Yan Hai's Covetous Gaze

European Union, Paris Base City.

Inside a quiet villa.

An old man with graying hair sat cross-legged in a silent room. His long, disheveled hair reached his waist, and he looked like a piece of withered wood, devoid of any vitality.

In front of him was a screen.

The screen displayed intelligence regarding Su Zhe!

When Zhuge Tao reported the intelligence to his superiors, he naturally considered confidentiality. However, the battle against the Devourer Beast had just concluded, and all nations were in a state of reconstruction. Even within the Extreme Martial Arts Hall, there was no energy to spare for rooting out internal moles.

The HR Alliance naturally had its own people planted within the Extreme Martial Arts Hall.

The intelligence about Su Zhe leaked out just like that, falling into the hands of Yan Hai.

Yan Hai was an Inspector serving the HR Alliance, and his strength was incomparably formidable.

Before the rise of Luo Feng, he had been a candidate with hopes of competing for the position of the Fifth Speaker.

With all the powerhouses who ranked above him now dead, Hong and Thunder God reduced to vegetative states, and Luo Feng having perished alongside the Devourer Beast... Yan Hai had become one of the strongest humans on Earth.

It was precisely because the battle against the Devourer Beast had only just ended that no one could yet confirm whether Luo Feng was truly dead or not.

Otherwise, Yan Hai would have long since been unable to suppress his ambition and begun laying out his plans.

Because of this.

After receiving the intelligence sent back by the HR Alliance, Yan Hai fell into deep hesitation.

"Leaping from an intermediate warrior to a War God in a single day... This speed is a hundred times more bizarre than that of Luo Feng back in the day!" Yan Hai's voice was hoarse, like dry, rotting wood.

"Luo Feng has only just gone silent, and now a more bizarre Su Zhe appears? Hmph, is it the Spirit of Plants and Trees, or an inheritance from an ancient civilization?"

"That Luo Feng was only able to become so powerful because he obtained an inheritance from an ancient civilization."

"But it still took him three or four years to go from an ordinary martial artist to an Invincible War God, and eventually a Planet-level powerhouse."

"This Su Zhe... what kind of treasure has he obtained?" Yan Hai muttered to himself.

In Yan Hai's view, Luo Feng's ability to possess such strength was inseparable from the inheritance of an ancient civilization.

As for Su Zhe, he was merely someone who, like Luo Feng, had struck gold and happened to obtain some treasures or an inheritance.

In Yan Hai's turbid eyes, the light of greed and inquiry grew increasingly intense.

He did not care if Su Zhe was a genius; he cared about the secret hidden behind this "genius," the secret that allowed one to advance by leaps and bounds in a single day.

"It is worth investigating." Yan Hai finally made his decision. "Pull up the combat footage of Su Zhe."

As an Inspector for the HR Alliance, Yan Hai naturally had the authority to mobilize the HR Alliance's satellites to obtain footage of Su Zhe's battles.

Soon.

After Yan Hai mobilized the satellite passing over Jiangnan Base City, he obtained the combat footage of Su Zhe.

"Hiss!!!"

Upon seeing the recording, Yan Hai gasped.

In the footage, Su Zhe's hands transformed into sharp claws, easily slaughtering one beast-soldier-level monster after another. Wherever he passed, the monsters were left without a trace of bone, all of them devoured by Su Zhe!

This bizarre scene was something Yan Hai had never seen before.

Is this a human?

"Devouring monsters? Physical mutation? This is definitely not something an ordinary genius can achieve! Those idiots at the Extreme Martial Arts Hall just think of him as another 'Luo Feng,' heh..."

Yan Hai sneered, his shriveled lips pulling into a cold arc, his eyes flashing with undisguised greed and wariness.

So that was it.

Improving strength rapidly through devouring? It even seems to allow the body to evolve?

Through fragments of information from ancient civilization ruins, Yan Hai knew that there were some very special life forms in the universe that possessed extremely powerful innate talents—the Devourer Beast, for instance, was exactly like that.

Yan Hai became even more interested in Su Zhe.

Originally, he had only thought that if Su Zhe were truly a genius, he would find a way to recruit him, and if he were relying on some treasures, he would find a way to seize them...

Now it seemed that this power of Su Zhe's, the ability to devour and grow stronger, was exactly what he, Yan Hai, should obtain!

"It seems I should go and meet this Su Zhe."

Yan Hai stood up, deciding to personally travel to Huaxia to see Su Zhe.

He could not rest easy if anyone else took action.

The sense of threat Su Zhe gave him was even greater than that of Luo Feng. In Yan Hai's heart, Su Zhe was an existence on par with the Devourer Beast. If he did not strangle Su Zhe in the cradle early, Su Zhe would surpass him with a terrifyingly fast growth rate.

"Jia Yi is dead, too."

"Come to think of it, I haven't returned to Huaxia in decades."

A trace of resentment flashed in Yan Hai's eyes. It was all because of that Jia Yi!

Back then, he and Jia Yi were the two great powerhouses of Huaxia, and their strength had been very close.

However, due to irreconcilable differences in their philosophies, he was eventually forced by Jia Yi to leave his homeland, flee Huaxia, and hide away on the distant European Continent, not daring to set foot back in Huaxia for decades.

And now.

With the four Councilors fallen and Luo Feng gone, there would be absolutely no one left who could stop him.

City 003.

Inside the city, on the top floor of an abandoned shopping mall.

Su Zhe's figure swept across the rooftop observation deck like a phantom.

On the street below, several wandering Beast-General-level Iron-Armored Bulls didn't even have time to let out a terrified cry before their brains were pierced by several flying daggers, after which they were dragged by Psychic Power before Su Zhe to be devoured.

[Devoured Apprentice-level Tier 6 monster, gained 0.6 Devour Points]

[Devoured Apprentice-level Tier 5 monster, gained 0.5 Devour Points]

[Devour Points: 9993.5 (10000)]

Cold notifications flashed before Su Zhe's eyes.

Only the final bit remained.

After hours of hunting, Su Zhe's strength had reached the critical threshold of an Intermediate War God after devouring numerous Lord-level monsters, and he could break through at any moment.

The monsters in the vicinity had also been basically cleared out by Su Zhe.

Being near the city center of City 003, Beast-Soldier-level monsters were already quite rare; most were Beast-General or Lord-level monsters.

Su Zhe had already locked onto the location of a High-Lord-level monster.

As long as he killed that monster, along with the guards by its side, Su Zhe would be able to meet the conditions and obtain the second reward from the panel!

Su Zhe did not hesitate any longer.

"Swish--"

Spreading his wings, Su Zhe flew toward the path he had come from. In the distance stood a massive bathhouse sign, though it had become dilapidated after decades of neglect.

The monster occupying this bathhouse was a High-Lord-level Shadow Dragon.

Any monster capable of bearing the name "Dragon" was, without exception, a powerhouse among its peers.

The Shadow Dragon Su Zhe had found was over sixty meters long, and its strength was already extremely close to a King-level monster—that is, the Planetary level. In human terms, it was fully capable of rivaling an Invincible War God.

By killing it, Su Zhe would not only gain enough Devour Points to redeem his reward, but he would also be able to take the opportunity to break through to the rank of Intermediate War God!