"It looks like it's been bitten by something?" Shen Heng raised his eyes slightly.
"Yes, after I found out it was Calamity Beast, I asked it, and it said it was beaten by a Calamity Beast that looked like a rat," Qiu Rui nodded in reply.
Rats?... Shen Heng looked at Qiu Rui. If it's from the sea, it should be something like a seal, right?
He nodded slightly, without giving it much thought, "And then what?"
Qiu Rui continued:
"After I caught it, I thought it was some kind of creature I'd never seen before, like a sponge or a starfish, so I took it back to my stall to keep it."
"Several days later, when I was watching videos after finishing my work, it suddenly asked me from inside the fish tank, 'What level is the strongest human martial artist?'"
"I was startled and thought someone was playing a prank, so I looked around everywhere."
"Then it kept looking around in the fish tank until I accidentally made eye contact with it, and then it said again, 'Are you looking for me?'"
"I stared at it for several seconds before I had to believe that it was it that had just said those words."
"It was at that moment that I realized I had brought back a Calamity Beast."
For ordinary people...
Calamity Beast can only be roughly distinguished by their size and appearance.
If these two aspects cannot be clearly distinguished, they indeed cannot recognize whether it is Calamity Beast.
"After discovering it was Calamity Beast, didn't you think about calling the Calamity Beast emergency hotline?" Shen Heng continued to ask.
"That was indeed my first reaction, but..." Qiu Rui paused for a moment, then continued:
"As I backed away to leave, it said something else..."
"It can help me sense Origin Power and also accelerate my cultivation speed."
There was a moment of silence in the conference room as everyone looked at Qiu Rui with bewilderment.
"So, you hesitated?" Shen Heng asked Qiu Rui calmly.
Qiu Rui suddenly laughed, a laugh that sounded like it was forced out of his throat, hoarse and grating.
"Yes, I hesitated!"
He suddenly looked up, his eyes bloodshot, as if he wanted to roar out all the resentment that had been building up for years.
"But do you know what 'Perception Origin Power ' means to an ordinary person?!"
"That's like a carp leaping over the dragon gate! It's like a good-for-nothing suddenly finding a ladder to heaven!"
"Especially for someone like me, who couldn't do anything right after graduation and could only go home to help sell fish!"
Qiu Rui slammed his fist on the table, making a notebook on it bounce.
"Do you know what it feels like to be scaling fish every morning before dawn, your hands smelling fishy and impossible to wash off, while your parents are talking to people saying, 'My son is a good-for-nothing'?!"
"No, you don't know, because you're a genius, you're with the Supervision Bureau, you don't need to..."
Shen Heng sat silently listening without replying until Qiu Rui finished venting, at which point he calmly spoke:
What does that feel like?
Qiu Rui stiffened for a moment, and his anger suddenly dissipated.
He leaned back in his chair, and after a long while, he finally grinned, revealing a smile that was more like a grimace.
"It's like... everyone is waiting for you to become a dragon, but you know you can only wallow in the mud."
The meeting room fell silent for a moment.
Shen Heng steered the conversation back to the main topic, "So, after you found out it could help you with these things, you agreed to help it, right?"
"Yes, after all, helping me sense the Origin Power is indeed an irresistible temptation for me." Qiu Rui nodded absentmindedly.
Shen Heng nodded slightly. "So, you started helping it after that?"
"I guess so." Qiu Rui nodded, then added:
"But actually I didn't help it much, I just answered some of its questions."
"Before I knew it was Calamity Beast, it had already secretly eaten two people."
"I didn't help it with the people who disappeared from the seafood market afterwards; it did it all on its own."
I was just answering some questions.
"Just answered some of its questions?" Shen Heng raised his eyes slightly.
"Yes, for example, it initially asked what rank the strongest human martial artist is, or how the Supervision Bureau works, and so on," Qiu Rui replied.
Why is it asking you these questions?
"Perhaps it's because he was injured by that rat, and after discovering he's in another world, he's feeling uneasy and wants to know what's going on in this world," Qiu Rui guessed.
Shen Heng nodded slightly and inquired about the disappearance.
Do you know how those people who disappeared from the seafood market disappeared?
"When it's in the market, it'll find an opportunity to attach itself to someone's trouser leg or something similar, then follow them back home. Once they're in a secluded, unmonitored place, it'll emerge and devour them."
"And then it went on until later when we came to test it, and after you found out, you were reminded, and then it was changed to attacking the squad you were in, right?" Shen Heng nodded.
"Yes, I originally wanted it to stop eating people completely, like when I raised it, eating fish or other meat." Qiu Rui nodded.
"But after eating people, it seemed unable to tolerate that anymore and insisted on eating people."
"At that time, I was actually considering whether or not to report it to you."
"But it seemed to have guessed what I was thinking and told me that since I hadn't reported it before, reporting it now was useless, and in the end my result would just be the same as itss."
"There was nothing I could do but try to find a solution for him."
"Coincidentally, the team I was in couldn't find the Calamity Beast at the time, so I thought I'd just call it over."
"Anyway, they were looking for the Calamity Beast anyway, so sacrificing one person in the process is perfectly reasonable."
At this point, Qiu Rui gave a wry smile.
"But I never expected it to kill so many people on its first occasion."
"When I went back then, I argued with it."
"But it seems that because a martial artist's flesh is different from other flesh, providing it with more nutrients, it pressured me again, even threatening me with my family."
"There's no other way, I'll just have to help it look again."
"But it came to me again after the second time."
At this point, Qiu Rui gritted his teeth and lowered his head.
"But by then the squad had already been disbanded, and there was nothing I could do."
"So, for the past two days, I've been struggling with whether or not to tell you all."
"If I tell him, I don't know what will happen; if I don't tell him, I don't know where to find other martial artists for him; and if I don't find any, what about my family..."
Qiu Rui lowered his head, his voice hoarse.
Upon hearing this, everyone frowned.
This was entirely their own doing. Associating with Calamity Beast, how could they not be devoured?
Especially when the Calamity Beast is of a much higher rank than you.
However, fearing that it would affect Qiu Rui's mood and that they might not get any other information out of him, everyone had no choice but to remain silent.