Seed of Return to Void

After noticing the change in Jiang Ran's expression, Liu San followed his gaze to the monitor and immediately said ingratiatingly, "Brother, let me go! I'll help you deal with those monsters. Trust me!"

Jiang Ran heard him, but didn't pay him the slightest attention.

He watched the monitor in silence.

The gunshots from earlier had probably attracted the monsters nearby.

Now he needed to determine how many there were.

Avoiding them forever wasn't an option. He had a gun, and if there weren't too many, he could try to kill them.

After watching for over ten seconds, he confirmed there was only one.

Without another moment's hesitation, Jiang Ran headed outside.

Liu San's eyes widened. He called out in a low voice, "Don't go! Untie me, and I'll help you fight the monster!"

But Jiang Ran ignored him completely.

The other man had nearly shot him dead just moments ago. There was no way he would trust him.

As for whether Liu San lived or died, Jiang Ran didn't care.

In this world, where there was no order and no law,

survival was the only goal.

The door closed gently.

Only Liu San's heavy breathing remained in the monitoring room.

Staring at the closed door, Liu San's expression shifted from panic to despair.

But soon, a powerful will to survive drove out his despair.

Being brought to this unknown world meant there was an opportunity here.

After all those years robbing tombs, what kind of perilous situation hadn't he faced?

How could he just sit here and wait to die?

"Fuck!"

Liu San struggled to his feet, chair and all, and slowly dragged himself toward the door...

After leaving the monitoring room, Jiang Ran went straight to the police station's first-floor lobby.

After seeing the monster climb the outer wall, he knew that being on a higher floor didn't mean being safe.

On the contrary, the narrow stairwell would be easier to block off.

If there was only one monster, the best option was to face it at the lobby entrance on the first floor.

The space there was relatively open, with multiple exits, so he could make a quick escape if anything went wrong.

He went to the police station's front entrance and stood to one side, in the door's blind spot.

Through the glass doors, he could see the street outside.

The streetlights still cast a dim yellow glow.

The monster had circled around to the front entrance. It was crouching on the sidewalk across the street, its lizard-like head turning from side to side as if sniffing for something.

It was about fifteen meters away.

Jiang Ran slowly drew his pistol and disengaged the safety. He held the gun in his right hand and steadied it with his left, adopting the standard two-handed grip.

He had worked at a shooting club before.

But he hadn't stayed long, so his panel only showed [Basic Shooting] at Lv. 2.

Fortunately, that was enough at this distance.

Jiang Ran steadied his breathing and aimed at the center of the monster's torso.

Just as he was about to pull the trigger, the monster seemed to sense something and suddenly turned toward the police station.

Their eyes met.

"Bang!"

The gunshot rang out.

The bullet struck the monster in the left shoulder, shattering a small patch of gray-green scales and spraying dark red fluid.

But the monster's movement was interrupted for less than half a second.

It didn't scream or fall, and it didn't even stagger noticeably.

It merely lowered its head to look at the wound in its shoulder, then charged with astonishing speed.

It covered the fifteen meters in less than two seconds.

Bang, bang, bang...

Jiang Ran pulled the trigger repeatedly.

By his estimate, only two bullets hit their mark, one striking the chest and the other the abdomen.

Dark red fluid sprayed again, but the monster barely slowed down. Instead, it lunged even more fiercely at the glass doors.

The reinforced glass cracked in a spiderweb pattern but didn't shatter.

The monster backed up two steps and charged again.

This time, the glass doors shattered completely, sending shards flying in every direction.

Jiang Ran had already rolled to the side before its second impact. As he avoided the direct charge, he aimed his pistol at the monster's head.

"Click."

The slide locked back. The magazine was empty.

Without the slightest hesitation, Jiang Ran dropped the gun, drew his knife, and rose to his feet in one fluid motion.

He shifted the tactical knife from a reverse grip to a forward grip.

The knife's tip pointed ahead as he lowered his body slightly into a fighting stance.

After smashing through the glass doors, the monster's momentum carried it two or three meters into the lobby before it came to a stop.

It turned around, its dark yellow, vertical pupils fixed on Jiang Ran. Dark red fluid still seeped from the bullet wounds in its shoulder and chest, but its movements seemed completely unaffected.

"This is trouble..."

Jiang Ran frowned slightly.

The pistol had done far less damage than he'd expected. It had barely inconvenienced the monster.

Now he had no choice but to fight it up close.

Fortunately, although it was incredibly strong and fast,

its fighting style... seemed rather simple.

Jiang Ran's mind raced.

The analytical ability he'd gained from his psychology skill also let him quickly identify the monster's attack patterns.

A straight-line pounce, claw strikes, and tail sweeps.

No feints, no tactical variations. It was more like a predator driven by instinct.

Then...

The monster pounced again.

This time, Jiang Ran didn't dodge.

He stood his ground, gripping the knife with both hands, its tip angled slightly downward, his eyes fixed on the charging monster.

Three meters, two meters, one meter...

Now!

Jiang Ran dropped low, his body nearly skimming the ground, and thrust the tactical knife upward.

He aimed directly at the underside of the monster's belly, exposed as it pounced.

Shlick... The blade sank in all the way.

The monster let out a shrill hiss. Its momentum carried it forward, over Jiang Ran's head, before it crashed to the ground three or four meters away.

Dark red fluid poured from the wound in its abdomen, spreading rapidly across the floor.

But it wasn't dead. It was still struggling to get up.

Jiang Ran wouldn't give it the chance.

He immediately charged forward. The moment the monster managed to raise its head, he lifted his knee and slammed it into the side of its head.

Thud!

The monster's head was kicked down against the floor.

Jiang Ran followed through, pinning it down. His left arm hooked around the monster's neck from behind as he dropped the knife and locked both hands together.

A chokehold.

Although the monster's neck was clearly structured differently from a human's and had no obvious carotid artery,

its spine was still much the same.

Jiang Ran tensed his arms and used his back to wrench the monster's head backward.

"Creak..."

Its bones ground together as it thrashed wildly.

Its claws gouged deep marks into the floor, and its tail battered Jiang Ran's back with all its strength.

But Jiang Ran didn't let go.

He only gritted his teeth and tightened his arms.

"Crack!"

Only when he heard the unmistakable snap of bone

did the monster's body suddenly stiffen, then go limp.

It stopped struggling.

Jiang Ran kept squeezing for another five seconds. After confirming that the monster in his arms no longer moved, he slowly released it.

He stood up, panting heavily. His back burned with pain.

He raised a hand and wiped the blood from his face.

Then Jiang Ran turned around

and looked toward the stairs.

It took Liu San nearly five minutes to drag himself down to the first floor.

He heard the sound of glass breaking outside, then gunshots, impacts, and the monster's shrill cries.

Every sound made his heart leap into his throat.

When all the noise suddenly stopped, Liu San became even more frightened.

Was it over?

Who had won?

He struggled over to the door and peered through the crack.

Then he saw a sight he would never forget.

That mysterious man in the black hoodie... had actually strangled the monster until its neck broke.

Liu San's mouth fell slightly open.

After years of robbing tombs, he'd seen corpses and mummified bodies, and even witnessed strange phenomena he couldn't explain.

But what he was seeing now still defied his understanding.

He knew how strong the monsters were. Not long after arriving, he'd watched one of them devour a person in just a few seconds.

Could a human really kill one of those things with his bare hands?

"Good Lord..." Liu San murmured. "That's really a person!?"

Just then, Jiang Ran turned to look at him.

Their eyes met.

Liu San's face stiffened, fear showing in his eyes.

He wanted to say something—to explain that he hadn't meant to spy, or to beg for mercy again...

But Jiang Ran ignored him completely.

After confirming that Liu San hadn't managed to free himself, he calmly looked away.

He walked over and picked up the pistol from the floor, removed the empty magazine, pulled a spare from his waist, loaded it, engaged the safety, and tucked the gun back into his waistband.

Then he bent down, grabbed one of the monster's hind legs, and dragged it outside the police station.

Before long, Jiang Ran and the monster's corpse had disappeared into the night.

Liu San stood dumbfounded for two seconds before suddenly coming to his senses.

"Fuck! He just left me here!?"

Then fear surged through him.

The commotion had been enormous.

If he stayed here, he'd be waiting to die.

"Damn it... damn it..."

Gritting his teeth, Liu San struggled with all his might.

He had to get out of here. Now!

Meanwhile,

Jiang Ran had dragged the monster's corpse across two streets to the entrance of a commercial bank.

The bank's roller shutter was closed, and the lobby behind the bulletproof glass was pitch-black.

But that was no problem for Jiang Ran.

After acquiring the Profession Panel,

the only thing stopping him from taking up many professions was whether he wanted to learn them.

He'd worked as a locksmith for less than a month before grinding the profession to max level.

Thirty seconds later, the lock cylinder of the roller shutter made a faint click.

Jiang Ran lifted the shutter about half a meter, dragged the monster's corpse inside, then slipped in after it and slowly lowered the shutter from within.

In the darkness, he switched on his tactical flashlight and swept its beam across the lobby.

Everything was exactly like a bank in the real world, except that it was completely deserted.

Jiang Ran dragged the corpse to the work area behind the bulletproof glass.

It was safer here, with only one door leading to the interior corridor.

He tossed the monster's corpse into the open space, sat with his back against the wall, and slowly let out a breath.

Jiang Ran was actually quite confident in his combat skills.

Freestyle Fighting Lv. 8, Blade Arts Lv. 7, Combat Intuition Lv. 4.

But even so, he'd nearly messed up.

He could only blame his assumptions about firearms for almost getting him killed.

"I still need to find a more effective weapon..."

Jiang Ran muttered under his breath.

After resting for five minutes, once his breathing and heartbeat had fully settled, Jiang Ran stood up, turned his flashlight back on, and aimed the beam at the monster's corpse.

Then he took out his phone and photographed it from every angle.

It would help with the investigation later.

But when he took a picture of its head, Jiang Ran suddenly froze and lowered his phone.

The monster's head seemed to be giving off a faint red glow.

Jiang Ran immediately drew his tactical knife.

The tip slipped in through the back of the neck and slowly peeled the skull apart along the seams...

"Hmm?"

The tip of the knife struck something hard yet smooth.

Jiang Ran carefully widened the cut and shone his flashlight inside.

Where the monster's brain should have been, the brain tissue had shriveled into a thin membrane, wrapped around a pigeon's egg-sized bead.

The bead was dark red and translucent, with what looked like streams of light slowly moving within it. Its surface was covered in patterns.

Jiang Ran gently pried the bead out with the tip of his knife.

It felt warm and smooth, like jade.

The moment his fingers closed around the bead...

Several prompts suddenly appeared before his eyes.

[Congratulations, you have obtained Profession advancement material. Would you like to advance your Profession?]

[No Profession meeting the prerequisites detected. Advancement failed.]

[Would you like to fuse Professions?]

[No supernatural Profession detected. Fusion failed.]

Immediately afterward, the voice from earlier sounded again in his mind.

"Seed of Return to Void detected..."

"Would you like to consume the Seed of Return to Void and unlock a random divine ability inheritance!?"