The monster died, and the mist briefly settled down.
The police discovered the pattern behind the monsters appearing in the mist. Roughly every fifteen minutes, a group of monsters emerged from it. Whether the previous batch had been killed or not, once the time came, new monsters automatically appeared.
Taking advantage of the lull, some officers hurried to evacuate the people still trapped inside the mall, while the rest discussed how to disperse the black mist.
Lu Chengchuan went to the back and found a place to sit. He did not join their discussion, focusing instead on the system.
Life-Sacrificing System Host: Lu Chengchuan Realm: Body Tempering Martial Arts: Everspring Skill Yellow Grade / Level 1 (Upgradeable), Eagle Claw Iron Body Skill Yellow Grade / Level 2 Current Lifespan: 188 days. The host's bodily functions have recovered. The unknown illness has not been cured.
The Everspring Skill could be raised to mastery, but doing so would consume one hundred days of lifespan. It would use up more than half of what he had left, and Lu Chengchuan hesitated.
But on second thought, if he did not increase his strength, his illness would not get better either. Judging by the current situation, monsters might appear often in the future. He did not have to worry about finding monsters to kill; instead, he had to worry about whether he could defeat them.
Once he figured it out, Lu Chengchuan immediately spent one hundred days of lifespan to raise the Everspring Skill to mastery.
The moment the thought arose, the system instantly deducted one hundred days of his lifespan. Then a surge of energy rose from his lower dantian. The energy flowed from his lower dantian throughout his body, circulating six times before dispersing.
The entire process took less than a minute. The officers around him did not notice anything unusual, and the Everspring Skill rose to Level 2.
After the Everspring Skill reached mastery, Lu Chengchuan felt more invigorated, and his five senses became sharper.
After the upgrade, Lu Chengchuan immediately checked the system. His realm had not changed, but his remaining lifespan had become 108 days. Upgrading the Everspring Skill had given him an extra twenty days of lifespan, which was at least good news.
After increasing his strength, Zhou Yaning's group was still arguing.
Someone suggested sending people inside to take a look, but others asked who would go in. The mist did not look large, but a whole pack of monsters had rushed out of it. Everyone present knew something was wrong.
They argued for a long time as the minutes ticked by. Soon, the fifteen minutes of calm ended, and monster roars came from the churning mist once more.
With a powerful enemy before them, there was no time left to argue. The police picked up their weapons, and Lu Chengchuan stood as well.
Soon, dozens more monsters charged out of the black mist. The police shouted for everyone to fire, and gunfire rang out through the mall again. The first monsters to emerge were shot dead.
But even more monsters came rushing out. Their vitality was far too strong. Unless bullets hit vital points, they could not kill them or even stop them.
Using the mall's cover, the monsters closed in on them. Lu Chengchuan stepped forward to block them.
"Don't be afraid! The monsters won't come near us! Walk slowly! Don't be afraid!"
The appearance of the monsters threw the people being evacuated into chaos. The officers in charge of the evacuation hurriedly shouted through loudspeakers.
There were not many monsters this time, only several dozen. Lu Chengchuan and the police surrounded and eliminated them, preventing them from escaping and hurting anyone.
After eliminating the second batch of monsters, Lu Chengchuan gained 47 days of lifespan.
This was like a monster farming spot in a game. It was good news for Lu Chengchuan, but for the people and police in the mall, it could not have been worse.
The evacuation continued, and the crowd was finally completely evacuated in the final two minutes.
Once the people were out, the police breathed a sigh of relief. At least they no longer had to worry about the monsters harming ordinary civilians. At that moment, military trucks pulled up outside the mall.
After the police leadership received news of the situation, they immediately sought support from their superiors. Once the higher-ups learned what had happened, they directly ordered the military to enter the city and take over.
When the military arrived, the police and everyone else withdrew from the mall.
Lu Chengchuan was somewhat disappointed. He had wanted to kill more monsters to gain lifespan, but once the military arrived, there was nothing left for them to do. He could only leave with Zhou Yaning and the others.
The military swiftly set up fortifications around the mall and mounted heavy machine guns, preparing for the next wave of monster attacks.
"Captain Zhou, with the military here, there shouldn't be anything for me to do anymore, right?"
With no monsters to kill, Lu Chengchuan wanted to leave.
Zhou Yaning hurriedly tried to keep him. "Don't rush off. There's something wrong with the mist. Stay with us for a few days."
"Stay here? I'm neither a soldier nor a police officer. Wouldn't it be inappropriate for me to remain here?" Lu Chengchuan did not actually want to leave, but he had no reason to stay.
He still had to go home that night. Otherwise, it would be hard to explain things to his mother. He had only just recovered from a serious illness, and she was not entirely comfortable with him going out alone, especially at a time like this.
"You're a special consultant for our Investigation Bureau. No one can say anything about it. Stay here, and the Investigation Bureau will pay you." Zhou Yaning did not know what he wanted, so without thinking, she offered money.
When you did not know what to offer, money was usually the answer.
"Money? How much? My time is valuable. Ordinary people can't afford it."
He only had a little over a hundred days left to live. He needed to find monsters to kill, or else no matter how strong he became, he would still die once his lifespan ran out. But if they were willing to pay, then there was room to negotiate.
He owed a great deal of money and needed to repay it. Since the Investigation Bureau was willing to hire him, Lu Chengchuan was naturally happy to agree.
"One hundred thousand a day, paid immediately!" Zhou Yaning named her price.
To the Investigation Bureau, money was not an issue. Forget one hundred thousand a day—even double that would be no problem.
With the money settled, Lu Chengchuan stopped talking about leaving. He took out a bank card and told them to transfer the money.
Seeing the bank card laid out before her, Zhou Yaning understood exactly what he meant. She immediately took the card and handed it to a subordinate. "Transfer one million to this card. External operations expenses. I'm hiring Mr. Lu to assist with our investigation for ten days."
Zhou Yaning did not hesitate in the slightest. She offered one million for ten days.
Her subordinate quickly handled it. Less than ten minutes later, Lu Chengchuan's phone rang. He opened it and found a deposit notification.
One million had been transferred into his account. The person from before returned his bank card. The money was already in hand—one full million, enough to repay a small portion of his debt.
Since the Investigation Bureau had paid so readily, Lu Chengchuan did not waste words. He would consider these ten days sold to the Investigation Bureau.
"We'll wait here for a few days and see whether the mist disperses. If it doesn't, we'll think of another way."
With soldiers guarding the area, the monsters should not be able to break out. Zhou Yaning returned to the government office building. Her mind was in complete turmoil, and she desperately needed information. What exactly had happened to this world?
Lu Chengchuan followed them to the office building. It was his first time coming here.
"Make yourself comfortable. We're going to look into some information."
In the conference room, Zhou Yaning and the others began typing on several laptops. They were contacting their superiors. Lu Chengchuan was an outsider, so he could only sit to the side and wait for news.
They worked at it for a long time. Lu Chengchuan sent his mother a message, telling her he had something to handle and would not be coming home for the next few days, asking her not to worry.
That evening, several people with extraordinary bearing entered from outside.
Lu Chengchuan recognized two of them. They were the first- and second-ranking leaders of Guangnan Province.
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