The Insect-man spun halfway around on the wet floor, landing face-up and revealing its ugly face.

It was about 1.7 meters tall. Its body wasn’t human, but rather a moth-like, pupa-shaped insectoid torso. The area from its chest to its abdomen was riddled with massive, densely packed bullet holes.

A pale green fluid gurgled out from the mangled wounds, and one could vaguely see some of its internal organs—some shredded by bullets, others still faintly twitching.

"CHITTER... SKITTER..."

It wasn’t completely dead. Its body trembled, a pair of long, slender antennae on its head twitched, and a high-pitched, indistinct chirping, impossible to understand, issued from its mouth.

At the end of its oval-shaped body, a grayish-white cloth bundle resembling a waist pouch was tied on with vines. It was bulging, its contents a mystery.

"This..."

The moment they saw the Insect-man’s true face, Lü Xiuning and the others beside him couldn’t help but reveal looks of shock.

But... after everything they had been through, having even seen the Corpse Mountain and sea of blood in the train carriage, a single grotesquely ugly Insect-man wasn’t enough to provoke an extreme reaction.

"I can’t make out what it’s saying..." One of the students wanted to get closer to hear what the Insect-man was crying out, but was stopped by both Han Ning and Lü Xiuning at the same time.

"Haven’t you seen the Alien movies? Be careful, you stick your face close and a facehugger might pop out and make your head explode. From now on, when you run into an unknown creature like this, it’s best to keep your distance. Only approach after you’ve confirmed it’s not dangerous," Lü Xiuning said, patting the student’s shoulder in earnest warning.

Han Ning didn’t have so many complicated thoughts. He simply felt that the Insect-man was still dangerous, even if it was severely injured.

"SKITTER... SKITTER..."

Just then, the Insect-man suddenly turned its head to the side, blinked hard at the conversing group, and nodded repeatedly. Even the chirping from its mouth grew several notches louder.

"?"

The group exchanged a look, but no one moved.

They just stared intently at the continuously chirping Insect-man on the floor.

A many-eyed staring contest ensued...

After a few seconds...

"SKITTER!!"

Seeing that no one would approach, the Insect-man on the floor let out a sharp screech. Its pupils, which induced a strong uncanny valley effect, dilated slightly. Its body began to tremble violently, and it dashed madly toward the nearest person, Han Ning, before suddenly opening its mouth—

PFFT!

A long, thin, brownish-black tongue—or perhaps a proboscis-like appendage—with a forked tip shot out of its mouth, aimed right at Han Ning’s head.

But Han Ning was already prepared. The moment the Insect-man began its frantic shaking, he had pulled the people around him back two steps.

Yin Yi’s Vine Whip swept out, lightly striking the Insect-man’s head. The creature’s body twitched twice, then fell completely silent.

"Heh heh..."

Han Ning suddenly chuckled. He glanced at the torrential rain at the horizon, which showed no sign of stopping, and said to Yin Yi:

"The rain outside is too heavy. Yin Yi, drag it inside for now."

...

「The fifth-floor landing of Building A.」

Several emergency lights were cross-mounted on the walls, illuminating a small area below in sharp detail.

The Insect-man was laid out on two desks placed side-by-side, its body bound tightly with thin vines.

Han Ning, Dean Wu, Lü Xiuning, and some of the other teachers and students in Building A stood a meter away from the desks, forming a circle. They stared wide-eyed at the Insect-man in the center, as if it were an alien. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Dean Wu coughed lightly and spoke in a clear voice, "First, let’s get that pouch off it and see what’s inside."

"Yin Yi, if you would."

"Ling~"

Yin Yi hooked the Insect-man’s waist pouch, turned it upside down, and dumped all of its contents onto another desk.

An assortment of bottles and jars tumbled onto the desktop, clattering noisily.

"How is there so much?"

Looking at the various odds and ends piled up into a "small mountain" on the desk, Han Ning was quite surprised.

’Could it be... this cloth bag is the legendary Spatial Pouch?’

"Yin Yi, toss that grayish-white cloth bag to me."

"Ling~"

Han Ning caught the bag Yin Yi tossed him. After rubbing it carefully and turning it over to examine from all angles, he came to a conclusion: this was not a cloth bag.

"The texture is a bit like leather. It might be the skin of some creature."

Using the light, he brought his head close to the bag’s opening and peered inside.

He discovered that the space inside was suddenly far, far larger than the bag’s exterior would suggest.

A waist pouch smaller than a gunnysack could actually hold about 0.5 cubic meters of items, roughly the volume of 2.5 gunnysacks.

’It’s like a Storage Pouch from a novel, but not quite,’ he mused. He tried tossing a few dumbbells inside; the weight of the items accumulated instead of disappearing completely.

"A little interesting."

He put down the pouch and, along with the others, began to examine the collection of items on the desk.

"Han Ning, look! Are these the black worms we ran into last time?"

Lü Xiuning picked up a small gray bag and opened it, surprised to find it filled with black worms. They were wriggling slightly but, as if under Hypnosis, made no move to attack him.

The black worms were packed together so densely that a quick glance suggested there were at least a hundred of them.

"Yes, that’s them."

Han Ning had Yin Yi pluck one out and hold it before his eyes for careful observation, then nodded.

’It seems this Insect-man also needs the black worms.’

’Could it be... they also use the black worms to increase their Spiritual Power?’

He recalled the earlier battle, how the Insect-man had dodged the bullets’ trajectories in advance, like a Prophet, something straight out of *The Matrix*.

However, humans had not yet figured out the specific use for the black worms. Han Ning himself could only increase his Spiritual Power by having his system absorb the Spiritual Energy within them.

As for how others could improve, he had no idea. ’Surely they don’t just... eat them raw?’

’That would be a challenge for both the eyes and the taste buds.’

"What’s this?"

Dean Wu picked up a small, shot glass-sized ceramic cup. He gave it a gentle shake and heard the sound of liquid sloshing inside. After roughly confirming there was nothing alive in it, he carefully uncorked the wooden stopper at the top.

The instant the cork was removed, Dean Wu instinctively held the ceramic cup far away from himself.

Then, a pungent odor wafted out from the cup.

Upon smelling this strange, pungent odor, the crowd, far from feeling discomfort, actually showed expressions of comfort on their faces.

Han Ning took a sniff. It felt like his brain had just taken a harsh hit of potent medicated oil. A spicy, pungent scent shot straight to the crown of his head, followed immediately by a wave of relief. His brain and scalp felt as if they were being massaged, an exceptionally pleasant sensation.

In an instant, he understood. The liquid in the ceramic cup could help increase one’s Spiritual Power!

"This is good stuff!"

Hearing Han Ning’s words, the others showed thoughtful expressions.

They seemed to have vaguely guessed something, but they weren’t entirely sure.

"Han Ning, you know what this is used for?" Dean Wu asked, setting down the ceramic cup.