combined Skill.
By the time he came to his senses, he was shocked to find that these insects had actually balled up and were rolling towards him.
Seeing this, Zhang Xiaoman didn’t waste any words and started running back while twisting the hearthstone in his hand.
Fortunately, although these creatures had turned themselves into rolling forms, their speed wasn’t too fast due to their small size.
At least, they definitely couldn’t catch up within 5 seconds.
He maintained his running posture and instantly appeared on the couch at home.
He then toppled over with the inertia and frightened Jin Bao, who was passing by, causing him to bark loudly in a string.
Zhang Xiaoman scrambled up from the couch, looked around at the familiar surroundings, and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
“Okay, okay, it’s me!”
He waved at his dog, Jin Bao, and said.
Jin Bao also paused, then hurried forward wagging his tail, his tongue lolling out in a well-behaved manner.
Having sent him away, Zhang Xiaoman finally had time to think about what had just happened.
He opened his attribute panel to check his energy, which now displayed: 12/10.
The insect just now had provided him with 4 points of energy.
Clearly, those creatures were probably the juvenile forms of the Parasitic Spirit.
The translucent form and the ability for Spiritual Attacks were similar to the one he saw at the Su family’s house, though their appearances were slightly different.
Not only that, these creatures seemed not to be purely energy bodies as he initially thought.
They were more akin to elemental creatures like those in games.
Because if they were pure energy bodies, they wouldn’t move just by rolling on the ground, and they wouldn’t leave a corpse after death.
However, no matter what, in his view, these insects seemed manageable.
The real hassle was that his Soul Absorption Technique couldn’t launch an area attack after being used on a target, plus the hearthstone had a one-hour cooling time.
Thus, he might need to run back and forth a few more times today.
As for the teleportation destination of the hearthstone being switched to the couch, Zhang Xiaoman actually knew about it a few days ago when he used it.
He guessed that the teleportation spot after using the hearthstone was probably where he last slept at home.
In any case, as of now, it didn’t have much impact on him.
About going back to the small forest in the north of the city, Zhang Xiaoman was certainly planning on it.
However, since he could take a taxi and it would only take about 20 minutes, and the hearthstone still had an hour of cooling time, he didn’t need to rush over there right away, especially since it was too hot under the big sun.
After turning on the air conditioning, Zhang Xiaoman watched some TV at home for about half an hour before he finally left for the woods again.
He called another ride-sharing car, feeling like a big boss now.
In the past, each time the cost pinched him, but now, his heart felt no fluctuation whatsoever.
A somewhat familiar white sedan stopped in front of him, and as soon as Zhang Xiaoman got in, he heard the driver’s voice coming from the front.
Didn’t I just take you there a while ago?”