# Chapter 1: Dangerous Person
The real world was relatively peaceful. Contractors fought life-and-death battles within derivative worlds, but after returning to the real world, they maintained an unspoken understanding: if you don't mess with me, I won't mess with you.
Of course, this applied to most people. There were also a few rookie contractors who became inflated after suddenly gaining power. The Scavengers would go "collect electricity bills" from these people.
[A new world is about to open. Please prepare, Hunter.]
Space fluctuations appeared. When the fluctuations faded, Su Xiao, Bubu Wang, and Amu were already inside the Exclusive Room.
As soon as he returned to the Exclusive Room, Su Xiao took out the [Awakening Book: Second] from his storage space. To undergo a second talent awakening, this item was essential.
[Yes/No to use Awakening Book: Second.]
[Warning: Second talent awakening is extremely dangerous. 86% of contractors have abandoned second talent awakening ability.]
[Tip: The difficulty of second talent awakening will increase with the Hunter's rank and level.]
Su Xiao chose to use the Awakening Book: Second and confirmed the awakening of the Soul Devourer talent.
[Hunter has selected talent: Soul Devourer.]
[Soul Devourer]
[Category: Killing Talent.]
[Rank: S (First Awakening completed).]
[Detected that Soul Devourer has been raised to the maximum of its first awakening. This will increase the difficulty of second awakening by 30%.]
[Analyzing talent nature... Analysis complete.]
[Selecting world...]
[No matching derivative world.]
[No matching trial world.]
[Number of matching primordial worlds: 2.]
[Number of matching worlds within the Void: 1.]
[Hunter must choose one of the following worlds to undergo talent awakening.]
[Soul Tremor (Primordial World).]
[Tip: This world is extremely unstable. Soul Ghosts and Mutant Aberrations are both extremely dangerous species.]
[Moon God (Primordial World).]
[Tip: This world contains divine beings. Extremely dangerous.]
[Twin·Kil'jaeden (Void World).]
[Tip: The Hunter's Charm attribute is too low. There is a high probability of being rejected by the Twins, preventing normal completion of the talent awakening task. The Hunter should consider carefully.]
...
Three world choices. It was obvious at a glance that none of these worlds had low difficulty. The first one didn't even have a stable world structure, and the Soul Ghosts and Mutant Aberrations inside were probably not to be trifled with.
As for the second, this world had divine beings. The strength of these gods was likely considerable.
As for the third world, Su Xiao didn't consider it at all. Entering that world would probably trigger a protection-type task. With his Charm attribute, forget protecting the Twins—the Twins might be scared away by him directly.
In that case, a protection task might develop into a kidnapping task.
Su Xiao didn't need to make a choice immediately. He still had one hour. After thinking for a moment, he took out the remaining 90,000 Paradise Coins and had Bubu Wang and Beini go purchase necessary supplies.
Su Xiao had prepared 14 bottles of Ancient Secret Medicine and 2 Apollo bombs. Apollo was still in the improvement stage. Completing the improvement would take anywhere from 2-3 world spans at the shortest, to over 5 world spans at the longest.
The reason Su Xiao hadn't prepared more Apollos was that Apollo's detonation speed was too slow. Even though its power was terrifying, by the fifth rank, the enemies he encountered were faster and faster. The 25-second detonation time was enough for enemies to escape the explosion zone.
After completing material reserves, Su Xiao sat in the Exclusive Room.
"It seems there's no better choice."
"Woof."
Bubu Wang beside him quickly nodded in agreement. It was afraid of ghosts, so it really didn't want to enter the "Soul Tremor" continent.
"Are we going to slay a god this time?"
Baha swallowed his saliva. This guy, full of dirty talk, was also feeling a bit weak at the moment. That was a god.
[Tip: The Hunter is about to enter the "Moon God" world.]
[Due to the Hunter's permission level reaching Lv.50 or above, the basic language of this world can be mastered for free.]
[Teleportation begins. Due to the long spatial distance, this teleportation requires 0.1176 time units of adjustment.]
Seeing the last prompt, Su Xiao's expression gradually turned serious.
Bang!
Su Xiao's vision went pitch black, and he lost consciousness.
...
Drip~
Water droplets fell. In the quiet environment, even the sound of dripping water was exceptionally noticeable.
Su Xiao's eyes opened. He sat up from a metal bed. The metal bed was very old, but it was impossible to remove any parts from it.
Everything around was pitch black. Su Xiao gently rubbed his forehead. After sorting through the temporary images that suddenly appeared in his mind, he raised his hand and pressed it against the wall beside him.
Metal chains clinked. Su Xiao's right arm was handcuffed, but he didn't struggle. "Chromium Fiber Metal" had extremely strong toughness and extensibility. Or rather, this could hardly be called metal. Chromium Fiber Metal was a fibrous structural aggregate, the cornerstone of the Dawn Empire's steam civilization.
In the darkness, as Su Xiao's hand pressed against the wall, his fingers touched a switch.
Click~
The switch closed. Light gradually appeared above. White light emanated from a basketball-sized lampshade. This was a mercury vapor lamp, which had reached civilian use in the Dawn Empire. The main lighting material wasn't mercury, but vapor heated through special processes.
According to the memories Su Xiao had obtained, the empire he was in was called the Dawn Empire, an empire with a severely skewed technology tree. If the real world was an electrical civilization, then this was a steam civilization.
This caused the Dawn Empire's technology tree development to stagnate, roughly at the technological level before World War I. But there were no cars, airplanes, or the like here, since this world didn't have the blessing of petroleum.
Heavy steam machinery was the most advanced technology in this world. As for gunpowder firearms, this world was a stage for cold weapons and steam guns.
However, the massive size of steam guns made them unsuitable not just for maintaining public order, but even for war—they were too cumbersome and extremely expensive to produce. Reloading took 5-10 minutes.
As for their power, Su Xiao didn't want to try the power of those damn things at all. If hit in a vital spot, he might be taken down with one shot.
It could be said that steam guns almost never appeared in conventional combat or on battlefields. The soldiers or Moon Apostles in this world had extremely powerful physiques, so they didn't need ordinary gunpowder firearms. An ordinary soldier, after putting on Chromium Fiber Metal armor and picking up a greatsword, could rival a battalion of heavy machine gunners.
This was an era where steam, gods, and transcendents coexisted.
Currently, Su Xiao was locked in a completely sealed prison cell. The four walls were rusted metal. The steam door looked at least a meter thick. The metal mesh on the ventilation opening above was reinforced with four or five layers. Thick shackles bound Su Xiao's right arm, connected to a metal chain at least as thick as an arm, with the other end completely embedded into the wall.
There was a relatively clean toilet, and a simple washstand with a toothbrush and other items. The toothbrush handle was made of very soft rubber.
Not only that, Su Xiao was wearing a set of gray fine linen clothes. The buttons were made of rubber material. If observed carefully, one would find that the fine linen threads of the clothing were spliced together, making it impossible to pull out a single fine linen rope longer than 10 centimeters.
Based on Su Xiao's observations, the nearly meter-thick steam door had at least six locks, and passive trigger mechanisms were arranged. Once he tried to open this door from the inside, the steam door would completely lock down.
Su Xiao knocked on the wall. The feedback sound was very dull. The metal wall was very thick. Unless he took out his blade, he couldn't get out by brute force.
No matter how you looked at it, Su Xiao's identity this time was that of an extremely dangerous prisoner. The kind who, even if given a long enough fine linen rope, might be able to escape from this prison.
[Entering World: Moon God Continent]
Location: Dawn Empire·Capital·Koleto·Underground 175 Meters·Secret Prison.
World Difficulty: Lv.37～Lv.52 (Primordial World)
World Source: 0% (Obtaining World Source in this world is extremely difficult, difficulty is over 16 times that of same-rank derivative worlds).
World Introduction:
[On the Moon God Continent, the Moon God is a real deity, a unique and singular deity. Though believers cannot see His true form, they can feel His existence. Those who believe in the Moon God are called Moon Apostles.]
[The three great empires are in constant conflict. Compared to resource competition, the clash of beliefs is the true trigger for war.]
[Dawn Empire: This is the birthplace of steam civilization. Industry is developed, prosperity intoxicating. Established 1537 years ago. This is the Hunter's affiliated faction.]
[Dawn Empire Moon God Image: Goddess, Night God.]
...
[Simoro Empire: Rejects steam civilization. The citizens of this country have severe moral cleanliness obsession. Even petty theft is punished as a serious crime. Established 2633 years ago. Xenophobic, closed-off.]
[Simoro Empire Moon God Image: Genderless, solemn God of Justice.]
...
[Rodan Empire: Passion, strong liquor, and revelry. Though poor, its citizens' happiness ranks first. Established 619 years ago.]
[Rodan Empire Moon God Image: Male, God of Freedom.]
[The three great empires have been at war for 15 years. The three parties have announced a ceasefire.]
...
[Main mission has changed. Replaced by awakening mission.]
[Awakening Mission: Soul Speaker (First Ring)]
Difficulty Level: Lv.42
Mission Information: Find the Soul Speaker and obtain key information from them.
Mission Time Limit: 10 days
Mission Reward: 2 True Attribute Points.
Mission Punishment: Forced Execution
...
[Tip: Detected that the initial mission risk is within the Hunter's tolerable range. Hunting mission has been issued.]
[Hunting Mission: Eliminate Violator No. 9013.]
Mission Brief: Use any means to eliminate Violator No. 9013.
Mission Information: This violator is extremely skilled at concealment.
Mission Time Limit: Before leaving this derivative world.
Mission Punishment: None (Due to the particularity of this violator, failure to complete this mission will not reduce the Hunter's level permissions).
Mission Reward: Diamond Honor Medal ×2.