Chapter 52

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Chapter 52: Breakfast Time!

Ji Yongxing’s words suddenly jolted Wang Xiao awake!

The researcher’s reasoning struck a chord. The ability was indeed a gift from the divine, and if someone like Zhao Kai could wield it to such an extent, there was no reason Wang Xiao couldn’t do the same!

Wang Xiao fell into a brief moment of introspection.

Perhaps it was the sudden euphoria of gaining superpowers and escaping death, or perhaps it was his recent string of remarkable achievements—whatever the reason, he had grown complacent.

Not long ago, he had been a warrior who faced death without flinching. How had he allowed himself to become so shackled by rules and constraints?

Wang Xiao recalled a phrase he had heard during his new recruit training:

“If you run out of bullets, use a knife. If you lose your arms, bite with your teeth. The duty of the defense team is to ensure no extraordinary beasts enter the city before we’re all dead.”

He glared fiercely at the flesh blob that had begun to consume his thigh, his teeth clenched as he hissed,

“If you want me dead, then none of you will live either!”

Crack.

Wang Xiao felt something shatter.

The sound was like his bones snapping, his organs being crushed, his flesh being ground, pressed, and churned.

It was as though some invisible barrier had been lifted.

—

A Dream.

Zhuang Mian stood in a windowless corridor, the white walls around her reflecting a cold, metallic glow under the fluorescent lights.

Ahead, on the wall, hung a sign reminiscent of those found in hospitals:

【↑ A5 Laboratory】

As her gaze fell on the sign, faint murmurs of conversation drifted from the laboratory ahead:

“Yes, understood. The experiment was a resounding success, far exceeding our expectations.

“Mass production will take some time, though. We’re still lacking sufficient human experimental sample data…”

Zhuang Mian moved forward cautiously, peering through the laboratory’s viewing window at the elderly man engaged in internal communication.

The man’s hair was thinning, his posture slightly stooped. His identification card displayed a color photograph and basic details:

【Name: Zhao Kai

Position: Minister of the Department of Life Technology】

The old man soon set down the phone and turned his attention toward the experiment table.

Zhuang Mian glanced back the way she had come and noticed that the metallic walls and floor had fragmented into shards, dissolving into the void.

After a moment’s thought, she understood:

This was Zhao Kai’s dream, a manifestation of his subconscious desires.

With his focus entirely on the experiment, everything outside had ceased to matter to him.

In the limited computational capacity of the brain, it was only natural that unnecessary elements would vanish entirely.

Thinking of this, Zhuang Mian felt a slight sense of relief. She was well aware that this was merely a dream, and after shooting the monster’s brain, she had forcibly dragged it into In Dream, an ability with inherently limited effects.

She hadn’t left immediately after pulling the monster into the dream because she feared it might awaken prematurely. She intended to manually extend the dream’s duration for a while.

Seeing Zhao Kai utterly engrossed in his experiment, Zhuang Mian felt her task was accomplished.

But just then, the elderly man standing before the microscope suddenly voiced his confusion:

"Why is the cell condition abnormal? Why is it proliferating so rapidly?"

Nearby researchers quickly gathered around, eager to observe the cell state alongside him.

The group was predominantly male, with fewer women, totaling less than thirty people.

Amidst the jostling crowd, Zhuang Mian caught sight of two familiar faces:

【Li Xia, male, 33 years old, a doctor at Li’s clinic in the outer city of Hope City, managing an organ removal business across three crowded districts.】

【Walk, male, forty years old, practicing medicine in the outer city of Hope City, without a fixed residence, offering emergency treatment and organ removal services at home.】

"How did they end up here?"

Before Zhuang Mian could ponder further, one researcher tripped over his own foot and fell forward.

He inadvertently pushed the glass slide being observed under the microscope, sending it tumbling into the culture solution beside the microscope.

The cells rapidly dispersed in the culture solution, and with ample nutrients, they began to multiply exponentially.

Within mere seconds, a small, indistinct mass of sticky flesh began to thrash about in the culture solution.

One researcher, sensing danger, immediately turned to run toward the alarm bell, but the elderly Zhao Kai grabbed him.

"Our sample is the only one; if we destroy it, all our efforts will be wasted!"

The old man clung tightly to the young researcher’s arm, drawing the attention of all the surrounding researchers.

Thus, it was no surprise that no one noticed the mass of flesh crawling up one researcher’s sleeve.

"Ah!"

With a piercing scream, the Middle-aged Man finally realized something was amiss. He flailed his arm violently, as if bitten by a snake, shouting:

"It’s eating me! It’s eating my teeth!"

Witnessing this, Zhuang Mian’s mind momentarily froze. This was clearly not a normal progression of the dream. But if she wanted to prolong the dream as much as possible, whom should she assist?

—

In the real world, within the underground laboratory.

Wang Xiao, now fully aware of reality, seemed to become even more enticing. The monster’s absorption of him didn’t slow; in fact, it accelerated.

In less than a minute, Wang Xiao had been devoured up to his chest.

Yet he remained utterly calm, even consciously extending his arm to hasten the monster’s consumption of him.

Ji Yongxing and El watched, their faces pale, receiving only Wang Xiao’s confident "OK" gesture in response.

Then, even his hands were fully engulfed by the flesh blob, which emitted a satisfied "slurp" sound.

—

Inside the flesh blob.

The anticipated sensations of crowding and suffocation never came. Wang Xiao opened his eyes, astonished to find his field of vision nearly three hundred sixty degrees without blind spots.

He quickly counted his eyes and found there were forty-eight of them, not including the more than ten that were pressed shut against the ground.

Aside from a small area behind him that he couldn’t see clearly, Wang Xiao felt he could Control everything. He had never experienced such a marvelous sensation!

Ignoring that minor blind spot, Wang Xiao began to assess his own condition.

He felt himself drifting further from humanity. He had countless organs and limbs; he could do whatever he desired.

The intense thoughts of the dying effortlessly disrupted his thinking ability.

What still troubled him was an overwhelming sense of hunger.

What was he supposed to do again?

Wang Xiao couldn’t quite recall.

But the two teenagers in his line of sight looked quite appetizing…

I don’t know who I am, I don’t know where I am, I only know that now is breakfast time!