The scene returns to the Zoo.
The bonfire crackled, dispelling a small patch of darkness.
Ling Chen's cultivation had long since returned to the Bone Eater Realm; at this moment, he was smiling as he plucked feathers from a few mutated crows, skewered them on a branch, and began to roast them.
The firelight turned the skin of the mutated birds golden, and the distinct aroma of roasted poultry permeated the air.
Ling Chen picked up a roasted crow but didn't rush to eat it; instead, he waved it towards a nearby bush, smiling as gently as a boy next door.
"If you don't come out, I might just eat all the meat myself, you know."
The flickering light of the bonfire made his smile appear in alternating brightness and shadow.
The bush visibly trembled, and after a moment of silence, a small, stained figure slowly emerged from it.
Accompanied by... an extremely faint, yet clearly audible to Ling Chen... sound of swallowing saliva.
It was a girl who looked only seventeen or eighteen, with eyes that held both wariness and longing, and she was quite pretty, with amber pupils.
Ling Chen had already begun to feast heartily while waiting for her; at this moment, he was eating with a joyful expression, and seeing her approach, he said nothing, simply holding a skewer of roasted birds in his hand and offering it with a smile.
The girl's eyes widened at the sight of the fragrant food; a strong desire initially appeared in her eyes, but it was then strenuously suppressed by a sense of restraint born from wariness.
"She's got some brains, at least," Ling Chen thought, then extended the roasted meat further, smiling, "You must be hungry, huh? Here, for you to eat."
However, the small figure of the girl took a step back, the timidity in her eyes once again overcoming her hunger.
But under the temptation of the food and the bonfire, she did not run away, while Ling Chen, seemingly oblivious, continued to chew large mouthfuls of the thoroughly cooked meat, eating swiftly and cleanly, like a whirlwind.
Finally, after Ling Chen finished an entire roasted crow and picked up another skewer of some unknown mutated bird, the little girl could no longer resist the temptation and cautiously approached.
Ling Chen maintained the gesture of offering the food; seeing her approach, he simply thrust it into her arms, seemingly not even looking at her, appearing completely engrossed in his own eating.
The young girl's eyes widened at the food in her arms; completely disregarding the oil stains on her chest, she hugged the roasted bird and began to eat large mouthfuls.
As she ate, two lines of clear tears flowed from the corners of her eyes, perhaps from the heat or from something she remembered.
Ling Chen, at some point, had put down his roasted meat and was smiling as he gently wiped away her tears with his fingertips. At the same time, he pulled out a wet wipe and meticulously cleaned her dust-stained little face.
He also occasionally glanced at the food in her hand.
After she had eaten half of the mutated bird, Ling Chen forcibly took the remaining portion from her hand. This mutated bird was as large as an adult attack elephant, not to mention it contained 30 times its body weight in blood energy; if she ate any more, she might explode.
Yes, that's right, this was a Bone Eater Realm crow.
"Are you full?" Ling Chen asked her with a smile. The girl shook her head.
"If you eat any more, you'll burst."
The girl's body stiffened, and she nodded frantically!
"Alright, there's no such thing as a free lunch. Now, I ask, you answer, understand?"
The girl nodded, her eyes no longer showing the previous fear, but she still looked timid.
Ling Chen slowly began to speak, his voice gentle, asking with a smile: "Little girl, what's your name?" He asked, his gaze falling on her dirty little face, with a hint of perfectly appropriate... elder-like concern.
"I... I'm Tang Yinmeng..."
"Tang Yinmeng..."
Ling Chen softly repeated the name and nodded.
"A good name. How old are you?"
"Se... seventeen..."
"How many days have you gone without food?"
"Three days. Besides some water, I haven't eaten anything."
Tang Yinmeng's expression relaxed slightly under his gentle tone.
She lowered her eyes, her voice carrying a hint of imperceptible choking: "Nineteen days ago, my family's butler was supposed to take me out to play. We had just driven into this park when his eyes turned red, and his nails grew incredibly long for some reason, and his strength became terrifying... He was clearly just an old man in his sixties. He usually needed help just to climb stairs. I was terrified at the time and immediately ran out of the car. Then I saw an ornamental bird, which normally ran from people, charging at me. I ran for three whole hours until I reached a sealed breeding room before I shook it off."
Ling Chen listened to her, still smiling as he watched her.
"But... this Zoo... shouldn't be very peaceful, right? How many days have you been hiding... Have you... seen anything... special? For example... a particularly large monster? Or... other... people hiding?"
His questions... were like stones casually tossed. The first half was comfort, the second half... was... his true purpose. His tone remained gentle, as if it were just a casual inquiry.
Tang Yinmeng's body imperceptibly tensed for a moment! A trace of indescribable fear flashed deep within her amber pupils!
"No... nothing. That was the only mutated beast I encountered."
However, her fleeting expression of fear had already been perfectly captured by Ling Chen.
In his memory, during the second year of the apocalypse, the first Rank Six mutated beast on land appeared here.
At that time, not only were there no Rank Six ability users in the entire Northwest District, but even across all five major districts of Huaxia, aside from the strongest Shengjing District which had one quasi-Rank Six rule-type ability user, there were barely any Rank Five ability users.
And a Rank Six mutated beast already possessed intelligence not inferior to humans. After realizing its power, it boldly led five Rank Five mutated beasts, over a dozen Rank Four mutated beasts, hundreds of Rank Three mutated beasts, and countless Rank One and Two mutated beasts in a large-scale beast tide against the entire Northwest District.
Compared to that beast tide, the one experienced by the Panshi Military Region was truly a minor skirmish.
Huaxia and ability users nationwide united to resist, but suffered heavy losses. In the end, they paid a high price and allied with the evolvers within Huaxia, which are the mutated humans.
Only then, within a full three months, was that Rank Six mutated beast slain.
That catastrophe caused almost all the survivor bases in the entire Northwest District to be lost, leaving only a few top-tier cities. It was at that time that Panshi Fortress was officially renamed Gluttony City.
"Gluttony" was the codename of that mutated beast.
—That was the first time for all of Huaxia, and even all of humanity, to realize the immense destructive power possessed by animals that had been conquered by humans for tens of thousands of years and were so primitive they could only walk on all fours.
It was from this point that humans began to specifically classify and research mutated beasts.
"Gluttony... Gluttony..."
Ling Chen muttered to himself, trying to match a similar physical form in his mind. Codename is such a thing, it can actually reflect a lot of valuable information.
For example, Gluttony, either has an extremely large appetite or an extremely large mouth.
Birds must first be excluded, after all, if it had wings, the codename would more or less reflect something.
"Oh, Big Brother, do you have a blood control ability? I just saw you instantly kill many mutated beasts around you from the bush."
Tang Yinmeng's spirits were much better now than when they first met. After a hearty meal, she seemed cheerful, but Ling Chen could still read her inner thoughts from the sweet 'Big Brother'.
She was trying to play dumb.
Ling Chen couldn't help but chuckle.
"I think you probably saw more than just my ability, perhaps also..."
As Ling Chen spoke, the area around his eyes cracked like broken porcelain, with black blood patterns, and his eyes changed from their original deep color to crimson. At the same time, the clothes on his back suddenly ripped open, and a pair of enormous dark purple wings spread out.
"...This?"
Looking at the "Big Brother" across from her, whose eyes were blood-red and whose slightly parted lips revealed pale, sharp canine teeth, Tang Yinmeng's body trembled, but she still feigned ignorance.
"Wow, Big Brother, your ability is so cool! You can actually turn into a mutated human, hehe... hehe."
Ling Chen's eyes almost narrowed into slits from smiling. He held up three fingers and said, "Three."
Tang Yinmeng immediately understood and quickly turned to run wildly. However, she had only run a few meters when her body stiffened, feeling as if her blood had congealed, unable to move at all.
"Two."
Behind her, Ling Chen still sat smiling by the bonfire, looking exceptionally shameless.
"One."
Ling Chen unhurriedly finished counting the last number, then unhurriedly walked behind Tang Yinmeng and unhurriedly said with a smile, "My cute little sister, why aren't you running?"