Chapter 1: Suit-clad Thug, Monster-Hunting Consultant

　　“Welcome to the evening news: the once-every-five-years global cultivation census concluded today. Compared to five years ago, the concentration of spiritual energy in the world has increased by 27 percentage points. The proportion of cultivators who have awakened their spiritual roots has risen from 8.57% five years ago to 10.61%.”

　　“With the continued resurgence of spiritual energy, all kinds of spiritual plants are thriving. Spiritual rice and wheat, which used to be rare and expensive, are now being mass-produced. Experts predict that in the next five years, Tang Nation will see the emergence of triple-harvest spiritual rice.”

　　“Fruits and vegetables mutated by absorbing spiritual energy have entered ordinary people’s lives. The spirit apples that cost thirty thousand yuan per jin five years ago have dropped to five thousand yuan per jin. More and more parents are preparing spiritual fruits for their children before the college entrance exams.”

　　“Both plants and animals are flourishing. As spiritual plants bring good news, there is also good news from the spiritual beasts front. Some spiritual beasts are now being bred artificially—spirit chickens, spirit ducks, and spirit geese have made it to people’s dining tables. The spirit beef that cost twenty thousand yuan per jin five years ago has dropped to four thousand yuan per jin.”

　　“With prices dropping, more young people are sure to awaken their spiritual roots.”

　　“Today’s Great Tang Empire is striding proudly onto the world stage, ranking among the world’s great cultivation nations.”

　　“After the census results were released, Prime Minister Edward Clark said at the press conference: This is the best of times. Everyone has the hope to create miracles. I only wish for the youth to strive for self-improvement.”

　　In a residential house in Rong City, the TV was turned up loud.

　　In the three-bedroom apartment, there were four corpses lying around.

　　An elderly couple in their fifties, and a couple in their thirties.

　　This scene proved that the life on TV and real life will always be worlds apart.

　　The news only reported the good, not the bad—talking about how humanity has progressed since the resurgence of spiritual energy, but never mentioning that a large number of animals and plants mutated after absorbing spiritual energy, and some of them became sentient.

　　These sentient beings are collectively called monsters.

　　Monsters of this era specifically seek out crowded places.

　　The monster race is keeping up with the times, no longer hiding in remote mountains and lakes, but lurking in major cities around the world, able to take large numbers of hostages at any time, making it impossible for armed forces to use large-scale destructive weapons.

　　More and more citizens have witnessed monsters. Some netizens posted: In this era where you could be attacked by monsters just for going out for barbecue at night, what future does humanity have?

　　That post was deleted within minutes.

　　It had to be deleted. In recent years, the number of innocent citizens killed by monster attacks has reached a staggering figure. If this big data were made public, it would be enough to cause nationwide panic.

　　For example, the four deceased in front of them—their faces twisted, skin shriveled, all their blood drained.

　　There were deep bite marks on the victims’ necks.

　　Experienced cultivators could easily tell that the culprit was a blood demon.

　　“Blood demon” is what Eastern cultivators call them; Western cultivators call them: vampires.

　　The killer seemed to have left. A little girl, about seven or eight years old, was crying and calling the police: “Wuwuwu… there’s a monster, I’m scared, I’m so scared…”

　　“Don’t hang up, little one. We’re coming to save you right away.”

　　The operator traced the call, and the local security bureau took immediate action.

　　Six fully armed agents broke down the door, splitting into pairs to search the rooms.

　　The two agents who rushed into the master bedroom heard low sobbing.

　　With a short-haired female agent covering him with her gun, a tall male agent carefully opened the wardrobe.

　　Curled up inside was the little girl, tear stains on her pale face, her whole body trembling.

　　As soon as the wardrobe door opened, the little girl screamed in terror: “Ah, no, don’t come any closer!”

　　The male agent stepped back two paces and signaled to his partner.

　　The female agent understood, walked over, and showed the warmth of a big sister next door: “Don’t be afraid, little one. Big sister will protect you. There, don’t cry, let me carry you out.”

　　The little girl looked at the female agent’s black uniform and stopped crying.

　　The female agent holstered her gun and reached out to carry the little girl out.

　　The little girl was clearly terrified, shivering in the female agent’s arms.

　　When her little head got close to the female agent’s neck, a cold, sinister glint flashed in her eyes, and she suddenly opened her mouth.

　　A normal person has 28 to 32 teeth, but the little girl revealed hundreds of… sharp fangs!

　　“Watch out!”

　　The male agent realized something was wrong and raised his automatic rifle to shoot.

　　But he was a beat too late. The little girl with the fangs lunged at the female agent’s carotid artery.

　　At the critical moment, someone appeared at the bedroom door.

　　That person casually tossed something, landing it right in the little girl’s mouth.

　　The thing thrown was very ordinary, something you see everywhere—a clove of garlic.

　　“Ah!”