"When did I say we couldn't?" Lao Mo countered. "I only said the supernatural power extracted from these night-walking species was too impure. Absorbing it recklessly would only deepen your contamination and make you succumb."
"Isn't that the same thing?"
"Right..." Lao Mo neither agreed nor disagreed. "That's why I didn't tell you to absorb it. I told you to eat..."
"Supernatural power is your mana bar, but my status is 'dead,' while yours is 'alive.' So once I leave the Cafeteria's territory, my mana starts draining in a way I can't recover from. But you can recover on your own. Eating just speeds that up."
"Your recovery rate has been growing all along... I've actually been absorbing your supernatural power this whole way. You just didn't notice."
Lin Yi froze, then said in surprise, "I always thought that was the Gray Fog's effect!"
"That's only part of it. I'm another part of the reason, so you can think of your supernatural power consumption as twice the normal rate..."
"Wait... Lao Mo, don't tell me you haven't used a single drop of your own 'mana' this entire time?!" Lin Yi's voice rose. No wonder I was wondering if my kidneys were weak. So you've been going fourteen rounds a night using my body?!
Lao Mo gave a dry cough. "Not quite... I did use a little of my own. After all, a car still needs its own battery to start before it can burn fuel."
The analogy nearly made Lin Yi's mouth twist out of shape. He remembered how Lao Mo had used his own supernatural power as a catalyst for "Layer Leap," then nearly drained Lin Yi dry...
So that was what he'd been doing almost this whole way?!
"Holy shit..."
Lao Mo put on a stern face. "After