Chapter Sixty-Five: Gathering Strength and Poised to Strike

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"How to Properly Understand the Method of Eating..." Concerning this section, Li Can merely skimmed through it and quickly moved on. How should one put it? This part was hardly friendly to humans; in fact, it could only be described as repulsive. It was nothing more than replacing pigs, sheep, and cattle with humans.

He turned to the second category, which dealt with the structure of human society: explanations of basic concepts such as the distinction between men and women, types of work, and so on.

The third category was about the growth of monsters. According to the text, the way monsters grew was different from that of normal creatures. They did not develop gradually in the biological sense, but rather, once they had accumulated enough energy, their bodies would directly evolve into another form. Usually, this evolution occurred without any warning, making it easy for them to be discovered in a moment of confusion.

Therefore, the text proposed various hypotheses and coping strategies for this situation, even highlighting one rule in conspicuous red:

"Once evolution begins, either stay far from crowds to avoid exposure, or immediately kill all witnesses and seal off the information."

"The fact that this rule is listed last in the book suggests it's not the preferred choice; clearly, their main intention is still to remain hidden," Li Can thought, a chill running down his spine. In the unseen darkness of the world, a vast and powerful force belonging to monsters had already taken shape, complete with detailed rules for survival.

Even more terrifying was that these monsters had already infiltrated every corner of human society, playing all sorts of roles and maintaining close connections with one another.

This much could be sensed from the content of that news alert alone. Ordinary people or organizations could not possibly have tracked down Zhou Chang and his companion's exact address overnight and silenced them without leaving a trace.

Li Can flipped to the fourth section, which contained a detailed explanation of monster evolution and a comparison of their strengths.

It took him a full thirty minutes to barely extract the information he wanted.

In short, among monsters, there existed a "Mother." After gathering enough energy, the Mother could lay a batch of eggs—somewhere between eighty and a hundred.

Each egg would hatch into a youngling, with its appearance, size, and abilities all randomly determined—no uniform standard.

After hatching, the younglings would continuously devour energy—in other words, their exclusive "food." Once they had absorbed enough energy, they would begin to evolve, and their bodies would develop "secondary armor," similar to the scales on "Liu Huadong's" tail and the barbed appendages of the tentacled monster.

The strength of a monster could be roughly judged by their secondary armor.

Of course, this was not a simple task. According to the book, monsters had a unique formula for assessing their secondary armor:

Number × Size.

In other words, with each evolution, the total volume of a monster's secondary armor increased, but its form remained unpredictable.

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It might be a single large piece, or many smaller ones.

Take "Liu Huadong" and the tentacled monster as examples. Although their individual pieces of armor were small, the tentacled monster clearly had more, meaning it was stronger than "Liu Huadong"—it had evolved at least one more time.

Naturally, Li Can had already experienced this firsthand; the tentacled monster was indeed the stronger of the two.

Not only that, he had nearly run into an even more formidable creature, but thankfully, he had managed to escape quickly enough.

Besides evolution, the book also mentioned the "dark core" and "dark energy."

It turned out the "dark core" referred to the tumor-like organ inside a monster's body, akin to a fusion of the human brain and heart. The energy generated by the dark core was called "dark energy," the black gas.

Li Can secretly wiped away the cold sweat. If he hadn't previously absorbed Liu Huadong's dark energy, and then cleverly used inertia during battle to kill the tentacled monster, he would have been hard-pressed to gain any advantage.

"It seems that to keep hunting for ingredients, I’ll have to absorb more dark energy and strengthen myself. Otherwise, if you walk by the river often enough, you’ll eventually get your feet wet. Who knows when I might run into a monster far more powerful than myself?"

Clicking his tongue, Li Can turned to the fifth section: an introduction to the Clan of the Divine.

To his astonishment, there was only a single line:

"Beware those who wield strange abilities!"

Li Can was momentarily speechless.

Still, at least he had gained something from this—at the very least, this meant he wasn’t the only member of the Clan of the Divine.

"A small comfort, I suppose..."

He continued reading, but the remaining content was all about teaching younglings how to hide, survive, and hunt within human society.

Li Can grew more and more bored, eventually drifting off to sleep without realizing it...

The night passed without incident.

At dawn,
As the first rays of sunlight broke over the horizon,
A new day began.

Su Rui arrived at the restaurant half an hour earlier than usual. She quickly dropped off the ingredients Li Can needed, then immediately began contacting the agency and Old Shen.

On one hand, she was handling the transfer procedures for the new house, waiting for the buyer’s payment;

On the other, she took over the Blazing Kitchen, organized staff to replace the sign, and started renovations on the shop.

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Of course, she also took over the other two storefronts at the same time.

Gazing at the four dirty, dilapidated fronts, Su Rui gave the order, and ten workers wielded their hammers, breaking down the walls to connect all the entrances into one.

Many of the neighbors sensed that the entire old street would flourish thanks to the rise of Neighborhood Kitchen. Those with sharp business instincts immediately gathered friends and family, planning to start supporting businesses centered around Neighborhood Kitchen—takoyaki, iced mung bean soup, fermented rice balls, and even a board game café for diners who had ordered but couldn’t find a seat.

With this, the pressure on Neighborhood Kitchen was entirely alleviated.

Naturally, Su Rui was pleased to see it.

Meanwhile, the small shops previously overwhelmed by the influx of customers were not idle—some restocked their shelves, others began selling quality beer, all with a keen eye for opportunity.

In their view, anyone who could afford to dine at Neighborhood Kitchen must have a steady income; so while enjoying good food, they would certainly not pass up the chance to enjoy a drink as well.

In short,
The old street was transforming at a pace almost imperceptible to ordinary people, shedding its image of filth and disorder, and gradually becoming a place of charm and distinction.

Amidst this changing environment, Boss Ma and others seized the opportunity, rallying their restaurant staff and spending the entire night reforming their establishments.

Using Neighborhood Kitchen as a model, they abandoned the philosophy of offering a wide but mediocre selection, streamlined their menus, and—following Li Can’s guidance—launched upgraded versions of their signature dishes.

Among them, Boss Ma was the most unique—he completely abandoned traditional cooking and switched to making cold snacks and refreshments.

The previous night, he had earnestly consulted Li Can about customer preferences and the recipes for several snacks. Li Can, generous with his knowledge, taught him a few tricks.

As for the results, today would be the ultimate test.

If things went poorly, he’d have wasted his chance and would need to regroup. But if things went well, he might become a sensation overnight!

Excited, Boss Ma handed a bag of new clothes to the elderly waitress, then donned a Pigsy costume himself.

After one last look at the restaurant’s new sign, he put on the headpiece.

Sign: Even Second Brother Has His Springtime

(To be continued...)