At the same time, at a dock thousands of miles away.
A salty sea breeze laden with the smell of diesel blew across the pier. Five figures abruptly appeared in the shadows of the shipping containers—three men and two women, dressed in various styles, but all with the same look of bewilderment on their faces.
The confusion lasted for less than three seconds before the burly man in the lead was the first to snap out of it.
He was nearly 1.9 meters tall, with knotted muscles under his camouflage tank top and a faded scorpion tattoo on his right arm. He scanned the surroundings, his gaze cutting like a knife across everyone's faces.
"Reincarnators?"
The man's voice was raspy, as if confirming whether those around him were his companions.
The other four nodded subconsciously. The system panels unfolded simultaneously in their consciousness, with the faction column uniformly displaying 'Reincarnator'.
"You've all seen the mission: Anaconda, Borneo Rainforest. Our main task is to protect the protagonist group and help them obtain a blood orchid."
The burly man looked at everyone and grinned, revealing smoke-stained yellow teeth.
"To put it simply, we're all in the same boat now. If you want to go back alive, don't start any infighting."
His gaze fell on the two young women. They were huddled together, their faces pale, and the one with short hair was trembling uncontrollably.
"W-we..."
The short-haired woman's voice wavered as she stammered.
"We won't go to the Borneo Rainforest. The mission only says to survive for seven days; we just need to stay at this dock..."
"Hide for seven days?"
The burly man scoffed.
"Don't forget who we are—Reincarnators. We don't belong to this world. To this world, we're the equivalent of illegal residents. Do you really think you can survive in this chaotic area for seven days?"
The two women's bodies stiffened, and their expressions turned grim.
"The Main God Game isn't child's play."
The burly man turned around, looking towards the fishing boats moored in the distance, his gaze gradually becoming sharp.
"The first world should be a tutorial round with the lowest difficulty, and this blood orchid should be an extra reward. If you refuse to face reality and shrink back..."
The burly man looked back, his voice low and cold.
"That's just slow-motion suicide."
After saying this, the burly man ignored them and looked at the other two men: a tall, thin young man wearing glasses and a dark-skinned middle-aged man.
"Hello, I'm Zhang Meng, a veteran. I've fought in underground bare-knuckle matches. What about you two?"
"Li Wei, programmer."
The young man with glasses pushed up his frames; though he looked weak, his gaze was relatively steady.
"Wang Kun, construction worker."
The middle-aged man spoke in a muffled voice. His palms were rough and his knuckles large, but his voice revealed a hearty nature.
"Good."
Zhang Meng nodded, maintaining his leading position.
"Now, let's go get some Realgar Powder, machetes, and money. As for where the money comes from..."
Zhang Meng turned around and looked at several shady figures in the distance, grinning.
"In this world, survival is our goal. And if we want to survive, we have to abandon our former moral concepts."
After speaking, he walked towards the distance.
"If you don't want to wait for death, then keep up. Our time is limited. We need to find the story's protagonists and blend in before the plot begins. We don't have time to waste here."
Li Wei and Wang Kun exchanged a glance and quickly followed Zhang Meng.
In the shadow of the containers, the two women huddled together. They watched the receding figures of Zhang Meng and the others, their minds filled with images of giant pythons swallowing people.
In the end, they didn't follow. Rather than potentially dying in the mouth of a giant python, they preferred to stay here and live one day at a time... Further away, the silhouette of the Borneo Rainforest loomed in the moonlight like a crouching behemoth.
And in the heart of this behemoth, a white bat was hovering above an anthill, its crimson pupils reflecting the dense swarms of Giant Bowback Ants below.
These Giant Bowback Ants had long since discovered Lilith's presence, but faced with Lilith's rogue tactics, they had no solution over the past three days.
They could only watch as their kin were devoured by Lilith one by one.
By now, Lilith's genetic integrity had reached one hundred percent.
[Giant Bowback Ant genetic sequence obtained. Mutation can be initiated.]
[Muable parts detected. Option 1: 'Mouthparts' bite force enhancement.]
[Option 2: 'Exoskeleton' carapace defense.]
[Option 3: 'Torso and Limbs' comprehensive enhancement.]
[Please select Mutation direction.]
Lilith went to a quiet place and hung upside down from a horizontal branch deep within the tree canopy.
Her ultrasound continuously scanned the surrounding hundred meters. After confirming the giant python wasn't nearby and there were no predators around, Lilith immersed her consciousness into the three Mutation options.
The first Mutation direction was Mouthparts. Although an ant's mandibles were powerful, they were of no use to the current Lilith.
Given her size, it was impossible for her to fight or tear into large prey.
After passing on the first option, Lilith looked at the second Mutation direction: Exoskeleton, an option that had appeared during the first Mutation.
The defensive capabilities of an ant's carapace were indeed tempting, but Lilith's size had always been a sticking point. Once she chose the Exoskeleton, it might limit her physical growth.
Furthermore, the defense currently provided by the Exoskeleton was limited and simply not enough to withstand the constriction of a Blood Python or the bite of a large predator.
So, the second option was also discarded by Lilith.
She looked at the third option: Torso and Limbs, comprehensive enhancement.
Muscle strength, bone density, limb structure.
It wasn't a single defense or attack upgrade, but a total overhaul of the basic framework—a comprehensive improvement. Enhancing the Torso and Limbs would definitely increase her size. As long as her size increased, her strength and constitution would also improve significantly.
No longer hesitating, Lilith spoke directly in her mind.
"Select Torso and Limbs Mutation."
[Command received. Giant Bowback Ant sequence loaded into Gene Dominator. Mutation initiated.]
Once the command was entered, sharp pain exploded.
It wasn't the tearing sensation of the wing membrane modification from the first Mutation; it was a deeper, more thorough dismantling.
Lilith gripped the bark tightly, her claws plowing four deep grooves into the branch.
She could feel it—vividly feel it—every one of her bones was groaning under the strain, then fracturing, reorganizing, and densifying from the inside.
Her spine felt like it was being forged section by section by an invisible iron hammer. Her shoulder blades expanded outward, and her chest cavity was violently forced open to accommodate a larger lung capacity.
Muscle fibers were like hemp ropes being torn apart, then rewoven under some supernatural force into thicker, tougher, and more efficient power structures.
Subcutaneous fat was burned away frantically, converted into pure growth energy.
Just as Lilith expected, her body was expanding wildly.
Her originally fist-sized body grew rapidly like it was being inflated. Her white skin was stretched until it was transparent, splitting open with cracks, only to be covered by a new layer of skin in the next second.
The wing membranes extended accordingly, from a 50-centimeter wingspan to 60, 80, 100... *Crack!*
The branch supporting Lilith made a sharp snapping sound.
Lilith snapped her eyes open just before falling, her crimson pupils tracing two blood-red lines in the darkness. Her newly grown wing membranes instinctively flapped with all their might!
Boom—!
It wasn't the sound of wings flapping, but the sound of breaking wind.
The massive Bat Wings, now reaching a span of one meter, whipped up an airflow that forcefully pulled Lilith's falling body back into the air!
The keratinous blade edges cut through the air, producing a sharp whistling sound similar to a blade swinging.
Lilith hovered among the tree canopy, feeling her brand-new body, her eyes filled with uncontrollable excitement.