"Mom, I want to spend 998 yuan on a jin of Ghost Shadow Squid meat. It's a kind of Exotic Beast Meat."
"That's fine. If you want to buy it, go ahead. Once you bring it home, Mom will cook it for you."
On the video call, Zhang Wanxin thought Lin Zichen wanted to buy the Ghost Shadow Squid meat to eat. Without a second thought, she smiled and agreed.
Although spending 1,000 yuan per jin on meat was a bit extravagant for an ordinary family like theirs,
her son had always been sensible, from the time he was little. He had never wasted a single cent, so now that he finally wanted to buy something, of course his mother would agree.
After chatting for a few minutes, Lin Zichen soon ended the video call.
Right after, he saw Zhang Wanxin transfer 2,000 yuan to him on WeChat. She also sent a message telling him to buy a little more and invite Hanhan's family over to eat it.
Lin Zichen replied, "Thanks, Mom," then looked at the clerk in front of him and said, "My mom's agreed to let me buy it. Give me three jin of Ghost Shadow Squid meat."
"Of course. I'll pack it up for you right away," the clerk said with a warm smile.
A moment later,
Lin Zichen paid 2,994 yuan and left with the three jin of Ghost Shadow Squid meat packed up.
On the way, Shen Qinghan couldn't help asking, "Didn't you say we were just coming to look at Exotic Beast Meat? Why did you suddenly decide to buy some?"
"Because I wanted to buy it for you."
"I don't believe you. You clearly just wanted to eat it yourself." Shen Qinghan sighed. "This Exotic Beast Meat costs 998 yuan a jin. So expensive! I wonder how it tastes."
Lin Zichen didn't say anything more. He was busy fretting over whether he should devour the Ghost Shadow Squid meat.
He had originally planned to secretly buy a little Ghost Shadow Squid meat to devour, but since he was underage, he couldn't buy it without a parent's permission.
Now, his family knew he'd bought Ghost Shadow Squid meat and were all waiting for him to bring it home to eat. How could he devour it now?
Meat wasn't like teeth. If the Life Origin inside it was devoured, it would probably go bad.
"Looks like I can only devour a little for now. I'll have to find someone to buy Exotic Beast Meat for me next time."
Lin Zichen quietly slipped his hand into the bag and touched a small portion of the Ghost Shadow Squid meat to devour it.
It wasn't much, just a small piece, about one liang in weight.
[You devoured a trace of the Life Origin of the "Ghost Shadow Squid"] [Ghost Shadow Squid Atlas: 0.1%]
Devouring one liang of meat gave him 0.1% progress.
At that rate, he'd have to devour 100 jin of meat to fill the atlas progress bar to 100%.
Ghost Shadow Squid meat only cost 998 yuan per jin.
That meant he'd need to spend around 100,000 yuan to unlock the Ghost Shadow Squid Atlas.
That wasn't an amount of money he couldn't accept.
Lin Zichen made up his mind. From now on, he'd buy Ghost Shadow Squid meat to devour.
He'd read about the Exotic Beast known as the Ghost Shadow Squid in a book when he was very young.
He'd learned that it was a common, low-level Exotic Beast that mainly lived thousands of meters below the sea. Sometimes, it swam into shallow waters to hunt.
It had a special ability that let it dissolve into the water and disappear in an instant, like a ghost. That was why it had been named the Ghost Shadow Squid.
Since it was weak in shallow waters and there were plenty of them, they were easy to catch. Over time, they had become food for humans and were sold in Exotic Beast markets everywhere.
"Dissolve into the water and disappear in an instant? I hope I can get that ability after I unlock the atlas."
Lin Zichen thought to himself.
After that, he took out the piece of meat whose Life Origin he had devoured, intending to find a trash can and throw it away.
After all, its Life Origin was gone, so the meat must have spoiled. He had to toss it.
But when he took it out and looked, he was surprised to find that the meat hadn't gone bad!
Maybe it was just his imagination, but it didn't look quite as fresh.
Still, it was perfectly fine to eat.
Lin Zichen was a little baffled.
Its Life Origin had been devoured, so why hadn't the meat spoiled?
What exactly was Life Origin?
Could it be genes?
Or was it that genes were a kind of Life Origin?
After all, the word "origin" sounded like it covered a pretty broad range.
Lin Zichen couldn't figure it out, so he decided to look for answers online.
He took out his phone, opened a browser, and searched for "Life Origin," with a hint of anticipation.
But he found nothing.
There was no such thing as Life Origin.
Forget it. There was no point dwelling on it. All that mattered was knowing the meat wouldn't spoil after its Life Origin was devoured.
Soon, Lin Zichen devoured all the remaining Ghost Shadow Squid meat.
He raised the atlas's progress to 3%.
Once he was done, he took Shen Qinghan downstairs to stroll around the ordinary commercial district.
Shen Qinghan spotted a claw machine and liked the plush toys inside. Without a moment's hesitation, she went over and started playing.
She was terrible at it, but she loved it. Before long, she'd spent 20 yuan without winning a single plush toy.
Lin Zichen couldn't bear to watch any longer, so he stepped in to help her.
He tried just three times and hit every time, winning the three plush toys she liked best.
Time flew by. In the blink of an eye, it was already ten at night.
Since they had classes the next day, the two didn't stay long at the mall. They soon left and rode their bikes home.
"Xiao Chen, the breeze feels so nice tonight."
"It really does."
"I really love the three plush toys you won for me."
"I'm glad you like them."
"Xiao Chen, I can't wait to try the Ghost Shadow Squid meat. I've never eaten Exotic Beast Meat in my life."
"..."
On the way home, the two chatted on and off.
Most of the time, Shen Qinghan did the talking, while Lin Zichen responded.
They could have kept chatting all the way home.
Until they passed a park and a burst of commotion from inside suddenly interrupted them.
"Put the knife down!"
"Put it down, my ass! You people are hopeless! If humanity goes extinct in the future, you stubborn holdouts will all be to blame!"
"I'm telling you again: put the knife down!"
"Being human won't save Earthlings! Don't you get it? Being human won't save Earthlings!!!"
The shouts sounded hysterical.
Lin Zichen frowned at the sound. Were Heretic Cult Human Traitors causing trouble in the park?
His curiosity was instantly piqued, and he sped up.
As he passed the spot where the voices were coming from, he glanced over in the distance.
The next second, he saw someone he never expected to meet.
It was Teacher Strawberry, the teacher who had taught the intelligence-development class at Rainbow Kindergarten.
At that moment, Teacher Strawberry had a knife held to her throat by a crazed man. Blood was already seeping from her neck, and the situation was extremely dangerous.
But the several Public Security Team officers at the scene were still trying to talk him down or warn him. Not one of them had taken any concrete action.
As Teacher Strawberry's face grew paler and the blood kept seeping from her neck, Lin Zichen knew he had to do whatever he could to help. He immediately stopped his bike, got off, and picked up a stone from the ground.
Then he narrowed his eyes, aimed at the hand holding the knife, and hurled the stone with all his might!
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