Evan kept retreating, eyes locked on the giant crocodile’s massive jaws. A tiny part of him still held onto hope.

  This was FangBro—

  The man rumored to be able to survive even a Saint?tier’s pursuit.

  …Though, to be fair, that was probably just rumor. FangBro had never actually been chased by a Saint?tier.

  Evan’s mind raced. He backed up more than ten meters when—

  The air in front of him rippled.

  Like someone assembling a human shape out of countless particles, a figure materialized.

  FangBro.

  Evan froze, stunned and relieved at the same time. He glanced at the crocodile’s tightly shut jaws—he had watched FangBro get swallowed whole. How did he escape in just a few seconds?

  “Move!” FangBro shouted.

  He grabbed Evan and earth?phased them a full kilometer away. Then he collapsed like a pile of wet mud, gasping for breath.

  In the distance, the mutated giant crocodile burst fully out of the ground, roaring in agony—far worse than when it had swallowed the poison earlier.

  “What happened?” Evan asked.

  FangBro’s voice trembled with exhaustion.

  “I… poisoned it from the inside.”

  Evan’s eyes widened.

  “You actually went inside it?”

  FangBro looked offended.

  “Big bro, why do you make it sound weird? We Rovan folks don’t have that kind of hobby.”

  “I got swallowed! Since I was already in there, I figured I might as well leave a little… gift.”

  Evan inhaled sharply.

  FangBro didn’t explain how he escaped, but Evan knew it had to be some kind of escape?type skill—something extremely broken.

  Teleportation?

  No… the way he appeared earlier, like particles reassembling, didn’t look like teleportation.

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  Whatever it was, the skill’s grade was probably beyond S?rank.

  Evan didn’t ask further. Everyone had secrets. He had his own—Evolution’s Grace—and he wouldn’t want anyone prying either.

  Some things were better left unspoken.

  At this point, Evan genuinely believed FangBro could survive a Saint?tier’s pursuit.

  This guy was a walking miracle.

  A rare talent.

  A very special kind of talent.

  Rovan Academy really had missed out by not letting him graduate. They had let a thousand?mile stallion slip away—one that could also run like hell.

  Evan even felt a faint urge to recruit him someday.

  But first, he needed to save Wendy Lewis and Yvonne Hart.

  They rested quietly for twenty minutes.

  Finally, the mutated giant crocodile stopped moving.

  Evan and FangBro approached cautiously, testing it several times before confirming—

  It was dead.

  Both men broke into wide grins.

  Harvest time.

  Evan pulled out the portable extractor and stabbed it into the crocodile’s abdomen.

  Moments later, a tube filled with bright orange evolution light emerged.

  He had never seen an extract glow so intensely.

  The quality was extraordinary.

  “This one’s mine,” Evan said. “I’ll transfer the money to you later.”

  “No problem! A treasure like this belongs in the hands of a genius like you, big bro!” FangBro said with a grin.

  He had known from the start that Evan wanted this extract. Tier?2 extracts were useless to him anyway—he’d only sell them. Helping Evan get it was the obvious choice.

  And he trusted Evan wouldn’t shortchange him.

  Evan said, “A normal Tier?2 S?rank extract sells for around 100 million. This one is higher quality and a mutation, so it’ll fetch more. Let’s call it 150 million.”

  FangBro nodded rapidly.

  “Big bro is generous!”

  It was a fair price.

  Evan continued, “You contributed more than I did in this hunt. Let’s split the profits seventy?thirty—you get seventy.”

  “Absolutely not!” FangBro waved his hands. “Without you, I’d be crocodile poop right now. I may be poor and greedy, but I still have some pride.”

  Evan chuckled.

  “Then fifty?fifty?”

  FangBro hesitated.

  “This… maybe sixty?forty?”

  “Deal,” Evan said immediately.

  FangBro clearly didn’t like owing people. During the earlier crocodile hunt, he had offered sixty?forty, and Evan had insisted on fifty?fifty. Now FangBro returned that one?tenth—even though this one?tenth was worth more than ten times the previous one.

  Evan transferred 90 million to him.

  His own balance dropped to 110 million.

  Now only the giant corpse remained.

  Normally, beast corpses had value—medicine, crafting, materials. But mutated beasts were different. Because they were rare, their medicinal properties were unknown. Pharmaceutical companies wouldn’t spend millions researching a one?off creature.

  And this corpse was full of poison, riddled with holes.

  Useless for medicine.

  Selling it to a pharma company would fetch a pitiful price.

  FangBro thought for a moment.

  “I know a way to sell it for more. Mutated beasts have huge research value, so…”

  Evan understood.

  “You mean sell it to researchers?”

  “Exactly!” FangBro nodded. “Like the Rovan Evolutionary Research Institute.”

  Evan shook his head.

  “Dealing with government agencies is too slow. Let me think… EvolutionTech does this kind of research. I’ll ask.”

  He did know someone there.

  He snapped a photo of the corpse and sent it to his contact—Shawn Miller, the EvolutionTech branch manager he met in Blackrock City.

  Then he called him.

  The moment the call connected, Shawn’s enthusiastic voice came through:

  “Mr. Su? I knew it—my left eyelid’s been twitching all morning. Must be good news!”

  “Shawn, cut the nonsense. Let’s get to business.”

  “Of course. Go ahead.”

  “I’ve got a mutated beast corpse. You guys buy this stuff, right? I heard your research department is interested.”

  “What tier?”

  “Tier?2… at least S?rank. Stronger than any S?rank I’ve seen. I sent you a photo—take a look.”

  “Alright, I’ll ask headquarters. I’ll call you back soon.”

  EvolutionTech is about to name their price…

  but mutated beasts attract more than just researchers.

  Next chapter’s question:

  Who else will notice the corpse—and what trouble will it bring?