Chapter One: The Taste of Chicken

Pain!

Such unbearable pain!

The agony that gnawed at his bones invaded Ning Fan’s consciousness. He opened his eyes, his blurry gaze landing on a ceiling tinged with a faint blood-red hue.

He was lying on a cold, damp floor, shadowy figures swaying before him.

“This isn’t my home.”

The instant he saw the ceiling, this thought rose unbidden, and at the same time, a torrent of memories not belonging to him flooded his mind.

These memories were chaotic and jumbled, bursting forth like scattered glue.

But, in that moment, the pain radiating from every corner of his body captured all his attention, leaving him no room to sort through the confusion in his mind.

His legs were numb, sensation lost below the knees; from his left arm came a piercing, bone-deep pain.

“Hsss~”

The shadow kneeling and swaying beside him let out ragged, guttural sounds.

Ning Fan’s vision gradually cleared. As he finally made out the form of that shadow, his pupils contracted sharply—

Before him crouched a creature with a vaguely human body but the face of a dog, its sharp claws digging into Ning Fan’s arm, feeding it into a maw lined with razor-sharp teeth.

“A dog-headed monster? A werewolf?”

The pain he felt was mostly from this creature’s savage biting.

Yet, in this moment, what surged forth in Ning Fan’s heart was not terror, but a brief flash of confusion:

“How could my arm possibly be so thin?”

The doubt lingered, but did not slow his actions. Survival instincts took over—he raised his other hand, the one hanging limply by his side, clenched it into a fist, and swung it upward!

Slap.

His once well-trained, powerful body was gone; now, his form was soft and frail. Even with all his strength behind the punch, it merely seemed to tickle the monster.

At the same time, Ning Fan felt a strange sensation, as if he’d struck a creature made of rubber.

The only good news was that the monster seemed devoid of intelligence.

It paid no mind to Ning Fan’s feeble attacks, continuing to tear and gnaw at the dwindling flesh and bone of his left arm like a wild dog.

Ning Fan propped his weak body up with his right hand, trying to get off the cold floor and adjust his position. But as soon as he managed to lift himself halfway, he collapsed back in helpless exhaustion.

Only then did he realize—his legs below the knees were entirely gone, the floor soaked with copious blood.

No wonder he couldn’t feel his legs; the “legs” he thought he had were already lost.

It was already unnatural that he hadn’t passed out from blood loss.

Desperate straits!

He couldn’t afford despair. He turned his head, scanning the wet floor for any weapon that might help him turn the tables.

But in this familiar yet strange bedroom, nothing within sight could be used to fight back.

At that moment, the dog-headed creature finished tearing off most of Ning Fan’s left arm. Instead of moving on to his shoulder, it stepped over his body, seized his raised right hand, and began to sink its teeth into his last remaining limb.

Whether due to feeding habits or something else, the monster prioritized eating Ning Fan’s limbs. Though it didn’t kill him instantly, it prolonged his agony before death.

Yet now, in Ning Fan’s eyes, there was no fear of dying—only rage at the monster before him—

“If I die, you die with me!”

Though he’d lost three limbs and his last was being mangled, Ning Fan still had one final weapon left—

He used the last of his sensation in his right hand as an anchor, seized the creature’s jaws, and with all his strength, threw himself onto the beast, sinking his teeth into its neck!

The monster, dumb and oblivious, let him bite without resistance.

Rip!

Human teeth were neither sharp nor strong compared to predators, but in that moment, they were Ning Fan’s sharpest weapon.

Yet, though the creature’s body resembled a human, its skin was far tougher. His bite merely broke the surface, nowhere near the veins or windpipe.

Fortunately, the monster remained puppet-like, unresponsive to Ning Fan’s resistance and pain, continuing its feeding.

Ning Fan, his eyes red, kept biting at the creature’s neck!

One bite, two bites, three bites…

With each bite, he tore free more flesh from the monster, which continued its task like an automaton, showing no sign of fighting back.

After countless bites, the monster’s gnawing suddenly halted.

“Snarl!”

Ning Fan felt a flood of warm, foul-smelling liquid spray across his face.

His spirit soared—“I’ve torn its artery!”

He spat out the mouthful of flesh, grinned fiercely, and lunged to bite again.

Soon, the creature’s claws twitched; its body slumped backward, crashing to the floor, convulsing briefly before falling still.

Watching the beast collapse, Ning Fan finally relaxed, dizziness sweeping over him.

The aftereffects of massive blood loss began to show.

He lay weakly on the floor, turning his head to watch the monster’s throat still spurting blood, its body heaving violently. Suddenly, Ning Fan swallowed, a deep craving rising from within.

At the same time, a strange, tangled stream of information flashed through his mind.

It was about a unique talent—Gluttony…

Ning Fan had no time to examine the information in detail. The surging hunger nearly stripped him of reason. Driven by instinct, he activated the Gluttony talent—

Whoosh!

The corpse of the dog-headed monster, larger than any adult human, was suddenly swallowed by an invisible maw, vanishing from before Ning Fan’s eyes!

He smacked his lips; streams of heat rose within him, flooding every part of his body.

At the same time, a violent, bloodthirsty emotion stirred in his mind, entwined with the tingling, soothing sensation where his limbs had been torn away.

His consciousness faded into a haze…

…

When he opened his eyes again, the pain in his body had vanished completely.

His missing limbs had grown back anew.

Were it not for the blood everywhere and his tattered clothes, he might have thought himself dreaming.

His once-weak body was rejuvenated; though still thin, he could feel strength surging within.

“Whew!”

He stood, walked to the large mirror by the bookshelf, and gazed at the slender youth within, long hair covering cold, shadowed eyes.

“I… I’m not myself anymore.”

Seeing his reflection, a blurry memory surfaced in his mind, gradually becoming clear.

He peered out the window; the crimson moon hung high in the night sky.

It was obvious—not only was he no longer himself, but the world was no longer the same.

Fragments and flashes of memory passed through his mind…

This was a world with a technological level roughly similar to the one he’d known.

The body he now inhabited was named Lin Lei, living in Summerland, Qinghe Prefecture, in a city called Biyang.

Biyang was fairly prosperous, but its public safety left much to be desired…

One could call it “simple and honest”—in the most ironic sense.

Lin Lei grew up in Biyang, currently a freshman at Biyang University.

He had no extended relatives; his mother had died in an accident when he was very young.

His only close kin was a father, now a professor at a well-known university in another province. Their relationship was distant, even strained…

In other words, the former Lin Lei lived alone.

He rubbed his aching head.

Ning Fan—or Lin Lei now—found his memories tangled and complex, unable to absorb them all at once.

He stepped out of the room; it was a spacious three-bedroom apartment, simply furnished but stylish, the living room neat and tidy, in stark contrast to the chaos of the bedroom.

“No traces in the living room, which means the monster didn’t come through the front door…”

Lin Lei recalled the bedroom window left wide open.

“Did the beast climb through my bedroom window?”

He lived in an old residential complex.

Although he was on the top floor—six stories up—it wasn’t that high. An agile person could climb up the drainpipe, let alone a creature as abnormal as the dog-headed monster.

“I couldn’t have invited it in myself—”

Yesterday’s memories held no such clue.

He shook his head, went to the sink, and quickly washed off the blood, then lifted his shirt before the mirror.

On his chest was a strange, semi-transparent tattoo, visible only to him—a mark representing the ability he had awakened: Gluttony.

He could summon an invisible mouth, “devouring” objects within a certain range.

The process of devouring accumulated a special energy.

The more energy he stored, the darker the tattoo became—from transparent to black.

Activating Gluttony consumed this energy.

Notably, even eating regular food could stockpile Gluttony energy.

When devouring, he could trigger a further effect—Plunder.

This allowed him to seize the vitality and talents of his food.

Plunder used much more energy than simply summoning the invisible mouth.

The reason his limbs regrew and he survived mortal wounds was because, at a critical moment, he unconsciously used Plunder on the monster.

The energy consumed was the sum of twenty years’ worth of ordinary eating in this body!

“In other words, all the Gluttony energy I saved from eating regular food for over a decade was only enough to Plunder one such monster…”

He shook his head and picked up a sharp razor blade in the bathroom.

Slice!

He gently cut his finger; the blade met rubber-like toughness, leaving only a faint white mark and a trace of red.

Though he could still be hurt, his flesh was now far sturdier than a normal human’s.

With a thought, his eyes turned crimson, sharp claws extended from his fingertips, gleaming coldly; his mouth tingled, teeth lengthened, becoming razor-sharp.

Like a vampire’s transformation—yet Lin Lei could control this at will.

“These are the monster’s abilities—tough flesh, sharp claws and fangs, and power a bit beyond human limits…”

Lin Lei flexed his hand and licked his lips.

He didn’t know if Gluttony was a cheat granted by his transmigration, or a superpower awakened by this body’s unique circumstances.

Yet, the monster’s existence alone proved this world was far from ordinary.

A flush crept across his face.

After Plundering the monster, his weak body had been reborn, strength greatly increased—what if he Plundered more?

He closed his eyes; thanks to Gluttony, he could vividly recall the taste and texture fed back to him after Plundering the creature.

He couldn’t help swallowing.

Though it chewed like rubber, tough and elastic, honestly, aside from a faint bloodiness, the flavor wasn’t bad…

He opened his eyes and smacked his lips.

“Tastes like chicken…”