The whole nation is trying to survive on the cable car; I'm choosing one of three options at ea

Zhou Zhenguo leaned against the cable car wall, the screen of his communicator still lit up, displaying the message he had just sent.

"You did it, didn't you?"

Su Mu did not reply.

But Zhou Zhenguo does not need to reply.

He looked out the window at the slowly fading dark purple light and let out a long breath.

He remembered what Su Mu had said before... "When entering the city, he was attacked by a terrifying ghost."

That ghostly creature had reduced Su Mu's level 3 cable car's durability by half with a single blow. And now, that ghostly creature was dead, killed by Su Mu.

He recalled how, while he was still basking in the glory of his 130 firepower, Su Mu was already preparing to face an opponent of that caliber. That disparity left him speechless for a moment… not with disappointment, but with an indescribable complexity.

He turned off the communicator, turned his gaze away from the window, and leaned quietly against the wall without leaving any message on the channel.

.......

Lin Yuwei's news almost came right after Zhou Zhenguo.

"You used the guild weapon?"

There was no reply, so she typed another line: "Let me know before you use it next time. Don't blow yourself up."

He didn't reply. But Lin Yuwei didn't need to reply. She looked out the window at the fading dark purple flower shadows, her fingers gripping the edge of the communicator tightly.

She knew she couldn't help; she wasn't even qualified to get close to a battle of that level. So those words were the only thing she could say.

Lin Xiaohe's message consisted of only three words.

Are you alright?

She didn't even ask what the red light was, what the vines were, or what level the strange creature was.

........

The argument in the channel gradually subsided. No one asked "who did it" anymore, because whoever it was, that person showed up in the channel.

Those who are truly capable never spam the chat with boasting.

But Su Mu didn't have time to pay attention to those discussions. His attention was entirely focused on the control panel.

The golden light has faded.

The light emanating from his body lasted for nearly ten seconds and was now slowly dissipating. His experience bar had jumped from the halfway point of level nine directly to the threshold of level ten, climbing steadily until it finally stopped at the halfway point of level ten.

Current Level: Lv10 (Experience: 18327/50000)

But what he really cared about was the system notification... Below the kill notification, it occupied a separate line, with a font color completely different from the other text.

[Special kill conditions detected... First kill of a Ghost General-level monster. Duty: Ghost Hunter unlocked.]

Su Mu's pupils contracted slightly.

He opened the class panel, his gaze falling on the newly appeared icon... dark gray, like a short blade shrouded in mist, lying quietly next to the Gunner icon.

【Civil Duty: Ghost Hunter (Unranked)】

[Type: Special Class (Separate from the main class)]

[Effect: +100 to all four attributes (Strength, Constitution, Agility, Spirit), +10% damage dealt to ghosts.]

[Advanced Requirements: Hunt down a Ghost King-level ghost.]

Su Mu paused for a moment.

All four attributes should be increased by 100.

He roughly understood what this "calling" meant... an additional system independent of his main profession. It didn't conflict with the Gunner class, nor with any potential second profession in the future. He essentially got a free career progression path.

But he didn't have time to digest his gains here.

Because the imagery in the sky is attracting more attention.

The giant, dark purple flower slowly bloomed in the night sky and lasted for nearly ten seconds before completely disappearing.

After it dissipated, Su Mu could feel... it felt like something had opened its eyes in the darkness. Those terrifying beings he had glimpsed when he entered the city... those colossal creatures whose size covered half the sky and lay silently lurking in the depths of the fog... were now slowly turning in his direction.

Their gazes fell upon the spot where the Pear Garden Demon Princess had fallen.

It wasn't anger, nor scrutiny, but something he found difficult to define.

It was as if some extremely ancient being, after witnessing something they considered impossible, fell into a brief silence. That silence was tinged with confusion, disbelief, and even a faint hint of... apprehension that he couldn't quite ascertain.

It wasn't out of fear of Su Mu's strength... they might not even have figured out what he was yet.

What they feared was the death of the Pear Garden Demoness herself. The event itself was more important to them than who killed her.

A chill ran through Su Mu's heart.

An unprecedented danger was approaching, and his choices were extremely limited. If he hadn't acted, the Pear Garden Demon Princess wouldn't have let him go. If he had acted, these things would have taken notice of him. He had no choice, not at all.

Every option in that crevice was a dead end; he simply chose a fork in the road that might allow him to survive a few more minutes.

Those colossal creatures that slept in the fog are turning.

Su Mu sensed that change... it wasn't a sound, it wasn't a vibration, it was a deeper, oppressive feeling, like being locked onto by countless eyes at the same time.

He could see those massive silhouettes slowly adjusting their postures, like giant beasts gradually awakening from a deep sleep and confirming the location of their prey.

Then, the largest of them moved.

That was the figure he had seen before entering the city... hundreds of meters tall, shrouded in thick fog, with only a dark gray outline and a few glowing cracks vaguely visible. It took its first step.

The ground was trembling. The tremor traveled from a distance he couldn't see, through the steel cables, through the metal frame of the cable car, and through every bone in his body.

The entire cable was shaking, as if something in the distance was repeatedly pounding the earth.

Su Mu's fingers rested on the spear, slightly tightening.

For that thing, a distance of several hundred meters would probably only take a few seconds.

He had just reached level ten and received the Ghost Hunter bonus, so he had a fair amount of resources. But he wasn't confident in facing that thing.

The channel was still discussing the details of the battle, and no one noticed what was happening further away... Most of the people on the cable cars only saw the dark purple flower and the dark red beam of light, and they thought the battle was over.

Su Mu watched the approaching silhouette.

He still has a choice.

He could activate the Golden Bloodline, release the bats that were gathering again in the Beast Arena, and exchange the remaining guild coins for new resources... but that would take time, and that thing wouldn't give him that time.

The silence that lasted for several tens of seconds felt like it had been stretched out for centuries.

Then the behemoth took its second step.

It is accelerating.

.......