Chapter 90: The Truth Revealed
As Zhou Ming’s words fell, the swarm of Ironthread Snakes let out a chorus of hissing and slithered rapidly toward Shi Lei, as if they had been starving for days and finally found a delectable meal.
“Ah—Zhou Ming, you bastard—!”
“Ahhhh—”
Feeling a wave of searing pain throughout his body, Shi Lei was about to curse loudly, but as more of the Ironthread Snakes’ fangs sank into his flesh, he lost the strength to continue and could only scream in agony.
His combat suit was torn off.
The mental backlash left him powerless to resist.
Now, Shi Lei was nothing more than meat laid upon the chopping block, left for the serpents to bite and tear as they pleased.
At Zhou Ming’s command, the snakes refrained from using venom. They simply tore into Shi Lei’s flesh with their twin fangs.
Although the Ironthread Snakes were small in size, and their teeth even smaller, they were still mutated serpents.
Each bite tore away bits of flesh, and with hundreds of snakes—each as thick as a chopstick—biting together, it was as if Shi Lei were being slowly flayed alive.
“Huff…”
Zhou Ming ignored Shi Lei’s wailing beside him.
He simply blew at the steaming tiger meat he had just roasted and began to eat leisurely, clearly satisfied with his dinner preparations.
“Shi Lei, if you can’t hold on, just say so. There’s still plenty of time left. With the Ironthread Snakes’ teeth, it should take them several hours to finish eating all your flesh.”
“Oh, right.” Zhou Ming seemed to recall something.
“I still have a vial of healing potion here. Originally meant to save my own life. Seeing how much you’re suffering, I’ll use it on you later.”
Holding up a glass tube, Zhou Ming waved it twice before Shi Lei’s eyes, then tucked it away again.
Whether or not it truly was a healing potion didn’t matter—it was merely psychological torture.
“You bastard, Zhou Ming! You and your whole family will die miserable deaths!”
“Ahhhh—”
Ignoring the pain, Shi Lei once again cursed through clenched teeth, only to fall back into pitiful screams moments later.
“As you wish. If you can endure it, I don’t care how much you curse.”
Seeing that Shi Lei still wanted to hold out, Zhou Ming stopped talking.
Saying more would only provoke more defiance.
Once the tiger meat was no longer too hot, Zhou Ming ate it slowly and methodically.
Several minutes later, after he finished eating, Shi Lei could no longer make a sound—he just lay there, waiting for the serpents to devour him completely.
“I told you, you wouldn’t die so easily. Looks like you’re going to make me waste a potion on you. Still, using it on a tough man isn’t such a waste.”
Picking up a vial, Zhou Ming stood and walked toward Shi Lei. The Ironthread Snakes immediately scattered, clearing a path for their master.
At this point, Shi Lei’s entire body—save for his head—was covered in blood. His flesh had mingled with the remnants of his clothing, yet he was still alive. Without venom, the snakes’ fangs caused only shallow wounds.
“Come, drink this potion. It should keep you alive until tomorrow morning. By then, I’ll be ready to move on.”
He pried open Shi Lei’s mouth, preparing to pour the potion in.
“You… you’re a devil.”
“No. This is your own choice.”
Hearing Shi Lei’s mosquito-like voice, Zhou Ming replied indifferently.
Just as he was about to pour the potion down Shi Lei’s throat, Shi Lei finally broke.
He realized that hiding the truth any longer was pointless—Zhou Ming truly didn’t care.
“I’ll talk…”
Those words burst out the moment the vial touched his lips.
“Sigh, if only you’d said so earlier. We both could’ve saved ourselves the trouble.”
That remark almost made Shi Lei choke on his own breath.
Trouble? You were eating meat while I was being eaten alive!
Seeing that Zhou Ming still held the vial, Shi Lei dared not delay further and quickly revealed Hu Peng’s true intentions.
Moments later—
Bang!
A gunshot echoed through the cave.
Zhou Ming kept his word and sent Shi Lei off swiftly. Then, dragging the body out of the cave, he left it for the mutated beasts of the wilderness to clean up.
“So, my eyes are that valuable? Don’t tell me they plan to dig them out and transplant them?”
Learning Hu Peng’s motives, Zhou Ming immediately thought of that anime from his past life where eyes were harvested.
Then he realized—since Hu Peng’s group acted without orders, and news of his Serpent Pupils hadn’t spread, his anxiety eased somewhat.
Still, Zhou Ming understood that from now on, he couldn’t use his Serpent Pupils carelessly.
He had long suspected the existence of human experimentation in this world, but he hadn’t imagined it had already become an underground industry.
Thinking it through, though, he realized it wasn’t all that surprising.
The Four Major Profession Systems of the Alliance weren’t accessible to everyone, and even then, success depended on compatibility.
If one’s compatibility was too low, it was impossible to advance to the level of a Professional Beast Tamer.
Some people resorted to incomplete class advancement systems to achieve that promotion.
However, for those who advanced using such flawed systems to further improve their strength, the only path was to perfect their system—and human experimentation was one such method.
The Alliance strictly cracked down on these acts. Once discovered, they would investigate to the end.
The reason was simple: to maintain stability.
To keep public order, prevent panic, and preserve the privileges of those controlling the Four Systems.
Moreover, it ensured that no independent class system capable of producing a Legendary Saint would fall into private hands, keeping the Alliance’s top-tier combat power under monopoly.
Having pieced everything together, Zhou Ming shifted his focus back to the Northern Wasteland.
With Vermilion Jade and the snake swarm alternating guard duty, Zhou Ming slept soundly atop the tiger pelt in the cave, ready to enter the Northern Wasteland at dawn.
…
The next morning, Zhou Ming shouldered his backpack and resumed his journey.
When he passed through Windback Gorge, everything went smoothly this time—no unexpected dangers.
Once he emerged, the vast Northern Wasteland stretched endlessly before him. The emerald grasslands met the azure sky at the horizon.
“Skreee—”
As Zhou Ming admired the breathtaking view, a sharp cry rang from above. Looking up, he saw a massive flock of Griffins.
He couldn’t tell their exact number, but there were at least several dozen—an overwhelming sight that blotted out the sun. Zhou Ming froze, hardly daring to breathe.
“Wait… these aren’t wild Griffins.”
Thanks to his sharp vision, Zhou Ming noticed that each Griffin carried a rider.
This wasn’t a wild flock—it was a squad of Beast Knights.
Not daring to move, Zhou Ming stood still and watched the Beast Knight squad pass.
Only when the Griffins vanished from view did he finally exhale in relief.
“The Alliance’s Griffin Knight Regiment—what are they doing in the Northern Wasteland?”
Calming his nerves, Zhou Ming recalled details about the force before him.
The Griffin Knight Regiment—one of the Alliance’s three elite legions—answered directly to the Alliance Headquarters.
Though only a thousand strong, every member was a Professional Beast Tamer, trained under the Beast Knight system, each paired with a Griffin bred specifically by the Alliance.
Every Griffin Knight was equipped with specialized bows and arrows. Combined with their formidable physical strength, they possessed terrifying power both in ranged and close combat.
“Could it be that a large-scale Dimensional Rift has gone out of control?”
Zhou Ming pondered deeply. He knew the ruins within the Northern Wasteland Base’s perimeter were the reason for much of the Alliance’s activity here. But even for that, they wouldn’t dispatch the Griffin Knights—unless… something had gone terribly wrong with a major Dimensional Rift.
For the simplest reason of all—