A Peaceful Day

As a psychologically mature adult, Zhang Ping naturally wouldn't panic like some greenhorn when faced with this situation.

He calmly entered the school building and found the faculty room. But when he saw through the door that one of the teachers was also a fox wearing human skin, he walked past the faculty room without changing expression and did not go in to seek help.

The teachers might not be reliable either.

These foxes were clearly Mutated Beasts, but just how strong they were remained unknown.

If he exposed them and these Mutated Beasts decided to slaughter everyone in the school, then if the teachers couldn't be relied upon, he would be dead for sure.

Besides, he had no evidence. Words alone proved nothing.

If the teachers didn't believe him, he might instead alert the enemy and put himself in danger.

"What a surprise!"

Zhang Ping entered the restroom. His feelings were somewhat complicated. After standing there for a while, he came back out and headed toward the classroom.

This was troublesome.

If two Mutated Beasts were hiding in one school, could there be even more throughout the city?

Or, thinking in an even worse direction, who exactly was the true master of this city?

Zhang Ping lay sprawled over his desk, opening a narrow slit in his squinted eyes as he looked at the scenery outside the window. It seems there are still many things about my ability that I don't understand.

The human skins worn by those two Mutated Beasts were very old. They had clearly been hiding in the school for far more than a day or two.

Yet before he swallowed the Greed Gem, he had been just like most of his classmates, completely unaware that Luo Shiyu and that unfamiliar teacher were Mutated Beasts.

Therefore, this change must have come from the Greed Gem he had swallowed.

Zhang Ping opened his hand, and a Greed Gem condensed in his palm in the blink of an eye. He narrowed his eyes at it, then opened his mouth and swallowed it after a moment.

After all, there was no rule saying that a person could only eat one Greed Gem. Since this change had come from the Greed Gem he ate yesterday, what would happen if he ate another?

After swallowing the gem, Zhang Ping suddenly gained an insight. It was completely different from yesterday's Sword Unity. This time, he felt something akin to Heavenly Communion, as though his entire being had been elevated.

Several minutes later, he opened his eyes and felt that the entire world had become bright and vivid.

He looked toward a desk not far away and sharply caught a trace of blood in the air. Then a horrifying scene naturally appeared before his eyes: a teacher lectured animatedly from the podium while a gigantic fox stood in the classroom, gnawing on a student's head. Neither the teacher nor the students noticed anything at all.

[Appraisal Successful]

[Bloodstained Desk: Once, an outstanding student was murdered by a Mutated Beast without anyone noticing. This bloodstained desk faithfully recorded everything.]

Two lines of text suddenly appeared before Zhang Ping's eyes. He froze slightly, then immediately looked at the other desks, but none of them triggered this inexplicably acquired ability.

After thinking for a moment, he lowered his head to look at himself. After staring for about a minute, lines of text suddenly began appearing before his eyes.

[Appraisal Successful]

[Summoned Beast: Zhang Ping]

[Master: Zhang Ping]

[Race: Human]

[Potential: ???]

[Lifespan: 89]

[Talents]

[Contract Gem: Can consume stamina + mental power to condense a Contract Gem. Once a target voluntarily accepts the Contract Gem, their life, soul, and consciousness will all be governed by the summoner. At the same time, they will gain the summoner's potential and luck enhancement. After taking one for the first time, every subsequent dose will slightly increase their potential, with a 1% chance of awakening a new talent. Note: This talent ability was obtained by summoner Zhang Ping at the cost of his intelligence, potential, and luck. Though powerful, it possesses a certain enormous flaw. Excessive ambition does not seem to be a good thing.]

[Absolute Command: You possess absolute dominion over summoned beasts. Your commands can never be disobeyed.]

[Absolute Obedience: You absolutely obey the summoner's commands. You will faithfully carry out every command given by the summoner.]

[Unstable Appraisal: Can appraise a target. There is an extremely small chance of obtaining information about the target. The smaller the difference in strength between both sides, the higher the chance of successfully obtaining information. Note: A talent ability born from the thirst for knowledge of summoned beast Zhang Ping and summoner Zhang Ping.]

It really appraised something!

Zhang Ping's eyes lit up. He hadn't expected to actually obtain information through appraisal.

But when he saw that the summoned beast was listed as himself and the summoner was also himself, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Did that make him both his own father and his own son?

Fortunately, this brought a new benefit: he possessed absolute dominion over his own consciousness. That meant other creatures could not influence his subjective awareness.

Next, he carefully read through all the information he had appraised. Even with his composure, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl upward slightly at this moment.

So his ability wasn't called Greed Gem. It was called Contract Gem.

The Contract Gem's ability was far more powerful than he had imagined.

Awakening a new talent meant awakening a second, third, or even fourth superpower. That was practically limitless potential.

Generally speaking, each person only possessed one ability.

Although that ability would continuously grow stronger through practice, and even its applications could be broadened, at its core, it was still only one ability.

But the Contract Gem could continuously increase a summoned beast's potential and even awaken new abilities. That was terrifying.

After understanding the information about himself, Zhang Ping had a rough idea of the situation.

What he needed to do now was survive. As long as he lived, there was hope.

However, that did not mean he would do nothing. First, he had to find out the true state of this city. He didn't need to know every detail, but he at least needed to know whether humans or Mutated Beasts were truly in charge of Mingzhu City.

He had no desire for his own desk to become a Bloodstained Desk as well.

Noon.

After class ended, Zhang Ping hastily ate lunch and left the school.

He had already thought up an excuse during class. He planned to visit Su Jingyao at the Patrol Team and, while he was at it, see just how many Mutated Beasts there were in the city.

Walking down the street, he soon saw a humanoid fox in a cold-weapons shop. It was eating a human arm while crossing its legs and reading a newspaper. To everyone else, it was probably just an ordinary middle-aged man gnawing on chicken feet as he read the paper.

[Appraisal Successful]

[Mutated Beast: Heavenly Fox]

[Race: Mutated Fox]

[Potential: Unknown]

[Lifespan: Unknown]

[Talents]

[Cognitive Distortion: Possesses a field that distorts the cognition of living creatures and can alter a target's cognition.]

[Conventionality Reversal: When performing an act that defies common sense, can overturn a target's common sense and forcibly prevent the target from noticing anything abnormal.]

Zhang Ping continued walking without pausing in the slightest.

After reading the appraisal results, he immediately realized that the Heavenly Foxes had likely infiltrated all of Mingzhu City.

Fortunately, he hadn't rashly reported them. Otherwise, the one who died would definitely have been him, not the Heavenly Foxes.

As he continued onward, he discovered many Heavenly Foxes along the way. These foxes swaggered through the streets and even chatted with people convincingly. The foxes even bargained among themselves and sometimes got into arguments. They possessed intelligence no less than that of humans!

Two hours later, he arrived at the Patrol Unit Headquarters. He walked up to the information desk and asked, "Excuse me, I'm looking for someone."

"Hello, who are you looking for?" a Heavenly Fox behind the counter asked hoarsely.

Without changing expression, Zhang Ping replied, "Su Jingyao. She should have reported here today."

"I'll check." The Heavenly Fox nodded and began looking through the records.

A moment later, it looked at Zhang Ping and said, "Su Jingyao is still at headquarters. Would you like me to notify her to come over?"

"Yes, sorry for the trouble." Zhang Ping nodded.

[Appraisal Successful]

[Mutated Beast: Heavenly Fox]

[Race: Mutated Fox]

[Potential: Unknown]

[Lifespan: Unknown]

[Talents]

[Cognitive Distortion: You possess a field that distorts the cognition of living creatures and can alter a target's cognition.]

[Uncanny Trust: The vast majority of living creatures will instinctively trust you.]

This Heavenly Fox's attributes were stronger than the previous one's!

The vast majority of humans possessed only one talent ability, but Mutated Beasts were different. They generally possessed two or more, and having three was not rare. This was also the fundamental reason humans could only huddle within cities. Mutated Beasts were far stronger than humans.

In this world, if humans did not possess intelligence, understand division of labor and cooperation, and know how to use tools, they would absolutely be at the bottom of the food chain.

A moment later, Zhang Ping heard footsteps. He looked up, and a smile gradually appeared on his face.

Two Heavenly Foxes approached. One had Su Jingyao's human skin pasted over its forehead. The skin was dripping with blood, making it look exceptionally horrifying.

"Zhang Ping, why did you come looking for me?" the Heavenly Fox asked hoarsely as it walked up to him.

Zhang Ping smiled. "I was mainly worried you wouldn't adapt to the Patrol Team. How does it feel? If you can't accept it, you might as well come farm with me."

"Who wants to farm with you? Only in the Patrol Team can I possibly grow stronger. In the future, I'll go out and kill Mutated Beasts to avenge my parents!" the Heavenly Fox replied irritably.

Zhang Ping sighed. "All right. It seems you've adapted well, so I'm relieved."

"Have you really decided to go farming?" the Heavenly Fox asked.

Zhang Ping shrugged helplessly. "What else can I do? I awakened a useless-tier ability. I'm leaving. It may be a very, very long time before we meet again."

"Mm. Until next time." The Heavenly Fox nodded, then turned and left.

Zhang Ping calmly walked out of the Patrol Unit Headquarters. He looked up at the azure sky and let out a long sigh after quite some time, looking like a boy suffering from heartbreak.

Next, he entered a restaurant diagonally across the street.

From the restaurant, he had a clear view of the Patrol Unit Headquarters' entrance. He ordered a cup of tea and sat by the window.

Courage did not mean recklessness, and anger did not mean he could indulge himself. Zhang Ping had been a member of a rescue team in his previous life, so although a fire burned in his heart, the angrier he became, the calmer he grew.

An entire afternoon passed. Only after obtaining the information he needed did he return to school.

There wasn't a single living person in the entire Patrol Team. They were all Heavenly Foxes.

That was the conclusion he reached after observing them for an afternoon. In other words, anyone who joined the Patrol Team had effectively been sentenced to death.

The Patrol Team had already been completely controlled by the Heavenly Foxes. To them, Mingzhu City had become an undefended hunting ground, and every person was livestock they raised.

No wonder Heavenly Foxes had even appeared in the school. Mingzhu City had fallen long ago.