9:00 AM sharp, Training Field No. 1.

The supervisor stared coldly at the gasping Li Po, his expression stern yet commanding: “You’re exactly an hour late.”

“Sorry,” Li Po replied dryly.

Those gray eyes glanced at him once more but didn’t say anything further. Instead, he handed him a star key. “Don’t let it happen again. Go to Machine 250.”

250… How humiliating.

Li Po took the star key and found the machine. He nimbly climbed inside.

This was a highly advanced holographic combat simulator, designed to replicate all the senses 1:1 with reality, providing the most authentic combat experience possible.

[Please select your training module:]

On the light screen, there were numerous choices: psychic power combat simulation, moving target shooting, hand-to-hand combat, pollutant extermination training… So many options that it made his head spin.

Li Po blinked, and in the end, he chose [Pollutant Extermination Training]. After all, the original host had barely touched this field—it was practically uncharted territory for him. Plus, Li Po was quite curious—what exactly were these pollutants?

[Please choose your weapon:]

Without hesitation, Li Po picked a gleaming dagger.

[Are you ready?]

[Yes]

A white mist rose, and the scene quietly shifted. Once the mist cleared, Li Po found himself standing on an empty street.

All around him were broken walls and ruins, multicolored bricks scattered haphazardly across the ground, and dust lingering in the air.

Not far away, a foul stench emanated from a sewer, reminiscent of decaying corpses. Beneath his feet, slimy green moss clung to the cracks in the bricks, and, whether it was an illusion or not, Li Po thought he saw them slowly writhing. Suddenly, an inexplicable sense of dread gripped his heart.

His heart pounded wildly, adrenaline surging. Li Po tightened his grip on the dagger and cautiously scanned his surroundings—

The next moment, the sewer manhole cover was abruptly lifted, and a massive entity rolled out, charging straight toward Li Po’s direction.

Li Po’s pupils contracted as he swiftly dodged aside. When he looked more closely, his hair stood on end, and a sharp alarm sounded in his mind—Run!

It was a pitch-black creature!

The creature’s head was as large as the manhole cover, with murky, terrifying crimson eyes. Its bulging eyeballs seemed like they were about to fall out at any moment, hanging by only two blood-red nerves. Its body was covered in sharp short spikes that had been retracted but suddenly flared up upon spotting Li Po, resembling a living ball of thorns.

The most terrifying part, however, was the creature’s tail. It was an extremely long, black whip-like tail. It didn’t seem particularly frightening, but the moment it struck the ground, the bricks and stones within several meters instantly crumbled to dust!

“Thud, thud, thud—”

Li Po broke into a mad dash, his heart racing as if it were about to leap out of his chest any second, making him feel incredibly uncomfortable. Yet that dull thudding sound followed closely, never too far, never too close, as if it were taunting him openly.

This body is too weak, unable to sustain high-intensity running for its life. The metallic taste of rust rose in his throat. Li Po swallowed hard, his gaze darting around, and he keenly spotted a half-collapsed wall.

He bent down and rolled swiftly, like lightning, ducking behind it.

The dagger was gripped tightly in his palm. He was holding it so hard that his hand ached. Focused intently on the sounds coming from nearby, Li Po didn’t notice what was happening beneath his feet—

The slowly writhing moss suddenly trembled violently, its stems rapidly extending, silently creeping toward Li Po’s pale ankle.

Just as they were about to wrap around his ankle, Li Po caught a glimpse of them out of the corner of his eye. At the last second, he reacted, swiftly raising his hand and bringing the dagger down—slicing the stems into countless pieces. Dark green sap dripped down, instantly corroding the edges of his boots, almost exposing his feet to the air.

“…”

At that moment of distraction, the pitch-black creature silently crept closer. Its whip-like tail raised high, ready to lash down through the air—

Li Po’s keen senses detected the movement in the air, and he instantly made a decision. He swiftly hurled the gleaming dagger, then bent backward just as the creature’s blood-red eyes turned, narrowly avoiding its deadly strike!

The rushing wind exploded in his ears, and at the same time, the creature let out an enraged roar.

“Squeak, squeak!”

… Squeak, squeak?

An absurd thought flashed through Li Po’s mind.

This thing… sounds just like a rat.

The creature’s roar continued, its tail lashing the ground wildly as if it had entered a frenzy, furiously striking everything around. Li Po held his breath, carefully predicting the trajectory and angle of the tail’s movements, dodging expertly.

It seemed like the creature was getting frustrated. Its rhythm slowed, and its breathing grew heavy and labored.

This was the moment Li Po had been waiting for!

Seizing the opportunity, he leaped out of the creature’s attack range amidst the gusts of wind. Had he been even a millisecond slower, his spine would’ve been shattered by the whip, leaving him broken and crushed.

This body is too weak, Li Po thought once again.

After landing, Li Po rolled several times and pulled the dagger he had thrown earlier from a crack in the wall.

Panting heavily, he stood up, leaning against the wall, his legs trembling. He blinked rapidly, trying to shake off the sweat clinging to his eyelashes.

“…Come on.” He grinned, provoking the creature.

The creature was successfully enraged. Its massive black body suddenly swelled, its belly bulging like a black balloon. The tail also thickened, from the size of a fist to the thickness of a person’s calf.

At the same time, its entire body exuded a strong sewer stench.

Li Po’s face paled. Could it really do that?

“Squeak, squeak!”

The creature let out another sharp screech, like it was trying to burst someone’s eardrums. It charged at Li Po, its enormous body casting a huge shadow over him.

Li Po easily dodged it, stealthily moving behind the creature. In one swift motion, he stabbed his dagger deep into its back—

The blood-red eyes swiveled, and the creature finally realized Li Po was behind it. The tail moved to strike, but its bloated body suddenly froze.

It had been stepped on!

“Plop—”

Before the creature’s rage subsided, it suddenly felt a chill on its back. The dagger had been thrust deep into its body, and when it was pulled out, a fountain of sticky, crimson blood gushed out. Even though Li Po dodged quickly, a corner of his clothes was still splattered with the filthy blood.

“So dirty…” He lowered his eyes, looking a bit aggrieved.

The creature was severely wounded and in excruciating pain. Its spikes retracted as it writhed in agony.

Li Po’s eyes flashed—now’s the time!

He stomped hard on the creature’s tail, using the momentum to leap into the air. In that brief moment, he grabbed onto one of the spikes that hadn’t yet retracted, then, with all his strength, leapt upward—

In the next second, Li Po successfully landed on the creature’s back.

“Phew…” He exhaled deeply, wiping the sweat from his brow, secretly relieved that he had bet correctly.

But happiness never lasts long. Before Li Po could stabilize himself, the creature began to thrash wildly, trying to throw him off.

“!!!”

With its spikes retracted, the creature’s body was slick and slimy. Li Po almost got thrown off, but even in such chaos, his face remained calm, his eyes sharp. After only a brief pause, he made a quick decision.

His two slim yet powerful legs clamped tightly around the creature’s neck, his lower body steady as a rock. No matter how much the creature shook, his legs didn’t budge an inch. Li Po’s upper body hung upside down, his sweat-soaked white shirt clinging to his waist, outlining his silhouette.

The creature was too big, and having just been injured, every movement drained a huge amount of its energy. It thrashed and roared, but no matter how hard it tried, it couldn’t shake him off.

Soon, the creature’s strength waned, and its movements slowed down, its breathing becoming labored.

At that moment, Li Po’s eyes flashed. He tensed his flexible waist and straightened his upper body once more.

Gripping the dagger tightly, the corners of his mouth curled up, a determined gleam flickering in his light brown eyes. In an instant, his arm shot upward, then slashed down hard!

The elegant arc his slender wrist drew in the air ended with the dagger sinking deep into the creature’s brainstem, perfectly lodged in place!

With a splatter of foul blood, the creature collapsed heavily to the ground, its blood-red eyes wide open, as if it couldn’t rest in peace.

Li Po was also thrown to the ground with a heavy thud. Just as he was about to stand, he caught sight of something that shocked him—

The creature’s body was shrinking… shrinking… shrinking… until it was no bigger than an ordinary rat!

What the hell.

Could it have been a rat all along?!

At that moment, Li Po suddenly realized—so this was a “pollutant.”

Suddenly, a mechanical voice sounded in his ear:

[Congratulations, your pollutant extermination training is complete. Would you like to continue?]

…No thanks.

[No]

[Alright, looking forward to seeing you next time.]

Li Po slowly opened his eyes, and a large light screen appeared in front of him.

[WIN: 10 minutes, 23 seconds.]

He exhaled slowly, realizing he was drenched in cold sweat. Not only that, the pain he experienced in the simulation had followed him into reality. While there were no physical injuries, the suffering had been no less real.

The stench of the sewer still lingered in his nostrils. Li Po, belatedly realizing this, suddenly felt a wave of nausea rise from his stomach. He quickly covered his mouth, dry heaving several times, his eyes watering.

Only after the nausea finally passed did Li Po release his grip on his mouth. He tugged at his collar and cautiously sniffed it. After confirming that there really was no smell, he let out a sigh of relief.

Thank goodness the smell was fake; otherwise, he would’ve gone crazy.

Thank goodness the creature was fake; otherwise, he would’ve died of fright.

He had been so scared!

Li Po pressed his sweat-soaked fingers against the nearby [Open] button. The machine responded and opened, allowing him to slowly climb out and step onto the ground.

“Thud!”

Exhausted, his legs gave way, and Li Po’s vision darkened as his knees hit the ground hard, emitting a sound so painful it made his teeth ache.

“…Damn it.”

The floor was cold and hard. The sharp pain from his knees made Li Po feel like his entire lower body had gone numb. After a moment’s rest, when his legs finally regained feeling, he gritted his teeth, braced himself against the metal frame of the machine, and wobbled out.

He hadn’t gone far before two muscular Alphas blocked his path.​