The money issue was settled, and next came other plans and miscellaneous matters.

Su Zhou knew very well that thinking about problems alone often leads to a stalemate, trapped in a dead end, unable to extricate oneself.

The serpent spirit Yala was indeed a very good discussion partner, but Su Zhou knew that the other party's perspective was too high, and there was a big difference in thinking logic from an ordinary super-powered person like himself—a trivial matter that it considered unimportant might be the greatest significance in his eyes.

So, compared to that, Su Zhou preferred to chat with his childhood friend about his recent action plans… Of course, there was also a practical reason—even if the serpent spirit was knowledgeable, it didn't have any money.

"A'Zhou, take a look."

After receiving the hope of healing his sickly body and dispelling the curse, Shao Qiming's thinking was clearer and quicker than before. Before long, he had organized a very detailed action plan and target plan for Su Zhou, and even made a PPT.

"Impressive, brother." Su Zhou looked at the other party's computer screen, which was indeed very clear, and immediately felt admiration.

To summarize it roughly:

Su Zhou had four major goals from the end of July until the start of school, without distinguishing the order of importance.

First: Su Zhou's Spirit Opening succeeds, advancing to the 'Awakened' level. The prerequisite is to prepare the materials for the ritual, and hunt evil spirits to obtain an evil spirit core.

Second: Exorcise Shao Qiming and Aunt Wen. The prerequisite is Su Zhou's awakening, so he can use secret rituals to make exorcism jewelry.

Third: Plant a sapling of the Wisdom Tree and cultivate a Wisdom Fruit. This can be done quickly, but it requires 'Spiritual Water' or 'Spiritual Blood' to water it.

Fourth: Investigate the increasingly crazy bizarre murder cases in Hongcheng, and try to capture or kill the evil spirit that is the culprit. This requires a weapon and learning Spiritual Vision.

And the words of all the sentences in the four major goals reveal one word: Kill evil spirits!

"In general, the core point of these four goals is one—that is, to buy you a handy weapon, then find the trace of the evil spirit and kill it."

Shao Qiming's summary was simple and refined, and Su Zhou agreed with him deeply.

So the two of them directly searched on Taobao.

"First of all, swords are definitely not okay, they are too conspicuous—maybe the standards in this regard will be relaxed after the spiritual energy recovers in the future, but being caught with swords by the police now will get you arrested."

Shao Qiming directly screened out these common weapons, and Su Zhou also deleted several options: "Isn't that right? Fire axes and tool hammers might be okay, but to be honest, that's also very strange, you need to carry a toolbox to be considered normal.

Moreover, there are currently no handy and easy-to-use axes and hammers for sale on the market that can be used as weapons, and even if there are, they are as troublesome as swords."

Although Zheng Guo has martial arts halls, and some people do have legal weapon permits, even martial arts hall people mostly just learn some boxing skills. Even among the police, they generally use blunt weapons such as iron rulers and batons. Sharp weapons such as swords are strictly controlled items, and if someone carries them, they will inevitably be questioned.

As for the army… why wouldn't they use guns, wouldn't that be stupid!

However, it is said that some professional troops do train in armed combat, for areas where it is not suitable to use firearms.

The two of them eliminated options while selecting them according to Su Zhou's conditions, and finally came up with a rather unremarkable answer.

"Just buy a sturdy wooden stick—let's get this one."

Su Zhou pointed to the computer screen, which showed an ordinary, thick, solid wooden stick: "This, a chou wood pole will do."

"More than two meters long, thick at the base and strong in the middle, because it is treated hardwood, even if it is used to smash people, the power is sufficient, about the same as a blunt weapon. Because it is hardwood, even without a spearhead, a direct stab also has a certain armor-piercing ability. With my strength, I estimate that ordinary armor can't stop it."

This was the weapon that Su Zhou had decided on himself, a stick, or rather, a spear, one of the most primitive and most useful weapons for mankind.

From the time humans learned to use tools, sticks and sharpened long sticks (spears) have always accompanied humans. Even children, when they get a stick, will instinctively wave and stab. In other words, it is simply an initial human weapon engraved on DNA!

Of course, it is also very difficult to master, which is the so-called difference between practicing the staff for a month and the spear for a lifetime.

The gun shaft chosen by Su Zhou is different from the soft white wax gun shafts and uniformly consistent wooden shafts that people generally imagine. The carefully selected chou wood is hardwood, and its flexibility can only be considered average. It is nearly two inches thick at the tail end and slightly thinner at the front end, making it easy to grasp the center of gravity for swinging and thrusting.

White wax rods have excessive elasticity and flexibility, which are not suitable for high-intensity combat, nor are they suitable for facing heavily armored opponents or monsters with high body strength. After all, with Su Zhou's strength and the monster's body strength, it is easy for Su Zhou to stab, and neither Su Zhou nor the monster is injured, but the wooden rod is bent into a U shape, making it inaccurate and unable to penetrate.

So this weapon must be harder, so that it can transmit Su Zhou's strength in the most direct and simple way. Adding a spearhead in the future will make it even more lethal—after all, weapon design varies from person to person.

Originally, an iron rod would actually be good, the most suitable for transcendent beings, but metal products are best customized, and a suitable one cannot be bought for the time being.

"This is actually quite conspicuous."

Observing the merchant's introduction and data, Shao Qiming frowned slightly. He turned his head and looked at his excited friend, and said with some embarrassment: "Carrying a hardwood stick more than two meters long… to be honest, it's more conspicuous than swords!"

"But at least I won't be arrested and sent to the police station."

Su Zhou was not the kind of person who cared about being conspicuous. As the son of a policeman, he was mainly concerned about whether he would be arrested.

Regarding his friend's worries, he explained: "It's okay, I won't take it out during the day—if you buy swords, axes, or hammers, you have to register them, and you have to register them for transportation, which is very troublesome, and the police might come to your door to ask questions if something happens. But if it's a wooden stick, it won't be so troublesome. At most, people will think, 'What is this person doing with this thing?' If someone asks, I can just say it's exercise equipment or a broom handle."

——Where does a two-meter-long broom handle come from?

Shao Qiming wanted to complain, but since it was just a transitional weapon anyway, he didn't think it was necessary to care too much. As long as Su Zhou himself felt that it wouldn't cause trouble.

Clicking to buy, the money to buy this thing was just a drop in the bucket compared to gold, silver, and jewels. After paying, Shao Qiming and Su Zhou began to discuss the strange news that had appeared around the world in the past ten years.

[January 2005, a sudden earthquake occurred in the northeastern mountainous area of Fusang. Earthquakes are not big news, but some people claimed that the earthquake opened up part of the mountain, and huge fossil-like traces of branches appeared in the mountain.]

[August 2006, a tragic shipwreck occurred off the coast of Goryeo. A huge cruise ship carrying 300 people sank for unknown reasons in just a few minutes and was swallowed by a whirlpool. No one on the entire ship survived.]

[April 2008, European Union, Mycenae, tourists on Mount Olympus saw strange light sources on the summit, like flames.]

[December 2011…]

Starting ten years ago, such examples, which are more like hallucinations than news, began to gradually appear all over the world, and became more and more numerous—presumably, other places were not without them, but they were completely concealed, without revealing any information.

Even within Zheng Guo, there are many tabloid news stories online that escaped unscathed and were not deleted.

[Shocking! A bizarre snow mountain thunderstorm appeared in the Northeast. Rumor has it that someone saw a thunderbolt descend from the sky and disappear into the mountain!]

[Terrifying! On a deserted bus late at night, those who board will involuntarily fall asleep. Although they are not injured when they wake up, they will be in the suburbs overnight!]

[Inconceivable! In a small village on the southwestern border, the livestock raised mysteriously died one after another, their blood sucked dry. It is suspected that unknown wild animals or mutated vampire bats have appeared!]

Although the news was full of the tone of shocking online news, which made people doubt the authenticity of the event, since Shao Qiming was able to select it separately to make a document, it meant that it must have its extraordinary aspects.

"Whether it's the international news above or the domestic short messages below, if you ask the locals, they will all clearly state that it happened—it's just that the news doesn't circulate, and generally no one cares about these things."

Obviously, Shao Qiming obtained local news through some channels. Not only that, but he also listed the covert changes in the global cultural industry in recent years.

He first pointed to the superhero movie series in the American Federation: "Although the superhero series has a long history, in recent years, those themes where ordinary people gain abilities from scratch after being bitten by insects, exposed to radiation rays, and encountering scientific accidents have been heavily adapted. And other countries' films also have similar tendencies, focusing on stories where ordinary people suddenly gain abilities and act as heroes."

"Then there is the global TV drama market, the popularity of various science fiction, doomsday, and magical themes—this is actually a very strange thing, because previously popular ones were generally love ethics dramas, but recently you see, whether it's a virus doomsday, a natural disaster doomsday, or a science fiction future world or a magical ancient world, there are TV dramas everywhere that are secretly popularizing some of the most basic survival knowledge."

"The international novel platform market is too broad, and it is difficult to summarize without big data, but in the case of domestic novel platforms, in recent years, paranormal horror themes have been greatly reduced, replaced by various urban abilities, and steampunk and cyberpunk works with modern alternate backgrounds. The former, I guess, is to avoid panic, and the latter is probably a vaccination."

"To sum up, that is, governments of various countries are doing the same thing. All kinds of time-travel and anti-time-travel themes are increasing, and even various film festivals and various projects have begun to focus on them. It can be clearly seen that the power of the state and capital is involved."

Finally, Shao Qiming concluded: "If you don't observe carefully, then all of the above, including all kinds of strange news, are very normal things. After all, who can say for sure about the changing trends of the world? However, with the premise of knowing 'Spiritual Energy Recovery', you can almost discover that starting ten years ago, the world has had a tendency to induce public opinion in secret… And it is also in these ten years that there have been basically no large-scale national conflicts around the world, and the entire world seems to have become strangely peaceful."

"So." Hearing this, Su Zhou recalled the Order Array that enveloped the world, and he nodded thoughtfully: "This indirectly confirms the fact that the recovery of spiritual energy is about to come."

"The question is, did the high-level officials around the world know about this from the beginning, or did they gradually discover it recently?"