The Monster is Coming

Chapter 341 A Visitor from Reality, An Investigation into Fate

Earth, the Trading City.

As night falls, the lights of this megacity, spanning a chain of artificial islands across the Pacific Ocean, come on.

From the air, the entire city looks like a giant net woven from light.

The city's different colored lights outline the contours of its seven districts.

The white light of the human city, the blue-green fluorescence of the sea creature city, the red light of the superhuman city... each light represents a race of the Earth Alliance.

This city was also founded by seven races.

The Advent Wars of that time caused the Earth to experience a series of climate disasters, energy crises, and waves of unemployment due to automation for a period of time.

The emergence of automation-driven unemployment, in particular, has plunged many ethnic groups into turmoil.

The Lunar Eclipse Clan's advanced technology, which replaces manual labor, means that ordinary human resources will find it difficult to create value.

95% of the traditional workforce can no longer generate income for themselves.

Factories no longer need workers, logistics no longer need drivers, and even basic medical diagnosis is beginning to shift to Lunar Eclipse Intelligence.

The belief that "labor creates value" crumbled in the face of the Lunar Eclipse Clan's highly efficient machinery.

A wave of unemployment has swept the globe, plunging societies into turmoil.

To address this issue, the Human Federation and other races have attempted to directly distribute basic income, using the wealth created by machines to support the unemployed.

However, this seemingly perfect solution soon revealed its fatal flaws.

When people lose the meaning of work, society begins to fall apart.

With idle crowds loitering in the streets, the crime rate has skyrocketed.

In particular, there was a latent crisis weighing on the minds of all races at the time: the emergence of the next descending force.

Depression swept the globe during this period, and suicide rates reached record highs.

Humanity, having lost its goals, began to diverge into extreme groups, and social order began to crumble.

It is in this cyber environment that the virtual economy has emerged.

After connecting to the StarNet, the StarNet network provided by the Lunar Eclipse Clan was initially intended to facilitate more efficient communication between clans.

However, after the Lunar Eclipse Clan launched its virtual game, the world experienced a round of economic recovery.

Everyone can connect to the StarNet through virtual devices, and then freely access the virtual world through the StarNet, allowing their senses to experience alternative sensations in the virtual world.

As a result, many people choose to escape the boredom of the real world and immerse themselves in the virtual world.

At this stage, the Lunar Eclipse Clan already possessed gaming pod technology.

However, the support distributed to various ethnic groups still consists of holographic neural access helmets.

Viewing virtual devices from a modern perspective is like how people in ancient times viewed smartphones or feature phones.

The biggest contribution of the virtual economy during this period was that it gave people a sense of "being needed".

This feeling is far more effective than money in maintaining social stability.

The Trading City, a man-made marvel built on the Pacific Ocean, was the intersection of the virtual economy and the real world at that time.

Here, virtual assets can be exchanged for physical goods, and creative ideas can be converted into real money.

Virtual currencies in various games and virtual social software also experienced a revival during this period.

This was also a pilot city for future development established by seven ethnic groups at that time.

But in today's world, the trading city is like the United Nations of ancient times.

It once had a brilliant vision, but in the end, only an empty shell remained.

Today, it's nothing more than an introduction in a history book.

This megacity spanning the Pacific Ocean has also experienced the fate of being eliminated by the times, and has now transformed into an ordinary city where multiple ethnic groups live together.

The city's first residents were mostly engineers, architects, environmental control experts, and others who participated in its construction.

The current urban residents are all descendants of those who participated in the city's construction back then.

At 3 a.m., the lights in some areas of the trading city gradually went out.

Just then, a spatial distortion suddenly appeared in the sky above the city.

Like ripples in the air during a summer heatwave, they are almost imperceptible under the cover of night.

Then the ripple tore apart rapidly, as if an invisible hand had ripped open a curtain in space.

An unstable silver light flickered at the edge of the rift, and a tall, slender figure, surrounded by black, malevolent winds, slowly descended from the spatial rift.

Instantly, the spatial rift behind them closed, as if it had never existed.

Overlooking the city's night view, the descending figure slowly raised the bone staff in its hand, and the mask formed from silver mist on its face rapidly changed expressions.

Finally, his expression froze on a pensive one, as if he were weighing something.

A moment later, the expression on the mask turned into a smile.

With a swift movement, it transformed into a black whirlwind and disappeared into the night, swooping down towards the trading city below.

They eventually infiltrated a renovated old apartment building.

On the balcony, an orange cat lazily licks its paws, while the indicator light on the gaming pod in the room is on, indicating that a player is playing a game inside.

The gaze of this malevolent wind was originally directed at the figure inside the gaming pod.

But when they saw the figure's shape and face, the fierce wind suddenly froze, as if hesitating about something.

Ultimately, it chose the orange cat that was lying on the balcony.

A sharp gust of wind silently slipped into the orange cat's ear, causing the cat to suddenly freeze, its pupils contracting into thin slits.

"Meow meow meow!"

"Meow~"

The orange cat first emitted an unusually violent meow, then returned to normal.

It's like adapting to your body; the initial confusion is due to a mismatch in control.

Using the cat's body, this uninvited guest began its investigation.

It nimbly leaped off the balcony, entered the room, and curiously looked around at its surroundings.

After wandering around the room, the orange cat nimbly leaped onto the balcony and began to navigate the city's intricate pipeline system.

……

after one day.

Minghou, using the orange cat's body, lay on the top of a building, squinting as he looked down at the city under the blazing sun.

This world... is completely different from what I imagined.

Before it arrived, it envisioned a world teeming with powerful individuals.

Even the most primitive beings can tear the sky apart with their bare hands, while the most powerful can easily move mountains and fill seas.

The air should be filled with rich spiritual energy fluctuations.

But in this frail world, the spiritual energy in the air is so thin that it is almost negligible, like water diluted a million times.

His beard trembled slightly, but Minghou still couldn't figure out the problem.

"This world... shouldn't be like this."

Leaving aside environmental issues, the materials used in this world are also extremely inferior.

For example, that towering giant tower in the distance is made entirely of a bunch of fragile materials.

In the monster world, any monster could easily tear it apart.

Minghou gently patted the edge of the rooftop with his paw, lost in thought, but he couldn't figure out where the problem lay.

This arrival stemmed from a failed game played by the monster world.

The person he was competing against at the time was probably a member of the Reverse Tide Legion's training camp.

It had chosen to give up in this failed game, after all, the power behind the opponent possessed a rule-level power stronger than the "rules of fate".

Because the other party was a member of the Anti-Tide Legion, it chose to withdraw and did not take action against those new generation Anti-Tide members.

But the result was a continuous backlash from fate.

The logic is achieved, the rules take effect, but an error occurs.

If this continues, its level of existence will decline as a result.

In order to curb the backlash from the rules of fate, it had no choice but to launch an investigation as a debt collector, hoping to recover the losses in the game of fate.

However, the Anti-Tide Legion was so large that it was not easy to find the ethnic groups behind those who participated in the game at that time.

It sought help from the clan leader to obtain the coordinates through a game of fate.

Ultimately, he obtained the detailed spatial coordinates.

But what puzzled Minghou was that this spatial coordinate was not in the monster world, but pointed to the void outside the monster world.

The rules of fate are clearly not wrong.

In order to find out what was going on, it decided to conduct a cross-space investigation itself, but it was also prepared for failure.

Possessing a rule-level power stronger than "fate," the world in which the other party resides must be rich in spiritual energy and teeming with powerful beings.

This solo trip is extremely risky, and could even be fatal.

However, as one of the twelve Fate Masters of the Fate Clan, it is its responsibility to follow the predetermined path of destiny.

This is also the source of the power that fate bestowed upon it.

With a mix of trepidation and excitement, it set off.

However, the situation was completely different from what was expected.

It even made it think that something might have gone wrong during the space jump.

Passing through the spatial rift, it found itself in a world almost devoid of spiritual energy.

It cannot be compared to the world of monsters.

In a world like this, it is impossible to breed strong individuals or to create rules.

A power that controls the rules would not choose to survive in this world.

So he suspected he had come to the wrong place.

But the rules of fate have never been wrong.

The last defeat had nothing to do with judgment; it was simply that the opponent's control of the rules was too strong, making it impossible for the rules of fate to extract any gains from the game.

But since he was already there, he decided to investigate.

Originally, I wanted to possess the intelligent beings of this world and acquire their memories so that I could quickly understand the situation of this world.

But after seeing the creature lying in the coffin lid, it abandoned the idea.

Judging from its appearance alone, the weak creature lying inside is not much different from the creature that fought against it in the past.

This discovery made it realize that this was the world where that powerful race lived.

I still can't understand why the world's environment is so harsh and why living beings are so weak.

Having identified its objective, it planned to infiltrate this world and conduct an in-depth investigation.

This is also why it doesn't choose to attack weaker creatures.

If there truly exists a deity behind all living beings in this world who controls powerful rules, then it hopes to resolve issues through negotiation.

The act of indiscriminate slaughter upon arrival will only be interpreted as provocation by the other side.

But the investigation that day only made it more and more confused.

Its tail swished gently as it continuously analyzed the absurdity of this world.

First is the combat system: technology.

In its eyes, these things called technology are like toys.

The metal box, which floats on magnetic force, is so slow that it can't even catch up with a baby reptile in the monster world.

The so-called "energy weapons" would probably not even damage the skin or fur of ordinary wild beasts in the monster world.

As for the materials used, they were even more appalling.

The entire city's buildings were constructed entirely of fragile, non-spiritual mineral alloys and concrete, which any monster could easily smash through.

The vehicles on the street have shells as thin as paper, and the bodies of the living creatures are even more pitifully weak.

Without the tempering of spiritual energy, muscles become soft and bones become fragile.

If such a creature were placed in the monster world, it would probably be killed by a firefly that lives at the bottom of the food chain and lives by collecting nectar.

As for the growth system, it is based on the information it investigated.

A cultivation system has not yet been established in this world.

In such an environment, even with a cultivation and growth system, the thin spiritual energy in the air cannot be utilized.

As it traveled through the city, it heard the phrase "virtual world" appear very frequently.

It seems to be a kind of dreamlike, mentally constructed scenario.

In Minghou's view, this was nothing more than a group of incapable ants using clumsy electronic signals to simulate the spiritual world, a self-deceiving act.

Its ears twitched slightly as it continued to pick up on conversations on the street.

Two creatures passing by below were talking about things in the virtual world.

A hint of mockery flashed in Minghou's cat-like eyes.

These beings, living in the real world, are indulging in a false illusion.

In the monster world, weaker races at least struggle to survive and strive to become stronger.

How tragic that the creatures of this world are willing to live in a cage woven from illusions, without even the desire to struggle.

But upon closer reflection, it felt that the creatures of these small worlds couldn't be entirely blamed.

Given the current environment, no matter how hard an individual struggles, they cannot escape the shackles of the world.

Thinking about this, the problem comes full circle.

How could such a world possibly give rise to a powerful being capable of defying the rules of fate? Minghou was utterly perplexed.

It decided to investigate further and gain a detailed understanding of the social structure of this world.

Over the next two days, Minghou completely embraced the identity of the orange cat.

In the early morning, it will squat on the trash can next to the breakfast stall, watching the hurried humans mechanically swallow the inferior food synthesized by the robot.

The stall owner was a mechanical creation, and the advertising board on his chest played all sorts of random promotional content on a loop.

The most discussed topic among the people in line was virtual games.

"Are things in the virtual world more tempting than real-world objects?" Minghou tilted his cat head, watching a young man stuff the last bite of food into his mouth, and then eagerly said that he wanted to go back to play "Dark Lands".

At noon, the orange cat sneaked into the rest area of ​​the tech office building.

Through the transparent glass wall, one can see that two-thirds of the workstations in the open-plan office area are empty.

Most of the jobs are handled entirely by robots.

Those people in those positions are lying in sleep pods, their consciousness active in the digital world.

The remaining people gestured to the air, handling the interface between the virtual world and the real economy.

“What an interesting way to enslave someone.” Minghou watched as a man who looked like a manager was reprimanding his subordinates.

No whip is needed; these enslaved people will fight tooth and nail to maintain the system of enslavement.

As evening fell, the orange cat crouched on the school wall.

The children on the playground are having a physical education class, during which there is supervision and requirements that the children must do things according to their own ideas.

"Even the cubs have been domesticated?"

Lifethroat's tail slapped the ground, showing great curiosity about the ordinariness of this small world.

What puzzled Minghou the most was the residential area at night.

Through the window, it could see countless families sharing a room, yet each immersed in their own independent virtual space.

There is no communication between spouses, no interaction between parents and children, and even many pets are equipped with virtual companion systems.

Based on my observations over the past few days, I feel that civilization in this world is slowly committing suicide.

All living beings are escaping reality.

They caged their consciousness, becoming completely immersed in false fantasies.

It's unimaginable what future such a civilization could have.

But upon closer reflection, it is ultimately a small world.

In such a world, indulging in illusions may not be such a bad way to find solace in a short life.

Minghou squatted under the eaves, gazing at the city lights in the hazy rain, and suddenly felt a little dazed.

In the monster world, billions of races compete for survival, and the law of the jungle prevails.

Every living being is fighting for its life from birth; the strong devour the weak, and the weak struggle to survive, never daring to stop for a moment.

The same applies to the Reverse Tide Legion, which was sealed away after losing a game. The first thing every creature does in its growth is to become a warrior. The process is like sifting sand from a great wave, and the best few will be sent to the Reverse Tide Training Camp for even more brutal training.

It's not just the anti-tide legion.

Even those who stand at the pinnacle of the monster world must always be wary of being replaced by newcomers.

That world was cruel yet magnificent, filled with the tempering of blood and fire every moment.

And the world before my eyes...

The orange cat's tail swayed gently as its gaze swept over the holographic advertisement on the street corner.

In the video, a family of three is laughing on a virtual beach in a social game.

Sunshine, waves, gentle breeze—everything was perfect.

Although it's an advertisement, it also reflects the daily lives of the creatures in this small world.

Without the pressure of survival or the fear of the survival of the fittest, they only need to connect to the equipment to enjoy a short but peaceful life in a dream woven from data.

"Perhaps...this isn't so bad?"

A complex emotion flashed in Minghou's cat-like eyes.

He was born in a world of monsters.

There, the weak don't even have the right to choose to live.

Even after they die, their flesh, blood, soul, and everything else will be drained by the strong and used as nourishment.

The creatures of this world, at least, can choose how they live.

Even if it's just living in an illusion.

Their lives are but a hundred years, as fleeting as a mayfly.

Perhaps that's why they yearn to experience infinite possibilities within a limited time.

The illusion gave them another life, even if it was just a falsehood, at least it allowed them to forget the mediocrity of the real world before death came.

"Ugh."

The orange cat, possessed by the Life Throat, let out a low growl.

It began to think deeply about this problem.

The creatures of the monster world fight desperately to survive, while the creatures of this world willingly indulge in fleeting pleasures. Who is more pathetic?
Are they the strong who struggle in blood and fire, striving to reach the pinnacle, or the weak who live a life of debauchery in illusion?
These are two completely different ways of living.

One seeks eternity, the other savors the fleeting moment.

After much contemplation, it still believed that the monster world was the future.

Because eternity is the highest value embodied in a race.

Throughout the long history of the void, only those who stand at the pinnacle can witness the rise and fall of civilizations in different worlds and touch upon the truth of the world.

Those races that indulged in fleeting pleasures have long since turned to dust in the river of time, their names forgotten.

The creatures of this world chose comfort, but in doing so, they also gave up evolution.

Numbing yourself with virtual pleasure will never allow you to access true power.

Their civilization may last for a thousand years, but when a real crisis arrives...

For example, a sudden spatial storm, or a passing predatory species, would leave them no chance to resist and they would be annihilated in an instant.

Those who choose the monster world will fight to the very last moment, even in the face of the collapse of the void.

Therefore, fleeting pleasure is ultimately just a bubble.

Only by climbing to the summit can one experience a magnificent future.

Minghou shook his head.

It felt that it didn't need to think about these pointless questions at all.

The purpose of this visit is to investigate the source of the backlash from fate, not to judge the survival philosophy of a weak civilization.

Just as Minghou was preparing to move to the next area to continue observation.

A faint buzzing sound came from afar.

Its ears twitched sharply, and then it saw a small drone rapidly approaching in its direction.

The drone's bottom shimmered with a soft blue light, and its robotic arm bore a pet collar logo.

"Target confirmed, Orange, age 3, neutered male cat, microchip ID: T-2274." The drone emitted a mechanical voice as its scanner swept across the orange cat it was attached to.

"Mild malnutrition was detected. It is recommended to take it back and supplement it with vitamins."

Minghou's cat-like eyes narrowed slightly, a hint of impatience rising in his heart.

Such a rudimentary mechanical creation can be reduced to dust with just a thought.

But resistance would obviously attract unnecessary attention.

That's it.

"Meow."

It meowed obediently, pretending to be an ordinary house cat.

The drone emitted a "beep" sound, and the robotic arm flexibly extended, gently picking it up like a claw machine.

Minghou felt helpless, letting the cold metal clamp down on his body.

As the propellers spun faster, the drone carried it into the air and flew towards the city's residential area.

The night wind howled, and Mingcho was suspended a hundred meters in the air, with the city lights below twinkling like stars.

It watched as the drone projected a navigation route map, the destination marked as an ordinary apartment building, the same one it had broken into a few days earlier.

Clearly, this mechanical creation had received a mission from its owner to find their pet.

The creature he possessed was that family's pet.

It plans to go back first, and then find an opportunity to sneak out and continue its in-depth investigation of this world.

Before long, it was safely placed on the balcony by the drone.

The sliding door was pulled open with a "whoosh".

A white-haired girl stood in the doorway with her hands on her hips, her pajamas printed with a cartoon cat paw pattern, but her face was filled with anger:

"Ju Zi, where have you been? How dare you stay out all night?"

Minghou ignored her and walked into the house on his own.

Weak creatures, how noisy!
"Do you know how long I've been looking for you?" The girl crouched down and grabbed the orange cat by the scruff of its neck.
"I turned down a raid event with my friends and family, losing out on a lot of money, and you still don't realize your mistake and apologize to me."

Minghou's cat-like face twitched.

One of the twelve Destiny Lords of the Destiny Clan was actually reprimanded for delaying a virtual reality interaction between carbon-based life forms.

But in the end, it held back, only managing to squeeze out a perfunctory sound from its throat:

"Meow!."

"You dare talk back?" The girl's eyes widened, and she carried it into the house.
"Put him in solitary confinement first."

Then, with Minghou's expressionless face, it was stuffed into a pink pet cage with a sign on the cage door that read "For Bad Cats Only".

The girl angrily slammed her hand on the cage, then turned and went to the next room.

Minghou sat blankly in the cage, staring at the flashing indicator lights on the game pod outside, his expression gradually contorting.

A short while later, the white-haired girl changed her clothes inside the room, sat down at the computer desk next to the game pod, and turned on the screen.

During that time, I turned around and glared at it fiercely:
"If you don't listen, you'll stay inside."

In response, Minghou remained indifferent.

It lay in the cage, its heart filled with disdain.

It could break free from that cage at any time; it just doesn't want to cause a commotion for the time being.

This is its way of paying homage to potential deities.

As for this weak, white-haired creature in front of me... I could destroy it with a flick of my wrist.

It can even easily destroy this world.

The girl was sitting at the computer desk, using a device connected to a virtual machine to control the mouse and move it across the desktop.

First, it opened a website, but it couldn't understand the text on it.

The girl excitedly flipped through the interface filled with text, occasionally clicking on words and then typing away on the keyboard after switching pages.

Minghou glanced at her casually, intending to close his eyes and rest, waiting for the girl to leave so he could find an opportunity to escape.

But the next second, its pupils suddenly contracted into a thin line.

On the screen, a familiar scene was clearly visible.

A dark red sky, twisted black undulating mountains, towering towers rising from the ground, black tide energy particles floating in the air... and an evil moon hanging high in the sky.

This is clearly a scene under the shadow of the Evil Moon, ruled by the Black Tide Evil Spirit Warriors.

With these questions in mind, Minghou chose to continue watching.

The white-haired girl typed another line of text on the keyboard, then chuckled to herself and said:
"Brothers, don't rush. Let's fatten them up before killing them. The bully is too weak right now and needs to be fed."

With that, the white-haired girl closed the current page and returned to the interface she had entered at the beginning.

Then, she tapped a few times on the keyboard with her slender fingers, opened the following list of the live streaming platform, and clicked on the first live stream.

The people shown on the live stream are members of the "Grind Kings" group from the Reverse Tide Training Camp.

As graduation approaches, they are undergoing final intensive training to prepare for graduation.

Once this training program concludes, the "Training Camp" chapter of the Hardcore Gamblers group will officially come to its finale.

Next, the "War Chapter" will begin.

By then, many familiar figures may have already left the stage of the war.

The girl casually picked up a bag of ordinary potato chips from the table and deftly tore open the packaging with her fingertips.

The rich aroma of barbecue wafted over immediately, but the girl couldn't help but wrinkle her nose before picking up a piece and stuffing it into her mouth.

"Ugh, this tastes awful! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!"

After chewing a couple of times, she spat all the crushed potato chips into the trash can, then disgustedly threw the rest of the chips back into the bag.
"What... This used to be my favorite food... I guess I've become addicted to spiritual food too."

At this moment, the live broadcast of the Reverse Tide Training Camp was in its halftime break.

The players and other students arrived at the cafeteria and began their meal.

The glistening fruits and roasted meat in the picture are so tempting to look at.

The girl unconsciously licked her lips, her fingers typing out comments on the keyboard:

What are you eating for? Get back to training! If you don't work hard to get stronger, how will the brothers survive on the battlefield?
This is everyday life as seen through the eyes of a young girl.

But at this moment, the man behind the screen, observing the content, felt his hair stand on end:
"A monster world?!"

A terrifying thought surfaced in its mind.

　Here are 7200 words~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)