Entering the residential area, Shi Yan passed by the scene of the incident and glanced over from afar, only to discover the corpses of two monsters.
Judging by their appearance, they had been a rat and a cat.
They each looked to weigh forty or fifty pounds.
Fortunately, there had been no casualties. Only two members of the Monster Suppression Bureau were there, collecting blood, fur, and other samples.
Returning to his second-floor home, Shi Yan set down what he was carrying and dropped onto a hard wooden stool.
He immediately took out his communicator and checked the news about the city.
As expected, traces of monsters had appeared in many places throughout Baiyun City.
There had even been several fatal incidents like the one at Bigui Residential Area.
"Could something really big be happening?"
Shi Yan recalled the tragedies where countless monsters had attacked cities, causing heavy casualties and even destroying entire cities.
At the beginning, they had all started with just a few monsters causing trouble, only to gradually develop into irreparable disasters.
Although devastating monster attacks had become rare since the Small Base Era began, monsters had never ceased to exist. This world was still dangerous.
And even if no great disaster occurred, monster killings still happened often enough. He had no desire to become one of the dead.
"Let's do it."
Taking out that bottle of Intermediate Body Tempering Medicine, Shi Yan unscrewed the cap and swallowed it in one gulp.
The medicine was extremely potent. Mo Changfeng had advised him to take it after the College Entrance Examination.
Because before the College Entrance Examination, the school would also issue a dose of Basic Body Tempering Medicine.
The Martial Arts Examination registration fee was expensive partly because it included that medicine.
With the Basic Body Tempering Medicine laying the foundation first, the pain of taking the Intermediate Body Tempering Medicine would be reduced somewhat.
But Shi Yan did not want to wait. Any increase in strength now was worth it.
Besides, he felt that his Southern Bright Blazing Fire ability would be able to help absorb the medicine's effects.
After a wave of coolness, the medicinal power suddenly exploded in his abdomen.
It was like a ball of fire abruptly bursting into a raging blaze.
The searing pain made him collapse to the floor and roll around.
It hurt. It hurt too damn much!
The immense medicinal power filled his entire body, as though it were about to burst him apart.
Cracks began appearing in his skin, and blood seeped out.
"Right, my ability!"
The pain had nearly made him forget about his ability.
Very quickly, Southern Bright Blazing Fire was activated.
The violent medicinal power seemed to be refined, instantly becoming docile. In just a few seconds, it transformed into threads of clear currents.
The currents seeped into every corner of his body, making each of his organs seem to cheer with delight.
About two hours later, the changes stopped, and Shi Yan's body calmed down.
With a thought, the data panel appeared before his eyes.
[Name: Shi Yan] [Realm: First-Order Warrior] [Ability: Southern Bright Blazing Fire (SSS-Class)] [Blood Vitality: 28 cards] [Spirit: 11 hertz] [Martial Arts: Thrusting Punch (Beginner)] [Martial Virtue Points: 3]
"It actually increased by 7 cards!"
Shi Yan was slightly startled.
Generally speaking, the first time one took Intermediate Body Tempering Medicine, it could raise Blood Vitality by at most 5 cards.
Yet his had exceeded the theoretical limit by 2 cards.
It was probably thanks to Southern Bright Blazing Fire, which had allowed the medicine's effects to be fully brought out.
"But it's still not enough."
Twenty-eight cards was already among the best for examinees in Baiyun City, but across all of South of the Yangtze, it was probably still lacking.
During the Great Base City Era, Jiangnan Base City had been a major population center. Later, after the Small Base Era began, it had been divided into twenty prefecture-level cities and twenty-six county-level cities.
Baiyun City was merely one of those county-level cities.
To truly stand out from the crowd, Shi Yan felt that he needed at least thirty cards of Blood Vitality.
One had to know that throughout South of the Yangtze, there was no shortage of students with both talent and wealthy families.
Intermediate Body Tempering Medicine cost over a hundred thousand per dose. Some people might well drink it like water.
Although the more one took the same kind of Body Tempering Medicine, the worse its effects became, the accumulated gains were still considerable.
"The school will also issue a dose of Basic Body Tempering Medicine before the Martial Arts Examination."
Shi Yan thought about it, but it still did not feel safe enough.
Basic Body Tempering Medicine could generally only raise Blood Vitality by 1 card.
Even with Southern Bright Blazing Fire refining it, since he had taken the intermediate medicine first, the basic medicine probably would not bring much change.
"Forget it. I should practice with the saber."
Shi Yan looked toward the saber lying on the floor, then stood up.
Just as he was about to pick it up, his filthy appearance stopped him.
The undried bloodstains and the black grime seeping from his pores mixed together, filling the room with a foul stench.
His nose twitched, and he hurried into the bathroom to wash up.
More than ten minutes later, he finally emerged in a fresh set of clothes.
With a slight activation of his ability, he picked up the nearly four-foot Tang Saber and slowly drew it.
This was the first time he had ever drawn this saber.
The moment he began pulling it out, cracks unexpectedly appeared across the black scabbard, like magma about to break through the earth. As the blade was drawn, the lava-like red glow from those cracks grew ever brighter.
When the saber emerged, the red light on the scabbard went out.
But the red light did not disappear. Instead, it shifted onto the blade itself.
The blade was slightly wider than an ordinary Tang Saber, its entire form flowing like cooled magma.
Its forged patterns were not the rippling lines of ordinary folded steel, but spiraling crimson marks like a phoenix bathing in fire. The guard was cast in the shape of a Vermilion Bird spreading its wings and holding a pearl in its beak; below it, the handle resembled feathers and could be gripped with both hands, while at the end sat an irregular dark-red stone.
Under the lights, the entire saber occasionally flickered with a faint red glow, like rolling magma.
When he lightly touched it to the floor, it instantly burned out a small pit.
"What a good saber!"
Shi Yan had not seen many real sabers, but judging from the faint joy rising in his body after drawing it, this saber was likely no ordinary B-class weapon.
"Hm?"
Just as he was about to swing it a few times in the living room, the ear-piercing sound of a sharp blade scraping across metal suddenly reached his ears.
Creak, creak!
The sounds grew denser and closer.
A monster's aura also approached with them.
Shi Yan abruptly turned toward the bathroom.
That was the sound of a monster gnawing on the pipes!
The residential area where he lived was similar to the Bigui Residential Area where his uncle lived. Its framework was made of hard metal, and so were its pipes.
"What kind of luck is this..."
He had not expected monsters to appear even in a residential area the Monster Suppression Bureau had already inspected once.
And the filth he had washed off his body had most likely been detected by the monster's nose.
Monsters ate people, especially warriors, because the human body absorbed spiritual energy. The blood seeping from his body was delicious food to them.
But then again, he had been wondering how to improve his strength. Since a monster had appeared...
Then he would kill a monster!
Gripping his saber, he hurried outside.
The metal pipes were thick. Who knew how long it would take for the monster to gnaw through them?
Even if it gnawed quickly, it would first emerge on the first floor.
So he needed to get to the first floor.
The first floor contained various little shops rather than residences. It was late at night, and no one was inside them.
By coincidence, the shop directly below Shi Yan's home had just moved out, so there was not much left inside.
Only its glass door was locked.
"Thai massage..."
He looked at the somewhat faded signboard, then at the saber in his hand, and gently placed the tip of the blade against the lock.
Like the floor in his home, the lock was melted through in an instant.
There was no time to lose. He had no choice but to do this.
If other residents noticed and reported it to the Monster Suppression Bureau, then his Martial Virtue Points would be gone.
He quickly entered, shut the door, and drew the curtains to keep anyone from seeing what was happening inside.
"So fast!"
The instant he turned around, Shi Yan saw a huge rat head extending from the corner.
He had not expected the monster to move so quickly.
If he had been even a step later, it would probably have already gotten outside.
"This is... a Gold-Devouring Rat!"
The moment Shi Yan saw the rat monster's two dark-golden front teeth, he understood why it had moved so quickly.
Gold-Devouring Rats could gnaw through and devour metal, growing through metal.
If one had to name the monsters that posed the greatest threat to cities, it was not those enormous monsters, but these metal-eating creatures!
After all, the framework of most cities was made of metal.
And among them, Gold-Devouring Rats were the greatest threat because they appeared in groups.
Squeak, squeak!
At the sight of a living human, the Gold-Devouring Rat became exceptionally excited, its blood-red eyes fixed on Shi Yan.
Ignoring how its body was being cut by the metal, it pushed hard with its forepaws and shot toward Shi Yan like an arrow loosed from a bowstring.
Slash!
Shi Yan showed it no courtesy. His long saber swept through the air.
The Gold-Devouring Rat's body was split into two halves, and the smell of scorched flesh drifted up.
[Killed a First-Level Gold-Devouring Rat, eliminating harm for the people. Martial Virtue Points +2]
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