In the study on the second story of the little brick house, Tang Qi's overcast expression flickered somewhat as he sat at the desk.
Although the huge bundle of printed materials looked like a lot to go through, due to Tang Qi's specific search criteria, he managed to go through all of it very quickly.
By the time he put down a newspaper titled Purple Moon Paper, that vague guess at the bottom of his heart had already become unprecedentedly real.
His eyes fell on the date at the top of the newspaper.
April 28!
This wasn't the latest newspaper issue but an old one.
However, it was exactly this date that was exceptionally important in Tang Qi's deduction.
"Before the 28th, even though those supernatural incidents occasionally took place, they weren't of the same level, whether in terms of scale or frequency.
"Ever since that day, everything has erupted. All those strange incidents, demons and monsters, or signs of divinity have started to erupt in high concentration.
"Is this the supposed Spirit Tide?"
These two words mentioned by Tang Qi were also the reason why he suddenly started to look into the news for clues.
When he was being pursued by the Visage Canine, Tang Qi had spotted an information fragment that stated that the Spirit Tide was the cause behind the Visage Canine taking form.
This also explained why Tang Qi was so puzzled when he first saw the monster that he had created.
After all, corpses and wild dogs, as well as so-called vengeful spirits, weren't anything out of the ordinary in a place like the Bronx district.
If a simple combination of these few elements could create that kind of monster with such abnormal speed and strength, the Bronx area would have been in a complete mess since a long time ago.
The only unexpected element — the Spirit Tide — was the true key factor here.
Now, after looking at these clues, Tang Qi felt like he had vaguely gotten a clear understanding of the frightening change that was currently taking place on this planet.
Before the start of the new calendar, the Origin Blue Star was once an incredibly dangerous and mysterious world. Demons and monsters ran amok, and various strange incidents took place in every corner of the planet. It was only when a mysterious meteor shot past the planet a hundred years ago that all of these vanished.
But now, they were back.
Though Tang Qi might not be able to travel around the entire Origin Blue Star to search for evidence, the various signs around him were already enough to prove his theory.
"The Visage Canine of Bronx" being given a title with "Bronx" in it was naturally because it was originally already a well-known monster of the Bronx area a hundred years ago. A lot of descriptive information about it could be found in all sorts of related books. It couldn't get any more real than that.
But ever since the start of the new calendar, the Visage Canine had vanished.
Until tonight, when Tang Qi personally created one himself.
There was also that fearsome mother of his mentioned in Old Morgan's diary. Her power was starting to return to her, and the period when it started to become stronger than ever was also around the 28th.
Of course, the most convincing piece of evidence was Tang Qi himself. The Meditation Method, Furnace's Eyes, Chaga Fighting Technique, supernatural blood… Tang Qi was sure that Omniscience, that ability of his, was a special benefit he received from transmigrating to this world.
However, Tang Qi didn't think that he was unique in any way other than that.
After coming up with a deduction about such a huge "secret", Tang Qi's countenance didn't look that good though.
Perhaps those who loved occult studies would be very excited at the revival of the mystical realm.
However, what Tang Qi, someone who was already half-immersed in the supernatural realm, saw was instead the dangers lurking within.
Within his mind, that pressing sense of urgency turned another whole level higher.
The world was in the midst of becoming incredibly dangerous.
Despite Tang Qi recognizing this, in the face of all these bizarre matters taking place around the whole planet, the authorities had intervened immediately and covered it up. Thus, the Origin Blue Star was still in a state of peace at the moment.
But in the dark, fierce undercurrents were already surging.
The most important thing here was that Tang Qi didn't think that the authorities could continue to cover it up like that.
"Phew~"
Tang Qi mused for a moment as he sat on the high-back chair. Then, he finally released a pent-up breath and put away all the periodicals.
It was enough that he was now aware that the world was undergoing great changes. All the deep-seated issues pertaining to it were definitely not something that the current Tang Qi could investigate further.
It wasn't like he could possibly have any findings just by relying on a few periodicals either.
"Power is the foundation of everything."
He murmured under his breath.
Then, Tang Qi stepped away from the desk and returned to his bedroom. However, he had no plans of going to bed. Instead, he sat cross-legged on the rug in the middle of the room, just like on the first day.
He needed to cultivate. While Holy Thorns High School was still a peaceful paradise, he had to make full use of all the time available to him to strengthen his abilities.
Tang Qi had a very strong feeling that if the entire Origin Blue Star was undergoing massive changes, then the peace and quiet in Holy Thorns High School wouldn't be continuing for much longer.
Tang Qi suppressed the last bit of irrelevant thoughts in his mind. By the time a misty ray of moonlight shone down upon him, he had already entered a meditative state.
Tang Qi didn't know how long other people needed to enter a meditative state when cultivating the Golden Furnace Meditation Method, but after he evolved the Meditation Method into a skill, he needed merely a second to achieve it — especially now that the Meditation Method had entered its elementary stage like the Fighting Technique, cultivating it was even smoother.
As he visualized that golden sun in his mind, a warm current flowed throughout his whole body. It was as if his body had transformed into a furnace and was burning everything strange and unusual cast upon him into golden dots of light, which fused rapidly into that grayish and foggy subconsciousness.
A night flew by.
By the time Tang Qi woke up from his meditation once more, what was shining upon him was already the rays of dawn.
Taking in the feeling of the abundant spiritual energy inside his mind, he took a look at his interface. Although the results of the night's meditation felt rather substantial, it was still comparatively less than the spiritual energy derived from refining, or rather, devouring a soul.
His Golden Furnace Meditation Method was still at the elementary level. Its progress also remained at 0.01%.
Tang Qi didn't look the least bit surprised. He got up and went down to the first story. Grabbing the first aid kit, he changed the dressing for his wound.
He couldn't tell whether this was just his misperception, but even though only a night had passed, Tang Qi felt that his injury had recovered significantly. It didn't look as frightening as the first time when he was treating it.
After he changed the dressing, Tang Qi retrieved the stone pot and made himself a pot of nutritious medicinal porridge.
While the porridge simmered in the stone pot, he took the opportunity to retrieve the box that he brought home the previous night.
He opened the box to reveal within, an incredibly mighty-looking pistol that had saved Tang Qi's life the previous night.
Blood Python No.1!
This was a very unique pistol. The pitch-black gun frame was said to be made from a certain kind of black iron that was rarely seen nowadays.
That blood imprint was the origin of its name, Blood Python.
The Monster Firearm Company also had a few other pistols of the same model and specifications, but they could only be given the title of "Giant Python".
In terms of prestige, they were far beneath the Blood Python No.1.
Tang Qi used a cotton rag to wipe the gun carefully. Seemingly due to coming into contact with Tang Qi's blood which contained supernatural powers the previous night, Tang Qi felt like the blood imprint seemed to be turning more and more vibrant.
After meticulously wiping it down 10 times, Tang Qi finally put the Blood Python No.1 back into the box and placed it in a sturdy safe.
Then, he ate another large piping hot pot of medicinal porridge before leaving home with his books in his arms.
Putting the black-framed spectacles back on, he transformed into the look of a plain and ordinary Asian teen and the epitome of a well-behaved and dutiful high school student again.
…Even if one of his arms was practically wrapped like a dumpling.
But with his current body constitution, other than temporarily affecting his cultivation of the Chaga Fighting Technique, it didn't look like he suffered from any other inconveniences.
"It's still rather inconvenient. It may lead to some misunderstandings if I go to school like this."
Tang Qi muttered as he locked the gates.
Just as he was about to turn and walk towards the main school zone, he suddenly heard a commotion right at that moment.