Chaos in the City, Monsters Hidden

John squinted his eyes, not hesitating for a moment as he opened the car door.

Despite the samurai sword and clothes stained with spider blood in the trunk, which would definitely cause unnecessary trouble if discovered by the police.

He had anticipated such a situation and had a trick up his sleeve.

Under the watchful eyes of two officers, John walked to the back of the car and opened the trunk. Inside, there was nothing suspicious, just a pair of oddly smelling stinky boots.

"Is this good?" John turned and asked the two officers behind him.

They stepped forward for a quick check, found nothing suspicious, and smiled, "All good, thanks for cooperating."

With the barricade at the underground parking lifted, John drove away. As soon as he left the street, he took his belongings out of the system backpack.

The moment he opened the trunk, he had touched the golf club bag.

As long as the system recognized the items as his, they could be directly stored in the system backpack.

But with limited space in the backpack, John had to swap out the boots, enduring the foul smell for a bit.

John's phone began to vibrate continuously. He pulled over to check it – several missed calls and messages on instant messaging apps.

The energy from the portal in the mall had interfered with the signal, so he was only receiving them now.

Fifteen missed calls.

Ten from Coco, one from his dorm leader, and three from his academic advisor.

John opened the messaging app and saw the messages.

[Coco]:"John, the news just issued a disaster warning. Looks like there's going to be a typhoon. Don't go outside."

[Coco]:"Why can't I reach you by phone? Are you okay?"

[Coco]:"If you don't reply to me soon, I'm going to break down your door. Please respond when you see this!"

[Coco]: "Oh my god! I saw on TikTok that strange portals are appearing everywhere, and there might be terrifying monsters. Where are you? Are you safe?"

John couldn't help but smile. His feelings for Coco were complicated.

When John was a freshman three years ago, Coco was already a graduate student. That day, John's instructor was absent, and Coco came to substitute, marking their first meeting.

Coincidentally, John and his roommates went to a bar that evening and ran into a drunk Coco.

She was having trouble with some thugs who were harassing her, trying to take advantage of her drunken state. John didn't just stand by. He fought off the thugs and helped Coco out of the bar. Since then, Coco seemed to have latched onto John.

She didn't care whether John had a girlfriend or not, saying she could wait for him since they weren't married. It was fair competition.

Before being reborn, John had a harmonious relationship with Anna. Being an orphan, he longed to build a family of his own. So, he didn't take Coco's advances seriously, maintaining a certain distance.

But after being reborn, many things changed.

To awaken as a "Potion Master," John had to collect top-tier poisons.

He tried many times but, as a student, it was hard to get his hands on Succinylcholine, and most of what was traded on the black market was fake. Just when John was having a headache, he remembered that Coco, who was both beautiful and from a good family, was already an intern professor at Star Medical University. 

That led to their passionate encounter in a hotel last night.

John initially just wanted to use Coco, but he didn't expect her to care so much about him.

He typed a message and replied to Coco.

[John]: "I'm fine, stay safe yourself."

[Coco]: "If you had replied 5 minutes later, I would have really broken down your door. I thought you were so heartbroken you might use Succinylcholine to commit suicide!"

[John]: "You're overthinking it, I'm not that fragile."

[Coco]: "Then I'll head back to school. Because of this special incident, the dean is calling an emergency meeting. It seems like there's going to be a meeting for you students too, keep an eye on the class group."

John opened the class group chat.

Sure enough, it was blowing up with over three hundred unread messages.

The five portals in Star City had all appeared in densely populated areas.

There seemed to be one near the Star Medical University too, causing significant injuries. Apparently, a student from his class was injured and currently hospitalized.

The class group was already taking roll call, asking students to report their status.

John was the only one left, and the academic advisor was extremely anxious, not knowing if he was alive or dead. That's probably why the dorm leader had called.

John replied in the group, stating he was fine, and the academic advisor told him to hurry back to school for an emergency meeting.

Packing up his phone, John drove towards Star Medical University.

Several roads were blocked, armed police everywhere, and in some places, you could hear gunfire, probably clearing out monsters from the portals.

John sighed, "This cleaning method is useless..."

Humanity knew very little about the portals, unaware that monsters killed outside would revive inside in just a few hours.

To eradicate monsters, someone must enter the portal of the other world to kill the boss and close the portal.

Human firearms would fail inside the portal, and only awakeners could enter to fight, rendering regular troops useless.

Initially, when awakeners hadn't come into public view, the military could only besiege the portals, continuously clearing out the emerging monsters. And some portals would move if besieged for too long.

This is not a long-term solution.

John drove the car to the underground parking lot across from the school. He found a plastic bag, opened the trunk, and packed the pair of stinky agile boots. He planned to take them back to the dormitory for a wash.

Suddenly, a drop of dark green liquid fell onto John's trunk from the pipe above, and a green figure dropped down.

He instinctively jumped back two meters.

"Boom—"

His trunk was smashed in, and under the dim parking lot lights, a short, muscular, green-skinned monster wielding a stone hammer appeared.

[A level 5 Goblin Warrior] 

The goblin warrior's eyes gleamed cunningly, green saliva dripping from its mouth, looking wounded.

This goblin warrior has well-developed muscles and is equipped with simple wooden equipment.

John pulled out his samurai sword from his system backpack and couldn't help but grin and say, "Well? Is that the mouse that escaped from the door?"

The Goblin warrior exerted force under his feet, unleashing an astonishing jumping force, and swung his stone hammer directly towards John's head. But with this blow, John easily dodged and with a backhand strike, he chopped off the head of the Goblin warrior.

[Killing the Goblin Warrior, you've gained 500 experience points]

[Leveled up to 4]

[Attribute point+1 , Skill point+1]

[Current experience: 140/400]

[New skill acquired: Painkiller Potion]

[Skill Description: Painkiller Potion (can be mixed with toxins)]

[Cooldown: 24 hours]

[Production: 5 bottles]

[Effect: Provides strong pain relief with no side effects]

John closed the system panel and began making Painkiller Potions.

As a potion master, the initial advantage was that skills provided basic potions without needing any materials, allowing for direct, no-cost production, utilizing skills for early cooldown.

However, the potions now had a 32-hour shelf life, with efficacy diminishing over time, becoming ineffective after expiry.

Soon, five bottles of Painkiller Potion appeared on the ground in front of John.

"Hey! You! How dare you steal our prey!"

John frowned and looked over.

Not far away, two men and one woman, who looked like college students, walked over with weapons in their hands.

John put away the painkillers in front of him and looked at the three people approaching with his samurai sword.