Chapter 124: Cruelty

The Flame Beast ultimately perished, just as in the original tale, crushed beneath the iron hooves of the Potato Beast horde.

Although the Potato Hands had reached their complete form, their individual combat power was quite weak. In their evolution, they chose to evenly distribute all their attributes, making them mediocre in every aspect—so much so that even in their strongest attribute, they paled in comparison to a mature-stage Digimon specialized in that trait, such as the Flame Beast in attack power. Yet, when gathered in large, disciplined groups, their immense and cohesive strength was enough to overwhelm an equal number of complete-form opponents. Honestly, the Zombie Satan Beast is strong, right? If it fought head-on without flying, with fewer numbers, the Zombie Satan Beast would win, but once their numbers reached over a hundred, the Potato Beasts could utterly annihilate the Zombie Satan Beasts.

On the first day in the Digital World, the children witnessed the loss of life firsthand. Before they could experience the fascinating aspects of this realm, they saw its cruelest face.

“Do you regret it now?” Feng Xue leaned against the stone wall, watching the Potato Beast horde retreat and asked the children.

They didn’t answer, perhaps already prepared for this, or silently mourning the Flame Beast’s death.

Only after they piled stones into a grave did Kenta and Bohe, the two eccentric ones, finally come to their senses.

Speaking of which, last night’s Potato Beast attack was so raucous that Feng Xue had to drag the two by their collars for several hundred meters. Yet, they showed no signs of waking up at all. This was beyond just deep sleep.

Then, these two actually pulled a Potato Beast out of the ground!

“You guys really know how to make a ruckus last night!” Liu Ji glared fiercely at the Potato Beast, utterly unaware of how suggestive her words sounded. Among everyone present, only Feng Xue, the seasoned veteran, seemed to notice but chose not to comment.

“Last night?”

“Last night, these guys came in swarms to attack us!” Liu Ji’s face darkened as she recalled the Flame Beast.

But on the other hand, the Flame Beast had brought this on itself, boldly attacking a horde of complete-forms when it was only a small mature-stage Digimon. Did it really want to return to Founder’s Village that badly?

“Because it was too scary!” The Potato Beast answered in a childish voice, though it seemed somewhat inarticulate.

“You all…”

“The Flame Beast struck first,” Feng Xue shook her head, halting Liu Ji. “They feared the Flame Beast would steal their territory. This land is desolate, with limited data to sustain Digimon life. To survive here, one must take risks.”

“But…”

“Stop blaming them. By the way, Kaito, you can ask about the Gureku Beast. Around here, they’re basically the local overlords.”

“That makes sense.” Kaito pulled out several sheets of paper bearing sketches of the Gureku Beast and the Mohuro Beast. Admittedly, Kaito was quite talented in this regard; his simple line drawings captured each Digimon’s distinct features perfectly—no one could deny the resemblance.

“Have you seen this Digimon?” Kaito pointed to the Gureku Beast’s image.

The Potato Beast responded with a blank, innocent expression.

“How about this one?” Kaito switched the picture to the Mohuro Beast.

At that moment, not only the Potato Beast that had been dragged out but dozens more suddenly emerged from the ground, all blurting out in unison, “We’ve seen it, we’ve seen it!”

The chorus of dozens of Potato Beasts incessantly claiming familiarity even made Feng Xue’s head ache.

“When?”

“Um…”

“Where?”

“Um…”

The children asked several questions in quick succession, each met with a prolonged “Um” from the Potato Beasts, as if they were simply playing cute.

“There’s no way you’ve only seen the Mohuro Beast but not the Gureku Beast. That’s strange!” Shuli manipulated her glove puppet to make an exaggerated silly face.

“You’re not lying, are you?” Liu Ji rested her chin on her hand, skeptical.

“Lying? What do you mean?” The Potato Beast tilted its head. This was not an act of cuteness, but genuine ignorance about deceit. In fact, except for the Nightmare Legion, the Dark Zone, or those Digimon explicitly known for trickery, most Digimon were honest and straightforward folk. Deception was rare.

“Wait, you really have seen the Mohuro Beast, right?” Kaito suddenly appeared from somewhere, asking gently.

“Yes, yes, we have!”

“Where did it go?”

Kaito’s question seemed to flip a switch. Instantly, all the Potato Beasts burst out from underground, standing upright like meerkats on a vast prairie—which, in some habits, the Potato Beasts resembled.

Seeing their change in behavior, Kaito eagerly pressed on, “Can you tell us?”

“Over there, over there, over there…” The overlapping childish voices echoed again as every Potato Beast extended a forelimb, pointing in the same direction.

“By the way, why can the Potato Beasts maintain their complete form indefinitely, while the Keel Beasts revert back? Oh, and Phyllis Beast also stays in complete form!” Bohe suddenly asked. Upon hearing this, aside from Liu Ji who had heard Feng Xue’s previous explanation, everyone turned to look at Feng Xue.

“It’s probably related to data,” Feng Xue said, pointing to some discarded files rolling by the roadside. “Digimon expend data when acting or fighting. If a Digimon’s data intake exceeds expenditure, it can maintain its current state stably. But if expenditure outweighs intake, and the data volume isn’t enough to sustain the current form, it will degenerate. The Keel Beasts only evolve during battles, meaning they don’t have a chance to replenish data to stabilize their form. After intense fights, with massive data consumption, they’re forced to revert.”

“I see. I actually hope the Keel Beasts would always look like Keel Beasts…” Kaito’s mood seemed to dip as a thought crossed his mind. The Keel Beast immediately responded, “I’ll always be a Keel Beast, Kaito.”

“That’s true…” Kaito smiled and looked at Feng Xue with an envious expression. “Phyllis Beast, no matter how it evolves, stays like this… so convenient!”

“Is that so?” Feng Xue chuckled, about to explain further when a beam of light suddenly swept toward them!

“Damn!” Feng Xue instantly spread her wings, scooping up Liu Ji and taking flight. Seeing this, the others didn’t hesitate and quickly fled alongside Feng Xue. Only the slow-reacting Kenta and Bohe remained behind until the beam approached before they started running.

“Idiots, running straight toward the beam in such an open space! Can’t you take a detour?” Perhaps Feng Xue’s admonition took effect, or maybe the storyline of the Gale Valley wasn’t crucial enough to trap Feng Xue here. In any case, by some stroke of luck, Kenta and Bohe managed to avoid the beam...