Monsters in Reality

Liu Bo also turned to glance at Zhou Huaiwen.

It was his first time seeing this man as well. According to Zhao Shuang, Zhou Huaiwen's son had been among the first to enter Apocalypse World. However, his son had apparently been killed in Apocalypse World by other human players. After discovering the message his son had left behind, Zhou Huaiwen had voluntarily sought out the government, hoping to obtain information on the murderer and take revenge.

Hey, this Uncle Zhou seems a lot like me. He lost his son, and I lost my dad. And both had something to do with Apocalypse World.

Liu Bo let out a soft sigh. Having a close family member murdered was something he could deeply relate to.

Although Zhao Shuang had told him that his father, Liu Hong, had died from Hidden Poison, Liu Bo had always found it strange. His father had been able to refine Spiritual Artifacts according to the Diary and had even become the Village Chief's disciple. Logically, the Militia Team should have protected him whenever he went out. How could he have been injured by a level-six Bird Snake and lost his life for nothing?

He felt there was more to it!

The reason he was heading to the Capital City for training this time was because he had heard that one of the instructors there was a Descender from Great Yu Village. He wanted to get close to this instructor and uncover the truth behind his father's death.

The vehicle sped along, kicking up clouds of dust on the highway.

Meanwhile, after Lin Yi logged in during the afternoon to stand watch, he returned to the factory to keep slaughtering cattle.

He worked until after seven in the evening, and the slaughterhouse smock Lin Yi wore was covered in bright red cow blood.

The slaughterhouse owner's surname was Zhu. He was in his thirties, slightly overweight, and wore a pair of refined-looking glasses.

Seeing Lin Yi kill one cow with every stroke, moving with unbelievable skill, he could not help saying, "Brother, you're not going to slaughter yourself into trouble, are you? If work pressure is getting to you, maybe go see a doctor..."

"Haha, Brother Zhu, you're joking..."

Lin Yi gave him a few perfunctory replies. He did look rather strange right now, so it was only natural for others to get the wrong idea.

By the time he returned to the dorm, ate, and washed up, it was already ten at night.

Lin Yi still had half an hour of login time left for the day. He had originally planned to go to Apocalypse World and practice archery some more, but considering that Ghost Spirits were now roaming Ancient Pool Village, he abandoned the idea.

Lin Yi did not idle away his free time. Instead, he logged onto several gaming websites to see whether he could find any information related to the Apocalypse Game.

However, after browsing around, Lin Yi found nothing of note.

Moreover, the post he had once seen on the forum selling an Activation Code had already been deleted. He just did not know whether that Activation Code had been sold.

Afterward, Lin Yi contacted several employees from his studio and learned that quite a few of them were still awake, preparing to stay up all night taking orders and farming gold.

Lin Yi offered a few words of encouragement, told them to balance work and rest, then separately sent them red envelopes for late-night snacks.

Pulling all-nighters was naturally routine in this line of game gold farming. When Lin Yi had first entered the industry, he had been no different from the employees at his studio.

Just as Lin Yi was about to go to sleep, the roar of a Wild Boar suddenly rang out from outside the quiet rural guesthouse.

In a village town backed by mountains, Wild Boars appearing was perfectly normal.

Lin Yi did not pay it any mind. He turned over and prepared to keep sleeping.

But then, faint human screams came from outside the guesthouse.

"It's eating people! A Wild Boar came down the mountain and is eating people!"

"Help!!"

Someone shouted, and Lin Yi immediately jolted upright and rushed downstairs.

"Boss, what's going on?"

"I don't know. I just woke up..."

The guesthouse owner shuffled out in slippers, looking half-asleep. Apparently, he too had been awakened by the commotion.

Many nearby residents switched on their lights and came outside in groups.

Lin Yi took the iron shovel the guesthouse owner handed him and followed the crowd out.

"What happened? Who was shouting for help just now?"

"Sounded like Old Ginger, didn't it? Doesn't he like night fishing? The noise seemed to be coming from the pond by the roadside."

"Why's there no sound now?"

"Could he have fallen into the water?"

One villager shouted toward that direction, "Old Ginger, are you there?"

However, not a single sound came from the dark road.

"Come on, there are so many of us. Let's go take a look together."

Quite a few people carried iron shovels and wooden clubs as they headed toward the scene. Lin Yi and the guesthouse owner followed the crowd as well.

But for some reason, Lin Yi could not shake the feeling of unease in his heart.

After walking several dozen meters, they saw a huge Wild Boar covered in mud on an unlit concrete road ahead. It was noisily chewing on something on the ground, though they could not tell what it was eating.

The sound of the Wild Boar feeding was piercing in the darkness.

The group nervously approached. Someone at the front turned on a high-powered flashlight, and only then did they realize how enormous the Wild Boar was.

"Holy shit, why is this Wild Boar so huge? Did it run down from the mountain?"

Wild Boar?

Lin Yi stepped to the front of the crowd and looked by the flashlight's beam. His pupils suddenly constricted, and his heart seemed to skip a beat.

This Wild Boar was actually two meters tall. More importantly, its pupils were blood-red!

Animals' eyes could reflect light at night, but no matter how powerful the flashlights these people carried were, they should not have made a Wild Boar's eyes shine red.

That could only mean the Wild Boar's pupils were naturally red.

Lin Yi recalled the warning from Militia Captain Gu Chenghu. The difference between Monsters and ordinary animals was that Monsters had unusually colored eyes, most commonly eerie green or bloody red.

But this was reality. How could a Monster from Apocalypse World appear here?

"Wild Boar, red eyes... Could this be a Shocking Pig?"

Lin Yi suddenly thought of the Shocking Pig that Dugu Feng had participated in killing two days ago.

Although he had not been there at the time, he had heard that Shocking Pigs were enormous Monsters with red eyes that loved eating human flesh.

Just as Lin Yi was reeling in shock, someone suddenly cried out in terror, "Fuck, that Wild Boar looks like it's eating a person! Is that Old Ginger lying on the ground?"

Under the powerful flashlight beams, the crowd finally noticed two dark figures lying beside the Wild Boar. One of them was still clutching a fishing rod.

The Wild Boar had buried its snout in one person's stomach, eating the bloody intestines.

Suddenly, it jerked its head up and stared at the crowd. Its sharp white tusks and pig snout were covered in bright red blood, dripping down drop by drop.

Its scarlet gaze seemed to regard everyone present as prey.

The horrifying sight nearly scared everyone to death.

"Fuck, what kind of monster is this?!"

"Call the police! Get the police here to catch it!"

"This is insane! I've never seen such a huge Wild Boar in the mountains, and it has red eyes too. Did it mutate?"

"Run, run! If that thing charges us, we won't be able to stop it..."

At that moment, an older man calmly said, "Don't panic. Let's all bang our iron shovels together. Seeing so many of us, this beast might not dare come over."

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Under the old man's direction, everyone gathered together. They struck the ground with their tools while slowly backing away.

The Wild Boar across from them seemed genuinely frightened by the noise and did not charge at them for the moment.

Only after it dragged the two corpses away and disappeared by the roadside did everyone finally breathe a sigh of relief.

"Everyone get back into the courtyard. Call your families and tell them to hide indoors and not come out. And hurry up and call the police. Tell them a giant red-eyed Wild Boar entered the village and is eating people..."

"Uncle Lin, I already called the police."

"Call again. Tell them they must bring guns. Tranquilizer guns won't do. That Wild Boar has probably mutated. It's already eaten two people. They have to use guns to kill it..."

After the initial panic, most of the men returned home. A small number remained gathered in the guesthouse courtyard, waiting for the police to arrive.

Lin Yi returned to his room and thought about the Wild Boar that had appeared earlier.

He was absolutely certain that the Wild Boar was the level-five Monster, the Shocking Pig, from Apocalypse World.

He just had not expected a Shocking Pig to appear in the real world.

How had the Shocking Pig crossed over?

If he encountered Ghost Fiends, Heart-Devouring Wolves... or Ghost Spirits in reality someday, what would he do?

Lin Yi frowned deeply. It seemed that with the appearance of Apocalypse World, the real world was no longer safe!