The Year Eater had indeed evolved.
Its intelligence was clearly much higher than when it had just left the hospital.
Between Jiang Yue and Officer Han, it somehow knew who was the easier target.
So, without warning, it sprang into action, lunging at Jiang Yue like a ferocious beast going in for the kill.
"Officer Han, don't shoot."
For some reason, Jiang Yue felt no fear. Instead, a fighting spirit inexplicably surged within him.
So this was a fight? If they weren't going to use underhanded tricks and were fighting hand to hand, who was afraid of whom?
You're an evil spirit, bolstered by your mysterious Year Eater ability.
I've got the Hundred Evils Immunity Halo!
It had to be said: meeting Jiang Yue was the Year Eater's misfortune. Its body was naturally in far better shape now than Ke Yunshan's frail, elderly one had been.
After stealing so many years of life, the energy in this body far surpassed that of an ordinary man in his prime. And on top of that, the Year Eater had its own special abilities.
But this well-mannered, handsome young man was also a tough opponent. Even in terms of physical fitness, despite having stolen so much life energy from others, it still couldn't gain the upper hand.
After all, its foundation was an over-eighty-year-old body. Compared with an eighteen-year-old's, it simply couldn't match him for flexibility, agility, or explosive power.
None of that mattered. What frustrated the Year Eater was that its Year Eater Skill was supposed to be impossible to miss at a distance of three to five meters.
The two were grappling at close quarters, in direct contact. It used its Year Eater ability several times, but each attempt sank like a stone into the sea, producing no reaction at all.
It was like punching a cushion—there was nothing to hit. The feeling was unbearable, infuriating, and even inexplicably frightening.
Seeing the other man's constipated expression, Jiang Yue could more or less guess that he'd used the Year Eater's mysterious ability.
The Hundred Evils Immunity Halo was amazing!
Jiang Yue immediately gained the clear upper hand, and the balance of the fight tipped further in his favor.
One fought without a care, the other in a panic.
The fight couldn't go on like this.
Jiang Yue threw his opponent over his shoulder and slammed him onto the ground. Then he pounced on him, pinning him down hard.
"Officer Han, the handcuffs!"
From a distance, Officer Han saw Jiang Yue subdue his opponent and tossed him the handcuffs.
The Year Eater still tried to struggle, but it hadn't completed its evolution. All it could do was watch as its wrist was cuffed to a nearby piece of exercise equipment.
"I refuse to accept this!"
"Too bad!" Jiang Yue had no interest in listening to a loser ramble.
"Give me another twelve hours, and every last one of you will die!" Though the Year Eater had become prey, it showed no sign of losing its ferocity.
It was already past midnight. More than twelve hours had passed since the monster devoured the nurse's years of life at eleven that morning.
Another twelve hours?
That would make twenty-four in total?
"Give you another twelve hours, and you think you'll turn the world upside down?" Jiang Yue taunted it with a cheap provocation.
"Once I complete my twenty-four-hour evolution, do you think mangy mutts like you could catch up with me?" Whether the Year Eater was too stupid to understand or simply couldn't accept its defeat, it kept muttering to itself.
"Just twenty-four hours, and I'll complete the first stage of my evolution. I'll be able to enter human homes whenever I want. Your surveillance cameras won't be able to track me at all. Then everyone—including you—will be my prey! Aaaah, I can't accept this!"
The Year Eater shouldn't have known so much about humans.
That meant the monster really had absorbed Ke Yunshan's memories.
Had Ke Yunshan become the Year Eater, or had the Year Eater taken over Ke Yunshan?
It didn't matter. What mattered was how to deal with such a dangerous creature from here on out.
Jiang Yue had no intention of getting involved in that question.
The government must have its limits. No matter what they did, they couldn't possibly let it back out to wreak havoc.
"Officer Han, I don't want to get involved in official matters. Your people are here, so I'll be heading out first. When you write up your report, it'd be best not to mention me."
"Remember, use tranquilizer guns. Don't go soft. Unless you want to help it complete its twenty-four-hour evolution, don't go near it. The farther away you stay, the better."
As he spoke, Jiang Yue hurried off in the other direction.
There was no way he could have immediately put the bizarre events of that night out of his mind.
So Jiang Yue didn't go back to New Moon Bay. Instead, he went to Villa No. 9.
The former owner of the cat-shaped relief apparently hadn't expected Jiang Yue to return in the middle of the night. It was quite surprised.
"Former owner, I've got some bad news for you. I think I've completed the beginner's quest."
"Hey, hey, there must be some misunderstanding between us. You completing the beginner's quest is good news for me too."
"Weren't you always hoping I'd have bad luck?"
"I hoped for it, sure. That was just a habitual urge to play a prank. When you've lived as long as I have and life gets this boring, you'll understand. Honestly, I'm happy you completed the quest."
"Don't you think that's contradictory?"
"Not at all." The former owner was clearly wary of Jiang Yue's hammer, so he explained patiently. "When Spirit Intelligence turned me into this ghostly thing, it told me to properly guide every successor. Whether I can ever regain my freedom depends entirely on one of them."
"How so?" Jiang Yue was curious now.
"Spirit Intelligence said that if one day an outstanding successor managed to master it, he would turn the tables and truly become its master. Then my imprisonment would be over too."
"So that's why you keep clinging to life despite being so bored?" Jiang Yue had the upper hand, of course, so he wasn't about to pass up the chance to mock him.
After all, the former owner's sharp tongue had hurt his feelings before.
"Heh. Better a miserable life than a good death. Once you've lived for a few thousand years, you'll understand." The guy didn't seem bothered by Jiang Yue's mockery at all.
People with sharp tongues usually had thick skin, too. After all, trading insults was par for the course for them.
Without a thick skin, nobody could become a truly skilled trash-talker.
"Say, aren't you a little too calm about this? Hurry up and see what you get for completing the beginner's quest!"
That reminded Jiang Yue.
He focused, and Spirit Intelligence's main interface immediately appeared in his mind.
Beginner's quest complete. Claim reward.
Two options appeared below.
Claim Give up
Jiang Yue couldn't help grumbling. What the hell was "give up" supposed to mean?
He'd worked his tail off and risked half his life, a mere mortal going hand to hand with a monster. It was the ultimate humiliation for a system owner—not to mention how ridiculous it was. And after all that danger, the system was telling him he could give up?
Without hesitation, he clicked "Claim."
Reward 1: Obtain the Year Eater Skill. Claim Give up
Jiang Yue nearly lost it on the spot, almost swearing aloud. What kind of ridiculous trick was this? Could the system act a little more normal?
He was a dragon-slaying hero, and right after slaying a dragon, it wanted him to turn into one?
Even if he got nothing, the system shouldn't have so little decency.
He decisively chose to give up this wicked reward.
Spirit Intelligence didn't waste time arguing with him and immediately displayed Reward 2.
A: Physical abilities increased tenfold. Duration: one month. B: Borrowing Vision Ability (Can borrow the viewpoint of any living being within thirty meters. Can borrow only one viewpoint at a time, not multiple angles. Duration: three months.) C: Hundred Evils Immunity Halo. Duration: three months.
Adults didn't settle for one choice. He wanted all of them.
But Spirit Intelligence wouldn't allow that.
He was forced to choose just one, and he had only thirty seconds to decide. Once the time ran out, it would count as automatically giving up.
Jiang Yue felt a surge of sympathy for the former owner of the cat-shaped relief. Spirit Intelligence really was a rip-off.
It was so stingy, setting up all these traps even for a beginner's gift. Why couldn't it just generously hand over a cheat ability? Ideally, an obvious secret manual or divine weapon. If not, at least a long-term skill package that could be upgraded.
Since he couldn't choose all of them, he had to think it through.
Option A was powerful, but lasted only a month. What good was one month? What if he got hooked on being strong, only to come crashing back down a month later? Just thinking about it made him nervous. He absolutely couldn't pick that.
For a moment, Jiang Yue thought Option B was the one. But after thinking it over, he realized he probably wouldn't get much use out of it.
San Gou would have picked it without a second thought, then roamed the world watching pretty girls change clothes and take showers and all that.
He was a respectable person, so he'd better leave that option for another time.
That left only C.
Considering how abnormal this world seemed, it was a sensible choice. At least it would keep him safe for three months.
A Year Eater—an evil spirit that wasn't all that deadly in itself—had already left him in such a sorry state. And this was just an NPC from the beginner's village.
Now that the world had revealed a mysterious corner, who knew what horrors he'd have to face next?
Choose C.
C kept him safe. That was reason enough.
And that settled it.
Reward 3: Spirit Intelligence points +100. Helpful tip: Give up Reward 1 to exchange it for points as scrap.
The interface then displayed:
Give up Reward 1, exchange for 50 points. Exchange Give up
He had no idea what the points were for, but when it came to numbers, more was always better. Jiang Yue chose to exchange.
Exchange successful. Spirit Intelligence points +50. Total Spirit Intelligence points: 150. You can view your points and their usage details in your personal center.
Jiang Yue switched to the personal center page and took a look. Aside from the points, nearly all the other fields and boxes were grayed out and couldn't be accessed.
"Looks like these points are just for show. They're no use at all."
Jiang Yue didn't mind. He exited the Spirit Intelligence interface.
Before you continue