Martial Arts Genius with Proficiency System Chapter 5: Who is the Prey, It Remains Unknown!

"Hairless monkeys lacking any sign of cultivation can surprisingly reach such heights."

"This Human Ancestor Star hides a genius like that, vital energy and blood in harmony, mind and body perfect, almost like a walking great medicine!

Devouring him would restore at least half my energy and blood, perhaps even trigger a bloodline evolution—far better than consuming a hundred, no, ten thousand of these hairless monkeys!

Sadly, dodging the Star Sky Great Wall around Blue Star has drained too much of my energy and blood. A failed strike would expose me easily, or else I’d devour them all, but... your flavor... I’ve etched it in my memory."

Its cheeks twitched nonstop, as though etching that taste deep into its thoughts.

"I have to devour him before they uncover the relic, then I might claim a piece!"

Greed surged, mud seeping from its eyes. Within the mud, faint twisted human faces crowded, weeping soundlessly in endless agony. One face clearly belonged to the makeup bag’s owner...

Zhang Meng drove skillfully. Soon, they arrived back at the community entrance.

"By the way, I meant to ask earlier—what’s up with that makeup bag you’re holding?"

"Don’t tell me...." Zhang Meng abruptly recalled something, her face turning playful.

"Little Su Tu, you’re not.... hehe~"

"No surprise you’re so handsome without a girlfriend—it’s because..."

Before Zhang Meng finished her wild guess, Su Tu clamped his hand over her mouth.

"Don’t imagine things. I found this by the road and plan to turn it in to the Public Security Bureau.."

Midway through Su Tu’s words, his hand covering Zhang Meng’s mouth recoiled like a released spring.

"Zhang Jie!!!"

Zhang Meng shot Su Tu a cheeky grin.

This woman had just tried to bite him.

Yet Su Tu’s senses were now keenly attuned to touch, catching her attempt instantly.

"Too bad, if you were my brother, I’d gladly ’discipline’ you~" Zhang Meng teased ambiguously.

Su Tu ignored it. He was accustomed to such banter. How to depict Su Tu’s looks this lifetime?

Refined yet masculine, akin to the freeloading god from Ancient Greece.

Su Tu exited the car, waved goodbye, and headed to the nearby Public Security Bureau.

"I’m heading out, Zhang Jie. Dropping off the bag at the Public Security Bureau—you go rest, staying up late harms your health."

Zhang Meng gave a faint smile, ready to reply.

Then her phone buzzed. She pulled it out, brow furrowing.

Her flirtatious expression chilled as she answered: "Boss, I’d love to meet that bigwig with you, but I’m under the weather today—what a shame.

I get it, the ’New Star’ young master wields huge influence, but I truly feel unwell today, such a pity...."

.....

Su Tu handed over the makeup bag at the Public Security Bureau, filed the report, left his contact, and heard the police promise to call once the owner was located.

Then he went home, his head buzzing with system notifications.

"My gut feeling was spot on—something lurks there for sure."

"But what exactly? That punch felt like it missed entirely, hit nothing—why didn’t it come after me?"

"Was it because Zhang Jie showed up?"

Su Tu sank into the sofa, mulling over the recent events.

A faint shiver ran through his body—not fear, but thrill. Right now, Su Tu felt a spark of excitement.

Thrill at the unknown, an innate urge to delve deeper. As a child, he obsessed over tales of the supernatural, enigmas, the occult, deities, immortals, but adulthood dulled that passion.

Today brought overwhelming wonders: the eerie painting pulling him into a hidden realm, an unseen foe, Martial Arts Dao set for Interstellar Era exams...

Everything ignited massive excitement in Su Tu.

Yet he soon composed himself.

"A real monster hides in the dark, confirming the hostility and malice I sensed—unclear if it targets me or humanity at large."

"Without Zhang Jie’s arrival, it would’ve struck me for certain; survival against it was doubtful, especially for any regular person."

"Had it moved earlier..."

Su Tu dashed to the computer right away, launched the news site, and started looking for reports on recent missing people.

Sure enough, he uncovered something while checking.

In the North Sea area, thirteen disappearances had happened over the last half month, victims progressing from kids at first, to seniors, and most recently to women who lived by themselves.

No traces were left by those who vanished, as though they had evaporated into nothing.

From the news details, Su Tu's gut told him these incidents linked straight to the creature lurking in the shadows.

"It’s evolving..." Su Tu's gaze grew icy as he stared at the photos of the missing in the reports.

Kids, old people, lone women—its prey was getting tougher.

A vague threat hung over Su Tu's mind, like a dark cloud gradually closing in.

Without Zhang Meng showing up out of nowhere, he could have ended up as one of those vanished souls.

This stroke of 'fortune' grated on Su Tu deeply.

That shadowy beast kept preying on folks nonstop, leaving him as the lone aware 'victim' in some nightmare flick.

Forced to watch the hunts unfold, powerless to fight back, just awaiting the end....

Reporting to the cops in this mess wouldn't help. Absent the system's alert, he wouldn't have spotted anything in the shadows. With more than a dozen cases, he figured the police must have linked them somehow. So Su Tu concluded they probably couldn't even detect that monster.

Bolting to the station would only pull him into the chaos.

But he had a different path.

"I’ll go find Feiyang Ge tomorrow and ask, he’s not ordinary."

Recalling Lin Feiyang's actions, Su Tu knew the guy was far from average, possibly holding hidden knowledge that could aid him.

Right now, though, the top priority... was cleaning up and hitting the sack.

Dropping off at midnight on the dot was Su Tu's ironclad routine for eighteen years; Chen Xi teased him for acting like some old-school health nut.

"Just don’t know if health care counts as a skill..."

Come morning, Su Tu jogged the streets in his school uniform.

To build strength fast, he used the school-home path to farm 'Body Strengthening' proficiency.

Roughly ten minutes later, he reached the school entrance and checked the distance covered.

A five-kilometer run from home, and Su Tu hadn't even sweated.

[You’ve finished a short run, Body Strengthening Proficiency +3]

[Body Strengthening (Initial Tier): 233/300]

"No surprise, the gains dropped off, and by Middle Tier, it'll mimic Spiritual Wisdom, netting just one point per go."

The home-to-school sprint used to yield 10 points before, now down to a mere 3.

At the school gate, Su Tu's 1.81-meter frame stood out sharply among peers, sharp brows like swords, eyes bright as stars, nose straight and proud; sunlight bathed him, making him seem straight from a blockbuster.

Plenty of girls let their gazes linger subtly on Su Tu.

He stayed under the radar at school, but top grades and killer looks drew attention inevitably. From freshman to sophomore year, confessions and crushes hit him daily, all politely brushed off.

The wildest was when desk-stuffed snacks could stuff a whole class of 'hogs'.

Now in the second term of senior year, study frenzy had things calming a tad.

By the gate's convenience store, two girls watched him on the sly.

One in a white dress had huge sparkling eyes that seemed alive, her plump cherub face adorable. Clutching a note scribbled full, she eyed nearby Su Tu with stars dancing in her gaze.

"Ah, hurry up, if you don’t try now, we’ll graduate soon. With your idol’s grades, he might go to New Star for university." Her close friend urged in a whisper.

"But, I’m afraid he’ll reject me.." the girl's tone was soft and timid.

"Afraid of nothing, if you can’t win, then drug him, if you can’t be the bride, be the mother of his child!!" her friend declared fiercely.