Ashen God
Chapter 580 - 579: Humans Can, at Least They Should Try

Chapter 580: Chapter 579: Humans Can, at Least They Should Try

"It seems like this thing could make a nice decoration, like a ring or a whole pendant, but unfortunately, it’s not a normal decoration but a Heavenly Material and Earthly Treasure. So, it must be eaten."

Due to suspicions of cat urine on the cotton pad inside the cardboard box, Zhang Yanhang didn’t immediately eat the Cat’s Eye Gem but planned to take it home to wash first before consuming.

Even though there weren’t any obvious stains on the surface of the Cat’s Eye Gem, Zhang Yanhang still felt it would be better to wash it, mainly because it would be more reassuring after washing.

Although Zhang Yanhang had already gotten his hands on the Cat’s Eye Gem, he didn’t rush to leave. Instead, driven by the principle of ’not forgetting the well-digger when drinking the water,’ he scanned the surrounding area, looking for traces of the Cat-faced old lady.

Regrettably, even after two scans, Zhang Yanhang found nothing. The Cat-faced old lady had vanished without a trace, as if evaporated from the world, leaving behind only this gem seemingly plucked straight from her eye socket.

"Forget it. Even if I found the Cat-faced old lady, there’s no real benefit for me, just conducting a cleansing ritual for her. After all, even though she has two eyes, it’s unlikely that a second Cat’s Eye Gem could be plucked from them.

So, since I can’t find her, it’s better not to waste time and just head home. After all, I’m quite busy."

Given the density of Awakeners in Qin Island City, there’s an Awakener every 0.6 square kilometers, which means there really isn’t much room for ghosts and spirits in the city, only in remote areas that see no visitors.

Therefore, even if the Cat-faced old lady was alive, she’d only have two possible fates: either transcended by a passerby Awakener or forcibly cleansed by authorities after being reported.

Giving up on scanning, Zhang Yanhang placed the Cat’s Eye Gem in his Waist Bag and immediately set off to return to Xingfuli District.

...

October 25th, Sunday, Double Ninth Festival, and also Zhang Yanhang’s first day out of the Ashen World, 12:40 AM, Xingfuli District, Unit 505, at the kitchen.

After taking more than a minute to reach Xingfuli District, Zhang Yanhang immediately washed the Cat’s Eye Gem under the tap for a full five minutes. Once convinced that there really were no stains on the gem, he used Alchemy to strip away the water and any microorganisms lingering on the surface.

"Now I feel much more at ease. It should be okay to eat." Zhang Yanhang carefully scanned the Cat’s Eye Gem with the Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Evil technique to ensure nothing else was on it before promptly popping it into his mouth.

Although Zhang Yanhang had considered other uses, he ultimately decided that eating it directly would probably lead to the best absorption efficiency, so he didn’t hesitate to crush it with his teeth and chew thoroughly.

To his surprise, the taste and texture of the Cat’s Eye Gem were quite pleasant, reminiscent of eating glass but crispy and slightly sweet.

However, unlike eating glass where the sweetness comes from the tongue tasting blood due to the glass cutting the mouth or resembling the taste of rust,

the sweetness of this Cat’s Eye Gem was intrinsic, like rock candy. Obviously, it couldn’t cut through Zhang Yanhang’s mouth or break his Energy Shield—a feat Zhang Yanhang himself would struggle to achieve, let alone an essentially attack-less Heavenly Material and Earthly Treasure.

After consuming the Cat’s Eye Gem, Zhang Yanhang immediately began skillfully sensing the increase in the warm current within his body. Based on his experience, the gem appeared to have boosted his Stamina Limit by about 10%—equivalent to two Sky Demon Crimson Crystal Grasses or one Sky Demon Orange Crystal Grass.

"To reach 10%? That’s quite a surprise..."

Zhang Yanhang originally thought that this casually encountered Heavenly Material and Earthly Treasure would at most provide a 5% increase to his Stamina Limit, but to his surprise, it was comparable to the Sky Demon Orange Crystal Grass. It seems that as an urban legend, the Cat-faced old lady truly has quite a reputation.

"So, now comes the question, now that I’ve finished eating the Heavenly Material and Earthly Treasure, what should I do next?"

Zhang Yanhang thought carefully for a moment. Although he couldn’t think of any other pressing matters, before entering the Ashen World, he thought he might first take a leave of absence from his instructor, considering he was likely to spend about five days in the Ashen World this trip.

"But speaking of taking a leave of absence, it’s already late, and the instructor might already be asleep..." Zhang Yanhang initially thought about calling directly, but considering it was nearly 1 AM, he ultimately decided to send a leave request message to his instructor on QQ instead.

After sending the leave request, Zhang Yanhang waited two minutes but, seeing no sign of a reply, decided not to wait. His intentions had been made clear, and according to the relevant regulations, the instructor would likely give him, an Awakener, the necessary consideration.

Zhang Yanhang put his phone into his Waist Bag, then walked toward the bedroom. As soon as he entered, he immediately sensed a very distinct resistance in the air—the Time Pause had descended again, and simultaneously, a familiar text option box appeared before Zhang Yanhang.

[Do you want to enter the Ashen World?]

"""Option One: Yes (Immediately enter the Ashen World through the transmission channel in front, since the area of Raccoon City directly connected opposite the channel had already been cleared by you, and the Goblin Plain to the west of Raccoon City had not been spared either. Thus, this time, you had set your sights on the Demonized Swamp located to the north of Raccoon City, believing that the swamp might contain suitable monsters for you to hunt.

Indeed, that was the case. After quickly exploring the Demonized Swamp, you were quite pleased with the monsters in this area, so you started to formulate a cleaning plan for the Demonized Swamp based on the information gathered from your exploration and then began executing the plan, hunting various types of demonized monsters.)"""

"""Option Two: No (You refuse to enter the Ashen World but feel that going to sleep immediately would be a waste, so you spend the entire night operating the Limitless Universe Skill to manufacture Thermo-baric Bombs. Moreover, you also specifically took out several items related to Yin Qi and Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures from your waist bag and placed them on the large bed in your bedroom.

You initially thought this might attract a female ghost, but unexpectedly, instead of the snow-white beautiful ghost you imagined, it attracted an uninvited guest, a strange Fierce Ghost glowing with a blue fluorescence just like an Avatar.

After careful identification, you discovered that it was actually a rare nuclear radiation Fierce Ghost, also a mother ghost. Although the nuclear radiation caused not only its body color but even its facial features to become strangely similar to an Avatar’s, based on the philosophy that ’People can and at least should try,’ you reluctantly put the mother ghost into the Demon Refining Pot.)"""

"""Option Three: Little Fox’s Gratitude (The Little Fox whom you had spared before had progressed a bit in cultivation, successfully transforming her upper body into a human form, though her head remained in the state of a fox. She felt it was perhaps time to repay you for your previous support. For that reason, she specially cultivated a more advanced Dream Creation Technique.

You, having refused to enter the Ashen World, were spending the night operating the Limitless Universe Skill to manufacture Thermo-baric Bombs. However, upon learning the Little Fox’s intentions, you immediately put aside what you were doing and shut down the protection from the Supreme Will. Unfortunately, although it initially felt somewhat effective, the Dream Creation Technique ultimately failed.)"""

"Demonized Swamp? What the hell is a Demonized Swamp? Is this really the same area as the forest I saw north of Raccoon City?" Though Zhang Yanhang hadn’t gone in to check, he distinctly remembered that there should be a large forest to the north of Raccoon City. How had it inexplicably turned into a swamp?

"Could it be that the forest was actually a swamp forest? If that’s the case, then it sort of makes sense. After all, swamp forests sometimes really do look a lot like regular forests, especially rainforests."

Although he hadn’t entered the Demonized Swamp, Zhang Yanhang guessed that was probably the case there; maybe only part of the area was a real swamp, while the rest remained a somewhat normal forest.

However, although the swamp area was small, it was probably the most important part, which is why the area was named the Demonized Swamp.

And speaking of why that swamp was so important, Zhang Yanhang guessed that around eighty percent of this was probably because a Lord Monster lived in that swamp; other than that, Zhang Yanhang could think of no other reasonable explanation.

"Since it’s the Demonized Swamp, could I possibly encounter a Lord Monster that is a crocodile type?"

Whenever swamps were mentioned, Zhang Yanhang immediately thought of crocodiles, classic swamp creatures. Aside from those, the swamp creatures that left a deep impression on him were probably types of pythons, mainly because he had watched many related movies as a child, like "Giant Prehistoric Crocodile" and "Anaconda," which left him with an unexpectedly deep impression in this area."""

Of course, the main reason why he remembered them so vividly was that these two types of creatures had strong combat abilities, and other amphibians and various birds that also lived in the swamp environment were no match for them in terms of combat power.

"But considering it is a demonized swamp, and the options mentioned demonized monsters, actually, there might not be any animals in the swamp, just various deformed demonized monsters.

Luckily, it doesn’t really matter. For me, any kind of monster is pretty much the same; as long as it can provide useful Talent, it’s a good monster. If it provides useful Artifacts and Equipment too, then it’s a ’model monster’. If there also happens to be a lot of them, then it’s the ’most beautiful monster appreciated by the Empire’."

And, Zhang Yanhang remembered that he actually saw quite a few animals when he scanned the area earlier, which indicates that at least the forest part outside of the swamp should still be relatively normal.

"Never mind, better not think too much about it. I’ll know the specifics after another scan later." Zhang Yanhang was never really worried about the monsters themselves; he was more concerned about the rate of return.

"As for this second Option, Multiple Choice is a bit hypocritical, huh? The pretty ones are called beautiful female ghosts, and the ugly, non-human-like ones are directly called Avatar Mother Ghosts. Moreover, besides these female ghosts and mother ghosts, female ghosts are referred to as ’she’, whereas mother ghosts are simply referred to as ’it’.

Although grammatically correct, it seems a bit discriminatory against mother ghosts. So cold, can this world ever be good? When will mother ghosts finally stand up, just because they look like Avatars? It’s not their fault they’re radioactive."

Although Qin Island City indeed has nuclear submarines, nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, and nuclear power plants, making it triple-nuclear, these have nothing to do with the three districts of the city where Zhang Yanhang is located. They are generally located in the Huangdao Development Zone, facing the three districts across the sea, and there have been no nuclear accidents in recent years.

Therefore, Zhang Yanhang imagined that this Avatar Mother Ghost probably wasn’t a local ghost but likely drifted over from another city. Of course, there’s also a significant chance it’s a foreign ghost from Fukushima, a so-called ’nuclear radiation Immortal’. If that’s the case, then the Avatar Mother Ghost should naturally say ’Secret Marseille’.

"Speaking of which, compared to grammar issues, I’m somewhat careless here in this Option. daring to take on this Avatar Mother Ghost? Is it because the Energy Shield makes you fearless against radiation?"

Even though he hadn’t yet seen what the Avatar Mother Ghost looked like, Zhang Yanhang thought it probably didn’t look much like a human. Although maybe some find this more thrilling, or there’s the thought, ’it’s all the same once the lights are off’, or like the Option says, ’Humans can, should at least give it a try’.

But right now, he was more interested in quickly going to Ashen World to hunt monsters and advance his rank as soon as possible, which was what he really wanted to focus on.

"As for the third Option, who would have thought, the Little Fox is still thinking of showing gratitude, but there’s nothing wrong with that. The problem is, the transformation chose the wrong place. If it really wanted to convey gratitude, it should transform the lower half first. What’s the use of only transforming the upper body, and still having a fox head?"

Although this is a scenario for ’FurryControl ecstasy’, Zhang Yanhang really isn’t a fan of furries, he’s actually quite normal in that aspect.

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