Seed of Return to Void

After noticing the change in Jiang Ran's expression, Liu San followed his gaze to the surveillance monitor and immediately fawned, "Brother, let me go quickly! I'll help you deal with these monsters, believe me!"

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

He watched the surveillance footage quietly.

It was likely the earlier gunshot that had drawn the surrounding monsters.

Now, he needed to determine their numbers.

Constantly avoiding them wasn't a solution; he had a gun in his hand, and if the number was small, it wasn't impossible to kill them.

After watching for a dozen seconds and confirming there was only one, Jiang Ran didn't hesitate any longer and walked straight outside.

Seeing this, Liu San's eyes widened immediately, and he shouted in a low voice, "Don't go! Untie me, and I'll deal with the monster with you!"

But Jiang Ran ignored him entirely.

The man had nearly blown his head off just a moment ago; there was no way he could trust him.

As for whether the man lived or died, Jiang Ran didn't care.

In this world without order or law, survival was the only goal.

The door closed softly.

Only the sound of Liu San's heavy breathing remained in the surveillance room.

Liu San stared at the tightly shut door, his expression shifting from initial anxiety to despair.

But soon, that despair was replaced by a strong desire to survive.

Being able to enter this unknown world meant there was opportunity.

Having tomb-raided for so many years, what kind of dangerous situations hadn't he braved?

How could he just wait here to die?

"Damn it!"

With that, Liu San struggled, stood up while still in the chair, and began to slowly inch toward the door...

After leaving the surveillance room, Jiang Ran headed straight for the first-floor lobby.

Having seen the monster's ability to scale exterior walls, being on a higher floor no longer meant safety.

On the contrary, the narrow stairwell was easier to get trapped in.

If there was only one monster, the best choice was to engage it at the entrance of the first-floor lobby.

The space here was relatively open with multiple exits, allowing for a quick retreat if an accident occurred.

He walked to the front door of the police station and stood to the side in the visual blind spot.

Through the glass door, he could see the scene on the street outside.

The streetlights remained dim and yellow.

The monster had already circled around to the front entrance and was currently crouching on the sidewalk across the road, its lizard-like head turning left and right as if sniffing for something.

The distance was about fifteen meters.

Jiang Ran slowly drew his pistol, disengaged the safety, held the gun with his right hand, and steadied it with his left—the standard two-handed shooting stance.

He had once worked at a shooting club.

However, he hadn't stayed long, so his [Basic Shooting] skill was only Lv.2 on his panel.

Fortunately, this distance was sufficient.

Jiang Ran adjusted 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 whipped its head around to look toward the police station.

Their eyes met.

"Bang!"

The gunshot exploded.

The bullet struck the monster's left shoulder, shattering a small patch of grayish-green scales and spraying dark red liquid.

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

There was no scream, no falling to the ground, not even a noticeable stagger.

It merely glanced down at the wound on its shoulder and then lunged forward with astonishing speed.

It covered the fifteen-meter distance in less than two seconds.

Bang, bang, bang...

Jiang Ran pulled the trigger repeatedly.

Judging by the eye, only two bullets struck, hitting the chest and abdomen respectively.

Dark red fluid splattered out once more, but the monster's speed barely slowed; instead, it lunged at the glass door even more ferociously.

The reinforced glass developed spiderweb-like cracks, but it did not shatter yet.

The monster retreated two steps, then charged again.

This time, the glass door completely disintegrated, sending countless shards flying in every direction.

Jiang Ran had already performed a side roll before its second impact, avoiding the direct line of fire while aiming his pistol at the monster's head.

"Click."

The slide locked back; the magazine was empty.

Jiang Ran did not hesitate for a fraction of a second; he discarded the gun, drew his knife, and rose to his feet—three movements executed in one fluid motion.

He shifted his grip on the tactical knife from reverse to forward.

With the blade pointed forward and his body slightly crouched, he entered a combat stance.

After smashing through the glass door, the monster's momentum carried it two or three meters into the lobby before it steadied itself.

It turned around, its dark yellow slit pupils locking onto Jiang Ran. The bullet holes in its shoulders and abdomen were still oozing dark red fluid, but it appeared to have no effect on its mobility.

"Troublesome..."

Jiang Ran frowned slightly.

The pistol's lethality was far lower than he had anticipated, failing to cause the monster any significant trouble.

This meant he was now forced into close-quarters combat.

Fortunately, while the opponent possessed great strength and speed, its combat style... seemed very singular.

Jiang Ran's brain was operating at high speed.

At the same time, the analytical ability granted by his Psychology skill allowed him to quickly determine the monster's attack patterns.

Linear lunges, claw swipes, tail sweeps.

There were no feints, no tactical variations; it was more like a predator relying on instinct.

In that case...

The monster lunged again.

This time, Jiang Ran did not dodge.

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

Three meters, two meters, one meter...

Now.

Jiang Ran's body dropped abruptly into a deep crouch, his frame nearly hugging the floor, and he thrust the tactical knife upward.

His target was the underside of the abdomen, which was inevitably exposed during the monster's lunge.

Puchi... the blade sank in completely.

The monster let out a shrill hiss, its body continuing to surge forward due to momentum, passing over Jiang Ran's head and slamming heavily onto the ground three or four meters away.

Dark red fluid gushed in large quantities from the abdominal wound, spreading rapidly across the floor.

But it wasn't dead; it was still struggling to rise.

Jiang Ran naturally would not give it the chance.

He immediately rushed forward, and the moment the monster barely lifted its head, he raised his knee and slammed it hard into the side of its skull.

Thud!

The monster's head was driven into the ground.

Jiang Ran followed through by pinning it down, wrapping his left arm around the monster's neck from behind, discarding the knife with his right hand, and locking his hands together.

A strangulation hold.

Although the structure of this monster's neck was clearly different from a human's, lacking a distinct carotid artery, the spine was universal.

Jiang Ran tensed the muscles in his arms, putting his back into it, and wrenched the monster's head backward.

"Creak..."

The sound of grinding bone echoed as the monster struggled frantically.

Its claws gouged deep marks into the floor, and its tail lashed wildly against Jiang Ran's back.

But Jiang Ran did not let go.

He simply gritted his teeth and applied more pressure with his arms.

"Snap!"

Only when a crisp sound of bone snapping rang out.

The monster's body stiffened abruptly, then went limp.

All struggling ceased.

Jiang Ran held the choke for another five seconds, and only after confirming the monster in his arms showed no further reaction did he slowly loosen his grip.

He stood up, gasping for air, his back burning with searing pain.

He raised a hand to wipe the bloodstains from his face.

Then, Jiang Ran turned his head.

He looked toward the staircase nearby.

It had taken Liu San nearly five minutes to crawl to the first floor.

He heard the sounds of shattering glass, gunfire, impacts, and the shrieks of monsters coming from outside.

Every sound made his heart leap into his throat.

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

Is it over?

Who won?

He laboriously shifted to the door, tilting his head to peer through the crack.

Then, he saw a scene he would never forget for the rest of his life.

That mysterious man in the black hoodie... had actually snapped the monster's neck with his bare hands.

Liu San's mouth hung slightly open.

He had been grave robbing for many years; he had seen corpses, mummies, and even some inexplicable, eerie phenomena.

But the scene before him still exceeded the limits of his understanding.

It wasn't that he didn't know how strong the monster was; not long after entering, he had seen a person devoured completely in mere seconds.

Was this kind of thing something a human could kill with their bare hands?

"Good heavens..." Liu San muttered, "Is he even human!??"

Just then, Jiang Ran turned his head to look at him.

Their eyes met.

Liu San's expression immediately froze, his eyes filled with panic.

He wanted to say something, to explain that he hadn't meant to peek, or to beg for mercy once more...

But Jiang Ran didn't pay him any mind at all.

Satisfied that the creature was no longer struggling, he calmly shifted his gaze away.

He walked over to pick up the handgun dropped on the ground, ejected the empty magazine, pulled a spare from his waist to load it, engaged the safety, and tucked it back into his belt.

Then, he bent down, grabbed one of the monster's hind limbs, and dragged it toward the exit of the police station.

Soon, Jiang Ran and the monster's corpse vanished into the night.

Liu San was stunned for two seconds before he suddenly snapped back to reality.

"Damn! He just left like that!?"

But immediately after, fear surged into his heart.

The commotion just now had been too loud.

Staying here any longer was just waiting for death.

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

Liu San gritted his teeth and began to struggle even more desperately.

He had to get out of here, now!

Meanwhile.

Jiang Ran had already dragged the monster's corpse across two streets and arrived in front of a commercial bank.

The rolling shutter door here was tightly shut, and the lobby behind the bulletproof glass was pitch black.

However, this was no problem for Jiang Ran.

After obtaining the profession panel.

For Jiang Ran, many professions were just a matter of whether he was willing to learn them.

He had spent less than a month as a Locksmith before grinding it to max level.

Thirty seconds later, the lock cylinder of the rolling shutter gave a faint click.

Jiang Ran pulled the shutter up about half a meter, dragged the monster's corpse inside first, then squeezed in himself, and slowly lowered the door from the inside.

In the darkness, he turned on his tactical flashlight, the beam sweeping across the lobby.

Everything was exactly like a bank in the real world, only completely deserted.

Jiang Ran dragged the corpse into the workspace behind the bulletproof glass.

It was safer here, with only a single door leading to the inner corridor.

He tossed the monster's corpse into the open space, sat down with his back against the wall, and slowly exhaled.

Jiang Ran was actually quite confident in his combat skills.

Free Combat Lv.8, Blade Mastery Lv.7, Combat Intuition Lv.4.

Yet even so, he had nearly capsized.

It could only be said that he had almost been undone by the cognitive bias brought about by firearms.

"Still need to find more effective weapons..."

Jiang Ran muttered to himself.

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

He then took out his phone and took pictures from various angles.

This was for the sake of subsequent investigation.

However, when he reached the head, Jiang Ran suddenly froze and lowered his phone.

He saw that the monster's skull seemed to be faintly emitting a red glow.

Jiang Ran immediately drew his tactical knife.

He cut in from the back of the neck, slowly peeling along the cranial sutures...

"Hm?"

The tip of his blade touched something hard yet smooth.

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

Where the monster's brain should have been, the brain tissue had withered into a thin membrane, wrapping around a bead the size of a pigeon egg.

The bead was dark red and translucent, with what appeared to be flowing light moving slowly inside, its surface covered in intricate patterns.

Jiang Ran used the tip of his knife to gently pry the bead out.

It felt warm and smooth to the touch, like jade.

The moment his fingers gripped the bead...

Several prompts suddenly popped up before his eyes.

[Congratulations on obtaining a class advancement material. Do you wish to proceed with class advancement?]

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

[Do you wish to select class fusion?]

[No extraordinary class detected. Fusion failed.]

Immediately following this, the voice from his mind earlier sounded once more.

"Seed of Return to Void detected..."

"Do you wish to consume the Seed of Return to Void to unlock a random divine ability inheritance!?"