Chapter 185
After settling matters in the castle area, Chu Feng and Illya returned to the modern world.
“Brother Feng, you’re back!”
Chu Feng nodded. “Yep. Anything new going on?”
“There’s been a lot lately—people are panicking.”
Chu Feng glanced at Lin Zhihao, intrigued. “Tell me what’s going on.”
“Anxi Village is just a small mountain village with over 200 people. More than 100 were poisoned. They were sent to the hospital, but 53 died despite rescue efforts. Dozens more are still critical—it’s a major incident!”
Chu Feng frowned in confusion. “Poisoned? A chemical leak?”
Lin Zhihao shook his head. “Nope. Anxi Village doesn’t have any chemical factories.”
Chu Feng looked puzzled. “Then it must’ve been poisoning. Or maybe someone in the village awakened a poison-type ability?”
Lin Zhihao shrugged. “Something did awaken a poison ability—but not a person. It was moths.”
Chu Feng was shocked. “Moths?”
Lin Zhihao nodded. “Yes. There’s a moth cave nearby. A swarm of moths lives there. Normally, moths have mild toxicity, but they mutated and became deadly.”
The toxic dust from the moths fell into the river, and when the villagers drank the water, they were poisoned and died.
Chu Feng took a deep breath. “What happened to those moths?”
Lin Zhihao shook his head. “The government seems to have sent experts to deal with them—but the moths flew away before they got there.”
Chu Feng frowned and said, “Isn’t that really dangerous?”
Lin Zhihao nodded and replied, “Yeah! It’s really dangerous. People near the village who had the means have already moved away. Those who couldn’t afford to leave can only hide in the village, living in constant fear.”
Chu Feng: “…” Such dangerous moths—if left unchecked—might lead to more casualties.
“Has the government taken any measures?”
“There are some. I heard they’ve organized a Moth Extermination Team that’s actively searching for the moths. They also developed toxin detectors. Villagers who are worried their food might be contaminated can use them to test it. That at least gives people some peace of mind.”
Chu Feng nodded, “Seems like it.”
“There’s more than just the Anxi Village situation,” Lin Zhihao continued.
“Like what?”
“For example, over at Swan Lake, several wild tigers have appeared—no one knows where they came from—and they’ve already dragged off a few people.”
“Actually, dangers like tigers are at least visible. The invisible ones are scarier. Some people exploring outdoors were bitten by unknown insects and became covered in swelling. So now, you really can’t venture out casually—one wrong step and you could get poisoned to death.”
Chu Feng searched on his phone and said, “There’ve been a lot of strange news stories lately!”
Lin Zhihao nodded, “Exactly.”
Chu Feng scrolled through a page showing a plant.
A horticulture enthusiast had posted about a spider plant he was growing. In just a few days, it grew several times larger than usual. Normally that would be impossible, but with the recent environmental changes, many plants have begun growing wildly.
The spider plant growing bigger wasn’t that big a deal. But someone else captured a photo of a fight between a cat and a mouse—that gave people chills.
In the photo, a rat was pinning down a cat. Honestly, many domestic cats these days are pampered and afraid of mice, but this rat was bigger than a football—which was completely abnormal.
Lin Zhihao leaned in to take a look. “A big rat? That’s not even surprising anymore.”
Chu Feng looked at him, “Not surprising?”
Lin Zhihao nodded. “Yeah, we’ve already found quite a few oversized rats.”
Chu Feng: “…” There are already that many?
Lin Zhihao nodded again, “Not just rats. Some people’s pet cats have suddenly grown huge. Look at this Persian cat—it used to be tiny, and now it’s about the size of a pig.”
Chu Feng: “…”
Lin Zhihao stared at the photo on his phone, thinking: This cat really does look like a pig now.
He shook his head. “Persian cats are gentle by nature, so even though it got big, all that really changed is its appetite. But look at this…” Chu Feng saw a picture of a large stray dog. “That dog really looks massive.”
Lin Zhihao nodded. “Yeah! That dog suddenly grew bigger, and after that, it bit a few kids from a nearby school.”
Chu Feng: “…”
“According to witnesses, it used to be a stray dog. A few kids didn’t like it and would always throw stones or hit it with sticks. One day it suddenly grew bigger and bit all of them.”
Chu Feng: “…” In a way, that’s karma—grudges repaid, justice served.
“How are those kids now?”
Lin Zhihao frowned. “They’re all in the hospital. Interestingly, the dog didn’t seem to want to kill them—just bit their legs. Someone even said the dog’s own leg was broken by those kids.”
Chu Feng: “…” Did the dog want to make them disabled for life? Sometimes, death is actually a release… That dog might be quite intelligent.
“What happened to the dog?”
Lin Zhihao shook his head. “It was tranquilized by the military and taken away.”
Chu Feng nodded. “I see.”
Lin Zhihao frowned, “Because of all these strange happenings around the country, the buzz around Illya has completely died down.”
Illya was indeed very beautiful. In the past, she could’ve stayed popular for months. But now, with all the supernatural events happening, and Illya not making any appearances, the public’s attention quickly shifted.
“All the reporters who were camping out have vanished too,” Lin Zhihao said gloomily.
Illya closed her eyes and sensed it for a moment. “Yeah, the reporters are really gone.”
Chu Feng nodded. “Good.”
Lin Zhihao: “…” When the reporters were here, he found it annoying. But now that they’ve left, he’s starting to wonder if Illya’s fame is already fading.
Chu Feng glanced at him, “What are you thinking?”
Lin Zhihao shook his head. “Nothing.”
Chu Feng browsed through the news and found all kinds of bizarre events.
At the same time, quite a few new ability-users had emerged—like plant-type and wind-type ability-users.
Many people mistook Chu Feng for a wind-type ability-user. But recently, a real wind-type ability-user had shown up. Their ability was simply “blowing wind,” like a living electric fan. With training, they might reach Chu Feng’s level—or they might just go from being a small fan to a big fan.
*
In Capital—
“Sis, you seem pretty free lately,” said Zhuang Cheng.
Zhuang Feixue nodded, “Yeah, I didn’t take on any new roles, and I’ve pushed back any promos I could. There’ve just been too many strange things happening around the country, and all the attention is on ability-users now.”
Actually, she was still quite popular recently—but that wasn’t because of her own work. It was because of Illya.
“Mu Linlang is really trending these days!”
Zhuang Cheng nodded. “Yeah! She’s a wood-type ability-user. Her parents are both plant researchers, and she loves flowers. Her hobby is cultivating roses in every color imaginable.”
When Mu Linlang awakened her ability, the roses in her family’s rose plantation bloomed all at once—vivid and colorful—attracting a swarm of reporters.
Mu Linlang had good looks, so entering the entertainment industry was a natural step.
Right after entering the industry, she performed a stunning act of “heavenly maiden scattering flowers.” At the performance venue, roses bloomed in unison, and multicolored petals filled the air, creating a dreamlike, fantastical scene.
That single performance won her countless fans.
Zhuang Feixue shook her head and thought to herself: It’s time to quit. Without an ability, making it big in the entertainment industry is too hard now. People aren’t into dramas anymore—bizarre news stories are what attract attention.
Zhuang Cheng tilted his head and said, “Mu Linlang has a plant-type ability. The Ability Bureau might prioritize her for cultivation.”
Zhuang Feixue shook her head and said, “There are all kinds of abilities emerging lately. The Ability Bureau has too many people to prioritize already.”
Zhuang Cheng nodded. “True.”
Just then, Zhuang Cheng’s phone rang. He looked at the screen and was startled.
Zhuang Feixue looked at him and asked, “What is it?”
Zhuang Cheng shook his head. “A friend of mine has a pet hamster. Now the hamster’s bigger than a cat—the cage is getting too small.”
Zhuang Feixue frowned. “What’s he going to do about it?”
Lately, there’ve been more and more reports of animals growing abnormally large. Zhuang Cheng shrugged. “No idea.”
Zhuang Feixue shook her head. “He needs to take it seriously.”
There’ve been cases of giant rats recently. One family had a rat suddenly grow huge and bite their child—left the parents nearly crying to death.
Hamsters are gentler than wild rats, but they still have combat potential.
To be safe, maybe the hamster should be put down. Many people don’t realize that while hamsters look cute, they can be quite aggressive.
But many pet owners treat their pets like royalty—asking them to kill it would be heartbreaking.
Zhuang Feixue frowned and said, “More and more animals are awakening abilities lately.”
“Someone even saw a snake over ten meters long. It looked like a beast out of ancient mythology.”
Zhuang Feixue rested her chin in her hand. “The wilderness is expanding. Lots of people are trying to flee to the cities.”
Zhuang Cheng took a deep breath. “Things are getting unstable in many places. One village in the north, Beishan Village, got attacked by a pack of wild wolves. Many villagers were eaten.”
Zhuang Feixue nodded. “These are troubled times.”
A production team had been planning a wilderness survival show—but of course, that’s been canceled now.
Zhuang Cheng rested his chin in his hand. “Rural villages are seeing frequent incidents. Many people are fleeing to the cities. But… are cities really safe?”
Zhuang Feixue thought for a moment. “Capital might be relatively safer.”
Zhuang Cheng curled his lip. “Maybe.”
