I'm not just human!

Chapter 9 The Gourmet, the Patriarch of Ten Thousand Poisons

In fact, Xia Fa already had some guesses about these occult concepts.

But the more vaguely you understand this thing, the more dangerous it becomes, because it can affect your judgment at crucial moments.

Therefore, he decided to ask questions and get to the bottom of it.

Chestnut, with a smile in her eyes, replied without hesitation:

"This information was originally going to be shared with you gradually starting tomorrow, but since you asked today, I can tell you in advance."

Xia Fa immediately perked up his ears and became fully focused.

Then he noticed that the doll girl Beneath, who had been tugging at his clothes, also looked serious.

All that could be heard was Chestnut speaking slowly, enunciating each word clearly.

"First of all, the place we are in is a kind of ghost realm, commonly known as a cave."

"I bet you accidentally stepped into the hole that suddenly appeared and that's why you fell in, right? And you've probably noticed that this hole is like a small, independent world."

"This is one of the many characteristics of the Ghost Realm. Ghost Realms exist widely in the universe, but they are almost all independent small worlds or subspaces."

"In reality, it's very rare for a region to directly form a ghost realm. Once it does, it's a catastrophic supernatural event."

"There are many types of eerie realms. There are exploratory eerie realms, like this cave; there are high-risk eerie realms, like the No. 12 subway platform; and there are eerie realms based on civilized clusters—"

Beneath suddenly raised her little hand excitedly:

"I know! My homeland, the Endless Realm, is a bizarre realm of civilization clusters!"

Chestnut looked at her with affection, nodded with a light laugh, and continued:

"Yes, the Endless Realm is the home of the doll girls. It is said that its area is no less than that of a super-large star system."

Upon hearing this, Xia Fa pressed for confirmation, asking:

"That Eagle-level Ghost Domain that Glenn mentioned..."

Chestnut smiled and said:

"This is what I'm going to introduce next. Just like how we superhumans are divided into levels from low to high: bacteria, insects, eagles, wolves, elephants, and whales, the Ghost Realm is also roughly divided according to this standard."

She paused slightly, then continued:

"The significance of this classification is that, for example, if I am a wolf-level superhuman, I don't need to take a sanity-stabilizing potion when I enter the Eagle-level or lower Ghost Realm. But if I reach the wolf level or above, I must take it. And if it's a higher level, like the Whale-level Ghost Realm, taking it won't help. I still have a high chance of being mentally corrupted."

Xia Fa nodded slightly, seemingly lost in thought.

He already knew about the power levels of the superhumans—fungi, insects, eagles, wolves, elephants, and whales—when he first transmigrated here.

This is practically universal knowledge, the kind that even elementary school students know.

As for what goes beyond that, he wasn't too sure; the extraordinary individuals kept that a secret.

It is said that the very names of extraordinary beings at the whale level or above can have a mental impact and contaminate ordinary people.

Moreover, he remembered the classification of extraordinary strength among fungi, insects, eagles, wolves, elephants, and whales very clearly when he first heard it, because it was so easy to remember.

For example, which is stronger, an insect or an eagle?

Under normal circumstances, it would definitely be an eagle, and so on, and you'll remember it in no time.

Beneath's golden-red eyes darted around, seemingly trying to learn and memorize, and she giggled as she spoke:

"No wonder they were so surprised that you were so mentally stable after falling into the cave without taking a sanity-stabilizing potion, Xia Fa."

Chestnut smiled slightly, looked at Xia Fa, and said:

"To be honest, if I hadn't already known that your mental stability far surpassed that of ordinary people, and even exceeded that of many extraordinary individuals, I would probably be even more surprised than they were."

Xia Fa was a little embarrassed by their praise, scratched his head, and said very modestly:

"Perhaps this is what they call extraordinary talent. There's nothing we can do about it; that's just how geniuses are."

The doll girl immediately gave him a disdainful look, while Chestnut smiled gently.

Then, Chestnut continued:

"As for physical entities, that's quite simple. Generally speaking, physical entities are a very special, extremely powerful, and almost impossible-to-deal-with type of existence in the realm of the supernatural. They may not even be living beings; they could be a house or a chair."

Xia Fa immediately focused his attention and continued listening to the beautiful rat girl, who was also the archbishop, explain things.

Chestnut then continued:

"For example, in our Augu Kingdom, the gourmet who is feared by everyone is a real person. He will appear as a street vendor, restaurant owner, bartender, etc., and hand you a menu that is full of meat dishes."

Xia Fa had never heard of this gourmet's famous name, and asked with considerable interest:

"and then?"

Chestnut's tone became ethereal and uncertain, as if he were telling a horror story:

"The menu was full of dishes like braised liver, heart and lung soup, and fried chicken legs, but you could only order one. After you ordered, the gourmet would quickly bring out your dish, and they were all rare delicacies. But after you finished eating, something extremely terrifying would happen!"

Beneath was trembling with fear:

"Wha...what is it?"

Chestnut said, word by word:

"If you order braised liver, you'll find your liver is gone after you finish eating it. If it's fried chicken leg, you'll trip and fall the moment you stand up because you've lost a leg. If it's heart and lung soup..."

"Wow!!!"

The doll girl screamed in fright and immediately grabbed Xia Fa's arm, her delicate body trembling uncontrollably.

Xia Fa felt the delicate warmth emanating from his arm and couldn't help but chuckle.

"That's easy, if I run into him I just won't order anything, right?"

Chestnut snapped his fingers:

"That's right! This is the best way to deal with gourmets!"

Xia Fa hadn't expected these entities to be so interesting, so he pressed for details:

"Any other physical intelligence? I'd like to take precautions."

Chestnut gathered a stray black hair that had mischievously popped out from her temple and said:

"There are many, such as the House of Imagination, the Patriarch of Ten Thousand Poisons, and so on. In terms of their level of evil, they all surpass the Gourmet. Tomorrow I will give you a physical witnessing notebook. You must read it carefully, it might save your life in the future."

When she mentioned the entity "Patriarch of Ten Thousand Poisons," Xia Fa clearly felt the doll-like girl clinging to his arm tremble slightly.

This made him somewhat suspicious, but he didn't dare to confirm it and planned to wait until he received the physical witness notes tomorrow to take a look.

As they were talking, suddenly, Chestnut stopped and pointed to a spot not far ahead.

"We've reached the exit. Hehe, my escort mission is complete. I was lucky; I didn't encounter anything strange or monstrous."

Xia Fa looked in the direction she was pointing, but his pupils contracted slightly.

The so-called "exit" turned out to be a hole the size of a well.

The edge of the cave entrance was covered with rough bristles, and inside were rings of teeth arranged downwards, almost reaching the bottom.

This... isn't this the hole he accidentally fell into before?

Surprisingly, the exit and the entrance look exactly the same.

"Oh, right."

Chestnut suddenly thought of something and said with a smile:

"Since you won't be affected by the cave's mental pollution, you can come and explore often during this time when you have free time. This fixed exit corresponds to a fixed entrance, and there's generally no danger around this entrance. If you can dig up a pall fruit, the church will buy it at a price higher than the market price!"

Porberry?

Xia Fa paused slightly, his expression somewhat strange, and said:

"Um... I think I happen to have one of these pears here."