123: Swallowing metal cans whole, is this a rule of binge eating?

The scrap warehouse was deathly silent.

Everyone's eyes were drawn to the black object in the center.

It was a giant black cocoon, two meters tall.

Thump... Thump... A dull heartbeat pounded against their eardrums.

With every pulse, the suspended dust in the air trembled along with it.

Chen Du sat cross-legged three meters away, twirling the bone gold cleaver.

The jagged back of the blade carved cold arcs in the dim light, reflecting his half-squinted golden eyes.

He was very calm.

He pulled a compressed biscuit from his pocket, broke off a corner, and tossed it into his mouth.

The others didn't have such strong mental fortitude.

Xia Xin gripped her recurve bow tightly, her palms drenched in sweat.

She stared at the colorful patterns spreading like mold spots on the black cocoon, terrified that Lin Keke would jump out as some indescribable monster.

"Don't be afraid."

Chen Du swallowed the biscuit, his tone flat. "That's an awakening, not a corpse transformation. No one is going to die."

Xia Xin bit her lower lip, not daring to look back.

In the corner.

Li Yaozhi and Ye Qiu were huddled back-to-back on a pile of cardboard boxes.

The Study Committee Member's cold, elegant face was somewhat pale.

Her red lips moved slightly.

A series of obscure, ancient, and low syllables flowed from between her teeth:

"O Blind God who wanders beyond the present world..."

"Please use the filth of this place as a medium to part the delusions of the mist."

"Heed my command, discern fortune and misfortune, measure life and death..."

"Wheel of Fate, Manifest!"

As the incantation progressed, the surrounding temperature plummeted.

A silver chain hung down.

The transparent crystal seemed to be hit by some kind of interference, spinning violently in mid-air!

And... it was counter-clockwise!

"An ill omen..."

Li Yaozhi snapped her eyes open.

In her Spirit Vision, the air in the warehouse had become viscous and yellow.

Countless mouths seemed to have opened in the shadows all around.

"What's wrong?" Ye Qiu noticed she was ice-cold all over.

"Hungry... so hungry..." Li Yaozhi's teeth chattered.

She heard a sound.

It wasn't the sound of wind, but the sound of countless empty stomachs rubbing and squirming together.

"...There's something here that wants to swallow us whole, skin and bones..."

Hearing this, An Nuonuo was so scared her cowlick stood up like an antenna.

She grabbed Chen Du's pant leg with both hands, her large, watery eyes darting around.

"Cap-Captain... I feel like something is staring at my flesh..."

"Don't panic! How could a place like this not have any danger?!"

Chen Du soothed the women's panic.

As those golden eyes swept over them calmly, everyone's unease truly settled a lot.

Then.

His gaze moved past the pulsating black cocoon and landed on the darkest corner of the warehouse.

In the shadows cast by the shelves, the stench of rot was even stronger than before.

Crab Claw Man was curled into a ball, his pair of massive mutated crab claws snapping uneasily.

He was currently terrified.

The scene of Lin Keke's transformation just now was too frightening, giving him a physiological fear of the man called the Captain.

Turning a person into a cocoon over a slight disagreement—is that something a human would do?

"Boss..."

Beside him, Liu San, wearing a gray jacket, leaned in.

Everyone called him Lao San; he was a typical fence-sitter.

But right now, his state was a bit off.

His eyes were staring straight behind Crab Claw Man—at a small pile of canned luncheon meat they had scavenged earlier.

The tin boxes glinted with a faint, cold light, looking exceptionally tempting.

*Gulp...*

Lao San's Adam's apple bobbed violently.

Hungry.

Too hungry.

That sense of hunger made every cell in his body scream and wail, as if countless mouths were demanding nourishment.

Even if it were a rock, he could swallow it right now!

"What are you doing? Those are reserved for that lord!"

Crab Claw Man glared at him and cursed in a low voice, "Do you want to die? If we touch that person's supplies, we'll all be thrown out to feed the pigs!"

Lao San shrunk his neck and said nothing.

But those bloodshot eyes never left the pile of cans for a second.

After scolding him, Crab Claw Man continued to watch Chen Du's side.

He was afraid the big shot would suddenly erupt and kill someone.

Seeing that everyone was attracted by the black cocoon in the room.

Lao San moved stealthily.

His hand reached surreptitiously toward the pile of cans.

The moment his fingertips touched the tin, a perverse pleasure shot straight to his skull!

He got it!

He quietly stuffed the can into his shirt.

Using his body as cover, he gently pulled the ring tab.

A rich aroma of meat wafted out.

It was the scent of starch mixed with fat, which in Lao San's nose at this moment, surpassed all the delicacies in the world.

He couldn't wait to find a tool; his fingers plunged into the can like hooks.

Then he scooped out a large chunk of pink meat paste and stuffed it messily into his mouth!

*Chomp chomp...* He was practically swallowing it whole.

The greasy meat chunks slid down his esophagus, the satisfaction making him roll his eyes in pleasure.

His whole body was trembling.

Not enough... still not enough... Lao San's movements grew faster and faster.

The edges of the tin were sharp, and he accidentally sliced his finger.

Amidst the dripping blood, mixed with the meat paste, the luncheon meat was stained crimson.

But he didn't notice at all.

He chewed even more frantically.

"Delicious... so delicious..."

Lao San's eyes had turned completely red, his pupils dilated.

One can finished.

He reached for a second.

A third... in less than a minute, three empty cans were hidden in his shirt.

But... that heart-burning, soul-scratching hunger only grew stronger!

His stomach walls were spasming!

"Food... where is more food..."

Lao San panted heavily, his saliva mixed with blood forming strings.

His eyes scanned the ground continuously.

Finally, he pulled out the tin can he had just emptied.

A tiny bit of meat juice remained on it.

In the faint light, the tin looked... crunchy?

...It should be more chewy than meat, right?

Driven by this thought, Lao San grabbed the empty can.

He opened his mouth.

Revealing a set of teeth stained yellow from smoke.

*Crack—Crunch—!*

The sound of tearing metal rang out abruptly in the silence!

This sound was too unsettling, like blunt scissors forcibly cutting through bone.

Next came a wet chewing sound.

It made people's molars ache just hearing it.

Everyone looked toward that dark corner.

"Who's there?!"

Xia Xin reacted the fastest, her recurve bow snapping around.

String pulled taut, arrow pointing directly at the source of the sound.

Chen Du also stopped his movements.

Those golden eyes swept coldly over.

In the corner.

Crab Claw Man was startled by the noise and whipped his head around.

"Lao San! What the hell are you doing..."

His cursing stopped abruptly.

The next second.

Crab Claw Man looked as if someone had grabbed him by the throat, his eyes nearly bulging out.

Lao San was squatting on the ground, clutching half of a tin can that had been bitten out of shape.

His mouth was full of blood.

The sharp tin had shredded his mouth, and his tongue was bleeding.

Blood dripped from the corners of his mouth onto his clothes.

But he didn't seem to feel the pain.

Instead, he was still smiling.

While smiling, he chewed vigorously.

*Crunch... Crunch...* His teeth were locked in a desperate struggle with the hard tin-plated iron.

*Puchi!*

A triangular sharp piece of iron suddenly pierced through his cheek!

A glint of cold light protruded from the outside of his face!

Some torn muscle fibers were even hanging from it!

Blood gushed out, but he was completely oblivious.

Lao San squinted his eyes, his face full of enjoyment.

It was as if he wasn't chewing tin, but crispy fried cartilage.

"Crunchy... so crunchy... like seaweed leaves frozen hard in winter... this bone is really chewy..."

Lao San muttered incoherently, his gaze vacant.

He picked up another empty can and stuffed it into his mouth.

"Ah! What the hell!"

The companion beside him finally couldn't take it anymore, scrambling away on all fours.

"Mon-Monster! He's eating iron! Lao San is gnawing on tin!"

Crab Claw Man was scared witless, his speech stammering: "Lao-Lao San... don't scare me..."