Chapter 53: The Feast

In a manner of "perception" that he himself could not yet fully comprehend, Yu Sheng felt himself establishing a connection with this valley. His consciousness surged through the rocks and soil, coursed through the depths of the undulating, creeping forests, and submerged itself in the waters and winds of this place; then, through countless deformed and twisted eyes, he observed the skies above the valley.

That massive eye, large enough to cover the entire sky, gazed upon the earth with a calm and indifferent stare. It remained unchanged from beginning to end, like a transcendent observer watching subjects within a petri dish.

But Yu Sheng could feel it: the eye had noticed him. At the very moment he established his connection with the valley, the eye's gaze fell precisely upon his "self."

The eye was confused, it was curious. Although it displayed no emotion or "change in expression," Yu Sheng could almost directly "read" these thoughts—a certain colossal "intellect" vibrated within this space, every one of its thoughts stirring tempestuous waves here. However, ordinary people could not perceive these roars echoing through the otherworldly realm; even Yu Sheng, utilizing the perception of the entire realm, could only vaguely sense the mental activity behind that eyeball.

Strangely, however, Yu Sheng felt no hint of hostility from that eye—nor any goodwill.

After a while, he found the eye's focal point shifting away from him. Or rather, it was no longer watching the entire valley, but was instead focusing its gaze on a specific location within it.

The eyeball slowly scanned the earth, seemingly tracking or searching for something.

As Yu Sheng's consciousness gradually diffused, over the next few minutes, he began to understand something...

The entire valley was coming alive. A certain eerie and terrifying "vitality" was transforming this entire otherworldly realm into a single, hungry living creature.

Li Lin watched helplessly as rows of sharp teeth sprouted from the distant ridges, separated by horrific, tearing ravines. Those rows of fangs rolled and surged like waves, with thunderous roars emanating from their depths.

He also saw an entire section of the forest on the other side of the valley come to life; black tentacles replaced the original trees, spreading along the stony riverbeds of the valley floor, submerging everything in their path like a swarming mass of predatory insects.

All of this occurred under the cold gaze of the giant eyeball in the sky—bizarre, terrifying, and akin to a nightmare.

Little Red Riding Hood's pack of wolves howled in the surroundings, constantly biting through and repelling the tentacles, eye-stalks, and tongues growing from the soil. Yet, no matter how hard the wolves fought, their foothold was steadily shrinking.

The young Bureau agent could not help but feel a sense of despair. He turned his head forward and saw the girl with the massive cluster of tails running at the very front, clutching a doll. She ran with a hunched back, yet even while carrying something, her movements were incredibly agile and fierce, like a nimble beast of the mountains—and as a human, he was nearly unable to keep up with that "beast."

But just then, Hu Li finally slowed her pace.

Carrying Eileen (and Eileen's kitchen knife), she reached a depression at the foot of the mountain. She stood upon a large rock, stretching her neck to peer around. The pair of large, furry ears atop the fox-girl's head trembled slightly in the wind, as if catching the slightest movement in the surroundings. She then gave a forceful sniff and finally fixed her gaze in a certain direction.

"This way! The entrance is here!"

Before her voice had even faded, she had already jumped to the ground with Eileen in her arms. Seeing this, the others hurriedly followed, running toward the cliff face where they discovered an opening only large enough for two people to pass through.

"It's spacious inside!"

Hu Li shouted back to the others before being the first to duck into the cave.

A ghostly blue fox-fire ignited out of thin air, drifting from the tips of Hu Li's tails into the mid-air, illuminating the scene within the cave.

It appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary primitive cavern, seemingly a natural part of the mountain. Some walls bore traces of artificial excavation and widening, and in the corners of the cave, one could see some crude, simple implements, clearly indicating that someone had lived there for a time.

Xu Jiali took a palm-sized black device from her waist, cautiously scanned the cave, and spoke in a low voice: "No toxins, material structure is stable, no signs of erosion."

Little Red Riding Hood waved her hand, settling several wolves near the entrance, while the other wolf-shadows returned to her side, gradually merging into the shadows beneath her feet.

Hu Li carefully carried Eileen to a stone platform near the entrance and set the small doll down, a worried expression appearing on her face.

"Are you... okay?"

She pointed at Eileen's severed arm and her poorly functioning right leg.

Judging by appearances, Eileen's current state was nothing short of disastrous—second only to the benefactor who had just died with eyes wide open.

The fox-girl clearly did not understand the circumstances of a "living doll."

"I'm fine. This body was only temporary to begin with; some parts aren't very sturdy," Eileen said, quite composed, even attempting to comfort Hu Li. "Don't worry, once we get back, Yu Sheng will fix me up. This body was made by him—well, his craftsmanship is... passable."

The fox-girl's eyes widened slightly. "It sounds like your benefactor is very powerful?"

"...Probably?" Eileen said with some hesitation. "Sometimes I feel like he isn't quite human, with all his strange abilities and ideas..."

Halfway through her sentence, the doll girl seemed to sense something and suddenly looked up toward the cave entrance.

Looking out from this position, one could see almost nothing of the scene outside.

"What is it?" Hu Li asked curiously.

"Could you... hold me and let me look outside? Just at the entrance is fine," Eileen said hesitantly. "I can't see anything from here; it makes me uneasy."

Hu Li was puzzled but didn't think much of it. She reached out, picked Eileen up, and carefully approached the entrance.

Eileen craned her neck from Hu Li's arms, boldly peering toward the sky.

That giant eye still floated above the valley. The magnificent scale of the eyeball made it look as if the pupil structure itself had emerged from the sky, soul-stirring and terrifying.

"I keep feeling... that eye has been watching this way for a while now," Eileen muttered nervously, quickly pulling her neck back. "Why hasn't Yu Sheng come back yet..."

Hu Li froze, looking down at the small doll in her arms. "Benefactor, everything will be fine, right?"

"He'll definitely be fine," Eileen lowered her voice, glancing back at the three "temporary comrades" in the cave, and whispered to Hu Li, "Don't mention Yu Sheng's 'death' to them later. They should have already forgotten the incident by now."

Hu Li tilted her head, her large furry ears twitching, unsure if she had understood.

Li Lin looked up curiously at the fox-girl and the doll near the entrance. He frowned slightly; he wasn't sure if it was an illusion, but he felt as though he had overlooked something during his frantic sprint here—as if something very important had unconsciously slipped from his mind.

He looked at the nearby Xu Jiali and Little Red Riding Hood, but saw no unusual expression on their faces.

Xu Jiali was currently conducting a cautious search and investigation deep within the cave, while Little Red Riding Hood sat on a stone bench with her arms crossed, her eyes fixed on the shadow-wolves standing guard near the entrance.

Her red coat had been damaged during the previous battle in the forest; one sleeve was torn to shreds, leaving her entire right arm exposed. That arm was now covered in fine, blood-colored patterns, as if the flesh had once been torn apart and had only just managed to pull itself back together into its original shape.

The ghostly blue fox-fire burned quietly in the upper part of the cave, casting Little Red Riding Hood's shadow onto the ground. The shadow swayed, occasionally twisting and distorting abruptly, becoming like the wolves that emerged from the shadows.

The howling, monstrous sounds from the valley drifted in incessantly, making the silence within the cave feel increasingly oppressive and heavy.

Li Lin stood up and walked toward Hu Li and Eileen, who were guarding the entrance—he felt that, at the very least, he should introduce himself.

But just as he was halfway there, a strange sound caused him to stop abruptly.

It was an irregular grinding noise, like the sound produced by clashing and rubbing teeth.

Immediately following that, his spiritual intuition gave a violent jolt.

Xu Jiali, who was inspecting the depths of the cave, and Little Red Riding Hood, who was trying to steady herself on the stone bench, also instinctively looked up.

The "aura" in the valley had changed.

Two or three seconds later, the outside of the cave fell into a sudden silence, so profound it felt as if the entire world had plunged into deathly stillness.

But this silence lasted only a moment. The strange grinding sounds returned, accompanied by whimpering noises that were different from the chaotic roars from before. These sounds reached everyone's ears, becoming clearer and... louder.

The fox-girl sitting on the ground near the entrance stood up instantly, looking outside with nervous anxiety. Eileen also used her broken arm to brace herself against Hu Li's arm, trying to confirm the situation outside—and at that moment, the doll girl heard Yu Sheng's voice: "Eileen."

"Yu Sheng?!" Eileen was startled and responded hurriedly, "You're alive? Where are you? Can you sense my location? Hurry and open the way! We found a safe hiding place, it's not safe outside, something huge is happening to the valley..."

However, before she could finish, the voice coming from her mind interrupted her: "Eileen, don't panic—it will be over soon."

Eileen froze. "...Huh?"

The strange grinding sounds from the valley grew denser than before.

Yu Sheng's voice continued to echo from the depths of Eileen's heart: "Eileen, do you remember what happened when we tried to contact Hu Li through the dreamscape to use her perception to find the 'frequency' of this valley?"

Eileen, of course, remembered.

"You directly came into contact with the essence of 'Hunger' back then; it took root in your mind!" the doll girl said rapidly. "Wh-what's wrong?! Did something happen?! Are you not going to make it back?"

The strange grinding in the valley grew increasingly dense, seemingly filling the entire otherworldly realm. The unsettling sound echoed within the cave, causing everyone's nerves to tighten.

Yet, within Eileen's heart, Yu Sheng's voice was calmer than ever.

"Don't worry, Eileen. I'm fine. I just discovered something—"

Eileen's eyes slowly widened. She seemed to gradually distinguish what that echoing grinding sound in the valley actually was.

"Hunger did not take root in my mind."

She heard Yu Sheng's voice echoing from within her heart.

She heard Yu Sheng's voice echoing from the entire valley.

"Instead, I have taken root in its depths."

She finally heard it clearly—it was the sound of chewing, echoing throughout the entire valley.

The sublime feast had begun.

The entity residing in this otherworldly realm—Hunger—had begun to devour itself.