Crossing the wilderness to survive, starting with a broken kitchen knife.

Zhang Shi slashed with shadow again, and the mud monster repeated the process of breaking and restoring again, but this time it changed into Zhang Shi's appearance. Even the black light armor and Lao Duan were copied. From the appearance alone, there was no difference between it and Zhang Shi.

The mud monster smiled strangely, and then also swung out a shadow slash. Zhang Shi dodged it and his companions moved away from the gate, changing to an angle where the opponent could not harass him.

Ge Dalong's brain was working rapidly, as if he was thinking about something. After a moment, he said seriously.

"This thing is exactly the same as the three-headed monster. It can actually be copied and pasted. We have to be careful not to let it take advantage of us."

"Besides, there's a possibility that the three of us are disguised. We already suffered a loss once in Huo Village. Now everyone is trying to find a way to prove their identity."

After hearing what Ge Dalong said, Zhao Feng felt that it made sense. He quickly took two steps back, then showed the watch and poured out everything in the warehouse.

"Look, this is enough to prove my identity."

Seeing this, Ge Dalong also showed the items in the watch. As for Zhang Shi, his identity was confirmed by Mr. An alone, so there was no need for further explanation.

Zhang Shi released Pipi again, wanting to let it check by smell. Unexpectedly, as soon as it came out of the White Tiger Space, it looked towards the wall with a vigilant look, but it was not a warning, but a look full of doubts.

At first, Zhang Shi thought that Pipi had discovered the mud monster and hurried to comfort him. But not long after, he also found something wrong. The place Pipi was staring at was not the direction of the gate, but the dry well at the foot of the wall.

At this time, Ge Dalong and Zhao Feng were discussing whether to set a trap. They guessed that the mud monster could transform into Wu Qing's appearance and might have seen her. The monster's previous words indicated that it would probably leave the village after dark. Ge Dalong prepared to make some arrangements to prevent the situation from happening and find a way to control it and find out Wu Qing's whereabouts.

Something happened on Zhang Shi's side, so the two of them interrupted their work and followed Pipi carefully towards the dry well.

The group was very familiar with the dry well. Zhang Shi had personally explored it before. Even the wooden sign on the village gate was brought up from the well. Pipi lay down at the well mouth and didn't move. Zhang Shi looked inward curiously. Using his ability to focus his attention, he quickly scanned the bottom of the well. Aside from a skeleton, there was nothing unusual. Zhang Shi remembered carefully examining the skeleton himself, though he didn't know whether it was an illusion or a real event.

At this time, Pippi slowly came over, rubbed her body against Zhang Shi's calf, and made whimpering sounds, which sounded particularly sad.

It was the first time that Zhang Shi saw Pippi show such emotion, so he squatted down to comfort it, but Pippi couldn't speak after all, and Zhang Shi couldn't figure out what was going on.

A moment later, the sky suddenly darkened. Zhang Shi looked up and knew that a big battle was about to begin. There was no time to worry about the dry well, so he put Pipi away. The three of them came to the gate and prepared to fight.

The mud monster was staring at the sky. When it got completely dark, it laughed evilly, put on a black robe, pushed open the village gate, and walked out of the village.

"Well, are you ready to die?"

Zhang Shi looked at its black robe and immediately thought of the black-robed figure in the Mist City Lord's Mansion. His experiences in the Mist City over the past two days had been incredibly bizarre. The many clues that connected seemed to reveal a single truth, but Zhang Shi had no time to reason further as the sludge monster's blade was already descending upon his head.

Zhang Shi's eyes flashed, and he instantly shifted sideways, deftly dodging the sludge monster's fatal blow. At the same time, he was secretly wary. The sludge monster's strength was not to be underestimated, and now that it was dark, its speed seemed to have increased significantly, requiring him to give it his all.

Ge Dalong and Zhao Feng quickly entered combat mode, standing on either side of Zhang Shi, forming an impenetrable defensive line. Ge Dalong's ice magic condensed into icy cones, which he fired continuously at the sludge monster, attempting to slow it down. Meanwhile, Zhao Feng wielded his massive battle axe, each strike carrying the force of thunder, attempting to break through the monster's defenses.

However, the sludge monster seemed to possess boundless vitality, rapidly recovering from any damage it sustained. Its form flickered in and out of the night, sometimes transforming into a dark shadow, sometimes condensing into a solid form, making it difficult to predict. It simply withstood attacks it couldn't avoid, trading injury for injury. This, in turn, left Zhang Shi and his three companions somewhat restrained, and for a time, they were practically suppressed by the sludge monster.

Zhang Shi exchanged glances with Ge Dalong, then deliberately exposed himself, luring the sludge monster toward him. Sure enough, the sludge monster fell for it, and with a flash of movement, it transformed into a dark shadow and attacked Zhang Shi. Just as it was about to reach Zhang Shi, Zhang Shi suddenly retreated, unleashing a Shadow Slash that severed the monster's body. Meanwhile, Ge Dalong and Zhao Feng each retrieved a golden needle from the black tiger's body. Ge Dalong suspected the needle might be inhibiting its healing ability, and now that the sludge monster was possessed, he decided to give it a try.

The sludge monster seemed to sense something, pausing briefly before abruptly changing direction in mid-air, evading Zhang Shi's subsequent attack. Ge Dalong and Zhao Feng fired their needles, all missing. Seeing this, Ge Dalong quickly used his ice cone to try to contain it. The sludge monster, having recovered itself, shadow-stepped behind Zhao Feng, only to be slashed in two again by Zhang Shi, who followed closely behind. Zhao Feng seized the opportunity, unsheathed his last needle, spun around, and plunged it into the sludge monster's body.

This time, the sludge monster didn't recover immediately. It roared in agony, its flesh melting and falling off in clumps of black sludge. Seeing this, Zhang Shi was delighted, knowing this was the crucial moment to defeat the sludge monster. He rushed forward without hesitation, the old sword in his hand flashing with a cold light, and once again decapitated it.

Ge Dalong arrived shortly after and stabbed the fallen head of the mud monster with a golden needle. The mud monster let out a strange cry and unexpectedly used the Flash Shadow Step to escape back to the village.

At this time, a large number of zombies had unknowingly gathered at the village entrance. The mud monster used the zombies as a springboard to escape. It killed a zombie that pounced on it with a single blow and looked at Zhang Shi and the others with resentment.

"Struggle as much as you can. When you've exhausted all your efforts and realized it was all in vain, I will appear again to harvest you and then feast on your despair."

With that, the mud monster transformed into a pool of sewage and merged into the ground, disappearing from the spot. In its place, a swarm of zombies, their flesh withered and bloody, resembled skeletons.