It had been about 8 days since the Nings had been leeching off of the birds’ bodies. The only problem was that the birds were very small compared to the wolves and couldn’t give them as much energy before dying.

Each bird provided about 50 thousand extra energy before they died off. But, they also lasted for a day so the Nings were actually gathering energy far slower than when they were in the wolves. ​​

The birds routinely flew over the shore of the ocean looking for dead carcases of aquatic creatures. Only when they didn’t find them would they fly off to find dead carcases of creatures in the forest.

They never got closer to any living animals, so the Nings never got the chance to switch bodies with something better. By now they had already resigned to their fate and were waiting for all the birds to die and fall somewhere where they could switch to another creature.

However, for them to do that, they would have to wait until the last bird died off. These birds were not only carnivorous, but they were also cannibals. Whenever a bird died off, they would feast on their own kind. The Nings felt like throwing up every time they saw. But, slowly and surely, they were getting used to deaths and corpses.

Together with the attack at the village, their time with the wolves and now with the birds, they had seen enough death that they were slowly getting calloused towards it. Soon, they knew that they would see something die before them and at that time, even with the amplified emotions, they would feel absolutely nothing about it.

Time passed once more. Now, there were only half a dozen birds or so left. The Nings were getting pretty bored now.

‘Hey, can’t we just switch to the trees? I hate these birds,’ said Ning B as he looked at the 5 birds that were flying around him.

‘Just wait. After all 6 of them die, we will have 3 hundred thousand more energy. We can easily change bodies after that. It’s just better objectively,’ said Ning A. Although, he was incredibly bored as well.

‘Oh yeah? And what if the final bird dies somewhere, where there is no tree around? Do we switch bodies with the dirt?’ said Ning B. He was a little angry at Ning A.

Ning A ignored the anger in Ning B. He could empathize with him on this matter. He too was afraid that this would happen and they would forever be stuck there, waiting as the corpse of the bird rots and they lose all of their energy.

‘We will just have to wait and see,’ said Ning A.

Once more, the birds did their round trip and arrived at the ocean shore. They searched around the beach looking for any washed-up carcases. The beach was very long, and it took them nearly 3 days just to go from one end to the other.

Suddenly, Ning A noticed something in the ocean. A second later Ning B noticed it as well. And it didn’t take the birds long after to notice it as well. The birds were good at noticing stuff, but what was happening in the ocean didn’t require amazing eyesight or anything. Even the Nings with their terrible vision could see what was happening.

To be fair, who wouldn’t notice a large patch of red in the middle of the blue ocean.

‘Is that blood?’ Ning A said as he waited for the birds to go closer so that he could see what it was.

‘I think so. But, isn’t that a bit too red?’ Ning B asked.

‘That does kind of looks like the blood we saw on the snow though. Just a little bit diluted due to the water, I believe.’ Ning A said.

‘Hmm… that makes sense. Just what could’ve died there for it to produce such a large pool of blood?’ Ning B wondered.

The birds flew closer to see if they could pick off any dead fishes or creatures in the ocean. They flew over the red patch of water and the Nings watched the furious splashes of water underneath them due to the many fishes that too had gathered to find themselves some food.

‘I don’t see anything dead, do you?’ asked Ning A.

Ning B looked around a little and answered, ‘No. I don’t see anything either.’

‘Just what was dead then? Or are we mistaken about something dying ?’ Ning A wondered.

‘Something has to have died. Why would so much red be here then? Even the fishes are here for the food.’ Ning B said.

Ning A suddenly realized something. ‘If there is so much red, yet there is no corpse here. That could only mean that this is— ‘

A gigantic mouth jumped out of the ocean, devouring the entire school of fishes that were near the red spot, including the birds up in the sky.

‘— a trap.’ Before he could even finish his sentence fully, the Nings had been swallowed by a gigantic fish. The Nings felt hot, acid-like substance burning the bodies of the bird they were in as they were both corroding and drowning in the stomach of the monster.

‘System, quick!! Use parasite on the giant monster, or we will lose all of our energy before we know it.’ Ning A shouted with urgency in his voice.

<It will cost you 100,000 energy. Are you sure?>

‘Just f**king do it!!’ Ning A shouted angrily at the system which was taking time following his orders with stupid questions. Suddenly, they felt their consciousness lurch as they shifted from the dying bird to the giant fish. Immediately, their sense of touch went from burning and corroding to the deep coldness of the ocean.

The Nings took a sigh of relief realizing they didn’t end up getting torn apart in the fish’s body. They looked outside at the cold nothingness of the ocean as Ning A said.

‘We walked along the forest. Then we flew high, up above.’

Ning B followed, ‘I guess it’s time we go dive in the ocean as well.’