# Chapter 5: Deputy Commander of the Execution Agency (Under Suspicion of Official Crimes, This Option Risks the Hunter's Death)
...
Five choices, one to pick. Options 1 and 2 were clearly the safe route, standard and steady. For a Primordial World like this, playing it safe was a direct pass. Su Xiao wasn't a rookie; at his level, being overly cautious wasn't prudence—it was cowardice.
Option 3 was an immediate discard. Aside from weapons and traps, Su Xiao couldn't even fix a rice cooker, let alone pass himself off as a scholar.
Options 4 and 5 were clearly more hardcore. Option 5 looked like a relatively high-ranking position. As for "under suspicion of official crimes," what was noteworthy was that this was merely suspicion, not that this Deputy Commander of the Execution Agency was already behind bars.
After a moment's hesitation, Su Xiao chose Reward 5. Clearly, a position that could be called a Legion Commander was far from low-ranking, even if this "Execution Agency" didn't seem like it could command an army, and the commander was only a deputy.
But compared to basic rewards like being a rich young master or a scholar, Option 5 aligned better with Su Xiao's principles. In an unfamiliar world, if he had no initial advantage, he would basically be out of luck for an S+ reward.
That was right—this was also the main reason Su Xiao chose Reward 5. He wanted to take a gamble. If he could achieve an S+ reward, he would obtain the Law Destruction Shadow ability that came with mastering 100 attribute points.
After Su Xiao made his choice, his surroundings remained pitch black, as if black mist was churning. This place was clearly not the Gloomy Continent.
The black mist ahead gradually dispersed, and white light flickered faintly from behind it, causing the black mist to outline lines of text.
[Entering World: Gloomy Continent]
Location: Outer Atmosphere
World Difficulty: Lv.15 ~ Lv.47 (Primordial World)
World Source: 0% (This is an unexplored Primordial World; obtaining World Source is extremely difficult).
As this is a 3-Star Reward World, this world's language has been learned for free and will be forgotten upon leaving this world.
World Introduction: Pending activation.
...
Su Xiao had entered similar Primordial Worlds before, so he skillfully activated the world introduction. Without activating this, the subsequent teleportation wouldn't continue.
The black mist ahead surged, and soft white particles of light emerged, forming a screen several meters in size. Through the fluorescent light, Su Xiao saw Bubu Wang, Amu, and Beini near him.
The scene within the light particle screen was a bird's-eye view, like an aerial shot. The unpolluted green mountains and clear waters were picturesque, with various migratory birds inhabiting the area, full of vitality. Just looking at this scene gave one a sense of comfort—this was the beauty of nature.
With a splash, two pitch-black claws broke through the water, firmly hooking a pure white swan. No matter how the swan struggled and cried out, it couldn't avoid being bitten until it was covered in blood, stained by the black bodily fluids of the leopard-cat-like creature. This leopard cat... was definitely something unnatural.
The scene seemed to accelerate tens of thousands of times. A magnificent royal palace rose from the ground, the entire process taking less than 2 seconds.
[Year 12 of the Zul Era, the Zul Empire was established, and the Gloomy Continent returned to peace. This was not unification through war, but the result of peace talks among 17 former kings, because... they had a greater enemy.]
[Year 107 of the Zul Era, the Zul Empire focused on developing agriculture and animal husbandry. The following year, the total population of the Zul Empire decreased by one-tenth. The numbers of Ghosts, Demons, and Strange Beasts surged dramatically.]
[Year 115 of the Zul Era, the total population of the Zul Empire was only 60% of what it was at the founding. However... they could do nothing about it. It wasn't disease, hunger, or war, but the continuously increasing numbers of Ghosts, Demons, and Strange Beasts.]
Ghosts: A type of intelligent creature with extremely strong predatory and symbiotic nature, and an intense appetite for humans.
Demons: Semi-energy/semi-physical entities with extremely high intelligence and talent, who enjoy eating human flesh and souls.
Strange Beasts: Lower-intelligence creatures with relatively strong aggression and many varieties. Most are omnivorous, have relatively good learning abilities, can be tamed, but cannot be artificially bred (artificially bred Strange Beasts will degenerate into ordinary beasts).
[Year 128 of the Zul Era, the human population was only 30% of its original. That same year, Awakeners were born.]
[Year 572 of the Zul Era, the human population skyrocketed. The Zul Empire nearly completely occupied the Gloomy Continent, and Awakeners became the empire's main combat force.]
[Year 770 of the Zul Era, the Zul Empire fully explored the Gloomy Continent and stopped expanding. Even with the population explosion, the resources of the Gloomy Continent remained inexhaustible.]
[Year 980 of the Zul Era, Ghosts disappeared from the continent. That same year, internal conflicts erupted within the Zul Empire, and war was imminent.]
[Year 981 of the Zul Era, the Extreme King tore up the alliance pact, and civil war broke out.]
[Year 982 of the Zul Era, Ghosts reappeared, their numbers exploding exponentially, once exceeding the total human population (68 million). The human civil war stopped, and the Zul Empire nearly collapsed several times.]
[Year 1030 of the Zul Era, the war ended. The Zul Empire announced that the Ghost population was under control. That same year, the number of Awakeners was less than 10% of what it was in Year 981 of the Zul Era.]
Awakeners: When a human experiences a massive emotional fluctuation and consumes Ghost flesh during that time, there is a low chance of becoming an Awakener, gaining supernatural abilities, and growing stronger through battles with Ghosts (this is public intelligence from the Zul Empire).
The true intelligence is: Any human who consumes fresh Ghost flesh has the potential to become an Awakener, with a mortality rate of over 70%. After an Awakener kills a Ghost, their physical fitness and awakened abilities will significantly improve. The higher the degree of awakening, the more dangerous the Awakener's situation becomes. When fully awakened, the Awakener will become a Demon.
The youth who once slew the dragon, because his body was stained with dragon blood, gradually grew scales, and has now transformed into an evil dragon. This is responsibility, but also fate and sorrow.
[Year 1209 of the Zul Era, the civilization of the Zul Empire grew increasingly advanced. Steam engines and trains had all been invented. The upper ruling class formed a parliamentary system and elected the first monarch by vote. However, those Ghosts hidden among humans remained something humans could never eliminate. War and natural disasters were the opportunities they waited for, because only then could they reproduce at an astonishing rate.]
[World, begin.]
...
Su Xiao closed the world introduction. The structure of the Ghost World was very interesting. With things like Ghosts, Demons, and Strange Beasts around, humans rarely had internal wars. Firearms, a sharp tool for internal conflict, were still in a relatively backward stage in this world. To deal with those Ghosts, mystical cold weapons plus Awakeners were the most effective means.
It could be said that on the current Gloomy Continent, those living openly were all humans, appearing to live in peace and contentment. In reality, those Ghosts and Demons were hidden among the common people. As long as they didn't fight, they were indistinguishable from humans.