Chapter 349: You, do you desire power?

Urban Workplace

"What the hell?!"

The False Neighbor slowly looked up, swallowing a mouthful of saliva.

Gazing upwards, he saw a terrifying, muscular giant with a cute little rooster head embedded in its body—a colossal mountain of flesh. It seemed as if *this* was the truly horrifying grotesque entity, and *he* was merely a kind, weak human.

"Your body is too large; becoming a demon is an excessive demand. I..." he spoke slowly.

A giant, fleshy, bald chicken wing slammed into him, like a massive, tumorous palm. The False Neighbor was sent flying decisively, his entire face deforming into a white, turbid liquid, turning to mud.

The Wild Rooster strode forward, looking down at the light blue system panel at the corner of its eye:

"You..."

"What kind of folk-legendary grotesque entity are you...?" The False Neighbor slowly stood up.

As a grotesque entity, though formed from the fear of all living beings, it possessed its own mind. Yet, much like a celestial guardian deity, it was the collective consciousness of beings that granted them memory, logic, and wisdom. It was like a program.

Due to their differing operational logic, grotesque entities were prone to infighting.

The next second, the little Wild Rooster shot forward instantly. With terrifying burst and speed, it became a blur, shattering the False Neighbor in an instant. It was utterly destructive, turning him into a cloud of mist.

Whoosh!!!

A breeze swept through.

The grotesque entity re-materialized from the grey mist, roaring hoarsely, with cold killing intent. "It's useless! You can't kill me!"

Roar!!

The False Neighbor roared like a beast. Already a fifth-tier entity, he let out a deafening roar and lunged forward like a ferocious animal.

CRASH!

A huge flash of light streaked across.

The False Neighbor unleashed boundless power, and the two combatants collided violently.

"Little... little Wild Rooster! Run! That's a grotesque entity! It's formed from the collective fear of all people in Yuzhou. As long as you're in Yuzhou, you absolutely cannot kill it!!" Luo Caiwei's anxious voice came from afar.

The surrounding girls also showed despair. Grotesque entities were unkillable...

The False Neighbor was instantly pinned down, with a giant monster astride its waist.

Wing Chun One-Inch Punch.

BOOM!!

Its enormous chicken wings, like two elephant ears, alternately pounded his face mercilessly. The little Wild Rooster shrieked madly, pounding the False Neighbor's face as if mashing glutinous rice cakes. Thump, thump, thump, thump, he was driven deeper into the ground.

He exploded again, dying once more.

"What... what kind of kin... are you?"

The False Neighbor stood up again, his body trembling and noticeably faded, almost translucent.

"You... are indeed very weak. No muscles, just soft and flabby, can't take a hit." The little Wild Rooster looked confused and disappointed; its intelligence wasn't very high, and it found this very strange.

"You—" The False Neighbor was about to speak.

He was smashed again, sent flying backward, his entire body turning into white sludge, emitting white smoke and a strange, putrid stench, like a clump of white silt from a foul ditch.

"What... what ARE you?!" The False Neighbor reformed and reborn again, screaming loudly.

"I'm a chicken! A common, ordinary domestic chicken you see everywhere! Can't you even tell that?" the little Wild Rooster shrieked, as if the other party was insulting it. Then it candidly revealed its origins. Its voice gradually grew low and somewhat self-deprecating. "I'm the kind of chicken you often eat in your village, the kind that has its feathers plucked and its throat slit for bleeding! I once secretly hid outside the village, watching my kind being killed, trembling with fear..."

"You, you're a chicken?!"

The False Neighbor recoiled in terror, shouting out in fright.

He struggled on the ground, leaving long trails of blood as he tried to crawl out of the cave. It actually said it was a chicken!!!

The little Wild Rooster erupted, awakening a battle form similar to an Ancestral Witch's true body. It swelled significantly once more, its skin and muscles becoming absurdly exaggerated. Its tiny chicken head was embedded in its muscular, burly body, making it seem like a headless giant with only a cute, toothpick-sized chicken head stuck on top.

As a grotesque entity, he also had fears!! He didn't want to die yet!!

He began to crawl outwards.

"Didn't you say you wanted to help me transform?" The little Wild Rooster was extremely excited. It stomped on his crawling legs, crushing them. "I want to become a demon too!! I want to break free from being a weak domestic chicken and become a great demon like you, absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, gathering the essence of the sun and moon! To gain intelligence and become a spirit! To embark completely on the path of cultivation, to transcend ordinary poultry!"

Ugh...

The next second.

The False Neighbor was utterly pulverized, turning into a cloud of mist and dissipating into the air.

The entire cave fell into dead silence.

Dead?

A grotesque entity, this... this was actually beaten to death?!!

Their pupils dilated, and a chill ran through their bodies.

The accumulated fear that sustained it was naturally finite, though vast. The rooster had killed the False Neighbor over a dozen times, using up the fear gathered from Yuzhou, leaving him without enough fear to resurrect in a short time.

This little rooster showed no signs of cultivating an inner world! It had no spiritual energy of heaven and earth; it wasn't a cultivator. It just used its muscles, speed, and explosive power to beat a grotesque entity to death?

That was a grotesque entity! A non-human existence!

How did this chicken do it?!!

This chicken didn't cultivate at all, didn't become a demon. What kind of serendipitous encounter did it have?

They were terrified! But they had no idea that this was a wild chicken that had accidentally acquired the "Strongest Opponent-Defeating System." With the system, it naturally killed gods who stood in its way and buddhas who blocked its path.

Although grotesque entities could not be truly killed, after some time, this one would re-materialize and be reborn due to people's fear of it. After all, as long as humans felt fear, as long as its existence was remembered—men and women recounting tales to neighbors, elders telling bedtime stories to children—it would never truly die!

"I think, therefore I am."

According to Luo Caiwei, the False Neighbor had killed many people and was now a fifth-tier entity. After being utterly beaten to death this time, it lost its foundation. Even if it were to re-materialize, it would take two to three months and revert to the third tier. It would need to kill again to grow and cultivate the fear of living beings.

For the past three years, far too many grotesque entities had been born. Even the supreme beings could not stop them, because the fear and thoughts of ordinary people in towns were unrestrainable. They were the demons within people's hearts. Unless a complete extermination was carried out, annihilating all mortals, it would be impossible to truly kill all grotesque entities.

They stared in horror at this man-sized chicken, then at Luo Caiwei. "This grotesque entity is..."

"I... I... I don't know..." Luo Caiwei was so anxious she almost cried; she had never seen such a grotesque entity before.

The unknown is the most terrifying. If you don't know what kind of existence the opponent is, there's no way to deal with it. If you know some of the grotesque entity's logic and rules, you might have methods to control, contain, or suppress it.

For example, Number 103, a grotesque entity known by the people as Justice. Number 103, Justice, is a heroic figure who eliminates harm for the people. He is male, handsome and tall at 1.93 meters, wielding a towering golden spear with mysterious grey patterns. According to the government's research, led by Ouyang Sheng, a prominent scholar from a renowned family in Yuzhou, along with a group of imperial academicians, the spear appears to be an unknown formation totem, its specific effects still under study.

As long as someone watches Justice, he will eliminate evil for the people and act righteously. But if no eyes are upon him, he will unleash a frenzied slaughter, becoming the cruelest executioner!

Initially, people believed him to be a false hero, righteous in appearance but vile in secret. Through the deductions of relevant investigators, they gradually understood the essence of Justice: there is no true justice in the world. Stance determines justice; whatever creature is watching him, he enforces that race's justice. The times he committed mass killings were when no humans were watching him. However, animals and insects are constantly watching him in the world. From the perspective of animals and insects, humans are cruel, and he was enacting justice for them.

Or rather... is justice only when it is witnessed?!

Currently, the Yuzhou government's method for handling Justice is to assign a special team of soldiers to control him. Under the supervision of guardians, he serves as a righteous hero, assisting in dealing with various other grotesque entities. To prevent him from leaving people's sight, a thirty-person guardianship team follows him. At all times, five people simultaneously, from every angle, stare fixedly at him.

Using a grotesque entity to fight grotesque entities—this is the government's approach.

"Justice..." Luo Caiwei took a deep breath. "I once saw that terrifying Justice. Under people's gaze, on the street, it protected humanity, bathed in blood, fearless of death, safeguarding the citizens behind it."

For three years, people have been adapting to the disasters. Various terrifying, unknown, horrifying, and unspeakable fantastical creatures are born from human fear. But also, due to human fearful thinking, they possess various weaknesses, rather than being truly unbridled, unrestrained killers. Grotesque entities lack even good or evil. Just like the False Neighbor, who always knocks on the door at midnight. This way, he could be easily guarded against.

Even folk tales of local grotesque entities, urban legends, and various taboos are gradually becoming reality.

"This world is truly marvelous. 'I think, therefore I am.' Every city has its fantastical creatures from urban legends. Are these the grotesque entities? I should seize this opportunity to analyze and gather some information..."

Pan Xuexian silently sensed and absorbed the fragmented energy. This was a great opportunity to understand this world. She looked at the computer desktop, opened the analysis program, and created a new subject entry for analyzing grotesque entities!

"Analyzing the energy properties of the grotesque entity!"

As an eight-core processor, her thought speed, as a computer, still seemed a bit slow. Over the past few years, she hadn't significantly improved her physical realm, as they couldn't cultivate. As a silicon-based life form, a computer couldn't train muscles, nor did it possess the talents of ancient humans, who could open inner worlds, upper dantians, lower dantians, or create a sea of consciousness.

"However, grotesque entities are inherently a form of energy. If killing them could be converted into 'experience' to let the host level up by fighting monsters, that would be great."

She kept thinking, looking at the entities before her. As a gym coach, a plan vaguely formed in her mind.

Auxiliary Language System initiated!

"Please communicate based on the current speech!"

The little Wild Rooster paused, accustomed to simply following instructions due to its low intelligence. Its towering body lowered slightly. It looked at the trembling, beautiful, and alluring girls before it, each with slender waists and legs, radiating pure and vibrant beauty. "They are truly too ugly. I must correct this flawed world."

The little Wild Rooster quickly bent over, clasping its hands together in front of it, its biceps bulging, striking a bodybuilding pose. An aura of a muscular gym enthusiast permeated the air.

"Girls, do you... crave power?"