Chapter Thirty-Five: Lifting the Veil on a "New World"

Zhou Shu had thought the monster he killed was a recent arrival, but the discovery of a fossil abruptly pushed the creature’s appearance on Earth back to ancient times! There were alien monsters in the distant past—how on earth did humanity survive all this time and reach such a level of civilization? This world kept shattering his understanding again and again.

The Hunter System had been in a damaged state when it first connected to him; its database was broken, with much data lost. As a combat support system, it was odd enough that it hadn’t immediately warned him about the existence of “monsters,” but later, Little Hunter explained it away, saying the creature’s aggression wasn’t strong. Then, after extracting primal energy from the monster, the system nearly shut down right then. If not for an unknown target rapidly approaching, it might have fallen entirely into catatonia.

Now that they’d returned and scanned another monster fossil, they finally had time to analyze the issue. There were probably two possibilities: first, that the original database had contained the information, but since it was damaged, perhaps that specific entry was missing—so the system didn’t recognize the monster at once. But Zhou Shu felt the second possibility was more likely—that these were entirely unrecorded new species of monsters.

After all, this was Earth. The system couldn’t even access the “Super Soldier Official Website” here, proving how remote the place was. There could even be dimensional or temporal confusion, making the appearance of undocumented monsters quite normal.

As for the system’s assertion that human civilization was being invaded by monster civilization, Zhou Shu was initially horrified, but after thinking it over, it didn’t seem humanity was on the verge of collapse. At least, social order remained intact. That, too, showed human civilization had its own unique strengths.

Considering all this, some of his previous plans would need adjustment. At the same time, he was grateful for his “greed”—he’d chosen to take everything. His powerful physique allowed him to respond to anything, even crush monsters barehanded in emergencies without needing armor.

As for his dream of becoming a super scientist, and the various black technologies from monster movies—especially the power exoskeleton armor technology closest to him—he realized he needed those as well.

He’d glanced at Zhang Peng and the support team yesterday. Besides Zhang Peng, the team members were likely ordinary humans; even armed, they would suffer casualties when facing “demons” or even more terrifying monsters. If they were all equipped with power exoskeleton armor—even someone as unskilled as him could take down a “man-eating demon” without a scratch—those warriors should manage even better.

Exoskeleton armor would boost individual combat ability, crucial for complex urban warfare. As a complete newcomer who’d just lifted the corner of the “inner world,” there was much he didn’t know and couldn’t judge effectively.

The damaged database of the Hunter System did record the destruction of other civilizations, which sounded terrifying, but Zhou Shu couldn’t equate that with humanity’s fate.

After all, people cannot be judged uniformly, and civilizations even less so.

Especially considering how quickly other civilizations had perished, while human civilization had survived so long—it was certainly different.

But he saw in those records of destroyed civilizations mention of “cataclysmic beasts” and “divine punishment descending”—things that didn’t seem present on Earth. If they existed, they couldn’t be hidden; only “man-eating demons” lurking in cities, small enough, could be concealed for a while.

Based on these observations, Earth was probably still in the early stages of invasion. Yet, judging by humanity’s current state, this “early stage” seemed… unusually long.

He couldn’t understand it, nor could the system—it didn’t fit the data patterns. But it proved human civilization truly was extraordinary.

At this point, Zhou Shu couldn’t hold out any longer. Today had been too intense, with so much information assaulting his newly constructed worldview. He’d used “slow-motion perspective” several times, still unfamiliar, and now dizziness had taken over.

He drank a little water, tidied up, and found it was nearly one in the morning.

So now… time to sleep.

He was mentally exhausted. Whatever needed doing, let it wait for tomorrow.

Besides, with his mind so depleted, entering the virtual battleground now would only waste primal energy. Might as well sleep.

He got into bed, pulled up the covers.

Peaceful.jpg

He slept soundly all night, waking at nine in the morning, feeling refreshed.

This time, his mental attribute had increased by 0.23—a far greater boost than the previous 0.02.

He sprang out of bed, and while washing up, discovered his physique had changed again overnight.

Last night, he’d been pleased to see faint muscle definition—after all, he’d originally just been an ordinary high school student. But after one night, his muscles were even more pronounced. Whether it was due to his ethnicity or still relatively low attributes, his muscles weren’t exaggerated; dressed up, the difference was almost invisible, the kind that looked slim in clothes but muscular when undressed.

He admired himself for a bit, then finished washing up. Standing in his usual spot before the dressing mirror, he noticed another change.

He seemed… taller.

Although it had been a while since he’d lived at home, he was familiar with the mirror in his bedroom and his usual stance. Now, the space above his head in the reflection seemed smaller.

Good heavens!

He rummaged around and found his father’s old measuring tape, and quickly measured.

“One meter seventy-nine—I grew four centimeters overnight?!”

“Ah… this…”

“Incredible!”

Still, while the muscle changes couldn’t be seen under clothes, the height difference was glaring. Going from one meter seventy-five to nearly one meter eighty—when two students stood side by side, the change would be obvious. For those who knew him, the before-and-after difference would be hard to miss.

Maybe if he wore low-heeled shoes and cut his hair, he could hide it a little?

It was April, with long sleeves and pants the norm; there was still time before short sleeves and shorts were in season. Perhaps he could train in public for a few days, so people remembered him as someone who exercised—then, come summer, the only thing he’d reap would be envy, not suspicion.

Muscles and height should follow the same logic.

After a quick tidy-up, he went downstairs for breakfast.

Although it was past nine, the breakfast shops outside the neighborhood should still be open.

Last night had been so thrilling and intense that the little food he’d eaten for dinner was long digested. Later, the use of primal energy had dealt with some things, but after a night of transformation, he was starving.

When he arrived, the doors were open, and there were plenty of people—apparently everyone was sleeping in on Sunday.

No need for words—two fried dough sticks, four large meat buns, four large veggie buns, a bowl of savory tofu pudding, with chive flower, twenty-two yuan.

A small plate of free pickled radish strips to round it off.

He normally couldn’t eat this much, but today he’d eat until the world went dark!

He also pondered his future plans.

First, he definitely needed to research information about alien monsters. Since he’d encountered one while walking at night, and his parents could collect skeletal fossils, that meant the authorities weren’t doing a thorough job at secrecy, so he should be able to find some information.

Perhaps those urban legends he’d always ignored, news of accidental deaths, UFO sightings—all might be connected.

Yes, just like the news they’d watched that night—the “forest town murder case” and the “local murder case”—could be related to these creatures.

Especially the “forest town murder case,” where witnesses claimed to have seen something strange and vowed to uncover the truth.

Previously, he’d drawn conclusions based on common sense, but now that common sense was shattered, he found himself naturally thinking along these lines.

Then, he wanted to learn more about the group from the “national team” last night. Despite their uniforms and vehicles labeled “Special Police,” Zhou Shu was certain those people weren’t actually police.

They probably didn’t even belong to law enforcement, just using the name for convenience.

Otherwise, the “ogre” affair wouldn’t have been concealed until… last night.