Chapter 49 - Monster

Translator: Atlas Studios  Editor: Atlas Studios

A few minutes ago at Hu County 50 to 100 kilometers to the south of where Wang Hu and his family were…

Hu County wasn’t a large county. Neither was it particularly prosperous nor developed. It had only a few high-rise buildings in the county. Despite this, there were nonetheless as many as hundreds of thousands of people in the urban area.

Just like how it had always been, everything appeared very peaceful.

Suddenly, without any warning, a seeming distortion formed a hundred meters aboveground in the sky, causing a series of ripples.

The sudden phenomenon naturally attracted a lot of attention, and news of it spread very quickly.

This was an era where spiritual energy had awakened, an era where the public had accepted the existence of this miraculous power and was curiously exploring it.

Upon encountering such a situation, these people who had never experienced such a phenomenon before knew only one thing—to watch the show, pronto.

Moreover, on top of that, to take a lot of photographs and post a lot of videos of it. In fact, some were even doing livestreams.

In the span of a short two to three minutes, more and more people from all over the place were gathering. At an elementary school nearby, some parents in the midst of picking up their children from school at noon had also come over.

It seemed like even the cars on the road had become stuck in traffic in the blink of an eye. Endless curious voices were abuzz in the streets.

“What the heck, what’s that?”

“I don’t know. It looks a little scary!”

“Look, why do I look kinda transparent?”

“Old Wang, quick, come and take a look. Something big’s happened. Nobody knows what’s going on, but maybe something good will happen?”

“Hey, bros, look at this. This is definitely a very rare phenomenon here. Today, I shall bring everyone around to take a look at it. If you’re interested, do follow my channel.”

…

…

Amidst all the hullabaloo, national organizations and the Chinese police quickly got to know of the situation. When they hurried over to check it out, the few policemen’s expressions changed right away. After a quick discussion, the somewhat-alarmed policemen immediately reported it to higher management.

At the same time, they also took prompt action and began to disperse the crowd and got them to leave the area.

They had only just shouted their first instructions when all of a sudden…

Roar~!

A beast’s fierce and tyrannical roar rang out in the rippling sky.

The roar exploded with a deafening boom. The force of the explosion frightened many and turned them into jelly, almost causing them to go limp and fall onto the ground.

They didn’t need the policemen to say any further. Some of them took off right away, with others also following suit. The crowd started to scatter and flee chaotically in every direction.

However, their speed wasn’t that quick; firstly because of the chaotic scene, and secondly because many of them were still looking up into the sky while they ran and wondering what exactly had happened.

A few seconds later, an enormous beast appeared out of nowhere in the seemingly distorting and rippling sky.

It was pitch-black throughout its whole body, and on its back were black wings of bone that spanned over a good 20 meters long when extended. While it had a humanoid form, its arms were extremely long, and it sat on all fours. Standing at over 10 meters tall, it exposed its fangs, its razor-sharp claws grisly and long. Every single thing about it looked exceedingly grotesque, fierce, and tyrannical.

When the people got a good look at it, there was no longer any need to say any further about anything anymore. Fearful, horror-stricken screams rang out madly, and the crowd scattered and fled recklessly in every direction.

“Get out of the way! Get out of the way!”

“Get lost! Hurry up! There’s a monster!”

“Dammit, what kind of monster is that?! Quick, call the police! Hurry and run!”

“Waaaah! Daddy! Mommy!”

…

…

A fearful atmosphere shrouded the whole place, which had turned into a complete wreck and was in utter chaos.

A few policemen, who were also shaking like leaves, managed to barely stop themselves from running. They whipped out their handguns as they made calls.

In the sky, the monster sported an obviously perplexed and bewildered look in its eyes which were as large as a child’s head. A split second later, however, its eyes seemed to brighten instead when it shifted its gaze toward the chaos taking place below.

Roar~!

It let out a light roar of joy and excitement. With a flap of its wings, it swooped down in a manner that was neither flustered nor anxious and charged toward a few people in the midst of fleeing.

“Fire!”

At the sight, a policeman immediately gave a loud shout, upon which a few somewhat-shaky handguns opened fire one after another.

Bang!

Bullets landed amid the sound of gunshots, but what threw the few of them into utter despair was that there was no effect whatsoever—the bullets had bounced right off the monster.

On top of that, the gunshots had also caused the monster to take notice of them. Its brutal, savage eyes swiveled toward them, and then with a flap of its wings, it suddenly turned into a black line that disappeared from everyone’s line of vision.

When it reappeared, what came together with it were also the few policemen’s screams.

The monster was already holding a policeman in each hand and stuffing them into its mouth. Blood spurted about as it did so, but both its expression and eyes were filled with joy.

“Ahhh! It’s a monster! Quick, run! Run!”

“Ahhh!”

Screams and wailing filled with even more fear and terror rang out. It seemed like everything had been thrown into disorder.

The monster didn’t seem anxious at all. It remained standing where it was and slowly took bite after bite, looking as if it was enjoying itself very much.

While all these were happening, China—which had been making all sorts of preparations during the last three years—also reacted very quickly to the situation.

In less than a minute after the monster’s appearance, the local police had already escalated the matter to those even higher than them and deployed all of their men out in full force.

Approximately four minutes later, the news had gone straight to China’s core network.

As the matter was related to alternate worlds, it was relayed directly to Chen Jianguo.

“Old Chen, we’ve just received an emergency report—an alternate world has appeared about 100 meters in the sky in Hu County in the northeast. A monster has emerged from the alternate world, and it’s eating humans.”

An incredibly grave voice reported the matter to Chen Jianguo, causing his heart to become as heavy as a mountain in an instant.

A storm was impending!

What they had been worried about all this time had ultimately still happened!

Chen Jianguo quickly pulled himself together and asked in a steady and imposing voice, “Are the local police confident of handling it? Where are the nearest military troops? When can they reach and provide reinforcements?

“Also, activate satellite surveillance at once and send the footage over.”

As he spoke, he also dialed another number at the same time.

“An alternate world passage has appeared in the sky in Hu County in the northeast. A monster has emerged from it and is eating humans. I’ll send the video data to you right away,” said Chen Jianguo succinctly and quickly.

Dong Pingtao, who was originally in the midst of doing paperwork, stopped his movements. With a grim and somber look on his face, he uttered only a single word, “Okay.”

As he spoke, he also raised his head. Less than a minute later, Hu County’s current situation was displayed on the projection screens several meters in front of Dong Pingtao and Chen Jianguo.

In an instant, the chaotic and bloody sight caused the air around the two elderly men to become even heavier like the mountain itself.

Another half a minute or so later, a voice made another report to the two of them.

“The police has likely opened fire, but to no avail. The preliminary conclusion is that local forces will likely find it hard to deal with the monster.

“The nearest military troops are 20-odd kilometers away. They’ll need half an hour even at the fastest to go over and join the fight.”

Chen Jianguo raised an eyebrow. “Half an hour?”

His displeasure was obvious. Half an hour? Goodness knew what would happen in the meantime?

“Order them to head over and assist at full speed and ensure the public’s safety,” said Dong Pingtao in a voice devoid of any fluctuation in emotions.

“Understood.”

Right on the heels of it, other several orders were passed down in succession. The two elderly men communicating with each other via phone fell silent, their eyes not even blinking as they watched the video where the monster was seemingly still taking its time as it enjoyed its feast.

Amid their calmness, an inexplicable force seemed to be churning in their bodies and becoming increasingly frightening.

A dozen or so seconds later, Chen Jianguo asked, “Do we still suppress the news?”

Dong Pingtao’s expression didn’t change at all. After a few seconds of silence, he asked, “Can it even still be suppressed?”

Then, without waiting for Chen Jianguo’s reply, he spoke again with a tone rather filled with finality.

“Now that things have come to such a pass, there’s no longer any need to hide it anymore. It’s time that we put some pressure on the people so that they’ll raise their vigilance—or at least, so that they won’t go and join in the fun like what they did just now.”

Chen Jianguo broke into a slight frown, somewhat concerned.

If they didn’t handle this well and aid didn’t arrive in time, it might shake the country.

After a moment’s thought, he asked, “What about the livestream?”

As long as it wasn’t a livestream, they would still be able to suppress the news even if they didn’t handle things very well in the later stage.

Without any hesitation whatsoever, Dong Pingtao said firmly, “We’ll watch a little more before we decide.”

“Alright,” replied Chen Jianguo with a nod. At the same time, he also gave the order to contact all the live broadcasting companies in the country and get them to stand by and await orders.

Once things were mishandled…

Meanwhile, thanks to the digital age now, news of the situation in Hu County had already spread madly throughout the whole country and was also spreading to the rest of the world.

Various short videos recorded in the midst of panic, as well as a few livestreams poured into the Internet at the speed of hundreds of thousands of people per second.

All sorts of voices seemed to fill the Chinese web in a single breath.

“An alternate world has really appeared in Hu County in the northeast! A monster has even appeared, too. Hurry and go over to XX livestream channel to take a look!”

“What’s the country doing? Where’s the military?”

“Dammit! Those few policemen have already given their lives. Rest in peace, heroes.”

“These bros who actually dare to continue with their livestreams are really impressive. Here, have a Like.”

“Hey friends, I’m currently risking my life to do this livestream for all of you. If I die, please remember me. My name is Li Dan.”

…

…

Elsewhere…

Wang Hu and Di Baijun watched the livestream video playing on the cell phone closely.

This was already the third livestream channel they had switched to.

They paid no attention to the livestreamer’s shaking, fearful voice and also turned off the comments.

Big Treasure and Little Treasure, who had initially been protesting about how Daddy and Mommy had snatched away their cartoons, were now both tightly hugging their parents’ legs as they watched the video playing on the cell phone with fear and horror in their eyes.

Roar~!

“It’s so ugly! Daddy, Little Treasure is scared,” whispered Little Treasure timidly.

Roar~!

“Big Treasure is scared, too.”

Big Treasure’s voice rang out closely after.

Wang Hu lifted his paw and patted them on their heads. He was just about to stop them from watching further when Silly Girl’s haughty and bossy voice rang out.

Roar~!

“What’s there to be scared of? To us tigers, it’s nothing but some ugly thing that’s as lowly as an ant. It won’t even qualify to become your servant in the future.”

Big Treasure and Little Treasure cocked their heads and looked at their mother, the look in their eyes indicating that they didn’t understand.

Wang Hu wasn’t quite impressed with what she’d said, but when he thought about it again, he changed his mind. Although Big Treasure and Little Treasure were young, they were ultimately tigers nonetheless. Perhaps he shouldn’t be too protective of them.

How could a tiger be afraid of something ugly?

Thus, he dismissed his thoughts of stopping them from watching.

Roar~!

“Baijun, what level has that monster reached?” asked Wang Hu.

In this aspect, Silly Girl was undoubtedly much more authoritative than him.

Roar~!

Without any hesitation whatsoever, Di Baijun replied definitively, “Around peak-level Transformation Realm.”

Then, she paused for a moment before she spoke again somewhat hesitantly.

Roar~!

“That ugly thing doesn’t pose much of a problem. However, there are definitely more powerful existences in that world. Once the humans cannot hold them back, we’ll also retreat together with Big Treasure and Little Treasure.”

She sounded somewhat indignant as she spoke, seemingly hating the fact that she would actually retreat because of that unknown existence.

Wang Hu, who could tell how Di Baijun felt, consoled her.

Roar~!

“Yeah, Big Treasure and Little Treasure are more important. We’ll retreat first when that happens.”