Report
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Griffin Scans
Translator – Hero of death
Proofreader – Sleepyhead
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Chapter 18 - Earthen District
Early the next morning, before the sun had fully risen, golden rays pierced the night sky and filled the earth, awakening those who had spent the night shrouded in fear.
Yet the streets remained almost empty, with only a few pitiful office workers forcing themselves to head to work.
Though the twisted spiders had all been slain by a mysterious expert and the military had worked through the night to clear the webs and repair damaged buildings, the terror left in people’s hearts couldn’t so easily be erased.
Since the spiders were exterminated before they could complete their ritual, the disaster was contained to just a small section of the northern district of Hang City and didn’t spread citywide.
Even so, hundreds of people suffered varying degrees of loss. Some had even watched as their family members, friends, or lovers dragged off by the spiders, cocooned in silk, and eventually reduced to piles of sludge upon being freed.
It was, without doubt, a tragedy.
Fortunately, thanks to the tireless rescue efforts of the Special Division, over eighty people were saved from more than a hundred cocoons, with only five suffering serious injuries—injuries that were still treatable in a hospital.
Despite the heavy toll, this was already the best possible outcome.
After all, in this chaotic world, the only thing people could do was survive humbly.
"A new day, huh..."
Lu Yu woke from his sleep, blinking up at the fear balloon floating near the ceiling like a little fish swimming through the air.
Most people, seeing such a terrifying human face hovering above their heads, might’ve fainted from fright. The fear balloon’s grotesque appearance had even given rise to its Intimidation skill.
But Lu Yu didn’t feel anything unusual—he’d already achieved the feat of seeing a Great Evil God and surviving!
Though he had only glimpsed a terrifying, majestic, and unfathomable shadow, he had resisted its unspeakable corruption with the help of the system and even managed to reap some benefits from the encounter.
Compared to that shadow, the fear balloon’s intimidation was like a little girl trying to act cute.
He mused to himself, Should I hang a sign around my neck that says “The Man Who Successfully Milked a Great Old One”?
While pondering, Lu Yu casually smacked the balloon away as it tried to float in front of him. Ultimately, he decided to keep a low profile.
Though he now had the skill ‘Mark of Time’, which could shield him from being tracked by that entity, flaunting his power might still draw attention from high-ranking priests or other followers and that would be exciting in a bad way.
After washing up, Lu Yu changed into a white shirt and blue shorts, told the fear balloon to behave, and headed downstairs for breakfast.
Unfortunately, he was being a bit too optimistic. After the twisted spider disaster, a dark cloud still hung over the entire northern district, and few people were in the mood to open for business.
From passersby, he learned that the breakfast shop owner had nearly suffered cardiac arrest from the spider attack and had to be rushed to the hospital. Thankfully, he was out of danger.
Left with no choice, Lu Yu took a taxi to the nearby eastern district, where he finally found a breakfast shop and ordered some soup dumplings.
Seated in the shop, he listened to the people around him gossiping about the horrific events of the previous night. He began thinking about his plans for the future.
Having carried over his disciplined habits from his past life, Lu Yu liked to plan ahead to avoid panicking or forgetting things when it mattered.
The Void Shadow Spider was still in its incubation phase and it would take 29 more days before it hatched.
The fear balloon also needed a large amount of life force to evolve. But harvesting human lives would undoubtedly provoke wrath from powerful human experts and more importantly, it went against Lu Yu’s principles.
Besides, once his Life Draining Aura was active, he could directly absorb life energy but ordinary humans didn’t contain much.
Based on his estimates, absorbing one twisted spider’s life force was equivalent to draining seven or eight average humans.
So, Life Draining Aura would be better suited for hunting powerful monsters in the wild. That would also let him collect useful materials.
The problem was, Lu Yu didn’t know much about the world of Awakened beings yet. He had heard that the wilderness was dangerous, but he wasn’t sure what exactly those dangers were.
While he wasn’t afraid of a head-on fight—especially once the Void Shadow Spider hatched. He was wary of strange, supernatural phenomena.
He remembered reading a forum post about an unclean entity that would appear out of nowhere in the wilderness and offer you a drink of water.
Refusing wasn’t an option—some bizarre force compelled you to drink. If your willpower wasn’t strong enough, you’d drink it and have your organs rotted out by the poison inside.
The post had come from near Yang City, and it was only after a strong Awakened resisted the compulsion and destroyed the creature that the bodies of more than a dozen victims with cut-open torsos were found nearby. The event was documented afterward.
Though Lu Yu was somewhat concerned about such powers, he was even more curious.
Curious whether he could extract materials from such creatures. If so, perhaps he could combine their properties with venom sacs or mind-corrupting poisons to create his own rules-based monsters.
If he succeeded, then every battle could start with him politely offering a bowl of water:
"My friend, care for a drink?"
He could even infuse the drink with electricity—serve a bowl of plasma and shock his enemies to death or blend it with shadows, a bowl of shadow water to send them off to the afterlife...
‘Defeating enemies without ever lifting a hand. Surely I’m a man who loves peace!’
Praising himself internally, Lu Yu dipped a soup dumpling in vinegar and took a bite.
“Delicious!”
Just as he was enjoying breakfast, a voice rang out behind him.
“Why are you in the eastern district?”
~~~~~~~~~~~Chapter End~~~~~~~~~~~~
