Chapter 5: Resentment I

The blood rain stopped very quickly. Zhang Wei carried a small half-bucket of black "Jobs blood," followed by Bai Guagua, as they walked unsteadily toward the Shanty Town.

Along the way, many people had been burned by the blood rain, and large hospitals and small clinics were packed with people. Even the fur of stray dogs had become scarred and patchy, lying on the ground and whimpering. Vehicles parked on the side of the road were also stained with quite a bit, looking black as if they had rolled through mud, yet the car paint showed no damage; a splash of water made them as clean as new.

It seemed that apart from the flesh and blood of living creatures, this blood water no longer had a corrosive effect on other things.

"Such a huge guy, and we only got this little bit of blood; what a total loss," Bai Guagua muttered behind him, deeply feeling that she had missed out on a grand plan to get rich.

Zhang Wei felt it was necessary for him to act as an elder and educate this young girl; otherwise, if she continued to be this money-grubbing, wouldn't she end up on a crooked path in the future?

But when the words reached his lips, they changed into a different set of rhetoric.

"Guagua..."

"Hmm?"

"Money... I will find a way to earn it. You just need to focus on your studies; this is our only way to change our fate. Once I get into university and get a scholarship, then work some odd jobs, I guarantee you'll have chestnuts to eat every day... eating through the entire food street will be no problem."

Bai Guagua was silent for a moment, then reached out her small hand to hold Zhang Wei's: "It's a deal, Brother."

The little girl rarely called him that; she didn't know if the last time was half a year or a year ago. According to her words, it was "gender equality, no one can boss anyone else around."

Zhang Wei understood Bai Guagua's little rebellion. In fact, many children from families that suffered such tragedies were ruined even if they didn't go astray; few were as precocious and sensible as her, and consistently kept their grades at the top.

It was so rare to hear her call him "Brother" that Zhang Wei felt a softness in his heart. Just as he was planning to say something to consolidate his status as an older brother, he suddenly felt the space in front of him darken. He looked up in astonishment, only to see a huge black shadow flying obliquely from the sky ahead, falling toward their direction.

"F***!" Zhang Wei's mind went blank. He subconsciously blurted out a curse and only had time to shield Bai Guagua behind him before he felt the earth tremble, and the dull sound of impact and the noise of buildings collapsing reached his ears...

On a patch of ground less than five meters from where the impact occurred, the two looked at each other, still shaken by their brush with death. After standing dazed for a long while, they suddenly reached out and slapped their palms together, exclaiming in unison with relief: "Surviving a great disaster, there must be future blessings!"

No sooner had the words fallen than there was a loud boom in the ruins nearby, as if a gas canister had exploded. Debris scattered everywhere, and a piece of rubble hit Zhang Wei right on the back of his head...

"Zhang Wei... Zhang Wei..."

"You can't die, wake up! Wake up..." Bai Guagua was scared to death, throwing herself onto him and pushing him desperately.

"Damn it... stop shaking me." Zhang Wei lay on the ground, dizzy. Being shaken like this by Bai Guagua made him feel even worse, and he secretly vowed never to let this girl watch melodramatic TV shows again.

"Go call someone... don't go to the hospital, the Chen Clinic at the entrance of our alley will do." After forcing himself to finish this most important sentence, Zhang Wei fainted.

At this very moment, outside Earth, near the moon, in a place where any instrument or telescope would detect only a void, a pair of eyes was examining this azure planet with great interest.

"Such a strange domain field... no wonder that fellow wanted to devour the star core. Could it be the place where that person stayed? Interesting, truly interesting. How did it become the world of those tech-dogs?"

"And that creation, brought here by a twist of fate... in that case, there's no need to rush to destroy it. I'll step in as well and see what those tech-dogs look like in the future, hehe..."

As he spoke, a clear light flared in his eyes, and with a single point of his finger, some kind of eternal shackle shattered...

"Terrifying Horror: Space Visitor Exposed"...

"World-Ending Giant Monster Dismembered, Who Is the Great Power Behind It?"...

"Massive Blood Rain Falls from the Sky, Half the Planet Suffers Innocently"...

"What Is the Purpose of the 'Taotie' Devouring the Moon?"...

"Mysterious Giant Beast Dismembered, Corpse Remains Scattered Across the Globe"...

The next day, on a hospital bed in Chen's Clinic, Zhang Wei, with a bandage wrapped around his head, was rapidly flipping through newspapers, digesting the massive amount of information within. But he soon discovered that apart from some photos of the "Taotie Devouring the Moon" and scattered remains in various places, the other content had absolutely no reference value, being purely wild speculation or one-sided opinions.

"Not long after you fainted, that 'Jobs' that fell near our house was dragged away by people. Two very large helicopters, and quite a few soldiers came too... It's a pity, I don't know how much Jobs' meat could sell for per catty," Bai Guagua said.

"What kind of thing? Jobs?" The old Chinese doctor, Chen, who was watching the TV news nearby, looked over with a puzzled expression.

"It's that big devil who bit the apple," Bai Guagua explained.

The old doctor was completely bewildered. How did that big monster get linked to Jobs?

Absorbed Chen Yuanqing's Resentment, +11.

"I'm old, I'm old... I'm understanding young people's words less and less," Chen Yuanqing sighed.

Bai Guagua was very clever. Seeing this, she wanted to put on a smiling face to coax the old man. After all, since they became orphans, whenever the two of them had any aches or pains, the old doctor had often given them free medical treatment, not even charging a single cent.

But she saw Zhang Wei's eyes staring blankly, looking as if he had lost his soul, and she was startled. She went to push his body hard again: "Hey, hey, are you having another brain attack?"

Caught off guard, Zhang Wei was pushed by her into the iron pole hanging the IV drip, hitting exactly on his wound. He winced in pain and said, "Bai Guagua, are you brain-damaged? Does pushing me make you feel better?"

Bai Guagua said aggrievedly, "I was just concerned about you."

Absorbed Bai Guagua's Resentment, +20.

Chen Yuanqing came over to take a look: "It's fine, it was just a slight concussion before. It's within the normal range for it to throb a bit afterward; just endure it and it will be fine."

Zhang Wei fell into a daze again. He felt as if something extraordinary had happened to him.

Just a moment ago, there was an indescribable change inside his head, as if his brain had been exposed to the air, rolling from a stuffy sauna into a pool of ice spring water.

This feeling ended in less than a second, and in its place, a window with a rather ancient style appeared in his brain.

The menu at the top of the window had four options: "Star Palace," "Infusion," "Exchange," and "Lucky Draw," and the bottom right corner displayed "Resentment Value: 187."

In the middle was a row of text records with detailed times, which displayed:

Absorbed Bai Guagua's Resentment, +20

Absorbed Chen Yuanqing's Resentment, +11

Absorbed Liu Xiaoli's Resentment, +1

Absorbed Liu Xiaoli's Resentment, +1

Absorbed Han Mei's Resentment, +1

Absorbed Han Mei's Resentment, +1

Absorbed Bai Guagua's Resentment, +99

Zhang Wei was somewhat confused. What the hell was this thing? Could other people's unhappiness also be quantified into income?

Seeing the first record, which was the one for the little girl +99 Resentment, the time displayed was 8:37 last night, which was exactly when the giant beast's remains fell from the sky and he was knocked unconscious.

Could it be that this thing dropped from the giant monster?