It was early December, and the cold wind of the early winter night was particularly piercing.
The night sky was dim. Aside from a few scattered glimmers of starlight, only a crescent moon hung solitary in the heavens.
At some point, the unlit half of that crescent moon began to gradually emerge from the void!
It did not emit light, nor did it reflect any. Instead, it appeared black—a blackness distinctly different from the surrounding night sky, as if it could devour all light.
Looking at it as a whole, a blurry black moon hung in the night sky, its edge inlaid with a bright crescent.
The black portion of the moon seemed to writhe slowly and imperceptibly, radiating a heart-palpitating sense of foreboding.
The bright crescent remained, yet it had become a mere decorative border for this eerie black moon.
...
Bureau headquarters.
Inside the Supreme Conference Room, the lights were bright, and the atmosphere was heavy.
The Director of the Bureau, a white-haired and bearded old man, was huddled around a 3D projection of an ocean map with several high-level officials, heatedly discussing something.
Suddenly, the Director’s words came to a dead stop.
He abruptly stood up from his seat, his expression shifting drastically. Without even a moment to explain, his figure blurred, and in the next instant, he appeared on the rooftop of the headquarters building, looking up at the night sky.
When he saw that black moon radiating endless malice and ill omen, his pupils constricted violently despite his decades of experience. The color drained from his face, leaving only a look of grim solemnity.
“Director?”
“What happened?”
Several high-level officials followed closely behind, arriving on the rooftop as well.
They followed the Director’s gaze and naturally saw the anomaly of the moon.
“The moon... how did it become like that?”
“Is it some kind of atmospheric optical phenomenon? Or is it something supernatural?”
They could see the anomaly, but they could not directly sense the terror and evil of the black moon the way the Director could.
The Director did not answer. He only stared fixedly at the black moon, his hands unconsciously clenching into fists, his knuckles turning white from the force.
...
Forbidden Zone: 【Mysterious Garden】.
This was a bizarre place, completely different from the outside world.
There was no clear alternation of day and night, nor were there any sun, moon, or stars.
The sky was covered by the canopy of an inverted tree so massive it defied imagination.
Its roots reached upward like veins supporting the heavens, buried deep within the void.
Its lush branches and leaves hung downward, covering most of the area within sight.
The entire tree was not made of wood; its trunk displayed a flowing metallic luster, as if cast from a strange metal.
The tree body constantly emitted a soft shimmer, illuminating this peculiar domain.
The garden gathered countless beautiful and strange plants from all over the world, along with a small number of animals and fungi.
There were flowers that sang rock music, pitcher plants covered in flaming red lips, thorns that dripped sweet venom, strange fungal carpets that emitted radioactive fluorescence, eerie butterflies fluttering among the blossoms, seven-spotted ladybugs with patterns of seven eyes on their carapaces, and pink mantises disguised as flowers...
They coexisted, competed, and evolved on this land bathed in the radiance of the Tree of Truth, forming a bizarre and colorful tableau.
In certain areas of this garden stood massive, cracked stone statues of a Black Guanyin.
The Guanyin statues were in various poses, but all had their eyes closed and gazes lowered, their faces full of mercy.
Beneath these statues, many supernatural flowers, grasses, and trees knelt in devout worship. Their twisted branches and leaves were pressed together like hands in prayer, emitting blurred, indistinct chanting sounds.
At a certain moment, the massive inverted tree seemed to sense something. Its countless leaves moved without wind, emitting a faint, metallic humming sound.
A portion of the flexible branches suddenly intertwined, rapidly stacking and shaping themselves until they finally transformed into a graceful humanoid figure of indeterminate gender.
The figure remained connected to the main trunk, like a special fruit extending from the tree.
This figure, composed of branches, moved with slow elegance, “swimming” toward the nearest stone statue of the Black Guanyin.
The branches slowly coiled around the merciful, closed-eyed statue. The movements were gentle as the figure leaned toward the Guanyin’s ear, exuding an ethereal yet grotesque aura.
A lazy voice, a mixture of male and female tones, rang out: “Sister Guanyin, you say that all four elements are void, yet you keep your eyes tightly shut. If you were to open them and look at me, I don’t believe your eyes would be empty. Sister, just look at me~”
The words were somewhat playful, but the voice itself was exceptionally hair-raising. The supernatural plants worshipping beneath the statue immediately felt an urge to return to the embrace of the divine tree.
The Guanyin statue remained silent and motionless, appearing to be nothing more than an ancient, eternal stone.
However, in the surrounding space, a grand and solemn celestial voice rang out from the high heavens, as if countless monks were chanting in unison:
“Put down the butcher’s knife and become a Bud...”
“The sea of suffering is boundless, turn back to reach the shore...”
As the chanting echoed, the twisted plants prostrate beneath the Guanyin statue knelt and worshipped once more, even more devoutly than before.
They also emitted a distorted chorus: “The sea of suffering is boundless, turn back to reach the shore...”
The humanoid figure formed by the Tree of Truth was forced back slightly by the chanting, and the branches coiling around the Guanyin statue loosened.
But it was not angered; instead, it let out a light laugh and teased, “Something has happened outside. Aren’t you going to go see for yourself?”
Seeing that the Guanyin statue gave no response, the Tree of Truth feigned a sigh. “Why bother? You insist on entangling with me here.”
It raised a branch, pointing in a certain direction, its voice full of meaning. “But it doesn’t matter. The thing I was looking for has already appeared. I won’t have much time to spend in this stalemate with you in the future.”
As the words fell, the humanoid figure composed of branches slowly disassembled, merging back into the massive Tree of Truth.
The grand chanting continued to echo incessantly throughout the garden.
...
Chijing City, submerged by seawater.
The once-prosperous industrial city was now a vast ocean, with the remains of tall buildings protruding from the water like reefs.
Suddenly, a massive column of water erupted from the center of the city, reaching a hundred meters into the air.
The water column did not scatter in the air; instead, it rapidly condensed and took shape, transforming into a lifelike dragon!
The water dragon raised its head, its eyes formed of flowing water staring majestically at the night sky, seemingly searching for something.
The dragon’s gaze swept over the black moon in the sky, and an invisible ripple spread out in all directions.
However, the moon’s anomalous phenomenon had arrived abruptly and departed just as quickly.
After lasting for less than a minute, the black portion protruding from the moon faded away as silently as it had appeared.
The night sky returned to its normal state, with only a crescent moon remaining.
The water dragon let out a low roar that carried far into the distance.
Its massive body circled in the air several times before finally, with a sense of reluctance and doubt, its form collapsed. The vast amount of water crashed back into the sea, kicking up a monstrous wave.
...
Lab 0.
Yue Shi had devoured the Stomach of the God of Food, and he now looked radiant and full of energy.
Ghost, controlling the mooncake, rolled around on the ground, seemingly wanting to say something but hesitating.
He still held the terrifying memories of that eerie moon from just now, as well as the image of the mysterious gate emerging behind Yue Shi.
Ultimately, Ghost couldn't help himself and asked in a trembling voice, “What exactly did you just do?”
“Killed this thing, of course.” Yue Shi pointed at the now lifeless remains of the Stomach, his tone relaxed and satisfied.
He had thought this Stomach of the God of Food would be troublesome, but he hadn't expected it to be solved so easily, becoming a little dessert for him.
Just like the S-rank supernatural creature, The Crucible of Life; though it was a powerful S-rank entity, it had ultimately been ██ defeated by him and turned into nourishment for his advancement.
Ghost rolled back and forth. He could tell that Yue Shi’s memory and cognition had a clear gap and deviation; he completely failed to remember the most crucial and terrifying part of what had just happened.
It seemed that in Yue Shi’s eyes, the Stomach had been defeated through normal means, and everything had been rationalized.
“No, Yue Shi, listen to me. Just now, you...”
Ghost was anxious to tell the truth. His body drifted out of the mooncake, attempting to more clearly describe the scene from a moment ago.
However, the very instant he left the mooncake—leaving the protection of the ‘indestructible’ characteristic—Ghost suddenly forgot what he was going to say.
Immediately after, he even forgot the fact that he had “just forgotten something very important.”
His entire information structure returned to “normal.”
Consequently, when the words reached his lips, they naturally became: “You really are amazing. To think you could kill such a powerful and terrifying Stomach.”
The tone of praise was just right; that was exactly what he had wanted to say. No doubt had ever existed.
Yue Shi nodded with satisfaction, accepting Ghost’s praise in full.
“Alright, now that the trouble here is settled, it’s time for us to fight our way back. That guy upstairs playing with phantoms, and the lab’s higher-ups... they’re all stretching their necks, waiting for us to cut them down~”
He took a spare teddy bear out of his space, its pocket stuffed with a large number of supernatural objects.
Ghost immediately possessed it.
Yue Shi grabbed Ghost and vanished from the spot in an instant.
This was his newly acquired ability.
【Traveler】
【Perceive Spatial Textures】
【Open the Bridge of Thoroughfare】
【Where the mind goes, the steps follow】
【“Both this shore and the other are smooth paths.”】
【Gain a three-dimensional spatial perception that transcends vision, allowing one to see spatial weaknesses and structural stability.
Allows the construction of invisible bridges between any points within the perception range for short-distance, no-cooldown spatial displacement, or long-distance spatial jumps.
Can also utilize Waymarks to open spatial portals to said Waymarks regardless of current location.】
Although he had only gained one new ability, it was incredibly useful.
Yue Shi’s control over space had ascended to another level.
Previously, he could use spatial distortion to achieve a pseudo-teleportation effect similar to a flash.
Now, he could truly teleport.
Most importantly, there was long-distance teleportation. If nothing else, his escape ability was now top-tier.
Capturing him again would be as difficult as reaching the heavens.
However, the Stomach of the God of Food had only granted Yue Shi this one new ability.
His abilities in the demon bird system had easily reached their peak.
The upper limit of this spatial system was extremely high, requiring both quantity and quality of source essence. To obtain the next new ability, he might have to continue devouring things related to “Gods.”
Yue Shi hauled the dazed Ghost back to the upper level.
The living experiment area now appeared exceptionally clean.
The muscular monsters contaminated by the Potential Potion, the out-of-control supernatural creatures, and the traces of intense battle had all vanished along with the young man’s virtualization of the environment.
Only some twisted, damaged corridors and empty rooms remained.
The beautiful beach night illusion had naturally vanished as well, revealing the laboratory’s original appearance.
The two of them wound through the complex passages, testing the Traveler’s teleportation ability along the way. They quickly left this area and entered the other functional sectors of Lab 0.
The scenes they saw along the way were shocking.
Blood that had not yet dried was everywhere in the corridors and rooms, and severed limbs of humans and supernatural creatures were scattered all over.
Many places also showed signs of being melted by high temperatures, and charred corpses emitted a foul stench.
Clearly, while some of the supernatural creatures that escaped from the living experiment area had fallen into the Stomach and been digested, a significant number had successfully escaped and wreaked havoc in other parts of this underground fortress.
Those burn marks seemed to be the work of the other intruder.
Lab 0 was currently in a state of true internal and external strife, suffering from attacks on both sides.
Soon, in a wide main corridor, Yue Shi and Ghost ran head-on into a group of supernatural creatures.
This group of creatures had surged out of a certain fork in the road in a panic. Their forms were even more peculiar and they seemed stronger; they weren't the low-level trash Yue Shi had released earlier, but appeared to have escaped from higher-grade containment units.
In Yue Shi’s eyes, these panicked creatures were nothing more than a group of walking experience packs and little desserts.
However, he immediately noticed something was wrong.
These creatures weren't wandering or hunting aimlessly; they all carried obvious terror, sprinting frantically in the same direction as if something extremely terrifying was chasing them from behind.
Why does it look like they’re running away?
In the next moment, the answer was revealed.
At the end of the corridor, from the direction the creatures were fleeing, a burst of blazing fire suddenly erupted!
“Roar!”
The creatures at the back of the pack let out panicked bellows, desperately picking up speed and shoving aside those in front of them.
But the speed at which the flames swept toward them was faster than anyone could imagine.
Furthermore, the corridor was packed with fleeing creatures. Those in the back charged forward and were blocked by those in front who were slightly slower, immediately causing a chaotic pile-up.
Some of the more intelligent creatures, seeing that they couldn't escape from the main corridor in time, immediately turned and rushed into the lab rooms on either side of the passage, trying to slam the heavy protective doors shut to block the fire.
But other creatures had the same idea.
They frantically slammed into the closing doors, wanting to hide inside as well, leading to a violent struggle with the creatures already inside.
The protective doors emitted sounds of being overstrained under the tug-of-war, getting stuck halfway and leaving a gap wide enough for the flames to surge through.
“Whoosh!!”
Like a volcanic eruption, the terrifying fire, carrying light and heat, surged forward!
The scorching airwave was the first to hit the creatures crowded in the corridor. It was already too late for those in the side labs to close their doors.
The surrounding metal walls were baked by the high temperature until they turned a glowing red.
The flaming tide was right before their eyes.
Rate on N.U.
