Volume One, Chapter 1: Awakening a Special Ability—Devouring Evolution
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The NPC Has Glitched: A Place to Store Your Brain...
Blue Star...
Great Xia...
The early days of the Spiritual Energy Revival.
Deep within the Hundred Thousand Mountains, Wang Long opened his heavy eyelids and looked around in confusion.
“Strange. Wasn’t I dead just now? How did I suddenly end up here?”
As it turned out, Wang Long had been at home watching the sixth season of *Armor Hero* when an airplane suddenly crashed into his house. Not only did it destroy the building, but the pilot had shamelessly dragged him along to meet the King of Hell.
Just like that, the young man, barely in his twenties, had avoided eighty years of detours in life. When he opened his eyes again, he had unexpectedly transmigrated to another world.
As Wang Long stared at the fallen leaves covering the ground and listened to the birds calling all around him, an ethereal voice suddenly rang out in his mind.
“Congratulations, host. You have awakened the Devouring Evolution ability. Please begin by devouring the small animals nearby. Next stage: python.”
“What the hell? Is this a system? So I really did transmigrate—and I’ve become a snake?”
Wang Long was utterly exasperated, but decided to accept his circumstances. Since he had already become a snake, there was no way to change back. Rather than wasting his time worrying, he might as well make something of himself.
Perhaps, when the Year of the Snake arrived, he could transform into a dragon, become the Dragon King, and rule over countless dragon clans.
Wang Long began surveying his surroundings and discovered that he was beneath a great tree. He raised his eyes, and his pupils contracted in terror. The entire tree was probably thirty meters tall—a truly towering giant of the forest.
He then looked down at his own body. After observing it for two and a half seconds, he let out a startled cry.
“Damn it! Why am I light brown? I’m only about a meter long, and what’s with this rooster-like crest on my forehead?”
Wang Long smiled bitterly.
He had assumed that even if he became a snake, he would at least turn into some kind of giant python. After all, he was coiled beneath a towering tree, and judging from its height, there were probably few people within several miles.
There was no sign of human activity anywhere around him—not even a piece of man-made rubbish.
Calling it a remote wilderness would not have been an exaggeration. And if a few giant pythons appeared in such a place, that would be perfectly reasonable, wouldn’t it?
At first, Wang Long had been thrilled that he had not truly died. But a one-meter-long body in the wild? Any random eagle could easily kill him.
“Aaah... shriek, shriek, shriek...”
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A cry resembling an eagle’s call rang out from the towering old tree.
The sound made Wang Long’s scalp tingle. He raised his head and stared upward. Perhaps because he had become a snake, his eyesight seemed to have improved as well.
An eagle was perched in the tree above him, apparently having flown over to rest.
The instant Wang Long saw it, his human memories surged into his mind.
“Damn it—is that a crested serpent eagle? A medium-to-large bird of prey that lives in the tall forests of remote mountains. It likes to circle above the forest and patrol the surrounding area, specializing in hunting small animals—including snakes.”
Wang Long had loved watching nature documentaries in his previous life, so he recognized the eagle above him at a glance. If it noticed him, wouldn’t he be doomed?
“Run... I need to run right now, or by tomorrow I’ll be nothing more than a pile of droppings. Not only will I stink, I’ll die in disgrace!”
The thought suddenly sprang into Wang Long’s mind.
Ding! A crested serpent eagle has been detected. Host, please do not attempt to flee. Otherwise, you will be devoured by the system.
“Considering the host’s size, a beginner ability has been granted: Instant Bite. Any part successfully bitten will immediately enter your stomach without needing to be torn away, until the target has been completely devoured.”
“Damn you, you shameless cheat! I’m a tiny snake, and you want me to fight a crested serpent eagle one-on-one? That’s just sending me to be eaten! Besides, it’s a protected species!”
Wang Long smiled bitterly.
“Please kill the crested serpent eagle immediately. Reward: Fatal Venom Fangs.”
Hearing the system’s voice, Wang Long had no intention of obeying. But then he suddenly felt a chill run down his back. Although snakes were cold-blooded by nature, his sixth sense still told him that a pair of eyes in the nearby sky had already locked onto him.
“Fine, let’s do this. I can’t run anyway.”
Wang Long faced death with grim resolve. Since staying and fleeing were both impossible, he might as well take a gamble. Maybe a bicycle could become a motorcycle. Whatever happened, he would just fight.
“Aaah... shriek, shriek, shriek...”
The crested serpent eagle plunged downward, releasing a piercing shriek that instantly made Wang Long’s scalp prickle beneath the tree.
He had no scalp, of course, but he still felt his entire body tremble involuntarily, as though his bloodline were being suppressed.
“You lousy bird! You want to eat me, don’t you? So what if you’re a protected species? I’m killing you today!”
Wang Long roared.
Unfortunately, he still could not speak. All that emerged was a series of clucking sounds, echoing through the forest.
The crested serpent eagle dived lower.
Wang Long steeled himself and immediately coiled his body into a tight disk. But the eagle was faster. Beating its wings and extending its sharp talons, it swooped down to seize him.
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The air was the crested serpent eagle’s natural domain. If Wang Long leaped up, he would only be offering himself as prey. Therefore, he quickly burrowed into the pile of fallen leaves on the ground.
That way, the eagle would be unable to target his vital point. Even if it managed to grab his body, he would still have a chance to fight back.
Thud, thud!
The eagle crushed several leaves beneath its talons. Amid the heap of withered yellow foliage, its eyesight was so astonishing that it actually managed to seize Wang Long by the tail.
“Damn! This bird is incredibly fast, and its eyesight is amazing too!”
Wang Long was numb with disbelief. He had buried himself in such a thick layer of dead leaves, yet the eagle had still managed to find him.
He had expected the crested serpent eagle to catch him eventually, but he had never imagined that the creature could also locate prey by sound.
Seeing that his tail had been seized, Wang Long stopped hiding. He shot his head forward and wrapped it fiercely around one of the eagle’s talons.
The crested serpent eagle was caught off guard, and one of its talons became trapped. Instinctively, however, it used its other talon to claw frantically at Wang Long.
It had clearly never expected the tiny snake before it to be so ferocious—or to thrust its head straight into its own grasp.
“Die!”
Wang Long struck swiftly and bit down on the eagle’s belly. He knew that its legs were too well protected to bite effectively. Even if he managed to sink his fangs into one, the thick layer of scales and keratin would block his venom, preventing it from penetrating even half an inch.
“Aaah... shriek...”
The crested serpent eagle felt a burst of excruciating pain in its abdomen. It then desperately pecked at Wang Long’s body with its sharp beak.
“It hurts... It hurts so much! How is this bird’s beak so sharp?”
Wang Long was completely dazed. Then again, he was a snake now.
He knew that an eagle’s beak was generally extremely hard and possessed tremendous piercing power, but experiencing it firsthand far exceeded his expectations.
Blood soon appeared where the beak had struck him. Fortunately, his scales offered some protection. Before long, the crested serpent eagle’s pecking slowed, and its body began to sway.
Sensing that something was wrong with his opponent, Wang Long quickly coiled himself around the eagle’s body, then bit down on its wing.
The crested serpent eagle beat its wings frantically. It was obvious that the predator had become the prey.
What Wang Long did not know was that his venom was one of the most potent toxins among all snakes. He himself was also the overlord of his species—a crested king snake, born with the bearing of royalty.
As a result, the crested serpent eagle failed to last even ten seconds before collapsing paralyzed into the leaf litter. Two and a half minutes later, it died on the spot.
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