Encounter

Standing in place, Arthur thought quietly for a long time.

After a while, unable to come up with anything, he simply stopped thinking and walked forward, preparing to thoroughly search this room.

This room seemed as though no one had visited it in a very long time. Dust lay everywhere on the floor, suggesting it had been undisturbed for several years.

Here, Arthur discovered some bookshelves lined with many books, along with labels written in an unknown script.

Casually pulling out a book, he brushed off the dust and flipped it open.

"Chip, create a task: analyze the written language of this world." He commanded the chip in his mind.

"Beep! Task one has been established." A mechanical voice sounded.

As Arthur rapidly flipped through the book in his hands, the chip in his mind quickly scanned the contents, recording all the text from the books into its database for analysis and comparison.

Through extensive text comparison and paragraph analysis, relying on the chip's computational power, as long as enough data was gathered, the written language of this world could eventually be deciphered.

This place seemed to have once been a library.

Arthur lingered here for a long time before finally walking out.

"Estimated time to complete task one: thirty-seven days, eight hours..." After recording the data, the chip's prompt sounded, accompanied by a countdown.

"Thirty-seven days. Looks like it won't be usable for a while."

Hearing the chip's prompt, Arthur frowned slightly, thinking to himself.

But he wasn't too concerned about it. Shaking his head, he headed straight up to the second floor.

Compared to the first floor, littered with corpses, the second floor was much cleaner. Though bodies still existed, they were far fewer.

There were also many rooms here. Arthur walked forward and carefully opened one.

The room was very quiet, but instead of books, it contained various items resembling medicines and potions.

A strange smell wafted from within, making Arthur pause.

He stepped inside and, on a shelf, spotted a severed arm that had already begun to turn pale.

The arm was small, seemingly belonging to a young woman's forearm, cleanly cut off by something. It appeared to have been washed, with no trace of blood, only a pale pallor.

The most striking thing was how fresh the arm was.

"It was severed about three or four days ago."

Looking at the pale forearm, Arthur analyzed calmly.

He glanced around the room at the various items resembling medicines and potions, lost in thought.

This room was likely a storage area for medical supplies. Someone had been here a few days ago and left that severed arm behind.

But this also meant there were survivors nearby, probably not too far from here.

With that in mind, Arthur looked at the other rooms, intending to inspect them one by one to see if he could gain any additional findings.

He opened several rooms and made some new discoveries.

In these rooms, there were some small insects. Arthur tried killing these creatures but didn't gain the power boost he had before. Under the chip's constant monitoring, his body showed no changes at all.

This situation stirred doubt in his mind: "Could it be that I have to kill specific lifeforms to obtain that kind of power?"

With this question lingering, he walked to the next room's door.

It was a door made of steel, secured with several locks, unusual—as if afraid of something inside getting out.

The door bore many bulging marks, looking quite battered, as if something had struck it from the inside, warping the steel door like this.

Standing quietly at the door, looking at the marks, Arthur instinctively sensed something was wrong.

A deep, eerie aura emanated from within, and a sense of danger rose instinctively.

Taking a long, hard look at it, Arthur chose not to open this door. He didn't even approach the next room, leaving the area directly.

There was unknown danger in this place, and no signs of survivors living here.

He left decisively, looked up at the sky—darker than before.

It was nearly nightfall. Arthur gazed into the distance and clearly felt the surroundings beginning to stir.

The area was no longer silent. Occasionally, insect chirps and low, terrifying howls echoed.

It seemed that danger had suddenly surged here, and as time passed, it might only grow more terrifying.

Thinking this, Arthur's original impulse to leave came to a halt.

With night approaching, this place was clearly becoming more dangerous. Leaving might not be the best choice.

With that in mind, he moved from his spot to a nearby room that looked relatively sturdy, preparing to spend the night there.

He closed the steel door, propped it with some heavy objects, then sat quietly in a corner, making no further noise.

The world at night was vastly different from the world during the day.

Through his keen senses, Arthur clearly heard sounds coming from afar—not only terrifying insect chirps but also beast-like low growls, all echoing outside.

He could imagine the scene outside right now, far more dangerous than during the day.

Suddenly, he opened his eyes and stood up directly from the corner.

Because in the distance, a woman's wailing suddenly came, accompanied by faint footsteps.

"Someone's nearby!" The thought flashed through Arthur's mind as his right hand slowly moved to the longsword at his waist.

He hesitated for a moment, but ultimately pushed the door open and stepped out of the room.

By now, the sky was already quite dim, though a sliver of light still lingered, enough for one to see clearly.

In the distance, three figures were running swiftly from afar, as if being chased by something.

"Run!!!" An inexplicable shout came from the distance.

The three people running from afar looked ahead and spotted the figure in front of the building. They were startled at first, but after making out Arthur's appearance, they breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly shouted at him.

Their intention was to warn him, but in the end, it was all for nothing.

Arthur couldn't understand the language of this world at all, nor did he grasp what they were shouting.

But seeing their panicked expressions, he could roughly guess their meaning.

He didn't choose to flee. Instead, his right hand silently drew the longsword, and his deep, penetrating eyes fixed intently on what was behind them in the distance.

It was a massive insect beast, resembling a beetle, with a black carapace covering its body. Its claws and mouthparts, however, were terrifying enough to send a chill down one's spine.