Chapter Four: Predation (Part One)

In the blink of an eye, Devourer had already spent nearly ten days on this planet. During these ten days, he had ceaselessly searched, hoping to find a human settlement. Surviving alone on this planet was simply too arduous. The environment, with its nearly tenfold standard gravity, sky filled with swirling ice, storms that seemed never to cease, and those occasional glimpses of strange, motionless creatures lying in the snow—all these made Devourer feel danger was ever-present. Particularly unsettling were those bizarre creatures; each time he saw them, Devourer would be struck by a sudden chill, an inexplicable sense of peril. As Xiaohua put it, none of these beings could be considered harmless. The information Devourer’s clan had provided before his journey repeatedly emphasized that the indigenous lifeforms of the Abandoned Star Domain possessed formidable offensive capabilities and a fierce aggressiveness.

In ten days, Devourer had failed to find a single human settlement, nor had he seen another human being.

On this day, seeking shelter from the storm, Devourer entered the mouth of a small valley and traversed a deep ravine stretching for several kilometers. To his surprise, at the exit, he found himself facing an erupting volcano.

To call it an eruption was perhaps an exaggeration. The so-called volcano was not tall—amid the countless peaks scattered across this planet, it was little more than a hillock nestled among the mountains.

Its so-called eruption was hardly worthy of the name; rather, it continuously spewed forth glowing red lava, which, the moment it emerged from the crater, would freeze into cold rock. Devourer kept a thin layer of true energy over his body at all times, so he had no idea just how low the temperature truly was, but judging by the environment, he estimated it must be at least minus a hundred degrees. And with the ever-present, relentless winds that swept the planet, even that estimate might fall short.

He watched as, before his very eyes, the volcano grew higher with astonishing speed, leaving him dumbstruck for many minutes.

As Devourer stood there, dazed, watching the volcano’s slow ascent, a white boulder on the mountainside nearby suddenly shifted. Instead of rolling downhill, it moved upward, climbing more than ten meters. If it hadn’t been directly in his line of sight, he would never have noticed—its speed was simply too great.

Since arriving on this planet, every creature Devourer had seen was pure white—perhaps because the region he was in was entirely blanketed in ice and snow.

This was the first time in ten days that Devourer had witnessed an indigenous creature in motion. Although he had seen many of the planet’s lifeforms from afar, for reasons unknown, none of them had ever shown the slightest sign of activity. He had once waited by a beast that closely resembled an ancestral cow, but after half a day without the slightest movement, he had given up on that idea.

Not long after, Xiaohua suddenly appeared, shouting urgently in his ear, “Master, get back! There’s a powerful energy reaction underground—something seems to be burrowing its way up!”

At those words, Devourer instinctively retreated into the depths of the ravine, taking shelter between two giant rocks at the valley’s entrance to cautiously observe the volcano’s crater.

He had barely concealed himself when a chorus of wild beastly roars erupted from the surrounding peaks. One after another, snow-white figures appeared atop the mountains encircling the volcano. All these snow-white beings arranged themselves in orderly ranks along the mountainside, as if highly organized and disciplined. Even from the valley where Devourer hid, dozens of varied creatures, large and small, now emerged.

Once the commotion subsided and the valley grew quiet again, Devourer softly asked Xiaohua, “Xiaohua, what’s happening underground now?”

Xiaohua paused, then replied, “That powerful energy reaction is still approaching the surface, but its speed has slowed.”

“What could it be? And why are all these creatures waiting here?” Devourer muttered to himself.

If Devourer did not understand, Xiaohua certainly had no answer either.

His waiting was not long. As more and more creatures gathered around the volcano, the volcano’s activity suddenly intensified—a pillar of magma, nearly ten meters high, shot up. With it came a swarm of bizarre, insect-like creatures, each about the size of a human being.

No sooner had these insects emerged than they began rushing outward. But the waiting beasts were not idle—they immediately began slaughtering the insects in great numbers. The insect creatures, however, were not without defenses; many of them would self-destruct just before death, and the destructive power of their self-immolation was impressive. Devourer watched as several seemingly well-armored monsters were blown half to pieces by the mysterious red light produced by the insects’ self-detonation.

To Devourer, the insect creatures resembled ants, and the volcano’s crater an enormous anthill. The insects poured forth in endless waves, charging outward without hesitation. Should they be caught by the waiting monsters, or find themselves on the brink of death, they would self-destruct. The scene was nothing short of epic—like a vast, relentless colony of ants, the insect creatures hurled themselves forward, one after another. Explosions of self-destruction were constant; whenever an insect detonated, the surrounding monsters would scatter. Yet the red light from their explosions never harmed their own kind, who used the sacrifices of their companions to slowly break through the encirclement.

Why such a thing was happening, Devourer had no idea. In these circumstances, he dared not make a move. Watching the spectacle unfold, he could not help but concede that his clan’s assessment of these snow-white beasts as formidable was no exaggeration.

These days, updates have slowed—please forgive me. I’ve been busy fixing my computer. Once it’s repaired, I promise I’ll make up for it with a double release. Thank you all.