A World Where Humans Are Stronger Than Anomalies

"So humanity actually has another main base? Is that the origin of all mankind?" Chen Sheng asked, extremely surprised.

"The origin of humanity exists, but it is likely not as you imagine," Cthulhu's son replied, reverting to his usual concise and serious manner.

"I am all ears."

"That is a long story, and I cannot explain it very well myself. How about I organize the details and send them to you later? Coincidentally, I also have a workflow schedule to give you."

"Very well." Chen Sheng agreed. Right after, he saw the light screen before him vanish instantly. Although he could still initiate contact with the past, there was no need to do so.

It would be better to wait for Cthulhu's son to send the detailed information regarding humanity.

As for the Cthulhu clan's administrative workflow schedule, in Chen Sheng's eyes at that moment, it had become secondary, or even completely inconsequential.

After all, humanity was what Chen Sheng himself truly was.

Cthulhu's son was exceptionally efficient in handling matters, matching his direct way of speaking without any procrastination or hesitation. Very soon, Chen Sheng received the information and data he desired.

The power of a demigod lay in the very state of their existence. With just a single glance, Chen Sheng engraved all of this information into his mind.

Following that, he understood the meaning behind the words Cthulhu's son had spoken earlier.

There was no such thing as a primary lineage for humanity.

This was because the origin of humanity was humanity itself.

The formation of mankind had been exceedingly abrupt. No intelligent beings or demigods within the cosmic civilization chains had ever attempted to fully understand how it happened. This was because humanity's level of civilization had never been particularly high, and not a single one of the ninth cosmic civilization chains in the universe was related to humanity.

Consequently, information regarding mankind was scattered and pieced together.

In numerous worlds, new life-forms suddenly emerged, combining the finest genetic traits of the most powerful indigenous creatures.

And these brand-new life-forms were precisely human beings.

Yet because of this, although the physical forms of humans were largely similar—possessing a head, two arms, a pair of legs, a torso, and divided into male and female—they differed entirely in other aspects.

For instance, earthly humanity, which had already perished under conceptual weaponry, was a technological civilization. Their technology had advanced to the point where it attracted the attention of the Great Cosmic Will, prompting the ancient civilization capitals to send civilization chain invitations to Earth.

One had to understand that only when recognized by the Great Cosmic Will could a civilized race give birth to a demigod.

In contrast, the civilized world Chen Sheng currently found himself in was different. The humans here had mastered martial qi, bearing a striking resemblance to the martial arts worlds imagined in Earth's human culture. However, this martial world was somewhat unconventional because bizarre entities existed here, taking forms similar to ghosts and specters.

Originally, these bizarre entities of this world had already been suppressed by the humans here.

This was because the strength of the bizarre entities in this realm was exceptionally weak. Whether by coincidence or because Cthulhu had directly copied them over, the strange entities here were also classified into "Misfortune Grade," "Gore Grade," and "Great Calamity Grade," yet the historically strongest bizarre entity native to this world was merely of the "Gore Grade."

In other words, a human encountering one would face a disaster involving bloodshed. While there was a high probability of death, it was not an absolute hundred percent certainty.

Furthermore, unlike the fictional weird world known as the "Ghostly Path Realm" shaped by illusion, the martial qi of this world could inflict massive damage upon Gore-Grade bizarre entities. Characters powerful enough to be called martial arts grandmasters could even use their personal martial qi to suppress and gradually wear down a Gore-Grade bizarre entity until it died.

Under such circumstances, how could bizarre entities possibly stand a victorious chance against humans of such strength?

The appearance of "Great Calamity Grade" bizarre entities had only occurred when the Cthulhu clan, complying with the Great Cosmic Will to invade this human world of martial qi, used demigod methods to cultivate and strengthen them.

Even so, despite the Cthulhu clan producing quite a few "Great Calamity Grade" bizarre entities, they could still barely break even in a fifty-fifty match against the humans of this civilized world...

Moreover, most "Great Calamity Grade" bizarre entities chose to hide during the daytime to avoid the sharp edge of those martial arts grandmasters.

Without a doubt, the martial qi of this civilized world was tremendously powerful—powerful enough to be more terrifying than technological might.

Because the martial arts grandmasters of this world could achieve the feat of crossing the starry sky with their physical bodies and shattering a planet with a single punch!

Although this was merely the belief held by the humans of this world, from the perspective of the Cthulhu clan, it could only be regarded as jumping from their current alternate space to a few small asteroids drifting just outside it. As for the so-called shattering of a planet with a single punch, it was nothing more than smashing a few larger meteorites to pieces with a blow.

Yet this also revealed the formidable nature of the humans in this world, for this was not something achievable by just a few exceptional martial arts grandmasters, but rather the most fundamental ability possessed by every single grandmaster.

Among them, the most powerful martial arts grandmasters were probably on the verge of reaching the level of demigods.

However, having failed to join the cosmic civilization chain or gain recognition from the Great Cosmic Will, no matter how brilliantly talented the martial arts grandmasters here were, they ultimately could not escape the fate of growing old and dying of illness.

Withdrawing his thoughts, Chen Sheng turned his attention to the workflow schedule that Cthulhu's son had sent along with the documents.

This detailed various handling procedures employed by the Cthulhu clan when encountering emergencies. It was recorded with extreme meticulousness.

Yet after reading through it, Chen Sheng got the distinct impression that the Cthulhu clan was slacking off on the job.

"Makes sense. Refusing to join the cosmic civilization chain invites punishment orchestrated by the Great Cosmic Will. To put it accurately, rejecting a gift from heaven incurs retribution. Since there is no life-or-death vendetta of complete annihilation, there is no need to utterly destroy this civilization. It is sufficient to moderately manufacture some trouble, causing a portion of the humans in this civilized world to perish, which can be considered giving an adequate account to the Great Cosmic Will."

Chen Sheng quickly grasped the underlying reason. He was also well aware that this was not out of any benevolence from the Cthulhu clan; rather, even if this human world of martial qi were to join the cosmic civilization chain, its intelligent inhabitants—humanity—were simply not on the Cthulhu clan's menu.

Cthulhu was a seventh-chain demigod.

And this likely did not even represent the racial ceiling of Cthulhu; the Cthulhu clan was quite possibly situated at the eighth cosmic civilization chain.

Therefore, intelligent beings had to belong to at least the seventh cosmic civilization chain to awaken an appetite within the Cthulhu clan.

Just as humans might eat chickens, ducks, geese, cows, and sheep, no normal human would ever dream of eating a dung beetle, let alone eating it raw.

"According to this workflow schedule, I only need to stay in this world for a period of time until the casualties among the humans here meet the standard set by the Great Cosmic Will, and then I can leave. Of course, I can also choose to reside here long-term..."

Chen Sheng pondered for a moment before ultimately dismissing the idea of staying here permanently.

This human world of martial qi was quite fine, but Chen Sheng feared that if he lingered here for too long, he might develop a sense of identity with the humans here. And when that happened, during the next invasion by a cosmic civilization chain, he might instinctively step forward to resist it.

"My race is the extinct terrestrial humanity, not the martial qi humans of this world." Chen Sheng immediately put away the workflow schedule. Although he had memorized the entire thing with a single glance, the document carried the unique aura of the Cthulhu clan, and keeping it might prove useful in the future.

For instance, if some octopus-headed entity were to offend him and managed to escape, he could track the aura back to the main base of the Cthulhu clan, forcefully project his presence there, and eliminate the offending cephalopod.

At this moment, the little female ghost, who had remained stunned and dazed from being overly stimulated, suddenly reached out and tugged at Chen Sheng's hand. When Chen Sheng looked over, she spoke with a solemn little face: "I think I know why I... no, why your disciple, or rather, why that arch-rebel at the end of the century chose to commit suicide after gathering his consciousness for the very first time."

"Why?" Chen Sheng asked, genuinely curious. Cthulhu had spoken those words directly to him, so it was undoubtedly the truth.

Based on this premise, it could be deduced that during the subsequent five failed attempts by Cthulhu to reassemble that consciousness, the consciousness being gathered was likely cooperating with Cthulhu's intentions of its own accord.

"That arch-rebel at the end of the century didn't want terrestrial humanity to perish. Instead, he wanted to rejuvenate humanity on Earth so they wouldn't have to suffer exploitation and oppression, and even less would they have to endure endless reincarnations where the child of a farmer remains a farmer, the child of an official remains an official, and the child of a politician remains a politician."

"The future of every single person should not be determined by their birth!"

"Otherwise, living through life from birth to death is merely existing in a daze and dying in a daze, moving like puppet marionettes, scrambling and dancing for the benefit of others, or struggling throughout one's entire life."

"To put it bluntly, making a trip to this world under those conditions serves no greater purpose than allowing the uppermost layer of humanity to reap massive benefits from it."

"That is why that arch-rebel at the end of the century wanted to shatter all of it!"

"However, once terrestrial humanity had already been completely extinguished, what meaning would his resurrection hold? Creating a perfect world there would merely be an exercise in fulfilling a personal wish."

In the tone of the little female ghost, there was suddenly an overflow of profound sentiment that did not belong to her years.

Hearing this, Chen Sheng could not help but be moved. He thought about it seriously and concluded that the little female ghost's words made complete sense!

Even a fool can occasionally hit upon a brilliant thought; that old saying was truly correct.

"Then, are the two of us fake?" Perhaps due to their blood connection, Chen Sheng could not help but want to explore this issue further with the little female ghost.

"I suppose I can be considered half-real," the little female ghost said, pointing at herself with a small finger.

"And what about me?"

"Your doubts are entirely justified," the little female ghost replied with absolute certainty.

Chen Sheng glanced at her, then raised his hand, aimed at her smooth little forehead, and flicked it with his finger.

"Ow, wah, wah, wah..."

The little female ghost instantly burst into tears from the pain.

Yet Chen Sheng did not even spare her a second glance; as long as a parent kept their offspring alive, that was enough. Besides, this little wretch showed no signs of being a comforting, thoughtful little cotton-padded jacket.

Nevertheless, the little female ghost's words served to confirm Chen Sheng's earlier conjecture: Yu Youxin, that little girl using participation in the illusion world as a pretext for role-playing, was merely a smoke screen.

Her primary objective was likely to "resurrect" him.

Yet he had no prior memories associated with Yu Youxin, so this could only be linked to his own ability to impart conceptual reinforcement to armaments.

Beyond that, Chen Sheng could not deduce any further.

As a rookie demigod, the information he possessed was far too limited, and that little girl had fled directly, as though staying too long might bring some trouble upon him.

Thinking of this, Chen Sheng saw another light screen appear before his eyes.

This time, it was a familiar octopus-headed entity.

Cthulhu.

"Is there something you need?" Chen Sheng took the initiative to ask.

"It is nothing major. A rock-person demigod from the Rock-Person Clan contacted me, asking me to relay a message to you: if you are interested in the Rock-Person Clan, you can seek out a world belonging to them on your own and reside there long-term."

"Should I go or not?"

At this moment, Cthulhu directly turned his back, presenting Chen Sheng with the back of his head, while his voice rang out: "Of course you should go. The Rock-Person Clan is, after all, a top-tier civilized race of the ninth cosmic civilization chain, sitting right at the very apex of the demigod food chain."

"Very well, I shall pretend I never heard a word of this."

Chen Sheng instantly grasped Cthulhu's meaning, then operated his hand at lightning speed to sever the light screen connection.

Simultaneously, in his heart, he gave a mental thumbs-up to the entity responsible for punishing Cthulhu in this manner.

This punishment was simply marvelous!

Knowing this quirk of Cthulhu's, this cephalopod would never be able to tell a lie for the rest of his life. And considering that demigods are undefined by time, Cthulhu's rest of his life would likely have to be appended with the word "eternity"...

"Disciple, where should we go next?" the little female ghost asked inquisitively, looking around her surroundings with a pair of large, dark eyes, appearing exceptionally interested in this martial qi human world.

"Let's find a place and rent a house," Chen Sheng said indifferently.

"Yay!"

The little female ghost agreed instinctively at first, but realizing the implications an instant later, her little face froze in utter astonishment: "R... r... rent a house?"

"Mhm," Chen Sheng nodded.

"Disciple, don't you think doing this completely disrespects your identity as a demigod? If other demigods found out you went and rented a house here, how are you ever going to show your face in demigod circles again?" The little female ghost's mouth immediately let out a rapid-fire string of words like a machine gun.

There was no helping it; Chen Sheng's response had caught her completely off guard and left her dumbfounded!

"Did you see that octopus-headed entity who sent us the information just now?"

"You mean the pinkish one?"

"Mhm."

"I saw him. What about him?"

"He is Cthulhu's son, and you could say he's the head octopus in charge of this region's malevolent entities. Did you notice the uniform he was wearing? If I'm not mistaken, it should be a security guard uniform from some company. So, the supreme boss of the malevolent entities is working a job, and you're telling me renting a house is out of the question?" Chen Sheng raised an eyebrow. Since they were both just here to slack off and muddle through, and he was merely a substitute, he might as well treat this as a chance to experience the feeling of returning to a human world.

Renting a house, living there for a while, and taking a pleasant vacation—wasn't that joyful?

The little female ghost wore a completely shattered expression. Having been overawed by Cthulhu's imposing aura earlier, she had always thought those octopus creatures were incredibly formidable and awesome, only to find out... they were working hourly jobs?

She had never witnessed anyone handle official duties in such a perfunctory manner.

"Then what about after we rent the house?" The little female ghost hurriedly inquired about Chen Sheng's subsequent plans.

Chen Sheng grinned with a decidedly mischievous smile: "Coincidentally enough, this world also has compulsory education, and it happens to be a ten-year martial arts education program. So, you're going to enroll in primary martial school!"

The formidable power of a demigod allowed Chen Sheng to acquire a vast amount of information related to this world with just a sweeping glance, including the social structure of the local human society.

Because martial qi was essential, it served as the core curriculum, mandating ten years of compulsory martial arts study. Prior to that, room, board, and all miscellaneous school fees were fully covered, with no extra charges levied.

Among them, the ten-year martial arts education was divided into six years of primary study, two years of intermediate study, and two years of advanced study.