The mutated white python paid no attention to their shouts. Its icy serpentine eyes were locked onto the two children, and its massive body tried to move toward them, but the surrounding buildings annoyed it immensely.
Hiss… hiss… hiss!
With a furious roar, a towering pillar of water shot up from West Lake and blasted toward the nearby houses.
Boom!
Boom!
BOOM!
The once sturdy structures shattered like paper in front of those water jets, crumbling to pieces in an instant.
Just then, members of the Spiritual Energy Bureau who were patrolling near West Lake spotted the mutated white python. They immediately used their abilities to hold it back, while others quickly reported the situation to headquarters.
“A mutated white python has appeared at West Lake. We need backup.”
“A mutated white python has appeared at West Lake. We need backup.”
“Requesting reinforcements.”
After sending their reports, they started carrying out their respective duties—evacuating civilians, resisting the python, and rescuing anyone trapped beneath the collapsed buildings.
Back at the Spiritual Energy Bureau, the news of the white python gave everyone a headache.
One after another, members who had been off duty were dispatched for support.
With the second spiritual energy tide, the number of mutated beasts in the city just kept growing.
Although the previous beast horde had been largely wiped out by Huo Yu, many beasts were still scattered across various parts of the city. They didn’t have the resources to search the entire city thoroughly, so they could only send teams to deal with them when they received reports or spotted traces of mutated creatures.
“I can’t believe there was a mutated white python hiding in West Lake. And that’s not even on the outskirts—if we don’t take it down in time, a lot of people are going to die.”
“What can we do? These days, people are dying every day. China’s still relatively lucky—at least we still have some semblance of peace on the surface.”
“Over in the Western countries, people are already looting guns and doing zero-dollar grabs.”
“Honestly, mutated beasts like tigers and lions are easier to handle—most of them came from old zoos and are still out in the wild. But it’s the mutated rats and cockroaches that are the worst. They’re weak individually, but there are just way too many of them.”
“We’ll do what we can. Once they develop better techniques for using and cultivating spiritual energy, things will get a lot easier. Ordinary citizens will be able to fight back too—at least enough to handle mutated rats and stuff.”
“Sigh…”
Many members of the Spiritual Energy Bureau couldn’t help but let out a heavy sigh. It had been a long time since any of them had gotten a good night’s sleep.
The second wave of the spiritual energy tide had hit too hard. Too many beasts had awakened, and more importantly, they were all pretty strong. To avoid casualties, they had to send multiple people to handle each beast, which meant they were seriously stretched thin.
Thankfully, they still had some powerful espers on their side who took a lot of the pressure off.
For example, Lady Huo Yu—she’d almost single-handedly wiped out the last beast horde. Her terrifying fire abilities, combined with her horde of summoned creatures, had allowed them to eliminate the threat in record time.
But that only covered the beasts they knew about. Who could guarantee there weren’t others hiding in the city? Even if there weren’t any at the time, more creatures would keep mutating due to the spiritual energy.
And then there were the pets. They didn’t know what to do about them either.
Some pets were loyal to their owners and wouldn’t harm humans even after mutating. But some pets weren’t loyal at all—once they mutated, it was game over.
The proportion was small, but who would dare take that risk?
There had even been cases where people abandoned their pets out of fear they’d mutate, or neighbors poisoned them.
Could you say they were wrong?
They were just afraid of something going wrong—what’s wrong with that?
But abandoned pets, once mutated, would harbor an intense hatred for humans. Sometimes they’d even track down the owner who left them and kill them.
What could they do?
Eliminate the threat before it even appeared?
Kill every stray pet they found?
If the Spiritual Energy Bureau didn’t have espers who could form contracts with beasts or communicate with animals, they really might have chosen to do that.
They had no choice. In their eyes, the safety of the people came first—everything else came second.
But unless they were left with absolutely no other option, they really didn’t want to go down that path.
Fortunately, their bureau did have such espers.
As for this mutated white python, it wasn’t going to be an easy one to deal with. They just hoped nothing went wrong.
At West Lake…
The mutated white python coiled over the surface of the lake, commanding endless torrents of water to surge toward the espers. Wherever the water passed, even the ground was gouged into deep craters.
Hiss… hiss… HISS!!!
As countless attacks rained down on it, the python let out pained roars, its serpentine eyes growing even colder.
Then, as if it had spotted something, it let out an enraged shriek and charged recklessly toward a certain spot, ignoring the espers’ attacks entirely.
“The white python’s coming this way! Run!”
“I don’t want to die! No, no—I don’t want to die, I DON’T WANT TO DIE!”
“Damn beast!”
“…”
Panic erupted among the civilians scattered in that area as they saw the python barreling toward them.
“Mom… Dad… Brother…”
At that moment, a little girl had gotten separated from her parents in the chaos. Clutching a doll to her chest, she stood frozen in place, too scared to move. All around her, people were frantically fleeing—in such a situation, no one had the heart to help her find her family.
Even if some had thought about grabbing her and running, their bodies instinctively refused to act.
They didn’t want to die—they wanted to live! Dragging along dead weight would only lower their chances and increase the odds of death.
Before she knew it, the crowd had thinned out around her, and in front of her loomed the massive mutated white python.
Hiss… hiss… hiss…
The python flicked its forked tongue, eyeing the girl with greedy hunger. It sensed something strangely alluring about her. If it could devour her, it would gain unimaginable benefits.
This instinctive premonition felt like a divine revelation, and it had no reason to doubt it.
Thud!
With a dull thump, the python’s enormous head turned to the side. A little boy was hurling stones at its body.
The force was negligible—barely even noticeable to it.
“D-Don’t… you dare… hurt my… sister!”
The boy flinched under the python’s gaze but gritted his teeth and stared back defiantly, shouting with all the ferocity he could muster as he kept throwing stones.
“Big brother!”
The little girl’s eyes lit up as if she’d seen a ray of hope. She ran over and hid behind him, and he shielded her with his small frame.
Hiss… hiss…
The python showed no reaction to the boy’s actions. To it, both children were equally enticing prey. It opened its massive, blood-red maw, its icy fangs gleaming with razor-sharp menace in the air.
Whoosh!
Those deadly fangs pierced through the air, as if about to swallow both children whole.
The little boy held his sister tightly. Beneath that colossal shadow, the two of them looked impossibly small.
