Chapter 114: Blue-Quality Bloodthirsty Mosquito

Time flew by, and two hours passed in the blink of an eye.

Within the first hour, he had successfully upgraded one Blood-Sucking Mosquito to blue quality. It had taken roughly one thousand mosquitoes of the same rank and quality to achieve this. Another mosquito was now on the verge of reaching blue quality as well.

However, throughout the process, he had felt as if a pair of eyes were watching him. At first, while he was fully focused, he hadn't noticed anything, but later, he caught the sensation by chance. He did not turn around; instead, he quietly released a True-Sight Moth to scout the area. After several sweeps, he found nothing. It was only when a patch of grass suddenly shifted that the True-Sight Moth captured the movement. He realized then that a person was hiding within that patch of grass, which had been perfectly blended into the surroundings.

Cold sweat broke out on Lu Sheng’s back. This meant his location was likely compromised. Yet, he was not overly afraid; regardless, the Blood-Sucking Mosquito was about to reach blue quality. As soon as he secured a pair of blue-quality mosquitoes, he would leave immediately.

He summoned the Flame Werewolf Chieftain. It would be the perfect test subject to gauge the strength of this man—though, of course, the test might not reveal much.

When the Flame Werewolf Chieftain appeared, the man hiding in the shadows felt his heart skip a beat. *Have I been discovered?* Panic surged through him; in that moment, he was terrified. A single unusual gesture from Lu Sheng was enough to trigger a thousand frantic thoughts. His muscles were coiled tight, ready to bolt at the slightest sign of aggression. He hadn't fled earlier because he was too close to Lu Sheng; any sudden movement might have given him away. Now, suspecting he was already discovered, he no longer held back.

At the same time, he felt a surge of resentment toward the Wilderness Bandits. Why hadn't they arrived yet? Still, he remained confident in his ability to escape Lu Sheng’s clutches. As a fellow Rank 5, he believed that as long as he wasn't surrounded by Lu Sheng’s monsters, escaping would be a simple matter.

His eyes remained fixed on the Flame Werewolf Chieftain.

It moved! And it was charging straight toward him!

In that instant, he knew Lu Sheng had truly found him. Without a moment’s hesitation, he pushed off the ground and scrambled out into the open, sprinting toward the bottom of the mountain without a single glance back.

But how could he possibly outrun a Rank 6 Flame Werewolf Chieftain?

"Boom! Boom!"

The sounds behind him filled him with a crushing sense of crisis. He knew the werewolf was closing in. As the thundering footsteps drew nearer, his heart hammered against his ribs.

A split second later, a figure vaulted over his head and landed directly in his path. He was forced to skid to a halt. Only now did he have a moment to truly sense the aura of the monster before him. The realization left him paralyzed with fear.

It wasn't Rank 5. It was Rank 6! He could not mistake the aura unique to a Rank 6 powerhouse. A bitter smile touched his lips; he was truly dead this time. He felt a deep, piercing regret—if he could go back three hours, he would never have chosen to stay here. He didn't struggle; struggling would only bring more pain.

Seeing the man remain still, the Flame Werewolf Chieftain hoisted him up and brought him before Lu Sheng. Lu Sheng, still diligently feeding the mosquitoes, did not stop. While adding more mosquitoes, he asked, "Can you tell me the current location of the Wilderness Bandits?"

The man shook his head. "I don't know where the Wilderness Bandits are."

Lu Sheng understood, then gave the command: "Kill him." He didn't bother asking if the man had revealed his location; that was a question that no longer needed answering.

The man jerked his head up, screaming in terror, "No—"

But before he could finish, the Flame Werewolf Chieftain struck.

"Snap!"

The Flame Werewolf Chieftain twisted the man's head 360 degrees. As the corpse fell to the ground, three cards dropped out. Lu Sheng picked them up casually—two functional cards and one storage card. Nothing to get excited about.

The final mosquito still needed a moment to reach blue quality. He had to accelerate the feeding process, though even at his fastest, it would take at least three seconds. Finally, five minutes later, the last mosquito successfully attained blue quality.

He dismissed the Flame Werewolf Chieftain, thought for a moment, and left a line of text on the ground beside the corpse. Then, he stepped into the sub-dimensional space. He locked onto his Scarecrow Clone and swapped places with it. The clone appeared in the sub-dimensional space, while he returned to the settlement.

Out in the wilderness, Lu Sheng was gone.

Ten minutes later, two figures descended upon Tiantan Mountain. A corpse lay before the altar, with a message written beside it:

*"The next time I appear, it will be the end of you, the Wilderness Bandits."*

"How arrogant," Jin Chong said, his brow furrowed in displeasure. Since when did the Wilderness Bandits allow themselves to be threatened?

"Damn it! How did that trash let Lu Sheng discover him? Otherwise, we would have caught him this time!" He Fei was equally furious.

Jin Chong regained his composure after a moment. "Increase the bounty on Lu Sheng. Since he dares to threaten us, he must have some confidence. We need to find him and eliminate him as soon as possible."

...

In the Gale Settlement, Lu Sheng checked the interface for the Blood-Sucking Mosquito.

[Blood-Sucking Mosquito]
Quality: Blue
Rank: Rank 5 Peak
Skills: Super Absorption, Rapid Flight, Dynamic Vision
Evolution Requirement: Absorb sufficient blood from green-quality monsters.

It had gained two additional skills. As for its evolution, there was no rush; he would need another round of breeding to raise the mosquitoes to Rank 6. He didn't have enough mosquito cards yet.

He upgraded the Rapid Development Device to Rank 5. Having sufficient Rank 5 Source Orbs on hand, he could keep it running for a few days without issue.

[Rapid Development Device]
Quality: White
Rank: Rank 5
Function: Doubles the growth rate of organisms within a 100,000-meter radius.
Consumption: 10 Rank 5 Source Orbs per day (1 orb per 10,000 meters).

At this rate, it would only cost one Rank 5 Source Orb per day. A 10,000-meter range was more than enough for his needs. Next, he began upgrading the Wind-Fire Two-Headed Snakes—they were food for the mosquitoes, so they had to be upgraded. He brought them to Rank 5 Peak and didn't bother with the other creatures for now.

His current priority was to breed the mosquitoes and elevate them to Rank 6. He converted all his mosquito cards into Rank 5 Peak specimens. In total, he had 25, excluding the pair of blue-quality ones. That left 23 white-quality mosquitoes, including one male. He fed them all and initiated the breeding process, then applied the tenfold fertility card he had upgraded to Rank 5 to them.

However, the tenfold fertility card only worked on white-quality mosquitoes; it could not be used on the blue-quality ones. It was possible that this was because the card itself was only white quality. If he could upgrade the quality of the tenfold fertility card, perhaps the blue-quality mosquitoes could use it too.

But Lu Sheng had no idea how to upgrade a card's quality. He wasn't a card crafter, so he would have to ask Wang Xian tomorrow. If it were possible, that would be ideal.

For now, all he had to do was wait. Under the influence of the Rapid Development Device, it would only take a day and a half.