Half an hour later, in the living room.
The woman sat on the sofa, her face full of lingering fear and solemnity.
"So you're saying that there really are monsters in this world? And they're in your company?"
By now, Zhang Xiaoman had also recovered, and during this period, he had told his mother everything that had happened before.
She was also aware of the fact that he had gained extraordinary powers.
There was no way around it, not because Zhang Xiaoman had chosen to tell her, but because she had witnessed it herself.
The fish he ate had been prepared by his mother.
And during the system binding, his body was all lit up with special effects, and his mother had directly witnessed the whole process; there was no hiding it.
"That's right, I'm certain that thing was definitely not human!"
Zhang Xiaoman assured.
"That noise, that speed, and those terrifying sounds, I felt like there was a tiger chasing after me... No, that thing was more terrifying than a tiger!"
He was still shaken.
His mother was also frightened by his words and wore a worried expression.
Zhang Xiaoman shook his head to cast aside the terrifying scene from his mind, then took a drink of tea. Using this time to think things over properly, he then said:
"Mom, I've been thinking... Why did those strange things start to appear just after I gained these powers? It can't really be a coincidence, or some kind of protagonist halo, could it?"
"Hmm... What do you mean?"
Zhang Xiaoman let out a sigh:
"When have we ever seen these monsters before? Even if we've heard of them, they're nothing more than flawed ghost stories. Even Sixth Grandpa, who has been fortune-telling for half his life, has never really seen ghosts or goblins. It can't be that just as I received these powers, they all started to pop up, right?"
"So, I have a thought... It's probably not a problem with some kind of protagonist halo..."
"It's... a problem with this world!"
"If I'm not mistaken, these monsters may have just started to emerge!"
His mother then had a realization.
"You mean, Spiritual Energy Recovery!?"
Zhang Xiaoman was somewhat surprised that she even knew about this.
But then again, she spent her free time reading novels on Qidian just like him.
Her reading level had even reached the top tier of "Reading Saint," one level higher than his own, so it was not strange that she was aware of such clichés.
"This is just my guess, but if there's frequent news about monsters in the future, we'll really have to consider if this is the case..."
Zhang Xiaoman shared his analysis.
His mother pondered for a moment, then said:
"I think you should not go to your company tomorrow, it's too dangerous."
Zhang Xiaoman nodded, as this was also his plan. He could give up his salary for the month if necessary.
Compared to his life, that was insignificant.
Plus, now that he had the system, of course, he couldn't possibly go back to work.
"Alright, it's getting late, and you must be tired from your shift today, so try to get some sleep early."
Having said that, his mother yawned and went back to her room.
...
Midnight.
In the bedroom.
Zhang Xiaoman lay on his bed, staring at his watch, counting the seconds tick by.
"11:55:36, 11:55:37, 11:55:38..."
He was waiting for the new day to start, so he could participate in the prize draw.
"11:58:48... It's almost time!"
Time seemed to pass intolerably slow, and he wished he could reach out and pull it forward.
"It's going to be midnight soon. If this prize draw really refreshes with time, then many of my speculations will be confirmed!"
Watching the second hand inch closer to midnight, Zhang Xiaoman felt as if there was a fire burning in his chest, anxious and restless.
About the lottery, he had already done it twice.
The first time was yesterday when he got a white-level item—the hearthstone; the second was today's gray-level item—a bone gnawed by a dog.
According to his guess, the system's lottery chances should increase by one every day.
Moreover, after the lottery, Zhang Xiaoman would also gain 1 point.
Points could be used to purchase items in the System Store.
What depressed him was that the only item for sale in the System Store was—
[Extractor]
—can extract Essence Qi.
The price was 1 point.
Besides that, there was no other description for the item.
Zhang Xiaoman was also very helpless about this, who could blame him that his system didn't have a System Elf; he had to fumble everything by himself.
He spread out his right hand and looked at it; in his palm was a complex pattern.
The overall pattern was a seven-pointed star, with a shield in the background, and an eye in the middle that was open.
This had only appeared after he had purchased and used the extractor from the store.
Although it looked mysterious, he had never figured out how to use it.
He checked the time; it was already 12 o'clock.
Zhang Xiaoman's eyes lit up, and he quickly raised his head, casting his gaze towards the system interface he had already opened in advance.
The system's interface was very simple, with only three functions.
They were—Store, Lottery, Upgrade.
Right now, the lottery button that had been gray was once again lit up, signifying he could take part in the new day's lottery.
He let out a long sigh of relief, closed his eyes, muttered a bunch of prayers that no one else could understand, and then stretched out a finger towards the lottery button.
"Congratulations, you have obtained a white-level item—Holy Water."
As the system's prompt window popped up, a twist in space appeared, and from it emerged a transparent small bottle, which fell onto the bed.
"What is this?"
Zhang Xiaoman picked up the bottle to look, curious as to what the system's reward was for this time.
The bottle in his hand was roughly the size of an egg, and it looked quite rough in craftsmanship.
The top of the bottle was covered by a cork made of oak wood, which also had a white string wound around it.
Zhang Xiaoman shook it; inside the bottle was a clear liquid, about one ounce in volume, and he couldn't see anything special about it.
"Is this Holy Water?"
He focused his gaze, and the attribute panel for the item appeared in his eyes.
[Holy Water]
One ounce.
—Liquid Gold.
"This…"
With a somewhat pained expression, he massaged his temples. The system's explanation was definitely concise, leaving one in the dark.
"But at least this time it's not a gray-level junk, so it should still be somewhat useful."
Zhang Xiaoman thought of his own white-level item—the hearthstone, and felt somewhat comforted.
However, he still decided to search online to see if he could find some useful clues.
(A few words aside~
I'm pretty puzzled, why do people keep saying the system has informed the mother? I really have no idea where you've seen this plot, the mother only saw the special effect when the protagonist bound the system, but she doesn't know about the existence of the system, thinking he just awakened a superpower.
This book is not the type where the main character lurks behind the scenes, wearing a disguise and staying hidden; it contains a lot of public recognition of his feats.
I'm also quite perplexed, some people have really peculiar sore points; when the protagonist recruits underlings, some random stranger who is not involved can know about the protagonist's superpowers, but somehow not the protagonist's own family, which I really don't understand.
I'll say it again, this book is not about being undercover! It's not about being undercover! It's not about being undercover! It's about public recognition! The protagonist will lay low at the beginning, but as the story progresses to the middle and late stages, he will roam freely and take the whole world with him, his identity as a superpower user won't be hidden; he will be publicly acknowledged as the pinnacle of human combat power!
The main theme of this book is to unite all of humanity against monsters from different worlds, not shrinking behind the scenes dealing with infighting, so stop talking about issues of exposure...)