Chapter 20: A Mosquito-Induced Bloodshed (Seeking Recommendations)

  The Gaya Rainforest, despite being located in a high-temperature zone, has abundant rainfall throughout the year, with large amounts of water seeping into the ground without evaporating. Over time, this has formed many bogs. These bogs are inhabited by some shade-loving magical beasts that wrap themselves in thick mud and hide in the marshes, waiting for inexperienced prey to pass by before launching a lightning-fast attack.

  The Lava Giant Turtle is a lazy creature with an enormous appetite, and it usually keeps company with the demonic beasts in the muddy swamp. Its nest is also built on the edge of these swamps. What's puzzling is that despite being a fire-attribute supernatural demon beast, the Lava Giant Turtle likes to build its den next to humid swamps, and can even live harmoniously with the demon beasts that survive in the mud, which have conflicting attributes. This is indeed a strange phenomenon. Of course, after some research, our scholar Holker gave an answer: the rotting matter and dead bodies of various creatures accumulated over years in the swamp have given rise to some very peculiar magical plants. Most of these are highly toxic and cannot be eaten, but some contain extremely mysterious substances that can enhance the lava power within the Lava Giant Turtle's body when ingested, making it easier for them to evolve. That's why they stubbornly stay here, refusing to leave. As for their ability to live in harmony with the demon beasts in the swamp, that's just a ridiculous notion. If they didn't have roughly equal strength and couldn't gain an advantage over each other, they would have started fighting long ago. It would be strange if they didn't fight to the death.

  It's high noon, time to eat. Several giant lava lizards are sprawled out at the edge of the swamp, their mouths wide open and their bodies relaxed, just like their alligator cousins on Earth, able to remain motionless for half a day. A few smaller ones, apparently not yet full-grown, charge into the wet mud, rolling around and sending up puffs of white smoke, scaring away several marsh devils who dare not speak out. By the time these small lava lizards crawl out, their bodies are covered in a thick layer of silt, which quickly evaporates the water content, then is burned to a deep red color under high temperatures, forming a armor-like shell that resembles solidified lava.

  Lao Liu led a group of younger brothers to hide in the dark, sneaking a peek at the movements of these lava giants. Actually, Lao Liu didn't bring many younger brothers this time, purely to come and gather information about the enemy, but unexpectedly, after taking a look, he felt a sense of unease, and even more so, he felt that he had underestimated the terror of these magical beasts. For a moment, his heart was filled with anger: "This won't do, these ghostly things can all use elemental attacks, not like those easy-to-deal-with ones in the past, fundamentally not something that can be won with human wave tactics. I'll send my younger brothers to lure them, but I estimate they'll be burned to ashes by a wave of fire before they even get close. Must think of a foolproof plan."

  At this time, several large flying birds that looked like flamingos flew over at low altitude, and one of them suddenly dived into the muddy swamp. When it came out again, its huge claws made of steel-like bones were grasping a few smaller young swamp monsters or juvenile lava giants, directly twisting their heads off and killing them before taking them away. In an instant, they disappeared without a trace. The quiet mud pit was stirred up again, even the adult lava giants who were still pretending to be sculptures became a mess, constantly roaring with anger at the sky. However, those flamingo-like birds seemed to know the temper of the monsters in this place very well, and after one charge, they turned around and ran away, not daring to stay in this area any longer, fearing that they would be beaten down by these angry giants and torn into pieces.

  Not having eaten yet, his own child was caught and swallowed by the giant lizard's flames. After a loud roar, he found that there was no reaction in the sky, and suddenly shot out a fire dragon, shooting wildly in all directions, venting his anger. This time it really boiled over, and what was most abundant in the swamp was marsh gas. This thing is a mixture of combustible gases mainly composed of methane produced by various microorganisms under certain temperature, humidity, acidity and anaerobic conditions. Usually, the giant lizard didn't cause any trouble, and there wasn't much marsh gas on the surface of the swamp, plus the mud monsters intentionally or unintentionally swallowed it, so it was not easy to have a violent reaction. But now, after the fire bird's stir, several large holes were dug in the mud, and more deep-seated marsh gas was pouring out, which would burn when it met fire, and might even explode. Therefore, this time even the monsters that lived in the swamp couldn't sit still, they all roared angrily, showing their bodies hidden in the mud, shouting loudly at the giant lizard, indicating that it should end its foolish behavior quickly.

  It should have ended there. After all, the mid-tier demon beasts already possessed a certain degree of wisdom and knew what was at stake. However, things took a turn for the worse with Liu Ting watching from the sidelines, his eyes gleaming with malice as he spotted an opportunity to strike. He immediately dispatched several blood mosquito assassins, which flew quietly over and burrowed into the nostrils, ears, and other orifices of several swamp demon beasts, launching a brutal suicidal attack. Several more blood mosquitoes, entrusted with a crucial mission by Xiao Liu, charged towards the still-smoldering lava giant lizard, stabbing wildly at its eyes in a surprise attack that proved unexpectedly effective. Although none of them survived, they managed to blind one of the lava giant lizard's eyes, causing the scene before them to spiral out of control and descend into chaos.

  It started with the painful loss of a loved one, and then suffered heavy damage from the molten giant lizard's rampage. The black rock armor covering its body seemed to swell from within, bursting out countless fine cracks, as red light surged and suddenly erupted into flames, revealing extremely high temperatures. Several nearby swamp monsters were shocked and frightened, with one diving into the mud, stirring up strings of bubbles wrapped in marsh gas.

  The out-of-control lava giant lizard let out a deafening roar as it charged into the swamp, its high body temperature naturally far surpassing that of the few young ones from before. In an instant, it ignited the mud and mire, creating a massive burning fire net with a loud whoosh. Many areas with dense marsh gas exploded under the intense flames, and at the center of the swamp, a massive mushroom cloud erupted with a deafening boom. The fiercely burning flames accompanied by rolling black smoke shot up towards the sky, as if they were going to pierce the heavens. This sudden event not only stunned all the other lava giant lizards but also ignited the passion of all the living creatures in the swamp!

  Hundreds of swamp monsters were enraged, their fury more intense than the flames burning around them. They could no longer control their emotions and launched an attack on the lava giants at the edge of the swamp. The one that had charged into the swamp was the first to be attacked, immediately surrounded by over a dozen swamp monsters. The scene became chaotic, with fire pillars and mud splashing everywhere, exploding into a mess of dirty water and debris. Even Old Liu's small body was almost affected, scaring him into retreating with his army to avoid being hit. However, he kept his eyes fixed on the battlefield, especially on the lava giant surrounded by dozens of swamp monsters, trying to make them fight more fiercely and spill some blood.

  In front of my great destructive king Liu Ting, all reactionaries are paper tigers. Your lava giant turtle isn't very powerful, and you often sneak into my old home to make some small dishes to eat. Now you're stuffed, aren't you? Still, it's not like I didn't make a big fuss out of it, causing you to suffer from unprovoked disaster! Hehehe, with such achievements, can the Blood Mosquito Queen of that generation compare to me? I am absolutely the number one among all the original Blood Mosquito leaders, past and present! No, I'm the number one insect! Liu, who was very pleased with himself, boasted for a while, but unfortunately, the blood mosquitoes around him didn't have much intelligence, stupidly only listening to orders and acting like puppets. If they could also be like those little brothers of rich young masters on TV, flattering and speaking well, matching the current situation, it would be perfect! However, Liu couldn't satisfy his sense of accomplishment, but victory was within sight, and at this moment, there wasn't much time to pay attention to these insignificant matters.

  In the marsh, a raging fire was burning, all based on the accumulated methane in it. After decades of accumulation, the methane produced by the decaying matter in the mud was so thick that it burned for a while. If it couldn't be extinguished, it would naturally not calm down the anger of the swamp monsters living in it. The other innocent lava giant turtles were forced to counterattack and fought with those mad beasts. For a time, these two groups that had always lived in harmony clashed continuously, finally erupting into the most tragic war in history. This battle was so fierce that it darkened the sky, leaving countless corpses, destroying the once serene mud swamp environment, and it would take at least several months to recover.

  However, Holker also said that the two groups were evenly matched in strength, and since there was no higher-level creature to compare them to, trying to force a winner would only end in mutual destruction. Thus, at around 4 pm (Old Liu's own wild guess), this bloody battle triggered by a mosquito finally came to an end. The mud-covered beast that had been set on fire and the lava giant lizard each discarded dozens of their fallen comrades' corpses, glared at each other with gritted teeth for a moment, and then retreated back into their respective dens. From then on, they kept a greater distance from each other, becoming even more wary of one another.

  At this time, Old Liu burst out laughing with great harvest. Taking advantage of the fact that both sides were too busy to notice him, he led his one million little brothers to launch a charge. One by one, they swarmed up like flies on a corpse, surrounding the pile of still-warm bodies and sucking away fiercely. This was also Old Liu's clever plan - although the number of little brothers he brought this time was not large, they were all young mosquito boys who had not yet undergone their second growth, full of potential. Once they succeeded in advancing, they could greatly enhance Old Liu's strength. Of course, even Old Liu did not expect things to develop like this. He thought that if he could just injure the Lava Giant Crocodile and make it bleed a little, that would be enough. But in the end, it turned out to be an all-out war between two large groups. If Holk were put in the middle of it, he would definitely die. The result was naturally that Old Liu got what he wanted - successfully obtaining the Lava Giant Crocodile's blood, especially when absorbing their blood filled with fire element energy. At this time, Old Liu felt a hot current surging into his abdomen, almost igniting his body. This feeling was more stimulating than drinking iced lemonade on a sweltering summer day or drinking strong tea in a drowsy state. It made Old Liu drink too much without realizing it. If not for his little brothers reminding him that the demons were coming to collect the corpses, Old Liu's over-full belly would have prevented him from flying away.

  "With a proud smile, I proudly smile, smiling at the mortal world that never grows old. With a proud smile, I proudly smile, seeking a lifetime of joy and freedom...”

  On the way home, Old Liu burst into song, his off-key voice echoing through the streets like a mournful cry. He didn't care how bad he sounded; he just sang all the way home. It was clear that he was excited and thrilled, like those who had drunk too much wine and were finally able to let their true selves shine through.

  "I'm one step closer to becoming human again, one step closer..."

  As soon as Liu returned to his old nest, he collapsed onto the floor of the original queen's palace, still muttering to himself. His entire body had already fallen into a deep sleep. He hadn't rested at all yesterday or last night, and now that he had finally put down the heavy burden in his heart, he felt exhausted.