Chapter 44: The King of Insects (Part One)

Just as everyone was busy soothing their eyes, Zhou Ke and his companion were already chatting in full swing.

"Mother, could you please leave for a moment? I'd like to have a heart-to-heart talk with Mr. Zhou alone," the ape-headed monster said shyly to the matron.

"Alright, alright, having a lover makes you forget your mother," the matron agreed dotingly, completely oblivious to any wrongdoing in her daughter being a monster.

Even the outside observers, whose eyeballs had practically been shredded, felt an urge to rush forward and demand some answers:

*Madam, are you certain this ape was genuinely birthed by you? Then your late husband's hair-follicle genes must be extraordinarily potent!*

The matron quickly beckoned the violin-playing musician to leave the table together, leaving Zhou Ke and the ape-headed monster with a private space for two—ah, no, a space for a human and a beast, wait, that doesn't sound quite right either?

Once there were no idle onlookers around, the ape-headed monster, previously acting all coy, instantly put on a serious expression. Its feigned high-pitched voice normalized as it confessed:

"Actually, I am not her daughter."

*Anyone with eyes could tell that much, okay?*

Hearing this, Zhou Ke deliberately put on a shocked expression: "What?!"

*Hey, seriously, are you for real? What terrible acting!*

Everyone watching the virtual screen gasped heavily. A small fraction were nearly angered to death, while the vast majority had already died of exasperation and were currently trying to resurrect themselves.

"Being a monster, I possess a special ability that can distort normal people's perception of me," the ape-headed monster explained.

"I see. No wonder I thought you were such a breathtaking beauty—I could tell at a glance you had great raw features," Zhou Ke bluffed without missing a beat.

Even the ape-headed monster could see right through that, seeing as [Guiche-Beguiling] had no effect on monsters.

"First of all, I must state that I am a male monster. I was perceived as a daughter only because Mother prefers daughters."

"What?!" Zhou Ke registered a second wave of shock.

"Come on, will you ever stop?" The ape-headed monster wiped away a bead of sweat, speechless.

"Alright, back to the point. What are you trying to achieve by lurking in the human world?" Zhou Ke finally dropped his drama-queen act, propped his legs up on the table, and reverted to his listless, dead-fish-eyed state.

It had taken him quite some time and personal connections to unearth this monster from the city; if he didn't squeeze out some valuable results, it wouldn't do justice to his hard-earned efforts.

By the way, the "connections" Mr. Zhou spoke of referred to the casual small talk he struck up with citizens when he had nothing better to do.

During that time, he had visited a total of three snack streets, two milk tea shops, and one internet cafe—all of which had been broadcasted live onto the virtual screen.

This prompted all the examiners to share a telepathic consensus with Wu Bai: candidates must undergo a psychological evaluation before taking the exam.

Ahem, let us set aside these irrelevant digressions.

In short, Mr. Zhou discovered that although the city's citizens possessed high intelligence and independent personalities comparable to humans in the real world, whenever their favorability toward you was high enough, they would often blurt out dialogues entirely unsuited to their identities.

For instance, a little boy who was crying his eyes out after having his spinning top stolen suddenly said calmly: "You know what? The daughter of the niece of the wife of the third uncle of the second aunt of my fourth cousin once removed gave birth to a daughter who looks like an ape."

Zhou Ke, who had been about to play with the top, froze on the spot right then and there.

Dialogues of this nature seemed to be deliberately guiding him toward something, which further convinced Mr. Zhou that he had made the right choice in selecting [Guiche-Beguiling].

As the saying goes, "Existence is rational." He believed that everything possessed its own meaning and value of existence.

Countless guiding threads intersected, ultimately pointing straight to the ape before him.

"I am not doing this with any ulterior motives; I simply want to protect myself," the ape-headed monster hunched its massive body.

"Protect yourself?" Zhou Ke pondered. "Could it be that you're afraid of those 'guardians' from the outside world? That shouldn't be right; it doesn't look like it fears me at all."

Before Zhou Ke could figure it out, the ape-headed monster began to explain:

"There exists a terrifying creature in this city. Although it is a monster, it is unlike any of us. It has no concept of race; its sole desire is to hunt other life forms and plunder their superior genes."

As if recalling a horrifying memory, the ape-headed monster shivered all over. "It devoured the vast majority of our compatriots."

"Even that tyrannical Canine King sacrificed the lion's share of his power and still failed to completely annihilate it, merely knocking it back into an egg state before it escaped."

Crouched inward like a frightened bird, the ape-headed monster said, "I was utterly terrified that that creature would make a comeback, which is why I disguised myself as a human and hid here."

"What kind of plotline is this? Why have we never heard of it in all these years?" Whale Eye tapped the table and asked.

"I have no idea either. This F-grade [Gate of Pi-Yue-Wu] is numbered F-12. It has thirty-four clearance records, yet there has never been any information related to a mysterious creature," Liu Xishu quickly flipped through her tablet.

"It's probably just some insignificant subplot, nothing to worry about," Zhu Xusheng wiped his sweat nervously.

"What kind of creature is it?" Zhou Ke asked out of curiosity.

Though his original objective was to ferret out the Canine King's hiding spot, this did nothing to dampen his cat-like curiosity.

"The Worm King—we call it the Worm King! It is right beneath this city!" As the ape-headed monster spoke, its trembling gaze involuntarily drifted toward the ground beneath its feet.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the city.

Twenty examinees, including Liu Xing and Antonini, were walking under the guidance of an invigilator toward an area where no monsters could be found.

"Bro Ni—ah, Brother An, is it really going to be fine for us to violate the exam rules like this?" Liu Xing asked Antonini with a hint of anxiety.

"With me around, what could possibly go wrong?"

Before Antonini could reply, a male voice with a parched throat forcefully cut in.

Liu Xing was startled out of his wits, shrinking back as he looked behind him to see that the invigilator leading them had somehow appeared at the tail end of the procession.

If Zhou Ke were here, he would undoubtedly have recognized that this invigilator was none other than Jiao Hai, who had exchanged harsh words with Wu Bai earlier that day.

"Invigilator Jiao, I didn't mean it that way—"

"Then what did you mean?"

Jiao Hai's bloodless face pressed in close. Cold sweat instantly soaked through Liu Xing's back, his eyes darting to the sky and down to the earth, not daring to make direct eye contact.

"Rest assured." Jiao Hai pulled his face back, his tone growing much calmer. "The cameramen have already been hoodwinked by my truth; they won't notice any abnormalities."

"All you need to do is obey me obediently."

"As long as you obediently follow orders, I guarantee you'll get good scores. If you put in a bit of effort, breaking into the top twenty won't be difficult either."

With a combination of sweet promises and harsh threats, Jiao Hai effortlessly whipped the inexperienced examinees into utter submission.

"The five who chose the [Mystery Box], step forward."

At the command, five people hurriedly stepped out.

Following Jiao Hai's instructions, they stood crookedly together.

Their formation was a zigzag of three in the front and two in the back, resembling the letter "S." Because there were so few of them, they didn't look like a migrating snake, but rather like a worm.