Chen Ming immediately noticed Xiao Shi's situation.
He quickly abandoned the opportunity to shoot and looked at Xiao Shi.
A trained Xiao Shi would not interrupt him while doing serious business, so its current behavior must indicate something special.
Chen Ming watched as Xiao Shi swiftly scurried down the tree where he was hiding.
It circled restlessly at the base of the tree, appearing extremely agitated.
The more Chen Ming watched, the more uneasy he felt. Without worrying about the success of the hunt, he climbed down the tree with Xiao Shi.
"What's wrong?"
Xiao Shi spun in circles on the spot for quite a while. Seeing that Chen Ming couldn't understand its intent, it suddenly bolted a short distance toward the river.
This drew Chen Ming's attention back to the herd of beasts he had been observing.
Chen Ming glanced at them but could not see anything unusual.
But just as he was about to shift his gaze to find Xiao Shi,
the herd of beasts, which just moments ago were searching for food in the river, suddenly convulsed, lost their balance, and splashed water everywhere.
This scene was incredibly strange.
Chen Ming immediately raised his handgun, aiming in the direction of the beasts.
At that moment, a light rain began to fall unexpectedly.
The rain quickly created a thin mist along the riverbank, making it difficult for Chen Ming to discern what was happening among the splashing beasts.
In the oppressive mist, the splashing water in the river suddenly subsided.
The beasts rose shakily.
But unlike before, their previously docile appearance had completely vanished.
In its place were vacant eyes, mouths agape, drooling, and restless bodies.
They were identical to the empty jellyfish and purple-tailed deer Chen Ming had seen before.
"What on earth is happening?"
Chen Ming couldn't help but ask the air.
His feet involuntarily moved away from the riverbank.
Xiao Shi, which had just dashed off, now leaped back, climbing up Chen Ming's protective suit to his shoulder.
And the now-frenzied beasts suddenly, without warning, all turned toward the bushes where Chen Ming was hiding and charged like mad dogs.
This eerie scene made Chen Ming's hair stand on end, and he nearly emptied his gun's magazine in an instant.
But only one beast, nearly the size of a hippo and completely mad, fell.
The remaining beasts, as though oblivious to the pain of the bullets, continued charging at Chen Ming without any hesitation.
The herd of nearly thirty beasts, without adequate time and a significant geographical advantage, was impossible for Chen Ming to take down with just a small handgun.
With no time to figure out what was going on, Chen Ming had no choice but to run.
But the newly fallen rain made the ground incredibly slippery, especially the muddy forest floor, making it hard for Chen Ming to run quickly.
The beasts behind, in this weather, moved as if in their element.
Their hefty bodies moved with no hint of sluggishness, and very soon, they could catch up with Chen Ming on land.
If they hadn't been somewhat slow moving in the river, giving Chen Ming a bit of distance,
Chen Ming would likely have been trampled to death by the frenzied herd by now.
By this time, the panic on Chen Ming's face due to the sudden turn of events had gradually faded, and his steps on the slippery mud had become more stable.
But with the herd drawing ever closer, Chen Ming could only choose to speed up his pace again.
The rain fell harder and harder.
With increasing difficulty seeing ahead, Chen Ming had to rely on recent memory to choose the safest path forward.
But it wasn't long before a gentle slope of a small hill appeared in front of him.
In fair weather, Chen Ming could easily go up and down such a slope several times, but in the rain, such slopes were the most likely places for accidents.
The increasingly close, heavy footsteps and splashing sounds left Chen Ming with no choice.
Chen Ming had to press on.
The rain poured even harder, and a sudden flash of lightning briefly blinded Chen Ming. In the ensuing thunder, he lost his footing and fell on the slope.
Immediately upon falling, Chen Ming grabbed hold of some Purple Orchid Grass on the ground, preventing him from sliding directly down the slope.
He quickly adjusted his posture, maintained his balance, and got back on his feet.
Wiping mud from his protective suit's helmet, Chen Ming looked at his shoulder.
Xiao Shi was also covered in mud, with little claws clutching tightly to the collar of Chen Ming's protective suit, not daring to release its grip.
After catching his breath for a moment, Chen Ming summoned the last of his strength and scrambled up the slope.
Upon reaching the highest point of the slope, Chen Ming suddenly halted.
Covered in mud and water, looking a bit disheveled, he turned to look back at the herd climbing halfway up the slope.
"It's here."
Just as Chen Ming spoke, a piercing sound cut through the air from the southwest.
A shadow, nearly covering the whole small hill, descended from the sky.
Chen Ming's spaceship had arrived.
The spaceship's hatch opened beside Chen Ming, and Xiao Shi immediately dashed inside.
After taking one last look at the herd desperately charging toward him, Chen Ming stepped onto the spaceship.
Who knew where Xiao Shi had gone, but Chen Ming didn't have the time to worry about it now.
While removing his mud-soaked protective suit, Chen Ming connected to the spaceship's two machine guns.
A sense of unprecedented safety surged through him, the confidence given by his spaceship.
The spaceship took off again, and the machine guns on two flanks suddenly opened fire on the herd below.
In the dimming light, the bright muzzle flashes unleashed an endless storm of metal upon the frenzied herd.
The beasts, which moments ago were a life-threatening danger to Chen Ming, all fell within seconds.
Yet Chen Ming continued to unleash firepower on the herd with repressed anger.
Only when the spaceship indicated that the bullets were depleted did Chen Ming finally let out a long breath.
Whenever there are emotions, they should be vented on these things immediately.
After calming down, Chen Ming first expended some spiritual power to replenish the machine guns' ammo.
Then he maneuvered the spaceship to land at the bottom of the slope.
In the diminished rain,
Chen Ming witnessed countless black corpse fluids from the shattered remains flow along with the rainwater toward what must be the river.
Now, he had no means of stopping it and could only let the corpse fluids pollute the river water.
Chen Ming shook his head and found a beast body that still barely maintained its form.
He pulled out his small knife that he always carried and pried open its brain.
As before, the beast's brain appeared as though it had been rotting for a long time.
Even though all the beasts had seemed normal when he glanced at them just moments ago, they had turned into this ghastly state in the blink of an eye.
Chen Ming couldn't help but recall the scene that had just unfolded.
Nearly thirty beasts, varying in body type, gender, and size, but seemingly all went mad at nearly the same moment.
And Xiao Shi's sudden agitation earlier, as if it had sensed something ahead of time.
Chen Ming didn't believe such a coincidence could occur in this world.
The origin of these frenzied animals was definitely more than just a mere virus.