Chapter 3: The Golden Snot Beast

“So what will happen in the end?” One Beast seemed to have thought of something, his expression turning grim.

“What else could happen? In the end, the vast majority of the Digital Worlds will vanish. According to the calculations of Ancient Music Beast and the others, at least one percent of the mass and area must remain for this multiverse Digital World to settle down. If one side’s mass far exceeds the others, it might even merge into a new Digital Beast continent. Of course, in the boundless void, only one Digital World would remain.” A faint sound came from the device on his wrist.

In truth, it was all much like the evolution of planets. If your mass is sufficient, you gather cosmic dust, forming a planet. As long as your gravity holds, this process continues, until another planet emerges whose gravity can rival yours, establishing a dynamic equilibrium and halting the transformation.

While the device spoke of higher worlds, One Beast had spent a long time searching, still finding no digital eggs. Even the body he inhabited within this game world was nearly at its limit.

“Damn it, how big is this Origin Village anyway? Our luck is just abysmal!” One Beast gasped for breath, collapsing on the grassland and panting heavily.

“Perhaps we should try thinking from a different perspective.” At that moment, the device spoke again.

“For example?” One Beast inquired.

“For example, you arrived too late; all the digital eggs have been claimed by other players. And because so little time has passed, new eggs haven’t respawned yet.”

For some reason, as One Beast gazed across the grassland, he felt that the device’s reasoning was strangely convincing.

“So what do we do now?” One Beast sat on the grass, his face twisted in a bitter smile.

“We wait. When the digital eggs respawn, you can pick one up. Of course, this assumes my guess is correct. If you’re simply in a remote area, and that’s why there are no eggs, then no matter how long you wait, none will appear.” The device’s voice came again.

Honestly, One Beast rather wanted to give the device a good beating if he could. In the end, its words were no better than saying nothing at all.

“Sigh…” With a deep sigh, One Beast slowly stood and walked onward. Step by step. Then, his figure vanished from the grassland, leaving only a hollow in the ground.

At this moment, One Beast truly wished he could unleash his power—even just one percent of his usual complete form would suffice. But he was trapped in this human body; not only was one percent out of reach, he didn’t even have a ten-thousandth of his usual growth form’s power.

Now, One Beast found himself in an underground tunnel. He looked up—there was indeed an exit straight above. But, considering his bulk, he quietly turned away.

“Don’t lose hope! This is just the beginning—no matter how tough things get, it’s not like an Ultimate-level Digital Beast will suddenly pop up and destroy you. Besides, this is a game world; maybe you won’t even die—at worst, you’ll just leave the game.” The device remarked drily by his side.

One Beast ignored it, tossing a dismissive “heh” at the device.

After a moment, One Beast felt the ground beneath his feet tremble, sensed the direction of the vibrations, and silently ran toward their source.

There, he encountered a swarm of Golden Snot Beasts, and in front of them, a girl clutching a digital egg.

He emerged from one tunnel. To his left stood the girl, and behind her, the horde of Golden Snot Beasts. They weren’t chatting amicably, but rather, the beasts were chasing the girl, launching [Golden Durian Charge] attacks at her.

Golden Snot Beast: a suddenly mutated virus type, mature-stage Digital Beast (in some games, Ultimate-level), with its signature move [Golden Durian Charge].

Though the attack lacked any real destructive power, no intelligent human or Digital Beast would wish to be struck by it. So One Beast tapped into his potential, and, aided by spatial manipulation, ran ahead of the girl.

Fortunately, this tunnel appeared to be an exit. One Beast could already see a white light not far ahead.

But, with his size—how to put it? Simply, he lacked endurance. At first, One Beast was faster than the girl, but now she had caught up and even seemed about to overtake him. Gritting his teeth, One Beast tried to run faster.

“Alright, you can stop running—the Golden Snot Beasts have gone.” The device on his wrist breathed a sigh of relief.

The device’s words brought One Beast some relief, but then, a black figure appeared at the tunnel entrance, launching an energy attack straight at One Beast and the girl.

“Not good…” One Beast’s eyes narrowed, and he moved to dodge. But seeing the girl frozen in place, staring blankly as the energy attack barreled toward her, his brows furrowed. Instinctively, he tackled her, rolling both of them aside, narrowly avoiding the attack.

In that instant, One Beast’s leg was injured, leaving him unable to flee. The black figure at the tunnel entrance charged toward them. Seeing this, One Beast gritted his teeth and stood protectively in front of the girl, his eyes calmly fixed on the approaching figure.

With only a fraction of a second left, One Beast clearly saw which Digital Beast the figure was, and the attack halted as well. In this bizarre moment, they stared at each other, until…