Chapter 546: Law of Survival
Translator: bingeants Editor: bingeants
Seeing that Haisha was ready to leave, Dean's heart jumped, and he hurriedly said, "Are you going to find it? Didn't you say that even the Pioneers can only hardly escape when they meet with it?"
"I'm talking about the ordinary Pioneers without the power of blood lineage." Haisha's eyes glanced over Dean's shoulder, looking at the deep dark cave behind him, saying, "This cave should be dug by the Shadow Hunter, and it will only build a cave when it is preparing to ovulate, so most likely there are eggs inside. If you have the time, you can go inside and check. If there are really Shadow Hunter eggs, remember to find a place to hide them separately. It will maximize their value."
"Hide separately?" Dean was confused.
"Yes," Haisha said, "Shadow Hunters are different from the other monsters. From the moment they are hatched, their first target of hunting are their later-hatched siblings. This is their philosophy of survival."
Dean was stunned, "Are you saying the first hatched Shadow Hunter will kill the other Shadow Hunters that hatched later?"
Haisha nodded, "In this Wasteland, you will be in danger at any time, even if it is a legendary monster. At the early hatching stage, Shadow Hunters are very weak and easy to become the prey of the other monsters. So, after they hatch, they tend to lurk in the nest that their mother built, waiting for their new siblings to hatch and then killing and eating them, so they can enter the maturity stage as soon as possible. This process generally goes on for 15 days. In other words, there will be a second mature Shadow Hunter after only 15 days!"
Dean was shocked.
From hatching to maturity in just 15 days?!
He felt that it was unbelievable. After all, Splitter took two months to grow to the maturity stage, and it was still the case when there were sufficient food supplies, but the time needed to enter the maturity stage was still longer than the Shadow Hunter.
This Shadow Hunter only needed half a month to let the newborn Shadow Hunter become a level 60 terrifying monster!
"How can the mature Shadow Hunter only watch its offspring killing each other?" Dean couldn't help but ask.
Haisha smiled and said, "Of course it won't manage them, because monsters are monsters. We are human, and it's not acceptable to hurt our siblings, but monsters have no such concept at all. The only thing they have is the survival instinct."
Dean was stunned, then he realized something, saying with a sigh, "So, whoever is hatched first will become the survivor who swallows the rest of the eggs."
Haisha shook her head, saying, "Not necessarily the first one. Every newly hatched Shadow Hunter has a layer of coating that can protect them from its siblings' attacks. After they grow to the infancy stage, this layer of coating will shed, and they will enter the true battle. In each nest, only one offspring will live, and this one will follow its mother, establishing its own tribe and territory until the next time it reproduces."
Dean nodded and sighed in his heart. Fortunately, he heard this information; otherwise, the loss will be heavy as the Shadow Hunter's eggs will be wasted.
"I have to go first. You be careful." Haisha was ready to leave and reminded Dean.
Dean said, "Are you sure you can deal with it?"
Haisha smiled when she saw the worried look on Dean's face, saying, "It's hard to say, but even if I can't beat it, at least self-preservation is not a problem."
With one step, Haisha dashed into the jungle.
Dean looked at her back as she disappeared into the jungle. After that, he turned to look into the deep dark cave. Thinking of the young Shadow Hunter that was hiding in the shadow, his heart was a little cold. His eyes fell on Martin's sword on the ground, and then on Martin's corpse that fell near the cave entrance. A flash of doubt crossed Dean's face. The young Shadow Hunter actually only took Ian's corpse but didn't take Martin's corpse. Was it impossible to take two corpses simultaneously?
If this was the case, did it mean that the corpse had just been taken away, and the young Shadow Hunter would soon return?
At the thought of this, Dean's heart shivered. He immediately stooped and picked up the sword, and then stripped off Martin's gloves and wore it himself. Afterward, he glanced at Martin's corpse, and his eyes flashed for a moment. Finally, he reached out his hand and picked up Martin's severed head, and then entered the cave.
Dean carefully sneaked and soon arrived on top of the nest hole.
He quietly looked into the hole and didn't see the young Shadow Hunter. With a sigh of relief, he threw down Martin's head.
Thud! Martin's head fell on the ground and rolled twice.
The surroundings were quiet and silent.
After about ten minutes, a shadow suddenly flitted over, picked up Martin's head, and brought it into the depth of the nest.
Dean's eyes flashed, and he immediately jumped down with his eyes locked on the shadow. It was the young Shadow Hunter who killed Luna, crawling on the wall fast like a lizard. The next moment, it suddenly disappeared, as if it was integrated into the wall.
Dean was shocked. He carefully stared at the wall and still couldn't see any difference. The Shadow Hunter incredibly disappeared in front of his eyes!
He held the sword and slowly walked toward the wall. Walking closer, he was startled when he saw a little bit of goo trickled down along the wall. His eyes followed the trace of the goo; it was coming from the top of the rock wall.
After thinking for a while, with his eyes still fixed on the wall, he picked up a stone from the ground by kicking it up using his toe. He caught the stone and flung it toward the wall.
Bang! The stone hit the wall and shattered instantly.
Dean immediately noticed that the goo trickled down again from the top of the wall.
Seeing this scene, he knew he was right. This Shadow Hunter seemed to have the ability to change color, so it could blend seamlessly with their surrounding environment!
Dean's heart was set after he found out the Shadow Hunter's ability. No longer hesitating, he jumped and swung his sword toward the place where the goo came from.
"Hiss!"
The wall suddenly changed into the appearance of the Shadow Hunter. It crawled rapidly on the wall while one of its claws was clutching Martin's head and hiding it under its abdomen; this was why the Shadow Hunter could still camouflage while carrying the head.