Stranger Danger

All the blood drained away from Fang Nianshui’s face when he realized what he was staring at.

“It’s the Bloodsucking Mosquito! Run!” He shouted before breaking into a mad dash for the village.

Ye Qing and Li Er did not need to be told twice. They immediately fell behind the hunter and ran as quickly as their legs could carry them. Unfortunately, the Bloodsucking Mosquitoes were much faster than they were. They had just reached the halfway point when the buzzing swarm caught up to them and descended like a thunderstorm.

“It’s too late… Ready your arms, lads! It’s time to fight for your life!” Fang Nianshui took a look around him before sighing out loud. His expression was dark and resigned. Despite what he said, he knew there was no chance they were going to survive this.

Although the Bloodsucking Mosquito was a Mundane-class Stranger, it traveled in swarms that consisted of tens or even hundreds of thousands Bloodsucking Mosquitoes. Forget Lin Hu or the other martial artists, even an Augmentor must get out of the Bloodsucking Mosquitoes’ way unless they had a death wish. It was no wonder Fang Nianshui believed that they were all going to die here.

.

Suddenly, Li Er let out a maniacal scream before taking off in a hurry. “Ahhhh! I don’t want to die! I don’t want to die!”

“Stop!” Caught off guard, Ye Qing tried to grab his fellow villager but was too late. Li Er was already out of range by the time his hand passed through the air where his shoulder used to be.

The portly youngster had only taken a few steps when the Bloodsucking Mosquitoes descended on him and surrounded him. Ye Qing couldn’t see anything due to how densely packed the Bloodsucking Mosquitoes were, but he could certainly hear his childhood playmate letting out the final scream of his life before falling quiet four to five breaths before later. When the Bloodsucking Mosquitoes finally flew away, all that was left of Li Er was a shriveled corpse. Every drop of blood in his body had been sucked dry, and bones scattered everywhere when it collapsed on the ground.

It was at this moment Fang Nianshui let out a mighty, “Now!” before slapping a talisman to his saber. When his weapon swept through the air, a massive column of flames burst into view and turned countless Bloodsucking Mosquitoes into ashes in an instant. Unfortunately, it only took the Bloodsucking Mosquitoes one second to fill up the gap before rushing toward Fang Nianshui.

Unlike the hunter, Ye Qing did not have a talisman he could slap to his saber to empower his attacks. He could only hack and slash at the Bloodsucking Mosquitoes the old-fashioned way. The good news was that his strength was formidable, and his vigor unending even though he had never learned how to wield a saber before. He swung his weapon around like a hurricane and was able to keep the Bloodsucking Mosquitoes at bay for a time.

The bad news was that the Bloodsucking Mosquitoes were endless, and his utter lack of swordsmanship ultimately proved to be a fatal flaw. It wasn’t long before a small swarm of Bloodsucking Mosquitoes slipped past his guard and landed on his body.

His skin was as tough as iron, but it still couldn’t prevent the Bloodsucking Mosquitoes from piercing it with their stylets and sucking his blood. A tingling pain erupted from every part of his body in no time. This was another reason why the Bloodsucking Mosquitoes were so feared. Their stylets were so sharp that they could penetrate even fine steel with ease. Otherwise, anyone who had reached the adept level in the Body Tempering stage could’ve handled them.

“Is this it?” Ye Qing thought wryly to himself. He felt surprisingly calm despite knowing that he was but moments away from death.

It was at this moment the Bloodsucking Mosquitoes on his person suddenly shuddered as if they had taken a mighty blow. Then, they shriveled up without warning before falling to the ground, dead.

“What the… how did they die?!”

Ye Qing was so surprised by the turn of events that he subconsciously slowed down and allowed even more Bloodsucking Mosquitoes to reach him. However, just like the Bloodsucking Mosquitoes from before, they too shriveled up and dropped dead in just a matter of breaths. It wasn’t long before the ground was covered in countless dead Bloodsucking Mosquitoes.

“My blood… it’s sucking them all up!” exclaimed Ye Qing in realization. His blood had boiled up the moment the Bloodsucking Mosquitoes plunged their stylets into his skin. But instead of sucking him dry, they were the ones who got their blood sucked out of their bodies instead. Not only that, he could feel his vigor increasing every time he consumed a small swarm.

I had no idea my blood could be used this way! Ye Qing thought ecstatically to himself. Then, he realized something and stopped moving all of a sudden. The Bloodsucking Mosquitoes immediately took advantage of his inactivity and covered him from head to toe.

The Strangers couldn’t kill him, and he was growing stronger just by standing there and doing nothing. So, why would he resist?

Meanwhile, Fang Nianshui was still swinging his flaming saber about and slowly retreating toward the village. He did not notice what was happening to Ye Qing because he was busy enough trying to keep himself alive. The youngster was probably long dead anyway.

At first glance, it looked like Fang Nianshui was doing pretty well. The flame on his saber was absolutely tearing through the Bloodsucking Mosquitoes. However, the flame was just an effect of his talisman, and every swing of the blade diminished its power a little more. The moment it ran out of power would be the moment he died.

Gradually, the flame on his saber weakened, and his legs grew heavier and heavier. It would appear that he wouldn’t even live until his talisman petered out. It was because the high-intensity battle had taken too much out of him, and because there were simply too many Bloodsucking Mosquitoes in the area. They were as numerous as the stars in the sky, and they hampered him every step of the way.

Is this it? Fang Nianshui thought while panting heavily. His eyes still burned with defiance, but he was covered in Bloodsucking Mosquitoes and growing weaker by the second. At this rate, he was surely going to die.

“... Croak!”

Suddenly, a thunderous croak erupted from the center of a paddy field.

“Croak!”

The strange noise came closer and closer until finally, a green frog appeared from the road. It was as large as a human infant and standing on its hindlegs with its head held high like a human. A red strap was tied around its head, and its forelegs were crossed in front of its chest like human arms. It stared at the Bloodsucking Mosquitoes in the sky with its large, round eyes and looked almost… disdainful.

“Croak! Croak! Croak!”

What happened next was something Ye Qing wasn’t likely to forget for the rest of his life. Out of nowhere, the frog started shadowboxing the air in front of it. They weren’t the wild, swaggering punches of an untrained man either. Its movements were swift and precise, and it croaked every time it threw a punch. It looked like a true martial arts master.

“Is that… a kung fu frog I’m seeing?” Ye Qing blurted as he wiped away the Bloodsucking Mosquitoes on his face. He could only stare in utter disbelief as the frog continued to shadow-box its way toward him and deal critical hits to his worldview every time it threw a punch.

The next moment, the frog leaped into the sky and sucked in so much air that its belly was as round as a balloon. Then, it opened its mouth and let out a croak so loud, so powerful that the air shook, and an entire swathe of Bloodsucking Mosquitoes dropped dead from the shockwave just like that!

Ye Qing was not exempt from the croak. His eardrums ruptured, and his mind turned blank for a good few seconds before he recovered. When he did, he realized he was leaking blood from every hole in his head including his eyes.

“Mother of heavens! It’s a kung fu frog and a qigong frog!” Ye Qing wiped away the blood just in time to see the frog landing back on the ground and slurping up all the dead Bloodsucking Mosquitoes with its long tongue.

Next, the frog unleashed its tongue and started sweeping, whipping, rolling and herding the Bloodsucking Mosquitoes to their final destination: its stomach. Its movements were well-honed and disciplined in a way that an ordinary frog couldn’t possibly emulate. Even more intriguing was the fact that the frog’s stomach remained perfectly flat despite eating what must have been thousands of Bloodsucking Mosquitoes by this point. It wasn’t long before more than half of the swarm had disappeared into its stomach. The surroundings also looked a lot clearer than before.

As if recognizing the threat it represented, the remaining Bloodsucking Mosquitoes abruptly ditched Ye Qing and Fang Nianshui and pounced toward the frog. However, the frog simply bent down a little, stretched out a forelimb, and did a little handwave that anyone with even a smidgen of worldly experience would recognize.

When the Bloodsucking Mosquitoes got close, it abruptly unleashed a series of lightning fast palm thrusts that not only froze large swathes of Bloodsucking Mosquitoes in an instant, but also crushed them to bits afterward. Its palms must have been infused with some sort of cold energy. The bodies were then swept into its stomach by a gluttonous tongue. The frog moved so fast that it looked like it had a hundred arms, and not a single Bloodsucking Mosquito was able to get close enough to do any damage.

The Bloodsucking Mosquitoes weren’t stupid, however. When they realized that they could not defeat the frog, they abruptly pulled away from it and tried to escape. However, the frog anticipated this and launched itself into the air with a mighty croak. Then, it executed a magnificent roundhouse kick that shook the air and created what looked like an invisible wall of power. The Bloodsucking Mosquitoes were about ten meters away from the frog when suddenly, over half of their numbers just exploded into itsy bitsy pieces and spilling blood everywhere.

Once more, the frog unfurled its long tongue and swept all the fallen insects into its stomach. Terrified, the few hundred remaining Bloodsucking Mosquitoes flew even faster into the distance.

This time, the frog did not pursue them. It simply patted its belly with a satisfied expression.

“That’s… that’s it?” Some distance away, Fang Nainshui finally recovered from his shock and stared at the fleeing Bloodsucking Mosquitoes with incredulity. The Bloodsucking Mosquitoes belonged in a category of Strangers he could never hope to defeat, and yet he just witnessed another Stranger absolutely massacring them before driving them away with their tail between their legs. That the one who did it was a frog only shocked him even more.

He did not recognize the frog—he had never seen or even heard of a Stranger like this—but one thing for certain, it was incredibly powerful. After all, it had soundly defeated a Bloodsucking Mosquito swarm that even an Augmentor would have fled on sight. How could it not be powerful?

It was why Fang Nianshui tensed up and watched the burping frog warily after coming back to earth. 𝒃𝙚𝒅𝒏𝙤𝙫𝒆𝒍．𝙘𝒐𝙢

“Croak… croak…”

Thankfully, it looked like the frog wasn’t interested in them. After shooting both Fang Nianshui and Ye Qing a disdainful look, it leaped back into the paddy fields and vanished just like that.

After the frog was gone, Ye Qing walked up to Fang Nianshui and asked quietly, “Boss Fang, what in the world is that Stranger? That… kung fu frog?”

Fang Nianshui shook his head. “I don’t know either. I’ve never seen a Stranger like that. ‘Kung Fu Frog’ is a fitting name for it though.”

It was at this moment Fang Nianshui startled and shot Ye Qing a disbelieving look, “Wait, you’re still alive?”

Do you want me to die? Ye Qing rolled his eyes before making up a random excuse. “I was lucky. I was going to die until that Kung Fu Frog showed up and saved me.”

If that strange frog hadn’t shown up, he could’ve devoured more Bloodsucking Mosquitoes and grown even stronger. Unfortunately, the best-laid plans of mice and men often went awry.

That said, the Kung Fu Frog also served as the perfect excuse as to how he survived the Bloodsucking Mosquitoes, so he could hardly complain about it. The heavens give, and the heavens take.

Fang Nianshui nodded, but Ye Qing noticed that he was staring at the red dots and bumps covering his body with an inscrutable expression. It was impossible to say if the hunter believed him or not.

“Let’s head back then. The Bloodsucking Mosquito isn’t poisonous, but wounds have a higher chance of festering in hot weather like this. We should get them treated as soon as possible!”

“You’re right.”

Ye Qing nodded and followed Fang Nianshui back to the village.