Chapter 002: Awakening of the Mind

As for why it was referred to as a "humanoid creature" rather than a person...

Even if you included all the different races in the world, plus every possible genetic mutation and freak of nature, you probably wouldn't find anyone who looked as grotesque as this being. With its greenish face, protruding fangs, and a chest covered in thick, bristling hair, it was clear to anyone with common sense that this thing did not belong to the human race.

"Oh my God!"

"I'm sorry! Are you hurt?"

Maya noticed the blood dripping from Bai Yuxi's chin. His face was deathly pale, his eyes wide and unfocused, pupils dilated—he looked on the brink of death. She was startled and, thinking she had injured him in the collision, hurriedly pulled a small, thumb-length vial of reinforced glass from the pouch at her waist. Without giving him a chance to protest, she forced open his mouth and poured in a viscous, pale red liquid all at once.

Bai Yuxi, completely unaware of what was happening, wanted to ask what was going on—like who these two oddly dressed people were, what that monstrous, fanged creature was, and whether a fantasy film crew was shooting a scene here. But before he could utter a word, the blonde girl forced the strange liquid down his throat, making him cough and choke violently.

Strangely, before Bai Yuxi could even get angry, a searing warmth surged up from his stomach, flooding through his entire body in an instant! His weakened frame felt as though someone had injected him with a torrent of blazing energy. Not only did the pain from the collision melt away like snow in spring, but even his chronic exhaustion faded, replaced by a newfound vigor. Where moments ago he had felt drained and on the verge of collapse, now he felt more alive than he had in years. Stunned, he asked through his coughs, "What did you just give me?"

"A bio-energetic nutrient solution," Maya replied quickly, springing upright from Bai Yuxi and helping him up as he struggled to stand, only to collapse again. "It rapidly heals injuries."

"Maya! If you have time to worry about that kid from the East..." came a shout, "maybe you could spare a precious moment to help poor Jason out over here?"

Jason, the brown-haired young man, wore a leather chestpiece that resembled ancient armor. His left forearm was strapped with a wooden shield, while in his right hand he brandished a short-handled mace studded with thick steel spikes—a "spiked club," as some games might call it. Yet, he wore tattered jeans on his lower half and a pair of "Jordan Son of Mars" running shoes. The bizarre blend of retro and modern was strikingly odd.

As he desperately blocked the monster's wild swings with its massive club, Jason spat blood and cried out in pain, "I'm about to die here—can you not see that?"

There was no time for Maya to say more to Bai Yuxi. Grabbing the sharp short sword she had dropped earlier, her lithe, curvaceous figure darted forward with inhuman agility.

As Bai Yuxi watched—confused and terrified—the girl moved with the speed of a sprinter in full flight and the flexibility of a gymnast, engaging the monstrous creature in a chaotic melee. He couldn't help but wonder, "Was she a track and field athlete or something?"

"Can someone please tell me what's going on here?" He stared blankly at the fierce battle between two humans and a monster, mumbling to himself, "What on earth is happening?"

The blonde girl's skintight leather suit accentuated her shapely figure. Wielding a short sword barely two feet long, she weaved around like a panther, leaping two or three meters at a time as if gravity didn't exist, stabbing the hulking, fanged monster again and again until blood spurted from its wounds.

Even the muscular foreign youth locked in mortal combat with the beast seemed anything but ordinary. No normal person could survive being slammed by a two-meter-tall, broad-chested monster, then clubbed in the head with a weapon as thick as a thigh and sent flying five or six meters—yet still get up and keep fighting! The club made a ringing, metallic sound as it struck his skull, spraying blood several meters, but the young man simply wiped his face and threw himself back into the fray.

"This can't... be real, can it?"

Years of accumulated knowledge and common sense made it impossible for Bai Yuxi's rational mind to accept what he was seeing. He even pinched his thigh hard, only to be met with sharp pain—a clear sign that this was no dream brought on by lack of oxygen.

But if he wasn't dreaming, how could he explain the surreal scene before him?

"Sin x equals x minus x cubed over three factorial, plus x to the fifth over five..."
"Cos x equals one minus x squared over two factorial, plus x to the fourth over four..."
"Tan x equals x plus x cubed over three plus two x to the fifth over fifteen plus seventeen x to the seventh over three hundred fifteen plus sixty-two x to the ninth over two thousand eight hundred thirty-five plus [2 to the power of 2n times (2 to the power of 2n minus one) times B(2n-1) times x to the power of 2n-1] over (2n) factorial plus..."

Realizing he might have stumbled into some kind of legendary, supernatural event, Bai Yuxi curled into the corner, face as white as a sheet, muttering formulae in a frantic attempt to overload his brain and pass out. Maybe, he thought, if he lost consciousness, he'd wake up to find this was all just a bizarre dream.

Bang!
Bang, bang!
Bang, bang, bang!

Yet, under the influence of the mysterious solution and its "bio-energy," Bai Yuxi's heart thundered in his chest like a sports car engine running at full throttle, full of unrelenting power. His strong heartbeat pumped fresh blood to his brain, flooding it with oxygen, while the rapid circulation infused his body with the solution's nutrients, nourishing his once-ailing frame.

At this rate, forget about passing out from hypoxia—his mind felt sharper than ever, as if someone had installed multi-core processors in his head!