Chapter 54: Eating Meat

It felt as though only an instant had passed before that overwhelming hunger surged up once more.

His brain felt too heavy to think.

Even his teeth trembled slightly.

This body desperately wanted to eat something.

No matter what that something was.

“Due to the effects of hunger, your Sanity has decreased. Current value: 96.”

“Due to the effects of hunger, your Sanity has decreased. Current value: 94.”

“Due to the effects of hunger, your Sanity has decreased. Current value: 90.”

System notifications rang out one after another.

The craving grew increasingly intense.

Everything he saw, even his own arm, seemed worthy of being devoured.

But Zhou You did not yield to the urge.

Instead, he picked up the Bloodstained Dagger and slashed hard across his own arm.

As blood welled out, the pain from his nerves temporarily suppressed the hunger.

Yet the redness in his eyes did not fade.

If anything, it deepened.

Still enduring the discomfort, Zhou You frowned and muttered to himself,

“Now I think I understand.”

“The biggest restriction in this scenario isn’t the demons or monsters.”

“It’s the hunger of this body itself.”

“No wonder the System emphasized it so heavily at the beginning. This is the real problem.”

Zhou You took a deep breath and looked around with bloodshot eyes.

There were still some leftovers on the plates.

Even if the Animal Transformation human couldn’t be eaten, at least the meatballs were made from ordinary human corpses and didn’t contain any Grand Duke Jupiter flesh. They could probably serve as a temporary solution.

Yet Zhou You merely glanced at them before immediately looking away.

Those had never been under consideration.

His surname wasn’t Han.

He had no interest in eating his own kind.

The remaining options were mostly wooden furniture.

Unless he suddenly evolved the digestive system of a longhorn beetle larva, there was no way he could gnaw through those.

That left only the old Daoist’s head and...

Zhou You’s gaze suddenly shifted to the pig’s corpse.

Its body was already covered in those parasitic worms.

However, all the red rashes stopped at the neck.

Nothing unusual had appeared on the head.

Zhou You closed his eyes and calmed himself before speaking to the old Daoist’s head.

“Master, you said earlier that I can’t eat Animal Transformation human flesh mixed with Grand Duke Jupiter. Then what about demon flesh that has eaten Grand Duke Jupiter? Can I eat that?”

The old Daoist seemed somewhat baffled by the sudden question.

“...Demon flesh is fine. As long as you don’t directly eat Grand Duke Jupiter itself, or things transformed and fattened through Grand Duke Jupiter, you’ll be all right. Why are you asking?”

“Nothing.”

“I just suddenly felt like having something to go with my meal.”

Zhou You took a butcher’s cleaver from a cabinet and chopped directly at the pig-headed monster’s neck.

After several strikes, the pig’s head came off with a thud.

Picking it up, Zhou You first glanced at the old Daoist.

Seeing no intention to stop him, he sliced off a piece of meat with his knife.

He opened his mouth and bit into it immediately.

Raw meat.

The sensation of fat and blood flooded his mouth.

His stomach instinctively churned.

Yet Zhou You’s expression did not change.

He carefully chewed and then swallowed everything with a gulp.

Then another slice followed.

And another.

Ten minutes later, nearly half the pig’s head had been stripped down to bare white bone.

Under normal circumstances, this would far exceed the capacity of an ordinary stomach.

Yet for some reason, Zhou You’s seemingly ordinary body accepted all of it.

He did not feel even the slightest bloating or discomfort.

This was obviously abnormal.

Extremely abnormal.

But Zhou You had no way of determining what exactly was wrong with this body.

He could only tear off a rag and wipe the blood and grease from his mouth.

Fortunately, after filling his stomach, the System’s warnings disappeared.

His Sanity stopped dropping.

Everything seemed to have returned to normal.

Only the old Daoist’s head continued watching him with great interest.

“I say, disciple, that’s a bit too desperate, isn’t it? I know you’re hungry, but people should have some elegance. Eating raw pork like that? At the very least, you could’ve taken it to the kitchen and roasted it first.”

Zhou You immediately shot back,

“My dear Master, if I’d dragged things out long enough to reach the kitchen, what I’d be gnawing on wouldn’t have been pig’s head.”

“It would’ve been yours.”

Before the old Daoist could respond, Zhou You picked up the Bloodstained Dagger and carefully sliced away the remaining scraps of meat from the pig’s head.

What awaited him outside was completely unknown.

Therefore, it was best to secure some emergency rations as early as possible.

The old Daoist watched Zhou You busily working.

He did not say a single word.

Only after all the meat had been removed and Zhou You had found some salt in the cabinets to preserve it did he finally speak again.

This time, however, his tone was noticeably gentler.

“It seems you have your own secrets.”

“But don’t worry. Our Yunjing Sect doesn’t concern itself with such things.”

“Even if you were a notorious murderer and arsonist before, once you’ve entered my sect, you’re my disciple.”

At this point, the old Daoist seemed to remember something and smiled.

“Since this matter is settled, didn’t I mention earlier that I’d teach you a few techniques?”

“Before we set out, this is the perfect opportunity.”

“Come here. Let your master teach you properly.”

Zhou You glanced at him.

The old man’s face looked perfectly normal.

He seemed to genuinely intend to teach something.

At least on the surface.

After spending some time together, however, Zhou You already knew what sort of person this fellow was.

After pondering for a few seconds, he finally walked over and casually picked up the old Daoist’s head.

The old Daoist immediately expressed dissatisfaction.

“...You’re really going to make your master speak like this? Closer. Closer!”

Zhou You raised the head slightly.

“Do you know nothing about respecting your elders and teachers? What kind of master has to look upward to talk to his disciple?”

Zhou You simply lifted the head all the way beside his ear.

The old Daoist opened his mouth.

It looked as though he were about to explain some cultivation method.

But in the next moment,

No words came out.

Instead, he opened a mouth full of sharp teeth and viciously bit toward Zhou You’s neck.

Yet he failed to make contact.

Before the bite even happened, someone had already anticipated it and swiftly moved him half a meter away.

“...My dear disciple, what are you doing?”

Faced with such shameless questioning, Zhou You rolled his eyes.

“Perhaps I should be asking you that, Master.”

The old Daoist looked regretfully at the neck now beyond arm’s reach.

With a sigh, his tone instantly became warm and friendly.

“This is merely how Yunjing Sect transmits its teachings.”

“Your master was afraid the pain might cause you to panic, so I wanted to distract your attention first.”

“Besides, think about it. Right now I’m completely dependent on you to bring me back to the sect. Even if I wanted to harm you, this wouldn’t be the time. There’s really no need for you to be so wary.”

Zhou You did not answer.

The contempt on his face already expressed his opinion clearly enough.

Yet after thinking for a long while, he still placed the old Daoist’s head beside his neck.

This was not because he trusted the old man’s words.

Rather, judging by the scenario’s progression, this Daoist was obviously an important character.

If he was telling the truth, all well and good.

If he was lying...

The problem was not particularly serious.

At worst, I’ll spend a resurrection token and smash his damned head to pieces next time.

The old Daoist extended his shark-like teeth and bit into Zhou You’s neck.

“Dear player, you have obtained the introductory inheritance of an ability.”

“You have acquired the method of the Yin Ghost Feeding Technique Chant.”

“Please note: this method possesses a high degree of contamination. You will be affected in certain special ways. If you wish to use it without adverse effects, please seek a means of eliminating the contamination.”