The giant snake grew even more excited upon seeing delicious food, moving its massive body closer to the group.

Seeing the giant snake, about twelve to thirteen meters long and much thicker than a bowl’s width, the expressions of Nan Muran and the others turned serious.

“Eagle,” Nan Muran called out calmly once the snake’s entire body appeared in the clearing before them.

Eagle quickly used wind power to spread a large circle of yellow realgar powder around the snake.

At the same time, Nan Muran used her life energy to stimulate the nearby wild cassia plants, reinforcing the realgar circle Eagle had created.

Seeing Nan Muran and Eagle take action, the snake’s gaze changed abruptly. These four humans were completely different—they had abilities. It might not be able to defeat them.

Fighting wasn’t the wisest choice. It would be better to take advantage of any gaps in their coordination and escape back to its den.

Nan Muran sensed all the snake’s thoughts and was a little surprised. After mutating, the snake had actually developed intelligence to this extent. Interesting.

She looked coldly at the snake trapped within the realgar circle. “Stop dreaming. You’re not leaving today.”

The snake stared at Nan Muran, shocked that she could know what it was thinking.

Suddenly, the snake’s head began splitting and twisting in a grotesque manner. When they looked again, it had turned into a three-headed snake.

“Damn, did this thing crawl out of the Classic of Mountains and Seas? Why only three heads? Shouldn’t it be nine?” Eagle wasn’t particularly afraid of the snake’s transformation.

After all, it was the apocalypse—nothing was too surprising. He was just genuinely curious about what the heck this thing was.

“It’s a three-headed cobra. Highly poisonous. Be careful,” Nan Muran warned, watching the snake’s dark, glossy body.

She carefully observed the three heads constantly swaying, trying to determine if the mutation had affected its weak point—its vital spot.

The snake, under her scrutinizing gaze, instinctively glanced at the area around its vital spot.

That single glance confirmed for Nan Muran that, aside from the three heads, the snake had no other special mutations.

“Attack its vital spot,” Nan Muran ordered.

Hearing this, the snake felt a strong sense of threat.

The middle head suddenly spat out an ice blade, about a foot long, aiming straight for Nan Muran beside Si Ye.

Si Ye responded with a fireball, countering the snake’s ice blade.

Seeing Si Ye’s attack, the snake’s left head also moved simultaneously.

In an instant, over a dozen ice blades were launched, kicking up a cloud of dust and trying to kill all four of them in one move.

“Damn, this thing actually has a brain! It knows how to feint!” Eagle was impressed. Since the apocalypse began, he’d really broadened his horizons.

Nan Muran immediately condensed her spiritual power, redirecting the oncoming dust and ice blades back toward the snake.

“I’ll control it with Eagle. You two find a chance to strike its vital spot,” she said sharply, simultaneously activating her spiritual force to control the snake’s movements.

At the same time, Jiawu suddenly burst forward at a strange speed, aiming directly for the snake’s vital spot.

Damn, he awakened! Speed ability at this moment—impressive!

Eagle was filled with envy.

Si Ye’s ice blades and metal blades followed closely behind Jiawu’s charge, swiftly striking out.

Meanwhile, Eagle continued to manipulate the wind, shrinking the realgar circle to help Nan Muran control the snake.

Nan Muran’s pets, Xiaobai and Xiaoliu, eagerly leaped out, climbing up the snake’s body.

A look of disbelief appeared in the snake’s eyes—how could these humans be so powerful? So powerful it couldn’t even find a chance to escape.

Nan Muran could clearly sense the three mutated cores inside the snake’s three heads. She decided not to kill it outright with a spiritual crush.

The snake also realized it was no match for these humans.

But it would never leave its body to these greedy humans.

It began gathering all its power at its three heads.

“It’s going to self-destruct! Kill it, now!” Sensing the snake’s intention, Nan Muran frantically released her life energy.

She tried to have Xiaoliu and Xiaobai strangle the snake quickly.

At the same time, Si Ye and Jiawu worked together to break through the snake’s earth-based defenses.

They stabbed their weapons straight into its vital spot.

To ensure accuracy, Jiawu even injected lightning energy into his dagger.

Seeing the snake collapse with a loud crash, Nan Muran finally exhaled in relief.

If that thing had successfully self-destructed, all four of them would have been doomed.

The explosive power of a Level 5 mutated beast’s core was no joke—its destructive force could easily rival a fighter jet’s firepower barrage.

“Think this snake’s meat is edible?” Jiawu flipped over the snake’s body, unable to stop thinking about snake stew.

Nan Muran deftly dug out the three crystal cores from the snake’s heads with her dagger. “It’s edible, but mutated beast meat is generally tough and dry.”

She stored the cores away. “I’ll keep it for you. You can try it once we get back.”

As she spoke, she casually tossed the snake’s corpse into a corner of the top layer of her storage space.

The four of them continued moving forward, searching for the black-red fruits. After about three kilometers uphill, they spotted a giant tree about five stories tall.

“That tree has mutated,” Si Ye frowned, looking at the towering, house-sized tree.

The sight alone made one feel an immense sense of threat.

Nan Muran, who was fairly knowledgeable about plants, didn’t recognize what kind of tree it was.

The branches were loaded with apple-sized black-red fruits. Though they were all excited, none acted recklessly.

Nan Muran began releasing life energy, sending Xiaoliu to scout the situation.

The moment the green-white threads of life energy formed, the tree’s branches started to extend rapidly, wrapping around Nan Muran.

“Nan Muran—!”

“Ranan—!”

“Sister Nan—!”

Si Ye and the others shouted in panic as they saw the situation spiral out of control and instinctively prepared to attack.

“Don’t move!” Nan Muran hurriedly stopped them.

With her sensitivity to plants, she could tell that the branches wrapping around her carried no hostility. Moreover, this giant tree’s level was no lower than Xiaoliu’s—it wasn’t something they could defeat.

Once she was closer to the trunk, she understood the problem: the upper half of the tree’s main trunk was already starting to rot.

“You saw my life energy, so you want me to help you?” Nan Muran asked tentatively.

The tree responded: I know you’re here to pick fruit. Heal me, and all the fruits are yours.

“Deal.”
To communicate smoothly with her, a late-stage Level 3 plant ability user, the tree had to be at least Level 7. Not something she could afford to provoke.

Nan Muran placed her hand on the rotting part of the trunk and began channeling life energy. Immediately, the grass, vines, shrubs, and small trees at the tree’s base started growing rapidly.

They cycled through seasons in fast-forward—some withering and merging into the soil, others growing stronger.

“Is Ranan saving a life?” Jiawu murmured, familiar with the scene.

He remembered Nan Muran once explaining that life energy couldn’t create vitality out of nothing. It could only transfer it—life for life.

That’s why she couldn’t save anything where there was no life force to draw from.

Nature was fair. Whether it was life force or resources, the total amount never changed.
Humans could only fight to take it.