Feeding "Me"

"You really don't know?" Ren Yi's confusion grew as he saw the genuine shock on WhatAreYouLookingAt's face.

In his mind, there were at least two simple ways for her to have discovered the truth about the mutant beasts.

The first was through the memories of the individuals she had possessed. If any of her targets knew the truth, she would likely have inherited that information.

But judging by her reaction, the Holy City had done an excellent job of keeping it a secret.

The second way was the shape of the soul.

Ren Yi couldn't see souls clearly himself; he could only perceive a faint, blurry ripple of energy.

However, he found it hard to believe that WhatAreYouLookingAt, who fed on souls and dealt with them constantly, couldn't see their form.

In his theory, even if a soul didn't perfectly replicate its physical body, there should be a massive difference between the outline and aura of a human soul versus that of a beast.

Furthermore, if the mutations in this world were caused by something physical or biological—like a virus, radiation, or alien fungi—it shouldn't be able to penetrate the level of the soul, let alone change the soul's fundamental shape.

If that were the case, shouldn't the souls of mutant beasts look more like human souls?

Lost in thought, Ren Yi posed these two questions directly to WhatAreYouLookingAt.

"The people I possessed definitely didn't have that in their memories," she said, quickly snapping out of her daze, though her expression still showed disbelief.

"Every time I use Possession, I can only extract fragments of the target's memories. I usually prioritize their core habits and basic intelligence on the Holy City. I've never seen anything related to the origin of mutant beasts."

After a pause, she took the initiative to educate Ren Yi: "As for the shape of the soul, you're right. It is indeed closely linked to the form of the living being itself."

"Let's put it this way: if you placed the corpses and souls of two freshly dead people side by side, I could tell at a glance which soul belonged to which body. The soul replicates the most essential outline of a living being."

"And what you said about physical changes not affecting the soul is also correct. Even if someone is an amputee, their soul remains whole; it doesn't lose its limbs along with the body."

At this point, her tone shifted, becoming certain. "But I can tell you for a fact that the souls of these mutant beasts look exactly like the beasts themselves... there isn't the slightest resemblance to a human soul."

She frowned slightly and looked at Ren Yi. "So, how exactly did you conclude that 'mutant beasts are transformed humans'?"

"It's not that I don't believe you, but from the perspective of the soul alone, that possibility is completely ruled out."

Ren Yi considered this for a moment, his gaze sweeping over the mangled mutant beasts on the ground before he spoke slowly.

"I can't say I'm a hundred percent certain, but when I first entered this world, I thought: since they're called 'mutant beasts,' they must have mutated from something."

"But think about it. What other animal on this planet has a population large enough to cover the entire world and squeeze human survival into just a few cities?"

"Rats? The size difference is too great."

"Besides, it's only been thirty years since the apocalypse began. Even for large organisms, it's impossible to reproduce that quickly and spread to every corner of the earth."

"Finally, I was basically certain when I saw the City of Stars. If these monsters were truly mutated wild animals, why are the largest and most central nests all concentrated inside cities?"

Of course, this theory also provided a better explanation for those mysterious bursts of positive emotion.

Perhaps it was the relief and peace radiating from the remnants of human souls finally being set free.

Earlier, when Ren Yi was searching the nest, he was actually looking for things like tools.

Regrettably, any human intelligence within the mutant beasts seemed to have vanished entirely.

Beyond that, Ren Yi had another suspicion buried deep in his heart that he hadn't mentioned.

The Alliance had stated from the beginning that this was a Pasture world—a world where the Calamity conditions had already been met.

So, if one were to guess, what exactly was this active Calamity condition?

Considering the Calamity Rule 【Do not feel pain together with others】, could the core of the rule be tied to "pain"?

Did the world need a sufficient number of individuals experiencing pain? Or had the total pain of the world already reached a certain critical threshold?

Whichever the answer, the suffering in this world was already more than enough; it far exceeded the requirements to "meet the conditions."

It was already painful enough.

Ren Yi stood by his judgment, but the soul anomaly mentioned by WhatAreYouLookingAt was indeed a point of doubt that couldn't be ignored.

He was about to discuss it further to figure out what had happened to this world when he suddenly caught a faint movement at the edge of his perception.

Instantly, Ren Yi went on high alert. He focused his perception on the disturbance, and an image immediately "surfaced" in his mind:

A fragment of a lower jawbone, still clinging to bits of bloody meat, was rolling toward them as if pulled by something.

With every roll, drops of blood dripped from the cracks in the bone, leaving a faint trail on the ground.

This "Extinction" is even more anomalous than an Anomaly... Come to think of it, since it's in this shattered state, it must have been heavily wounded by that senior. It seems that senior's methods weren't exactly "gentle."

After all, if it could be summoned by the Instance and could understand and follow rules, it must have had a complete form with features and a body when it first entered.

Extinction's goal was crystal clear.

Even though it was just half a jawbone without any sensory organs, it bypassed Ren Yi and WhatAreYouLookingAt entirely.

Its gaze—if the direction the bone faced could be called a gaze—was locked onto the writhing ball of newborn mutant beast flesh ahead.

"It's your turn to perform, classmate. Go get 'em!" Seeing this, WhatAreYouLookingAt gave Ren Yi a playful shove, her tone full of mischief.

"Why should I go?" Ren Yi rolled his eyes, his tone helpless. "My True Form isn't exactly a physical combat type."

"It's not?" WhatAreYouLookingAt's eyes widened in surprise. "Didn't you pound your chest earlier and say you had a way to deal with it?"

"There's more than one way to deal with something besides a physical kill," Ren Yi said, raising an eyebrow. "For example, poisoning it."

This piece of Extinction still lacked any facial features. Its movement was likely based on touch and ground vibrations to determine direction.

In other words, even if it possessed intelligence, it would be difficult for it to distinguish exactly what its "food" was or if there was anything wrong with it.

For flesh within its diet—or rather, anything that "felt" like flesh from its diet—it would likely act on instinct. If it encountered a part it was missing, it would consume it without hesitation.

"Not a bad idea," WhatAreYouLookingAt said, pouting slightly with a hint of mockery.

"But setting the flesh aside, where are you going to find a poison that can kill this thing instantly?"

As soon as she spoke, she felt a gaze land on her.

Looking down, she saw Ren Yi squinting at her with a meaningful, half-smile.

Following his gaze, WhatAreYouLookingAt looked at herself—or rather, the body of Tarol she was currently inhabiting.

"You want to feed 'me' to it? Wait, you mean use 'me' as bait for this mutant beast? But the poison..." She quickly realized what he was implying and reflexively refused.

"Don't misunderstand," Ren Yi said before she could finish. He slowly raised his hand, his fingertip resting gently on his right cheek.

Then, WhatAreYouLookingAt watched as Ren Yi applied a bit of pressure and "plucked" out his own right eyeball.

Ren Yi held his eye and looked up at the stunned WhatAreYouLookingAt, his tone flat.

"I'm going to feed it 'me'."