Chapter 24: I Can't Hold It Anymore, Death Be It
The terror of the black chimpanzee chimera had been fully experienced by everyone. Not to mention its 50 points of Strength, the extreme value in the Steel Alchemy world, the mere fact that it had six skills was despair-inducing, and some of those skills were still unknown.
The skills of this monster were worlds apart from those of contractors.
The black chimpanzee chimera grabbed the cross-dressing big shot with one hand. The cross-dressing big shot had given up resisting, her face a picture of utter despair—she had actually been captured by a chimpanzee.
The chimpanzee's glowing red eyes scanned the surroundings, as if searching for living things.
Suddenly, the chimpanzee's eyes sharpened, and it stomped one foot onto the ground nearby.
*Squelch.* Blood and gore splattered as a contractor pretending to be dead was crushed underfoot.
Su Xiao and Five Fireballs weren't the only ones playing dead; many other contractors in the area were doing the same.
The chimpanzee was too fast; escape was unlikely. As for facing it head-on? Better to just go to sleep. The attribute gap was already overwhelming.
Attributes might be the most basic thing, but once they form an overwhelming gap, it becomes an unsolvable problem.
50 points of Strength and 49 points of Strength were in two different dimensions. When an attribute reaches 50 points, a qualitative change occurs.
Su Xiao's Strength attribute was 38 points, but he had never considered going head-to-head with that black chimpanzee. That was simply impossible.
The chimpanzee continued searching the ground. Bubu Wang pressed himself flat against the earth, inching closer to Su Xiao.
"Don't get too close; it'll attract attention."
Su Xiao lowered his voice to a whisper.
Bubu Wang hesitated, finally stopping about three meters away from Su Xiao. Even if they were discovered now, Su Xiao could mount Bubu Wang and run, giving them a sliver of a chance.
Su Xiao had Bubu Wang on his left and Five Fireballs on his right. After a few seconds, he noticed there was another contractor in front of him!
This contractor was a young man, his face deathly pale, whether from fear or some other reason.
Su Xiao estimated that within a 500-meter radius, there were at least a dozen contractors playing dead.
Su Xiao's estimate was wrong. It wasn't a dozen contractors nearby, but an entire adventure group—over thirty contractors in total.
Su Xiao couldn't release his perception, so misjudging the situation was normal.
Everyone lay motionless on the ground. The chimpanzee sat down and began toying with the cross-dressing big shot in its hand.
The cross-dressing big shot was in despair, but at least she wasn't in immediate danger of death.
Su Xiao lay on the ground. Three meters away, Brother Five Fireballs was lying on his side. Bubu Wang was a bit comical, having burrowed half his body into the dirt.
"When will this monster leave? I want to calculate the psychological shadow area of that girl."
Since they were a fair distance from the chimpanzee, Five Fireballs spoke in a low voice. The guy had a witty way of talking.
"Not sure. Don't talk. There's something wrong with that guy up ahead."
Su Xiao looked at the young man five meters away. His face was growing increasingly pale.
"What?"
Five Fireballs also turned his gaze over.
*Pfft~*
A strange sound came. That young contractor had actually farted!
The corner of Su Xiao's mouth twitched. He felt the urge to shoot the guy on the spot.
Five Fireballs covered his mouth with his hand, his shoulders shaking uncontrollably, wanting to laugh but not daring to.
*Pfft~*
The young man farted again. He was also in despair. He had nearly pissed himself from fear earlier, and after the extreme fright, he felt the urge to relieve himself.
Two farts in a row. Su Xiao didn't smell any odor; he was upwind. But the chimpanzee was downwind!
The chimpanzee's nostrils flared. Its eyes showed a hint of confusion. It hadn't farted.
*Pfft~*
The young man let out a third fart.
"Hahaha, I can't take it anymore."
Five Fireballs finally couldn't hold back his laughter.
Su Xiao said in a low voice, "Do you want to die? Stop laughing."
Five Fireballs tried desperately to suppress his laughter. "Can't help it. Death be it. I can't hold it anymore. Hahahahaha."
*Pfft~*
"Hahahahaha."
Although Five Fireballs was laughing, the sound he made wasn't loud and didn't attract the chimpanzee's attention.
The chimpanzee held the cross-dressing big shot in its hand, its gaze sweeping the surroundings.
Fortunately, it was around 3 AM, and the sky was only just beginning to lighten. If it were daytime, the playing-dead tactic would definitely be useless.
The surroundings fell into dead silence. Su Xiao didn't intend to stay put and wait for death. It would be daylight soon, and unless the chimpanzee was blind, it would eventually discover the contractors around it.
Pressing his hands against the ground, Su Xiao slowly crawled backward, trying to get as far away from the chimpanzee as possible.
A faint rustling sound came from nearby. Turning his head, he saw that Five Fireballs was doing the same thing.
They were retreating in the same direction. Su Xiao suddenly wondered: was Five Fireballs also completing a promotion mission?
That wasn't the case. Five Fireballs had already completed his promotion mission in the previous derivative world.
After slowly crawling backward for ten minutes, Su Xiao was already a considerable distance from the chimpanzee.
The most desperate person on the field wasn't the contractors lying on the ground, but the cross-dressing big shot. Her situation was extremely awkward. She couldn't control the chimpanzee, and the chimpanzee wouldn't let her go.
Twenty minutes later, Su Xiao was far from the chimpanzee, at a safe distance.
Su Xiao breathed a sigh of relief. He had escaped disaster. The situation just now was a matter of life and death in an instant. If he had been discovered, he would have been dead for sure.
Just as Su Xiao was about to get up, screams came from a distance. A contractor had been discovered.
Su Xiao immediately stood up, and Bubu Wang did the same.
Su Xiao mounted Bubu Wang, who immediately activated Full Speed Charge (Active) and bolted away at full speed.
The sudden movement of a creature running caught the chimpanzee's attention. It looked closely—wasn't that the guy it had been annoyed with earlier?
The chimpanzee, holding the cross-dressing big shot in one hand, ran quickly toward Su Xiao, smashing through buildings along the way as if they were a pile of blocks.
Bubu Wang's Agility attribute was 27 points. After activating Full Speed Charge (Active), his speed increased by 150%, reaching an extreme velocity.
The chimpanzee could chase Su Xiao, but it could never catch up to Bubu Wang at full sprint.
After three seconds, Su Xiao and Bubu Wang's figures turned into a small black dot in the chimpanzee's eyes.
Having been chased for so long, Su Xiao wasn't about to take it lying down. A dozen small white snakes crawled to the chimpanzee's feet, and the chimpanzee's large foot stomped down.
*Boom!*
A massive explosion occurred. The powerful shockwave flipped the chimpanzee over, landing it on its backside.
"ROAR!!"
The chimpanzee was furious. It clenched its fist, forgetting that the cross-dressing big shot was still in its grasp.
*Pfft~*
The cross-dressing big shot spat out a large mouthful of blood, her eyes rolling back as blood flowed from the corner of her mouth.
The chimpanzee noticed this. It grabbed the cross-dressing big shot by one leg and shook her in front of its eyes.
This little thing had been broken by it. That was the chimpanzee's thought at the moment.
Tossing the cross-dressing big shot aside carelessly, the chimpanzee stomped its foot on the ground. *Boom!* The ground cracked like a spiderweb, and a particularly unlucky contractor let out a scream.
The chimpanzee heard the scream and looked down at that contractor.
"D-Don't come closer... Boss, save me..."
The chimpanzee stomped down.
"Ah!"
*Squelch.* The scream was cut short. That contractor was crushed into a meat paste.
If the Homunculus in the flask was the strongest alchemist in the Steel Alchemy world, then the black chimpanzee was the strongest creature in the Steel Alchemy world, bar none.
On the ground nearby, the cross-dressing big shot, with many broken ribs, slowly opened her eyes. Seeing that the chimpanzee hadn't gone far, she immediately closed them again.