An invasion from the Abyss? I, a demonic cultivator, laughed.

Chapter 244 The Development of Civilization

A fresh but faintly bloody scent filled Chu Xiu's nostrils. He opened his eyes and saw a lush, dense forest before him.

However, unlike the forests on Earth, the tips of the leaves on the trees here are tinged with a barely perceptible crimson, and the branches and leaves grow wildly and abnormally, with dense foliage crowding together so that not a single ray of sunlight can penetrate when standing under the shade of the trees.

"I haven't been here for half a month, and the bloodstain world is getting thicker and thicker."

Chu Xiu glanced around and sighed inwardly.

Just then, he suddenly heard whispering voices coming from afar.

Chu Xiu's heart stirred, and two pairs of gilded wings appeared behind him. With a gentle flap, he soared into the sky thousands of meters high.

He looked down and quickly locked onto his target.

About five kilometers from where he was, there was a valley surrounded by mountains. A stream flowed from west to east through the valley, and on both sides of the stream, the trees had been cleared and rows of neatly arranged wooden huts had been built.

Chu Xiu's gaze fell on the outermost edge of the valley, and he immediately locked onto a burly man with thick eyebrows and big eyes, who was none other than Liang Zhan!

With a soft shout, he unleashed a sharp blade of energy that swept across the area, severing dozens of large trees in front of him. The four Buddhist elders stood behind him, and with a gentle flick of their fingers, golden light surrounded the severed trees, uprooting them completely.

At this moment, another figure stepped forward. Chu Xiu recognized him; he seemed to be a support class member from the Awakener camp.

He held up a staff that resembled an old tree branch, and softly chanted a few incantations. In the next instant, a large number of green light spots surged from his body.

Those green dots of light seemed to be tiny elf-like creatures. They skillfully used their magic to peel and cut the wood, and then pieced it together with mortise and tenon joints. In no time, they built a square wooden house on the spot.

Chu Xiu remembered that this was the fierce-rank support awakener who was specially recruited by the government. His profession was [Wood Spirit (A)], which was very suitable for pioneering the new world. He and a dozen other support professions were responsible for building the camp for the awakeners.

This scene made Chu Xiu look thoughtful. With a few quick movements, he appeared in front of Liang Zhan.

The group was turning to deal with the miscellaneous wood when Chu Xiu suddenly appeared, startling them. But Liang Zhan and the Buddhist elder immediately knelt down on one knee and said respectfully, "My lord, you've returned."

The remaining awakened ones did not kneel, but they still bowed respectfully.

Chu Xiu himself didn't care about these formalities, and simply waved his hand and said, "Liang Zhan, tell me about your recent situation."

"Yes."

Next, Liang Zhan recounted in detail what had happened during the two weeks Chu Xiu had been gone.

It turned out that not long after he left, Qin Xiang found the group and selected a suitable settlement for the 20,000 people nearby.

The very next day, he brought over a dozen awakened individuals. Some of them were responsible for building houses, some for cultivating fields, some for growing food, and some were even responsible for ideological education.

With 20,000 people, feeding them was a huge problem. The first batch of food was quickly consumed. However, Qin Xiang would bring back Awakened Ones with their storage space filled with food almost every day. These Awakened Ones also had various functions.

Now, everyone has managed to get used to life in the new world.

“At the beginning, we could only eat that strange nutritional paste, but everyone could understand that food was scarce. Now, with the help of the adults, the first batch of fruits and vegetables is about to ripen. I and my soldiers can also often hunt wild game nearby. Overall, everything is getting better, and everyone is full of hope for a new life,” Liang Zhan said.

Chu Xiu nodded. He glanced at the civilization panel, where the civilization development index had increased from 0.13 to 0.15, a rapid increase.

The development of civilization is indeed inseparable from the help of the government. If he had started from scratch on his own, at least half of the 20,000 people would have starved to death.

“The government officials have far more management experience than I do, so let’s leave the development to them for now.”

Having already made up his mind, Chu Xiu asked another question: "Are you an Awakened One now?"

“Yes,” Liang Zhan nodded respectfully. “Not long after arriving in the Abyss, I obtained the Awakener panel and am now at the level 9 of the Ferocious Rank. Thanks to the introductions from my fellow cultivators, I now have a basic understanding of things related to Awakeners.”

"Hmm," Chu Xiu responded, not finding anything strange about it.

Liang Zhan was able to unleash the strength of a general because he had cultivated martial arts to the extreme. In terms of the essence of life, he was indeed of the ferocious rank. However, those Buddhist elders were more likely to reach the general rank.

However, this only demonstrates Liang Zhan's great potential.

Awakened beings are not judged by age. Although Liang Zhan is almost fifty years old, after being digitized, he only needs a little more experience to level up compared to younger people. However, his talent is enough to make up for it. And once he is promoted to the rank of general, not to mention fifty, even a hundred years old will not matter.

Awakened beings possess a unique upgrade mechanism, allowing them to gain immense power in a very short period of time.

Liang Zhan, a genius rarely seen in a hundred years in this secluded paradise, possesses an S-level talent. Moreover, having been tempered on the battlefield, his temperament and combat ability are unmatched by ordinary awakened individuals. Therefore, Chu Xiu has high hopes for him.

"Participate in the General Rank Trial as soon as possible. If you pass, I have something for you," Chu Xiu said.

He planned that if Liang Zhan successfully reached the general rank, he would entrust him with the eighteen Arhats, four Vajras, and the Buddhist pagoda that had emerged from the abyss to guard this place. In this way, ordinary king-rank creatures would not pose any threat to the base.

"Yes!"

After Liang Zhan agreed, Chu Xiu did not linger. Instead, he moved swiftly and arrived at the agreed-upon transaction location in a few leaps.

Qin Xiang had been waiting for a long time.

"Thank you for helping me, senior, to protect our civilization."

Upon meeting, Chu Xiu bowed.

Qin Xiang waved his hand with a smile: "It's nothing. My superiors originally assigned me to be in charge of the development of this area."

Chu Xiu bowed again to express his gratitude: "Senior must have paid a considerable price to gather so many Awakened Ones. I am deeply grateful. Is there anything I can do to help?"

Everyone knows that the Shiki world will be swallowed up again, and the danger here has greatly increased. The government must have offered extra rewards to allow those awakened ones to return to the Shiki world.

Qin Xiang laughed and said, "You don't need to worry about that. The government has allocated hundreds of billions of yuan for civilization development for you. So far, less than two billion yuan has been spent. More supplies will be sent over in succession."

"Spirit plant formations, mountain-protecting formations, fully automatic defense systems, early warning systems, and many other useful auxiliary awakeners can be deployed, but there aren't enough slots."

Qin Xiang's words were pointed.

Chu Xiu scratched his head sheepishly, but Qin Xiang just smiled slightly and didn't say anything more. Instead, he handed him a slip of paper and said, "The people on this list are the talents I've selected recently. Each of them can play an important role in the development of civilization. The installation of formations and modern facilities also requires them."

"The government has already negotiated the terms with them. You can give them the anchor points at any time and use any legal means to ensure that they use the anchor points themselves."

"Not only that, we will also acquire the [anchor point] you provided for 500 million Chinese yuan."

Hearing this, Chu Xiu felt a little embarrassed. If the government hadn't done anything underhanded, then they had truly done their best to cultivate him.

"Alright, that's enough. Let's continue our previous transaction."

Seeing that Chu Xiu accepted the note, Qin Xiang said something. Chu Xiu didn't say much, took out the prepared items, and quickly completed the transaction smoothly.

After his power level was raised to level 9, the amount of causal points he could exchange for saw a leap, because level 9 represents the level of a [Heroic Spirit]!

The exchange limit for level 9 is 176800 points. Chu Xiu can exchange with three companies at the same time, which is 530,000 karma points!

This led him to exchange all the unused equipment he had previously hoarded, along with miscellaneous items such as [Directional Deep Dive Scroll], [Hand of Deprivation], and [Shadow of the Old Days].

Of course, they were all relatively low-quality. He kept the high-level legendary Hand of Deprivation and the elite leader-level Old Man's Shadow.

In the end, I gained nearly 400,000 Karma Points, and once again maxed out the amount of Karma Points I could redeem.

With another large sum of karma points coming in, Chu Xiu was in high spirits. After thanking them, he prepared to leave.

But then Qin Xiang suddenly called out to him: "Chen Ce, were you responsible for the black mist that appeared during the Abyss invasion a couple of days ago?"

Chu Xiu paused, then frankly replied, "Senior, that is the newly unlocked General-rank inheritance of this junior."

Qin Xiang laughed and said, "With such great power, its grade must be quite high."

Chu Xiu said somewhat shyly, "The trial rewarded me with a lot of karma points, so I immediately completed the inheritance, which is why it has such power."

Qin Xiang nodded: "Your talent is amazing. Keep it up, and you will surely become a pillar of China in the future."

"My teacher asked me to ask you a question."

He asked: "If you have to personally appear to stop the disaster when the abyss invades that day, will you still take action?"

As Qin Xiang finished speaking, Chu Xiu fell silent.

After a long while, he took a deep breath and said with a wry smile, "Senior, to be honest, I really don't know. I have always been someone who puts my own safety first. I will not play the hero. At most, I will help others without affecting myself. That is my current thought."

"But that day, seeing a city about to fall and thinking about the millions of people about to die, I wavered. Perhaps some things can only be known when the time comes."

Chu Xiu's words brought a smile to Qin Xiang's face: "That's enough, that's enough."

"Our China has never lacked heroes, but heroes are not those who sacrifice themselves for others, nor are they those who are both brave and capable. These millions of ordinary people, as long as they live well and abide by the law, are all heroes of China!"

"The government is willing to fund and help you, not to ask you to save a certain number of people or give a certain amount of return on a certain day. As long as you are willing to do your duty, that is enough."

As soon as he finished speaking, Qin Xiang raised his hand and waved it, sending two small balls flying towards Chu Xiu.

Chu Xiu caught them. The two small balls were only the size of a baby's fist, one dark red and the other deep black.

"Senior, what is this?"

"This is what your teacher gave you," Qin Xiang said with a smile. "The flesh and soul of all the creatures that invaded the abyss this time have been extracted by your teacher and are what you see in these two small balls."

“You need a lot of flesh and blood and soul to cultivate those summoned creatures, right? You suffered heavy losses in the trial, and these are just what you need to repair.”

"Your teacher is very pleased with your behavior, and this is a reward for you."

Upon hearing this, Chu Xiu couldn't help but show a look of surprise and delight.

Actually, his answer was something he had anticipated and prepared in advance, based on the questions the other party might ask. He hadn't expected such a pleasant surprise.

"Thank you, senior." Chu Xiu thanked him and accepted the gift.

After that, he didn't linger and disappeared into the world of corpses.

The next day, Chu Xiu boarded a plane bound for Shanghai.

Because of the Abyss invasion, he realized that small cities like Jiangcheng were too dangerous, so he simply used the excuse of traveling to Shanghai to bring his parents along.

"Ah Chu, you've only been working for half a month and you're already taking leave. Isn't that a bit inappropriate? Besides, Shanghai is considered a big city even within the inner city. Where are you going to get the money?" Chu's mother asked with some concern.

"Mom, don't overthink it, just have fun," Chu Xiu chuckled. "Our factory is unlucky; the machinery was damaged by the corpse of an abyss monster, so we've been shut down for the past few days. As for money, your son worked in the abyss recently, and the government gave him hundreds of thousands in subsidies."

"We still have to save it," Chu's mother muttered. "A trip to Shanghai alone costs almost 100,000 yuan for round-trip airfare. How can we waste it like that! You'll need money for buying a house and getting married in the future, won't you?"

"Don't worry, Mom, your son's salary won't be low in the future," Chu Xiu said with a smile.

Father Chu nodded in agreement: "Since you're out having fun, don't worry about the money. Otherwise, if you spend the money but don't enjoy the trip, it'll be a waste."

Seeing that the two of them had spoken, Mother Chu sighed softly and said no more.

Looking at the wrinkles on his mother's face, Chu Xiu thought that now that he had money, he could buy a house in Shanghai and bring his parents there. That way, he wouldn't have to worry about safety and could explore the abyss with peace of mind.

Medicine to regenerate Chu's father's severed limbs and items to extend the lifespan of his parents should also be arranged.

He remembered all of these things; he hadn't forgotten them.

Just not now.

It would be too eye-catching for a warrior-level awakened individual to suddenly spend money like water.

"It won't be long. Once this period is over, the investigation into me should subside. Nobody's that idle. Opportunities are everywhere in the abyss. It's perfectly normal for an awakened person to suddenly become rich."

Chu Xiu thought for a moment and then slowly closed his eyes.

After flying for a day and a night, the plane finally approached its destination, and through the window, a huge sci-fi city appeared before Chu Xiu's eyes.

Skyscrapers standing side by side, flying trains weaving between them, a city-wide security network, and security robots everywhere.
If Jiangcheng still bears some resemblance to his past life, then Shanghai, as an inner-city metropolis, is a city straight out of a science fiction novel! It perfectly matches Chu Xiu's fantasies about 2067!

No, it's not just science fiction, it's a combination of science fiction and fantasy!

"So this is Shanghai." Looking at the scene before him, Chu Xiu couldn't help but feel a sense of longing.

"Om-"

Amidst the deafening noise, "Chu Xiu" and "Qin Yu" disembarked from the plane simultaneously, exchanged a smile, and then headed in different directions.

Several days later, the day finally arrived for the start of the annual auction at the Shanghai Auction House.

(End of this chapter)