Immediately.
Zhou Ming took a taxi to the address Gadelia had given him, then transferred to a township bus, and finally walked several kilometers to reach his destination.
The black workshop was located in a sparsely populated village, nestled between a mountain and a river. Though the scenery wasn’t particularly good, it was a rare environment that was purely natural and pollution-free.
Kneeling down to tie his shoelaces tight and confirming that the pistol tucked at his waist could be drawn instantly, Zhou Ming finally felt assured enough to enter the village.
Walking along the concrete road for a while, Zhou Ming encountered a middle-aged man standing on the flat roof of a mud house, head down as he worked, but occasionally lifting his head to look around.
When he saw Zhou Ming, the middle-aged man quickly lowered his head and turned his back.
Though he didn’t know what the man was doing, Zhou Ming was on edge, ready to draw and fire at any moment.
Zhou Ming still remembered Gadelia’s words. The sparse population of this village meant he couldn’t afford to let his guard down.
“Hey! Young man down there, you’re the one hired to eliminate the energy beasts, right?”
The middle-aged man who had turned his back earlier now spun around to face Zhou Ming.
Turning to look at the middle-aged man, Zhou Ming did not relax his vigilance.
“Where are the energy beasts?”
Hastily jogging over, the middle-aged man held a hoe in his hands and quickly approached Zhou Ming.
The man’s weather-beaten, loose-skinned face, lined with wrinkles, squeezed out a smile, making him look honest and simple.
“I’ll take you there! I didn’t expect a young man to show up… really…”
The man struggled for a while, unable to come up with a word.
“Young and promising!”
“That’s right, that’s it! Young man, you really are young and promising!”
Suddenly, the man laughed.
“I’m not educated, young man. Please forgive me.”
Zhou Ming glanced at the hoe in the man’s hands.
The hoe was flat, glinting with metallic luster, with a bit of soil still clinging to it.
“Planting flowers?”
“Yeah, planting flowers.”
The man nodded.
Zhou Ming and Jiang Jialie’s dormitory mates often went to the mountains together to find flowers, then transplanted them back, comparing who had grown theirs better.
“Just came back from the mountain. Dug up some flowers, haven’t planted them yet.”
A hint of pride showed in the man’s eyes, clearly pleased with the mountain flowers he had discovered and transplanted.
“Young man, come with me. I’ll take you to where the energy beasts are.”
When he mentioned the energy beasts, the man’s hand trembled involuntarily.
He quickly strode forward, leading the way, guiding Zhou Ming toward the black workshop where the energy beasts were.
The black workshop sat at the edge of the village, near the water.
Its exterior was an extremely old stone house, a type of building Zhou Ming had never seen before, even though he had lived in the countryside for eighteen years.
As soon as he approached, an old man hurried out from inside.
“You’re finally here! Quick, quick, Er, pour some water for this young man. He’s already here and you didn’t notify me, making me miss the chance to welcome him right away.”
The old man gestured to Er—the man who had brought Zhou Ming.
Er muttered something and went to fetch water for Zhou Ming as instructed.
“How should I address you, young man? I’m Zeng Ding, the village chief of this village. Our village has few people to begin with, and the young folks keep leaving for the cities. Now there are hardly any of us left. We barely earn any money all year; it’s this workshop that keeps us alive.”
Zeng Ding was about to schmooze some more, but Zhou Ming cut straight to the chase.
“Is the energy beast in the workshop?”
‘Actually, my heart had softened a little,’ Zhou Ming thought. ‘I know how hard rural life is. I was even thinking of not taking any money.’
So Zhou Ming decided to just go ahead and eliminate the energy beast.
‘What water? Time is money! Every minute I delay, this village loses another minute of income.’
Zeng Ding hadn’t expected Zhou Ming to skip all the pleasantries.
After a moment of stunned silence, he quickly replied.
“Yes, yes, those energy beasts are in that building.”
Zeng Ding hastily pulled out a key and unlocked the iron door.
“Young man, please don’t damage any of the machines!”
After nodding in reply to Zeng Ding, Zhou Ming pushed open the iron door and entered the building.
Unlike its stone exterior, the interior looked more like a modern factory.
Steel pillars supported the beams, and a few unlit incandescent lamps hung overhead.
Though the equipment was old and covered in dust, it didn’t clash with the stone house’s appearance.
Zhou Ming’s environmental perception ability had been active ever since he entered the village.
He carefully observed his surroundings.
There were about ten drops of blood—not much, but they were scattered all over the floor of the building.
Zhou Ming didn’t see any bodies on the ground, not even any clothing.
Were there no casualties, or had the villagers carried the people away?
‘But a group of ordinary people probably couldn’t have taken anyone out from right under the energy beast’s nose.’
Within his perception, Zhou Ming detected a spider-type energy beast slowly crawling on his left side.
He subtly slowed his pace and quietly reached for the pistol at his waist, his air bullet also ready at a moment’s notice.
Whoosh!
A strand of webbing suddenly shot toward him.
Rolling to dodge the incoming webbing, Zhou Ming raised his hand.
But he didn’t fire immediately.
He still remembered what Zeng Ding had said.
An air bullet shot forth, hitting the energy beast but having little effect.
The energy beast let out a roar, its six legs digging into the ground as it charged at Zhou Ming, spewing more webbing from its mouth.
‘Since when do spiders spit webbing from their mouths?’
Using [Stasis] to freeze the strand closest to him, Zhou Ming immediately moved away.
He fired an air bullet straight into the energy beast’s wide-open, grotesque maw.
Zhou Ming then demonstrated the terrifying lethality of firearms.
At such close range, even with his eyes closed, he couldn’t miss!
Before he could empty the magazine, the energy beast dissolved into green smoke.
Without pausing to check if he had gained a new ability, Zhou Ming spun around and fired a burst of shots at the area behind him.
This was exactly why Lantern Bearers were equipped with guns.
Far easier to use than cold weapons.
Another spider energy beast, clinging to the roof beam, hadn’t even reacted before Zhou Ming riddled it with bullets, and it too dissipated into green smoke.
Ordinary Minor Calamity-level energy beasts died after a few shots.
If they didn’t die, just fire a few more.
After circling the building, Zhou Ming found no remaining energy beasts.
So he holstered his pistol, ready to go out and ask Zeng Ding if any people had been hurt by the beasts.
After all, half the floor was covered in bloodstains, yet there were no bodies.
‘As a Lantern Bearer—even if just an apprentice—I still care about this kind of thing.’
But the next moment.
The ground, unpaved with bricks or cement, suddenly trembled slightly.
The earth burst open with a roar.
A shark-like energy beast shot up from underground and clamped its jaws around Zhou Ming’s shoulder!
“Hiss—”
Air bullets fired one after another.
Biting back the searing pain of torn muscle, Zhou Ming drew his pistol and unleashed a full-auto barrage at the energy beast.
But after only a few shots, he heard a click-click-click sound.
Out of ammo!
‘Damn it! I should have reloaded just now.’
The fish tail lashed violently.
The energy beast dragged Zhou Ming as it dove headfirst back underground.