144: Binge eating backfires; the class representative actively solicits...

With wine and food finished, the air was filled with the sound of burps.

Everyone had eaten until their bellies were round, lounging on the deck to sunbathe without a care for their image.

Chen Du saw that the timing was about right.

While relaxing after extreme tension was comfortable, it also made one's spirit prone to collapse.

Furthermore...

The drop in 'Sanity' caused by facing an Overlord-class Giant couldn't be restored just by eating meat.

"Alright, ladies, stop lying around."

Chen Du stood up and clapped his hands.

The lazy women immediately sat up straight.

"Go to the [resting room of the dead] in batches to get some sleep."

"One hour per person. No oversleeping; there's a line behind you."

The women had long been unable to wait.

That was the only place that could cleanse mental pollution; one would emerge feeling refreshed.

The first batch was Tang Ran and Xiao Ai.

One hour later.

The door opened.

Tang Ran practically leaped out.

Her back, which had been hunched in pain, was now straight, and the bloodshot look in her eyes had completely faded.

"Phew—that felt great!"

She cracked her neck twice, looking refreshed: "I feel like the dust in my brain was sucked out by a vacuum! I feel terrifyingly strong now, like I could go back and take on that giant solo!"

Beside her, though Xiao Ai didn't speak, her hands no longer shook, and her eyes were as clear as a fawn's.

Seeing his team members regain their vitality one by one, the faint worry in Chen Du's heart vanished.

This team was transforming at an astonishing speed.

However...

As the party was wrapping up, Chen Du keenly sensed something was wrong.

In the corner, a certain shadow was too quiet.

Li Yaozhi was huddled alone in the shadows, with empty plates stacked in front of her like a small burial mound.

This was the cold and elegant school beauty who usually cared most about her poise and ate with slow, careful bites.

This cold and elegant school beauty, who normally chewed her food thoroughly and maintained her Study Committee Member's grace at all times,

Was currently bowing her head, mechanically stuffing food into her mouth.

Her movements were fast, even somewhat... crude.

She didn't even bother to cut a piece of medium-rare steak, simply stabbing it with a fork and shoving it into her mouth.

Her cheeks were bulging terrifyingly; she barely chewed before her throat rolled and she swallowed it down.

*Gulp.*

The sound of swallowing was very loud.

Immediately followed by the next piece.

Chen Du frowned slightly.

Li Yaozhi's intake was already more than triple her usual amount.

Moreover, her complexion... wasn't right.

Her face wasn't rosy, but a sickly, ghastly pale, and her forehead was covered in beads of cold sweat.

"Yaozhi?"

Chen Du called out tentatively.

Li Yaozhi's movements suddenly froze.

She looked up.

In that instant, Chen Du saw her eyes clearly.

Those beautiful eyes, usually as cold as a wintry pool, were now filled with terrifying bloodshot veins.

Deep in her pupils, an almost beast-like, naked green light flickered.

That was... hunger.

A bottomless pit of hunger.

"I..."

Li Yaozhi opened her mouth.

She seemed to be trying her hardest to restrain herself.

Her left hand under the table was death-gripping the flesh of her thigh.

Her knuckles were white with effort, and the stainless steel fork in her hand had been squeezed out of shape.

And on the middle finger of her left hand.

That ancient, mysterious [ring of gluttony] was pulsing rhythmically with an eerie red light.

Like a breathing demon's eye.

"Damn it..."

Li Yaozhi's hand trembled, and the deformed fork hit the porcelain plate with a sharp, piercing clang.

She didn't explain, and didn't even dare to look Chen Du in the eye.

She stood up abruptly and stumbled toward the captain's quarters.

"Sister Yaozhi?"

The nearby An Nuonuo was startled: "What's wrong? Do you have an upset stomach?"

Li Yaozhi didn't look back.

Her figure was swaying, yet it exuded an urgency that seeped from her very bones.

Bang!

The door to the captain's quarters was slammed shut.

The air on the deck instantly froze.

Everyone looked at each other, and the grilled meat in their hands suddenly lost its flavor.

"You guys keep cleaning up, don't let it go to waste."

Chen Du tossed away his cigarette butt and crushed it with his toe, "I'll go take a look."

As he passed Xia Mo, the mature woman raised an eyebrow, her gaze meaningful: "Come out early, don't die in there."

Chen Du grinned, pretending not to understand: "Don't worry, I'm just going to deliver some medicine."

He strode to the door of the captain's quarters.

A suppressed, heavy panting came from inside, as if someone was enduring great pain.

Chen Du didn't hesitate and pushed the door open.

The lights were off, and the curtains were tightly drawn.

As soon as the door closed, a scent so sweet it made one's scalp tingle wafted into his nostrils.

It wasn't perfume.

It was the pheromones unique to a female creature during mating, mixed with a longing that had exploded after extreme suppression.

Click!

Chen Du locked the door behind him.

Just as he turned around, a mass of burning hot, soft jade slammed into his chest.

Li Yaozhi hung herself on him, her long, straight legs wrapping tightly around his waist.

By the faint light leaking through the door crack, he could see her face—usually so aloof from worldly matters—now so red it looked like it might bleed.

"Hungry... so hungry..."

She mumbled incoherently, her hands grabbing at Chen Du's body without any rhyme or reason.

It was as if she wanted to tear his clothes to shreds to see if some delicacy that could satisfy her hunger was hidden inside.

*Rrip!*

Two shirt buttons flew off, revealing her dazzlingly white collarbones and her violently heaving chest.

"Hungry... Chen Du... I want to eat..."

She buried her face in the crook of Chen Du's neck.

It wasn't a kiss, but a gnawing.

Her teeth rubbed near his carotid artery.

That hot, wet sensation made it hard to tell if she wanted a kiss or if she wanted to bite through the vessel and drink his blood.

Chen Du hissed, pinched her chin, and forced her to look up.

Her eyes had completely lost focus.

It was as if two black holes were swirling deep in her pupils.

And on her left hand, the [ring of gluttony] was throbbing wildly, the red light spreading down her forearm like veins.

It was forcing her to plunder... "A side effect?" Chen Du's gaze sharpened.

He glanced at the ring.

Since this thing could grant the wearer perverse recovery and damage reflection, it naturally demanded a corresponding price.

It didn't just amplify appetite, but also the desires buried deep in the foundations of human nature.

If the stomach couldn't be filled, then it had to be filled with something else.

"Li Yaozhi, look clearly at who I am."

Chen Du barked in a low voice, trying to wake a sliver of her consciousness.

It was useless.

She was currently a female beast, crazed with hunger and wanting only to feed.

"Eat... I want to eat..."

She broke free from Chen Du's hand, her burning red lips pressing forward haphazardly, her tongue clumsily and urgently prying open Chen Du's lips.

That desperate impatience completely overturned her usual high-and-mighty image as the class's Study Committee Member.

Who would have thought that the icy school beauty, who kept her back straight even when walking, would be like this when she went crazy?

This massive contrast instantly ignited the powder keg inside Chen Du.

He was a normal man, and a man who could die at any moment in the apocalypse.

When meat was delivered to the door, why wouldn't he eat it?

Furthermore, this was the 'flower on a high peak' that countless boys dreamed of.

"You asked for this."

A trace of wickedness curled at the corner of Chen Du's mouth.

He wouldn't pretend to be a gentleman, but he certainly wouldn't be the prey either.

Chen Du suddenly gripped that slender waist.

With a turn, he dominantly pinned Li Yaozhi, who had been on the offensive, firmly beneath him.

Offense and defense were reversed.

"Since you're hungry, then eat well!"