Chapter Five: The Role of Radar-The System Arrived Two Years Early, and I Became a God!(Writing a book is truly difficult.)

There was a grain and oil shop. After getting off the bus, Shen He glanced at the store before him, his gaze settling on the sign above the door.

The shopkeeper was a middle-aged man in his forties, with a thick head of hair, suggesting he wasn’t under too much pressure from life. Upon seeing Shen He, he rose from his reclining chair and came forward to greet him, yawning as he asked, “What can I get you?”

Shen He glanced around the shop, thinking carefully. The second task required enough supplies to survive for a month—food and water, essentially. If he thought about it, just buying a few cases of instant noodles would suffice. But after some consideration, he decided instead to buy some rice, flour, cooking oil, salt, seasonings, and a few vegetables—enough to last him a month. Though he didn’t cook, he figured he could donate the leftovers to a welfare home or retirement center once the task was finished.

With Earth Online now a reality, perhaps doing a good deed would earn him some karmic merit.

He called out to the shopkeeper and asked for a fifty-pound bag of rice, thirty pounds of flour, and even bought some dried noodles along with cooking oil and seasonings. The shopkeeper, surprised, looked at Shen He and yawned again. “This is enough to last you for several months. Why do you need so much?”

“Just doing a good deed,” Shen He replied casually.

The shopkeeper paused, then gave him a big thumbs-up and even let him off the small change. He had one of his workers help deliver the goods to Shen He’s place.

Once everything was carried into the rented apartment, Shen He even took out a box of cigarettes to give to the mover as a tip. Only then did he hear the notification sound of the task being completed in his ear.

[Ding! Congratulations, player, for obtaining enough supplies to survive for a month.]

[Daily Task Two completed.]

[Reward issued.]

[…]

The next moment, a radar panel appeared before Shen He’s eyes, densely packed with glowing dots. According to the description, these dots represented the mutant beasts and altered humans living nearby—some even superpowered individuals. The brightness of the dots reflected the strength of each being.

Shen He rubbed his chin. So this radar was scanning for these things?

Earlier, he’d kicked a rat to death, which turned out to be a first-tier Rat King. Judging by Earth Online’s twisted logic, these were probably the creatures that would mutate in the future. If he hunted them, would he get free attribute points just like with that rat? If so, with the radar running at full for three hours, he could target the weaker ones and at least double his attributes.

Shen He’s eyes lit up at the thought.

He glanced at the radar’s scan—there was a dot very close by. In fact, it seemed to be next door. But wasn’t that where Lele lived? When he’d run into her before, nothing had seemed out of the ordinary.

He rose and stepped into the hallway, listening carefully to be sure there were no strange sounds before knocking gently on the door. Soon, the door opened from within.

Lele, bleary-eyed, looked at Shen He’s somewhat stiff posture and broke into a smile. “What is it? Changed your mind? Want your big sister to give you a huge red envelope?”

Shen He froze, staring at the warning flashing before his eyes, suddenly feeling a sense of dread.

[Warning! Warning! Fifth-tier superhuman—Storm Queen—approaching!]

A fifth-tier superhuman. Storm Queen. According to the logs, such a being could destroy and massacre an entire county. So after the awakening of spiritual energy, this woman not only gained powers, she advanced directly to the fifth tier?

Lele waved a hand in front of his dazed face. Shen He snapped back to himself, retreating a step. “It’s nothing, I was just heading downstairs. Wondered if you had any trash you wanted me to take out.”

Lele eyed him skeptically. “When did you become so considerate? Don’t you know nice guys finish last?”

Still, she turned back inside and brought out a bag of trash, already full, with a pair of torn stockings hanging off the top.

Lele grinned. “Don’t you go doing anything weird with my trash. If you really want, I’ll give you a pair myself—worn and all…”

Shen He flushed, grabbed the trash, and hurried downstairs. As he went, he muttered, “What a little demon, almost made me slip. Daring to test my resolve—damn it!”

Lele watched his retreating figure, chuckled to herself, and went back to bed.

After tossing the trash in the bin, Shen He focused on the radar panel again. Now that he understood its function, he needed to make the most of the remaining time.

He rolled his electric scooter from beneath the shed, plugged in the key, twisted the throttle, and sped out of the neighborhood.

Fifteen minutes later, Shen He arrived by a nearby river, checking his position on the radar. Not far away, there was a weak light dot. The riverbank was lined with fishermen, and stray cats gathered nearby, hoping for an easy meal. Unfortunately, most went hungry; the better the gear, the fewer the fish, and the fewer cats lingered nearby.

Following the radar’s guidance, Shen He soon spotted a sizable bird’s nest perched in a tree. After gauging the height, he sighed—he couldn’t reach it, not even standing atop his beloved scooter.

He had to pick a new target.

Just then, a rat poked its head out from a nearby sewer, glanced around, and darted out. A faint dot appeared on the radar at once.

Shen He’s eyes brightened. As the rat scurried past, he lifted his foot and kicked—sending the small, dark creature flying in a perfect arc. It landed right at the mouth of a stray cat basking in the sun.

[Ding! Congratulations, Host, for slaying a first-tier mutant rat. Free attribute points +0.2.]

Excellent! That’s more like it, he thought, glancing at the reward and then at the rat lying before the cat.

Compared to the Rat King he’d killed earlier, this one was much smaller—clearly the reason for the difference in rewards.

The half-asleep stray cat twitched its nose, then opened its eyes wide in disbelief at the rat dropped at its mouth. After a moment, it snapped up the corpse and dashed away to a quiet corner.

Shen He glanced at the radar—there were still a few weak dots nearby.

No time to lose.

He sped off on his scooter and, in two minutes, pulled up next to a fisherman. The dot was right here.

Looking down, he saw the fisherman hadn’t even set up a fishing net. Beside him was a soda bottle half-filled with water, in which a finger-sized fish swam. The fisherman himself was fully equipped: canopy, hat, folding stool, tackle box—he even had two rods and a carrying case for them all. The contrast between his gear and his catch could not have been starker.

Sensing someone nearby, the fisherman turned to Shen He and saw the odd look on his face. The man fidgeted uneasily, muttering, “The fish just aren’t biting today. Not many people baiting, so it’s normal not to catch much…”

As he finished speaking, a little girl with a children’s fishing rod nearby gave a sudden yank. Instantly, a palm-sized carp broke the surface, sending droplets scattering and ripples radiating out.