Chapter 12: There’s No Good End for Those Who Hog Everything [Please Keep Reading]

“My life is over…”

Staring at the great white wolf demon approaching him, with a wild boar demon behind and a fierce-looking black bird demon circling above, Shrimp Demon White Butt’s eyes grew ever more desperate. Surrounded by these three land-dwelling monsters, he forgot even to resist. All he could do was mutter over and over a phrase he had learned from a drowning human he once devoured: “My life is over…”

Looking at the shrimp-headed, human-bodied demon before him, whose eyes were so full of despair as to be nearly witless, Lu Fei hesitated not at all. He raised a front paw and struck the cowering shrimp demon’s head with a heavy blow.

A massive white wolf demon, nearly three meters long and powerfully built, against a shrimp demon barely a meter and a half tall, still not fully returned to its true form. One strike was enough.

With a resounding thud, the hopeless look in the shrimp demon’s eyes was frozen forever. Its hard-shelled head flew several meters away under the force of the blow, separating from its body.

Without the support of demon magic, the headless shrimp corpse quickly reverted to its true form—a half-meter long body, pure white at the tail, with no head attached. Including the tough shell of the head, Lu Fei reckoned it must have been over a meter long in its entirety, not counting the whiskers—a truly gigantic shrimp. But now, it was nothing more than a dead one.

“White Fur, your method really works…” At that moment, the crow demon alighted beside the riverbank, its face alight with excitement as it eyed the shrimp carcass and the two-meter-long grass carp corpse lying in the shallow water. “Heh, these monsters are no match at all—we’ll eat our fill tonight…”

“This one was on land. If it were in the water, that shrimp demon wouldn’t have been so easy to handle…” Lu Fei said as he stepped forward, nudging the massive black shrimp head he had just torn off. Then he picked it up in his jaws.

As a low-level demon, even the bear pelt he wore to cover himself was freshly skinned from his last kill. He truly owned nothing. The hardness of this shrimp shell might come in handy.

With the giant shrimp head in his mouth, Lu Fei looked around, then turned to the crow demon sniffing around the headless shrimp corpse. “We’re too close to Serpent Coil Mountain. There was quite a commotion just now—if we linger, we could be in trouble.”

Hearing Lu Fei’s warning, the crow demon snapped out of its reverie. “Right, this is the border between our Wandering Mountain and Serpent Coil Mountain. If we attract attention from their side, we’ll be in for it.”

At that moment, the wild boar demon Red Hide, who had been watching the grass carp corpse at the edge of the water, looked toward Lu Fei and the crow demon. “There’s something in the water watching us…”

Lu Fei turned immediately and saw a dark shadow slip swiftly beneath the surface, leaving only ripples behind.

“Forget it, let’s go…” He knew that attacking creatures right at their doorstep was bound to draw notice from whatever lurked in the pool. Lu Fei turned to the crow demon and pointed at the grass carp corpse. “You’re the most agile—bring that body along.”

“Sure thing…” the crow demon replied gleefully, spreading its wings and swooping down onto the grass carp’s body. Its talons dug through the scales and into the flesh. With a great beating of wings, it managed to lift the near two-meter-long carp, wobbling as it rose into the air.

Though not without effort, it managed.

Lu Fei then looked to Red Hide, the wild boar demon. In their true forms, their fighting power increased, but the lack of hands was troublesome. So, Lu Fei and Red Hide each took a piece—one carrying the shrimp demon’s head, the other carrying half of its corpse—and sprinted back the way they had come.

Not long after the three demons left, a dark shadow surfaced in the middle of the deep pool, watching their departing figures. The shadow turned to survey the scene, then appeared at the edge of the bank where the earlier battle had taken place.

Seeing the marks of struggle, the shattered shrimp shell scattered everywhere, and the pools of blue blood, the shadow knew that his plastic brother, Shrimp Demon White Butt, had surely gone to the underworld. He could also guess why his companion had come ashore—to feast alone.

Glancing once more in the direction the three land demons had vanished, the shadow cursed, “Idiot—served him right!”

After a bout of swearing, the shadow left the bank and slipped back into the depths of the pool, vanishing from sight.

The shallows fell silent again, as though nothing had occurred.

Half an hour later, in the forest not far from the bank, a burst of hurried footsteps sounded.

“Hurry…”

“You’re sure you weren’t mistaken?”

“Absolutely—I swear, those three demons were from Wandering Mountain’s lot. I’d never seen them before, didn’t recognize a single one…”

“Good. I’m risking discovery by the leader coming out here…”

“If they dare come here, they’ll never make it back…”

“Three demons—just enough for us to share…”

“Quick, move!”

Soon, a rat demon a meter long led a group of five assorted monsters out of the forest, charging toward the shallows.

Night deepened.

After leaving the riverbank and slipping into the woods, the crow demon flying ahead with the carp corpse in its talons called down to Lu Fei, “Where are we headed now?”

“To the bamboo grove,” Lu Fei answered without hesitation.

Taking two demon corpses up Wandering Mountain was out of the question. Normally, if little demons went out at night and nothing happened, the leaders turned a blind eye. But if Lu Fei’s group was caught returning with two demon corpses, not only would they be denied any reward from Bear Chief, but their spoils would likely be confiscated, and they might be severely punished—or even killed—for leaving the mountain without permission.

So, returning home was out of the question for now. They needed to find a place to deal with the two fish demon corpses as soon as possible. The bamboo grove, where they had struggled for three days, was the perfect spot.

“Got it!” the crow demon replied cheerfully, immediately changing course.

Watching his two companions—the crow demon flying ahead and the little boar demon Red Hide at his side—Lu Fei was grateful he had brought them along.

At first, when he realized the fish demon might be dead, he’d considered going alone, so he could have it all to himself. But he soon abandoned the idea. Taking the crow demon and Red Hide along was a precaution. He had decided to make them his followers and train them, since weak minions would do him no good. With his system, his own strength would only grow faster.

Indeed, if he had tried to go it alone tonight, even without the crow demon to show the way, he could have followed the river and found the shallows eventually, but it would have taken much longer. He might not have gotten the grass carp corpse at all, let alone the giant shrimp as well.

And if the crow demon and Red Hide discovered his selfishness, their relationship would have been soured forever.

In the end, when starting out, companions are everything. Those who try to hoard everything for themselves never come to a good end.

Just like that shrimp demon.