After the darkness!

Inside the room, the prismatic light tubes on the ceiling shone brightly.

Wang Mingde flicked his cigarette ash, the butt glowing in the dim light. "Of course!"

He rolled up his sleeves, revealing spiderweb-like gray lines snaking across his forearms, which gleamed dimly under the incandescent light. "During the first mutation, I endured it all alone for seven days in the villa by the Chishui River, and ate an entire Black Armored Ape."

His tone was calm, but his expression was arrogant.

"Eat? You mean eat it raw?" Lin Yijue was somewhat surprised.

"Of course not, I grill it with cumin and litsea cubeba. I sometimes use some to make braised pork; it's fatty but not greasy, very delicious," Wang Mingde replied. But seeing his genuinely relieved expression, I couldn't help but laugh in exasperation.

"No, you actually believe that?"

"Don't you know your own condition right now? The phagocytic organisms in our bodies actually need energy, and inactive biological factors. If they don't eat raw food, then what do they eat?"

"Okay, so the monster I killed just now failed to transform because it didn't get enough energy?" Lin Yijue quickly changed the subject.

"There are some factors involved, but there are other reasons as well. In order to resist the infection of the phagocytic, in addition to having enough energy to satisfy its hunger, one must also have a will strong enough to break through the rock," Wang Mingde said simply.

"In addition, it is also related to one's level of life."

He pulled a black crescent-shaped remote control from the drawer.

Click to open.

A clear scatter plot was projected onto the snow-white wall.

The horizontal axis represents the martial arts level, and the vertical axis represents time. There are more than twenty scattered points in total.

"As you can see, the higher the level of life, the inversely proportional the speed of mutation. The higher the level of a martial artist, the stronger their ability to resist the infection of the Devouring Body."

"That's easy to understand. It's like a strong adult and an infant. If they both catch a cold, the former might recover in two or three days, while the latter could very well lose their life," he explained from the side.

In other words, the longer an infected person survives, the stronger they become.

Lin Yijue understood what the other person meant. After being infected by the Devourer, it's like a survival competition; only the strong can survive longer.

"Now that you've passed the first stage, what level of strength have you reached? In terms of martial arts ranks, are you already comparable to a Grand Martial Master?" he asked curiously.

In the martial arts ranking system, the first to third dan are martial artists, the fourth to sixth dan are martial masters, and the seventh to ninth dan are grand martial masters.

Even in Rongdu Base City, Grand Martial Masters are truly top-tier figures.

Wang Mingde remained silent.

"I'm still a bit short of being a Grand Martial Master," he said silently.

"Oh, martial arts masters are really skilled too..."

"..." He fell silent again. "My physical condition hasn't fully reached the standard yet, but in a life-or-death battle, that's not necessarily the case."

"..." Lin Yijue understood what the other party meant.

That's right, he was just being presumptuous. Martial arts masters are not ordinary people. Even a genius like Lin Xiaofei would only dare to make such a bold statement when drunk. At most, she could become a martial arts master in thirty years.

They're all drunk, dreaming, and you still have to be so careful to add a time limit? Is that something you call easy?

Although he was unfamiliar with the world of martial arts, it was enough to demonstrate its high value.

For a moment, the two looked at each other in silence, and the scene fell into stillness.

The incandescent bulb emitted a hissing sound of electricity, accompanied by wisps of smoke rising upwards.

Shortly after, an alarm sounded on the desktop.

The projected image on the wall changes.

The screen shows the KTV's surveillance footage.

Police cars pulled up downstairs one after another, followed by a dozen or so officers carrying batons and bayonets who filed in.

The black monster that was originally in the third-floor corridor was gone, replaced by a dog-like monster that was also black.

"The best way to hide it is not to erase everything, but to be seven parts true and three parts false. It's just a pity about the Black Soul Dog."

Lin Yijue also looked at the video and recognized the monster; it was one of the most common alien beasts outside the high walls.

In addition to possessing the speed and strength of a cheetah, it also has the ability to release black smoke while running.

Judging by their size and attack methods, the two are indeed quite similar.

So… his eyes flickered slightly.

"Don't even think about it. If it were a one-on-one fight, you'd only get eaten by the Black Soul Hounds. The thing you killed was just a Corruption Converter; outside the high walls, it's at best a Black Soul Hound cub."

"After all, before the transformation, the other party was just a young girl who didn't practice martial arts and didn't have any special talents. The transformation only took two or three days." As if seeing through Lin Yi's thoughts, Wang Mingde said mercilessly.

"Hmm, no wonder he's so weak." Lin Yijue subconsciously wanted to deny it, but seeing the mockery on the other person's face, he subconsciously said it.

"Weak?" Wang Mingde's eyes widened.

"I only had two boxing lessons and I could kill it. Isn't that weak?" he said without batting an eye.

Wang Mingde was taken aback and didn't know what to say.

He casually turned off the monitor and said irritably.

"Alright, are you going to fight or not? If you don't fight now, once the devouring body goes berserk, you won't even have a chance to regret it."

Lin Yijue didn't act immediately. He picked up the syringe, still hesitant. Looking at the liquid in the syringe, he thought about what Wang Mingde had said and his own fear of the unknown. He was still unsure about the authenticity of Wang Mingde and this thing.

"I'll take the needle back first and think about it," Lin Yijue finally said, putting the syringe away.

Wang Mingde nodded as if he had expected this, and did not force or coerce him.

"Then you should think it over carefully, time waits for no one."

Lin Yijue nodded and prepared to leave.

"Where did this thing come from?" he asked instinctively before leaving.

"Can you tell me how you learned to be such a good boxer after just two lessons?" Wang Mingde laughed.

"Just practice with the teacher like that."

"Oh, me too, I just followed the teacher's lead." Wang Mingde nodded.

"Alright, now you should go back and get some rest. As for the medicine," Wang Mingde put the empty medicine bottle into the combination lock, and the metal lock snapped shut instantly. "As one of the parties in this transaction, the value you've demonstrated isn't enough to qualify you to handle it."

"When you get back, remember not to mention this place to anyone, including what happened today."

As he spoke, he pressed a button, and a burly man in black appeared at the door like a ghost.

The man wore black sunglasses, and a hideous scar ran down his neck to his collar, radiating a suffocating sense of oppression.

"Go with him. He'll take you out." As if something had triggered him, Wang Mingde seemed like a different person, and whispered.

"See you next time." Lin Yijue nodded thoughtfully, then turned and left.

There was no reply from behind.

After navigating through a maze of underground passages, Lin Yijue finally saw the light of day again.

After the rain, the previously sultry wind became much cooler.

He glanced at his watch—11:17 p.m., the streets were deserted.

Pushing open the door, one could see Lin's father's old leather shoes lying askew in the entryway, and two bowls of leftover rice on the table.

Lin Yijue went straight to the bathroom, splashing cold water on his face, his reflection in the mirror looking unreal and pale.

He tore off the bandages and stared at the wound on his chest—the skin at the wound site was indeed healing at an extremely fast speed. In a short period of time, most of the purple marks had faded, replaced by new skin with a strange luster.