Don't be fooled by insects having only four or eight legs, bouncing up and down as they walk; their speed is actually very fast, not at all slower than a human sprinting at full speed. Especially the Venomous Spiders, being flexible and small, can scurry even slightly faster than an ordinary person.
If Li Jiayu hadn't slipped into the alley and instead fled down the main street, he definitely would have been caught from behind by the Venomous Spiders. At that point, if he didn't turn back to fight, he would surely be bitten to death from behind. But fighting would mean being surrounded by insects, extremely dangerous!
Fortunately, the alley was a relic from the 1980s and 90s. It was said several high officials and wealthy merchants had emerged from here, and due to certain historical reasons, it hadn't been demolished. The somewhat dilapidated alleyways and old houses clashed sharply with the luxurious university street, but now, they were a great help to Li Jiayu.
The alley was only about two or three meters wide, the ground uneven, with occasional stone steps, somewhat hindering the insects' speed. Additionally, the alley had numerous turns, twisting and turning. After Li Jiayu wound his way through for a few minutes, the large Red-Crested Beetles could no longer find him. Only some persistent Venomous Spiders and Amoeba Bugs followed closely behind Li Jiayu, determined to eat him.
"Without the Red-Crested Beetles backing you up, what are you small fry still acting arrogant for! Dark Octopus, come out!"
Li Jiayu silently chanted the incantation, summoning the Dark Octopus from the spatial rift in about a second. Since hiding was no longer necessary, it was time to fight decisively and kill these insects quickly!
"Master... Octopus is eating snacks... want to try some too..."
The moment the Dark Octopus bounced out, Li Jiayu's face darkened. This creature was actually holding the female stockings it collected in its mouth, looking blissful as if enjoying a delicacy! Li Jiayu covered his face with his hand and sighed:
"Try your head! Octopus... can you be a bit more serious? Fighting properly is your duty! If you perform well, I'll summon an octopus wife for you later..."
"No... Octopus only likes pretty human sisters..."
Li Jiayu had had enough of this perverted octopus and roared:
"If you don't fight properly for me, I'll banish you forever into the spatial rift, unable to ever descend upon this world again! Let's see how you find your pretty sisters then!"
"Ah... Octopus understands..."
This was practically a fatal threat to the Dark Octopus. It quickly gathered its spirits and charged into battle, like a meat grinder plunging into the insect swarm. After all, before leaving the school, it had equipped itself with sufficient weapons: fruit knives, heavy iron rods, a fire axe, arming all eight of its tentacles. Even though its injuries hadn't fully recovered, with the help of enough weapons, it could still exert considerable combat power. Dealing with four or five Venomous Spiders simultaneously was completely manageable!
Meanwhile, the mummy was already engaged in battle with the two Amoeba Bugs. Although Amoeba Bugs were also high-Tier 1 insects, their defense was too poor. In contrast, the mummy had thick skin and tough flesh, explosive attack power, and Li Jiayu's command, so it held the upper hand steadily. In just a few moves, its claws plunged into the Amoeba Bugs' mouths and eyes, tearing and thrusting violently. In less than a minute, it tore both Amoeba Bugs into meat scraps!
The Venomous Spiders over there also met a dismal end, scared witless by the Dark Octopus's fire axe. They abandoned the corpses of two companions and fled miserably. Of course, the Dark Octopus also suffered considerable injuries; several suction cups on one tentacle were infected by venom and had to be shed.
Li Jiayu shook his head, quickly took out the insect brain cores accumulated previously from his backpack, crushed them, and applied them to the Dark Octopus's wounds. This was an emergency; he absolutely couldn't let the Dark Octopus get seriously injured again. If he lost its assistance, he really didn't know if he could successfully reach Anning Community within two days.
"Quickly go get the Amoeba Bugs' Insect Crystals! We shouldn't stay here long. It'll be troublesome if those Red-Crested Beetles behind catch up."
"Oh, Octopus knows..."
The Dark Octopus quickly wriggled its body over to the Amoeba Bugs' remains, extended its tentacles to search for Insect Crystals, and incidentally sucked up their brain matter greedily. Li Jiayu initially wanted to impatiently scold the Dark Octopus, telling it not to waste time due to gluttony, but he quickly froze.
Because he saw lightning-like energy rolling beneath the Dark Octopus's pink skin again! This time it was much more obvious than before! No need to ask, he knew this Dark Octopus fellow was probably going to evolve in the short term!
How is this possible... It's actually an evolving summoned beast?
Evolving summoned beasts weren't rare. However, the time required for evolution was extremely long, ranging from several months to several decades, simply unaffordable. Moreover, even if the summoned beast became stronger after evolution, it would also consume more of the summoner's mental power. In that case, summoners might as well summon another, equally consuming but stronger beast. Therefore, evolving summoned beasts weren't popular, possessing no cultivation value, far inferior to the sub-dragons and fierce beasts raised by Beast Tamers.
However, the Dark Octopus was definitely an anomaly in the summoning world!
Because it could exist in this space without consuming any of Li Jiayu's mental power, nor did it use up Li Jiayu's contract slots! The stronger it evolved, the greater the help it would be to Li Jiayu, with absolutely no drawbacks!
"I underestimated you. Eat, eat more brain matter, it can speed up your evolution."
Li Jiayu's eyes widened as if seeing the Dark Octopus for the first time. He truly hadn't expected this perverted fellow to possess evolutionary potential. This creature only knew how to freeload and eat underwear all day, showing no awareness of being a summoned beast! But in the end, not only was it an evolving type, but it also possessed attribute evolution with great potential! Judging by the situation, it would at least evolve lightning abilities. Whether it had other new attributes remained unknown.
Besides, its evolution speed was quite fast. If memory served, this creature should have only been summoned to this world two days ago, having only eaten the brain matter of a few dozen insects. Looking at it this way, perhaps if it ate some more high-tier insect brain matter, it might complete its evolution in a short time and formally step into the realm of Tier 2.
"Hmm... Originally for this trip, I only planned to evade the insects and get to the south side as quickly as possible... But now it seems, if the situation allows, I could kill some lone high-tier insects. Firstly, I can get Insect Crystals; secondly, I can promote the Dark Octopus's evolution. Why not do both?"
Li Jiayu schemed inwardly. He knew very well how powerful a low-Tier 2 summoned beast was. If the Dark Octopus could really evolve to that stage, it could definitely contend with three or four Red-Crested Beetles simultaneously. After all, this creature was originally a control-type summoned beast; its crowd control ability was no joke.
After the Dark Octopus finished eating the brain matter, Li Jiayu quickly took it and fled, turning left and right through the winding alleyways. Occasionally, they encountered small insects like Venomous Spiders or Scythe Beetles, but they posed little threat to Li Jiayu's team and were dealt with like chopping vegetables.
Soon, Li Jiayu exited the alleyway and entered the large vegetable market in the North District. This area was vast, with few insects. Li Jiayu could walk cautiously along the walls. However, due to the piles of corpses and lots of rotting meat, the market smelled extremely foul.
Perhaps because it had rained heavily the entire previous night, many stalls in the market were washed beyond recognition. Numerous eggs, vegetables, and bean products were scattered all over the ground, mixed with corpses and sludge, attracting swarms of flies. It was a chaotic, stinking mess, indescribably disgusting.