The path to the Northwest Town was dusty.
Tanjiro was adjusting his backpack, looking determined.
"Su Chen-san," Tanjiro said, looking back. "Are you ready? The crow said the Swamp Demon is dangerous."
Su Chen stopped walking. He stood at the crossroads, his hand resting on the hilt of his Indigo Nichirin Blade.
"Tanjiro," Su Chen said calmly. "You go ahead."
"Eh? Why?"
"I have some personal matters to attend to.
A... family ritual." Su Chen lied effortlessly. "I will catch up to you before you reach the town. Don't worry, I'm fast."
Tanjiro hesitated, sniffing the air. He smelled no deception, only a strange sense of urgency from Su Chen.
"Okay! Be careful, Su Chen-san!"
Tanjiro bowed and ran off down the road, his checkered haori fluttering in the wind.
Su Chen watched him disappear. Once the boy was gone, Su Chen's expression shifted from friendly to cold and calculating.
"System," he commanded. "Open
Dimensional Settings."
[Dimensional Control Panel]
[Current World: Demon Slayer]
[Status: Active]
[Time Flow Ratio: 1:30]
"Change setting: Time Freeze."
[Warning: Freezing the world requires 10 System Points per day to maintain... Just kidding. Host has Sovereign Authority. Cost is 0.]
[Freezing World Timeline...]
The wind stopped. The falling leaf in front of Su Chen hung suspended in mid-air. The clouds froze. The distant sound of birds vanished. The entire universe of Demon Slayer paused like a video.
"Perfect," Su Chen nodded. "I can come back to this exact second whenever I want. I won't miss the Swamp Demon loot."
But right now, he had to go back.
The Earth was expanding. Monsters were evolving. If he spent too much time playing samurai, he'd return to Earth only to find a Level 50 Dragon nesting in his apartment.
"Return."
Whoosh.
Earth. Jinghai District. 18th Floor Apartment.
The transition was jarring.
One moment, he was breathing the crisp, clean air of the Taisho era.
The next, he was assaulted by the heavy, humid, metallic stench of the Apocalypse.
Su Chen materialized in his living room.
It had only been 24 hours since he left (Earth time), but the room looked different.
The single window he hadn't boarded up was cracked. Strange, purple vines had crawled in from the outside wall, pulsing with a faint bioluminescence. They were wrapping around his TV stand.
[Location: Earth (Mutated)]
[Environmental Mana Density: Rising]
[Global Evolution Stage: Day 2]
Su Chen flexed his hands.
He felt... heavy.
Earth's gravity was slightly higher than the Demon Slayer world, or perhaps the atmospheric pressure had increased due to the planet's expansion.
But Su Chen wasn't the weakling who left yesterday.
He took a deep breath. [Total Concentration Breathing: Constant].
His heart pumped efficiently. His muscles, enhanced by the Hand Demon's flesh manipulation and Tanjiro's training, adapted instantly.
"Status Check."
[Name: Su Chen]
[Level: 4 (Elite Human)]
[Strength: 21] (Enhanced by Breathing + Flesh Manipulation passive)
[Agility: 19]
[Constitution: 25] (High Regen + Beast Meat diet)
[Spirit: 18]
[Skills:] Absolute Copy, Infinite Storage, Water Breathing (Intermediate), Flesh Manipulation (Basic), Olfactory Sense, Night Vision.
"Strength 21..." Su Chen looked at his fist. "The average adult male is 10. I am twice as strong as a peak human. With Breathing techniques, I can burst that to 30 or 40."
He looked at the purple vines.
He drew his Indigo Nichirin Blade.
Swish.
He didn't use a technique. He just swung.
The blade severed the vines effortlessly. The vines writhed and hissed like snakes, spraying acidic green sap before dying.
"Mutated flora," Su Chen noted, storing the vine sample. "Even plants are becoming predatory."
He couldn't stay in this apartment. It was a concrete coffin.
He needed to move. He needed a vehicle. And he needed to reach the Industrial District.
Why?
Because to build a proper Mobile Fortress (RV), he needed a heavy truck base, fuel, and reinforced steel. He couldn't just "copy" a luxury RV out of thin air if he didn't have a template first.
"Time to leave."
Su Chen packed his few remaining furniture items into his Storage (you never know when you need a sofa). He unlocked the barricaded door and stepped into the hallway.
The Streets of Jinghai.
The elevator was dead. Su Chen took the stairs down from the 18th floor.
On the 12th floor, he encountered three zombies.
They were banging on a door.
"Grahh!"
They turned when they heard footsteps.
Su Chen didn't stop walking.
He held his sword loosely at his side.
"Water Breathing, Third Form: Flowing Dance."
He moved like water. He weaved between the three zombies in a single fluid motion.
The blade flashed three times.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Three heads rolled.
He didn't even get blood on his clothes.
[EXP +30]
"Too weak," Su Chen muttered. "Level 1 Zombies are no longer worth my time."
He kicked open the fire exit door and stepped out onto the street.
The sight that greeted him was awe-inspiring and terrifying.
The street had widened. The building across the road was now a tiny speck in the distance. The asphalt was cracked, with massive trees growing out of the fissures.
Cars were overturned, rusted as if they had been there for years (a side effect of the chaotic time-space mana).
SCREEE!
A high-pitched screech tore through the air.
Su Chen stopped. His [Olfactory Sense] picked up a scent.
Rust. Pheromones. Chitin.
"Above."
Su Chen looked up.
Clinging to the side of his apartment building, about five stories up, was a monster.
It looked like a Praying Mantis, but it was the size of a minivan. Its body was metallic green, and its forelimbs weren't just serrated—they were literal blades of bone that gleamed like steel.
[Target: Steel-Blade Mantis]
[Level: 6 (Elite Beast)]
[Attributes: High Agility, Armor Piercing.]
[Weakness: Joint connections.]
"Level 6," Su Chen smiled. His eyes narrowed. "Finally, a test subject."
The Mantis saw him. It chattered its mandibles and pushed off the wall.
It fell toward him like a green missile, its blade-arms raised to guillotine him.
Su Chen didn't dodge.
He stood his ground on the cracked asphalt.
He inhaled.
Oxygen flooded every capillary. His legs bulged slightly as he activated [Flesh Manipulation] to reinforce his calves.
"Water Breathing, Eighth Form: Waterfall Basin."
He swung his sword upward in a vertical arc, meeting the falling monster head-on.
CLANG!
Sparks flew.
The Mantis's blade-arm collided with the Nichirin Sword.
For a second, they were deadlocked. The Mantis weighed half a ton and had gravity on its side.
"Heavy," Su Chen gritted his teeth. "But..."
He twisted his wrist.
"Soft style."
He shifted the energy of the sword from a block to a parry. The water energy diverted the Mantis's force to the side.
The Mantis crashed into the ground next to him, cracking the concrete.
Before the insect could recover, Su Chen spun around.
"First Form: Water Surface Slash!"
He aimed not for the steel blade, but for the neck joint.
Squelch.
The indigo blade sliced through the softer exoskeleton of the neck. Green blood sprayed.
The massive triangular head of the Mantis rolled away.
[Target Neutralized: Steel-Blade Mantis (Level 6)]
[Experience Gained: 150]
[Drop: Mantis Blade (Rare Material)]
Su Chen flicked the green blood off his sword and sheathed it.
"Clean cut."
He walked over to the twitching corpse.
He placed his hand on the massive, serrated blade-arm of the insect.
"This material is harder than standard steel. It's organic metal."
[Target: Steel-Blade Mantis (Corpse)]
[Copyable Attributes:]
Chitin Armor (Passive): Increases skin density.
Reflexes (Passive): Increases reaction speed by 10%.
Blade Mastery (Instinct): Proficiency in dual-wielding blades.
"Copy: Reflexes and Chitin Armor."
[Copying...]
[Constitution +2]
[Agility +2]
Su Chen felt his skin itch as it became slightly tougher. It wasn't visible, but his skin could now likely stop a regular kitchen knife without breaking.
"Store Corpse."
He stored the massive bug. The meat might be edible (tastes like crab?), and the blades could be used to reinforce his future vehicle.
He looked down the massive, jungle-filled avenue.
Somewhere out there, amidst the chaos, was a car dealership or a logistics center.
"I need a car," Su Chen adjusted his backpack. "And I need to see if there are any other survivors worth recruiting. Or looting."
He began to run.
With his stats, he moved at 60km/h, a blur speeding through the ruins of civilization.