Yu Xing let go.
He lifted his head, drawing his lips away from the vessel's pale neck. A thread of thick, dark-red blood stretched between them. Casually, he ran his tongue over the crimson staining his lower lip, gathering up the last trace of nourishment.
His body trembled faintly.
It was the quiver of someone sated, almost exhilarated.
The abundant "nourishment," tainted with high-level corruption, was swallowed and absorbed, steadily transforming into the power of the curse within him. A long-forgotten, solid sense of "satisfaction" climbed up his spine, nearly drawing a sigh from him.
The cursed branches surrounding him seemed to feel that fullness, too. They slowly writhed and unfurled with lazy pleasure.
The branches rubbed against one another, whispering a faint rustle that only Yu Xing could clearly hear.
[So tasty! More!]
[Grandma and Grandpa, it's about time you let me eat my fill!]
[I want to be an astronaut. Grandma and Grandpa were so happy, they gave me my favorite—]
[Big slap in the face.]
[Over there, there's something even bigger... in the sky.]
The branches' "gaze" pierced through the attic and pointed toward the sky. Their subconscious greed fixed on the Blood Moon as it sank lower, radiating endless filth and energy.
Following that sensation, Yu Xing looked up.
His pupils reflected the terrifying celestial body, which filled almost his entire field of vision.
Its murky, dark-red light shrouded everything. The cratered surface, scarred like festering wounds, seemed close enough to touch.
He looked at the moon, then lowered his head slightly and glanced at the "vessel" in his arms, whose neck wound was slowly writhing as it tried to close.
Beside Yu Xing's towering six-foot-three frame, the vessel's slender build looked especially frail.
"That moon," Yu Xing said, his voice a little hoarse from swallowing