Book 5 Chapter 15.4 - Exploring the Dream
At the other end of the Great Gold Fields, a bulge suddenly emerged from the snowy surface that was smooth like a mirror. It quickly moved about, leaving behind a long mark on the snowy plains. The bulge wasn’t that large, yet the movement speed was extremely shocking, already moving more than ten kilometers in the blink of an eye. It suddenly stopped, the upper part of the snow pile breaking open. A part of its head stuck out from the ice and snow, the long nose sniffing the air forcefully a few times, and then its entire head popped out. It was completely different from any known creature, at both sides of its head eight eyes arranged in an S shape, these eyes completely different from the colors and shapes of normal eyes. It opened six pairs of eyes at the same time, looking all around it. The moment its six eyes opened, a faint but beautiful halo of light suddenly appeared around its head. The little life wasn’t that large, about the size of a small fox. Its body was a faint silvery-gray in color mixed with gray-colored stripes. Upon closer inspection, the surface of its body was covered in thick and sturdy hard skin, some areas covered in tough, semi-transparent scales, offering increased protection over its important areas. Under the transparent scales, its body’s luster slowly swirled about, becoming almost one with the surrounding environment.
It supported its body, all of its eyes staring forward. One of the two pairs of eyes that had remained shut this entire time opened. These seven eyes with distinct radiance formed a strange diagram, and a semi-transparent seven-colored light cover immediately surrounded its body. Less than a hundred meters in front of it, the snow over the ground mysteriously disappeared, revealing pitch-black earth. The soil was quite moist, and it even continuously released steaming heat. If one looked down from above, they would find that several oval shaped holes suddenly appeared on the snowfield, and they were still continuously expanding.
Scorching hot water vapor continuously emerged from the soil, melting the ice and snow along the edge, expanding the exposed earth surface. Several of these exposed surfaces began to move about, as if something was about to dig its way out.
The little thing that stood upright on the snow field released a low growl, intimidating the enemy that hadn't showed itself yet. It suddenly opened its mouth, its small head producing a shockingly large mouth, almost splitting the entire head in half! Inside the oral cavity were two rows of teeth, sharp and a bit disorderly. The teeth’s blades were curved towards the mouth, so once prey was clamped down on, it would be extremely difficult for them to escape. Just from this action of opening its mouth alone, one could see just how great its offensive prowess was.
The steaming earth produced a bulge. Several black, octopus tentacle like things reached out from the earth, supported above a dark grey enormous cocoon. The gray cocoon split apart soon after, producing a creature similar to a hound from within. Its fur was still clammy, mucus continuously dripping from its body. The lower half of its body was like that of a wolf, four long and powerful claws, but its upper body was perfectly straight like that of an insect with an exoskeleton. Apart from that, it had two small forelimbs, the ends of these forelimbs sawtooth blades like those of a praying mantis. This was an extremely strange and unnatural creature, as if two different species were forcefully pieced together. Its body’s muscles were almost excessively developed, but its skin had large patches of damage, some parts revealing bright colored flesh, others even covered under some sturdy scales. It had the head of a wolf, its mouth tough and forceful. However, its main offensive tool should be the pair of blades on its forelimbs.
It had just emerged from the cocoon, so it still seemed a bit clumsy, only stabilizing itself after swaying a bit. Light yellow viscous liquid continuously dripped from its fur, flowing along its injuries, along its mouth, and even from its ears and eyes. The cold wind continuously scattered steam, blowing against its body, yet it was unable to dry up the mucus, nor could it make it freeze. The mucus landed on the ground drop after drop, and the moment they touched the ground, they would release release slight sounds, as well as produce black smoke, the corrosive properties not any inferior to powerful acids.
As soon as it was able to stand firmly, it stared at the little creature at the other side of the snowy plains. Growling sounds continuously sounded from its throat, the four claws supporting itself continuously scratching against the earth; however, it didn’t immediately throw itself over. The little thing that crouched in the snowland was less than a third of its own size, yet it instinctively felt a great threat, somewhat unwilling to rush over. Its limited intelligence couldn’t decide why it would be scared of this little creature, but the animal instincts it had left made it stop in place.
The exposed soil was still rolling over and over, continuously producing six or seven mounds. Several large cocoons emerged from these earth mounds. The mounds continuously produced greasy yellow liquid until the ground became like a swamp.
Even though companions would quickly appear, the mutated hound that appeared first still didn’t rush over, only growling in demonstration. What flowed out from between its criss-crossed teeth wasn’t only yellow liquid, but also thick, dark-red blood.
Upon seeing the eight areas of exposed soil, as well as the several dozen enormous cocoons that emerged, the little creature that maintained an offensive stance this entire time also began to develop some misgivings.
The strange creature before its eyes possessed irresistible temptation. Not only was it a rare delicacy, every part of its body, every cell, every gene carried inestimable value. In this little thing’s instinctive sequence, the acquisition of various gene compositions was second only to survival. It was to the extent where when faced with certain genes that were extremely important to its evolution, it was worth gambling one’s life for. The hound and insect mixture was precisely a moving treasury that carried many important genes. It was also the main thing that drew this little creature here.