Forbidden Zone of the Human Race

Chapter 11 Scientific Inventions

Puzzled, Xiang Ning asked the system, “System, what’s a Fury Point? What can I do with it?” 

He didn’t have high hopes for an answer, as the system had never answered his questions before, but this time he heard an electronic voice. 

“Spending Fury Points allows you to improve your mastery over certain combat skills. They can also be exchanged for scientific inventions, design blueprints, and improving your strength.”

Xiang Ning’s eyes widened and his heaving chest froze. “So, can I spend my Fury Points now?” he asked in disbelief.

“Level insufficient. Work harder and good luck.” The electronic voice was as emotionless as usual. 

Xiang Ning, on the other hand, leaped to his feet and cheered, his face red with a strange excitement. He forced himself to calm down; no one can know, he must keep this a secret. 

He checked his user interface. 

Level: Physical Tempering Stage 9

Fury Points: 318 

“Looks like it’ll take some time. I need more than six hundred more Fury Points.” As he muttered, he picked up his bag and left for the exit. 

Then he noticed strings of numbers adding to his Fury Points again—not many, just below twenty, and realized they must have come from the three degenerates. His senses heightened; seeing as his Fury Points were increasing every few seconds, the men must not have truly backed down. 

However, there was one more important task, which was to exchange the spirit stones for dollars. Just thinking of the seven hundred dollars excited him. He jogged out of the cave and toward a workshop not far from the mouth of the cave. It was a workshop that specialized in buying spirit stones and making little trinkets. Xiang Ning was a familiar customer there. 

“Uncle Zhao!” Xiang Ning spotted Uncle Zhao smoking not too far away. He owned this workshop, and despite his old age, his hearing was still immaculate. 

“Ning! You found more spirit stones?” Uncle Zhao cheerily asked. 

Xiang Ning rushed forward and opened his bag, emptying it on the table before Uncle Zhao. About twenty pieces of spirit stones and two whole stones appeared. 

Having put on his glasses, Uncle Zhao gasped at the stones. “That’s a lot!” 

Xiang Ning chuckled, “I got lucky.” 

“Alright, let me count… two whole stones make six hundred dollars, and for the pieces… a hundred and forty-seven. Seven hundred and fifty dollars in total, what do you think?” 

“Deal!” Xiang Ning knew Uncle Zhao would never cheat him and readily agreed to the sum. That was enough for half a month’s expenses for him and his little sister. He carefully kept the money in his bag, thinking of returning to the cave for more when Uncle Zhao stopped him before he could leave. 

“Ning, I remember you don’t have a crystal television at home. Take this. My son bought me a new TV and I’ve got no use for this one now. All it’s doing is collecting dust. Take it for you and your sister.” Uncle Zhao took out a small box. Xiang Ning knew that once it was plugged in, he could press a button and the box would project a screen. 

“That’s… that’s generous of you.…” Xiang Ning knew that a new TV cost five or six thousand dollars. With his household expenses restricted to one thousand and five hundred dollars per month, he could never fathom owning such a luxury. 

“Drop the formalities, kid. If you don’t want it, I’m sending it for recycling.” 

“Thank you, Uncle Zhao!” Xiang Ning took it, ecstatic about his new TV. 

“Alright, go home kid.” 

Xiang Ning had wanted to return to the cave, but with this TV and Xiang Xiaoyu in shock, he needed to spend more time with her. He walked home, buying snacks and tonight’s dinner along the way. Humming a little tune, he reached their home in less than ten minutes. 

Xiang Xiaoyu’s tiny head peeked out from upstairs, and upon spotting the snacks in his hand, she sprinted downstairs with a large grin, her eyes fixated on the food. 

“You greedy cat.” He placed the food on the table and said, “We’ll eat later. Why don’t you take a look at this first?” Xiang Ning dramatically pulled out the crystal television. 

Xiang Xiaoyu took one look, her large, round eyes blinking in confusion. “What’s this?” 

“A crystal TV, Uncle Zhao gave it to us.” Xiang Ning chuckled and plugged it in. In five minutes, he pressed on the round device and a high-resolution thirty-inch image was instantly projected. 

Xiang Ning started exploring its functions, all of them still foreign to him. He tapped into the first live channel he found, then sat next to Xiang Xiaoyu. She was already eating a pack of snacks. The news was playing, though the projected image abruptly changed. 

“Breaking news—this just in: fifteen minutes ago, a small group of wild beasts was discovered in the suburbs of Tranquil City. The following is live footage from the scene.”

Xiang Ning stared without blinking. 

According to the history books, two hundred years ago, animals suddenly mass mutated into powerful fearsome beasts. At the time, very few humans were cultivators and humanity barely held the beasts off for three years. As time passed, the beasts grew stronger and regular cannons and bullets no longer hurt them. Humans sustained major losses and could only fence themselves within safe zones, allowing the beasts to roam the rest of the world. 

That lasted until a hundred years ago, when humans gathered their resources to recapture their important cities—including Marsh City, where Xiang Ning resided. Countries of the world collaborated to form the Federation, with China being the strongest nation. Due to its long history, it had far more cultivators than other countries, and as a result, the Chinese fared better. 

Now, although the situation had stabilized, groups of beasts could still ambush cities. They usually didn’t pose huge problems because masters guarded the cities, each of which were already equipped with powerful defensive mechanisms. 

Xiang Xiaoyu watched the bloody footage and whispered, “Big brother, the beasts are scary.” 

He smiled and patted her head. “They might be scary, but they’re worth a lot of money, too.” 

Xiang Ning’s strength lay in the cultural subjects, which included theoretical knowledge of fearsome beasts. Many of their body parts were useful to mankind, for military, civilian, and manufacturing use. Even the lowest-ranked beast was worth a few hundred thousand, perhaps even a million dollars. It all depended on their rank. 

“Look, the electromagnetic cannons!” Xiang Ning cried as he watched. 

“That’s the Thor MK 3 Rail Cannon, strong enough to kill a Beast King! Not just a Beast Soldier, or even a Beast General, but a Beast King!” Xiang Ning was thrilled, for he was interested in scientific inventions like these. He wanted to be a technician, after all. 

Xiang Xiaoyu watched the events unfold. True enough, a bright blue ray shot out of the rail cannon, piercing a hole through the bull-like beast that stood eight meters tall. The beasts behind it faced the same fate; it was certainly a sight to behold. 

Xiang Ning suddenly recalled a chat forum feature on the TV and walked over to turn it on. In an instant, a stream of messages appeared. 

“OMG, the rail cannons live up to their rep, they’re powerful!” 

“Of course, and this isn’t even on its highest setting. That was just a Beast General.” 

“That’s a stage six Beast General, not even a Beast King. Why’s the scale of invasion so small this time?” 

Not much information was to be gained from the discussion, but it was nice to read at the same time as they watched the news. Who knows, sometimes a knowledgeable user would contribute something useful. 

Time slipped away as the siblings happily watched the news, right until dinnertime.… 

Before dinner, Xiang Ning checked his user interface. 

Fury Points: 718

It had increased more than he expected.