Apocalypse: Master of Soul Beasts

Zhang Xiao glanced at the petrified baby army, then at the strange man and the mutant dog slowly approaching him. He was jolted into action!

"No need, sir. This youngster was just joking with you. After all, we live in a lawful society here. How could there possibly be arbitrary toll collection?"

As an adult, Zhang Xiao had seen much more than these young kids—or perhaps, his reactions were simply faster. He quickly addressed the strange man.

The situation was quite clear. That giant dog was either the strange man's servant or a summoned creature. After the apocalypse began, many strange things had appeared, and professionists with pets or combat pets weren't uncommon.

However, this strange man's combat pet was far too strong!

In the presence of a powerful expert, any amount of appeasement is entirely appropriate!

The strange man, Wen Yu, looked at the trembling children and the naked adult male before him. He knew what they must have been thinking and couldn't resist having a bit of fun.

"Are you sure you don't need it? I have a few magic crystals."

The members of the baby army shook their heads like rattle-drums.

"We really don't need it!"

Seeing their fearful and suppressed expressions, Wen Yu suddenly felt it wasn't much fun.

They were too weak. Even his harmless jokes terrified these people! The gap in strength also meant a gap in status! This was even more true in the post-apocalyptic world!

He turned his head and carefully surveyed the surroundings.

The once dilapidated and desolate old city district was now even more run-down, with footprints of mutant beasts everywhere.

Most of the low-slung houses had collapsed. Coupled with the rampant growth of mutant plants, what used to be a suburb could now only be considered the transitional zone between the city and the forest.

Only such a broken-down place could become the territory of a group of children!

Looking back at the forest, a complex expression flitted across Wen Yu's eyes.

It had been close to twenty days since he left Chaihe Town! When he left, he, Cyclops, and Star were all at Peak Level 3. Wen Yu's plan was to enter the forest and upgrade himself and his soul pets to Level 4. He had achieved it, but the process... had some minor deviations! Cyclops was too strong! So strong that the sheer aura of power it exuded was enough to alert the mutant beasts in the forest, causing them to steer clear of its location! In the first few days, they didn't encounter any mutant creatures in the vast forest! But Star didn't have this concern! Being small, the range of Star's intimidating presence was reduced by dozens of times! Wen Yu only realized this when Star explained the reason! Almost twenty days had passed when Wen Yu and his two pets had all advanced to Level 4! And the first person they met after coming out was a naked adult man! Wen Yu swore he just wanted to greet him. He hadn't expected the professionist to be so timid!

Looking again at the baby army and the bare-assed man, Wen Yu pondered for a moment, then waved at Cyclops.

Cyclops instantly understood Wen Yu's meaning. It loosened its massive jaws, and the corpse of the mutant wild boar fell to the ground with a THUD!

Then, before the stunned eyes of Zhang Xiao and the baby army, Wen Yu reached directly into the mutant wild boar's head!

As if they existed in different dimensions, Wen Yu rummaged in the boar's head for a moment before pulling out a magic crystal.

A Level 2 magic crystal!

The magic crystal traced a beautiful parabola through the air and landed squarely in the leading boy's hands.

"Consider this your toll fee. And, I want to ask you all some questions!"

「...」

A grand barbecue party began at the baby army's camp.

The so-called camp was merely a low-slung house, but unlike others, this one had a large underground space.

According to Zheng Ye, although mutant creatures like rats occasionally appeared underground, it was still safer than staying above ground.

This place was close to the forest, meaning there was no shortage of mutant beasts emerging to vary their diet.

Zheng Ye was the leader of this baby army, a Peak Level 1 warrior.

The underground space served as the children's resting place.

Zhang Xiao had put his protective suit back on by now, at least managing to cover himself decently.

Wen Yu looked at Zheng Ye, who was sitting to one side, tearing into the wild boar meat with large bites, and couldn't help but smile.

"Eat slowly. No one's going to snatch it from you."

Zheng Ye responded by rolling his eyes dramatically at Wen Yu.

After their brief interaction, Zheng Ye could tell Wen Yu wasn't a bad person. At least, he didn't seem to harbor any ill intent towards his group of children.

Besides, Wen Yu had indeed been mistaken in what he just said.

The wild boar was large enough for everyone, true—but that was only if Cyclops and Star weren't factored in!

Cyclops and Star were each clutching a piece of bloody wild boar meat, gnawing away contentedly.

What astonished everyone most was that as soon as Wen Yu spoke, the big dog's body began to change!

Its original ten-meter-tall body kept shrinking until it transformed into a normal-sized, dusty grey dog. Only then did the transformation stop.

This was an achievement from their time in the forest.

When Wen Yu first entered the forest and noticed the problem with Cyclops, he had directly asked Star for a method to change body size. This could be considered a talent of powerful mutant beasts: two forms. One was the normal combat form, exemplified by the nearly ten-meter-tall Giant Dragon! Well, it would get even larger after Level 4.

The other form was a power-saving state! Wen Yu preferred to call it Mini Form, or perhaps Show-off Form. In this state, the body's power would be stored. In Mini Form, only a small amount of food was needed each day to sustain the body's consumption.

Under Star's enthusiastic guidance, the highly talented Cyclops had mastered this technique by Level 4. Of course, Star and Wen Yu had both put in considerable effort to help Cyclops advance to Level 4. According to Wen Yu's estimation, even without Star's guidance, Cyclops would have naturally grasped this technique at Level 5. After all, Simba, who had left the deepest impression on Wen Yu in his previous life, hadn't learned this technique even at Level 5.

This also answered a pressing question Wen Yu had: as mutant beasts grew stronger and their bodies larger, they consumed more and more food. Sooner or later, they would starve themselves due to insufficient food. But Mini Form solved this problem perfectly!

"By the way, Uncle, what level is your mutant dog?"

Looking at Zheng Ye's seemingly innocent eyes, Wen Yu immediately rapped him on the head.

"Don't get so many ideas at your young age."

Wen Yu paused, looked at the teary-eyed Zheng Ye, and said solemnly,

"Also, call me Brother!"