Lizard Lord - Chapter 5
Chapter 5 - Survival by Cutting Off the Tail
Carefully avoiding the trees entangled with spider webs, Tang Zhao searched near the pond for potential prey.
Finally, he spotted a giant scorpion that was hunting for food.
With its shiny black exoskeleton, a pair of large and strong pincers, and a poisonous stinger at the end of its tail, it didn't look much different from a rainforest scorpion.
The only difference was that it was much larger in size, almost as big as a large dog at first glance.
At the moment, it was holding a dead wild rabbit in its pincers, which had already been eaten halfway.
With scales protecting his entire body, Tang Zhao wasn't too afraid of poisonous animals. As long as he was careful of its venomous stinger, the scorpion's pincers and mouthparts wouldn't be able to cause significant harm to him, who was much larger in size.
Of course, generally speaking, scorpions with such thick pincers rely on brute force in combat and don't possess particularly strong venom.
But this was a different world after all, and Tang Zhao didn't completely rely on theories from his past life. He assumed that this scorpion was highly venomous and prepared his tactics accordingly.
Even a simple compound eye could detect a large lizard approaching confidently from several meters away.
The scorpion placed the remaining half of the rabbit under its body, propped itself up with its legs, making itself appear as tall as possible, and menacingly approached Tang Zhao.
Arthropods didn't possess high intelligence, but they wouldn't just swing their pincers and charge at any living creature they saw.
In its eyes, Tang Zhao wasn't suitable prey because he was too big in size.
Ignoring the scorpion's display of aggression, Tang Zhao exerted force with his limbs and burst forth with astonishing speed.
He lowered his body and turned his head slightly, exposing the hard bony protrusion on his neck to face the scorpion's large pincers head-on.
The scorpion extended its legs, raising the height of its body, but this made its grip on the ground somewhat unstable.
Under the combined effect of Tang Zhao's weight and speed, he directly knocked aside the pincers in front of him, lifting the entire scorpion from below and finally flipping it over onto the ground.
Seizing the opportunity when the scorpion kicked its legs in an attempt to flip itself over, Tang Zhao bit down on the scorpion's head, while his sharp claws began to fiercely scratch the scorpion's relatively soft abdomen, intending to disembowel it.
The scorpion's only threatening venomous stinger was pressed beneath it, and its eyes were located on top of its head, making it difficult to aim at the gaps in Tang Zhao's scales now that it had been flipped over, greatly reducing its threat.
Tang Zhao's sharp teeth and claws were indeed formidable, and it didn't take long for him to completely remove the scorpion's mouthparts and pincers, as well as slash open its abdomen.
Even if arthropods had strong vitality, they couldn't survive such injuries. The scorpion's struggles quickly weakened.
Tang Zhao then opened his mouth and bit down on the middle section of the scorpion's tail, using his claws to tear off the scorpion's venomous stinger.
The venom wouldn't immediately disappear with the creature's death, and the venomous sting could still pose a deadly threat to him.
After resolving the issue of food safety, Tang Zhao used his claws to open the scorpion's body cavity and, as expected, found a blood core inside.
【Perhaps those spiders are still larvae, or perhaps they haven't reached a certain standard. Anyway, the giant arthropods here can still give me blood cores.】
Feeling somewhat relieved, Tang Zhao swallowed the blood core into his abdomen. Now he only had one blood core left, and he could evolve.
The commotion just now was not small, and the ordinary creatures around had been scared away, possibly attracting some more dangerous predators.
He didn't plan on venturing deep into the forest filled with spider webs and hidden dangers right now. He had already eaten a deer with a better taste today, and he didn't have much appetite for this scorpion.
After picking and choosing, Tang Zhao ate the most delicious parts of the scorpion and then left the scene with the scorpion's tail end in his mouth.
Returning to the vicinity of the pond, Tang Zhao caught a not-so-small fish from it. It looked to be about 20 to 30 centimeters long. He used it to experiment with the scorpion's venomous stinger.
He injected the venomous stinger into the fish's body, and in less than half a minute, the fish's movements noticeably slowed down. It went from lively and vigorous to lifeless in a total of 4 to 5 minutes.
Its toxicity was much stronger than its rainforest scorpion relatives on Earth.
【In the future, it's best to assume that these things are all highly venomous creatures. It would be very uncomfortable if one gets hit.】
Just as he had said before, the forest was sick. These giant insects didn't seem like naturally bred creatures at all—they were more like the monsters that appeared in horror movies.
It was already dusk, and after a day of intense activity, Tang Zhao was very tired and didn't have the energy to search for prey anymore. He decided to dive into the water and prepare to sleep and rest.
...
After falling into a deep sleep, Tang Zhao was interrupted by a wave of pain in his back.
Alertly opening his eyes, Tang Zhao's mind quickly became clear. He dived into the water, preparing to avoid any possible attacks.
However, the expected fierce attack did not come. Both in the water and above the water surface, it was silent, and there was no sign of any hostile creatures.
But at this moment, there were many shimmering specks of dust floating in the sky. The dust formed a straight line on the surface of the pond, about 3 to 4 meters long, resembling a strip of lights in the night, creating a beautiful sight.
Tang Zhao didn't have the mood to appreciate the scenery at this time. He turned his head and checked the condition of his back.
Unlike the expected bloody mess, there was only a small arrow hanging on it.
The arrowhead didn't penetrate deep into the flesh—it only pierced through a bit of the skin. Tang Zhao rolled in the water, and the arrow fell off his body.
During the time the arrow fell to the bottom of the water, Tang Zhao used the faint light emitted by the dust to observe the arrow with his night vision ability.
The length was about the same as a pen, and the arrowhead was finely polished sharp stone, probably without any poison applied.
Feeling puzzled, Tang Zhao was just thinking about the cause and effect between the airborne dust and the arrow when he was interrupted by the water flow coming from below.
As he tilted his head downward, he noticed an incredibly large insect approaching him, resembling a giant tortoise beetle.
A pair of horizontally arranged, extremely developed sickle-shaped sharp limbs opened completely and headed straight for Tang Zhao's soft abdomen.
Suddenly startled, Tang Zhao hurriedly swung his tail and limbs to prepare to dodge, but this tortoise beetle was too close to him, and he was not a swift aquatic creature either.
Avoiding the vital parts of the abdomen, the tortoise beetle's large limbs clamped onto his tail, and a piercing pain shot up from his tail.
【Fighting in the water is not advantageous for me, but there is still a chance if I drag it to the shore.】
He didn't have much time to think, and there wasn't much room for him to devise tactics in this close combat situation.
A rough plan flashed through his mind, and Tang Zhao endured the intense pain, struggling to drag the insect towards the shore.
The pond was not deep, and after about half a minute of swimming, Tang Zhao's limbs could touch the muddy bottom of the pond.
He reluctantly brought the tortoise ashore, but even until now, it showed no signs of letting go, as if it wanted to drag Tang Zhao down to the end.
The position was very awkward, and no matter how Tang Zhao twisted his body, he couldn't bite the body of the snapping turtle, so he could only watch it stubbornly.
The pain and sense of danger triggered Tang Zhao's ferocity, and the final straw that overwhelmed him was the characteristics of this insect, the tortoise beetle.
【After a tortoise beetle bites its prey, it injects digestive fluids similar to spiders. The digestive fluid here might be highly toxic.】
Throwing all his concerns aside, at this moment, the connection between Tang Zhao's tail and torso broke, and freed from the restraint, he fiercely pounced on the insect that still had a tight grip on his tail.
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