70% off, a full 70% discount! Don't even mention whether Su Zhou could resist, the entire Hongcheng probably couldn't.

But in reality, not many people really cared, at least not as many as imagined.

The reason was simple: the discounted laptops were basically ordinary home models from two or three years ago, already outdated. In this world of rapidly advancing electronic technology, two years made a world of difference in performance.

What's more, news of exoskeleton armor guardians and breakthroughs in artificial intelligence last year had led to a general consensus that many manufacturers would be launching civilian machines with far superior performance before the end of the year.

"Some people are even saying that the government plans to launch the world's first personal information terminal... like the Pip-Boy in the *Fallout* series, worn on the wrist like a watch, but with a flexible folding screen, not a brick-sized behemoth."

Su Zhou was also a gaming enthusiast, and he naturally seemed knowledgeable when talking about games.

After all, with his reaction speed and control, he could easily rival professional players in *Cat Mario Maker* or *Counter-Strike*, and even in MOBAs, which sometimes relied less on mechanics, his clear thinking and flawless execution meant he wouldn't accidentally Q into the enemy base or forget to use Black King Bar, often carrying Shao Shuangyue to victory.

In short, because of the potential arrival of the new personal information terminal, the older generation of electronic products were being discounted and sold off, allowing Su Zhou to buy a few for himself and Yala to use for some operations that weren't convenient to do with a home computer.

This time, Su Zhou didn't ride his bicycle but walked directly, as Wanshou Palace Commercial Street wasn't that far.

Three years ago, the electronics district would have been no different from any other commercial street, but since the large-scale renovation three years ago, the entire commercial street had become a scenic spot worth visiting.

There, the Yuanshi (mechanists) from the Zhengguo Academy displayed their robotics projects to the public, whether dancing, playing the erhu, or even cooking and other talent shows.

Naturally, there were also Mech Masters showcasing their designs of various specially purposed exoskeleton armors. Some could assist disabled people in walking normally, allowing them to lift half-ton weights, while others could assist humans in performing precise operations, ensuring that their hands wouldn't shake even slightly during experiments.

Of course, the above actions were only performed by elite scholars from the official academy who had obtained demonstration rights, and were limited to one street, with the aim of allowing the public to understand the progress of current technological advancements.

Just like three years ago, the robots controlled by the Yuanshi would malfunction when dancing a mechanical dance, but now they could smoothly dance the samba. Three years ago, the civilian exoskeleton armor almost crushed the Mech Master's own hand, but now it could be manipulated freely, as if it were a real arm.

This rapid technological progress shown to the people naturally brought endless confidence.

"Elementary transcendent beings don't have any advantages under the power of the state."

Walking in this Zhengguo cyberpunk-style street, Su Zhou said to the snake spirit in his heart, "Just like my power, although I can easily crush those robots and exoskeleton armors into balls, those are just civilian ones. If they were military combat armors, I'd probably have to get close to deal with one—after all, I don't have any bulletproof abilities."

"I'm not planning to rebel against human society, but if I want to put myself up for sale, I can only recognize my situation by comparing my personal power with the power of the state."

"You think very clearly." Yala's approving voice sounded in his heart, "But don't underestimate yourself too much. If ordinary humans equip combat armor and firearms, they are fully armed while also learning various profound spells. You are almost a blank slate now. This comparison is inherently unfair—not to mention, with your talent, it won't take long to become a mid- to high-level transcendent being who can create earthquakes and typhoons. At that time, even an entire civilization will have to be on guard. These are two different paths."

"Of course, this method of calculation is also abnormal. After all, human civilization is a huge whole, and transcendent beings should be one of them. You are comparing yourself to the whole, which is a bit arrogant... As for spells, although your talent in transcendence is very strong, which surprises me, it is best to wait until you eat the Fruit of Wisdom before you start learning, otherwise you’ll be working twice as hard for half the result.”

"What do you mean on guard!" Su Zhou listened carefully to Yala's guidance, but in the end, he couldn't help but argue, "Why would people be on guard against me? Yala, don't project your experiences onto me, okay? If it were me, I would definitely become a guest of honor for many civilizations!"

"Shut up! I've also had derivatives who were the main gods of a civilization!"

Exchanging words like this, Su Zhou chose a familiar store and entered.

"Yo, A'Zhou, I'm busy, take a look around yourself first."

"No problem."

As soon as he entered the door, Su Zhou heard a familiar greeting, and he smiled and greeted the middle-aged shop owner in his forties, who was solving a problem for a customer at the front desk—the other party was also a regular at the gym, so they could be considered acquaintances. He was also the one who informed him about the recent discounts on electronic products.

This was also why he went to the physical store instead of shopping online. Acquaintances give each other face, and walking around more wasn't a bad thing.

Naturally, he couldn't avoid the snake spirit's sour comment of "You really can get along anywhere" and his own reply of "Of course!"

However, just as Su Zhou was looking for a suitable laptop in the discount area, he heard the customer at the front desk complaining.

"Boss, this computer has been black screening and shutting down too often lately. I was wondering if it got bugs in it?"

"Could be." Then came the sound of patting. The boss's voice sounded again, "Yeah, I heard something. I'll take it apart and take a look."

Su Zhou initially smiled and asked Yala, "What color do you like?"

But soon, in Yala's reply of "Red!", he remembered his bloodline ability of "Insect Repulsion" and couldn't help but be stunned, "Wait, if it's really cockroaches, then why didn't they run out when I came in?"

Casually picking out a magenta laptop and a camera, Su Zhou turned around and looked at the situation over by the counter.

The muscular, balding shop owner was currently disassembling screws on a repair table, while a customer who didn't look very kind was standing patiently to the side, waiting for the boss to take care of his problem.

"Reading is to be able to speak calmly with idiots, and fitness is to make idiots speak calmly with you."

For some reason, this sentence suddenly flashed in Su Zhou's mind.

But soon, his doubts were answered.

"Huh!"

After opening the computer case, the muscular shop owner originally wanted to look at the area around the battery and motherboard—bugs usually stayed there—but in a moment of carelessness, he seemed to have been bitten by something, and subconsciously pulled his hand back, causing the computer to tilt and fall.

Fortunately, the pad on the repair table was relatively soft, preventing the computer from breaking. Although the customer's eyes widened, he looked at the boss's muscles and still restrained himself from cursing, offering a forced concern, "Are you okay, boss?"

"...What the hell is this thing?" The boss looked at his hand with a puzzled expression, and then frowned. Although there were no wounds on his hand, he still felt a burning pain—as if he had been shocked.

The boss picked up his gloves, reached into the gap in the computer, and pulled out something that looked like putty, or more like a translucent gray jelly.

"What is this thing?"

Holding the thing up to the light, both the boss, the customer, and Su Zhou could clearly see that it was a glob of gelatinous material about the size of a thumb.

It flickered with tiny electrical sparks that were almost imperceptible to the naked eye, and its gray body was wriggling and contracting, as if trying to escape from the boss's plastic glove's control.

Naturally, it failed.

"How dirty is your house, how can you raise this kind of snot slug in your computer?" the boss asked with surprise, and the customer, who originally had a trace of annoyance, no longer had that thought and couldn't figure it out, "I don't know, I never thought about that problem."

"I just went to Pengze recently, I didn't even leave Lianzhou!"

Without saying much, the muscular boss threw the gelatinous thing into an empty water bottle next to him, then disassembled the computer again, not finding any more gelatinous things, and continued to repair it.

And Su Zhou asked Yala in his heart, "The more I look at this thing, the more it looks like you..."

"In a sense, you're not wrong."

The snake spirit wasn't angry, but instead admitted very naturally, "I made a pact with you and was reborn into the world by borrowing your blood. In a sense, this body is a special 'Blood Slime' 'Blood Gelatinous Monster'. And that one over there is a relatively rare 'Lightning Slime'... It seems to be the type that parasitizes around electrical appliance batteries and steals electricity. It usually causes the appliance's electricity to disappear inexplicably, and this one is probably too big, so it was discovered."

"Slime..."

Su Zhou blinked and nodded thoughtfully—Hongcheng was humid, with many forests and rivers, so it wasn't strange for this kind of thing to pop up. The fact that the snake spirit could previously collapse into a ball of red stress balls also showed that the essence of its current body was similar to that of a slime.

The only thing this could prove was that the revival of spiritual energy had truly entered the daily lives of all the people.

And it was beginning to gradually change, and completely change everyone's lifestyles—for example, checking whether power banks and computers were being stolen by Lightning Slimes, or "Damn it! My phone's battery is running out so fast, did it get hit by a Lightning Slime?!"

Without thinking much, Su Zhou went to the counter, exchanged a few pleasantries with the boss, and then paid and left.

After buying his things, he didn't go back immediately but went to the nearby Wanshou Palace Mall to look for possible traces of demonic spiritual energy.

"As expected, there are some."

Buying three skewers of spicy chicken skewers (650 calories) from a street food stall, Su Zhou, disguised as a gluttonous student, walked casually on the side of the road. Although the commercial street was bustling with people, which would disperse many not very condensed spiritual energy traces, his spirit vision could clearly see that there were traces of extremely empty, dim spiritual energy on the tops of buildings and walls: "Yala, do you recognize the taste here?"

"It's still faint." The snake spirit could share Su Zhou's perception and also had its own unique method of identification, but this time, it wasn't as easy as it was with the centipede. Instead, it said in a serious tone, "But this time is a little different, Su Zhou."

"Hmm?" Su Zhou, who was eating chicken skewers, didn't react, just humming a simple acknowledgement.

"Although I always say demon, demon, to be honest, the centipede was just an omnivorous spiritual plant, it was a member of other gods—but this time it's different."

Yala's tone became devoid of any emotional color at this time.

"This aura, it should be a true 'True Fiend'."