Chapter 308: Devour

Sha Yu Feng only hesitated for a few seconds on the surface, but the will to survive still outweighed his doubts, letting Hong Ling carry him as they wound east and west through Tianmian City, finally arriving in front of an unremarkably ordinary three‑story building.

She pushed open the half‑closed door and went in first.

The interior décor was modest but clean and tidy; in the living room, a man stood with his back to the doorway, by the window, watching the lights of the Slum outside.

Hearing footsteps, the man turned around.

The man had short, ashen‑gray hair, his head bowed as if napping, but the moment Sha Yu Feng entered, he lifted his head.

In those eyes that should have been dazzling, the original brilliance was hard to see; a heavy layer of gray haze floated on the surface, as if weary of everything in the world.

When Sha Yu Feng met those eyes, he clearly froze for a moment, never expecting to see this person here.

"Sit." Lei Zhao gestured to the chair beside him, his voice steady.

Sha Yu Feng watched Lei Zhao warily and did not sit down immediately.

"Lei Zhao… how did you end up here? Weren't you supposed to…"

"Supposed to be in the Dome, or in the Church, or… just find a place to rot?"

Lei Zhao finished the latter half for him, his tone as flat as if discussing what to eat for dinner.

He raised his hand, signaling Hong Ling to bring the box over for Sha Yu Feng.

"Hong Ling, tend his wound and get him something to eat."

Hong Ling nodded, placing the box on a wooden table nearby; inside were clean water, simple food, and basic wound medicine.

Sha Yu Feng looked at the items, then at Lei Zhao, his gaze complicated:

"Why are you helping me?"

Lei Zhao did not answer at once.

He redirected his gaze to the window; the curtains blocked the outside light completely, as if recalling something.

Just last night, he was sent by Fang Zhiyan to retrieve a handful of Bai Mu Yun and Lu Mu, and happened to see two Mitra Academy students.

A boy and a girl were risking it, pulling a partially collapsed supply cache attacked by Aberrant Species, jointly rescuing an elderly woman whose leg was pinned.

Their movements were not skillful, even a bit clumsy, their faces showing tension and fear, yet they hesitated not a moment.

"Why help you?"

Lei Zhao repeated Sha Yu Feng's question; in those weary, heterochromatic eyes, something seemed to settle, yet a faint light still struggled to flicker.

He lifted his gaze; the red‑purple and amber‑woven pupils clearly reflected Sha Yu Feng's disheveled figure, the gray haze lightening, revealing a cold, sharp glint beneath.

"The Church preaches order, the Undercurrent seeks chaos; they were once irreconcilable, but now…"

He tugged at the corner of his mouth, which wasn't really a smile, "Even they can achieve cooperation; then what do 'faith' and 'rules' even mean?"

He looked at Sha Yu Feng, or rather, through Sha Yu Feng toward the hidden, larger, nauseating picture behind.

"This world has long been rotten; in the end, the Supervision Bureau, the Church, the Undercurrent, the Dome… are just rolling in different pits of muck."

His voice was soft, yet carried a fatigue and disgust that seemed to pierce everything.

"First tend your own wound, don't forget to eat something to regain strength, and then you only need to give me some Undercurrent intel. I suppose you no longer harbor fantasies about abandoning your old master, do you?"

Lei Zhao finished, withdrew his gaze, and closed his eyes again, as if the words had drained him.

——————————————

Below the Dream Illusion Bar, Ying Duo held a standard‑issue Energy Pistol, already aiming at a Spine‑spike Wolf (Lv. 15) restrained by an energy lock and constantly struggling.

This Aberrant Species is known for its speed and dorsal bone‑spike attacks; not powerful, but the most common type in the wild, making it a perfect test specimen.

Ying Duo's expression remained calmly unchanged, his golden eyes locked on the target as he pulled the trigger.

The energy bullet struck the wolf's relatively soft side abdomen, leaving a charred wound, causing the Aberrant Species to howl in pain, its struggling intensifying.

【Weak point broken! Critical hit!】

Fang Zhiyan stood behind the isolation glass, his dark‑red eyes unblinking as they stared at the numerous floating light screens before him.

They displayed real‑time data on the wolf's vitals, energy fluctuations, and Mutation factor concentrations.

Several tentacles extending from his back continuously recorded data across various control interfaces, with astonishing efficiency.

"Health has dropped to 47%."

Ying Duo, expressionless, repeated the numbers only he could see.

"Mutation factor activity shows minor fluctuations… continue." Fang Zhiyan's voice transmitted through the built‑in communicator.

Ying Duo gave no reply, merely re‑aimed and fired.

The bullets left additional marks on various parts of the wolf, and the Aberrant Species' health slowly declined.

【Spine‑spike Wolf (Lv. 15) Health: 31%... 22%... 15%...】

It seems this 'Weak point broken' isn't special, just simply informing the Special Ability Practitioner that the attack hit a weak point?

"Just kill it outright; I want to see your experience‑gain mechanism."

Ying Duo had been waiting for that line for a long time; he immediately fired a shot at the Aberrant Species' head.

【Weak point broken! Critical hit!】

【Killed Spine‑spike Wolf Lv. 15, gained experience x…】

【Congratulations, you have reached Level 24!】

Ying Duo had been stuck at Level 23 for a long time; within Tianmian City, he struggled for ages to find Aberrant Species, and couldn't freely kill NPCs in the safe zone, which kept him stuck.

Killing Aberrant Species yields far more experience than killing NPCs.

In stark contrast to Ying Duo's calm—almost a sigh of relief—Yang Yixie, Fang Zhiyan's eyes burned with unprecedented fervor.

The Mutation factors emanating from the two Aberrant Species corpses did not dissipate slowly as usual; instead, they were drawn by some force toward Ying Duo, who then devoured them all.

So this is Ying Duo's Level Up mechanism.

Fang Zhiyan's dark‑red eyes flashed with excitement as his tentacles twitched, swiftly retrieving the ultra‑high‑definition energy spectrum and analysis report from just now.

He pulled up another data set, showing Ying Duo's own state changes before and after the Aberrant Species' death.

Ying Duo's Aberrant Arts have a certain marking quality; simply put, the higher his output, the more markings, and the more mutation factors he swallows, which is essentially the experience points in Ying Duo's mouth.

Fang Zhiyan's tone was filled with a frenzy like discovering a new continent.

"This is literally the perfect evolution template! Skip the inefficient energy intake and conversion process, and directly plunder the already refined results!"

What does that mean? In this world, mutations are everywhere, and Aberrant Species are never scarce; as long as there are enough Aberrant Species, they can stack together a high‑combat‑power member in a very short time.

Sending Ying Duo here as some kind of spy is a total waste of his Aberrant Arts.