Chapter 626: Mysterious Alcohol

Zhang Lie wasn't one to give up such a marvelous brew. "How do you brew this alcohol?"

The alien sniffed. "Heh! This is a secret recipe of our clan. The alcohol's made with a few rare flowers, fruits, and herbs, along with the blood of some genetic lifeforms. Prolonged consumption can even generate permanent increases in strength!"

He stood up and flexed the steely muscles that rippled underneath his bronze skin.

Another alien patted Zhang Lie's shoulder. "Once we get back to our village, we'll treat you to more alcohol."

The alien who had flexed was called Mu. Mu laughed and continued, "The potency of our special brew increases with age. The longer the alcohol gets to mature, the stronger its effects. Every year, we have a competition among our clan's fighters. The winner of the entire affair gets a vat of hundred-year-old alcohol, and just one gulp of it gives you the strength of a superior-grade lifeform."

Zhang Lie downed another cup of alcohol and listened to the will of the world's chiming voice. [For consuming regular-grade alcohol, you received one basic gene fragment. Current total: 25]

This alcohol was really quite impressive. Alien races had particularly limited routes to advancement; they either had to consume the flesh of a compatible race or undergo long bouts of training, but this race had managed to concoct what was essentially a potion every alien race could consume.

Even humans had to kill their own genetic lifeforms to be able to derive gene fragments from them, but this alcohol completely disregarded such a rule.

𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

Indeed, Zhang Lie was tempted to compel the aliens to give him the recipe.

Initially, his reason for heading toward the aliens' village was to get potential information about humans from their elders, but now he had a second as well.

Mu's face flushed. "To be frank, two centuries ago, we had an even better recipe for higher-grade alcohol, but we lacked a specific kind of fruit. This fruit could only be found in another small world, but the entrance to that world was blocked by a swarm of bats. There was a superior-grade bat king that even our clan chieftain could do nothing about."

Mu continued, "I heard from the previous clan head that the superior-grade bat king's cries had the ability to cause people to implode from within. Our chieftain could withstand its cries, but it impacted his fighting ability ?to such an extent that he had no choice but to retreat after suffering grievous injuries. Ever since then, that wormhole has gone unused."

Another alien piped up, "Actually, there used to be a city in the direction you said you came from, with a particularly large marketplace to facilitate trade. When the tunnel was blocked off, the city gradually grew decrepit, and everyone moved elsewhere."

None of the aliens knew that the superior-grade bat king had recently perished.

Zhang Lie frowned as he rummaged through his potbellied-toad pouch and retrieved a big sack of jade-green fruits. "Is this the fruit that you mentioned?"

Mu glanced at the sack in surprise. "They look very similar to what I've been told about them, but I'd have to confirm it with my elders."

Zhang Lie and the aliens had more or less finished their feast by then. There was still plenty of meat left, and Zhang Lie motioned for the demonic bats and blood-red mantis to finish them off.

The demonic bats flocked to the meat from the skies, many targeting the superior-grade earth tyrant—but the blood-red mantis got there before they could. Its wings buzzed in a threatening fashion, and none of the bats dared draw forward lest they incur its wrath.

The mantis began to consume the earth tyrant's meat. As it did so, its carapace became even redder, and its body seemed to burn with bright red flame. It devoured the rest of the meat in no time at all.

Even the aliens and Zhang Lie, who were some distance away, could sense the scorching heat that emanated from its flesh.

While Zhang Lie was glancing at the sudden commotion, the cry of birds came from afar. Overhead flew a flock of mutated-grade silver-feathered birds with sharp claws like metal hooks.

The swarm of bats ose to the skies, outraged that there were scavengers who had come to steal their food.

However, the bats were largely regular-grade, and they could do little against the mutated-grade birds. The regular-grade bats' screeches had no effect against the birds. The mutated-grade ones did, but it was very limited, and there were far too few of them to have a noticeable impact.

The blood-red mantis's evolution was far less impressive than that of a peak-grade lifeform evolving into a disaster-grade one. As its carapace cracked, the mantis furiously rushed out of the molten shell it left behind. It had turned a deep-red color, and its body grew even smaller—its body had been the length of a human, and was now half that size.

However, size was by no means a reliable indicator of its strength.

Mu seemed particularly surprised by the mantis's growth. "Savior, your genetic lifeform—"

The dark-red mantis's body glowed with red light as it flew into the flock of birds like a comet. As it rampaged through the flock, silver feathers fell to the ground, covered in blood. A pair of larger silvery birds appeared at the front of the flock, their size marking them as the leaders of the flock—and the leaders of a mutated-grade flock were surely superior-grade themselves.

However, the superior-grade birds lasted almost no time at all against the evolved mantis. It had attacked them before they even realized it; their wings were scarred with blood-red streaks, and lines of blood had appeared on their necks before they were able to make a move.

Blood fountained into the air as the birds fell from the sky. As the blood hit the mantis, it hissed and instantly vaporized into a bloody mist.

The aliens glanced at the massacre in shock. The superior-grade birds had seemed particularly strong, but the dark-red mantis had taken care of them in no time at all. In that case, how much stronger did its master, Zhang Lie, have to be?

They all turned toward Zhang Lie, who had vanished. They turned back to the flock to find that Zhang Lie had somehow darted into its midst without their notice.

.

"You idiot!" Zhang Lie called out. "How am I supposed to absorb those gene fragments if you're the one killing the lifeforms?!"