I've become the emperor of humanity, and only now is spiritual energy reviving?

"Young hero! Spare me, young hero!"

"Don't kill me, don't kill me! I still have parents and children..."

The starving people, whose eyes were filled with greed just a moment ago, now had crossbow bolts stuck in their bodies. They cried and begged for mercy as they fled in panic in all directions.

But how could these starving people, who had not eaten for several days and were moving slowly, possibly outrun crossbow bolts?

"—The voice is too soft, I can't hear it!"

An Sheng responded with a loud laugh, then leisurely inserted a spare magazine into the crossbow, aimed at each of the figures' backs, and pulled the trigger to fire in bursts.

Whoosh, whoosh whoosh, whoosh whoosh whoosh.

Every arrow hits its mark.

Soon, the starving people who had tried to escape were lying sprawled on the ground.

An Sheng waited for a while, but no text notification related to the kill appeared.

He sighed with some disappointment, then walked over to the starving man who, despite having no crossbow bolts stuck in his back, lay motionless on the ground like a corpse.

Then, the body shuddered.

"—I'll give you three numbers. Tell me why I'll let you go."

An Sheng walked up to him with a smile.

The starving people, having failed to feign death, turned crazed and were ready to fight to the death.

But when he looked up and saw the crossbow bolt right in front of him, it immediately transformed into an ugly, wrinkled smile like a chrysanthemum.

He immediately prostrated himself on the ground, trembling with fear and trepidation, and said...

"Handsome and valiant young hero! In our thatched hut, we still have fruits that can strengthen muscles and bones! Please allow me to take you there..."

"I know I was wrong! I know I was wrong! I shouldn't have had any undue thoughts about you, young hero..."

"Why is the corpse talking?"

An Sheng yawned and pulled the trigger toward the head that was banging against the ground in front of him.

The noisy pleas for mercy came to an abrupt halt.

He said calmly, "You don't know you're wrong, you just know you're going to die."

Finally, a new text prompt appeared.

[You despicable new emperor, your blatant sneak attack was remarkably effective.]

These starving people and bandits never imagined that before they could even finish a sentence, they would be riddled with arrows, turning them into pincushions.

[Now, even going to the underworld would have been worth it.]

An Sheng forcefully pulled out the crossbow bolt, shook off the red and white substance on it, and couldn't help but feel a little puzzled.

It's not like when an ordinary person kills for the first time, they feel hot-headed, have tinnitus, are excited and trembling, or are so panicked that they feel like their body doesn't belong to them.

Ordinary office workers and students wouldn't even dare to kill a chicken.

An Sheng thought he was the same, because he had never even killed a fish.

He stared at his fingers, suspended in mid-air, gripping the crossbow bolt without moving, savoring the calm yet slightly pleasant feeling in his heart. He glanced at the gruesome corpses of the starving people and laughed.

But now it seems...

"I'm different."

After a moment, An Sheng chuckled softly, "Of course I'm different."

—I was ordinary in the past, simply because the world was too ordinary.

He didn't waste any more time and collected all the crossbow bolts with relatively intact arrowheads.

The crossbow is indeed useful.

Otherwise, if he were to engage in close combat with these six or seven starving people wielding tetanus blades, he might end up with several more holes in his body.

That would greatly slow down the exploration progress.

As for the expensive cost of crossbow bolts...

An Sheng boasted that even if he scratched until his fingers ached and went numb, he probably still wouldn't be able to squeeze out a month's worth of pocket money from Lao Gu.

You have received nine copper coins.

This is the "profit" that all the starving people have combined.

[The Gate of Babylon has activated, and you have received an extra reward—nine copper coins!]

Ding……

The sound of nearly nonexistent gold coins hitting the ground rang out.

An Sheng remained silent.

These guys are genuinely poor.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have ended up like this.

"It's not me who ruined you, it's this chaotic world that ruined you."

An Sheng shook his head and looked at the thatched hut a few dozen steps away—

The thatched huts where the starving people and bandits lived were filthy and reeked of decay; they seemed to be almost empty.

Haha, so that means it exists.

An Sheng strode over and kicked open the door.

A strong stench hit him, and after pinching his nose and confirming there were no traps, he entered the house, which was covered in black mud, to try to find the "fruit" that the starving people had mentioned.

After searching around without success, An Sheng silently lowered his head and focused his gaze on the soft, sticky black mud on the ground, which was mixed with who-knows-how-many kinds of toxic substances.

He stretched out his hands and, suppressing his nausea, dug away the black mud inch by inch.

You didn't find anything...

An Sheng dug for five minutes before his fingers finally touched something round.

[The astute new emperor, with your keen insight, has discovered a treasure hidden beneath the mud of the thatched hut—a rotten Bone-Strengthening Fruit x1!]

He picked it up with a grin.

Then, her smile froze.

Because on that dark, mostly rotten fruit, there were two fruit flies clinging to each other, seemingly scrambling for breath.

[Rotten Bone-Strengthening Fruit (Grade D, Low Quality): Due to severe rot, consumption results in a slight increase in physical strength and bone density. The effects diminish with repeated consumption, and unknown consequences may occur.]

[—This is a relatively rare medicinal herb in the Great Jing Dynasty; even when severely rotten, it still retains a significant amount of medicinal potency.]

[Gate of Babylon activated! You have received an extra reward—Rotten Bone-Strengthening Fruit x1!]

Physical strength slightly increased...

An Sheng stared at the two rotten bone-strengthening fruits in his hand for a while. After shooing away the fruit flies and rinsing the surface with water, he gritted his teeth and swallowed them whole.

Clean and hygienic!

Damn it, it's just a little unpalatable, does it really think it can poison him to death?

The next moment, an indescribable, strange smell exploded in An Sheng's mouth and nose, causing the veins on his forehead to bulge and a strong urge to vomit to surge to the sky.

You have consumed 2 "Rotten Bone-Strengthening Fruits".

[Physical Strength 0.8 → Physical Strength 0.9]

Your bone strength has slightly improved.

An Sheng endured it until the text prompt appeared, then ran outside the thatched hut and began to dry heave.

Ten minutes later.

An Sheng, nearly exhausted from vomiting, returned to the thatched hut and stared at the still-piled black mud.

He took a deep breath and stretched out his hands again.

You didn't find anything...

You didn't find anything...

You didn't find anything...

Half an hour passed, and An Sheng, who had cleaned the entire thatched hut spotlessly, leaving no gap untouched, tremblingly raised his hand and picked up a tiny black seed the size of a grain of rice from his fingertip.

[Greedy new emperor, compared to these starving people, perhaps you are the real bandit who digs three feet into the ground. You have discovered—1 Bone Strengthening Tree Seed!]

[Strengthening Bone Tree Seeds (Grade D, Superior): Requires abundant nutrients for growth and is highly adaptable to various environments. After maturity, it continuously produces "Strengthening Bone Fruit."]

—A single strong tree is enough to create a rural martial arts family that has lasted for centuries.

[The Gate of Babylon has activated! You have received an extra reward—Wisdom Tree Seed (Grade C, Low Quality) x1!]

Ring ring~

The sound of gold coins rustling as they fell to the ground echoed; there were at least a dozen of them.

"Damn it! Take it!"

An Sheng, with tears welling in his eyes, looked up to the sky and let out a long howl.