Devouring Stars: Master of Evolution

Chapter 13 The First Battle

The incubation of the mother nest takes three hours, but Qin Mu did not just wait idly. Instead, he began to set up defenses around the nest.

After carefully observing the surrounding terrain, Qin Mu laid landmines in some key locations and unloaded some of the firearms from the vehicle, placing them near the mother nest.

Once all the arrangements were in place and safety was ensured to a certain extent, Qin Mu, who was drenched in sweat, finally relaxed a little.

Qin Mu glanced at his tactical watch and checked the time.

It was 2 p.m. The jungle was already hot and humid, and Qin Mu was wearing a full combat suit, so he was sweating profusely after just a little exercise.

Even though it was very hot, Qin Mu showed no intention of taking off his combat uniform.

This jungle is teeming with all sorts of poisonous insects and snakes; to be without the protection of combat gear is practically suicide.

Back in the car, Qin Mu turned the air conditioning up to the maximum, took a big gulp of water, and then let out a long sigh of relief.

It was July, the hottest time of year, and at two in the afternoon, the blazing sun felt like an oven.

Qin Mu had actually calculated this time in advance, because although it was a bit hot at this time, it was relatively much safer.

Such high temperatures were unbearable not only for Qin Mu, but also for most of the ferocious beasts, who hid in the shade.

"Next, we just have to wait. Once the mother nest successfully hatches, we'll be safe."

After it cooled down a bit, Qin Mu picked up his weapon and carefully surveyed the surrounding area to make sure that no monsters were disturbing the hatching mother nest.

Time passed anxiously as Qin Mu waited. The tumor, which was originally only about the height of a person, grew larger and larger with each breath, until it reached more than five meters in height, at which point its growth rate slowed down.

Centered on the tumor, a purple fungal carpet covered an area of ​​twenty meters, even covering and digesting any flowers, grasses, or venomous insects and snakes that had escaped.

"It's almost there. The hatching progress is already over 90%. Soon the Zerg will appear on Earth."

Looking at the mother nest that was about to hatch, Qin Mu smiled.

Then, the next moment, Qin Mu's expression changed, and a strange sound suddenly came from the jungle.

"Click—"

The sound of the tree branch breaking startled Qin Mu. He gripped his Broken Army Spear tightly, took a few steps back, and assumed a fighting stance.

"Something's wrong, it's a ferocious beast."

From the depths of the jungle, the figure of a tall, robust, spotted, streamlined canine monster emerged.

"It's a Tiger Mastiff!"

Qin Mu was startled, and the information about Hu Aoquan flashed through his mind.

Tiger-dog is an incredibly fast and powerful canine monster; a single charge can generate over 2000kg of force.

Although he was somewhat panicked, Qin Mu forced himself to calm down.

It was just a low-level beast soldier, a tiger-dog. I was already a quasi-martial artist, and my strength was no weaker than this monster.

It should be noted that in the practical assessment of a quasi-martial artist, one must hunt down at least three monsters of the Beast Soldier level to pass the assessment.

This tiger and hound are just one of the most common monsters encountered in the assessment.

With his equipment and preparations at this moment, a mere tiger mastiff was not enough to frighten him.

As the tiger-dog slowly approached, Qin Mu glanced at its path, where a landmine was buried.

There are three more landmines like this in this area!

After glancing again at the loaded rifle and quad rocket launcher behind him, Qin Mu felt much more confident.

These firearms are more than enough to easily kill this tiger and its hound.

Qin Mu gripped his spear tightly, adopting a defensive stance, and shifted his body to the right to attract the attention of Hu Aoquan.

Seeing Qin Mu's actions, Hu Aoquan naturally changed direction and, guided by Qin Mu, avoided a landmine ahead.

If you step on a landmine, not only tigers and hounds, but even the most defensively-minded wild boars will die!

Qin Mu did not intend to use landmines to kill it, because the sound of landmines exploding would easily attract more monsters.

Suddenly, Hu Aoquan stopped, looking at the five-meter-tall giant ball of flesh behind Qin Mu, his expression tense, with a hint of hesitation and struggle.

Monsters are not mindless fools; they too experience fear when faced with the unknown.

It smelled an unfamiliar scent in the jungle and discovered an extremely fierce and violent aura, which was constantly growing stronger. It didn't want to take the risk, but it was driven by hunger to come over.

The tiger mastiff let out a low growl, saliva dripping from its sharp teeth onto the ground.

The next moment, Hu Aoquan suddenly burst forth and pounced on Qin Mu.

"brush--"

Qin Mu quickly dodged to the side, avoiding Hu Aoquan's head-on attack. Then, a cold glint flashed in his eyes, and he thrust out his spear fiercely, leaving a bloody hole in Hu Aoquan's body.

"Awooo—"

Hu Aoquan, feeling the pain, quickly retaliated, his iron whip-like tail sweeping towards Qin Mu, forcing him to draw his gun and defend.

"die!"

Qin Mu deflected the sweeping tail with one spear thrust, then thrust out a straight spear, like a dragon emerging from the water, forcing the tiger and the hound to retreat repeatedly.

"Awooo—"

The tiger-dog roared angrily, twisted its body, opened its blood-red maw, revealing sharp fangs, and emitted a strong, fishy stench.

"Wow, that's fast!"

Qin Mu was shocked, but without hesitation, he swung his spear fiercely at Hu Aoquan's head.

"clang--"

The spear and the tiger's right paw clashed violently, producing a sound like metal clashing.

A tremendous force emanated from the spear, causing Qin Mu's hand to tremble and the spear to nearly fly away.

Fortunately, Qin Mu was prepared and immediately swung his spear, sweeping it horizontally and forcing back Hu Aoquan, who wanted to pursue him.

"That beast is incredibly strong!"

A cold glint flashed in Qin Mu's eyes as he pondered a solution.

This tiger and hound are much faster and stronger than me, but I am not without my advantages, namely, the spear in my hand is long and sharp enough.

This tiger-dog is only a little over a meter tall at the shoulder. No matter how long its claws and teeth can reach, how can it compare to Qin Mu wielding a long spear?

Weapons are one of humanity's greatest advantages when facing monsters!

Dodging to the side and retreating several steps to avoid the tiger's attack, Qin Mu became increasingly calm.

The tiger and the hound couldn't attack him at all, and he was stabbed by himself from the very beginning, bleeding profusely.

With the mother nest about to hatch successfully again, Qin Mu was in no hurry at all.

Time is on Qin Mu's side!

Several attacks failed to harm Qin Mu, and coupled with his own injuries, Hu Aoquan became impatient.

"Awooo—"

Tiger and Hound ran wildly on all fours, circling Qin Mu at high speed through the jungle.

Qin Mu dared not be careless, keeping a close eye on Hu Aoquan, his body constantly shifting, not daring to be careless in the slightest.

"call--"

A dark figure suddenly darted out from behind a large tree under the cover of the jungle and pounced.

"I've been waiting for you for so long!"

Qin Mu sneered, his body nimbly turning around to dodge the pounce. As he turned again, the spear in his hand shot out like a venomous dragon.

The shot sliced ​​through the soft belly of the tiger-dog, cutting a gash more than a foot long.

A pile of intestines and internal organs flowed out of the wound.

"bump--"

Tiger-dog's body fell to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Without rushing forward, Qin Mu held his spear, looked at the fallen Hu Aoquan, and waited for a few minutes before stepping forward and thrusting the spear into its neck, finishing it off.

"Luckily, I was lucky at the beginning and managed to stab it, otherwise it would have been really difficult to kill it."

Just as Qin Mu finally killed the tiger-dog, the giant insect egg behind him suddenly throbbed and exploded.

The fleshy ball that the worker insect transformed into eventually became a fleshy mountain nearly six meters high. Then, after a sudden contraction, it burst open with a "bang," transforming into a huge mother nest covering an area of ​​tens of meters.

The mother nest looked somewhat ferocious and terrifying, with a towering structure in the middle, topped with several curved spikes.

The entire nest is surrounded by spikes like the claws of some giant beast, and its surface is covered with tumors and holes of varying sizes.

These holes continued to twitch and writhe. The surface of the mother nest began to harden and form a thick shell the moment it burst open.

The mother nest has successfully hatched!

(End of this chapter)