Heretic Cult Traitor

"Mom, I want to spend 998 yuan to buy a catty of Ghost Shadow Squid meat. It's a type of Exotic Beast meat."

"It's fine, buy it if you want. Once you bring it back, Mom will cook it for you."

Zhang Wanxin, appearing on the video call, assumed Lin Zichen wanted to eat the Ghost Shadow Squid meat and agreed with a smile without a second thought.

Although spending 1,000 yuan a catty on meat was a bit extravagant for their ordinary family, her son had been sensible since he was little and never wasted a cent. Now that he actually wanted to buy something for once, as a mother, she certainly had to agree.

After a brief chat, Lin Zichen quickly hung up the video call.

Immediately after, he saw that Zhang Wanxin had transferred 2,000 yuan via WeChat and sent a text message telling him to buy a bit more and to invite Hanhan's family over to eat later.

Lin Zichen replied with a "Thanks, Mom," and then looked at the clerk in front of him. "My mom has agreed to the purchase. Give me three catties of Ghost Shadow Squid meat."

"Certainly, I'll pack that up for you right away," the female clerk said with an enthusiastic smile.

A moment later.

Lin Zichen paid 2,994 yuan and left, carrying the three catties of packed Ghost Shadow Squid meat.

On the way, Shen Qinghan couldn't help but ask, "Didn't you say you were just coming to look at the Exotic Beast meat? Why did you suddenly buy it?"

"Because I wanted to buy it for you to eat."

"I don't believe that. It was clearly you who wanted to eat it, right?" Shen Qinghan remarked, sighing, "This Exotic Beast meat costs 998 yuan a catty. It's so expensive; I wonder how it tastes."

Lin Zichen didn't say anything more, his head aching over whether or not he should consume the Ghost Shadow Squid meat.

He had originally intended to secretly buy some Ghost Shadow Squid meat to consume, but because he was a minor, he couldn't buy it without parental consent.

Now, his family knew he had bought the meat and were all waiting for him to bring it back to eat. How was he supposed to consume it now?

Meat wasn't like teeth; if the Life Origin inside was consumed, it would likely spoil.

It looks like I can only consume a little bit for now. I'll have to find a purchasing agent to help me buy Exotic Beast meat in the future.

Lin Zichen silently reached his hand into the bag to touch a small portion of the Ghost Shadow Squid meat to consume it.

It wasn't much—just a small piece, about one tael in weight.

[You have consumed a sliver of the "Ghost Shadow Squid" Life Origin]

[Ghost Shadow Squid Atlas: 0.1%]

Consuming one tael of meat yielded 0.1% progress.

Calculated out, he would need to consume 100 catties of meat to fill the Atlas progress bar to 100%.

And the price of Ghost Shadow Squid meat was only 998 yuan per catty.

That meant spending roughly 100,000 yuan would unlock the Ghost Shadow Squid Atlas.

That wasn't an unacceptably high amount of money.

Lin Zichen made up his mind: from now on, he would buy Ghost Shadow Squid meat to consume.

As for the Ghost Shadow Squid as an Exotic Beast, he had read about it in books when he was very young.

He knew it was a common low-level Exotic Beast that primarily lived in waters thousands of meters deep, occasionally swimming into shallow areas to hunt.

Because it possessed a special ability to instantly dissolve into the water and vanish, appearing like a phantom, it was named the Ghost Shadow Squid.

Because its combat power was very weak in shallow water, and it was sufficiently abundant and easy to catch, it gradually became human food and circulated in major Exotic Beast markets.

Instantly dissolve into the water and vanish? I hope I can gain this ability after unlocking the Atlas.

Lin Zichen thought to himself.

With that, he took out the piece of meat from which the Life Origin had been consumed, intending to find a trash can to throw it away.

After all, with the Life Origin gone, the meat should have spoiled, so it had to be discarded.

However, when he took out the piece of meat to look at it, he was pleasantly surprised to find that it hadn't spoiled!

He didn't know if it was just psychological, but it did look slightly less fresh.

Regardless, it wouldn't affect its edibility.

Lin Zichen was a bit bewildered.

The Life Origin had been consumed, so why hadn't the meat spoiled?

What exactly was Life Origin?

Could it be genes?

Or was the gene just one type of Life Origin?

After all, the term "Origin" sounded like a very broad concept.

Lin Zichen couldn't figure it out and decided to search for the answer online.

He took out his phone, opened the browser, and with a bit of anticipation, searched for the four characters: "Life Origin."

The result was that he found nothing.

There was no such concept as Life Origin at all.

Forget it, no point in dwelling on it; as long as I know the meat won't spoil after having its Life Origin devoured, that's enough.

Soon, Lin Zichen swallowed the rest of the Ghost Shadow Squid meat.

The progress bar for the illustrated album increased to 3%.

Once that was finished, he took Shen Qinghan downstairs to stroll through the ordinary commercial district.

Shen Qinghan saw a claw machine and, loving the plushies inside, went up to play without a second thought.

She was terrible at it but loved to play; in no time at all, she had blown through 20 yuan without catching a single plushie.

Lin Zichen couldn't bear to watch anymore, so he had to step in and help her.

He only took three turns, hitting the mark every single time, and won her the three plushies she liked the most.

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, it was already ten o'clock at night.

Since they had classes tomorrow, the two didn't linger in the mall for long and soon left to ride home.

"Xiao Chen, the night breeze feels so comfortable."

"It really is."

"I really love the three plushies you won for me."

"As long as you like them."

"Xiao Chen, I can't wait to taste the Ghost Shadow Squid meat. I've grown up this big and still haven't eaten any Exotic Beast meat."

"..."

On the way home, the two chatted idly back and forth.

Most of it was Shen Qinghan talking, with Lin Zichen responding.

They could have kept talking like that all the way.

That was, until they passed by a park and were suddenly interrupted by a commotion coming from inside.

"Put the knife down!"

"Go to hell! Go to hell! You stubborn fools, if humanity goes extinct in the future, all you hardliners will be the sinners!"

"I'll repeat it one more time, put the knife down now!"

"Being human won't save Earthlings! Don't you know that being human won't save Earthlings!!!"

The shouts coming from inside sounded hysterical.

Lin Zichen frowned upon hearing this; was there a Heretic Cult traitor causing trouble in the park?

His curiosity was instantly piqued, and he immediately accelerated to ride forward.

As he passed the location where the noise was coming from, he cast a glance from afar in the direction of the shouting.

Then, the very next second, he saw an unexpected acquaintance.

It was Teacher Strawberry, the intelligence development teacher from his days at Rainbow Kindergarten.

At this moment, Teacher Strawberry was being held at knifepoint by a crazed man, blood already seeping from her neck; the situation was extremely critical.

Yet, the several Public Security Team members on the scene were still only offering verbal persuasion or warnings, without taking any actual action.

Seeing Teacher Strawberry's face growing paler and the blood on her neck seeping out more and more, Lin Zichen knew he had to do what he could. He stopped his bike, got off, and picked up a stone from the ground.

Then, his eyes narrowed, and aiming at the hand the thug was using to hold the knife, he hurled the stone with all his might!