Swallowing the Stars: Starting with the Battle of Geniuses

Chapter 94 Devouring Evolution (Bonus Chapter)

"Old Ma said he saw that kid leave through the east gate just ten minutes ago."

"Hey guys, let's go!"

"If we can get him tonight, everyone can eat and drink to their hearts' content for the next few months!"

Old Huo led the group, and about a dozen middle-aged and elderly people gathered together, all of them very excited.

Most of these old men were at the ninth level of the Eternal Star level, except for the leader, Old Man Huo, who possessed cosmic-level life fluctuations.

"Boss Huo..."

Just as the crowd was in high spirits, an untimely voice rang out.

He was a middle-aged man with a somewhat thin face, narrow cheeks, and a rather sleazy appearance.

He glanced at the dark city outside and said somewhat timidly, "It's nighttime, who knows what kind of situation we might encounter..."

Seeing the sudden drop in everyone's mood, Old Man Huo frowned and said, "Hey, are you worried that the Great Hollow's absorption power will increase dramatically at night?"

The sleazy middle-aged man bowed his head and said, "Yes..."

Old Man Huo waved his hand dismissively: "This kid always runs off as soon as he gets back lately. Nothing's happened in all this time, which means Da Kongdong is clearly going through a rough patch. Two months of silence... surely something can happen as soon as we go out for a bit, right?"

The lewd middle-aged man's interruption reminded everyone of the dangers of the night, like being doused with a bucket of cold water after stepping out of a sauna. It was now virtually impossible to regain the excitement they had felt earlier.

Old Man Huo's words only slightly lessened their fear, but could not eradicate it.

Old Man Huo, who had originally intended to let his "brothers" go first, stiffened up. In the end, he couldn't bear to part with this windfall and took the lead.

"Alright, alright, I'll go first today, I'll be the scout. But everyone remember, the one who goes first gets 50% more pay than their original share. Don't say I didn't warn you afterwards!"

The group looked around, and finally two of them approached Old Man Huo.

With the leader, who has the strongest survival skills, taking the lead, the risk is naturally greatly reduced.

The others, realizing what was happening, tried to join in, but were met with a cold glare and a sweep of the leg from Old Man Huo. They could only beat their chests and stamp their feet in regret.

A group of about ten people hurriedly left through the east gate.

Old Man Huo walked at the front, carrying a lantern at his waist and fiddling with a tool that looked like a searchlight in his hand, his eyes gradually brightening.

"Thankfully, that kid hasn't gone far! If we drive at full speed, we should be able to catch up in about twenty minutes!"

Upon hearing this, the two old men standing beside Old Man Huo's eyes lit up.

Twenty minutes, and that's not too far from Blackrock City.

Security has been greatly improved.

They secretly rejoiced at their foresight.

With such a small risk, you can gain 50% more profit.

At Old Man Huo's signal, the two men wisely walked a hundred meters ahead.

Now he's a scout in the scout team.

The Abyss of Purgatory was already quite dark, but at night it became even darker, reaching a chilling level.

This darkness even affected their ability to project their mental energy outwards; only by relying on the light source on their bodies to dispel the darkness could their range of observation expand significantly.

But in the darkness, the limit was no more than a thousand meters, which was the distance between the scout squad and the main force behind them.

A group of more than ten people were walking on a dark, desolate road at night. After only a few minutes, they felt a chilling aura enveloping them.

It was the loneliness and fear brought about by the silence of being far removed from human society.

"Hiss... It's been so many years since I've walked this road at night."

"Although I'm envious of the income of those scavengers, I have to say, just staying in the wild for several days requires a lot of mental fortitude."

"Ha, if it were me, I'd go crazy after two trips, right? There's a reason why they can earn so much."

"Hehe, but this time it's going to benefit us."

To dispel their fear, the old men naturally started chatting.

Compared to the relaxed atmosphere of the main force behind them, who could chat casually, the three members of the scout team were clearly much more tense and had no time to chat at all.

Whoosh whoosh.

"who!?"

Upon hearing the strange noise, one of the scouts cried out in alarm.

"Quiet!"

Old Huo coldly glanced at the person who had shouted, and said icily, "The most important thing in the wild is not to panic no matter what happens! Don't let your shout attract some filth when nothing's wrong! If that happens, I'll kill you first, you old bastard!"

"Yes, yes..."

The man shrank back after being berated by Old Man Huo, clearly showing that Old Man Huo held considerable authority among the group of old men.

"Boss Huo, I checked, there's nothing there, it's just the wind blowing."

The other person, however, returned to report after running a short distance.

"well done."

Compared to his two teammates, Old Man Huo's gaze softened considerably when he looked at this man.

Logically speaking, there should be no wild animals in the wild on the first level of the abyss.

Only in extremely rare, exceptional cases, akin to winning the lottery, will one encounter monsters that even city lords cannot defeat.

Old Man Huo always firmly believed that the good deeds he had done would prevent him from encountering such an extremely unlucky situation.

The reason for setting aside a scout team was primarily to be vigilant about changes in the surrounding environment and the possibility of encountering other intelligent life forms.

In the abyss, apart from the two royal families, the other intelligent races are basically humanoid or humanoid flesh and blood beings. The most common human form in the universe is not uncommon here, which is one of the reasons why Hunzhen was able to integrate smoothly into this place.

Continue for ten minutes.

Old Man Huo's expression suddenly changed, revealing a look of surprise and delight.

In the darkness, that faint light ahead was almost too conspicuous.

"Chase!"

He gave a shout, signaled to the main force behind him, and immediately gave chase.

According to their initial allocation plan, the person who first discovers and successfully captures/kills Hunzhen will receive an additional 50% share on top of the original amount!

The other two exchanged a glance when they saw Old Man Huo's actions, and quickly followed.

Old Man Huo's speed suddenly exploded. The firefly in front of him was already within a kilometer range before it was noticed. In just over ten seconds, that kilometer distance was reduced to more than three hundred meters.

Old Man Huo could clearly see Hunzhen's figure and the panicked look on his face.

"Heh, I thought you were hiding some real strength? Is that all?"

With a sweep of his mental power, Old Man Huo instantly determined that Hunzhen was only at the ninth level of the Hengxing star level.

Without any further hesitation, a black, eerie light flashed, and a menacing metal blade shot towards Hunzhen.

With nowhere to dodge, Hunzhen produced a dark red battle blade in his hand and retaliated fiercely, knocking the blade away, but this also caused his flight speed to drop sharply.

"You scoundrel, surrender now! I'll spare your life, considering we were once under the same roof!"

Hunzhen was completely unmoved by Old Man Huo's words of persuasion and cursed, "You old scoundrel, still pretending to be a hero? You think I'd stop and offer my head to you to kick? Do you think I'm stupid?!"

The swords clashed repeatedly, and even with his third-level cosmic-level mental power, Old Man Huo was unable to directly defeat the ninth-level Hunzhen of the Hengxing realm.

Two other companions had caught up from behind. Old Man Huo frowned slightly as he looked at Hunzhen, who was already injured: "This kid, a mere ninth-level Hengxing, his combat ability is not bad. If he had a Universe-level, even if he was only at the first level, he could probably contend with me."

If the problem can be solved directly, Old Man Huo wouldn't mind taking all the weighted rewards for "discovery" and "kill" himself, thus doubling his contribution and share.

But since he couldn't kill him quickly, he had no intention of fighting Hunzhen to the death, lest it lead to a lose-lose situation.

He immediately reduced his mental output, focusing only on keeping Hunzhen entangled and preventing him from increasing his flight speed again.

Over there, Hunzhen's expression changed immediately when he saw that Old Man Huo was no longer going all out and was instead holding back.

Old Man Huo sneered inwardly. Going all out meant leaving no room for error. While maximizing the killing power, it also meant being at the weakest defensive position. Although it could take down the enemy the fastest, it also carried the risk of being killed in return.

But when Old Man Huo suddenly opened his mouth, the situation became deadlocked, and neither side could gain the upper hand.

While they were locked in combat for a short while, the other two scouts caught up.

With the combined forces of the three, Hunzhen was completely at a disadvantage, and he was injured more and more often. He could no longer even use energy defense and could only dodge in a panic.

The main force followed closely behind and surrounded them.

It looked like they were on the verge of death.

hum--.

The latest novel is first published here!

An invisible wave suddenly enveloped everyone present.

Both Hunzhen and the old men who were chasing them were forced to stop their movements, as if they were frozen in mid-air, motionless.

At this moment, additional sounds, not generated by their fighting, naturally and clearly reached their ears.

Old Man Huo seemed to have thought of something, and his expression suddenly changed.

The next second, the still image began to move again.

Whoosh—.

One of the pursuers turned and flew away, disregarding Hunzhen's possessions, and was about to leave.

With a soft "poof," everyone saw a jet-black finger emerge from the darkness, and a stream of black light shot out from its tip, instantly turning the person into ashes.

Fear instantly gripped everyone's hearts.

Only then did they cautiously look toward the source of the sound.

Before my eyes was a man with gray skin, black armor, and no feathers or wings on his back.

At this moment, he was grasping the gray flesh wrapped in silver armor, putting it into his mouth bite by bite, and chewing slowly.

Judging from the shape of the flesh, it is most likely an arm of a Silver Demon.

As the man's cheeks twitched, his aura grew increasingly deep and terrifying.

"You, you are—"

An old man who had shared a roof with Hunzhen that day stared wide-eyed and exclaimed in surprise.

"Don't make noise while eating."

The black demon man, Zagarad, frowned and flicked his finger into the air, instantly turning the old man into ashes.

One of them, his face filled with terror, prostrated himself on the ground: "Sir, we did not mean to disturb your meal—"

"I told you not to make noise while I'm eating!"

A savage glint flashed in Zagarad's eyes. He reached out and flicked his arm, which suddenly stretched out like a whip, smashing the upper bodies of the person lying on the ground, along with the four other silent people around him, into nothingness.

Hunzhen silently observed all of this.

They not only observed Zagarad's eating process, but also paid attention to the changes in the expressions of the people chasing them.

He had long suspected that there might be a special reason between the Silver Demon Clan and the Black Demon Clan that gave them an innate urge to kill each other.

"Evolution through devouring" was his initial guess.

And now, this has been largely confirmed.

After the Black Demon Clan man, who had been outmaneuvered by the Silver Demon Clan man two months prior, appeared to have caught up with him again during the subsequent chase.

However, this also caused them considerable trauma.

Hunzhen could clearly sense Zagalad's outward strength masking his inner weakness, as well as a faint smell of blood emanating from his back.

However, after he devoured the flesh and blood of the Silver Demon man Nofilic, his injuries healed at an extraordinary speed.

But that's not all.

Having already turned into a corpse, it was naturally completely unable to block the detection of mental power. Hunzhen noticed that Nofilic's body contained an energy source that was many times larger than flesh and blood.

It was a silver, jewel-like crystal core.

"Is this the 'Abyssal Crystal Core' mentioned in the cultivation mission?"

A hint of anticipation flashed in Hunzhen's eyes.

Undoubtedly, Zagarad will be able to evolve to a certain extent after consuming this silver abyssal crystal core.

This is a confirmed matter.

However, it's clear that Zagarard will leave this main course for last.

Hunzhen's attention then drifted to the remaining middle-aged and elderly people who were chasing him.

Just moments ago, his companion was casually killed simply for disturbing Zagarad's meal.

However, none of them, including the old man Huo who was in charge, had any intention of resisting.

Unlike the cold, impersonal text of simulations, Hunzhen was able to confirm through actual observation that this was not solely due to the vast difference in strength between the two sides.

"With such deep-rooted servility, even if the other party were to kill them, they wouldn't dare to show any dissatisfaction? In this situation, naturally, let alone resisting, even talking back is impossible."

There is an ancient saying: when a ruler commands his subject to die, the subject has no choice but to die.

In the depths of purgatory, this situation is even more profound and widespread.

Hunzhen recalled the scene from two months ago.

The two royal families used the dwellings of the lower-class races as their battlefield, committing atrocities at will, causing death and injury. Those who had just lost their comrades could still joke with each other, without a trace of sadness or anger.

He had assumed that the people who died that day were strangers to Old Man Huo and the others, but he learned during a drinking session that they were at least neighbors.

From the perspective of Earthlings' simple values, if a neighbor you only occasionally interact with is brutally murdered, it's not necessary to expect everyone to feel angry; at least you'll feel a sense of pity.

For those who can't relate, imagine you have a little sister next door, and one day you come home from school and suddenly hear that she has been killed by a psychopathic killer... Any normal person would have emotional reactions, right?

But for people like Old Man Huo, it seems that as long as it's not them who dies, they probably won't have much of an emotional reaction.

There is only one kind of taken-for-granted acceptance—the complacency that we should be killed by them on a whim.

Or to put it another way—numbness.

Glug, glug.

Most of the flesh and blood had been devoured. Zagarad drank Noferic's blood with a look of satisfaction, and then finally pulled out the abyssal crystal core buried in his worthy opponent's body, revealing a look of intoxication.

He stared at the silvery-white crystal core with a dazed look in his eyes, but instead of absorbing and devouring it immediately, he put it away.

His gaze swept over the trembling crowd, finally settling on Hunzhen's face.

Looking at the calm and collected Hunzhen, Zagalad's eyes flashed with admiration, and he nodded: "You're quite good. Of all these people, you're the only one who has remained calm throughout. You have great potential. How about becoming my servant?"

Instantly, Old Man Huo and the others looked at Hunzhen with a frenzied hatred.

(End of this chapter)