Chapter 107: Changes in the Heart of the Lake

The stream remained rapid, and Xu Xin still couldn’t discern anything unusual at the bottom.

He placed the wild boar carcass from his backpack by the stream and tentatively called towards the water: "Brother Crocodile?"

The stream immediately reacted, as the huge ancient crocodile that acted as the streambed rose from the water and opened its big mouth in Xu Xin’s direction, seemingly greeting him.

It seemed that the crocodile also regarded him as an acquaintance now.

"Ying!" Keke also greeted the crocodile, and even the Silver King, who initially feared crocodiles, was no longer afraid after its mutation. However, Mimi arched its back, raised its tail, bristled fiercely, and hissed threateningly at the crocodile.

"Alright Mimi, it’s one of us, no need for that." Xu Xin hurriedly stopped Mimi’s provocative behavior, afraid that the crocodile might become angry.

Upon hearing it was an ally, Mimi gradually calmed down but stayed far from the shore, refusing to approach.

The crocodile had no reaction to the hissing little creature and merely looked at Xu Xin.

"Brother Crocodile, I’ve come today to ask a favor of you. This is a gift for you." Xu Xin pointed to the wild boar carcass beside the stream. Freshly hunted, the boar was still bleeding and looked very fresh.

The crocodile twisted its enormous head towards the streambank and scooped the wild boar into its mouth, chewing twice before swallowing it whole. Though Xu Xin didn’t know how the crocodile consumed its food, each time he visited, it always seemed eternally hungry.

"Brother Crocodile, that lake downstream, have you been there?"

The crocodile nodded its massive head, indicating it had.

Having a beast of such size understand and respond to his words was thrilling for Xu Xin. After calming down, he continued: "There’s now a group of piranhas in that lake whose range of activity is increasing, threatening to overtake the entire lake, maybe even this stream. That’s why I’m asking for your help to clear out those piranhas."

Understanding Xu Xin’s request, the crocodile emitted a gentle sound.

"Ying!" Keke gestured from Xu Xin’s shoulder.

Xu Xin interpreted Keke’s signs, eyes lighting up: "You mean, you agree?"

"Roar," the crocodile called out again, seeming to include a question.

Xu Xin truly couldn’t understand what they were saying, scratching his head in frustration. He was now encountering increasingly intelligent beasts who could understand him, but he couldn’t understand them. He wished he could gain the ability to communicate with animals.

After a lot of signaling from Keke, Xu Xin finally deciphered what it meant.

"Is that a snake you’re gesturing? Are you asking whether the Lake Giant Python is there?"

The crocodile slightly nodded.

The crocodile actually knew about the giant python in the lake! The large monsters in this world were interconnected after all. The crocodile didn’t show a red dot on the map, whereas the python did. This explained why, though both were giant beasts, they weren’t in the same faction and were very likely enemies.

"It’s not there. The python only appeared once during a beast uprising, then disappeared deep into the lake, leaving only a lake full of piranhas behind." Xu Xin told the crocodile honestly.

Xu Xin felt the crocodile’s eyes widen slightly before it called out.

Keke continued translating, and Xu Xin understood it agreed.

"Fantastic!" Xu Xin cheered inwardly and displayed a delighted expression outwardly. "That’s great, Brother Crocodile, let’s go now! Let’s remove the piranhas before they expand, or they’ll occupy this stream too!"

The ancient crocodile signaled Xu Xin to lead the way, and Xu Xin immediately mounted the Wolf King.

Looking back, the spot where the ancient crocodile had been lying was left with a huge deep pit. It was the place where the crocodile had reclined. Temporarily disrupting the stream, the water continuously filled the pit, only resuming its flow once the pit was filled.

Initially, Xu Xin moved slowly, afraid the ancient crocodile couldn’t keep up. But the enormous crocodile steadily advanced regardless of Xu Xin’s speed, and Xu Xin realized its large body ensured it would not lag. Even the swiftest among ants couldn’t keep pace with a strolling human.

Admittedly, the comparison was exaggerated; the size difference between him and the ancient crocodile wasn’t as vast as that between ants and humans.

Assured, Xu Xin allowed the Silver King to run at full speed, quickly pursued by the sound of splashing water and heavy footsteps as the huge crocodile took steady strides, closely following.

Soon, they arrived at the lake’s edge.

"Brother Crocodile, see, it’s those piranhas." Xu Xin pointed to the blood-red fish darting about at the lake’s center. Nowadays, their area of activity was far larger than a few days prior, and it wouldn’t take ten days for them to occupy the entire lake.

Without waiting for Xu Xin to speak further, the crocodile waded into the lake. The water near the shore was shallow, allowing the crocodile to walk, but as it progressed, the lake seemed to deepen suddenly, and Xu Xin finally saw the crocodile was now swimming rather than walking, moving its limbs and tail in the water.

The water was very clear, and through the ripples, Xu Xin could just make out the crocodile’s swimming motions. It was his first time seeing a crocodile swim, as besides the ones in the Hilly Resource Zone lake, he’d only seen crocodiles languidly laying by the shore in zoos, never swimming.

If not for today’s scene, Xu Xin would’ve thought crocodiles could only move in shallow waters.

With a twenty-meter-long body, its swimming speed was impressively fast, nearly reaching the lake center within seconds. The surrounding piranha groups grew agitated by the crocodile’s presence, assembling to launch an attack!

The swimming crocodile opened wide its mouth, quickly glided by like a filter-feeding shark, sucking up all the piranhas along its swimming path and reached the opposite shore.

Although the piranhas did attack the crocodile, their bites didn’t seem to penetrate its Scale Armor. Arriving on the opposite shore, the crocodile showed no signs of damage whatsoever. The piranhas continued their activity in the lake center, not following the crocodile towards the shore.

The central piranha groups instantly lost a small portion, and Xu Xin noticed the crocodile crossing back towards the lake center. The piranhas regrouped to attack the crocodile once more, but again to no avail.

The crocodile opened its mouth again, swallowing countless piranhas.

"...This is insanely strong!" Xu Xin swallowed hard, "Directly filtering the piranhas, these piranhas had it rough."

The trio of beasts and human simply stared amazed at the giant crocodile’s effortless maneuvers in the lake; even Mimi, normally proud, gaped at the spectacle.

Eventually, few piranhas were left in the lake, most having been consumed by the crocodile, with only a few frantically darting about the center, seemingly aware this crocodile was beyond their capacity, hiding everywhere.

Yet the giant crocodile seemed unwilling to leave the center, staying quietly in the deepest part of the lake.

"What’s happening?" Xu Xin was puzzled, "The piranhas are handled, why hasn’t it come out? Does Brother Crocodile intend to stay in this lake?"

The crocodile emitted a call from the lake, seemingly instructing Xu Xin to leave.

"Ying!" Keke suddenly shrieked, its voice sharper and more urgent than ever, frantically pulling at Xu Xin’s clothing to drag him away from the lake’s vicinity.

"What’s happening?" Seeing Keke so agitated, Xu Xin’s heart skipped a beat, was it...

Immediately, Xu Xin mounted the Silver King, "Quick, retreat from the lake, back to the treehouse! Hurry, hurry!"

The Silver King quickly leaped towards the treehouse base, Xu Xin clinging to its roots duly arrived at the third level of the treehouse, then quickly peered through the window towards the lake.

Suddenly, the water began to churn violently, with waves spreading from a spot at the lake’s center to the surroundings.

Observing the map, a red dot at the lake center’s location brightened, growing increasingly luminous, even reaching a dazzling brilliance.

It’s coming out! That creature is emerging!

Suddenly, the lake center streaked upward, as an enormous rocky-like giant python head towered from the water, splashing waves several meters high!

Pupils black as an abyss, skin adorned with rocky fissure patterns, and that crimson serpentine tongue appeared once more before Xu Xin!

The re-emerging Lake Giant Python roared its menacing hissing bellow at the crocodile’s position in the lake’s heart!