Lethal Stunner: Kicking Off with Five Beast Husbands
Chapter 95: Thank you to Q Yuebao babies for 80 monthly tickets, plus 4 extra updates

Chapter 95: Chapter 95: Thank you to Q Yuebao babies for 80 monthly tickets, plus 4 extra updates

Xuan Jiu said, "Once you reach Eleven Stars, you’ll find that upgrading superpowers is easier than drinking water."

"Both of us have reached Twelve Stars before, and we were brought to the Terminal’s dining table."

"The Terminal only consumes the Star Stones within Twelve-star Beastmen. Mutant Beasts and Fog Corpses are considered spoiled food in its eyes; it won’t eat them."

"We were accidentally severely injured, causing a drop in our superpowers. Dissatisfied with such food, the Terminal let us go."

However, for Beastmen who have learned the secrets of Mist Continent, the Terminal naturally wouldn’t let them leave.

Instead, it confines them to a location, waiting for the food to upgrade again.

Xiao Jinsheng listened, growing increasingly uneasy about the enigmatic nature of the Terminal’s actions.

Curious, she asked, "Have you ever seen the Terminal? Is it a human or something else?"

"An unidentified entity," Chen Yunji replied.

They couldn’t discern the Terminal’s true form, only confirming that it wasn’t human, a Fog Corpse, or a Mutant Beast.

It was formless yet more tangible than form, with thought processes that defied human logic.

Its food consumption is strictly focused on the Star Stone power of Beastmen.

Moreover, before slaughtering its food, it emphasizes the emotions of the food — extreme emotions.

It demands that food be in states like happiness, fear, or despair.

Just like certain people with stringent preferences for flavors in their food.

This dish can be spicy but absolutely cannot be sour-spicy.

This dish can be sweet but absolutely cannot be sour-sweet.

This dish can be sour but absolutely cannot be salty-sour.

The Terminal is the ultimate picky eater.

"Sounds like some kind of program," Xiao Jinsheng ventured.

"It’s as if it operates based on pre-set rules. The program dictates that it can only consume food within a value range of 90 to 100. If the food doesn’t meet the values, it opts for recycling, unconcerned with whether the food is sentient or alive, or even if the food has discovered the truth about the world."

"It even has a security system that sets aside food that fails the initial inspection into another zone."

"If the Terminal had human-like reasoning, it could simply force the food to upgrade its stats to meet the requirements, and then consume it."

"That would save the effort of confining and managing the food."

If the Terminal operates purely on a rigid programming mechanism...

Then living, conscious humans as food might find ways to manipulate their own values.

Like the Terminal insists on consuming Twelve-star Beastmen only.

Those Beastmen can harm themselves, rendering them defective and unfit to become food.

Indeed, Xuan Jiu and Chen Yunji actually did just that.

The two of them lived on Cloud Island for two years using such methods.

"Did you have a Female Master before? Your superpowers seem to have upgraded quite fast," Xiao Jinsheng asked, upon learning Xuan Jiu was 26 and Chen Yunji was 25.

"Nope, I was just lucky," Xuan Jiu explained. "For the purpose of producing better-talented offspring between females and Beastmen, the Terminal doesn’t pair randomly."

"It investigates both parties’ genes, personalities, talents, and other factors, ensuring the pairing results in a 1+1 greater than 2 effect."

"Thus, the higher the talents or the rarer awakened bloodlines in Beastmen, the later the pairing happens."

"Because females are scarce, the Terminal waits for higher-value females to mature."

Before discovering the Terminal’s true nature, Xuan Jiu had always relied on it — taking assignments to upgrade his powers.

Until he suffered a major injury and fell into a Star Stone mine.

"I was Nine Stars at the time, severely injured and unconscious in the Star Stone mine for a month. When I woke up, I found my superpowers were about to break through to Twelve Stars — lucky, right?"

The group stayed silent.

One blink and Nine Stars turns to Twelve Stars.

That immediately meant he’d be soon served on the Terminal’s table.

As expected, Xuan Jiu continued, "Before I could celebrate, the Terminal detected my Twelve-star power and sent me to its slaughterhouse."

"That’s where I met him," Xuan Jiu pointed at Chen Yunji. "We were enemies — we’d fought over resources."

"Back when we were trapped by the Terminal, we tried escaping but had no hope."

"In despair, I thought, ’Well, I’m going to die anyway, isn’t avenging a grudge before death fair enough?’ He happened to share the same cell as me, so I beat him up."

"I broke three tails, he lost a dragon horn, and both our powers dropped to Eleven Stars — the Terminal immediately discarded us to Cloud Island."

It was from this fight that the two discovered a way to suppress their superpower upgrades.

Thus, every three days they had to kill each other once.

After hearing Xuan Jiu’s journey of power upgrades, Xiao Jinsheng turned to look curiously at Chen Yunji: "Did you also fall into a Star Stone mine?"

"I beastify as a dragon, feeding on elemental energies of heaven and earth. I don’t need Star Stones to upgrade," Chen Yunji explained calmly. "With time, my superpowers naturally reached Twelve Stars."

"Which is also why he sustained damage to both eyes; even sleeping upgrades him," Xuan Jiu added.

Previously, Xiao Jinsheng would have been amazed and envious at Chen Yunji’s unique constitution.

But now...

Thinking of how Twelve-star females are captured by the Terminal for forced reproduction, Xiao Jinsheng’s heart filled with worry.

Yet, Mist Continent had gone five years without newborns. She’d investigated—neither the Terminal shelters nor Beastification Concentration Camps had seen new offspring in half a decade.

Clearly, people in Mist Continent were heavily poisoned, rendered infertile.

But as the caretaker, the Terminal...

Faced with food extinction, it would undoubtedly try to resolve the infertility crisis among Mist Continent survivors.

"The resources on Cloud Island haven’t been tainted by Poisonous Fog," Mo Jiao pointed out.

"Could it be that the Terminal wants to confine all of us on Cloud Island and keep us there?" Xiao Jinsheng asked in horror.

After all, since the first encounter with Xuan Jiu, he had been eager to send them off Cloud Island.

"Staying on Cloud Island means letting the Terminal raise you," Xuan Jiu replied. "It won’t let you remain on Cloud Island; instead, it’ll find a way to free you from the Poisonous Fog."

Having food that can sustain itself is far less effort compared to spending time and resources on raising it.

The resources on Cloud Island are abundant but can’t support everyone indefinitely.

Given the Terminal’s habits, it would opt to resolve the core problem causing Mist Continent survivors to become poisoned and infertile.

Upon learning the truth of this world, an apocalypse became even more terrifying.

After leaving Li’s domain, the group fell silent.

Suddenly, Xuan Jiu let out a piercing scream, startling everyone, except for Chen Yunji, who appeared indifferent.

Initially, they assumed something terrible had happened.

A horrifying possibility emerged: the Terminal had come for them.

But it turned out Xuan Jiu was kneeling in the snow, looking at the wet ash where his extinguished charcoal fire once was, trembling in despair: "My beggar’s chicken—"

"He’s crazy, don’t mind him," Chen Yunji reminded them.

Previously, Xiao Jinsheng couldn’t understand why Chen Yunji and Xuan Jiu always accused each other of being mentally ill.

But after knowing the truth — witnessing these two injured to the point of bloodshed every few days, knowing the Terminal’s secrets, stuck on Cloud Island as backup food...

If it were her, she might be mentally broken as well.

"You should leave," Chen Yunji advised Xiao Jinsheng. "Your Beast Husband has two Ten-star powers — strong enough to survive in Mist Continent."

At this moment, Xiao Jinsheng faced two choices.

To withdraw from the competition, leave Cloud Island, forgo power upgrades, and seek uncertain peace.

Or to risk everything, take on missions, and utilize every means to change the future.