It must be that while I wasn't paying attention, something had entered that humanoid snake molt.

But to inflate the snake skin, one would need a body of comparable size.

I truly couldn't believe such a large creature could be concealed in this cramped storeroom without my noticing.

Even if my eyes couldn't perceive objects in this darkness, I should at least feel the Nian aura emanating from a living being.

As I pondered, the unknown creature inside the snake skin was already inching backward.

It seemed to sense it wasn't my match and was preparing to flee.

I absolutely would not let it escape. Such a dangerous creature hiding in a densely populated city was certainly a major hidden threat; if someone stumbled upon this place, even if they weren't bitten to death, they would be scared half to death.

Though I wouldn't let it escape, I didn't immediately move to stop it, as I also wanted to see exactly where this monster had come from.

The creature inside the snake skin retreated a few steps, then leaped upward with incredible speed, jumping onto the wall.

It was like a massive lizard, with suction cups on its soles, firmly gripping the wall and climbing rapidly.

I shone my phone light upward and discovered that at the very top of the storeroom, there was a spatial rift, about two meters wide.

Because it was so intensely dark, I hadn't noticed it before.

Looking at it now, the rift was certainly large enough to accommodate a creature of that size.

The unknown being in the snake skin scrambled quickly toward the rift. Just as it was about to enter, I curled my index finger and made the gesture for the 'Flick Shot,' then flicked it through the air—an invisible wave of Nian power struck its rear leg, which was supporting its center of gravity.

This instantly threw the creature off balance, and it plummeted from the height, landing on the ground, legs skyward, struggling helplessly.

The impact had been significant; it lay there writhing but couldn't get up.

I glanced at my finger with satisfaction, thinking I was getting close to the 'Finger Flick Divine Skill' of Huang Yaoshi from the Wuxia novels.

Just then, a plume of black smoke suddenly erupted from the snake skin, pouring out ceaselessly like a fountain.

I froze for a moment, disregarding everything else, and rushed forward to see what was going on.

Prying open the snake skin, the sight inside startled me greatly.

There was nothing inside; it must have evaporated along with that black smoke.

"What kind of animal decomposes this fast..." I mused, stroking my chin.

I suddenly recalled the humanoid monster we encountered on the large stone in the swamp when we were escaping the Mt. Rokko ruins in Kobe.

It was pitch black, with a very short tail. At the time, Zhang Jia Xiao Ge used his flying dagger skill to slice off one of the monster's arms, and the severed limb immediately turned into black gas and dissipated.

Could it be that the thing just now was the same...?

This was troublesome, because I thought that creature only existed in Kobe and was connected to the meteorite impact.

Unexpectedly, tracks of this thing had now appeared in China.

Stroking my chin, I thought it over carefully.

The answer seemed quite obvious: the meteorite in Kobe hadn't come from outer space at all, but had fallen through a spatial seam.

Therefore, this strange life form surviving within the meteorite should inherently belong to the realm of spatial rifts.

And now for it to crawl out of the spatial rift here seemed relatively normal.

I didn't know if this creature could pose a major threat to human society, but in order to quell the threat from the meteorite, the Japanese military had deployed massive forces to fight this being.

In that case, at least the government considered this thing a huge danger.

If this creature were to invade China on a large scale, it would be a terrifying prospect.

Although I didn't know if all spatial rifts connected to the habitat of dark creatures, I felt I had no reason to ignore this matter.

At the very least, I needed to see what kind of world lay beyond the spatial rift.

With that thought, I glanced around.

With a casual wave, I telekinetically moved the broken wooden scaffolding and stacked it in layers on the ground beneath the rift.

Soon, the pile reached a height from which I could touch the spatial rift.

I carefully stepped on these debris, ascending higher and higher until I stood directly beneath the spatial rift located near the roof.

The so-called spatial rift actually looked like a sheet of black paper, suspended flat in the air.

Of course, it was far thinner than paper—it could almost be said to have no thickness.

When something passed through the sheet, it would be transported to a distant location via some complex formula.

This likely didn't rely on atomic principles but on a more advanced one.

If an object passing through were broken down into its most fundamental atoms and reassembled far away, it would be difficult to reconstruct the original form; the data involved would be immense.

I felt that with humanity's current scientific knowledge, interpreting the formation cause and constituent elements of a spatial rift would be very difficult.

Naturally, as a biologist, I knew nothing about this either; all I needed to do was go over and check the situation.

But just as I prepared to reach my hand in to test it, I suddenly hesitated.

Who knew what the temperature was like over there, or if toxic gas or other dangers awaited me?

Perhaps passing through would land me on the surface of the sun, instantly dissolving my entire body.

Thinking this, I retracted my hand.

However, while I was indecisive, the spatial rift above me suddenly began to shrink.

I rubbed my eyes, thinking I had misjudged.

But when I opened them again, the rift had already halved in size.

Regret flooded my heart, because at its current width, I could no longer fit through.

But there was nothing to be done; I had no idea previously that spatial rifts could shrink, so I was completely unprepared.

Watching the rift get smaller and smaller until it vanished, I let out a slight sigh, thinking that if I had been more decisive just now, I might have discovered something.

I was annoyed by my own hesitation, but there was no other option now, so I climbed down and walked toward the main door.

Exiting the wooden door, I used my Nian power to secure it, preventing anyone from accidentally wandering in and encountering danger.

After doing this, I walked aimlessly toward the main street.

Recalling the recent experience, I felt I had overlooked something.

Then, a flash of insight hit me: the humanoid cicada molt didn't belong to a male; it had breasts.

This meant that whatever emerged from the snake skin was very likely female.

But the one I saw entering was clearly Xiao Ma; where did a woman come from?

Then, another very serious matter came to mind.

While waiting for Xiao Ma at the mouth of the alley, I saw a young girl emerge.

Thinking back, the denim jacket the girl was wearing was identical to Xiao Ma's!

This meant that Xiao Ma hadn't just shed her skin, but had also changed her appearance and gender!

If that were the case, then that entity could not be a normal human.

I genuinely didn't know what Xiao Ma intended to do; I had a feeling that after her transformation, there would be some major conspiracy afoot.

Time was of the essence; I had to find that Xiao Ma wearing the denim jacket and see what she planned to do.

I knew this wouldn't be easy, because Xiao Ma likely saw me when she emerged from the alley.

She certainly wouldn't forget what I looked like.

If she saw me, she would know I was tracking her and would have already hidden far away where I couldn't find her.

This was going to be a headache...

I then wandered around the street for a while, but without any leads, and the Shen on my wrist was hurting me increasingly badly, forcing me to find a place to pull it off.

After applying first aid, I looked at the Shen.

Good heavens, it had grown another ring, but the white spots on its back hadn't increased; instead, only a tiny one remained.

If I guessed correctly, the white spots represented the energy within the Shen. Fewer spots meant lower energy. It needed to consume this energy to create illusions or assist my Nian power, which is why the spots diminished.

Every time the Shen became completely exhausted, all the white spots would disappear.

Walking back toward home, I stroked the Shen and said, "You've worked hard, little one. I certainly won't treat you poorly."

Having found no trace of Xiao Ma, I could only return home for the night and continue the investigation tomorrow.

When I got back to the rented room, the space felt empty, and my mood immediately sank.

I wasn't someone afraid of loneliness, but having no one to talk to nearby would make anyone feel down.

I put the Shen back in the fish tank and cut up some stinky, salted fish to feed it.

Then I paced around the room, trying to decide what to do.

Finally, I decided I would wander around all night outside.

I wasn't doing this to build courage, but because I felt that nighttime was a period when things happened often, and perhaps I could save some lives.

Moreover, the darkness at night would make it less likely to attract attention if I used any excessive abilities.

However, most of my abilities came from the Shen, so I had to wait until it finished eating and recovered its strength before going out again.

After sitting in ** for half an hour, I looked at the Shen again; its body had grown so large the fish tank could barely contain it.

I thought, this won't do. If it eventually grows to the size of its ancestor, I’ll need to buy a separate room just to house it, maybe even buy it a bed.

Thinking this, a dark expression settled on my face.

Just as I was about to take it out of the tank, the creature suddenly opened its mouth slowly.

This was the first time I had seen it actively open its mouth in front of me; I was a bit surprised.

But when it opened its mouth, I was even more astonished, because a faint white light was pouring out.