Chapter 21: The Contract

When Lin Shen had touched it earlier, he had felt that this thing wasn't quite like a snake. Looking at it now, it was even less so.

Snakes have snake heads, but the head of this thing wasn't very obvious—upon a quick glance, it looked more like an earthworm with just a barely visible tiny hole at the top, which must have been its mouth.

Its body wasn't like an earthworm's either, somewhat resembling a snake skin rope made from dark red metallic threads.

All in all, if you didn't look closely, this thing just seemed like a piece of rope.

Lin Shen couldn't be sure what it exactly was, and he didn't have the time to figure it out either.

Seemingly sensing Lin Shen awakening, the creature's body suddenly swelled, with its originally about three-centimeter-thick body inflating to the thickness of a bucket in an instant.

The previously needle-like mouth also expanded, becoming large enough to easily swallow a human head.

Inside the mouth were rings of blood-colored, crystal sawteeth, resembling gears, slowly spinning inside its body, flickering with a dim then bright blood light, like a Blood Crystal Crusher starting up.

If one's head were to be swallowed by it, it would most likely be shredded into bloody residue in just an instant.

As the monstrous mouthpiece was about to swallow Lin Shen, he struggled desperately. Since the front half of the creature had inflated while the latter half had not yet done so, Lin Shen found a slight gap from what had been a tight bind.

In the instant before the creature's mouth came crashing down, a hand fiercely pulled free.

Without caring for the consequences, Lin Shen punched the creature's head below a red spot he had seen on its body, which was an acupoint.

Because of the creature's inflation, that red spot had also grown much larger.

Bang!

Just as the creature's mouth was about to engulf Lin Shen's head, his fist heavily struck the red spot.

Lin Shen felt a severe pain in his knuckles; presumably, his finger bones were either broken or fractured.

The creature's body didn't halt completely but slowed down, still engulfing Lin Shen's head.

Acupoint Sealing seemed not to have fully worked; with only strength alone, Lin Shen's force wasn't enough to even break through the creature's defenses.

Lin Shen's head frantically dodged to one side, avoiding the creature's ingestion, while his fist madly hammered the red spots on the creature's body.

Heart-wrenching pain shot through his fingers, but Lin Shen couldn't care less about that—having all the bones broken was still better than losing his life here.

Blood spattered on the creature's body, which all came from the flesh on Lin Shen's fist bursting open—it caused no harm to the monster.

The creature was still moving slowly, not completely immobilized by the Acupoint Sealing, just its movements had become very sluggish, and the force binding Lin Shen's body was gradually weakening.

Lin Shen's other hand finally broke free, pushed against the inflated front end of the creature, and pulled his body out.

At this point, the hand Lin Shen had used before couldn't even form a fist anymore, the fingers hanging unnaturally bent, the burst flesh blurred, with blood continuously dripping out.

The creature's body was also shaking violently; with each shake, it writhed in motions as if about to break free from the constraints of the Acupoint Sealing.

Lin Shen knew it wasn't that the ability of Acupoint Sealing was ineffective, but rather his own strength wasn't enough to fully seal the creature's acupoints.

It was like someone was wearing armor—knowing where the acupoints were was one thing, but not being able to penetrate the armor with one's strength meant there was no way to affect the acupoints through it.

The ability of the impact to transmit the shock into the creature and have some effect was already a stroke of luck.

Lin Shen reached for his clothes at the bedside with his good hand, trying to find the Pet Capsules of the Supersonic Gunman and the Steel Tail Scorpion.

But upon touching, he could not find the capsule for the Steel Tail Scorpion, only coming across the capsule for the Supersonic Gunman.

At this moment, he had no time to think more about it—he grabbed the key concealed on him and immediately opened the Pet Capsule.

The Pet Capsule transformed rapidly, and the Supersonic Gunman appeared before Lin Shen. At his command, the gunman drew and shot at the monster.

The bullet that struck the red spot actually deflected, sliding to the side and leaving only a faint white mark; the monster's body wriggled even faster.

Lin Shen's heart skipped a beat, realizing that the Fire Seed's ability only worked when he used it himself; external forces, even if they could hit the acupoints, had no effect of Acupoint Sealing.

This only further proved that the power of the Fire Seed was truly unscientific.

The Supersonic Gunman fired at other parts of the monster's body, but the results were worse. The shots at the red spot might leave a trace equivalent to nothing, whereas other areas couldn't retain any marks at all.

Bullets that entered the monster's mouth and struck its blood crystal-like serrated teeth were outright shattered to pieces.

Those blood crystals were harder than the monster's body, which reminded Lin Shen of what Cang had said: the creature had an accident during its advancement to Crystal Base Level and had already acquired a partial crystal-like body.

As the monster was about to break free from the binding of Acupoint Sealing, Lin Shen had no choice but to rush forward, wrap a bedsheet around his hand, and punch the red spot with his uninjured fist.

After several punches, traces of blood began to seep through the sheet on his hand, and the monster's body once again became extremely sluggish, almost immobilized.

But Lin Shen knew this was no solution. If he continued like this, his hands would be ruined sooner or later. Once the monster was no longer constrained by the power of Acupoint Sealing, it wasn't just him, Lin Shen, but the entire Lin Family estate that would likely be ravaged by the monster.

This was a Base Variant Creature with Crystal Base Level strength. If his third and fourth brothers were here, there might be a way to deal with it, but currently, there was no one in the Lin Family capable of contending with such a base variant creature—it would be a death sentence to call for help.

Thus, from the beginning, Lin Shen had no chance to activate the alarm to call for help, and now, there was no need to call anyone.

Their houses were specially designed, with strong defenses and good sound insulation. Despite the commotion that had unfolded for so long, no one outside heard anything and came to investigate.

Lin Shen's first thought was to escape, to preserve his usefulness so that he might rise again in the future.

If he lost his life, the family fortune would be of no use.

As he thought about turning to flee, Lin Shen's heart stirred, recalling the "Boundless Strength Contract" Fire Seed he had acquired earlier.

The Boundless Strength Contract required signing a blood covenant with a creature, but it didn't specify that it had to be with a newly-born creature.

However, since adult creatures don't grow anymore, signing a contract with them is useless under normal circumstances; it is definitely better to sign with a juvenile.

Yet, there was another benefit to the Boundless Strength Contract – once a creature is bound by the contract, it becomes akin to a pet, hardly able to defy its master's commands.

Of course, this contract wasn't simply completed by dripping blood on it; one had to draw the Blood Covenant on the creature's body with their blood, and during the process, the creature could not resist. If it resisted, the Blood Covenant would fail.

Given the choice, Lin Shen would certainly prefer to sign the Boundless Strength Contract with a base variant creature with sufficient growth potential.

Now, though, for his own life, the safety of the Lin Family members, and the estate, he had to attempt to sign the Boundless Strength Contract with this creature.

Of course, there was also a benefit: the creature was high-level. Even though it might not help increase his strength, it would be a powerful pet and a significant aid for the trip to Gourd Mountain.

As for whether the creature was willing or would resist, Lin Shen had no intention of asking for its consent; he planned to forcibly control its body with Acupoint Sealing and complete the Boundless Strength Contract.

Having come to this conclusion, Lin Shen no longer hesitated. Withstanding the intense pain coming from his finger bones, he punched the monster's red spot once again.

Activating the Boundless Strength Contract with one hand, he shakily began to draw the Blood Covenant on the creature, his hand already covered in blood, skipping even the step of biting his finger.

Strangely, once the Boundless Strength Contract was activated, Lin Shen's blood, when it touched the creature's skin that was harder than steel, seemed to sear into it like a branding iron onto flesh.

Even under the forceful control of Acupoint Sealing, Lin Shen could still see the creature's body visibly twitch as if it were scalded.

Unfortunately for the monster, it could not move an inch under Lin Shen's relentless pounding, which left no room for disrupting the formation of the Blood Covenant.

Just when Lin Shen's hand was nearly numb from striking the red spot, the Blood Covenant was finally completed.

In the moment the Blood Covenant was finished, the originally dull blood patterns suddenly burst into a magma-like glare.

The next second, both the blood glyphs and the blazing light seeped under the skin and became invisible; the violently trembling monster stilled.