Chapter 654: The Joy of a Big Eater (16/20, Autumn Subscription)

In your dreams!

All a dream!!

I'm a big eater—two bowls of rice aren't even enough for me!

And the half portion of vegetables left behind on purpose, just that one piece of cauliflower.

Smelling the long-missed aroma of a cooked dish, Jing Yan felt that at this moment, he was the happiest person under heaven!

As if savoring the most delicious food under heaven, Jing Yan finished every grain of rice bite by bite, then ate that perfect piece of cauliflower.

Jing Yan let out a long breath—bliss!!

Under the envious-to-the-point-of-extremity gazes of his two couch-potato roommates, Jing Yan prepared to log straight into the game.

Unlike in the game, where he ate his fill and felt great.

In reality, he couldn't even manage to eat his fill.

Every time he ate his fill in the game, the wave of hunger that hit him upon returning to reality was enough to drive him crazy.

But now, everything was different!

Acquired Realm—he had finally stepped into it too!

Although the way he stepped in was a bit of a shortcut, he had taken that step after all, and could now afford to eat two bowls of rice.

Unlike those two couch potatoes, who couldn't get into the Acquired Realm and could only eat one bowl of rice, without even any vegetables—simply pitiful.

At this moment, Jing Yan stood as if at the top of the food chain, freely despising his couch-potato roommates.

Just then, Yingjie suddenly spoke: "Oh right, in a few days I'll be heading to the neighboring Hai Yu City. You can choose for yourselves whether to stay in Jianghai City or transfer along with me."

What? He could actually get rid of that Coffee?

Jing Yan, who had been about to log into the game, paused mid-motion, a look of pleasant surprise crossing his face.

But very quickly, he heard news he didn't want to hear.

"If you stay in Jianghai City, a new Warden will come over. From what I know, it's the Jianghai City headquarters' Alliance that will stay behind to manage this place. Those people act far more aggressively than we do. So most likely the standards I left on the wall will be voided. No matter when, whether you get fed or not, whether you starve to death or not—it all depends on the new Warden's personal whim."

What?!

Jing Yan was greatly shocked.

So this thing isn't actually a universal standard?!

Jing Yan glanced at the list above.

"Acquired Third-rate Realm: one bowl of rice (medium) + one bowl of vegetables."

"Acquired Second-rate Realm: one bowl of rice (large) + one bowl of vegetables + one bowl of soup (random)."

"Acquired First-rate Realm: one bowl of rice (large) + one bowl of meat dish + one bowl of vegetables + one bowl of soup."

This—if they don't follow the list, what's the point of his efforts to reach the Innate Realm?

Thinking of the miserable days not long ago when one meal meant starving for a day, Jing Yan hurriedly raised his hand and shouted: "Yingjie, I'll go with you!!"

Hmm??

I haven't even finished my analysis of the pros and cons yet, and you're already pledging allegiance this fast?

Yingjie was puzzled, but since someone was willing to go with her, naturally she had no objection.

"Not bad, not bad, good eye. Later I'll register you. You transfer to Hai Yu City with me, and I'll add an extra bowl of rice for you every day."

An extra bowl of rice!!

The two couch potatoes, who had been completely indifferent a moment ago, immediately had their eyes light up.

"Y-Ying-jiejie, I want to go to Hai Yu City with you too!"

"Me too!"

Yingjie raised an eyebrow: "Only those who have reached the Acquired Realm qualify to transfer with me. Once you two reach the Acquired Realm, then we'll talk."

The two couch potatoes' faces immediately fell, utterly dejected.

If they could reach the Acquired Realm, they wouldn't have fallen to such a state.

Jing Yan was beaming with joy at this point.

Turns out it was because he counted as a talent that Yingjie had specifically notified him of this.

Although being an elite among prisoners felt a bit shameful, who cared! He could eat an extra bowl of rice!

After asking Yingjie roughly when they'd be setting off, Jing Yan, under the envious gazes of his two couch-potato companions, entered the game.

The two couch potatoes exchanged a glance, sighed helplessly, and went into the game to grind as well.

At first, the two couch potatoes refused to believe it, thinking the 【Alliance】 wouldn't dare starve them.

Facts proved that there was nothing the 【Alliance】 didn't dare do.

The auntie who delivered meals zapped them once a day to prevent them from snatching food—that was one thing.

Watching them starve until they had no strength to eat, she didn't even properly place the food beside them, but like feeding dogs—just left it at a fixed spot.

In the end, it was only by summoning an intense will to survive that the two of them crawled over and ate the rice, managing to live.

After that one time, they completely behaved themselves.

Don't you see—even lions and fierce beasts can be tamed by hunger, let alone these two spineless couch potatoes.

After behaving, all they could do was try hard to adapt to the rules here and cultivate diligently in the game.

Unfortunately, as the latest batch of players to enter the game, their luck was really not great; in the game, they were still only barely scraping by.

So they could only try harder, and harder again, only hoping to scrape together a combo of one bowl of rice + vegetables.

Leaving aside how hard his couch-potato roommates were trying, after Jing Yan entered the game, what greeted his eyes was a wide Official Road.

What's going on?! Wasn't I on the carriage?

Jing Yan's expression froze as he saw Lin Ling, with one hand gripping his collar, dodging incoming wooden spike attacks while shifting positions, sweeping the spikes aside with a backhanded spear strike, and charging toward the large tree ahead.

"Captain Lin?!"

"You're awake?" Lin Ling's spirit lifted. "Go stand over there. I'll handle this strange thing."

The moment his words fell, Jing Yan felt his vision spin, and in no time he was sitting on the ground with a thump.

At the same time, Lin Ling's long spear had already pierced through that great tree. From the trunk, black fresh blood seeped out, and the surrounding branches, like human arms, slowly drooped down and went still.

Swoosh swoosh swoosh—

Beside them, Qing Chen was rapidly recording something.

Jing Yan swept a glance—dense rows of data, nothing but data—and couldn't help the corner of his mouth twitching.

"Are you two alright?"

"Fine, fine. Oh right, have you sensed Lord Han's aura recently?" Qing Chen asked.

"Faintly, a little…"

Lin Ling, who was keeping watch on the surroundings with one eye, saw Qing Chen ask and slowly tried to open the transplanted right eye.

But unfortunately, the moment he opened it even a sliver of a crack, his eyelid grew heavy and immediately closed again.

He could only observe his surroundings with one eye, making do as a one-eyed dragon.

He panted heavily; it seemed that even such a small action left him somewhat exhausted.

"Don't rush. Your strength hasn't yet reached the point where you can use Lord Han's power."

"But I'm already at the Xiantian Realm…"

"What Lord Han left behind is the purest Origin Power. If you want Lord Han to awaken and use that pure power, the Innate Third-rate Realm is really pushing it. If it were Innate First-rate, or Human-rank, you might be able to nourish Lord Han's eyeball, smoothly activate that portion of power, and even… let Lord Han awaken!"

Innate First-rate, Human-rank…

These terms he hadn't dared to even think of before now seemed as easy to reach as if they were right before his eyes!

Though he knew this was only a feeling, Lin Ling was still immensely excited.

He was progressing, he was advancing, he was finally… truly, step by step, growing stronger!

Perhaps because of the excessive excitement, black fresh blood slowly seeped from his left eye, dyeing the left eye completely pitch-black.

(End of chapter)