Mark

The Black Giant Ape roared at the sky, venting the violence in its heart for a while before slowly calming down and lowering its head to survey its surroundings.

There was no living monster left nearby. The rage filling the giant ape's mind began to subside at once, the red glow in its eyes dimming as its pupils returned to their normal black.

At the same time, its swollen muscles shrank back to normal, making the giant ape look a little smaller.

However, although he had exited his enraged state, Jiang Hou still maintained his giant ape appearance. It seemed this form could be switched freely, with no time limit.

Sizzle!! A stabbing pain suddenly came from the back of the giant ape's hand. Looking down, he saw a patch of black fur on the back of his left hand burning under an invisible force, forming a black Cross Diamond Mark in the blink of an eye.

At the same time, a stream of information poured into the Black Giant Ape's mind through the mark.

"The final step of the Life Transformation Ritual has been completed. The Bloody Trial is complete. You have obtained an Inheritance Mark and may enter and leave the ruins during the Sun and Moon Rotation."

"The bearer of this mark must travel to the Inheritance Temple and activate it, becoming a true inheritor of the Ancient Era and setting foot upon the God and Demon Path of eternal life."

"Life Transformation Ritual..." The Black Giant Ape froze slightly, then turned to look at the enormous skeleton in the distance, his gaze falling upon the blood array.

Crack!! Cracks appeared across the skeleton, spreading throughout its entire length before it finally collapsed with a thunderous crash before the Black Giant Ape's eyes, shattering into countless boulders of varying sizes.

Sure enough, his resurrection and the behemoth bloodline were both connected to that blood array.

Now that the ritual was complete, the skeleton's power had also been exhausted. Huff! Hot air blasted from the giant ape's nostrils as even more questions rose in his mind.

Ruins, Inheritance Mark, temple, God and Demon Path... But before the Black Giant Ape could think any further, an intense hunger erupted from within his body.

I'm so hungry! The Black Giant Ape swallowed. The sudden hunger was incredibly intense, so intense that he felt he could swallow a whole cow in one bite.

Gulp! The giant ape swallowed again and looked at the monster corpse in his hand.

Dark red bloody foam seeped from the wound where the monster had been torn apart. The smell of blood somehow seemed rather appetizing to the Black Giant Ape.

It should... be edible, right?

The Black Giant Ape looked around. The place was dead and barren, without even the slightest trace of food. There was not even any wood or dry grass for making a fire.

Meanwhile, the hunger inside the Black Giant Ape grew stronger and stronger, his stomach hollowing inward from starvation. The source of this hunger was obvious—the consumption from his earlier talent outburst.

Whatever. I'll take a bite and see.

With that thought, the Black Giant Ape suppressed his aversion to raw meat and opened his mouth, revealing four fangs and a row of neat, sharp teeth.

Rip!! One bite, and a rich bloody flavor flooded the giant ape's taste buds.

It seemed... kind of tasty.

The giant ape viciously tore off a chunk of flesh from the Black Ant Ferocious Beast and slowly chewed it. Then he realized it really did taste quite good. Unable to resist, he swallowed and took another bite.

Mm, delicious. The Black Giant Ape began devouring it in huge mouthfuls.

Whether because of his different biological structure or because the flesh of these monster beasts was genuinely delicious, the Black Giant Ape found it more fragrant the more he ate, and ate faster and faster.

As he ate and his stomach digested the food, the intense hunger in his body eased somewhat. At the same time, a faint warm current spread through his body from his stomach.

Before long, the Black Giant Ape had eaten both Black Ant Ferocious Beasts clean, then instinctively looked toward the other corpses.

Eat. Eat them all.

Across the barren, cracked earth, the Black Giant Ape tore through the corpses of beast after beast, ripping off flesh and swallowing it in huge bites. The scene was savage.

By the time he had finished eating all fourteen beasts, two hours had passed. Bones and organs littered the ground, and only then did the Black Giant Ape finally stop, still somewhat unsatisfied.

"Finally full."

Hm, why did that collapsed wall up ahead seem a little shorter? Confusion appeared in the Black Giant Ape's eyes as he looked toward the ruins several dozen meters away.

Those beasts had crawled out from there earlier.

Before collapsing, those buildings must have been magnificent. Even their remaining foundations were over ten meters tall, while several broken stone pillars still stood dozens of meters high.

Yet the Black Giant Ape somehow felt that, compared to earlier, those buildings looked a little smaller from his perspective.

No, it was not that the buildings had become smaller. He had grown taller.

Realizing this, the giant ape willed the Attribute Page into view. The note under the bloodline section had changed to juvenile form, ordinary behemoth, current height: 5.3 meters.

And it was not just his Behemoth Form. The data for his human form had changed as well.

His strength had risen from 21 to 29, agility had become 18, and defense had increased by 3 points. Strength had seen the greatest increase.

After eating more than ten Black Ant Ferocious Beasts, the converted biological energy had not only replenished the consumption from his outburst, but also made him taller and larger overall while causing his attributes to soar.

Was this the effect of the passive talent, Devouring Evolution? Very good. Very powerful. The Black Giant Ape's lips curled upward in a savage smile.

The giant ape bloodline he had gained from returning from the dead was merely a transformation ability.

What truly gave him limitless possibilities was the inconspicuous talent below it, Devouring Evolution, allowing him to evolve into a terrifying behemoth thousands, even tens of thousands, of meters tall.

Thinking of that, anticipation appeared in the Black Giant Ape's eyes.

As long as they were men, they must have all fantasized as children about possessing great power—flying through the heavens and burrowing through the earth, shattering mountains and splitting the land with a wave of the hand, standing above all living beings.

But fantasies were ultimately fantasies. In the Real World, everyone was ordinary, at most trampling a few rapeseed flowers to vent their destructive urges.

But now, when Jiang Hou had truly gained extraordinary power and could transform into a behemoth at will, the feeling in his heart was impossible to describe.

If he had to use one word to describe it, it was awesome. Absolutely awesome!

Huff!

After calming his excitement a little, the Black Giant Ape looked toward the building ruins. After a slight hesitation, he began walking over with heavy steps.

Unfortunately, aside from some weathered foundations and a few broken stone pillars, the ruins contained only a pitch-black hole in the middle that emitted a foul stench.

That underground hole was clearly the nest of those black ant beasts, but it was a little too small, only a meter in diameter. He could not fit inside.

Bang, bang!! The Black Giant Ape grabbed a Stone Pillar with his hands and nimbly climbed upward with his massive body. Soon, he reached the top of a pillar over fifty meters high and looked in every direction.

His eyesight was a little better in giant ape form, allowing him to vaguely see several hundred meters away.

But apart from the Black Mist hanging everywhere, there was still nothing to see. It was dead, oppressive, like a hopeless world plunged into apocalypse.

The Black Giant Ape fell silent for a moment, then prepared to leave.

Too much had happened today. He needed to return and sort it all out, but there was something he needed to take before leaving.

Boom! The ground shook as the Black Giant Ape leaped down from dozens of meters high. Then he ran with long strides like a human, quickly arriving before the rubble from the collapsed skeleton.

After searching around, the Black Giant Ape found his phone wedged between two huge rocks.

The instant Jiang Hou had undergone Giant Transformation earlier, the clothes on his body had turned into fragments that scattered everywhere. Fortunately, his Hua Long Brand phone was tough enough to withstand impacts and falls, leaving only a few scratches on the back.

Buzz! The mark on the giant ape's hand emitted a faint black light, and the surrounding space rippled like the surface of a lake, sending out circles of transparent waves.

At the same time, in the Real World, a massive figure appeared out of thin air in a pitch-black alley. But immediately afterward, its enormous body rapidly shrank like a deflating balloon.

In the blink of an eye, Jiang Hou had returned to normal, and all the black fur on his body had vanished.

If not for the traces of dark red blood still on his body, he might have thought everything that had happened earlier was a dream.

At that moment, a figure riding an electric scooter appeared at the entrance to the alley. He looked ahead into the darkness in surprise. "Were the streetlights on this road not turned on today?" As he spoke, he switched on his high beams, and the glaring light illuminated the entire alley at once.

The instant the delivery rider turned on his high beams, something seemed to flash past in the distance. But when he looked carefully, there was nothing there.

"Strange, were my eyes playing tricks on me?" The delivery rider shook his head and rode his electric scooter through the alley.

"Good thing. I was almost seen."

In the bushes behind the alley wall, Jiang Hou cautiously looked around. Only after confirming that no one was nearby did he let out a breath of relief.

With nearly 30 points of strength and 18 points of agility, Jiang Hou's physique in his normal state already far surpassed that of an ordinary person. He easily vaulted over the wall, which was more than two meters tall, with a single jump.

This residential complex was also where his home was located.

Since it was an old complex built twenty years ago, the trees were lush and the lighting dim. It was already ten at night, with few pedestrians around, making the place very quiet.

That was perfect for Jiang Hou. He carefully moved along the wall, avoiding the surveillance cameras at the intersections, until he reached the back of Building Five, Unit One next door.

He definitely could not take the elevator looking like this, so he looked up at the fourth floor, where his room was.

Jiang Hou held his phone in his mouth and grabbed the exposed drainage pipe with both hands. His powerful grip let him easily climb upward, and he reached the fourth floor without incident. Pulling open the unlocked window, he directly climbed inside.

Only when his feet touched the floor of his room did Jiang Hou's taut nerves finally relax completely. "Finally home."

His room was fairly large. A row of wardrobes stood by the door, a double bed sat in the middle with a passageway one and a half meters wide left open, and a desk stood beside the window.

Jiang Hou first pulled out several tissues from the desk and wiped his hands. Then he opened the wardrobe, took out his pajamas, and also grabbed an old shirt to wrap around his waist.

After finishing that, Jiang Hou opened the door a crack and looked outside.

The hallway outside was dimly lit, with only a spotlight in the living room switched on.

"No one." Jiang Hou's eyes lit up. He quickly opened the door and rushed into the adjacent bathroom in two steps.

He closed the door and turned on the shower. Soon, hot water sprayed out, washing the dried blood from Jiang Hou's body and turning into dark red dirty water that flowed down the drain.

The blood of those monsters had become inert after their deaths. Other than smelling bad, it contained no harmful substances, so he did not need to worry about it causing any "pollution" when it went down the drain.

Feeling the warmth of the hot water falling over him, Jiang Hou slowly began recalling everything that had happened today.

Especially the feeling of transforming into a giant ape, including the enraged state.

In his enraged form, he still retained some rationality, but he could not control the rage in his heart. He was like a true behemoth—violent, crazed, and fearless.

Especially when he had smashed those monsters apart, it had felt incredibly satisfying.

And although those black ant beasts had been crushed by him, they were actually very powerful. They were twice as fast as ordinary people, and when they struggled in his grip, their explosive strength reached several hundred kilograms.

Their bodies were also tough, their scales as hard as iron plating.

Combined with the sharp claws that could leave deep scratches in rock, ordinary people would only be slaughtered if they encountered them, unless they had guns.

Recalling the battle, Jiang Hou felt that his base strength in giant ape form had increased by at least more than tenfold. Without data from tests, he could not calculate the exact increase.

His speed had also increased greatly, and his defense had improved. Combined with the fivefold strength boost of the enraged state, that was why the giant ape form's strength was so outrageous.

That was equivalent to more than a hundred times the strength of an ordinary person. With such a huge body, even a single punch carried an impact of dozens of tons, if not a hundred. If he went berserk, he could destroy a building in just a few blows.

Of course, that meant the kind of civilian building that was only two or three stories tall.