This massive eyeball was nearly split in two by his kitchen knife, with black-and-white mixed fluid oozing out. Unexpectedly, it began to wither and shrink at a visible speed, shrinking to the size of a marble in the blink of an eye. With a whoosh, it flew out of the eye socket and shot toward Su Li.
The suddenness caught Su Li off guard—this was the first time he’d encountered such a situation. But the shrunken eyeball flew too fast for him to dodge. He only felt a sharp pain at his brow, like being pricked by a needle.
He hurriedly reached up to touch it, but there was nothing there.
"What’s going on? Could this eyeball also be a spirit source, just different somehow…"
Just then, a stream of new information surged into his mind again.
"Acquired incomplete 'Peering Rune.'" "Ability: Can peer at spirit source beasts to obtain basic information about them." "The incomplete 'Peering Rune' can evolve, eventually forming a 'Third Eye.'" "The 'Third Eye' possesses mysterious abilities…"
As Su Li was wondering what mysterious abilities the Third Eye might have, the information suddenly faded away.
He gently touched his brow, digesting the various pieces of information he’d just received. There was bewilderment, surprise, but mostly delight.
He never expected that killing this terrifying giant frog would not only yield two spirit sources but also grant him this so-called "Peering Rune."
"Even though it’s an incomplete 'Peering Rune,' according to the info, it can be used to peer at spirit source beasts’ data. Spirit source beasts… should be this thing in front of me, right?"
Thinking this, Su Li activated the "Peering Rune" with a mental command.
Between his brows, several red fine lines appeared, forming a vague vertical eye-shaped pattern that looked like a faint eye tattoo.
With the "Peering Rune" active, Su Li looked at the massive corpse of the giant frog before him, and new information emerged in his mind.
"One-Eyed Frog, an elite among first-level spirit source beasts, feeds on low-level corpse beasts, ferocious by nature, never gives up on prey it locks onto, fights to the death. Can evolve into a higher-level One-Eyed Frog King. Killing a One-Eyed Frog has a certain probability of granting the special skill 'Peering Rune.'"
As he absorbed the information in his mind, the vertical eye-shaped fine lines between his brows slowly faded.
"Interesting. So this thing is called a One-Eyed Frog. No wonder it’s called an elite among first-level spirit source beasts. In terms of strength, it’s stronger than me. Good thing it wasn’t too bright."
Su Li dragged the One-Eyed Frog’s corpse, which was stuck in the bathroom, into the living room and dropped it on the floor. Looking at the disemboweled, damaged body, he felt a lingering fear.
This One-Eyed Frog’s strength was definitely above his. That he managed to kill it was partly due to luck and partly because he’d taken advantage of the bathroom’s geography. If they’d been in an open space, even two of him might not have been able to handle it.
As he thought this, Su Li picked up the hammer he’d left by the balcony, walked to the security door, and first peered through the peephole at the corridor outside. The corpses were still piled up there.
After a moment’s thought, he opened the security door, stared at the bodies, and activated the "Peering Rune."
The vertical eye-shaped fine lines reappeared between his brows.
He’d only meant to test it, but to his surprise, new information did appear in his mind—an introduction to these corpses.
"Corpse Beast, the lowest level of infected spirit source beast. Through mutual devouring, there is a certain probability of evolving into a higher-level corpse beast. Other: None."
"These dead humans were all infected and turned into corpse beasts? So they can still evolve."
Su Li pondered briefly, thinking about how this pile of corpses had attracted the One-Eyed Frog. Leaving them here was really unsafe—who knew what other terrifying monsters they might lure.
"If it’s just low-level corpse beasts, that’s fine—I could kill a couple more to get spirit sources and break through. But if it’s another monster like the One-Eyed Frog, that would be trouble."
Though he’d successfully killed one, luck had played a part. If another came, the outcome was uncertain, and he wasn’t willing to take that risk.
Su Li initially thought about dumping all the corpses into the water outside the corridor, but then realized that might attract even more danger.
After much deliberation, he decided to pile all the corpses on the rooftop. Even if they attracted monsters, they’d be drawn to the roof, which was safer than leaving them in the corridor or tossing them in the water.
With his increased strength—at least five hundred jin in his arms—moving the corpses was easy. He could carry two at a time, one under each arm.
Soon, he’d moved all the corpses to the rooftop and stacked them up. By now, the sky had darkened, and night had fallen.
Su Li looked out at the nearest other building, another thirty-story structure. Its lower floors were submerged, with only the top floor above water, about forty to fifty meters away.
He occasionally glanced over but had never seen any movement there.
"Either way, I need to check it out. Even if I don’t find survivors, maybe I’ll find some food."
The sky was fully dark now, and night meant greater danger. Su Li didn’t dare delay. He quickly went downstairs, closed his own door, and looked at the One-Eyed Frog’s corpse still lying in the living room.
He’d originally planned to move this corpse to the rooftop too, but he was reluctant—the large pile of corpses on the roof was already likely to attract monsters.
The human corpses had turned into corpse beasts, so he dared not eat them, but the One-Eyed Frog was different.
In his eyes, this One-Eyed Frog was a pile of edible meat.
"Food is scarce now. This One-Eyed Frog has a lot of meat—maybe it’s edible. I’ll leave it here for now."
After some thought, Su Li decided to keep the One-Eyed Frog’s corpse. It was mid-October, and the temperature wasn’t low—daytime averages were around twenty degrees Celsius, nighttime around ten. But perhaps due to changes in this world’s rules, or because these corpses were spirit source beasts, their decay rate was much slower than normal. At least when he’d moved the corpse beast bodies earlier, he hadn’t smelled any rot or seen signs of decay. If they were ordinary biological corpses in this weather, they’d have started stinking by now.
From this detail, it seemed the One-Eyed Frog’s corpse wouldn’t rot anytime soon and might be preserved for a while.
With no electricity, the living room was pitch black.
He picked up the kitchen knife, intending to dismember the One-Eyed Frog’s corpse and cut off some meat, but it was too dark, so he abandoned the idea.