The figures approaching weren’t actually that fast, but because the room was so cramped, they quickly arrived in front of Zhang Xiaoman.
At this moment, two Star Guards were near the Blood Butterfly. Although they saw what was happening, they were still somewhat too late to stop them.
Watching the three creatures charging at him with aggressive momentum, a twitch couldn’t help but flash across the corner of Zhang Xiaoman’s eye. Had he not noticed them?
Of course not! With the Spirit Detection Technique activated, he had already spotted these little things hiding under the bed from afar. The reason he didn’t react was that they were simply too weak.
Looking at the group of Parasitic Spirit larvae that rolled into small balls and climbed up his leg, Zhang Xiaoman couldn’t help but recall a scene that had once happened in a small grove.
Back then, he had painstakingly climbed trees and ran back and forth seven or eight times, being cautious and playing safe until the end, only to find out in frustration that his enemies were a bunch of weaklings, which made him feel like he had fed his sincere efforts to the dogs.
"Off you go." Zhang Xiaoman kicked out, sending the three fatty bugs on his trousers flying. Two landed on the ground while one got stuck in the bed.
The two fatty bugs that landed on the ground stood up again, rolled into a ball, and charged over fearlessly once more.
Two sounds of long spears thrusting into the ground rang out, accompanied by the pitiful wails of the bugs, as the Star Guards pinned the two bugs to the ground, one on each side.
Zhang Xiaoman watched this scene, feeling a sense of absurdity rise in his heart. These weak and reckless little things could grow into terrifying monsters with group-annihilating capabilities. It was truly unimaginable and indeed matched the Huaxia saying, "from cocoon to butterfly."
The death of its companions didn’t seem to instill any fear in the remaining Parasitic Spirit. After struggling out from the bed slats, it initiated its "Death Charge."
This time, Zhang Xiaoman didn’t order the Star Guards to kill it outright, but instead pinched it up and placed it on his body to observe its next move. He wanted to see exactly how it completed the parasitism process.
The chubby bug slowly climbed up the blue-purple Armor of the Star Guard, eventually reaching his exposed mouth, and started burrowing inside with its head buried.
However, since the latter’s mouth was tightly shut and he wasn’t unconscious, the bug wriggled in vain, unable to burrow in, getting anxious and squirming around.
"It seems that these insects like to enter through the mouth. They probably use Spiritual Attacks to knock out their prey en masse before attaching themselves..." Zhang Xiaoman propped his chin, analyzing as his eyes assessed the bug incessantly.
"But there’s something very strange. If they can exist as semi-energy bodies, why can’t they just burrow directly through the skin?"
"These things often get pinned to the ground by a Star Guard’s spear during a fight, yet they can’t pass through solids on their own now. Could it be they’re afraid of pain? Or do they lack strength? Hmm... It’s also possible that their Intelligence is too low, and they don’t know how to use their strengths?"
Zhang Xiaoman watched for a while, baffled by the bug’s confounding behavior, eventually giving up on figuring it out. Anyway, as long as he had confirmed their behavioral pattern, that was good enough. Gathering information was also very important in dealing with these monsters.
After ordering a Star Guard to stomp the fatty bug to death, Zhang Xiaoman turned his attention to a girl lying on the bed. In his Spirit Detection, a Parasitic Spirit had taken up residence in her body. The Spirit didn’t look much different; it must have just burrowed in not long ago.
He used the Soul Absorption Technique to extract it directly, gaining a few points of Energy, signaling that more points were about to be credited to his account.
Scanning around, there were no more traces of monsters, so Zhang Xiaoman finally started to prepare to harvest points.
"Ding, absorbed Parasitic Spirit Essence, points increased by 2."
"Ding, absorbed Parasitic Spirit Essence, points increased by 1."
First, after absorbing several Parasitic Spirit larvae, Zhang Xiaoman gained a total of 5 points. Only then did he proceed towards the body of the Blood Butterfly lying near the window.
After many times of absorption, Zhang Xiaoman noticed a pattern: the stronger the monster, the more points gained and the longer the absorption took. By his estimation, about 1 second of time was needed per point.
He squatted down, his hand slowly approaching, and because the Eye of the Starry Sky Ability to extract Essence Qi had turned into an active effect, the Seven-pointed Star Array in his palm would not light up on its own until the ability was activated. This small change was indeed convenient.
He activated the skill, and felt no pain in his palm at all. Zhang Xiaoman looked at the body on the ground with some surprise in his eyes, a trace of confusion flashing through.
In fact, he had encountered this situation before, but since the objects of absorption were Parasitic Spirits, he thought the pain was so minor that he had ignored it. Unexpectedly, there was also no feeling when absorbing the Blood Butterfly.
His expression was odd, and as he pondered, he had almost guessed the reason.
He had felt pain when absorbing werewolf monsters before, but since activating the Master of the Mind ability, he had never experienced that sensation again. It seemed that the burning sensation was also coming from the spiritual level.
After waiting for quite a while, the Blood Butterfly’s body finally began to fade away slowly, the whole process taking close to a minute.
"Ding, absorbed Blood Butterfly Essence, points increased by 55."
Hearing the system notification in his mind, Zhang Xiaoman couldn’t help but widen his eyes, feeling extremely thrilled.
"55 points! So many!? That’s equivalent to absorbing a small Dimension Rift!" Brightness shone in his eyes; the Blood Butterfly had truly given him a huge surprise.
This was also the monster with the highest points Zhang Xiaoman had killed since he got the system.
He opened the system panel to have a look, and now his points had reached 75. It seemed that after returning, he could undertake another round of upgrades.
Withdrawing his gaze, Zhang Xiaoman was unwilling to stay here any longer. Before those outside could react, he needed to leave quickly.
He made his way back to the roof, got into the car, took off, all in one go. With the stealth mode activated, the people inside the command vehicle could no longer track his movements.
"He’s... he left? What about that monster? Did he kill it?"
Commander Qiu asked impatiently.
The rest of them had solemn expressions and remained silent; today’s events were also a huge shock for them.
After a long while, Minister Hu put down the phone he had been clutching tightly and let out a long sigh: "It seems this matter is more serious than I thought before coming... The changes in the world are getting stranger and stranger. Who knows what it will develop into in the end..."