The sound of gunfire stopped.

Because Feng Mu and Wang Yilin's figures had overlapped, the chief constables were afraid of accidentally injuring the director.

Then,

they collectively froze in place, their expressions stiff and filled with terror.

They were horrified to see Wang Yilin's body rapidly withering, his once full skin and round belly shriveling at a visible speed, the plump skin on his face instantly becoming gaunt and saggy, as if decades were drained from him in a moment.

Meanwhile, the masked person's bullet wounds on the leg and abdomen were bizarrely healing, and they could even see tiny energy patterns weaving and flowing at the wounds, resembling countless living threads stitching themselves back together.

The scene was somewhat beyond comprehension, causing the hearts of all the chief constables to tremble, coldness rising from their spines.

As several deformed bullets were expelled from the writhing flesh, as the withered body thudded heavily on the ground, as the dark-stained mask turned, a pair of crimson, inhuman eyes gazed at them greedily.

The fingers of the chief constables clutching the triggers could no longer pull.

Even when facing the fiercest criminals, they, having undergone rigorous training, could always overcome fear and shoot decisively.

But facing this... not quite human existence, no one wanted to be the next one targeted.

They held their breath, their bodies seemingly controlled by the most primitive instincts, frozen in place. This was the self-preservation mechanism deeply rooted in their genes — staying still before an overwhelming predator, hoping to go unnoticed.

While the constables' behavior seemed absurd, it perfectly reflected their stark realization: this masked entity was by no means their kind.

That featureless bone-white mask was not a disguise, perhaps it was the monster's true, chilling visage.

In this moment, time seemed to stretch endlessly.

They watched the mask turn, each person feeling as if those blood-red eyes were locking onto themselves. Though the mask showed no expression, every line on it emanated an overwhelming desire.

The dark hue on the surface was rapidly fading, as if absorbed entirely by the bones, the mask becoming pristine white again, as if everything that had just happened was an illusion.

Except for the withered corpse on the ground, silently recounting the horror that had just transpired.

The chief constables gazed at that flawless white mask, feeling as though their blood was about to freeze, their thoughts almost frozen.

"[Feast] isn't absorbed through the mouth... but through all the bones, as long as there is contact with the other's body."

Feng Mu felt the life energy being conducted into his body through his bones, contemplating silently.

"Is this the interaction between [Feast] and [Iron Eater]? It does save quite a bit of trouble, but it feels increasingly off course."

Feng Mu looked at the dried-up body at his feet, and for some reason, he seemed to perceive the intense resentment entwined around it.

Perhaps he wasn't "smelling" it but rather sensing the intense emotions left in the life energy.

Isn't that so~

Wang Yilin had painstakingly advanced his governmental career, opening the door to a new world, only to find a life-devouring mask behind it, siphoning away everything he had.

Having absorbed a living person's entire life, Feng Mu himself was also mentally shaken.

During the absorption, he found it difficult to control himself, without a single thought of stopping, consumed entirely by the impulse not to cease until completely drained.

Even though he initially did not intend to go this far.

He could accept snapping an enemy's neck, but was not yet accustomed to turning someone into a withered husk, the scene so depravedly eerie that it shocked others' reason, and even shook his own sanity.

"So this is what it feels like to completely absorb a life's energy." Feng Mu murmured to himself.

His voice, filtered through the mask, seemed devoid of all human emotion, leaving only an icy, metallic indifference.

Even though Feng Mu hadn't intended it, the chief constables, holding their breath as they listened, all received the same message — the monster was still unsatisfied!

The tactic of staying still had failed.

Rationality overrode primal instinct, and a single thought exploded simultaneously in the minds of the constables: "Flee! As long as I run faster than the others, I won't be the next one drained."

There was no starting gun, but everyone started moving in an instant, so much so that in Feng Mu's eyes, the turning and fleeing motions of the constables displayed a kind of desperate yet orderly "beauty."

Truly a well-trained team~

Left behind were only the damaged, heavily injured constables unable to move, staring hopelessly at their comrades' retreating backs.

And those who were originally going to be taken back to the patrol office for questioning, all burying their faces firmly into the ground, trembling backs facing the mask.

Having absorbed one person's life energy, the [Frenzy Blood] icon dimmed, while the [Feast] icon became more brilliant than ever.

[You have activated Feast.]

[You have absorbed a portion of Life Essence.]

[Essence Quality: Difficult to Absorb.]

The notification popping up on his retina made Feng Mu silently pause. To devour a living person completely, this only counted as a "taste"? If it were to be "delved deeply," wouldn't even the traces of existence be consumed?

[The difficult-to-absorb Life Essence didn't provide much value, only converted into a 10-day existence duration for you.]

Feng Mu was pleasantly surprised. [Feast] could indeed extend his existence duration, confirming his hypothesis.

Then, he felt a bit bewildered — a complete life only converted into a 10-day duration, the conversion efficiency was astonishingly low, hardly avoiding suspicion of a "greedy middleman" taking a cut.

At this point, the [Feast] icon became dormant again, as if it were just an ordinary dead item icon.

Feng Mu blinked, getting ready to close the notification box, when he suddenly froze.

[You can add this duration to yourself or transfer it to another/it.]

[Note: Transfer will incur corresponding losses depending on the life level of the recipient.]

Feng Mu: "..."

Feng Mu's mouth opened slightly, the ability represented by the [Feast] entry seemed similar to his anticipated function, but its actual significance might far exceed his imagination.

"[Feast] can act not only on oneself but also on 'him' or 'it'?"

"This 'him' or 'it', is it what I understand it to be?"

Feng Mu's eyes flashed oddly as he glanced at the shriveled body on the ground, a crazy idea occurring in his mind: Suppose... I'm just supposing, if I were to now return the life duration converted from him back to him...

Could he... stand up from the ground again?

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