The soul…
As soon as this thought crossed Harry's mind, the dream he had the previous night became increasingly vivid.
He had dreamt of a bizarre forest of stone tablets, some weathered to the point where their inscriptions had faded completely, while others appeared quite new.
When he touched one of the tablets, relevant information to it surfaced in his mind.
It was asking him to choose one.
The first tablet he encountered was severely eroded, yet the characters were still clear. One corner of it was missing, and the front bore a deeply engraved character: "Doctor".
Information flowed from the tablet.
In a daze, he saw various figures: some dressed in ancient robes and others in white coats.
But without exception, they all depicted scenes of their deaths.
He continued to touch other tablets, and without exception, each showed the final moments of the individuals associated with those professions.
He saw a Taoist priest being torn apart by a twisted monster.
He saw someone holding a white banner, enveloped in black mist, bleeding from all seven orifices, dying alone on the street at night.
He saw a burly man in a python-patterned robe shot full of arrows glowing with a blood-red light.
He witnessed a Cultivator standing at an altar, summoning heavenly lightning that obliterated everything around him.
The further he went, the more gruesome the deaths became; most perished in battle.
Even those who died in their beds suffered immensely, gasping their last breaths after enduring unbearable torment.
As someone who had just started working and hadn't even received his first paycheck, he certainly wouldn't choose a profession that screamed danger.
In fact, he didn't want to choose at all.
He felt that with a monthly salary of 4,800 yuan, weekends off, five social insurances and two funds, plus bonuses and allowances for meals, transportation, and communication, life was already pretty good.
Especially since the director had privately told him that last year, one colleague had received a year-end bonus of 180,000 yuan.
Right now, he didn't want anything else; he just wanted to work through the first half of the year and then collect that bonus.
He had even confirmed that he would still be eligible for a year-end bonus after just six months.
However, not making a choice left him unsure how to escape this situation.
He probably… might be stuck on the profession selection screen.
One by one, he touched the tablets, hoping to find one that was less dangerous and less tragic.
The so-called job descriptions were blurry; the ones that were equally unbelievable.
They sounded impressive until you noticed the people who had all died.
Finally, he found a tablet where the inscriptions had almost completely eroded.
This time, he didn't see a flood of gruesome deaths. Instead, there was just an old man, quietly sitting on a stone platform inside a cave, holding a scroll of animal hide, his expression calm as he slowly closed his eyes.
This was the only tablet he had found where the person who chose that profession hadn't met a terrible fate and could pass away peacefully.
'This one it is then.'
The moment the thought crossed his mind, the tablet suddenly shattered, turning into a stream of light that flowed into him.
He felt the forest of tablets fading away, and he was falling, about to wake up.
At that moment, he suddenly became aware in his dream, memories flooding back; he realized he wasn't a stranger to this place.
He had been here many times before, but he had never made a choice—until today when he had no option but to choose.
As he fell, everything around him dissolved into light and nothingness, the forest of tablets completely vanished.
In the light, a bright spot flew toward him from behind. As it approached, Harry could finally see it clearly.
It was a jellyfish larger than a mountain, glowing with eerie blue light, trailing tentacles and arms that stretched for miles.
Just the brilliance of that glow momentarily blinded him, and he felt dazed, his eyes turning vacant.
Information immediately flooded his mind:
[ Soul Devouring Beast [Undefeatable] ]
The eerie blue light illuminated his body, disrupting the light from the tablet that had just entered him.
Those messages took form in his vision, with countless chaotic characters flashing by, breaking apart and reassembling—from ancient oracle bone script to bronze inscriptions, finally becoming the familiar simplified characters he knew.
[You have encountered the Soul Devouring Beast, capable of devouring the souls of all living beings & non-living things, immune to all forms of damage.]
[After witnessing countless professions and the final moments of numerous beings, you feel invincibility is complete nonsense; there's no such thing as true invincibility.]
[Makes a lot of sense, doesn't it?]
[Perfectly fitting for your profession: Nemesis]
[In line with your thoughts, you seem to have found your path as a Nemesis.]
[Now, summon your strongest spirit and shout: 'I am your daddy.']
[Reward: Activate your first permanent ability.]
Harry didn't hesitate; he didn't even have time to consider if it was weird or kinky.
Because he could clearly sense—and inexplicably recognize—that his soul was being torn apart; even before he was touched, he felt as if he was being devoured by the ginormous beast in front of him.
If he hesitated for even a second, he wouldn't even have the chance to shout.
So, he turned to the massive creature glowing with blue light, at least a dozen miles long, and shouted those words.
'I don't have time... nevermind... Inhale'
"I AM YOUR DADDY."
As soon as he screamed it, he saw that enormous creature explode with blinding light, and then everything went dark; he didn't even have time to understand the effects of his words.
In an instant, he jolted awake in his bed. The events of the dream began to fade away, just like every other time, gradually blurring and settling into his memory.
———
Harry now lay on the sofa, the dream from the previous night replaying in his mind.
During the day, he had been preoccupied with his first day at work. After waking up, the memories from dream started to blur.
But after a day filled with strange occurrences, memories began to resurface involuntarily.
These changes must have a reason; surely, it couldn't be that everyone was playing a part in some elaborate act against him, right?
Especially that pudgy chef at the Chinese restaurant—after Harry had corrected his cooking technique, the man stared at him like a rival chef crashing his kitchen. He hadn't swung a ladle at Harry, probably afraid of lawsuit, who knows.
The strange occurrences that came to mind were, first, that incredibly vivid dream he'd had last night.
Second, there was his first day at the job, where he had signed a mountain of paperwork and was quickly made a full-time employee.
He had expected it would take at least a year or two for such an opportunity to arise.
After his meal had settled, he sorted through a pile of documents to prepare for tomorrow. He stretched a bit and then grabbed some fish food to feed the goldfish in his aquarium.
Watching the goldfish gulp down the food before sinking back to the bottom, Harry couldn't help but mutter:
"I am your daddy."
The goldfish didn't respond at all, continuing to swim lazily. When it reached the surface, it splashed water everywhere, droplets hitting Harry's face.
He wiped his face, feeling it was pointless.
———
In End City, Kai Qiyan, who hadn't slept for two days and nights, stared at a map, tired as he spoke on the phone.
"Yes, the residents within a hundred-mile radius have been evacuated. Luckily, it's mostly mountains and lakes here; there aren't many inhabitants."
"Yes, we're using the excuse of a chemical leak. That factory definitely had some issues; it's a good time to deal with them."
"No, we haven't found anything. Teams have gone in, and with satellites and drones scouring the area dozens of times, nothing unusual has been discovered... YET."