He knew that if he allowed these soul-devouring insects to fly away from him today, they would bring a devastating disaster to the world.
Anything with life becomes their food, and as long as there is food, their terrifying ability to multiply will allow this swarm of over a thousand tiny insects to grow rapidly... It probably won't be long before this swarm of flying insects becomes a deadly black cloud sweeping the globe, and sooner or later it will destroy all life on Earth.
Zhou Ziwei may not have much noble sentiment of compassion, but he is also a member of this planet. If the whole world is destroyed by these little insects, then where will Zhou Ziwei go?
Right now, this swarm of about a thousand Soul-Devouring Flying Insects might still be afraid of the small bottle of Reincarnation Water in his hand. But if this swarm of insects grows to the point of covering the sky and covering the entire area, how many insects can his small bottle of Reincarnation Water kill?
Therefore, no matter what, he had to wipe out this small number of Soul-Eating Flying Insects as soon as possible... He absolutely could not be lenient.
With a "whoosh," having made up his mind, Zhou Ziwei immediately leaped into the air, using his force field to chase after the group of fleeing Soul-Eating Flying Insects.
The swarm of soul-devouring flying insects flew very fast, almost as fast as Zhou Ziwei's little ladybug. However, compared to the speed of Zhou Ziwei's force field space, it was far inferior. So, Zhou Ziwei caught up quickly in just a few flashes. Then, Zhou Ziwei slightly raised the small porcelain in his hand.
Just as Zhou Ziwei was about to pour out the water of reincarnation, he couldn't help but glance down first. When he saw that all below was a lush and green forest, his expression changed slightly.
Zhou Ziwei had personally witnessed the power of the Reincarnation Water. It could be said that, apart from soil, which was immune to this substance, almost any material that came into contact with it would be quickly burned into nothingness by the rising white flames, leaving not even a trace behind.
If Zhou Ziwei were to pour the Water of Reincarnation from mid-air at this moment, although it could eliminate most of the Soul-Devouring Flying Insects at once, there would still be some that escaped. And the remaining Water of Reincarnation falling from the sky would inevitably ignite a terrifying forest fire... This fire would burn all the forests to the ground until a vast expanse of earth was used to cordon them off, otherwise the fire would not be easily extinguished.
This flame is so powerful that even water can't extinguish it... It will surely cause many terrifying things to happen.
Of course, compared to the disaster caused by the Soul-Eating Flying Insects, the disaster of the forest fire is nothing.
Most importantly, Zhou Ziwei knew that if he simply poured out the water of reincarnation from the bottle, he wouldn't be able to kill all the Soul-Devouring Flying Insects at once. If even one of them escaped, the result would be exactly as he had anticipated.
Given the terrifying agility of these tiny insects, growing from one to a thousand... as long as one has enough soul energy, it probably wouldn't even take half an hour to complete, right?
If he loses the bottle of Reincarnation Water, these Soul-Devouring Flying Insects will have no reason to fear Zhou Ziwei anymore. They will probably devour his soul power first.
This truly put Zhou Ziwei in a dilemma.
What should we do? Should we pour out the Water of Reincarnation to destroy these ghostly things?
Just as Zhou Ziwei was struggling to keep up with the Soul-Eating Flying Insects, a huge shadow suddenly appeared in the sky. Then Zhou Ziwei felt a strong wind pressing down from above, rapidly approaching him.
Zhou Ziwei was slightly startled and hurriedly looked up, only to be stunned.
Suddenly, an enormous bat appeared, its wings outstretched, descending from the sky. Its large, hairy, and rather ugly head, about the size of a human head, was making all sorts of human-like expressions, grinning at Zhou Ziwei as if it were grinning at him.
Zhou Ziwei was so shocked by the Bat King's incredibly deadly expression that he almost fell off the force field.
I never expected it to be this guy; I've run into him here again today.
Since emerging from the bat cave, Zhou Ziwei had entered a deep meditative state on the street in order to condense the impure and mixed soul power absorbed into his sea of souls. He had completely withdrawn his consciousness into his sea of souls. When he woke up, the bat king was gone. At the time, he thought that the guy had left without saying goodbye. Although he was relieved, he was also somewhat disappointed.
What he didn't know was that the giant bat had actually been following him around for almost the entire time, but the Bat King was naturally cautious and extremely wary of humans.
Apart from Zhou Ziwei, it dared not approach anyone easily. Therefore, during this time, it only relied on the trace of Zhou Ziwei's soul aura that it had tainted on its body, and followed Zhou Ziwei from a distance, but dared not easily show itself in front of Zhou Ziwei.
Just now, the Bat King clearly sensed Zhou Ziwei's despair and fear, knowing that Zhou Ziwei must have encountered a life-or-death crisis. Its deep-seated dependence on and gratitude towards Zhou Ziwei immediately made it chase after him without hesitation.
When the Bat King caught up and saw Zhou Ziwei chasing after a large swarm of small insects, its enormous head turned slightly, and its eyes darted around a few times before it finally made a rough guess about Zhou Ziwei's current situation. It estimated that Zhou Ziwei wanted to eliminate the swarm of Soul-Eating Flying Insects but had no way to do so.
It could also sense Zhou Ziwei's undisguised fear of the group of small insects, so the Bat King spun around and quickly moved in front of the group of Soul-Eating Flying Insects. Suddenly, it opened its huge mouth and took a deep breath at the swarm of black insects.
"Hey... what are you doing? You can't eat these little bugs..."
Zhou Ziwei never expected that the Bat King would actually come to eat these Soul-Eating Flying Insects. Although he knew that most bats usually feed on insects, he didn't think that a behemoth like the Bat King would also rely on insects to survive. With its size, how many insects would it have to eat to fill its huge belly?
Even if the Bat King truly loves eating insects, these Soul-Eating Flying Insects are no ordinary insects... If it were to swallow them all in one go, then... Zhou Ziwei really couldn't imagine the consequences...
However, Zhou Ziwei's warning came a little too late. The Bat King's huge mouth usually spews out sound waves every day as if it were a blind man's cane. Over time, its lung capacity has become extraordinary. With one breath, the large group of Soul-Eating Insects below, which were desperately trying to escape, were almost completely sucked into its belly with a "whoosh".
"Ah—" Upon seeing this scene, Zhou Ziwei was stunned. He stopped in mid-air and stared blankly at the Bat King's enormous body, not knowing what to do.
Zhou Ziwei's rationality told him that this was the best time to completely eliminate this group of Soul-Eating Insects. Now that all the Soul-Eating Insects had entered the Bat King's stomach, Zhou Ziwei only needed to throw a high-quality Soul Bead at the bat or pour all the Reincarnation Water from the bottle onto the bat's body to nip this terrifying disaster in the bud.
However... to kill those Soul-Eating Flying Insects, we would have to take down the Bat King as well.
Zhou Ziwei looked at the Bat King, who was giving him a strange, ingratiating smile. He could clearly sense that the Bat King wasn't eating the insects because it was hungry, but because of him.
How could Zhou Ziwei bear to repay kindness with enmity and kill the Bat King as well?
The thoughts in his mind were like a sharp blade, constantly swirling and struggling in Zhou Ziwei's mind, and in an instant, Zhou Ziwei felt exhausted.
Volume 2: The Assassin's Nightmare, Chapter 338: Black Crystal
Although Zhou Ziwei was reluctant to harm the Bat King in front of him, which was clearly very friendly to him, he believed that anyone would know which choice to make when faced with the consequences of turning the entire Earth into a dead land.
However, Zhou Ziwei still couldn't bring himself to ignore this lovable big guy who was so dependent on and friendly towards him, all for the sake of so-called human righteousness.
So Zhou Ziwei held a high-quality soul bead in his left hand and the bottle of reincarnation water with its cap already opened in his right hand. He stood on the force field space, gently floating above the Bat King, his eyes fixed on every inch of the bat's body, but he did not make a move for a long time.
He was waiting... He was waiting for the bats to die, or for the first Soul-Eating Flying Insect to emerge from the Bat King's body, before he would make his move. With a two-pronged approach, he would ensure that the Soul-Eating Flying Insects had nowhere to escape.
Of course, this would involve some risk, but Zhou Ziwei believed it was something he had to do.
The Bat King likely swallowed all the Soul-Eating Insects in one gulp to help him. If Zhou Ziwei were to kill the bats at that moment, then... no matter how justified his reasons were, Zhou Ziwei would still feel guilty in the future.
In addition, Zhou Ziwei still held a sliver of hope that the Bat King, despite having devoured so many terrifying Soul-Eating Insects, would be alright.
In this world, everything has its counter; apart from humans, there are almost no creatures that can truly be invincible.
Although in Zhou Ziwei's eyes, these Soul-Eating Flying Insects had almost no obvious weaknesses.
Whether it's an ordinary life form or a pure soul, any living being will become their prey.
However, since the world has not yet fallen into the hands of these terrifying creatures, it proves that their natural enemies must still exist in this world.
Otherwise, this world would probably have already become a dead zone.
These soul-devouring flying insects were discovered by Zhou Ziwei in the underground tomb. However, before that, there were clearly many solidified souls in the underground tomb that had been nurtured by the extremely yin place and may have existed for more than a thousand years.
These soul entities are the best food for those soul-devouring flying insects, and when faced with soul-devouring flying insects, the soul entities are like mice facing a cat, with almost no ability to resist.
Therefore... Zhou Ziwei had reason to believe that these soul-devouring flying insects must have only recently appeared in the tomb.
Or perhaps these soul-devouring flying insects had been dormant all along and only recently woke up.
Or perhaps... these soul-devouring flying insects simply flew into the tomb from somewhere else.
Otherwise, given the greedy nature of these soul-devouring flying insects, it would be impossible for them to allow so many souls to remain in the tomb for thousands of years without being eaten.
The underground tomb has always been buried deep underground, and there is only a small opening connecting it to the bat cave. Therefore, it is highly likely that these soul-devouring flying insects flew through the bat cave.
However, if the above reasoning is correct, then it means that... the lair of these soul-devouring flying insects is very likely near the bat cave.
However... if these soul-devouring flying insects live near the bat cave, or even possibly inside it, then... why were those bats able to live so comfortably all along?
Thinking about this, there is only one most likely answer, which is... that the Soul-Eating Flying Insects do have natural enemies, and their natural enemy is—bats.
Zhou Ziwei guessed that it was probably because of the suppression by bats that these terrifying little insects had never had a chance to emerge.
However, a powerful soul suddenly emerged from that underground tomb.
This soul entity devoured all the human souls residing within the bats that were entrenched in the bat cave in one gulp.
This caused the ordinary bats to flee in fear, and the Soul-Eating Flying Insects, no longer suppressed, were drawn by the souls within the underground tomb, which is why they slipped through the gaps between the bat cave and the underground tomb...
Bats are generally considered omnivorous, but most of them primarily feed on flies and beetles.
Although the Soul-Eating Flying Insects are a very unusual insect, they are still insects no matter how powerful they are. They can be eaten by their natural enemy, the bat. This... shouldn't be too hard to understand.
Perhaps bat nerve endings are exceptionally tough, making it impossible for the soul-devouring insects to penetrate them. Perhaps... bat saliva or digestive fluids are deadly poisons to the soul-devouring insects, and even a tiny amount would be fatal.
Or perhaps... the ultrasonic waves emitted from the bat's mouth could stun all these damned little insects...
Zhou Ziwei gazed at the Bat King before him, which seemed to have changed little, his eyes filled with ever-growing anticipation. As time passed, Zhou Ziwei's hope grew stronger, but he dared not be careless in the slightest. He refused to put down the two weapons in his hands that might be the only ones that posed a fatal threat to the Soul-Devouring Flying Insects.
The Bat King circled around Zhou Ziwei several times, its eyes radiating a curious, almost anthropomorphic, look. It probably couldn't understand why Zhou Ziwei, who clearly didn't have wings, could fly in the sky like it.
Ignoring the Bat King's mischievousness, Zhou Ziwei remained cautiously on guard for a good ten minutes. Only when he saw that the Bat King still did not show any unusual behavior did he breathe a slight sigh of relief.
However, just to be on the safe side, Zhou Ziwei simply moved closer to the Bat King, placed one hand firmly on the Bat King's belly, and then tentatively released a wisp of soul power to slowly invade the Bat King's body.
After searching for a long time, Zhou Ziwei had examined almost every nerve in the Bat King's body, but he hadn't found a single Soul-Eating Flying Insect. However, after examining the Bat King's stomach and intestines, he did find many remains of Soul-Eating Flying Insects. Only then did Zhou Ziwei finally relax and pat the Bat King's head with a big laugh to show his encouragement.
Unexpectedly, Zhou Ziwei's forceful slap caused the bat to suddenly burp, and then it opened its mouth and spat out a tiny... rice-grain-sized black crystal.
Soul Bead... no, no, no... liquid soul power? Oh... no, heavens... what is this? Solid soul power?
Zhou Ziwei caught the black crystal, examined it briefly, and was genuinely shocked by this seemingly unremarkable object.
As a master with supernatural abilities, his perception of soul energy was far beyond that of ordinary people. He simply scooped up the rice-grain-sized black crystal in his hand, and Zhou Ziwei immediately perceived its characteristics clearly.
This was clearly a very pure soul power, even many times purer than the purified liquid soul power within his body.
This tiny crystal, no bigger than a grain of rice, is probably not much less than the soul power Zhou Ziwei currently possesses.
How could the Bat King spit out this thing? This doesn't look like a natural mineral deposit... I doubt it could have been dug out from underground, right? Nor could it be something like gallstones, which are naturally formed inside an animal's body.
Such a powerful soul force is not something the Bat King can withstand.
Could it be the result of the soul energy within those Soul-Eating Flying Insects being purified?
Zhou Ziwei considered this possibility, and his heart suddenly pounded wildly.
This is a really good thing... almost solid soul power, it's really hard to imagine.
Zhou Ziwei only needed to circulate his liquid soul power within his body to exponentially increase his abilities in all aspects.
If he could devour this black crystal and integrate its solidified soul power into his nerve endings to control his body, then... just how powerful would he become? It's truly something to look forward to... However... I imagine that the pain he would have to endure to gain such power would be unbearable for most people.
Although the black crystals were quite tempting to Zhou Ziwei, he didn't dare to recklessly swallow them whole.
While this thing might provide him with ample soul power and immense strength, who knows what terrifying side effects it might have? Zhou Ziwei didn't want to use himself as a gullible experiment unless absolutely necessary.
In fact, according to Zhou Ziwei's conjecture, the form of soul power should be the same as most substances in nature, which are divided into three states: gaseous, liquid, and solid.
The concentration of gaseous soul power is naturally the lowest, followed by liquid, while solid soul power must have been condensed to an extremely astonishing degree.
Zhou Ziwei has only just been able to condense liquid soul power, but if he were to forcibly absorb a solid soul power at this time, who knows if he would suffer a backlash?
So after hesitating for a moment, Zhou Ziwei carefully put the black crystal away beside him, then flipped over and mounted the Bat King. Although stepping on the force field space allowed Zhou Ziwei to fly freely, the consumption of soul power by that thing was truly terrifying. So, with a big guy like the bat as a mount, Zhou Ziwei naturally wouldn't waste it like that.
Bat King, with Zhou Ziwei riding on his back, showed no displeasure whatsoever. Instead, he carried Zhou Ziwei in a swift, triumphant flight through the air, appearing extremely pleased with himself.
Zhou Ziwei chuckled, then pointed to the bat cave below and said softly, "Go there..."
Upon seeing the direction Zhou Ziwei pointed to, the bat trembled slightly, as if it had some kind of instinctive fear of that place. However, under Zhou Ziwei's repeated urging, it still plunged down...
Zhou Ziwei wasn't still coveting the treasures in the underground tomb, but he was concerned that if his guess was correct, the soul-devouring insects in the underground tomb really did fly through the small gap between the bat cave and the underground tomb. If they weren't dealt with, sooner or later, after all the souls in the underground tomb had been devoured by the soul-devouring insects, those terrifying little insects would fly out from there again.
At that time, the bat cave will no longer be guarded by bats, the natural enemies of the soul-devouring insects. If the soul-devouring insects fly out in large numbers, they will surely bring a terrible disaster to the whole world.