2: Chapter 2 The Terrifying Feeling of Hunger, Surrendering Itself

Baijiang City Welfare Institute, Dorm 403.

Luo Yu pushed open the door, tossed his backpack aside, and collapsed onto the bed.

The dorm was tiny, only ten square meters. A single bed, a desk, and a wardrobe were all his belongings.

A world map was pinned to the wall,

marked with red pen indicating the locations of Abyssal Rifts across the globe.

The Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean...

Fifteen years ago,

these rifts suddenly appeared, and countless Abyssal Giant Beasts surged out from them. Human civilization was nearly destroyed.

Fortunately, the Spiritual Energy Recovery arrived simultaneously, and humans began to awaken various talents, barely managing to stabilize the defensive lines.

But the price was heavy.

The global population plummeted from eight billion to five billion.

Countless cities were reduced to ruins.

The abuse of nuclear weapons led to mountains of nuclear waste, becoming a problem even more troublesome than the giant beasts.

Luo Yu lay on the bed, closed his eyes, and his consciousness sank deep into his mind.

The system panel emerged once again.

[king of monsters system]

[Host: Luo Yu]

[Level: F-class Awakener]

[Beast Pet: Godzilla (Juvenile)]

[Current Status: Unsummoned]

[Evolution: 0%]

[Countdown: 23 hours 12 minutes]

Luo Yu took a deep breath and muttered, "Summon."

The next second,

a faint blue light suddenly lit up by his feet.

As the light dissipated,

a black Little Lizard appeared on the floor.

It was about 30 centimeters long, covered in fine scales, with rows of small dorsal spines on its back and a thick, powerful tail.

Most striking were its eyes.

They were a pair of crimson vertical pupils, exuding a sense of wildness and brutality.

The Little Lizard raised its head, looked at Luo Yu, and let out a low "hiss."

Luo Yu was stunned.

Although the system called it Godzilla, this little thing in front of him looked like nothing more than an... ordinary Lizard.

Just then, a strong sense of hunger suddenly hit him.

It wasn't Luo Yu's own hunger.

It came from his beast pet.

It was an indescribable feeling of emptiness, as if there were a bottomless pit in his body, frantically devouring everything.

Luo Yu's face instantly turned pale.

He felt his life force being slowly drained away.

[Warning: Beast pet is in a state of extreme hunger and is backlashing against the Host's life force!]

[Please provide high-energy radiation for the beast pet as soon as possible!]

"Damn it..."

Luo Yu gritted his teeth and scrambled up from the bed.

He rushed to the desk and dug out a small box.

It was a piece of discarded X-ray film he had sneakily brought back from his last hospital check-up.

Although the amount of radiation was negligible, it was better than nothing.

Luo Yu tossed the X-ray film in front of the Little Lizard.

The Little Lizard glanced at it, then... turned its head away disdainfully.

Luo Yu: ???

[Low-energy radiation source detected. Does not meet the beast pet's dietary requirements.]

[Suggestion: Search for high-energy radiation sources (e.g., nuclear fuel rods, nuclear waste, high-concentration uranium ore, etc.).]

Luo Yu's mouth twitched.

He knew it.

It wouldn't be that simple.

The hunger grew stronger, and Luo Yu felt his vision start to go dark. He had to find a radiation source quickly, or he really would be drained to death by the backlash.

"Nuclear fuel rods... nuclear waste..."

Luo Yu murmured to himself, then suddenly thought of something.

Baijiang City Third Hospital,

seemed to have an abandoned Radiology Department.

Because of aging equipment, a small-scale radiation leak had occurred there, and it had been sealed off.

Although the radiation levels weren't high,

there should be some discarded cobalt or cesium sources.

Luo Yu didn't have time to think. He grabbed the Little Lizard, stuffed it into his backpack, and rushed out of the dorm.

---

Baijiang City Third Hospital, Abandoned Radiology Department.

Night fell. This area of the hospital had been fenced off with barbed wire, with warning signs hanging: "Danger! Radiation Zone! No Entry!"

Luo Yu climbed over the barbed wire and cautiously made his way into the abandoned building.

The corridor was pitch black,

illuminated only by the faint light from his phone's flashlight.

The paint on the walls was peeling, and the floor was covered in dust and broken glass.

The air was thick with the smell of mold and rust.

Luo Yu took out his phone,

and opened a radiation detection app.

Although this thing wasn't very accurate, it was better than nothing.

He walked down the corridor, and the detected values gradually rose.

0.5 microsieverts... 1 microsievert... 5 microsieverts...

When he reached a room at the end of the corridor, the value suddenly spiked to 50 microsieverts.

Luo Yu pushed open the door to find a storage room filled with discarded medical equipment.

In a corner, there was a lead box with a label: "Danger! Cobalt-60!"

Luo Yu's eyes lit up.

He walked over and carefully opened the lead box.

Inside was a metal rod about the thickness of a thumb, its surface already rusted.

This was a discarded cobalt source. Although the radiation had decayed significantly, it should be enough for the current Little Lizard.

Luo Yu opened his backpack, and the Little Lizard immediately jumped out.

The moment it saw the cobalt source, its eyes burst with a blinding red light.

Then,

it opened its mouth,

and bit down on the cobalt source in one gulp.

Crunch.

Crunch.

Crunch.

Like eating a cracker, the Little Lizard chewed the metal rod to pieces.

Luo Yu was dumbfounded.

That was metal!

And radioactive metal at that. After finishing, the Little Lizard let out a satisfied burp.

Immediately,

Luo Yu felt the sensation of his life force being devoured... vanish!

In its place, a warm current slowly flowed back from the beast pet, nourishing his parched body.

[Ding! Beast pet is devouring high-energy radiation (Cobalt-60). Evolution +0.01%... +0.02%...]

[Host receives 10% energy conversion. Spiritual Power +1... +2...]

Once the absorption was complete,

[Congratulations, Host! Beast pet has successfully fed!]

[Evolution +0.1%]

[Skill Unlocked: Atomic Particle Breath (Basic)]

Just as the notification ended,

a faint blue flame suddenly erupted from Godzilla's mouth.

Boom!

The flame hit the wall,

instantly burning a hole the size of a bowl through it.

Luo Yu stared wide-eyed at the wall that had been shot through, then at the innocent-looking Godzilla at his feet, his heart pounding wildly.

This... this power!

Just by eating a little medical waste, it had destructive power comparable to a high-energy laser gun?

Then what if... what if it ate a whole nuclear power plant?

Luo Yu didn't dare to think further.

Just then, footsteps suddenly echoed from the corridor.

"Who's there?!"

A beam from a flashlight shone over.

It was the hospital security.

Luo Yu's expression changed. He grabbed the Little Lizard, stuffed it into his backpack, and turned to run.

"Stop!"

The security guard gave chase.

Luo Yu rushed out of the building, jumped over the barbed wire, and sprinted all the way back to the welfare institute.

Back in his dorm, he collapsed on his bed, gasping for air.

The Little Lizard crawled out of the backpack, perched on his shoulder, and tilted its head at him.

Luo Yu looked at it and smiled bitterly. "Big guy, this single meal almost landed me in jail."

The Little Lizard let out a "hiss," as if to say, "I couldn't help it, I was hungry."

Luo Yu rubbed his temples.

This was just the beginning, and it was already this much trouble.

Besides, that was just a discarded cobalt source, only enough for one meal.

What about next time?

And the time after that?

Luo Yu opened his phone and searched for the price of "high-energy radiation sources."

A new cobalt source: 500,000.

A nuclear fuel rod: 5 million.

One kilogram of enriched uranium: 50 million.

Luo Yu looked at the numbers and fell into deep thought.

His entire net worth was only 327 yuan.

Forget buying a nuclear fuel rod, he couldn't even afford the fraction of a cobalt source.

Moreover, these things were state-controlled strategic materials; it was impossible to buy them on the market.

Luo Yu looked at the Little Lizard on his shoulder and sighed.

"Godzilla, you're going to bankrupt me."

The Little Lizard tilted its head, as if to say, "If you can't afford me, then don't keep me."

Luo Yu laughed.

Can't afford to keep it?

Then let someone who can afford it raise it.

In this world, who has the most money?

Who has no shortage of nuclear waste?

The state, of course.

"Instead of sneaking around and risking execution, I’d rather eat from the public pot with my head held high!"

"Since I can't afford to raise it, I'll just hand myself over to the state. After all... no matter what, the state won't let me starve."