Brick House, second-floor study. Tang Qi sat behind the desk, his expression dark and uncertain.
Though that thick bundle of publications looked like a lot, Tang Qi finished going through all of them quickly with his targeted search.
When he set down a newspaper called the "Purple Moon News," the vague suspicion in his heart became clearer than ever.
His gaze finally settled on the date printed beneath the newspaper's masthead.
April 28!
It was not the latest paper, but an old one.
Yet this date was especially important to Tang Qi's theory.
"Before the 28th, strange incidents did occur from time to time, but neither their scale nor their frequency was on the same level."
"After that day, everything erupted. Those anomalies, demons, and even divine miracles all began appearing in concentrated outbreaks."
"Was this the so-called Spirit Tide?"
The two words Tang Qi mentioned were also why he had suddenly begun searching for clues in those reports.
When the Bronx Dog-Faced Man had pursued him, Tang Qi had glimpsed an Information Fragment that mentioned the Dog-Faced Human had been created because of the Spirit Tide.
That also explained the confusion Tang Qi had felt when he first saw the monster he had created.
After all, corpses, wild dogs, and so-called vengeful spirits were nothing unusual in a place like Bronx.
If those factors alone could create a monster with such terrifying strength and speed, Bronx District would have descended into chaos long ago.
The only unexpected factor—the Spirit Tide—was the true key.
Having read through all these clues, Tang Qi felt that he had vaguely glimpsed the terrifying changes taking place on this planet.
Before the New Calendar was implemented, Origin Blue Star had once been an incomparably dangerous Mysterious World. Demons ran rampant, and all manner of anomalies appeared across the globe. Then, a hundred years ago, after a mysterious meteor streaked through the sky, all of it vanished.
But now, they had returned.
Tang Qi might not have been able to travel across all of Origin Blue Star in search of evidence, but the signs around him were already enough to prove it.
Since the Bronx Dog-Faced Man bore the name "Bronx District," it was naturally because it had originally been a well-known monster in Bronx District a hundred years ago. Countless related books contained vivid descriptions of it.
But after the New Calendar began, the Dog-Faced Human disappeared.
Until tonight, when Tang Qi created one with his own hands.
There was also what Old Morgan's Diary said: the date when Morgan's terrifying Mother began recovering her strength—and became even stronger than before—was around the 28th.
Of course, the strongest proof was Tang Qi himself.
Meditation Methods, Furnace Eyes, Chaga Combat Technique, Supernatural Blood... Tang Qi could conclude that his mysterious Omniscience ability was the Cheat System benefit he had received from transmigrating here.
But as for everything else, Tang Qi did not believe he was unique.
Having deduced this enormous "secret," Tang Qi's expression did not improve.
Those who loved mysticism might have been delighted and thrilled by the revival of the Mystic Side.
But Tang Qi, who already had one foot in the supernatural world, saw the dangers within it immediately.
The intense sense of urgency in his mind rose to another level.
The world was becoming unimaginably dangerous.
Although Tang Qi could also see that official forces had intervened immediately in response to the strange incidents erupting worldwide and covered them up, leaving Origin Blue Star seemingly peaceful for now.
Beneath the surface, however, raging currents had long been surging.
Most importantly, Tang Qi did not believe the authorities could keep concealing it forever.
"Phew."
Tang Qi sat in the high-backed chair and thought for a long while before finally letting out a breath and putting away all the publications.
Knowing that the world was undergoing enormous changes was enough. The deeper reasons behind them were certainly not something the current Tang Qi could investigate.
He could not uncover much with a few publications anyway.
"Strength is the foundation of everything."
After murmuring those words,
Tang Qi left the desk and returned to his bedroom. But he had no intention of going to bed. Instead, just as he had on his first day, he sat cross-legged directly on the carpet in the center of the room.
Training. While St. Thorn High School was still a peaceful Pure Land, he had to seize every moment to strengthen himself.
Tang Qi had a strong premonition that if all of Origin Blue Star was changing so drastically, St. Thorn High School's peace would not last much longer either.
Tang Qi suppressed the last distracting thought. When a faint beam of moonlight fell over him, he had already entered meditation.
Tang Qi did not know how long others needed to enter meditation while practicing the Golden Furnace Meditation Method.
But after turning the Meditation Method into a skill, he only needed a single second.
Especially now that the Meditation Method, like the Combat Techniques, had reached the beginner level, making cultivation even smoother.
His mind visualized that golden sun. A warm current flowed through his entire body, and he seemed to become a furnace, burning all the bizarre lights and phantasms cast toward him into golden motes that rapidly merged into that gray Mental Space.
The night passed swiftly.
When Tang Qi awakened from meditation once more, the light falling over him was already the early morning sun.
Feeling the abundant Mental Power in his mind and glancing at his status panel, he felt that he had gained quite a lot overnight. Yet compared to the Mental Power gained by refining—or rather, devouring—a soul, it was still somewhat lacking.
The Golden Furnace Meditation Method was still at the beginner level, and its progress remained at 0.01%.
Without showing any surprise, Tang Qi got to his feet and went downstairs first. He fetched the medicine kit and changed his bandages.
He did not know whether it was an illusion, but although only one night had passed, Tang Qi felt that his wounds had recovered considerably. They no longer looked as frightening as they had when he first applied medicine.
After changing the bandages, Tang Qi took out the stone pot and cooked himself a pot of nutritious medicinal porridge.
While the stone pot began to bubble away, he took out the box he had brought home the night before.
When he opened it, the handgun that had saved Tang Qi's life last night lay inside. Its design was exceptionally imposing.
Blood Python No. 1!
It was a very distinctive handgun. Its pitch-black body was said to have been forged from a rare kind of black iron.
The blood-red pattern was the origin of its Blood Python name.
Monster Firearms Company had several pistols of the same model and specifications, but they could only earn the name "Giant Python."
In terms of reputation, they were far inferior to Blood Python No. 1.
Perhaps because it had been stained with Tang Qi's blood, which contained Supernatural Power, Tang Qi felt that the blood-red pattern had become even more vivid as he carefully wiped it with a cotton cloth.
Only after wiping it more than ten times did Tang Qi place Blood Python No. 1 back in its box and lock the box inside the sturdy safe.
After drinking another large pot of steaming medicinal porridge, Tang Qi left home with his books in his arms.
Once he put on his black-framed glasses, he once again looked like an utterly ordinary Asian teenager, an honest and unremarkable high school student.
Even though one of his hands was wrapped up almost like a rice dumpling.
Still, with his current physique, aside from temporarily affecting his practice of the Chaga Combat Technique, it did not cause him any other inconvenience.
"There are still some inconveniences. Going to class like this might lead to misunderstandings."
Tang Qi muttered as he locked the iron gate.
Just as he turned toward Main Campus, a burst of commotion suddenly reached his ears.
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