Devour

Devour

The mutated woman's face had been smashed into a bloody pulp. Like a wounded beast, she crawled on all fours, her blood-red eyes filled with venomous hatred. Yet she had also grown cautious, not daring to attack rashly. With a savage gaze, she stared at Mu Xiao as though he were prey.

This is bad! That mutated monster actually has emotions—and decent intelligence! Mu Xiao found himself in a difficult position. He had run into the worst possible scenario. If he fled now, the cunning mutant would immediately attack. But if he did not flee, his body would grow increasingly hungry. He had no idea whether he could hold out long enough to kill the mutated woman. And if another mutant appeared, he would be dead for sure.

Inside the secret room on the fifth floor, Mu Xiao had personally watched a guard evolve into a mutant—but it had not been this mutated woman.

Under normal circumstances, mutants would not remain in the same place together for long. They also possessed the urge to devour the flesh and blood of their own kind. Once two mutants encountered each other, they would fight. Thus, the chances of Mu Xiao running into two mutants were low. Still, he was at a disadvantage now, and he could not help but worry.

There was no chance of scaring her away. The hatred in those blood-red eyes was unmistakable—a gaze that would not rest until one of them was dead!

"Damn it. I'm going all in!"

Mu Xiao took the initiative. His body bent like a drawn bow as he gathered mental power in his feet. His muscles, tendons, and bones were like springs compressed to their limit before suddenly unleashing with explosive force!

His body shot forward like a cannonball, carrying a desperate, frenzied will. Mind power covered his fist as he struck at the mutated woman's head again.

The instant Mu Xiao closed in, he knew her reactions were swift. So he overtaxed his mind power, releasing several invisible strands that wrapped around her limbs and slowed her evasive movements.

A dull thud rang out!

The punch landed solidly. Several chunks of flesh flew from the mutated woman's face, and her entire body was sent tumbling backward like a rag doll before smashing into the ground.

Overdrawing his mind power drained the color from Mu Xiao's face. His stomach caved in, and he felt as though his belly were pressed against his back from hunger. But he knew he had to finish the mutated woman quickly. Otherwise, he would be the one who died.

The mutated woman's head buzzed. She was only a newly evolved mutant, and her strength had yet to be fully developed. That was why Mu Xiao had managed to beat her into such a state.

Though the mutated woman possessed intelligence, it was limited to basic thought. She had not recovered her former memories or wisdom. However, her ability to withstand blows and her attack power were clearly much higher than Mu Xiao's. Otherwise, her blade-like nails would not have sliced into his muscles as easily as cutting tofu.

At this moment, Mu Xiao had no combat technique at all. He rushed forward, simple, direct, and brutally violent, seized the mutated woman's white hair, and viciously slammed her against the wall. He increased the output of his mind power, shaping it into sharp points around his fist, then frantically hammered at her head!

"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!"...

Cracks spread across the wall. Mu Xiao hammered away mechanically, completely lost in himself. The mutated woman's hair was as tough as steel wire; no matter how hard he pulled, it would not break.

The mutated woman's face was no longer recognizable, reduced to chunks of bloody pulp. Even her eyeballs had burst. Mu Xiao's fists ached and tingled, but he knew she was not dead yet. A mutant's flesh and blood was thick and bright red, carrying a strong bloody stench, but it was not gray-black and putrid like that of zombies.

The mutated woman resisted again, raking at Mu Xiao's abdomen with her blade-like nails and ripping open his belly. If his body were not so strange and bloodless, his intestines would have spilled out. Still, Mu Xiao did not fare well. The pain of being cut open made him feel as though his guts had been sliced apart.

Mu Xiao gritted his teeth and endured it, turning pain into strength. His mind power formed a force-bearing hammerhead, and he pounded away without regard for his life—beating her as though he were pounding meat into paste!

He had only barely cultivated "Mind Force." It was an exceedingly crude martial technique, simply using mind power and mental power for attack and support respectively. Yet both were also effects of Mind Force. Without truly cultivating it, mind power naturally could not display much strength. Only by advancing in realm could Mind Force truly improve.

Mu Xiao had begun evolving into a new human from scratch. Though he possessed extensive cultivation experience, he could not rapidly convert it into his own combat power. That was why he had ended up in such a passive situation.

Sometimes, knowing too much was not necessarily a good thing. It often led to preconceived notions. Cultivation also had to proceed step by step. If one cultivated without regard for the consequences, one's bloodline genes and soul consciousness would be unable to withstand the impact of energy. The only outcome would be bodily explosion and soul destruction.

Therefore, after being reborn, Mu Xiao had been single-mindedly focused on cultivating quickly. He could not help feeling anxious, unable to calm himself down.

However, if he combined his mind power and mental power before attacking, it would definitely be stronger than using mind power alone. But his physique could not support an output of power beyond his limits. Thus, Mu Xiao could only fight desperately while preserving himself as much as possible.

Moreover, his physique was only SSS-grade. This mutant's physique had clearly reached the beginner level of "top-tier," one level above his own. That was also why he was fighting so miserably. Still, Mu Xiao's body was special, and he could barely continue fighting normally even under the blows of a "top-tier" physique.

"I've died once already. Evolution hurt so much I wished I were dead—what the hell am I afraid of now?"

Compared to the pain Mu Xiao had endured during evolution, the pain he was suffering now was child's play.

The mutated woman's bones were like a turtle shell. Mu Xiao did not know how many times he had struck her. He had nearly beaten all the flesh off her face, exposing white bone, yet it still had not cracked. She was not even dead. From time to time, she would swipe at Mu Xiao's abdomen, only to be knocked dizzy again by another blow. The process repeated in fits and starts.

It was clear just how tenacious a mutant's life force was.

Yet Mu Xiao was determined to smash open the mutated woman's head even at the cost of his life. He gripped her hair so tightly that veins bulged across his arm, not loosening in the slightest.

"I can't keep this up! If I don't break open her head, I'll die from exhaustion!!"

Mu Xiao was frantic, his face deathly pale.

"One more time!"

Mu Xiao's face twisted as he made his decision.

Suddenly, faint golden blood vessels spread across Mu Xiao's eyes. Furious mind power surged out like a tide, while the hunger in his body felt as though it were devouring his very intestines.

He used his thoughts to shut out hunger and pain. The entire world seemed to fall silent for an instant, and time slowed to an extreme.

Mu Xiao's golden eyes clearly saw what lay before him: chunks of flesh, bloody pulp, white skull. In that instant, mental power and mind power fused into Mind Force, flooding over the mutated woman's skull like a tide.

A flash of understanding echoed within Mu Xiao's heart.

Mu Xiao shifted his mind power, compressing it into a cone around his fist. "Break."

His voice was calm and cold.

With one punch, nothing obstructed him. His fist drove straight into the mutated woman's skull, and in an instant, it was wrapped in warm brain matter. The sensation brought an exhilarating sense of release.

The mutated woman's presence rapidly faded, while a richer source of "evolutionary power" than ever before flowed into Mu Xiao's body.

Warmth and joy surged through Mu Xiao's body. As his tightly wound mind relaxed, he nearly collapsed unconscious onto the ground.

It took Mu Xiao less than five minutes to recover somewhat from his physical and mental exhaustion.

Twenty genetic resonances were equivalent to a level-twenty mutant. At this moment, the source of evolutionary power allowed Mu Xiao to jump three levels in succession, directly reaching his eighteenth genetic resonance.

His sea of consciousness refined another rich, incomparably pure source. Mu Xiao also became aware of the gap between his physique and that of mutants, so he continued using the source to strengthen his body. It transformed into gentle energy, constantly nourishing the injuries his body had just suffered. Even several deep wounds gradually healed.

At present, he already had one foot in the physique of a "top-tier" new human. The main reason was that he had just overdrawn himself to use complete Mind Force, causing side effects. After all, his body had not truly been optimized to the "Foundation Establishment" realm. Forcing himself to use the cultivated martial technique "Mind Force" without his body and soul collapsing was proof enough that his bloodline genes were special.

Thus, Mu Xiao had improved overall to a certain extent, but his mind remained depleted. His face was sallow, and he looked half-dead from hunger, utterly weak. This was the consequence of using "Mind Force" as his primary means of attack for that brief instant, resulting in severe adverse side effects.

Suddenly, he caught whiffs of an intensely rich fragrance that made his mouth water, causing him to overlook the existence of a source of power.

That scent was actually wafting from the shattered head of the mutated woman, where thick, dark-red paste-like blood was slowly trickling down.

Devour! Devour! Devour!...

A demonic voice echoed repeatedly in Mu Xiao's mind.

"This freak's blood holds a tremendous allure for me."

Mu Xiao was not starving to the point of dizziness; his mind was perfectly clear.

At the end of the day, he was human. Devouring his own kind would inevitably leave him with a sense of resistance.

Mu Xiao felt the same way.

"It smells so good!" Mu Xiao's urge to devour it only grew stronger.

Then he cursed, "Damn genes!"

Mu Xiao clearly felt every gene in his body rebelling and becoming extremely active. They displayed an intense desire to evolve. Could this be the opportunity that triggered the traits of the 'Miracle Bloodline'?

In the great era of evolution in the future, no one knew just how many traits this 'nonexistent bloodline' of his possessed. Only after being reborn to the beginning of this era had he managed to create this 'bug-like bloodline among miracles' that countless people in the future had failed to create. Naturally, he had no idea whether his urge to devour was normal.

This Miracle Bloodline Formula was something with no foreseeable hope of success, because of Water Bailan, that infinitely terrifying being. She came and went without a trace, sometimes disappearing for long stretches of time. Whenever she reappeared, she brought a rain of blood and slaughter. Gradually, no one dared set their sights on that female god of slaughter.

Even those pseudo-gods on the moon were deeply wary of Water Bailan, yet neither side interfered with the other, as though they had some kind of agreement. Conflicts rarely occurred between them.

Yet Mu Xiao now possessed this 'bug-like bloodline among miracles'... It was formed from Water Bailan's most original bloodline genes, then fused with Mu Xiao's own bloodline genes and completely reorganized into an unknown transformation.

After all, every person's bloodline genes were different. Thus, consuming the Miracle Bloodline Formula produced different effects. The changes occurring within Mu Xiao's body now might not happen to anyone else. As for what abilities his own body possessed, he could only explore them gradually in the future.

The many doubts in Mu Xiao's heart made him uncertain whether this was an opportunity to unlock his own bloodline.

"If I absorb the blood from this heart, there's a high chance my strength will rise rapidly."

"One mutated human has already left me in such a sorry state. What if there are two? Three? They're constantly evolving, definitely faster than new humans. And even greater crises will descend in the future. I must also speed up my genetic optimization and training! Otherwise, I'll find it impossible to move even a step in this chaotic age!"

"Absorbing this blood will benefit me now. These mutated humans are no longer truly human, so drinking their blood won't make me feel disgusted or guilty. Besides, things like blood beads, blood crystals, and crystal nuclei all come from mutated humans and zombies. Aren't they formed from coagulated blood? So there should be nothing wrong with drinking the blood directly, right?"

"Evolution is a food chain. Zombies eat humans, mutated humans eat humans, mutated beasts eat humans, and new humans kill zombies and consume blood beads. Eating the flesh and blood of mutated beasts follows the same logic..."

Mu Xiao comforted himself, reducing the resistance in his heart. To ensure safety and put himself at ease before devouring it, he sent out a thread of mental power to inspect the mutated human's corpse.

Although Mu Xiao had severely overdrawn himself, he could still gather and squeeze out some mental power within a small range. The price was that his hunger grew even more ferocious.

Mu Xiao's face was haggard and his lips were dry, as though he had aged several years, yet his eyes remained bright. He had completely forgotten his physical condition. His mental power entered through the mutated human's thoroughly rotten head, then split into tiny threads to inspect its insides.

"After the mutated human died, signs of weakness appeared throughout its body, in its skin and bones." His mental power relayed a simple piece of information.

As he probed deeper, Mu Xiao suddenly overturned his earlier conclusion.

"No! Energy is actually being transferred from every part of its body, all gathering in the heart! This blood is flowing out from the heart!"

Ignoring the condition of his own body, Mu Xiao increased the strength of his mental scan.

"Sure enough, a mutated human's genes are countless times stronger than a zombie's. They are extremely radical genes, likewise containing enormous potential for evolution!"

Mu Xiao had expected this, but confirming it personally still left him somewhat astonished.

"I have to devour it!!"

Mu Xiao no longer felt any hesitation. First, he needed to confirm the state of his body and bloodline; second, he needed to increase his strength.

Killing zombies took no effort, but mutated humans were an invisible threat. Especially now that he was injured, even if he ate all the food he had, it would be difficult to heal the hidden damage in his body. On the other hand, if he devoured the concentrated blood contained in the mutated woman's heart, he had a feeling that he would definitely break through the limits of his physique completely.

He released his telekinesis and wrapped it around the heart, the source of the mutated human's blood. Then he severed all the blood vessels, shattered the fragile flesh that had lost its defenses, and tore the heart out through the chest.

The fresh-colored heart was as large as an infant's head, like a blood-red jade stone—heavy and beautiful.

Mu Xiao's skin seemed to have lost all color, and his spirit was slightly sluggish, but his gaze burned as he stared at that extremely delicious heart.

"I have a feeling that eating it will definitely make me stronger." Mu Xiao licked his dry lips and used his telekinesis to suspend the heart above his head.

His telekinesis slowly contracted, squeezing the crimson heart. A thick line of blood dripped down and slowly fell into Mu Xiao's mouth.