Chapter 36: The Pet Mutation

  The pet shop's delivery was quite fast. By the time Lan Chi got home, the ants and the Snowball Beast had already been placed at the front door.

  "This service is pretty good." Lan Chi sighed in appreciation as he carried the ant box. He walked into the stable and boarded the wagon that the hut had transformed into.

  Kaelen also carried her pet into the hut.

  "So fragrant, I smell something delicious." The hut's large eye, like a shark scenting blood, immediately popped out from the ceiling, staring intently at the pets in Lan Chi and Kaelen's hands.

  "This one's for you, the entire omnivorous ant colony is in here. Don't eat the one in Kaelen's hands, that's Kaelen's pet." Lan Chi placed the ant box on the table, opened the lid, and gestured for the hut to eat.

  "So fragrant." The large eye reached into the wooden box, opened its mouth beneath the eye, and its tongue rolled up the ants inside, eating them.

  In no time, the ants in the box were completely devoured. The hut licked its lips, its gaze occasionally drifting toward the Snowball Beast in Kaelen's arms.

  It finally couldn't resist and moved closer to Kaelen, staring intently at the Snowball Beast, continuously making swallowing sounds from its throat. "Kaelen, your pet smells so delicious."

  Kaelen hugged the Snowball Beast tighter, shrinking her neck, and looked pitifully at the large eye. "Lord Hut, this is a gift from my master."

  "I know, just let me take a look. I feel like there's something really fragrant about this pet."

  The Snowball Beast curled up in Kaelen's arms, its white fur fluffy and soft, like a furry snowball. It tucked in its neck, its two small black bean-like eyes timidly staring at the fist-sized eye in front of it.

  The hut moved closer again, its eyeball almost pressing against the Snowball Beast, swaying left and right, as if sniffing or sizing up prey.

  "I'm just looking, just looking..." it muttered softly, the swallowing motion in its throat completely impossible to hide.

  The Snowball Beast suddenly trembled violently, its expression turning ferocious.

  It stared intently at the hut's ominous eye, as if thoroughly provoked, its entire body shaking intensely. Its body began to undergo a bizarre mutation. Something beneath the skin seemed to be struggling wildly, trying to burst out, bones crazily dislocating and twisting under the pelt.

  Kaelen felt the abnormality. She looked down and saw the Snowball Beast's white fur beginning to fall off.

  The entire layer of fur, like an old garment forcibly torn apart, rolled outward inch by inch from the spine. Beneath it emerged hideous, blood-red flesh, with slimy tentacles frantically drilling out from the ruptured skin.

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  "Watch out!" Kaelen screamed sharply, simultaneously throwing the mass of strange flesh in her hands away.

  The writhing lump of meat spun in the air and landed steadily on the ground.

  Its dark red body was covered with densely packed suction cups and slime. It resembled a brain in appearance, with seven or eight tentacles underneath, each constantly twisting. As it crawled, it looked like an octopus freshly pulled from the sea, but even more disgusting and eerie than an octopus.

  The mass of flesh stood upright, suddenly leaped up, and several tentacles whipped toward Kaelen with force.

  Kaelen leaned back, pushed off with her heels, and agilely dodged the attacks. By the time she landed, she had retreated to beside the fireplace and grabbed the iron poker leaning against the wall.

  "This thing isn't the Snowball Beast." She stared calmly at the writhing monster.

  Lan Chi also reached for the axe at his waist but noticed the monster wasn't paying him any attention at all.

  Several tentacles attacked again, moving so fast they left afterimages.

  Kaelen sidestepped, crouched, rolled—maneuvering to the limit in the cramped living room, each time barely grazing past the edges of the tentacles. The iron poker danced in her hands like a dark shadow, precisely striking the mass of flesh.

  The monster, in pain, let out a sharp screech. It opened its mouth wide, and more tentacles surged out from within, rushing straight at Kaelen.

  "Master, left!"

  Before Kaelen's words had faded, Lan Chi had already swung his axe from the flank, chopping down. The tentacle severed, slime splashing onto his hand, foul and pungent.

  But the monster completely ignored him. All its tentacles wildly clung to Kaelen like mad.

  Lan Chi was stunned for a moment. This thing had intelligence? It knew to eliminate the biggest threat first?

  "What are you spacing out for!" Kaelen shouted sternly. She kicked off the wall, flipped in mid-air to avoid three tentacles sweeping close to the ground, and upon landing, viciously slammed the iron poker into the monster's body.

  The monster's tentacles flailed wildly, thrashing in all directions. A wooden chair was violently struck, immediately shattering into pieces, wood chips spraying everywhere.

  The hut finally reacted.

  "Daring to act wild in my territory!"

  A dozen thick tree-branch tentacles extended from the floor, whipping toward the dark red monster from all directions.

  But the living room was just too cramped.

  As soon as the hut's tentacles moved, they knocked over the shelf, bottles and jars crashing to the floor. Several thick tentacles waving together almost tangled themselves up.

  "Ouch ouch ouch, I'm so crowded!" the hut cursed loudly.

  The monster, however, was as agile as a slippery eel. It wildly shuttled through the gaps between the thick tentacles, bypassing overturned tables and chairs, launching itself like a cannonball at Kaelen again.

  Kaelen tilted her head to avoid it, and the monster slammed into the wall.

  She immediately raised the iron poker. With a dull "thud," it precisely struck the monster.

  Lan Chi stepped forward and swung his axe fiercely at the convulsing lump of flesh. The axe blade cut all the way through, splitting the monster in two.

  The severed limbs on the ground twitched violently, the tentacles at the broken ends still futilely writhing, trying to reassemble.

  "What the hell is this thing?" Lan Chi panted heavily, stepping back.

  Kaelen vigilantly guarded the side, using the poker to flick one half of the monster's body further away, preventing them from rejoining.

  "Lan Chi, can I eat it now? It smells so good." The hut's large eye excitedly bobbed beside Lan Chi.

  Lan Chi looked at the still-twitching monster. "Alright, eat it if you want."

  "Oh yeah!" A large mouth split open in the floor, swallowing the two halves of the monster.

  The hut licked its lips. "It's been so long since I've had such good food. I feel like I'm growing a brain. I'm going to sleep." With that, the large eye retracted into the ceiling and disappeared.